Andrew J Smith is a Bafta award-winning Games Designer and is also the MD of Spilt Milk Studios, an independent games developer based in Essex. Currently working day and night to make Hard Lines on iOS a success, he’s spent 7 years designing games for all kinds of platforms including PS2 and Xbox, 360, PS3, XBLA, PC and now that chunk of the future in your pocket.

Phil Stuart is co-founder and Creative Director of Preloaded, a London-based games studio. Over the past 11 years Phil has overseen the studios most successful games including Science Museum’s Launchball game, Wellcome Collection ‘High Tea’ and Channel 4 Education’s highly commended series of happiness-inducing mini-games for SuperMe. Most recently he has led the design of ‘The End’, a game about death, and is currently working a socially-concious social game called ‘Footfall’, both for C4 Education. Preloaded just won a Design Week Award for Science Musueum’s ‘Thingdom’ and is about to launch the official Paralympics games for C4. Day-to-day he is found doing a mixture of game-design, creative direction and strategy.

Keith Stuart is lead games correspondent for The Guardian newspaper and a veteran technology journalist. He regularly writes for industry bible Edge as well as the Official PlayStation Magazine and The Observer. He has also covered games and consumer technology for T3, FHM, Sleaze Nation, PC Gamer, Games Master and PSM3. He has chaired discussions on game culture at the Bradford Animation Festival, Bafta, Gamescom and GameCity.

Daniel Efergan is Creative Director of Digital at Aardman Animations. That means he gets to spend a lot of time doing fun things making games, nurturing online communities, creating mutli-platform extravaganzas and generally solving other peoples’ digital problems.

He’s particularly interested in creative programming and the future of human/computer interaction and it’s effect on society. He likes philosophy, and if he wasn’t so busy would love to work out the meaning of life.

Digital is the newest department within Aardman Animations with a mission to take some of the warm and creative imagination that informs Aardman’s film and TV production and direct it into new online entertainment products for other clients and as well as its own properties.

Ben Furneaux is a designer behind a new gaming platform built for all web connected devices: Turbulenz.

Turbulenz was founded in early 2009 by a group of former Directors from Electronic Arts. Since then, the team has grown to include developers and business leaders from some of the world’s leading entertainment companies such as Apple, Sony, Google, Square Enix and Eidos. Turbulenz is privately funded and has raised over $5 million to date

Joining in early 2010, starting out as an interface and experience designer, Ben helped marry Turbulenz’s advanced HTML5 game engine technology with a social network to create an entirely new gaming experience, set to debut in 2012.

Ben previously worked for Philips Research as a user experience designer, then at gaming company amBX creating immersive lighting for AAA games including; Far Cry 2, Brother in Arms: Hells Highway, Supreme Commander and Overlord. He graduated from the University of Plymouth with a BSc in Digital Art and Technology.

As a graduate with a Masters Degree specialising in Business James joined Kuju in 1995.After a quick career he became head of Kuju’s Surrey studio, responsible for sales, forming strategies and preparing for the next generation, as well as overseeing Dark Messiah of Might and Magic multiplayer and Dungeons and Dragons: Tactics. He then “span-off” a new studio, “doublesix”, whilst delivering the critically acclaimed and award winning Geometry Wars: Galaxies. doublesix has gone on to create several games in the digital distribution space, such as South Park, Top Gun and Iron Man as well as the studios major success Burn Zombie Burn. James is now leading doublesix into the bold and exciting new world of self-published digital distribution, creating “small” and fun games more like the way they used to be made.

Ella Romanos is MD and co-owner of Remode, an interactive production and game development studio in the UK. Remode create their own original games and also work with clients and partners to deliver interactive content across web, mobile and gaming platforms.

Remode’s debut game, Mole Control, was released worldwide in 2010 on Steam and has also been published at retail in North America by leading casual game publisher Mumbo Jumbo.

Client projects are primarily online and mobile, including games for CITV’s show Tati’s Hotel, TNT’s Franklin & Bash, CBS’s Big Bang Theory and Bravo’s Top Chef.

Ella grew up between Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the UK, and in 2008 received a 1st class honours from University of Plymouth’s Digital Art & Technology BSc. Having previously worked for London-based Specialmoves, her background is in programming and user-centred design, but she now spends most her time on business development, project management, strategy and sales!

She was a finalist in the 2011 UK Women in Technology awards ‘Innovator of the Year’ category, speaks at international conferences such as MIPTV and Develop and co-founded Extended Play as a board member of Designed in Devon, a non-profit organisation which supports the creative industries in the south west.

Ed Fear is a producer and writer at London-based Curve Studios. Originally a journalist and one-time deputy editor of Develop magazine, he’s now managing a team on one of the firm’s upcoming (and MIND-BENDINGLY AWESOME) projects. He likes karaoke, writing, pop music, sadistic JRPGs, and arguing the case for Lady Gaga as a Cultural Messiah.

Paul has been designing, developing and producing online games for the past 8 years. Since co-founding Mediatonic 5 years ago he has helped grow the firm to a team of 40 staff based in Covent Garden.

Traditionally Mediatonic has worked with major entertainment brands to being their content to the web in innovative new forms. Mediatonic clients include EA, SEGA, Disney, Nickelodeon, Lego, Universal Pictures, Cartoon Network, Popcap and Namco.

Key commercial projects include the official web games for the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics, an online Sonic level editor for SEGA and Amateur Surgeon for Adultswim.

In the past few years Mediatonic has expanded into developing and publishing its own original content focusing on digitally distributed platforms such as social networks, PSP and iPhone.

So far Mediatonic has developed and self-published several critically acclaimed titles including ‘MUST.EAT.BIRDS’ for iPhone and ‘Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess!’ for PSP Minis with several new social games launching over the next few months.

At Mediatonic Paul’s role primarily involves managing Business Development and Creative Direction.

Simon joined the games industry in 1999 as a programmer working on everything from low level graphics tech and optimisation to networking and gameplay. In 2005 he founded Four Door Lemon Ltd to develop games, middleware and provide full production services to the industry in the form of work-for-hire. Having now worked on almost every gaming platform and a wide variety of projects Simon and the company are now devoting more of their time to self-publishing projects. Recent projects include Tic Toc Body Pop, Cricket Captain 2011, Munch’s Oddysee HD with JAW/Oddworld Inhabitants and the recently announced The Lighthouse.

Jo is Commissioning Editor, Education at Channel 4. She joined the channel in 2010 from the BBC, where she was Multiplatform Commissioner for Entertainment & Switch responsible for digital formats and online products. Before that, she was BBC Three Multiplatform Channel Editor and led the online strategy for the channel’s rebrand. She re-joined the BBC in 2007 after heading up Digital Society & Media research at the ippr. Her earlier career was as a journalist for Newsround then BBC News online, commentating across digital print, radio and TV. She holds a Ph.D. which looked at online communities, digital inclusion and youth identity.

Joanna J. Bryson is an academic specialised in two areas: the advancement of systems artificial intelligence (AI), and the use of AI simulations to further the understanding of natural intelligence, including human culture. She holds degrees in behavioural science, psychology and artificial intelligence from Chicago (BA), Edinburgh (MSc and MPhil), and MIT (PhD). She joined The University of Bath in 2002, where she was made a Reader in Computer Science in 2010. Between 2007-2009 she held the Hans Przibram Fellowship for EvoDevo at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Altenberg, Austria. In 2010 she was a visiting research fellow in the University of Oxford’s Department of Anthropology, working on the Explaining Religion project, and for 2011 she is a visiting research fellow at the Mannheimer Zentrum fur Europäische Sozialforschung. At Bath she heads Artificial Models of Natural Intelligence, where she and her colleagues publish in biology, anthropology, cognitive science and systems AI.

Richard Vickers is a Principal Lecturer at the Lincoln School of Media, University of Lincoln. He became interested in the possibilities of interactive multimedia way back in 1994 and gained industry practice as a multimedia producer, working on a broad range of web and interactive media projects for commercial clients and arts organisations, before moving into lecturing. Richard is a practicing digital media artist, producer and consultant.

Ignon is an independent group of multimedia artists and producers from Salzburg, Austria and operates at the gateway of art and technology. Founded by Rene Baumgartner and Fabian Bergner in the year of 2008, ignon develops and produces interactive installations, innovative video games, mobile applications and prototypes of future-oriented technologies and interfaces. Besides the production of creative and professional applications by day, ignon also stages with audio-visual performances in the electronic music scene. They are widely known for their impulsive and energetic live performances including photon kicking images, pervading sounds and a pleasant pinch of modulated madness. This form of art expresses their ongoing war ‘man vs. man vs. machine’, which is not only fought on flat surfaces and plain speakers but moreover three-dimensional space and time. Therefore the complete environment is used as artistic playground to offer an immersive and literally surrounding experience to the audience.

Ed Fear is a producer and writer at London-based Curve Studios. Originally a journalist and one-time deputy editor of Develop magazine, he’s now managing a team on one of the firm’s upcoming (and MIND-BENDINGLY AWESOME) projects. He likes karaoke, writing, pop music, sadistic JRPGs, and arguing the case for Lady Gaga as a Cultural Messiah.

Ana Kronschnabl is CEO and creative director at the digital media and computer games company FluffyLogic. She has an MA in TV production and has taught at UWE and Bristol University on Digital Media with a research background in content creation for digital distribution, aesthetics and viral technology. Ana is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of web-film project plugincinema. She has a background in film & TV production and branding, which includes establishing and running the video production company Cambridge Video Unit, the film and animation workshop at Chapter Arts in Cardiff, as well as working for the BBC and Granada. She is also the co-author of ‘Plug In & Turn On: A Guide to Internet Filmmaking’ (2004).

FluffyLogic has experience producing traditional console games for Sony with Savage Moon – PSN (2008), Savage Moon: Hera – PSP (2009) & Eat Them – PSN (2010) as well as making located games for handhelds, apps and games for the iPhone, iPad, WP7 etc. Ana’s interest in viral marketing & fan development is being applied in the realm of social gaming, with their latest game Ur Zoo which is due for release in October 2011: FluffyLogic’s first venture into Freemium & IAPs using their own IP.

Paul has been designing, developing and producing online games for the past 8 years. Since co-founding Mediatonic 5 years ago he has helped grow the firm to a team of 40 staff based in Covent Garden.

Traditionally Mediatonic has worked with major entertainment brands to being their content to the web in innovative new forms. Mediatonic clients include EA, SEGA, Disney, Nickelodeon, Lego, Universal Pictures, Cartoon Network, Popcap and Namco.

Key commercial projects include the official web games for the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics, an online Sonic level editor for SEGA and Amateur Surgeon for Adultswim.

In the past few years Mediatonic has expanded into developing and publishing its own original content focusing on digitally distributed platforms such as social networks, PSP and iPhone.

So far Mediatonic has developed and self-published several critically acclaimed titles including ‘MUST.EAT.BIRDS’ for iPhone and ‘Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess!’ for PSP Minis with several new social games launching over the next few months.

At Mediatonic Paul’s role primarily involves managing Business Development and Creative Direction.

Clare is director of iShed, a subsidiary of Watershed, and The Pervasive Media Studio, Watershed’s multi-disciplinary research lab. She works with industry, academic and creative partners to develop talent, share knowledge and produce collaborative research projects in the creative technology space. Projects include the R&D investment schemes Media Sandbox and Theatre Sandbox and the Pervasive Media Studio Artists residencies.

Clare joined Watershed in Bristol in 2004 to work with HP Labs on utility computing animation project SE3D. Previously, she organised the Cheltenham Festival of Science, an annual five day festival exploring, promoting and encouraging debate around contemporary scientific development.

Clare is a member of the advisory boards of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Advisory Board, Theatre Bristol, Capsule and Hide&Seek. She was a finalist in the British Council’s UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur 2009 and has featured in Wired magazine’s 100 people who shape the Wired world in 2010 and 2011.

Ian is a founding partner at Tenshi Ventures. He has been growing and leading businesses in the games and technology sectors since 1989. This has included a 4 year spell as CEO of 300 man game developer Kuju Entertainment, an IPO on the AIM market, several trade sales of businesses and various fund raising exercises. Operationally, Ian led Kuju’s creative and business development expertise for many years, acquiring in-depth knowledge of marketing and brand development in the creative sector.
Ian graduated from Bristol University with an Honours degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1985.
Outside of his commercial roles, Ian was Chairman of TIGA, the UK games developers’ trade association, for 4 years. He is a Director of the South East Media Network organisation, a member of the Game Developers Conference Advisory Board and a Director of the One Big Game charity initiative. Ian is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the British Computer Society.

Ian Hamilton is an awarded interaction designer & accessibility specialist with over 10 years digital experience, including a 5 year stint at the BBC. At the BBC he led work on web games for loved CBBC and CBeebies brands such as Trapped and Something Special, alongside providing accessibility advice across game and web products across the organisation, and writing the BBC’s games accessibility standards & guidelines.

Dan Livingstone has a 10 year track record of initiating successful graduate start up companies in the creative industries, and has continued to provide support to these companies through Proof of Concept funded projects, mentorship and consultancy. He has secured support from University Research and Innovation department and is the enterprise enabler and commercialisation steering committee representative for the School of Computing and Mathematics. Dan is also the course leader for BSc Computing & Games Development and leads the Interactive Systems Studio at University of Plymouth. He is also an academic partner with the International Centre for New Media, ICNM, Salzburg on a pan European knowledge Transfer initiative.

Ignon is an independent group of multimedia artists and producers from Salzburg, Austria and operates at the gateway of art and technology. Founded by Rene Baumgartner and Fabian Bergner in the year of 2008, ignon develops and produces interactive installations, innovative video games, mobile applications and prototypes of future-oriented technologies and interfaces. Besides the production of creative and professional applications by day, ignon also stages with audio-visual performances in the electronic music scene. They are widely known for their impulsive and energetic live performances including photon kicking images, pervading sounds and a pleasant pinch of modulated madness. This form of art expresses their ongoing war ‘man vs. man vs. machine’, which is not only fought on flat surfaces and plain speakers but moreover three-dimensional space and time. Therefore the complete environment is used as artistic playground to offer an immersive and literally surrounding experience to the audience.

Mike Jones is a Platform Evangelist at Adobe focused on gaming. He is one of the original Flash Platform developers, starting his Flash career in 1996 when Flash was known as Futurewave Splash Animator, and has been at the heart of Flash Platform development ever since. Prior to joining Adobe he used to provide consultation, training and development services. Producing solutions for the likes of BBC, BT, Sony, Adobe, Mars and Diesel.

Mike is passionate about all technologies that enable people to realize their vision. He is also a self confessed gadget freak and gamer. When not doing his “day job” he’s also an author, contributor and provide technical advice for various publishers and publications including .Net magazine, Friends of ED and Addison Wesley.

Mike has spoken at many international events including:

Adobe MAX
Adobe Tech Summit
Back from MAX
Flash on the Beach
Flash in the Can (FitC)
Game Bandits Singapore

as well as numerous Flash Camps and user group meetings across the globe.