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MGA SPEAKERS
Dan Da Rocha | Ten Hut Games
"Dan is the Founder and Game Director at Ten Hut Games. He broke into the games industry straight from University with hit indie game, Q.U.B.E., and was able to pay back its investment within 4 days of the game being on sale. Since then, he has grown a full-time game studio and after 9 years in the industry, has released several critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles such as Q.U.B.E. 1, Q.U.B.E. 2 and Hue across 10 gaming platforms.
Kish Hirani | Terra Virtua
Kish Hirani, London based, is the CTO of Terra Virtua, an entertainment-focussed digital collectibles platform across Mobile, AR and VR, with social, videogaming and creative experiences, enabled by blockchain. He started in the video games industry in 1996 as a programmer the day after graduating with a Masters from Edinburgh University, moving to technical leadership roles at notable development studios and publisher houses (Acclaim, BBC Multimedia, THQ) for the first half in the industry. He then moved over to platform-holders starting with Microsoft and soon after to Sony as their Head of Developer Services, running the PlayStation developer technology services division.
Thomas Guindeuil | UBISOFT
Thomas worked as a historian and international research project coordinator in Ethiopia. He is a specialist of the medieval and early modern Horn of Africa and now works as an “inspirational content advisor”, specialized in historical and cultural topics, within the Editorial Creative Services team at Ubisoft’s headquarters. He managed historical research and documentation on the last episode of Assassin’s Creed (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey), set in ancient Greece.
Chandana Ekanayake | Outerloop Games
Co-Founder and Studio Director at Outerloop Games, and has over twenty years experience as a video game designer and art director. Outerloop's first game Falcon Age is a sci-fi narrative action adventure about raising a baby falcon and reclaiming a cultural legacy from a force of automated colonizers.
Petter Hendriksson | Landfall Games
Has been developing games since 2012, and has since then worked and both successful and very unsuccessfull projects. He is currently working on Totally Accurate Battle Simulator handling self publishing, marketing and paper things.
Andrea Hayes | Hubblegum
Andrea is an indie video game developer and owner of “Hubblegum” based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She graduated with her honors degree from The University of The Witwatersrand in 2017, where she studied video game design. She is currently studying her Masters Degree at Wits which focuses on the representation of female characters within video games. Andrea is a co-owner of the game development company, "Hubblegum".
Ryan Morrison | IP Laywer
Ryan has made a name for himself within the legal industry as someone focused on making sure the law protects everyone, not just the financially superior. Whether it be matters of intellectual property, complex contract issues or just making sure you are comfortable as you take your company forward into the future, Ryan has handled it all. Deemed “The Video Game Attorney” by the countless developers he has helped through his free online legal Q&A’s, Ryan understands that this new and innovative industry requires a new and innovative approach to law.
Khumo Moerane | Africa Space Programme
In 2019, Khumo founded Africa Space Programme Video Games Studio and Publishing. Their first video game Kea’s World: Tselane and the Giant is a magical 2.5D platform adventure game about exploring and restoring African folklore. Kea’s World features folklore in multiple African languages, from isiZulu to Swahili, the fully narrated Tselane and the Giant Folklore, comprehension tests and a colouring book. Kea’s World has recently been released on the Google Play Store. The Africa Space Programme was also created to promote African video game development across the African continent and to help bring as many diverse African developers as possible to help grow our industry.
Ciro Continisio | Unity
Ciro Continisio leads the EMEA Evangelist team at Unity. He and his team travel around the EMEA region and spread the word about Unity, with a focus on Games. In the past, he used to develop games with his own company and worked as a tester at EA. He likes to bring advanced development practices and optimisation tricks into his talks, occasionally touching on game design too.
Nathan Masyuko | Ludiqueworks
Nathan is the CEO at LudiqueWorks. He is a video games enthusiast whose passion and work has taken him across
the globe as an evangelist for gaming in Africa. Nathan has also won several awards for his work on mobile games
and game design, and in 2009 pioneered international e-sports in Kenya.
the globe as an evangelist for gaming in Africa. Nathan has also won several awards for his work on mobile games
and game design, and in 2009 pioneered international e-sports in Kenya.
Mario Rizzo | Artisan Studios
A Veteran game designer, producer, and executive for some of the top franchises in the industry (such as Star Wars, FIFA, The Division, and Warhammer). Mario has held senior management roles at Sony Online Entertainment (a division of Sony Pictures), Electronic Arts, Inc., and Ubisoft Entertainment. In 2016, he co-founded the award-winning Artisan Studios, Inc. in Canada. A development studio specializing in the creation of console / PC video games for the Japanese market and the first foreign studio co-funded by the city of Québec.
Vikki Erikson | Cape Peninsula University
Vikki is a design theory and research lecturer, focusing on participatory design practices and understanding socio-technical solutions. She is a tenured member of staff at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, in the Department of Design and one of the directors of the Innovative Design Education Africa (IDEA) Collective. Her doctorate explored the human experience of online services and the evolving socio-technical realities of older adults' interaction online.
Lars Espeter | Academy of Digital Arts
Lars Espeter developed and published his first game, Skullitaire, in 1993 as a Shareware title.In the past 26 years he has been developing and working on games developed by his own team as well as for advertising agencies, manufacturers, education developers, architects, game development teams and more, for the likes of Volkswagen, Skoda, BBDO and Total SA.
From 2007 to 2014 he developed and ran a three-year game development and game design course for the German academy Designschule Schwerin and its sister school Designschule Leipzig.
From 2007 to 2014 he developed and ran a three-year game development and game design course for the German academy Designschule Schwerin and its sister school Designschule Leipzig.
Bhavanesh Pharaboo | IDC
Experienced dealmaker within the IDC’s Media & Audio-Visual Unit looking at deals across the media value-chain.
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