On 18th June, over 200 students are set to attend Game Republic’s first Careers Conference on 18th June from 12.30 – 5pm at Sheffield Hallam University. Alongside talks about early careers, applications, apprenticeships, freelancing and starting up a studio, the event will include an opportunity for students to have 1-2-1 portfolio reviews, join career roundtables, pitch a game/ tech or studio idea and meet companies at a special expo.
Studios confirming attendance at the event include Wushu Studios, Dovetail Games, Revolution, Snappy Guru, Electric Square, Betajester, Maximalist, Otterweave Games Studio, Atomhawk, Distinctive Games, Yogscast Games, Triplevision Games, Sumo, Roarty Digital, Infinity 27, Game Studio Training, Aardvark Swift and several freelancers and game developers who are volunteering time to support the event and the next generation of game developers.
The event is open to students studying with Game Republic Educational Partner institutions and forms part of the 2025 Game Republic events programme supported by Official Partners Red Kite Games, Barclays Games and Creative and Xsolla.
Atomhawk (pictured in the feature image for this piece) will be bringing a team of artists down to the event. Tom Leighton, Art Manager said
“Atomhawk is always keen to connect with the emerging talent of our industry to keep a fresh perspective and encourage creative careers. We’re passionate about supporting universities to best prepare graduates for life as creative professionals, helping us find the next wave of recruits and keep our industry thriving.”
Here is a taster of just some of the amazing individuals that will be coming along to support students in developing and preparing for their careers in games….
Fresh from launching Maximalist, Yasmina Fadel is the co-director of an emerging indie games and XR co-development company based in York.
Before Maximalist, Yasmina was a Producer at Fruity Systems, working on story-rich VR games, including the award-winning Meta Quest title, Space Salvage.
Like many others in the games industry, Yasmina was affected by the waves of redundancies that have swept the sector since 2024. Recognizing this as an opportunity for change Yasmina, along with two former colleagues from Fruity Systems, founded Maximalist Ltd to help drive that change and explore what it takes to create sustainable jobs in the industry.
By sharing her story, she hopes to reinforce the passion and fervour not only for making games but also for contributing to a supportive game development community.
Sam Hayes is a Producer at Revolution Software, working on a self-employed basis. He led production on Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged, overseeing cross-disciplinary collaboration and managing everything from art team pipelines to project costing and scheduling. Sam understands the realities of freelance production and managing remote teams. With experience hiring graduates and freelance artists he’s passionate about helping determined individuals break into the industry. He’s also active in hands-on storytelling through historical reenactment and occasionally dabbles in voice acting for passion projects.
Andrew Stewart is one of the founders of Triplevision Games Limited, a tiny indie studio based in Sheffield. Having spent many years releasing Flash games and participating in Game Jams, Triplevision released their first commercial game Mable and the Wood on Steam, Switch and Xbox in 2019 following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Their second commercial project, These Doomed Isles, was released in 2024 with support from the UK Games Fund and the publisher Fireshine Games. A third, unannounced, project is currently in development.
Fagin Hales Games programmer at Red Kite Games with a background in quantum physics, specializing in graphics programming, rendering, and performance optimization.
Jessie Chan (she/her), a 3D Character Artist at Roarty Digital, working on Epic Games’ Fortnite says “I enjoy giving back to the industry through university talks, hosting communities and, being an ambassador for Safe In Our World, advocating for mental health.”
Caleb O’Brien is a dedicated Senior Character Artist, passionate about creating art that resonates with audiences. With over half a decade refining his craft in the games industry, Caleb has contributed to projects such as Horizon Call of the Mountain along with various unannounced AAA titles at PlayStation studio Firesprite and most recently, Fuse games.
Warren Leigh is a Talent Acquisition Specialist at Electric Square and Lively. Across 5 studios, Electric Square and Lively have provided world-class co-development for the biggest and best partners in the industry. With extensive experience across countless platforms and game engines, we have contributed to some gaming’s biggest titles, including as Diablo IV, Lords of the Fallen and Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR.
Originally, Grace Johnson studied Physics and Astrophysics at university before joining an apprenticeship for games programming at the Sumo Digital Academy. Grace completed her apprenticeship with distinction in 2024, and subsequently started work as a programmer for Red Kite Games after completing a placement with them. Â Grace describes time in the industry as “hard work but rewarding; and I feel very fortunate to be able to work with such a talented bunch of people from such a wide range of backgrounds.”
Alex Gate (he/him), a Senior Community Manager working at Dovetail Games. He says “I love supporting people across the industry, as giving back where I can – hosting talks at universities, remaining an ambassador for Safe In Our World, and supporting many other charities and groups through my work at Dovetail, including Special Effect and CALM.”
Sam Crich from Eaton Smith Solicitors will be offering advice and tips for students looking to start-up or freelance. He has a great deal of experience working with commercial contracts and has substantial expertise in matters relating to the law around technology, software and data.