If you haven't already...

Grab your ticket now!

As game development expands across the world, how does the UK continue to stand out - and what role does Guildford play in that story? This session explores the town’s rich development heritage, its influence on generations of game makers and what this year’s major UK releases signal for our place on the global stage. Join industry voices as they discuss how creative hubs like Guildford can continue to innovate, nurture talent and lead in a rapidly evolving international landscape.

Back to schedule

Indie games continue to surprise, inspire and redefine what’s possible in the medium. This panel brings together developers behind indie success stories to discuss how small teams achieve big impact. From creative freedom and community support to smart production choices and unexpected challenges, we explore what really drives indie success today - and what new creators can learn from it.

Back to schedule

Characters don’t just appear fully formed - they’re crafted through collaboration between performers, casting teams, directors, writers and developers. This panel explores the craft behind voice and performance in games: how casting decisions are made, how actors build believable characters and how studios work with talent to shape unforgettable moments. A behind-the-scenes look at the creative, technical and human processes that bring game worlds to life.

Back to schedule

From live productions to TV adaptations and cinematic universes, modern storytelling doesn’t stay inside the screen - and neither do games. This panel explores how narrative, character and worldbuilding evolve when game creators collaborate across film, television, stage and other creative industries. Join us for a conversation about the future of transmedia storytelling and how game narratives continue to push beyond the boundaries of traditional play.

Back to schedule

Practical advice, lived experience + AMA-style audience questions Breaking into the games industry can feel overwhelming - but it doesn’t have to be. In this panel and open Q&A, local developers from a range of disciplines share honest advice, practical tips, and real stories about how they landed their first roles. Whether you're a student, a recent graduate or pivoting careers, bring your questions and let the panel guide the discussion.

Back to schedule

Social and community leaders discuss trust, communication and long-term engagement. A game’s launch is only the beginning. This panel brings together community leads from highly engaged player ecosystems to discuss what it takes to build trust, support thriving communities, manage expectations and maintain healthy relationships between players and developers. Explore how community shapes development, how feedback becomes collaboration and why great communities can become a game’s greatest legacy.

Back to schedule

Ever wondered how the tools behind your favourite games actually work? In this session, experts from TryIto, Unreal Engine, and Apparance break down the tech powering modern game development. From world-class engines to next-gen pipelines and procedural systems, this panel will explore how each tool fits into production, what problems they solve and why they’re essential for studios of every size. Perfect for students, green devs, and seasoned creators looking to deepen their technical understanding.

Back to schedule

Meet Ed. He hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to open Unreal for the first time and think, “where do I even start?” This talk is about exactly that. In this accessible, no-nonsense session, Ed walks through the fundamentals of making a video game using Unreal. From understanding what a game engine does, to how ideas become something playable, this talk is designed to demystify development and make those first steps feel achievable. There’s no expectation of technical knowledge going in. Instead, this session focuses on clarity, confidence and helping people understand where to start - whether you’re a student, a career-switcher, or simply curious about game development. It’s a great entry point into the festival for anyone exploring games for the first time, and a reminder that everyone starts somewhere.

Back to schedule

As the boundaries between gaming and music continue to blur, a new kind of creative partnership is emerging - one where sound doesn’t just accompany the story, it shapes it. From cinematic scores to artist-led collaborations and in-game performances, music has become central to how players experience emotion, identity, and immersion.

Back to schedule

Games increasingly explore complex, emotional and intimate themes - but doing so responsibly requires thoughtful design, clear processes and a strong safeguarding culture. This panel brings together developers and specialists to discuss how teams approach delicate subjects, support players and actors and create safe, respectful working environments across all stages of development.

Back to schedule

Tech Artists sit at the crossroads of creativity and engineering, turning artistic vision into functional, scalable and beautiful game experiences. This panel shines a light on the work they do - from shaders and VFX to pipelines, tools and problem-solving - and explores why Tech Art has become one of the most essential, impactful roles in modern development. Perfect for anyone curious about the craft behind the magic.

Back to schedule

A panel exploring how games can make a positive impact through accessibility, safeguarding, player wellbeing and inclusive community design. Speakers from community, development, education and performance share practical insight into creating safer, more welcoming experiences for everyone who plays.

Back to schedule

When Soundcuts posted a job advert for sound designers, we received over 250 applications. In this talk, Lewis will take you behind the scenes of the entire hiring process: filtering through application emails, reviewing showreels, conducting interviews, and evaluating sound tests. He’ll break down the most common mistakes that led to early rejections, highlight what truly impressed the Soundcuts team, and share practical advice on how to craft an application that rises above the rest. Whether you're breaking into game audio or looking to sharpen your approach, this session offers some real-world insight into what studios are truly looking for when hiring sound designers.

Back to schedule

A combined panel discussing education for gameaudio via guildford's own ACM, and avenues into the industry from sucessful juniors. Resources, techniques, attitudes and online presence to name a few.

Back to schedule

No Man's Sky features a groundbreaking generative soundtrack essential to the procedural game design that breathes life into every undiscovered planet. From the haunting hum of deep space to the reactive chittering of alien wildlife, the soundscapes evolve dynamically with your adventure. Paul Weir, audio director at Hello Games, will take us through the decade-long procedural audio creation journey, developing new approaches to overcome the unique challenges and opening up the Wwise project and processes.

Back to schedule

It is 1975, Caz McLeary works on an offshore oil platform when disaster strikes. An accidentally drilled up supernatural entity is transforming and sinking the rig along with everyone onboard. Surrounded by twisted, agonising versions of his former colleagues, Caz’s only focus is surviving the nightmare to return to his family. This dark scenario proved ideal for the speaker, Daan Hendriks, to finally put into practice lots of inspiration from his years recording and observing wildlife and nature. In this talk, he’ll give an overview of how the natural world influenced the game’s audio development. He will discuss using ambient systems to express the supernatural organically, and how hybrid vocalisations allowed transformed characters to retain a strong sense of humanity.

Back to schedule

Following on from the success of last years music essentials panel, we continue a multi-displinary discussion to unearth new revenue streams for composers, discuss contracts and oppourtunities for composers to not only survive but thrive, this year adding discussions around starting out.

Back to schedule

Criterion continue their immense influence in the Guilford games community combining with other EA studios for their latest success Battlefield 6 and we are lucky to host a very rare deep dive into the Guilford audio teams's work on the title.

Back to schedule