Indie legend Sam Barlow and Rare veteran Louise O'Connor to keynote GI Academy event

The creator of Her Story and Immortality Sam Barlow, and Rare legend Louise O'Connor will keynote the GI Academy student event this month.

The entirely free digital event takes place in Discord between October 26th - 28th, and is created in partnership with Total War developer Creative Assembly. You can sign up for free here.

Alongside Barlow and O'Connor, big game developers will be popping into the Discord throughout the event. These include the senior creative director of Call of Duty: Warzone: Ted Timmins, and Caroline Marchal, the CEO of As Dusk Falls developer Interior/Night. They'll be answering questions from students during the show.

Meanwhile, Creative Assembly will be hosting a series of masterclasses over the three days. Roberto Geroli, CA's development director, will conduct a talk on getting the best from your team. Senior technical animator Agathe Laus-Pillot will share advice on becoming a good technical animator. And Bence Kovacs, senior designer, will talk about desiging for an intuitive player Experience with the '3Cs' (Character, Camera, Controls).

More industry guests and speakers will be announced in the coming days, who will be advising students on pathways into games, reviewing portfolios and sharing insight into what life is like in video games.

Professions covered will include art, music, programming, production, writing, journalism, marketing, voice acting, testing and much more. Students can sign-up for free right here.

"This marks the third year of the GI Live: Academy Student Conference which we have been the main sponsor for since it began," said Creative Assembly's Director of Talent and Social Impact, Emma Smith.

"We strongly believe that giving free, global student access to industry experts leads to a stronger, more creative and diverse industry. Through this conference we can reach many more students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds who do not usually have the opportunity to attend games conferences."

During the event, students can watch keynote presentation, take part in live Q&A sessions, join intimate industry roundtables, and meet with games professionals one-to-one. There will also be surprise guests throughout the show.

To book your free tickets, click here.

Games developers, publishers and media looking to take part, simply email chris.dring@gamesindustry.biz.