Keynote Speakers
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Stefano Gualeni
Full Professor at the Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta
>> ON GAMES AS CONCEPTUAL TOOLS
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Abstract: This talk presents how games (both actual and fictional) can serve as platforms for disclosing and challenging theoretical ideas. As epistemic artifacts, games and video games might have a variety of socio-cultural effects such as rhetorical ones and transformative.
On this occasion, the focus of the talk will be on using (and designing) games as conceptual devices and on their potential to contribute to contemporary culture in ways that are intellectually relevant.
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Bio: Stefano Gualeni is a philosopher who studies (and designs) games. He is a Full Professor at the Institute of Digital Games (University of Malta), and among his academic monographs are Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools (Palgrave, 2015), Virtual Existentialism (Palgrave Pivot, 2020 – with Daniel Vella), and Fictional Games: A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play (Bloomsbury, 2023 – with Riccardo Fassone).
Stefano also authored two speculative fiction novels that blend philosophical reflection with speculative narrative:: The Clouds (Routledge, 2023) and What We Owe the Dead (Set Margins’, 2025). More about his books and games can be found on his website: www.gua-le-ni.com.
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Emily Brown
Lead Designer on Monument Valley 3 at Ustwo, London
>> Making Monument Valley 3
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Abstract: Monument Valley 3 is a game following the legacy of its beautiful multi-award winning predecessors. The third in the series needed to innovate while also respecting the lore and legacy of the previous games. Emily will look at the journey of making the third in the series and some of the key work practices, processes and decisions the team made to achieve this balance.
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Bio: Emily is the Lead Designer on Monument Valley 3, released on Netflix games and soon to be released on PC and Consoles. She has over 20 years experience working on titles for Playstation, Xbox and mobile platforms. In 2022 she was recognised by Bafta as part of their Breakthrough program due to her previous work including the 3 time Bafta nominated Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.
Emily’s favourite thing about making games is the magic that happens when a group of people with really different skills and experiences come together to create something from nothing.
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Daniel Hernandez
Research Scientist at Sony AI
>> The Joys and Woes of Training AI Agents for AAA Games
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Abstract: The use of AI for game-playing agents is at a sweet spot at the moment. There are enough crazy people willing to study the arts of machine learning to create such agents and enough large companies to throw money at them until they eventually get it right. This talk is the tale of one such project and one such company. Following the evolution of Sophy, a reinforcement learning based agent for the racing game of Gran Turismo, this talk presents the complexities and advantages of successfully training agents in AAA games. Through the study of these peculiarities, one can gain insight as to how far AI for video games has come and how much more there is still to solve.
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Bio: Daniel Hernandez is a Research Scientist at Sony AI's game AI team, the makers of GT Sophy, a racing agent for the popular Gran Turismo racing game. Daniel graduated from iGGi in 2022 with a PhD In multi-agent deep reinforcement learning, supervised by James Alfred Walker. With a focus in multiagent systems, Daniel's research and engineering efforts are targeted to making games easier to develop, more engaging to play with and ultimately cooler.
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General Chairs: Debbie Maxwell, James Walker
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Programme Chairs: Alex Flint, Lauren Winter
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Website/Marketing Chair: Tamsin Isaac
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Poster Chair: Nicole Levermore
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Local Chair: Tania Dales
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Workshop Chair: Océane Lissillour
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Outreach Chair: Ross Fifield
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General Management: David Hull, Helen Tilbrook
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Industry Liaison: Susanne Binder