Adventures in Games and Transmedia | Teachings from a Storytelling Company

Media Cymru

Join us for a day of learning from a top storytelling company about the exciting world of games and transmedia!

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Join Media Cymru alongside members and former members of Aardman Animations in a packed day of interactive events exploring projects, processes and people building interactive, gaming and transmedia productions - from the heart of a company driven by characters, worlds and stories.   This event is for fellow storytellers or tech enthusiasts and gamers to listen, discuss and engage in a relaxed day of talks, interviews and workshops.

<h3>Speaker Bios </h3> <h4>Dan Efergan</h4>An accomplished Executive Creative Director with over 25 years of experience guiding entertainment companies through the complexities of a rapidly evolving industry. Specialising in emerging platforms, Dan Efergan has consistently demonstrated strategic vision, innovative development, and flawless delivery across the creative spectrum.Currently working as a Freelance Executive Creative Director and serving as the Innovator in Residence for this event, Dan was previously the Executive Creative Director of Gaming, Interactive, and Innovation at Aardman Animations. While on the executive board, he led the company through transformative initiatives—from establishing early social spaces attracting millions of subscribers to founding Aardman’s interactive department and in-house game studio, achieving significant growth and innovation along the way. Most recently, he spearheaded the establishment of Aardman’s first R&D team and programme.Dan’s impressive portfolio includes BAFTA-winning interactive projects such as the Tate Movie Project and World of Invention, as well as leadership on the twice BAFTA-nominated console game, 11-11 Memories Retold. His creative journey is rooted in a deep understanding of the latest technological advancements and a passion for shaping their impact on the world through beautifully crafted, meaningful projects.Prior to his tenure at Aardman, Dan’s entrepreneurial spirit led to the creation of multiple companies, including Submerge, a festival celebrating the emerging digital creative industries, and various production companies and a specialist recruitment agency. This diverse background underpins his comprehensive perspective on creative innovation.Key Achievements:<ul><li>26 Years of Experience in Creative Leadership.</li><li>20+ Awards, including D&AD, Royal Television Society, TIGA, Broadcast, BIMA, Webby, and Design Week.</li><li>5 BAFTA Nominations, 2 BAFTA Wins.</li><li>100+ Delivered Projects.</li><li>30+ Talks at prominent venues such as TedX, CMC, MIPCOM, TIFF Kids, BAFTA Guru.</li><li>10+ Mentees.</li><li>Judged 10+ Awards, including BAFTA, Kidscreen, and Emmys.</li></ul>Driven by a relentless curiosity for technical innovation and a creative flair for building captivating experiences, Dan Efergan continues to shape the future of entertainment by turning visionary concepts into award-winning realities. <h4>Dr. Jonathan Quinn </h4>Dr. Jonathan Quinn is Founder &amp; CEO of Breaking Change, a new gaming startup based in Wales. Previously Technical Director of Games at Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations, Jonathan has also held senior leadership roles at Dovetail Games and Reach Robotics, shipping numerous titles across PC, console, and mobile platforms. As a founding employee at Reach Robotics, he helped raise over $12M in funding and launch an innovative gaming robot, sold in Apple Stores globally.Jonathan holds a PhD in Visual Computing, completed two postdoctoral research roles, held a lectureship at Cardiff University, and has led research projects in machine learning, procedural generation, and simulation across academic and industry settings. He has received two awards from the Royal Academy of Engineering—one supporting the founding of Breaking Change—and a grant to attend Oxford University’s High Performance Leadership Programme. Jonathan regularly speaks at industry events, mentors emerging talent, and contributes to national STEM initiatives. <h4>Joshua Baldwin </h4>Joshua has over a decade of experience as a game designer, director and creative director. Having worked at Creative Assembly, Coldwood Interactive, and as a Creative Consultant for EA Originals. He was one of Aardman’s first dedicated games hires and over the years he’s build and led a team of 20+ people working on multiple projects, including directing a new transmedia IP, and conceiving their latest game, Chicken Run: Eggstraction. Now at The Chinese Room, he’s directing their next original IP after Still Wakes the Deep, their last release which was nominated for 8 BAFTAs (and won 3).

Agenda

Arrival and Coffee

A talk with Daniel Efergan about an early Aardman ‘transmedia’ project, a moment of mass-participation storytelling where creative control was given over to thousands of kids across the UK.  He’ll unpack the project, look at how it was approached and what was learned from doing it. 

Project Deep Dive: The Tate Movie Project

Break 

How does play translate when driven by character and storytelling? Joshua spent five years at Aardman, working on a new transmedia IP from Aardman, then kicking off Aardman’s latest game (Chicken Run: Eggstraction) and is now working on his latest (secret) project with The Chinese Room, the multi-BAFTA winning game studio which continually keeps story at the heart of everything they do. 

Interview with Joshua Baldwin - The Chinese Room 

What does it take to bend a game engine to the varied needs of game makers and storytellers? How do you form and nurture teams to overcome the unpredictable nature of game development? And where is this technology heading? We’ll be diving into the head of Jon Quinn, Games Technical Director at Aardman for the last 4 years, and most recently founder of Breaking Change, an early-stage gaming startup in Wales.
  


Interview with Jon Quinn, 

A hands-on, slightly chaotic, session of game making, where teams will take a simple tale and drive it through stages of Extraction, Exploration, and Experimentation to end up with a playable(ish) paper prototype of a game idea.  
  
Expect lots of doing involving paper, scribbling, Lego and clay. 


Workshop: Game Making for Storytellers  

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Adventures in Games and Transmedia | Teachings from a Storytelling Company

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