Develop Brighton 2022

Develop:Brighton is the only event in the UK that brings the entire game-making industry together - from global superstars to micro indies, to learn from each other, share ideas and experiences, network and do business in a friendly and inclusive environment; having done so since 2006.

Taking place from the 12th to 14th of July 2022 at Hilton Brighton Metropole the event will be offer inspirational talks with some of the best game makers in the world, plus more entry-level sessions in the Indie Bootcamp which are free to attend just like the conference's roundtable discussions.

Tandem Events, the organisers behind Develop: Brighton, have been listening to the game development community and this year part of the key focus of the conference programme will be on practical take-away and more vocational content to offer delegates the chance to “skill-up” to do what they do even better.

The conference programme will reflect what they've been told are the hot topics for game makers in 2022 – like monetisation, funding, discoverability, ethical working practices and the Metaverse. Develop: Brighton is offering more deep-dives into successful games and studios, more case studies, less general interest talks, more technical problem-solving talks and more best practice take-away.

#RaiseTheGame will be down at Develop: Brighton to not only to put on some activities across the week, but as well the pledge is an official partner for the conference this year!

Let’s go through what we have happening, how you can get involved and highlight some of the community’s activities too!

Tuesday 12 July

The conference official begins and the first activity the pledge has up is our returning and much anticipated Festival Of Food Evening event kicking off at 19:30 BST. This will be #RaiseTheGame’s first activity of Develop: Brighton 2022 and will be bigger than the first event we put on during Develop: Brighton 2021 as we not only using more of the Shelter Hall venue yet we have Hi-Rez Studios and SockMonkey Studios sponsoring to help achieve such expansion with Into Games involved too through assisting us put on a Student/Graduate Showcase, alongside overall helping on the night itself!

Check out the Festival of Food Evening's Eventbrite page here for more details!

We're not the only ones putting on events on Tuesday either - pledge partners Splash Damage, Hanger 13 and Etch Play are all hosting their own events. Not to mentioned the gamesindustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards and Game Dev Heroes Awards will be taking place on Tuesday.

For anyone attending the conference itself, will be able to go to a range of talks from pledge partners like Atomhawk, Electronic Arts, Failbetter Games, Hutch, Newzoo, Roll7, Safe In Our World, Sumo Digital and Trailmix Games. Not to mention Ukie's Dan Wood will be running a roundtable on climate change and sustainability.

Wednesday 13 July

After a night of food and inclusive fun, #RaiseTheGame will be setting up some space in the expo hall to promote the pledge to the wider industry, talk about upcoming plans and gather contacts for organisations interested to sign up when we are ready to take in new partners/supporters again. Of course not forgetting to say hello to community members too. Not only that, we will be running our own roundtable session at 12:00 BST, so be sure to join us by attending the in-person session.

Talks will continue throughout the day with pledge partners like Amiqus, Curve Games, IGGI Centre for Doctoral Research in Games, Mediatonic and nDreams all having fabulous speakers run sessions. You can also expect activity from Hi-Rez Studios, Keywords Studios, Women In Games, Limit Break and Out Making Games who will be spilling the tea!

Wednesday night will see gamesindustry.biz celebrate their 20th anniversary and the Develop: Stars Awards taking place, where many from the #RaiseTheGame community have been nominated for an award that we wish the best of luck for ❤

Thursday 14 July

#RaiseTheGame will still be hanging about in the expo hall on Thursday, alongside this people can expect great talks and sessions from the likes of pledge partners like Auroch Digital, Creative Assembly, Kythera AI, Out Making Games and Ubisoft (Leamington and Reflections).

During the day, pledge supporter SavePoint Industry Gathering will be hosting a meetup while later in the evening, Cooperative Innovations will be hosting the annual SpecialEffect party that often starts around 19:00 BST and acts as the finishing activity for Develop: Brighton; though the conference will call it a wrap officially where people will be encouraged to join the closing ceremony around 17:00 BST.

Conference Aftermath

Though technically with the conference ended, most people heading home, you would normally call that a day. However, on Friday 15 July #RaiseTheGame will be spending the day in Brighton to catch-up with some of our pledge partners based in the city - see their offices, how they are doing and overall create some in-person community spirit!

Also pledge supporter Out Making Games will be attending Trans Pride Brighton & Hove 2022 on Saturday 16 July to celebrate and support the trans community. They'd love as many people to come join them, show support regardless whether you identify or are an ally, and maybe make some friends along the way – Click here to get involved!

That’s all for our plans and many highlights for Develop: Brighton, we hope this all helps and hope to meet as many people as possible at the conference ❤

Some things to note:

• If you like to see any other events that are happening during the conference, please check out the Develop Social Events spreadsheet here. Alternatively do check out the Networking & After Hours list created by Develop: Brighton's organisers themselves. 

• If you like to a list of recommended pubs and restaurants in Brighton, be sure to take a look at the Develop Brighton Pubs and Restaurants spreadsheet here.

• If this is your first time attending Develop: Brighton, we recommend you check out Develop: FTUE (First Time User Experience) Roundtables ran by pledge partner Split Milk Studios to give you insight on what to expect from the conference and to meet some friendly faces to get you started!

For more information about Develop: Brighton, check out the event's website here!