Game Design Panel with Shay Thompson

On the opening night of the festival, join the directors from award-winning games studios No Code and more with BBC Sounds presenter Shay Thompson, for a discussion around the creative processes behind game design, and the impact and meaning of games on our societies.

Shay Thompson
Shay Thompson is a presenter and video producer working in the games industry. Shay previously hosted McLaren’s Shadowcast and appeared in other McLaren Shadow Project related content on YouTube. Outside of that, Shay has also hosted panels and podcasts for Bafta and is currently appearing on the BBC Sounds podcast, Press X to Continue.  

Jon McKellan

With over a decade of experience in the industry, working on genre-defining games such as Alien: Isolation and Red Dead Redemption 2, Jon formed his own studio No Code with business partner Omar in 2015. Since then, Jon has been the studio’s creative director, writer, and artist on their two critically acclaimed and BAFTA-winning games Stories Untold (2017) and Observation (2019). Having started out in User Interface design and Motion Graphics, Jon’s stories and vision merges his old role with his new, building exciting and surreal narrative experiences that often center around UI driven technology. 

Website: nocodestudio.com
Twitter: jon_nocode | _NoCode

Dan Pinchbeck
Dan co-founded The Chinese Room as an experimental mod team back in 2007, releasing their first commercial title, the cult Dear Esther in 2012. He went on to lead the team to produce three more multi-award winning, internationally renowned titles: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and So Let Us Melt. Since joining the Sumo family in 2018, TCR has released the technicolour adventure Little Orpheus, currently nominated for 2 DICE awards. Dan has a PhD in first-person shooters, which just goes to show it’s possible to get a PhD in anything these days.

Website: thechineseroom.co.uk
Twitter: @chineseroom

Malath Abbas
Malath Abbas is a game designer, artist and producer working on experimental and meaningful games in Scotland. Malath is a founding member of Biome Collective, a creative studio, community and digital space for people to create, collaborate and explore new frontiers in games, digital art and technology.

Malath has produced and created games and interactive installations including Killbox and Shpeel, as well as founding and directing the game festival Arcadia that aims to empower marginalised voices in the game sector. Malath volunteers on a number of boards as trustee and adviser including the Scotland based charity Scottish Game Development Association. 

Website: biomecollective.com
Twitter: @maltron3d

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