Kate Edwards is the CEO and principal consultant of Geogrify, a consultancy for content culturalization, the Executive Director of Take This, and is the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). In addition to being an outspoken advocate that serves in several advisory/board roles, she is a geographer, writer, and corporate strategist. Formerly as Microsoft’s first Geopolitical Strategist in the Geopolitical Strategy team she created and managed, Kate protected the company against political and cultural content risks across all products and locales. Since Microsoft, she has assisted many clients on a variety of geopolitical and cultural issues across many products and game franchises. Kate is also a columnist for MultiLingual Computing magazine. In October 2013, Fortune magazine named her as one of the "10 most powerful women" in the game industry and in December 2014 she was named by GamesIndustry.biz as one of their six People of the Year.”
With over 25 years’ experience in the video game industry as a geographer and culturalization strategist, Kate Edwards has been involved in the world-building process for many, many game titles, from major franchises such as Halo, Fable, Age of Empires, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, and Tomb Raider to an assortment of various indie games. She has truly seen it all when it comes to geopolitical and cultural issues that can negatively affect the ability of a game to be distributed and enjoyed by a wide range of players across diverse geographies and cultures. She has also seen game designers miss key opportunities to create more robust worlds that engage players by leveraging more of their local cultures. Come hear about the little-known field of content culturalization and how it assists game creators with building better worlds that account for a wider range of cultural, geopolitical, and environmental aspects.
Takeaway:
Mental health is just as critical as our physical health to our well-being as creative professionals, and yet a heavy stigma exists that continues to make people reluctant to openly discuss and address. The silence around the issue is deafening, and further compounds the negative perception. This session aims to have an honest and confidential discussion about mental health in the game industry, how it affects our craft, and what forms of support are available (or not!). In this session, you'll be invited to share your own experiences with others (only if you're willing and able - no one will be asked to do so) and talk about strategies for improving support, plus find out what changes some studios have introduced.
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Find out moreI’ve been to every single Develop in the last 12 years. One thing you get here is networking - you will meet the most amazing individuals in the video games industry.
Kish Hirani
Terra Virtua
If you really want to have a good interface with the British game developer community then this is the place to come.
Kate Edwards
Geogrify
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Jo Twist, OBE
Ukie
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Mike Bithell
Mike Bithell Games
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Alex Moyet
Curve Digital
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Brenda Romero
Romero Games
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Jonathan Smith
TT Games
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Rami Ismail
Vlambeer
By coming to Develop what you get is the opportunity to network like you can’t in any other situation. Everyone knows everyone and it’s such a wonderful community feel.
Jessica Saunders
Salix Games
A lot of the opportunities that come from being here are speaking to other developers who are doing exactly the same thing as you. And there are some good parties – it’s very much a pleasurable work experience!
Gemma Foster
Dlala Studios
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