In May, the Hub Crawl returned in style with the second leg kicking off in Manchester. Developers Unite has been warmly received by speakers and attendees alike, that we couldn’t roll up the banners for the final time after Belfast. So, in sunnier weather Ukie headed to Barclays DiSH for an evening of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, drinks, laughter and connecting.
First up was Matt Knott from Nequinox who discussed the 10 maxims to power resilience in your games development team. He introduced his talk by explaining his background and his belief that ‘everyone has the right to play’. By introducing these 10 maxims, Matt suggested they enable teams to not only build resilience but provide the foundation for effective and equable leadership, better wellbeing and strong team values. What are these 10 maxims that you can build into your team leadership or company? You have to watch the recording to find out! Watch Matt’s talk here
Next up was Hollie Emery from a company that is certainly making waves in the industry (and you may have seen the on the January cover of MCV/DEVELOP) – Bonsai Collective! Hollie tapped in their experience in the games industry working in publishing to becoming an indie studio, to walk attendees through good practices of game pitching. A must watch video for anyone starting to reach out to publishers and investors. Watch Hollie’s talk here
Finally, we had Charis Reid from Radical Forge who discussed the tricky subject of promoting staff freedom whilst protecting your studio. Taking the perspective that someone working in games are often naturally creative people with their own interests, Charis argued that companies need to be more flexible and encourage an environment that promote sharing of knowledge and creative production that isn’t always aligned to company projects. Walking us through policies she’s advised and helped implement at Radical Forge, the talk becomes an introduction for those managing creatives. Watch Charis’s talk here.
Wrapping up the night is of course our Hub Crawl Hero – in Manchester this was Carl Jones from Cloud Imperium. What stood out from this fireside chat was the laughter and interactions from the audience. All were invested in finding out more about this studio who have experienced tremendous growth, in sometimes unorthodox ways. We discussed pipelines behind integrating player feedback into the development process and how good feedback is filtered from bad plus much more. To watch the talk with Carl, click here.
The night completed with the Hub Crawl standard of drinks and pizza. Carrying on the general joviality of the event and enjoying the late spring warmth – some of the attendees carried on well into the evening. That for Ukie, is certainly a Hub Crawl win.
A big thank you to our partners Barclays for coming with us and supporting us on the extended leg of the Hub Crawl. Next up is London!