Who's Who in Game Development List

SPOnG will be spending much of next week hanging out with the gay people of Brighton. Gay in both senses of the word. Gay in the sense of happy-go-lucky and carefree, as many of the developers cherish the opportunity to take the annual, much-needed spouse-free trip to the seaside to hang out with their peers and talk games.

And of course gay in the sense of being a homosexual. As there are more queens, queers and sapphic princesses in Brighton per square mile than anywhere else in the UK. We can get away with saying this as we will actually be hooking up with gay friends… (Oh, do shut up! ‘some of our best friends?’ etc. – Ed).

SPOnG’s sexual hang-ups aside, Develop really is the place to be next week in the UK if you want to bump into the cream of our homegrown development talent. Here, for example, is a short list the PR company just sent us of who’s going to be speaking at the 47 various sessions, spanning every aspect of contemporary game development over the three day conference.

It’s basically a 'Who’s Who In Game Development Right Now' and includes: Mark Rein, Phil Harrison, Chris Deering, Peter Molyneux, Ken Perlin, Tim Harrison, Jamie Macdonald, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Marty O’Donnell, Andrew Oliver, Miles Jacobson, Gary Penn, Jonathan Smith, Paulina Bozek, and Ernest Adams. See our recent Mizuguchi interview right here where the great man himself tells us all about Rez 2 and Toshihiro Nagoshi's Yakuza-Orange tan. We will also be stalking our favourite new millionaire developer Peter Molyneux, as he knows full well he owes us an interview. And if he doesn't play ball this time, we'll start in with the mind games.

Conference and Expo organiser Andy Lane said that a survey of this year’s attendees, “...highlighted that 2006 is requiring a number of senior managers to make some crucial decisions. Over half of the respondents said that strategic directions taken in 2006 will have fundamental implications to the long term future of their businesses.”

"Many of the sessions at the Develop conference have been designed to help the industry focus on the fundamental topics that are affecting the industry and give developers an alternative input into their decision making process. What’s really impressive is that over 85% still found the industry exciting to be in, and wouldn’t change their jobs," Lane added. "There simply aren’t that many industries where that level of passion exists."

SPOnG will be bringing you the news, as we get it, from Brighton next week. Plus, we’ve just found out that it’s free WiFi access on the beach. Yay!