On the eve of the eighth London Games Festival, Games London is delighted to announce this year’s brand-new Ensemble talent line-up.
A flagship feature of the London Games Festival (29 March-9 April), Ensemble showcases Black, Asian and underrepresented ethnicities working in UK video games.
This year’s talent will be exhibited at various outdoor locations, commencing with a series of portraits showcased at the W.A.S.D. consumer event starting Thursday 30 March and then an outdoor installation unveiled at Trafalgar Square from Wednesday 5 April.
The Ensemble initiative champions game developers and creatives from a broad spectrum of roles and a wide variety of backgrounds. Curated by award-winning, bestselling author and artistic director Sharna Jackson, this year’s line-up includes experts in the fields of game direction, concept artist and illustration, writing, audio design, production and more.
Launched every year at London Games Festival and supported by Jagex and PlayStation, Ensemble spotlights and showcases inspiring stories in the workforce to promote diversity, advocate for new voices, and change perceptions.
Ensemble and London Games Festival are delivered by Games London, supported by the Mayor of London and delivered by Film London and Ukie.
The eight creatives selected for 2023 are:
- Cassandra Hughes, Director, creator, consultant, and care manager: Cassie is a streamer, creator and influencer who co-founded Black Twitch UK, a platform dedicated to highlighting the voices and content of black streamers in the UK. She is also the director of Nox Lumina, a platform for events that encourages safe spaces and educational resources as well as the managing director of a care agency that supports vulnerable adults.
- Samuel Amini Scaife, Founder of indie game studio “Canteen”: At the start of 2020, Samuel quit his job in digital advertising to pursue his dream of making games for a living and, shortly after, signed his first game with a publisher. He co-created a Brighton-based fighting game scene in 2011 and is currently working on the upcoming game, CorpoNation: The Sorting Process.
- Dr. Romana Ramzan, Producer: Romana is a producer at the BAFTA award-winning No Code Studio in Glasgow, where she is currently working on Silent Hill: Townfall. She was appointed to the BFI Board of Governors last year; she has served on the BAFTA Scotland Committee for Games and was one of the principal founders and organisers of the Scottish Game Jam.
- Wayne Emanuel, Global partner lead at TikTok: Wayne started in games advertising at King before building the award-winning gaming team at WarChild UK and joining TikTok in 2020 as part of the Global Gaming Content Team. Here he has contributed to several gaming activisions with diversity, equity and inclusion at their core, including the TikTok Black History Month UK 2020 industry and esports panels and TikTok’s support of the Women in Gaming Awards 2023.
- Chirag Machhar, Technical audio designer: After deciding to switch careers in his late 20s, Chirag moved to the UK from the vibrant city of Mumbai, India, to pursue a BA in Music and Sound for Image in 2018. He worked with an indie studio Coffee Bean Interactive after graduation, where he helped with the audio implementation, sound design and music composition for an FPS project. He is currently working with AAA studio Frontier Developments on the F1 Manager series, having joined them in Feb 2022.
- Yoyu Li, Independent Game Maker: Yoyu started a board game publishing business while in university and grew the business to over 100 employees before eventually selling the company. Her first credit on a video game was as a narrative designer for Reigns: Three Kingdoms, developed by Nerial and published by Devolver Digital last year. She is also the founder of the independent game studio Infinite Whys and is currently working on her studio’s debut game, Whispers in the West, an online co-op murder mystery game set in the wild west.
- Ben Wilson, Game Developer: Introduced to game making while at university, Ben picked up Unity and Unreal Engine 34 and started making games in his free time. He became a solo indie developer before getting his first games job as a Game designer at Sumo Digital Nottingham. He has worked on games including Team Sonic Racing, Sackboy, Forza Horizon 4 (DLC) and Evader. Today he is Creative Producer at Die Gute Fabrik, currently working on their upcoming unannounced project.
- Roman Alkan, Game Developer: At age 18, Roman started a website where she created online games for young women, gaining her a large social following. She released her first commercial game on Steam in 2017 and has been developing games full-time for around 15 years. Her games include titles such as Cardinal Cros and Oathbreaker, and GlamPursuit, an upcoming visual novel/simulation game inspired by the entertainment industry.
Curator Sharna Jackson, who chose the eight, said: “Ensemble is five! I’m delighted to be once again curating another cohort of extremely bright, bold and brilliant talent across different roles in the UK games industry. Once again, we forefront the importance of a diverse industry by demonstrating its significance in the creation of rich and intoxicating words and experiences for everyone.
Vibrant and essential work is being created by Black, Asian and minority ethnic talent in the UK’s games industry each and everyday day. That needs to be celebrated – and it’s imperative that talent is attracted, developed, and crucially retained by the sector for it to continue to succeed.”
Ensemble launched in 2018 and has since been a tentpole moment in the annual festival, helping change perceptions around games creation in the UK. The Ensemble showcase launches and refreshes each year at London Games Festival with a programme that includes a touring exhibit, talks and workshops, representation and a network of new voices.
Highlights for Ensemble during #LGF23 include:
- Special YouTube launch profiling the talent at 12pm BST on Tuesday 28 March: [new link]
- Social media videos featuring career advice from the cohort.
- Showcase of the exhibition at W.A.S.D. (Thursday 30 March to Saturday 1 April, The Truman Brewery)
- Centrepiece exhibition as part of the installations at Trafalgar Square, Wednesday 5 April and Thursday 6 April.
- And the striking portraits of each artist, taken for the exhibition by photographer Joshua Fray, will also be available online on the Games London website, along with individual profiles.
The exhibition will also be available to feature at other UK locations – potential hosts and partners are welcome to contact info@games.london to learn more about ways to support and participate in the programme.
London Games Festival is backed by the Mayor of London and seeks to make London the games capital of the world. It is delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London, the capital's screen industries agency, and video games trade body Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment). Ensemble is just one aspect of the festival, which features a mix of activities for consumers and industry professionals. The programme can be found at www.games.london.
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About Games London
Games London is a ground-breaking programme delivered by Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and UK games industry trade body Ukie. The project is backed by the Mayor of London with funding worth £1.2m over three years.
The Games London programme includes several initiatives to make London the games capital of the world. It re-established the London Games Festival in April 2016. Other areas of activity include inbound and outbound trade missions and work connecting and supporting games development skills in London.
About Film London
Film London is the capital's screen industries agency. We connect ideas, talent, and finance to develop a pioneering creative culture in the city that delivers success in film, television, animation, games and beyond. We work to sustain, promote, and develop London as a global content production hub, support the development of the city's new and emerging filmmaking talent and invest in a diverse and rich film culture. Funded by the Mayor of London and the National Lottery through the BFI, we also receive support from Arts Council England, Creative Skillset and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Film London's activities include:
- Maintaining, strengthening, and promoting London's position as a world-class city to attract investment through film, television, animation and games.
- Investing in local talent through a range of specialised production and training schemes
- Boosting employment and competitiveness in the capital's screen industries by delivering internationally facing business development events
- Maximising access to the capital's film culture by helping audiences discover film in all its diversity.
- Promoting London through screen tourism.
Film London also manages the British Film Commission (www.britishfilmcommission.org.uk) through a public/private partnership funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through the BFI and the Department for International Trade.
About UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie)
Ukie (UK Interactive Entertainment) is the trade body for the UK's games and interactive entertainment industry.
A not-for-profit, it represents businesses of all sizes, from small start-ups to large multinational developers, publishers, and service companies, working across online, mobile apps, consoles, PC, esports, VR and AR.
Ukie also supports a number of additional initiatives aimed at supporting the sector, including Digital Schoolhouse (DSH), askaboutgames.com and Ukie’s Student membership scheme.
Website: ukie.org.uk
Contact: george@ukie.org.uk