Yorkshire Games Festival

Last Friday, I went to Yorkshire Games Festival in the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford (it was a 2-day event, but we were scheduled in for uni on Thursday). Even though it was more focused on games development and design, I felt it related to my specialist practice and my interest to be a video game animator/character designer.

Me and the squad posing beside a clock tower whose name I do not know.

Our silhouettes

Here's a summary of what I learnt and how it applies to me:

William Pugh, Crows Crows Crows - A guide to unconventional games development:

You can get a lot from simply knowing people, or if people know you have a certain skill/niche/style,
A lot of free-to-play unprofitable games can pave the way to bigger projects (this could apply to animation/illustration, aka 'exposure'),
(I also learnt what twine games were, I might want to have a go at making one).
If you can't be personal with a pitch, be brief and concise.

Patrick O’Luanaigh, nDreams - The futures of games:

Cloud computing, VR, and AR are is likely to explode in popularity over the next five or ten years, this means a lot of VR/AR animation jobs might open up, or even jobs we don't even have names for yet!

Alysia Judge - How to talk to games media:

Games media is important for marketing (useful information in the event I want to create and release a video game),
A good press release has images/gifs. Good images usually have:

Human faces
Bright images
Action/mid-fight shot
Main subjects that fall in the rule of thirds grid.

Emma Hollingsworth, Coatsink - Principles in practice:

(This was the only animation-focused talk, but it was more focused to beginner animators as it talked about the basics of the timing and spacing principles of animation. However, I did learn a lot too.)
Timing and spacing have a huge impact on the acting/weight of a movement,
Some tips and tricks I learnt:

don't overlook environmental animation (like doors and curtains),
practice body mechanics,
make your own reference footage - BE SILLY,

"Just because you graduate without a job doesn't mean you won't get one,"
It's important to show the different styles you can do (cartoony/realistic) in a showreel,
If you've got your principles down, but no game design experience (like me!), that's not going to stop you getting a job in the games industry.