Members of the 2005 GDC London advisory board:

Dan Bardino Sony Computer Entertaiment Europe

David Braben Frontier Developers

Sarah Chudley Bizarre Creations

Hermen Hulst Guerrilla Games

Jason Kingsley Rebellion

Julien Merceron Ubi Soft Entertainment

Jonathan Newth Kuju Entertainment

Ian Shaw Electronic Arts

Avni Yerli Crytek

Dan Bardino
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Dan is audio manager at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s London studio. In the last 5 years at Sony has worked on over 20 titles including: Singstar, Eye-Toy, The Getaway, World Tour Soccer and Gran Tourismo. Dan is currently working on titles for PS2, PSP and PS3 as well as overseeing SCEE's Audio Prototypes Group. Dan's background is in music composition for TV, short film and adverts.

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David Braben
Frontier Developments Ltd.

David Braben and Frontier Developments Ltd. have had a reputation for producing unusual and innovative computer games since 1982 and are well-known for incorporating many technological and gameplay firsts and establishing new game styles that many have since copied. David is particularly well-known for co-writing the seminal game ELITE, the first true 3D game. Following ELITE, ZARCH (and later VIRUS) also achieved many firsts: first to have real-time shadows and lighting, for example, which were used to depict a cheese-shaped craft flying over a solid 3D landscape. Many may also remember FRONTIER, the sequel to ELITE, which was the best-selling game in Europe in 1993. FRONTIER came on a single floppy, and yet included a simulation of our entire galaxy, right down to the Earth and our solar system. It was perhaps also the first game to use Bézier curves for rendering.

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Sarah Chudley
Bizarre Creations

Sarah Chudley, after some feeble early attempts at writing games, gave up on coding, and took a degree in physics and a Master's in science communication. Spurred on by the Bubble Bobble machine at college, she spent time persuading publishers to part with games for charity events. Sarah teamed up with Martyn Chudley in 1992 and helped him out behind the scenes, whilst setting up a software evaluation section for Sony's PSYGNOSIS.

In 1995, she officially became part of Bizarre Creations, mainly running the business side of things. She's been there ever since, watching Bizarre grow from the original few on F1 to the team of over 100 today. After taking a few months off to produce a personal 'little project' for Martyn and herself, she's now back, and heading up the commercial and marketing side of the business.

Bizarre Creations can be found hidden away in the wilds of Liverpool, UK, or on the net at www.bizarrecreations.com or www.bizarreonline.net

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Hermen Hulst
Guerrilla Games

Hermen Hulst has been managing director of Guerrilla Games since 2001. His first experience with the games industry he gained as a marketer at Ubisoft USA in 1995. From there he moved on to develop his business skills at companies including Philips Electronics and Andersen Consulting.

Guerrilla is a young but rapidly expanding game development studio, with a growing reputation as one of Europe 's leading game developers. The company is based in the heart of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and employs over 100 people. Guerrilla had its breakthrough last year with the release of SHELLSHOCK NAM '67 and KILLZONE.

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Jason Kingsley
Rebellion

Jason Kingsley is the CEO and creative director of Rebellion, which is wholly owned by Jason and his brother Chris. After more than nine years, they now employ over 75 other creatives in various locations, mostly in Oxford. Their credits include ALIENS V. PREDATOR, THE MUMMY, RAINBOW SIX and many other top games. They've won several awards and have been nominated for a couple of BAFTAs. They've also acquired 2000A.D. and are busy making games and publishing comics. In a slightly sideways expansion, but based on the ethos that work's not worth doing unless its fun, they have started a film production division whose first low-budget feature is being shown at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Jason has done lots of talking to loads of cameras, been interviewed tons by the media, had some books published, and competed for Britain at equestrian sports and broken numerous bones for no good reason.

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Julien Merceron
Ubisoft Entertainment

Julien Merceron started developing on the Atari Jaguar in 1993 at Shen in Paris , programming on SUPER BURNOUT, a motorbike racing game, and NEXUS, a shoot-em-up. Julien joined Ubisoft Entertainment in 1994 and worked on programming for RAYMAN 1 for the Jaguar and PlayStation. He then programmed for POD for the M2 prototype of the 3DO and worked on the online features of POD PC, and was the lead programmer on TONIC TROUBLE for the Nintendo 64. He worked on programming for Rayman 2 for Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast, and did R&D for Rayman 2 for PlayStation 2. Julien is fond of hardware architectures, programming languages and algorithms; he loves designing game engines and production pipelines.

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Jonathan Newth
Kuju Entertainment

Jonathan Newthis the CEO of Kuju plc. Jonathan graduated from York University in 1985 with joint honors in Physics and Computer Science. In 1989 Jonathan co-founded Simis Limited and, as the technical director, guided its successful growth in the professional simulation training market and to its position as a leader in flight simulation video games. During this period, Jonathan designed and wrote a number of highly rated games including FLYING NIGHTMARES and FLIGHT SIM TOOLKIT. In 1995, Jonathan led the sale of Simis Limited to its principal customer, Eidos and since that time has led a management buyout, flotation of the company and guided its growth to one of the UK„…s largest multi-site developers.

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Ian Shaw
Electronic Arts

Ian Shaw is the Chief Technology Officer for Electronic Arts UK-Studio, based in Surrey.

Ian has been developing games commercially since 1991, starting with his own company on the Amiga and publishing with Sony/Psygnosis. Joining Bullfrog in 1994, he worked as a programmer, and eventually Head of R&D, on titles including DUNGEON KEEPER, SYNDICATE WARS, and POPULOUS 3. He became CTO after Electronic Arts acquired the studio, leading technology through the PlayStation-2/Xbox transition, and partnering with both internal teams and external studios on FORMULA-1, QUAKE-3 and HARRY POTTER. Other commitments have included academic collaboration with University College London; advisory boards for Microsoft/Direct3D, Alias/Maya, the LEAF festival; and judging BAFTA awards. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from Cambridge University .

Prior to games Ian lived a rainy existence in Cumbria where he worked on databases, stock control, embedded systems and backup software. There he learnt to enjoy hill-climbing and cycling. Spare time is split between playing his piano or playing with his two baby boys – noisy activities, especially when combined

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Avni Yerli
Crytek

In 1994, Avni Yerli achieved an Engineering degree. After Avni started his business career as a project manager at a leading Bavarian planning and consulting company. In 1997, he became a Managing Director of a German subsidiary of an international consulting company. By early 1998, Avni ran his own business as an independent consultant. Together with his two brothers, Cevat and Faruk, Avni launched out in the videogame business in 1999, at the age of 30. The Yerli brothers founded Crytek GmbH in November 1999. As founding member and Managing Director, Avni is responsible for business development, directing game development and finance with added responsibilities of legal and administration issues. Avni's hobbies are sports, family, movies and, of course, videogames.

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