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11:00am
Erol Kentli Flix Interactive11:00am - 11:45amRoom 2Defining & Achieving Visual Quality!
Wednesday 15th July11:00am - 11:45amRoom 2As John Lasseter put it, “Quality is the best business plan”. This sounds simple enough, the higher the Quality of our project, the more successful it will be, right? Yet in an ever-evolving industry, with myriad competing considerations, how do we go about achieving quality? By what standards do we go about defining and subsequently strategize achieving it?
Games industry veteran Erol Kentli delves into the varied considerations, including:
- Visual style and target platform
- To the relationship between scope and finesse
- The impact of autonomy and team engagement
- The perspectives of the development team & the qualitative expectations of the buying public, and how these might differ
- Establishing quality benchmarks, whilst simultaneously front-loading performance testing
- How we might apply a variety of established creative and management methodologies to the realm of visual beauty with a view to strategizing success!
Along the way we’ll discuss VHS vs Betamax, cover Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs vs Erol’s Hierarchy of Art, flit by the psychology of perception and stop in with James Dyson and John Cleese. And then hopefully Erol will manage to bring this all together and discuss how we apply it to the creation of games Art that resonates at an emotional level… what fun!Session Takeaway
- Insight into considerations around what Quality is, how it is perceived & the benefits of pursuing it.
- How we can strategically plan & scope for Quality.
- How we jolly-well achieve Quality!
3:00pm
Gargi Roy Lab423:00pm - 3:45pmRoom 4Exploring Practical Applications of the 80:20 Rule in Concept Art
Wednesday 15th July3:00pm - 3:45pmRoom 4The Pareto Principle suggests that 80% of output comes from just 20% of input. For concept artists, this idea can be a powerful framework for deciding where to focus time, attention, and skill development, especially when working under tight deadlines and shifting project demands. In this session, a working concept artist will share how the 80/20 rule can be applied in practice: from rapidly learning new software and tools, to onboarding onto large, lore-heavy IPs, and prioritising daily tasks for maximum creative impact. The talk breaks down how to identify the set of features, skills, and decisions that consistently deliver extraordinary results. Attendees will leave with a practical, repeatable framework for improving efficiency, reducing wasted effort, and elevating their day-to-day performance as a concept artist in a production-focused environment.
Session Takeaway
- Using the 80/20 rule to understand softwares - what are the crucial elements we need to master to get the results we want?
- Creating workflows using the 80/20 rule.
- Using the 80/20 rule when trying to understand a new IP/lore/design principles.
- Planning and preparing for the end goal.
- Having an exit strategy to finish your concept pieces efficiently.
4:00pm
Andrej Horoschun Frontier Developments4:00pm - 4:45pmRoom 3On the Lore Around Art
Wednesday 15th July4:00pm - 4:45pmRoom 3Who is the artist, what is the circumstance of the artwork's creation, what is the fabric it tries to weave and how are its parts connected?
Session Takeaway
- Why art can't stand on its own and always comes with a context.
- On the importance of said context. What does the artist bring along, it's surrounding and what part comes from our selves.
- On the importance of a red thread that weaves itself through a body of work.
- Be it PR, myth building or unfortunate circumstance, how the context drives or tanks the value of an artwork.
5:00pm
Jessica Hyland Electronic Arts(Maxis)5:00pm - 5:45pmRoom 1Shaping The Sims: The Tech Art Behind A Flexible Character Creation Tool
Wednesday 15th July5:00pm - 5:45pmRoom 1Create-A-Sim is one of the most diverse character customisation systems out there, allowing players to see themselves - and a multitude of others! - in the world’s leading life simulation game.
Supporting that system with a constant stream of new content is no mean feat and I’d like to shed some light on the tech and the mindset that enables my team to quickly and intuitively create flexible and inclusive character content that reflects all facets of our huge, diverse and highly dedicated fanbase.
Tech that’s easy for artists to understand and use frees us up to be more efficient and more creative. Win-win for us and our players!
Session Takeaway
Players cherish diversity and will build you a solid fanbase
Being able to move with the times lets you live longer
The easier and more flexible you make tech to use for artists, the more they will make with it and the more creative they will be!
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2:00pm
Domingo Botteram Silver Moon Labs2:00pm - 2:45pmRoom 2Beyond Games: Architecture, Product Renders and More
Thursday 16th July2:00pm - 2:45pmRoom 2There are a lot of barriers for new juniors trying to enter the games industry. Quite often, jobs require previous experience, which is seemingly impossible to get because you need the experience to be hired in the first place. But what juniors often forget is that there are adjacent industries where they could find work and gain relevant experience to increase their chances.
In this session, I’ll share with you my journey as a 3D Environment Artist with over 7 years of experience in a multitude of industries. With the knowledge I have, I hope to inspire new talent to look beyond gaming to adjacent industries in order to gain skills, knowledge and experience in these industries while looking for smaller gigs in the shape of contracts in the games industry. As a result of adapting my workflow for each industry, I’ve learned that limitations are often perceptions, not realities.
I’ve found ways to thrive, and I know that many talented developers and artists will be able to do the same by slightly adjusting their vision for their career in a way that does not sacrifice their creativity.
Through real examples, showing my own projects, I’ll highlight how transferable 3D skills are and how to create a shadow portfolio that can earn juniors a side hustle with the potential of becoming a full time job. Architectural firms, interior designers, automotive companies, the cosmetic industry and even government departments rely on 3D renders for various projects that juniors have the relevant skillset to excel in.
This talk isn’t about making excuses, but about finding more opportunities that could expand your worldview. If the games industry asks for ten years of 3D experience, it does not have to just be in gaming.
Session Takeaway
How to convert art skills from Games to other industries
How to learn from the examples of industry veterans
Looking at other opportunities to gain experience as a 3D artist
Tangible next steps and places to seek further guidance
4:00pm
Elif Ulasoglu Pixomondo4:00pm - 4:45pmRoom 4What Games Can Steal from Film Pipelines (and What They Shouldn’t)
Thursday 16th July4:00pm - 4:45pmRoom 4Modern game development relies heavily on DCC tools such as Maya, Houdini, and Blender, yet these tools are often treated as isolated asset exporters rather than part of a cohesive pipeline.
In this session, I’ll share practical approaches for building more robust DCC pipelines for games by borrowing ideas from film and animation pipelines while also highlighting film workflows that break down in real-time production. Drawing on experience across film, animation, and game cinematics, I’ll cover which concepts translate well to games, which ones should be avoided, and how to adapt both without over-engineering.
The focus is on pipeline architecture and production realities rather than specific tools or code. Attendees will leave with concrete strategies for improving DCC pipelines to better support iteration, scale, and collaboration in modern game development.
Session Takeaway
- How stronger DCC pipeline structure improves iteration speed, stability, and collaboration across art, cinematics, and engineering.
- What kinds of pipeline capabilities games can benefit from, based on lessons learned from film and animation pipelines.
- Why investing in pipeline architecture and tooling pays off as teams and content scale.
