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11:45am
Amy Elliott Sumo Digital11:45am - 12:30pmSpace 7Building Efficient Custom Tools in Unity to Improve Team Collaboration
Thursday 14th November11:45am - 12:30pmSpace 7In this talk, you’ll learn about custom tool development in Unity to improve workflows and collaboration between technical and creative teams.
We’ll explore the many methods of creating tooling in the Unity Editor, including Custom Inspectors, EditorWindows, and ScriptableObjects, to build user-friendly systems that make it easier for other disciplines to engage with them.
We will also discuss how building tools can reduce feedback loops, improve iteration speeds, and cut down on miscommunication, showing real-world insights on how great tooling can improve communication and workflow efficiency in game development.
You’ll also see practical examples of custom Unity tooling and how this can make your team stronger.
Session Takeaway
- You will learn how to build custom Unity tools.
- You will learn how to use ScriptableObjects.
- Understand how creating tools can improve communication and workflows in game studios by reducing friction between disciplines.
- You will leave with steps to implement your own tools to boost your team's efficiency and improve project management!
12:45pm
Claire Blackshaw Flammable Penguins Games12:45pm - 1:30pmSpace 2Godot: A Professional Perspective
Thursday 14th November12:45pm - 1:30pmSpace 2Claire, an industry veteran with experience across multiple game engines and platforms, will provide an overview of Godot from a professional standpoint. This talk covers the technical, workflow, and business reasons behind engine choices, offering valuable insights into Godot's ecosystem, structure, and practical applications. The session will delve into the technical aspects of Godot, exploring its framework and how it compares to other industry-standard engines like Unity and Unreal.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of Godot's strengths and limitations, learning when it might be the ideal choice for a project and when other options might be more suitable. Claire will share her experience-based perspectives on integrating Godot into professional game development workflows, discussing performance considerations, tool ecosystems, and adaptation strategies. Whether you're a seasoned developer considering a switch or a studio evaluating new technologies, this talk will equip you with the knowledge to make informed decisions about adopting Godot in your projects.
Session Takeaway
- Understand the pros and cons of choosing Godot over Unity/Unreal for specific project types
- Gain insight into Godot's core structure and framework, including how it's built and how developers interact with it
- Learn about potential gotchas and surprising elements when transitioning to Godot from other engines
- Acquire a balanced view of Godot's place in the professional game development ecosystem
2:15pm
Steve Humphries Compute-Unit2:15pm - 3:00pmSpace 1Coder++: Practical Hints, Tips and Advice on How to Level-Up your Programming
Thursday 14th November2:15pm - 3:00pmSpace 1Steve, a games industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, will provide a number of hints, tips and insights for both new and aspiring programmers, and seasoned professionals alike, looking to level-up their skills in a competitive climate. Steve will discuss the practicalities of rapid, iterative, development and how it can offer quicker feedback and learning opportunities whilst improving productivity. Advice will be offered for aspiring programmers seeking to differentiate themselves in a competitive environment, established developers looking to expand their horizons or seasoned professionals aiming to move to the next level of seniority.
Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of the opportunities available to begin, improve or expand their programming career and take it to the next level. Steve will share his perspectives based on decades of experience working as a low-level graphics and engine programmer and more recently as a Technical Director. The talk will also aim to equip attendees with a greater understanding of what hiring managers look for in new hires, what line managers look for when performing appraisals and areas that established Senior or Principal programmers might consider when mentoring others.Session Takeaway
- Insights for aspiring programmers looking to break into or get a head-start in the industry
- Practical programming hints and tips that are simple yet powerful
- Advice for both aspiring and established programmers on how to level-up
- Examples for established developers looking to differentiate themselves in a competitive climate
4:15pm
Mark Craig Lucid Games4:15pm - 5:00pmSpace 1Game Development Using Unreal Engine
Thursday 14th November4:15pm - 5:00pmSpace 1Developing games using Unreal Engine brings with it a number of new opportunities and also a number of new problems.Lucid Games has been developing games for Unreal Engine for over 10 years and we have worked on over 10 games both internally and as co-dev partners.
I’m going to talk about a number of problems many developers have experienced and how we overcame them. I will also talk about some of the things we've learnt on how to get the best out of Unreal Engine, some common misconceptions as well as some tips and tricks.Session Takeaway
- Expand your knowledge of how Unreal works
- Improve you Unreal workflows
- Help reduce the number of problems when it comes to shipping your Unreal game
- Consider the move to Unreal if you're not using it
5:15pm
Fred Gill Antidote Gamers5:15pm - 6:00pmSpace 2Tech Learnings from Five Years of Apex Legends
Thursday 14th November5:15pm - 6:00pmSpace 2Apex Legends was a closely guarded secret within EA and launched unannounced on Feb 4th 2019. Within a week over 25M players had played, and over 2M concurrently; within a month over 50M players had played Apex Legends. This talk covers just over 5 years of Apex Legends development from April 2018 to August 2023 (10 months before launch to Season #18). How did the team apply all the learnings from Titanfall and Titanfall2 to ensure a smooth launch of a free game with no 'technical test' or closed beta or open beta? How and why did we make choices around which tech, gameplay and backend systems were critical versus nice-to-have for launch, i.e. anti-cheat, player reporting, crash reporting, esports support, etc? How did we decide build-vs-buy? From the euphoria and "launch phew" to "we have to ship four large season updates reliably each year" - how tech priorities changed over the first 18 seasons and why, and how the engine, build and test infrastructure, backend and engineering team evolved to support those priorities, and the difficulties the team overcame.
Session Takeaway
The challenges and learnings the Apex tech team faced are very relevant to games planning a live service:
- Stability - how to add reliability and make your game stable while scaling to high volumes (with high volatility)
- Build vs Buy - understand how to evaluate dispassionately and find the right solution for now and tomorrow (and 5 years from now)
- Longevity - what team structure and shape are needed to support a long-term live service game - and how this differs from a "typical" team
- Team Health – what works and what to avoid to maximise team efficacy, performance, and well-being
- Resilience - things go wrong post-launch for every game - we'll cover how to minimise & overcome them
