Skills Week to take place during London Games Festival

From October 22nd to 26th, during the two-week London Games Festival, Skillset is to present a series of free sessions designed to provide information on getting into the games industry.

With support from EA, Nintendo, NCsoft, Weta Digital, Goldsmiths University, Rare, Ninja Theory, Blitz and Sumo, the six sessions cover topics like design, publishing and marketing, getting your first job, production management nad art.

The series of events is hosted by Skillset with support from the London Development Agency, Pixel-Lab and its London Games Fringe, part of the London Games Festival, which runs from October 22nd to the start of November.

“Game development has one of, if not the, most diverse skills requirements of all modern media ranging from mathematicians and physicists at one end of the spectrum to actors and architects at the other," explained Rare senior programmer Nick Burton.

"For the UK games industry to maintain its position as one of the world leaders we need to diversify recruitment into these new areas while continuing to work hard with the more traditional routes into our industry such as software engineering and art skills. Skills Week gives attendees the chance to discuss these issues and find out what it’s like working in the UK’s most exiting media industry from some of its most seasoned practitioners.”

The full schedule is as follows:

• Monday (Central St Martins, Holborn) – Publishing & Marketing Games (EA, Cake, Nintendo & NCSoft)
• Monday (01zero-one, Soho) – Modding Workshop – Design and build your own game in a day
• Tuesday (Truman Brewery, Corbet Place) – Game Design Day (Rare, Heavenly Sword)
• Wednesday (Truman Brewery, Corbet Place) – How to get your first job (EA, Weta, Goldsmiths)
• Thursday (Central St. Martins) – Game Production Management (Blitz, Monumental, Sumo)
• Friday (Central St. Martins) – The art of science (Weta, Heavenly Sword, Fallout, Hellboy and more)

"Skills Week asks all the difficult questions, encourages debate and seeks to provide answers to games industry skill shortages," added Matthew Jeffrey, head of European recruitment, EA. "It is a must attend event for games industry executives looking for recruitment answers.”

Toby Allen, assistant producer at Sumo Digital also added: “Skills Week brings a new opportunity to highlight the UK’s gaming industry and its current state of expansion as a world-class leader in game development. There has never been a better time or place to join the gaming industry for young and talented bright minds.”

More information, including details on how to register can be found here.