Award-winning graduate returns to give insight into gaming industry

A Teesside University graduate who has found success in the video games industry is returning to share his experiences at this year’s Animex festival.

Animex, the largest and longest running festival in the UK dedicated to animation and computer games, features a wide range of talks, workshops, film screenings, exhibitions and master classes and attracts hundreds of people from all over the UK and Europe.

One speaker this year is Shaun Spalding, 24,who graduated from Teesside in 2011 with a BSc (Hons) Creative Digital Media. Since then he has worked for Ubisoft Reflections, created his own online tutorial series Making Games and launched an award winning independent game Another Perspective.

Shaun attended Animex regularly when he was a student and found it gave him a unique insight into the industry he was trying to break in to.

He said: 'You get to hear from the most talented people in the industry and absorb their knowledge and experience.

'To be counted among the speakers and have my name listed alongside some of the amazing people who speak at Animex is humbling and an honour on so many levels.'

This year’s Animex will run from 10 to 14 February at Teesside University and features representatives from companies such as Disney, Dreamworks and Marvel.

Shaun will be running a workshop on how to make games using Game Maker Studio.

'Game Maker Studio is a secret weapon in the industry that not enough people know about, and it is responsible for more or less all of the success I’ve seen to date,' explained Shaun.

'Student or otherwise, some of the talks at Animex are mind-blowing and filled with real world stories and experiences you just don’t have access to anywhere else.' Shaun will be hosting his workshop on Wednesday 12 February from 9.30am to 4.30pm.

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To find out more about Animex, visit http://animex.tees.ac.uk/