Bringing characters to life in videogames: from concept to performance

Film, Media & Entertainment

WGGB panel discussion and networking event

How do videogames characters differ from those in other media? How are they created, what roles do they fulfil and how can they best be brought to life? Join members of the WGGB’s videogames committee at London South Bank University for a 90-minute panel discussion and Q&A. Speakers will include: games writer Giles Armstrong, voice artist Samantha Béart, narrative studio director Grant K Roberts, and games writer and co-chair of the WGGB videogames committee Andrew S Walsh. The event will be followed by networking and a chance to continue the discussion in a more informal setting.

SPEAKERS

Giles Armstrong (he/him) is among the UK's most experienced writers for video games, having worked on more than 50 titles over the past 15 years, including blockbuster ‘AAA’ productions, a plethora of indie games, and multiple award-winning projects. Most recently, Giles was senior scriptwriter on Assassin's Creed Mirage. Previously, he was the senior scriptwriter on Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök for Ubisoft Sofia, the lead writer on Destruction AllStars for Lucid Games, a senior writer on Horizon Forbidden West for the BAFTA-winning Guerrilla Games, and has written for Eidos-Montréal on the multi-award-winning Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. His other previous projects include editing the English script for the BAFTA-winning My Child Lebensborn and being lead writer on The Spectrum Retreat - for which Giles received a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards nomination for ‘Best Writing in a Video Game’.

Samantha Béart (she/they) trained at Guildhall. As a voice artist, her games titles include: major role in triple-A game - TBA; The Excavation of Hob's Barrow (Wadjet Eye Games/Cloak and Dagger Games); The Solitaire Conspiracy (Bithell Games); The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Capcom); Demon’s Souls (Bluepoint Games/Japan Studio); A Total War Saga: Troy (Creative Assembly/Sega); Age of Wonders III (Triumph Studios).

Audio includes: The Sandman, Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals, Persuasion, Alien: River of Pain (Audible); The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Quintessential & Hexagonal Phases, Neverwhere: How the Marquis Got His Coat Back (BBC Radio 4); Torchwood, The War Master, Vienna, Doctor Who (Big Finish Productions); North Star Rising (Bithell Games). Theatre includes: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show - Live! (National Tour); 1001 Nights (Transport/Unicorn Theatre).

She also created and curated Game Voices Connect, an online conference for games professionals who work with voices, hosted on YouTube.

Grant K. Roberts got his start as a writer and editor for Next Generation magazine back in 1997. 25 years later, he's the studio narrative director at Splash Damage. In between, he provided the voice of a bipedal alien slug, shipped a beloved Marvel MMO for all ages, created a free-to-play action RPG that lasted less than two weeks on the App Store, adapted a thousand-year-old story into a puzzle platformer with the Iñupiaq and Tlingit peoples of Alaska, and elated/enraged the fans of iconic characters in the universes of Destiny and DC Comics.

Andrew S. Walsh (chair) co-chair of the WGGB videogames committee, Andrew Walsh has worked in TV (Raven, Emmerdale, Byker Grove, Family Affairs), film (Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva), theatre and animation. He spends most of his time wrangling the narrative conundrums of interactive storytelling in videogames with more 85+ projects under his belt, including: Horizon: Forbidden West, Horizon Call of the Mountain, Watch Dogs: Legion; The Division 2, Fable Legends, Nosgoth, Prince of Persia, Harry Potter, Risen, Shadow of the Beast, Medieval II: Total War, SOCOM, LEGO City: Undercover, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Fable. He still can’t quite believe that his adaptation of The Jungle Book went on at Kew Gardens this year.