Leading game designers to take part in ‘Virtual Play’

Leading figures from the games design industry will be taking part in ‘Virtual Play’ – a free event to celebrate the sector’s achievements and promote Cheshire East to new and established talent. The event at Macclesfield Town Hall, May 4th at 6.30pm, will feature high-profile speakers including head of design at TT Games Arthur Parsons, designers of the hugely successful range of Lego games, plus Playdemic, founder of indie games company Merge Luke Keighran, co-creative director of Cherry Pop VR games (and graduate of South Cheshire College) Gemma Jessop and Jeff Coghlan, of Matmi, who has more than 16 years’ experience in the games industry.

To book places at the event visit www.weave.org.uk and click on the ‘town talks’ link.

As part of the Shift programme of digital activity, the town talks programme will bring high-profile sector leaders to the region, to stimulate debate and discussion on the creative and digital sector and raise the profile of these industries in Cheshire East. They will be hosted by Weave, the newly-launched taskforce, which champions the sector.

Cheshire East is home to a thriving creative cluster with 2,000 businesses in the sector employing about 7,500 people and with a combined turnover of over £250m per year. This includes specialisms such as programming, software development, game and app design, website building and advertising. Denise Proctor, chair of Weave, said:

Cheshire East has a proven track record of developing successful games, including Angry Birds, Squadron 42 and Golf Clash. This event will provide a showcase for the fantastic work and expertise on our doorstep and help to attract more talent to the borough.

For more details on the Weave network and town talks visit www.weave.org.uk and for more details on the Shift programme check out www.shift-digital.co.uk