Last week, Ukie hopped across the Tyne bridge to return to Newcastle. Where, it is safe to say, we were made very welcome indeed. Newcastle turned out like never before to hear from our fantastic selection of speakers and to chat the night away over some pizzas and drinks. If you missed out, you can catch up with all the Newcastle talks on our Hub Crawl 2023 YouTube playlist alongside every other talk from this series so far.
Our first speaker was Clare and Luke from PROTO, a fantastic organisation based in Gateshead offering the first digital production facility of its kind in Europe. They partner with animators, film makers and games developers to help them create exciting and meaningful digital content. Offering 3D character, motion and audio capture in one unique place. Fascinated by the virtual production stage in Mandalorian? Maybe interested by 360 photography? As Luke said ‘if it’s good enough for Star Wars, it’s good enough for Gateshead’. Check out their talk here.
Next on was Grant Appleyard from Sports Interactive – who discussed how remote working is implemented at SI. From it’s inception before the pandemic to how it has changed post 2020 where remote working isn’t as rare as it used to be for large organisations. What came through from the talk is that remote isn’t something you adopt as a one size fits all, sometimes it needs to change even at a team level. Work out ideal channels of communication and as a manger, maintain 1-2-1s as a dedicated opportunity to catch up, monitor progress and spend time with your team. There’s many more top tips in the video so make sure you give it a watch!
Following on was Julia Melvin from Ubisoft Reflections who discussed wellbeing initiatives. Highlighting how in UK games industry studies have reported 18 percent of the workforce experiences a physical health condition (compared to 11 percent of the general population) and 38 percent have reported anxiety, depression or both. This video is a must watch for HR professionals on why looking after employee wellbeing is good for business. Watch the video here.
Our final talk was from Tim Wilson of Atomhawk who reflected on his 8 years at the company and why a vision matters. Suggesting how ‘if you get the vision right, it acts as a lens for everything you are doing in the business’. From building and nurturing your community, through to growth and expansion. Vision provides stability and as Tim highlighted, ‘stability is sexy right now’. Watch the full talk here.
Finally, we welcomed our Hub Crawl Hero Iain Farrell of Double Eleven onto the stage where we discussed the origin of Double Eleven, how the industry has changed from 2010, what Double Eleven would like to leave as a legacy and a celebration of game development in the North East of England. Watch the full fireside chat here.
As always, thank you to Barclays for allowing us to use their Eagle Lab in Newcastle as part of our Hub Crawl Partnership.