Maarten Verhoeven is a freelance digital sculptor with a love for the dark and weird, He specializes in work for 3D sculptures for Concept, Fine Art, films, commercials, prototypes, designer toys and collectibles. Having background in art, he handles different aspects of production, from original concept sculpts, high res assets, engineering and 3D prints. Today he’s working from Belgium as a freelance ZBrush artist, contributing his talents worldwide to various companies, publications and projects.

CEO of DAE Studios - building games for a better future.

After having done reasearch in the fields of augmented instruments, instrumental gesture analysis  and more broadly human-computer interaction, Loïc completes a Phd related to the hexaphonic guitar. During this Phd, he develops an important chapter on the organology of the instrument as well as software and hardware for guitarists to use. This approach opens up entrepreneurial perspectives to him that are still on nowadays.

In parallel to this to-become entrepreneurial activity, he is the coordinator of the CrossTechXperience INTERREG project which aims to develop a cross-border ecosystem for immersive, interactive, and gaming technologies.

Dries Deryckere, a Belgium native, has been immersed in game development education for over 8 years. A graduate of Howest’s acclaimed Digital Arts and Entertainment program (2016) and BUas’s Master in Game Technology (2018),

Dries formerly led as academic director of Digital Arts and Entertainment. Today, his passion lies in shaping the future of game education and advancing the Flemish game ecosystem. When he's not guiding students or exchanging ideas with industry peers, Dries indulges his love for Unreal Engine and enjoys creating intricate 3D models.

Jhonie Aelbrecht is a versatile professional with deep involvement in both the gaming industry , the world of animation, and visual effects. After a career at Grid, he started his CG Pipeline company Pixel-Nexus. Almost 6 years later, he decided to push further into the digital entertainment industry and opened in August 2024 five new doors. With Menagerie Media Group as holding company, Playful Pandas as animation studio, Duckosaurus Games as game studio, Wailing Wolves as producer, Pixel-Nexus and Pixel-Nexus Spain as pipeline studios. As a techie and entrepreneur, he tries to navigate the difficult world of the entertainment industry.

Nika is the executive vice president of Game Jolt, a social hub for 28M gamers. She is also the Head of Partnerships at Genvid Entertainment publishing massive interactive live events (MILEs), such as SILENT HILL: Ascension, Borderlands Echovision Live, and DC Heroes United. She is currently a diplomat-EFM living in Panama and a Ph.D. candidate in Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, researching the impacts of  generative AI and deepfake videos on the Gen Z population.

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Industrial designer by training, concept artist by necessity, world builder and art mentor by choice.

Cliff Fluet is a Partner at Lewis Silkin LLP, a leading law firm for creative and brand-focused businesses. With over 25 years of experience, Cliff advises on digital media, brand entertainment, technology, and innovation. He leads the Media & Entertainment practice and serves on the Management Board, focusing on innovation. Cliff is featured in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame.

As founder and Managing Director of Eleven Advisory, Cliff provides strategic advice to media companies in music, digital and entertainment, helping them navigate emerging technologies like AI and immersive entertainment. He leverages an extensive industry network.

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Jonathon is a developer and narrative designer with an academic background in philosophy and history. He is co-founder of Awkward Handshake, a game development collective based in Antwerp.

His narrative design work includes the adventure game 30 Birds by RamRam Games. He has also developed educational games, most recently Beeste Keuze, a game about coalition governments, which was funded by the Flemish government. Additionally, Jonathon has a background in copy- and scriptwriting, having worked on a variety of projects for the UN, EU and Spadel.

He's also a killer Dungeon Master, terrible violinist and can do a variety of fortnite dances. He also promises that he didn't write this biography himself...

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Dylan is a DAE graduate from both Game Development and Game Sound Integration. He has spent a big chunk of his educational and professional career researching the use of audio analysis in live performance environments using protocols like OSC, DMX and MIDI, both virtually and physically. He is "the audio guy" at DAE Research where he spent most of his time working on a state-of-the-art live performance project including immersive audio, audio analysis, TouchDesigner, real-time AI visuals and audio-reactive visuals in Unreal Engine.
Nowadays he is busy researching the use-cases and possibilities of procedural and generative audio in- and outside of games. Besides research, he is also a lecturer at DAE where he teaches audio plugin development and audio inside of Unreal Engine 5. He likes to spend his free time with his girlfriend, family and friends, work on his own audio plugins and likes the creation of hard glitchy electronic music.

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Vicky is the team lead of the applied research group in the Digital Arts & Entertainment bachelor. The DAE Research team plays around with state of the art technologies from game, movie and media. We're pushing innovative ideas and transformation in both entertainment industry as other sectors.

Paul is the co-founder of Mystic Forge, a boutique indie game publisher, with a career dedicated to bridging the gap between art and commerce. Over the years, he has successfully collaborated with both creative and commercial teams, fostering innovation and ensuring mutual benefit within the gaming industry. Leveraging his extensive experience, Paul continues to work closely with investors and game development studios worldwide, driving high-impact projects that resonate with global audiences.Paul's previous ventures include founding and establishing the award-winning indie publishing label Good Shepherd Entertainment, as well as Gambitious, the first crowd-finance investment portal for the games industry.

Kris Stroobants is a distinguished musician renowned for his mastery of the trumpet and baroque trumpet. He studied under Leon Pétré at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where he laid the foundation for his musical career. Furthering his education, Kris specialized in orchestral conducting with Jan Stulen and pursued music composition at the Royal Conservatories of Maastricht and Brussels.

Kris has made significant contributions to the music community, serving as a guest lecturer and conductor at the Maastricht Conservatory. His extensive work in the Flemish Music Theater as a conductor and arranger has led to remarkable achievements, including directing several award-winning productions such as ‘Ceci n’est pas Carmen’ and ‘Tegenlied’ for 30CC Leuven, ‘Grenzeloos’ in collaboration with VLAMO, Koor & Stem, and Danspunt, and ‘OPERA/a workpiece’ for fABULEUS.

His international conducting experience is equally impressive, having performed with prestigious ensembles such as the Wiener Sinfonietta, Berliner Sinfonietta, Radom Chamber Orchestra, and Les Frivolités Parisiennes. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with esteemed soloists including Elena Fink, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Severin von Eckardstein, and Roeland Hendrickx.

Currently, Kris serves as the chief conductor and artistic director of the Frascati Symphonic orchestra based in Leuven. Under his leadership, the orchestra has garnered acclaim from both the press and public, performing at renowned venues like BOZAR, Queen Elisabeth Hall, and Concertgebouw Brugge, as well as during an annual concert series in China.

Kris’s artistic initiatives are marked by a vibrant blend of classical symphonic repertoire and lesser-known musical gems from both the past and present. His repertoire spans various genres, including opera, operetta, musicals, and theater, in addition to the grand symphonic orchestral works.

Since 2012, Kris has developed a deep interest in integrating artificial intelligence with music. His journey began through collaboration with Luc Steels, exploring the innovative intersection of classical music and technology. This path has led to partnerships with companies like Brainjar and Uncanny, culminating in an exclusive collaboration with Imec.

In addition to his roles as a conductor and artistic leader, Kris is often invited to serve as a jury member for competitions and examination committees in both Belgium and the Netherlands.

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A classically trained violinist, a self-taught producer and singer-songwriter: Tsar B is a one-stop-shop that combines all of her loves and talents in her work.  With one full-length, 3 EP's and a theatrical concert film under her belt (next to plenty of composing & production work for various series, movies and ads)  she has  left her stamp in just a few years. Her love for baroque music seeps through her work as much as warped electronics and touches of R&B. Think Mozart on acid composing the soundtrack for The Matrix.

Entrepreneur & Creator, Guitar doctor & riff writer, co-founder @ Play it, 10y lector @ 1st gen DAE

DAE graduate (GGP) with a Passion for visual and musical arts, working to join the two world together.

Graduate from DAE - GGP, with an interest in both game developing and audio visuals.

With more than 10 years of experience in the gaming industry, Vernon has a strong background in Business Development, Marketing, and Strategic Partnership Management. Vernon served as Marketing Director and Strategic Partnership Manager for Good Shepherd Entertainment, where he oversaw the company's global marketing and distribution efforts. He is known for his entrepreneurial spirit, his passion for gaming, and his commitment to fostering a supportive and collaborative culture. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at gaming industry events and a vehement member of the independent developer community.

Max Tiel is the director and co-founder of Thunderboom Records, and musician. Prior to founding Thunderboom Records, Max worked as a consultant in the music and technology industry.

Joost de Boo is the director and co-founder of Thunderboom Records, and lecturer Design Research at the Academy for Technology & Design at AVANS, Den Bosch. Prior to founding Thunderboom Records, Joost worked in the music industry and the creative sector.

Project manager for the Virtual Music Experiences research project (Howest & PXL universities of applied sciences) |  Music Innovation Day curator at the Unwrap digital entertainment conference | Built the Club of the Future, a temporary club and concert venue with a heavy focus on immersive projection mappings | Music industry professional with 15+ years of experience | BE

Ruben Verhack is an AI entrepreneur and co-founder of Datameister, specializing in imaging, radiance fields, visual and 3D AI. With a double PhD in computer science from Ghent University and TU Berlin, Ruben has made significant contributions to media technology, particularly in computer vision and light field research. His work has earned him numerous awards, including the Google Faculty Award. He has shared his expertise as an invited speaker at prominent organizations like Google, Disney Research and Netflix. Ruben is dedicated to advancing AI applications in imaging and visual data, driving innovation in media and creative industries.

Toon Martens is the Managing Director of Sony Music Entertainment Benelux, but has a background working for independent labels: prior to joining Sony in 2013, he held a number A&R roles from N.E.W.S. Records (B), Ultra Records (US) to Musicallstars Publishing/Spinnin¹ Records (NL), working international hit singles like Azealea Banks feat. Lazy Jay - 212 and Will I Am & Britney Spears - Scream & Shout. At Sony Music, he has worked with Lost Frequencies, Martin Garrix, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Sam Feldt.

Jason Della Rocca is a game business consultant, investor, funding advisor, and ecosystem strategist. He currently spends the bulk of his time advising game studio founders on funding and product strategy, and advising governments around the world how to better grow/support the success of their regional game development ecosystem.As the co-founder of Execution Labs, he was a hands-on early stage investor to 25 independent game studios from North America and Europe. In parallel Jason helped launch GamePlay Space, a non-profit hub to support indies and guide them toward business success, whose alumni have generated over $300m in game sales and funding. Between 2000-09 he served as the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), and was honored for his industry building efforts with the inaugural Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Conference. In 2009, Jason was named to Game Developer Magazine’s “Power50,” a list which profiles 50 of the most important contributors to the state of the game industry. As a sought after expert on the game industry, Jason has lectured at conferences and universities worldwide.

Alexander leads the independent game production curriculum at DAE, where he focuses on preparing future game developers for success. With a lifelong passion for video games, he brings extensive hands-on experience as both a developer and artist. He has contributed to a diverse range of projects, from major AAA titles to smaller indie games, including Overwatch 1 & 2, Fortnite, Spyro Reignited, Valorant, Killzone SF and et cetera. His deep involvement across various roles in the industry gives him a unique perspective on both the creative and technical aspects of game development.Now, Alexander is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of talent, helping them acquire the skills to thrive in the ever-changing landscape of game development while supporting the continued growth of the Belgian games industry.

I have nearly 12 years of experience in recruitment, including 5 years specialising in the gaming industry across both mobile and AAA games. I am passionate about assembling exceptional teams and can provide expert insights into what it takes to stand out and succeed in a competitive field.

Steven Maes has been experimenting with sound tools for the past twenty five years, using everything from lamp microphones to 360 video and Ambisonic immersive sound technology. Passionate about classical music, he has directed television programs, made hundreds of recordings and mastered CDs for popular music artists from Adamo to Lost Frequencies. His recordings have been praised in BBC Music Magazine Diapason and Gramophone. Classica selected his recording of Debussy’s La Mer (Brussels Philharmonic) as the best classical reference of all time. He made recordings with London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra, Several of his recordings won or were nominated for the prestigious Echo Classic & Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in Germany. Steven is on faculty at PXL University College in Hasselt, Belgium, where he is the promoter of research on immersive music, supervises thesis projects and teaches studio technique.

Ward is head of the marketing team at Ancienne Belgique and is responsible for innovation projects at his venue. He is co-founder of Music Tech Belgium, mentor at Wallifornia and ambassador for the Music Cities Network.

I work for more than 9 years as an independent music manager for the management company Musickness. We focus on alternative music and try to cross borders. Musickness fully supports artist integrity allowing talent to flourish within their walls, in the constantly evolving and challenging music industry. I'm working on Eefje de Visser, Sylvie Kreusch, The Colorist Orchestra, Pitou, Kids with Buns at the moment (and worked for Tamino for the past 8 years).

Graduated as a traditional 2D animator, unfortunately at the same time as the birth of the digital era in the early nineties. Immediately refreshed my skills and updated my tools to be part of the CGI pioneers in Belgium. Worked 15 years as a freelancer full-time as a storyboard artist, concept developer, graphic designer, editor, director for 3D animation and VFX companies, advertising and television. Started teaching in 2000 at Sint-Lukas Brussels in the Film and Animation department. Joined in 2006 Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE), a brand new and unique game education at HOWEST, Kortrijk Belgium teaching preproduction and visual storytelling. Currently head of the Major 3D-Animation Production and inspirer of the FARM, a simulated work environment for our last year students in which we “breed professionals”.Jury member at the VAF, the Flemish Film Fund, for the committees of Animation & Innovation lab.

Brian Jesse is co-founder and CEO of Grey Matter Games.  Formerly of Epic Games / Psyonix and Wolfram|Alpha. He was a gameplay programmer on Rocket Racing in Fortnite and server engineer during the free-to-play launch of Rocket League and the launch of Rocket League Sideswipe. Brian's entrepreneurial career includes experience in virtual reality, front-end web development, backend systems, cloud infrastructure, and mobile app development. After moving from California to Flanders for the strong indie scene, he is working on a title in the Rust programming language using the open source game engine Bevy.

Leen Segers is a tech operator turned founder and investor, passionate about 2D/3D media and entertainment. She joined ForsVC a year ago as Managing Director, focusing on gaming and gametech. Eight years ago, she co-founded Women in Immersive Tech Europe, an NGO supporting women in VR, AR, and XR. Leen eagerly awaits a future where spatial intelligence reshapes our world.

After working in journalism and advertising for many years, the games industry - and immersive storytelling in particular- sparked Yasmin Van de Werf’s interest as a high potential medium for next generation communication. As the co-founder of the Antwerp-based creative studio Poppins & Wayne, she focuses on creating impactful user experiences under the tagline “When story meets technology, imagination comes to life”. Poppins & Wayne’s portfolio includes Augmented and Virtual Reality (VR) projects, digital twins, games, apps and AI avatars for clients such as Port of Antwerp-Bruges, The European Commission and Chanel.

Christian Fonnesbech is Head of IP Development at Leverage, partnering with studios, producers and publishers to develop lasting IPs. Recent clients include Bandai Namco, Making Movies Oy and Supermassive. Formerly, he was Head of IP Development at Nordisk Games (Egmont), and Head of Artistic Research at Interactive Media Arts in Norway. He has worked extensively across games and film, including co-founding a production company with Lars von Trier's producer, Vibeke Windeloev. In his earlier career, Christian was a video game entrepreneur, producing and directing 35+ game projects for entertainment, advertising and learning.

Allie Weis is the Ethics Coordinator in International Game Development and Internships Coordinator at Howest University of Applied Sciences: Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE) in Kortrijk, Belgium. Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, Allie graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Loyola University Maryland. As a recipient of a Fulbright grant, she relocated to Belgium and found herself most at home in Kortrijk, where she now lives with her toothless cat. While working at Howest DAE, she discovered the overlaps between her academic interests and digital entertainment.

She served as a Community Manager at DAE before transitioning into her current position of Ethics Coordinator and host/producer of the ‘Game for Thought’ video series, tackling a different topic each month (i.e. accessibility, ethics and AI, crunch time, sustainability, inclusive recruitment). Allie has worked together with students to cultivate a Code of Conduct for the student community, highlighting the relevance and importance of ethics – even within a highly-technical curriculum. She also works closely with affinity groups on campus, ensuring that each student can be unforgivably themselves. She also teaches a course for all first-year students called ‘Career Skills,’ surrounding critical topics of personal and professional development, and is responsible for student internships. Fueled by coffee and enthusiasm.

Frederik ‘Freddy’ De Bosschere is the host of Computer Club, a weekly podcast, newsletter and community about technology. When he’s not clubbing, Freddy is a digital strategist at In The Pocket, a European digital product studio.

Sven Naudts, also known as DikkeSvekke, is a Flemish content creator and streamer. Besides his streams, he hosts the podcasts ‘Dikke Svekke's Geeky Podcast’ and the eSports podcast ‘Kayzr Talks’. Sven hosts like he creates content : With a mix of humour, enthusiasm and a creative approach.

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Stimona is an Environment Artist in the video games industry working at Larian Studios. Since joining Larian as an intern in 2021, she has contributed to the development of Baldur's Gate 3 and honed her skills in Level Art, Lighting, Asset Creation and Level Design. Furthermore, she freelances as a 3D Artist and has worked on indie games and asset packs. In addition to being an artist in the industry, Stimona also does teaching and mentoring for students and junior 3D artists sharing her knowledge and experiences.

Rik has been in education for almost 30y. Back in 2005 he became fascinated by the gaming industry which led to him being the founder of the Digital Arts & Entertainment (DAE) curriculum at Howest University in 2006. Over the past 18y, the DAE curriculum established itself as one of the best talent pipelines in the world for the games- and entertainment industry. Since last year Rik is putting his passion for and insights in the gaming industry to use as General Manager of the Flanders Game Hub, which aims to grow the Flemish game ecosystem towards one of the hot spots for games in EU.

Ine Vanoeveren is the Lead Innovation & Technology of Europe’s pioneering event venue, the Corda Arena at Corda Campus, Hasselt, Belgium. With a capacity to host up to 4,000 attendees onsite and millions virtually, this cutting-edge facility merges technology seamlessly with human interaction.

Her interests specifically lie in cross-reality interactions within live events, combining physical performers with holographic and virtual performers for both a live and virtual audience. Trained as a contemporary flute player and XR-researcher, Ine obtained her doctoral degree at the University of California, San Diego. She performed at numerous contemporary music festivals worldwide and won several international awards and prizes.

During his time as a researcher at Howest's Digital Arts and Entertainment, Glenn has committed the last five years focussed on new and innovative technologies applied in the development of games, vfx, and animation. Primary amongst these, of course, Artificial Intelligence. He has given numerous talks on this subject to audiences of all skill levels, with a focus on getting anyone up-to-date with the newest trends and developments. His talks tend to be high-level, high-speed, and cover a wide spread of subjects.

Co-creator en regisseur van Knokke Off / Gevoel voor Tumor / wtFOCK

Wesa Aapro (MA) has been working in the intersection of art and technology for over 25 years. He has occupied most roles in cutting edge media production, in productions ranging from transmedia storytelling to XR journalism. Currently working as Metaverse Lead for Yle Finnish Broadcasting Company, his next frontier is the land of the virtual and the strange avatars inhabiting it.

Scott Cohen joined JKBX in 2022 as founding Chief Executive Officer and investor. One of the music industry’s most notable pioneers, Cohen co-founded The Orchard — the world’s first digital distributor of music — and was Warner Music Group's first ever Chief Innovation Officer.

A champion of progress in both his professional and personal life, he publicly advocates for human rights and has been a vegan for more than 25 years.

Emanuel is a Product Owner at the National Lottery Belgium, overseeing e-instant and e-scratch games on the Lottery's digital platform.

He is part of the Game Factory team within the IT department, which is responsible for developing draw, e-instant, and e-scratch games. With a background as an Industrial Engineer in Informatics, Emanuel began his career as an e-commerce developer before spending several years at VRT, where he contributed to the launch of various brand websites (Stubru, Ketnet, Sporza, Vrtnieuws, etc.).When the National Lottery launched its digital portal, Emanuel embraced the challenge of expanding the platform with new offerings such as digital scratch games and e-instant games.

His passion for innovation in gaming led him to participate in a co-creation project with DAE Studios and students from DAE Howest, resulting in the development of the innovative game "Lucky Mine." He also collaborates with the marketing department in the annual '2 Games a Month' program by DAE Studios, which has produced concepts like the game "Cat in the Cupboard."Emanuel introduced the Unity game engine for game development at the Lottery, pushing forward the technological capabilities of their e-games. Additionally, he is actively involved in organizing internships for students, allowing them to contribute their creativity to the development of new e-game projects.

Tom Hameeuw is the founder and co-director of The Pack in 2006. After the company’s strong growth in advertising and feature film, The Pack started investing in innovation and new technologies since 2015.

Today, real-time technologies and AI are at the core of our innovation pipeline. As a result, the start-up SYNK was launched offering real time solutions for the audiovisual and corporate market. My assignment at The Pack is now focused on leading innovation and business development of the company.

Senior 3D Animator who has been working in the industry for 13+ years. After graduating from DAE at Howest and working in Belgium for the first couple of years, he has been able to make his way abroad and work for studios such us Sony Pictures Imageworks, Mikros Image and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

James is Executive Editor for Youth Audiences at the BBC, he works across major off-platform innovation projects encompassing gaming, social media and Gen-AI.

He has brought the BBC's biggest brands into Roblox for the unique Wonder Chase experience - including the world's first election in Roblox.

Alena Dubrovina joined Larian Studios as a character art intern and has since worked as a character artist and lead character artist on titles like Divinity: Original Sin II and Baldur's Gate 3.

Now an art director, she focuses on character art to enhance player experiences and reach a broad audience. Alena believes a hands-on approach and blending technical and artistic skills are essential for successful projects.

Ruby Verbeeck is an entrepreneur in the 3D animation industry, [Your Name] has founded several influential companies including Imagination In Motion, Anygma, Wonder Media, and Swoove Studios. Their innovative approach has significantly shaped the field of animation.

Laurens graduated from Howest DAE 15 years ago and has specialized in technical art workflows during his time at Splash Damage, EA DICE, Allegorithmic and now Adobe.

Dirk is the captain of I-Illusions and FoamPunch (daughter company of I-III), and mostly a jack-of-all-trades when it comes down to game development. He's an avid gamer and musician and he's been developing video games professionally for more than 15 years, developing strong relationships throughout the whole game industry.

Nyambura M. Waruingi is a writer, producer, and curator at the intersection of art, culture, and immersive technology. She is the Founder and Creative Director of Akoia & Company Ltd, a two-time grantee of Women Win’s ONSIDE Gaming. And with Akoia’s success, she has expanded into Montreal, Canada with La Perle Noire Immersive.

In producing transformative and audience-centred projects, she experiments with filmmaking, immersive storytelling and gaming. Her XR installations and gaming experiences have been presented at Games For Change Global, XR Women, Games For Change Africa, Museum Next, and Xbox Game Camp Africa. Our flagship production, The Ground Screams To Whisper, has been invited to Artizen’s Showcase, DoK Leipzig XR Exchange, New Images Festival XR Development Market, EyeMyth Festival, Playtopia, among others.

Our mantra is: #imagineradicallyNyambura is an Advisory Board Member of Games For Change Africa and Makila Co-operative for underrepresented media makers.

Since childhood, Jeff has been fascinated by technology and innovation. He was fortunate enough to turn his passion into his profession during his studies in Business Engineering. Uncanny was born. As a creative studio, Uncanny engages in visual productions. They partner with brands and agencies to create stunning visual experiences with impact that resonate.

Joris Corthout is the founder of Prismax, a leading company specializing in innovative video solutions for entertainment and events. With a strong passion for technology and creativity, Corthout has revolutionized the audiovisual industry by designing captivating video setups for concerts, festivals, corporate events, and TV productions. His dedication to pushing the boundaries of visual technology has established Prismax as an industry leader and made him a respected figure in the field.

Tara has been a dedicated commercial consultant at Amplo for 8 years, specializing in Belgian remuneration, copyright laws, social reforms for artists, and more. With her extensive knowledge and genuine passion for her field, Tara is a reliable guide for navigating the complexities of compensation and legalities in the creative sector. Whether you're an artist seeking advice on social reforms or a professional looking to improve your remuneration strategy, Tara’s insights and experience are here to help.

Kim Goossens is a Senior Graphics Tools and Pipeline Engineer at NVIDIA with over 30 years in 3D multimedia and software design. His expertise ranges from procedural modeling to technical art direction, significantly influencing major titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. A seasoned speaker, Kim has presented globally on game development technologies. His educational contributions include a stint as an educator at NHTV, where he taught procedural modeling for games.

Experienced Project Manager and Creative Producer with a demonstrated history of working in the motion pictures and television industry. Skilled researcher and product owner in immersive media projects. Startup collaborator boosting media technology at VRT Innovation.Project lead for VRT in winning the Technology Innovation Award at NAB with the Content4All project in 2020.

Martijn is an independent game business coach and consultant. After 14+ years in the games industry, he’s seen what works and what doesn’t, and knows exactly what it takes to run and grow a game company. He has helped 70+ CEOs, founders and leaders to build better game companies, and to lead them with more confidence and less hassle.

Thomas Lean is the solo developper behind Sheepy: A Short Adventure. Firstly known as a pixel art animator, he's now trying to make humble but high quality games.

Luna De Groote graduated from Howest Digital Arts and Entertainment back in 2020 and first joined Larian Studios as a Character art intern, where she worked on the production of Baldur’s Gate 3. She has since then grown to the position of associate character art lead and now strives to support them in their mission to create diverse, compelling characters that the player can relate to.

Sander Vanhove, after graduating as a Master in Computer Science and a short career in Data Analytics, is the lead developer at Studio Tolima. In his free time he likes to experiment with new game concepts and shaders within the Godot Game Engine.

Arno Schmitz is one of the Technical Art Directors at Guerrilla. He graduated in Game Architecture and Design at the Breda University of Applied Sciences and later studied at the Florence Academy of Arts where he did the Intensive Drawing Program.After that he started as a Character Artist at Guerrilla where worked on games such as: Killzone Shadow Fall, Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.Outside of work he enjoys traditional figure drawing/sculpting and working on his personal work. Ranging from Fantasy Characters to 3D Portraits of his family members.

With a decade of AAA experience, Fries is currently helping to bring the wondrous world of Hytale to life for both players and creators.

Singer, performer and electronic music producer Chagall creates audio-visual live music performances that reimagine the world of live electronica, visual arts and choreography. The application of real-time motion capture technology allows her to use the movement of her body to control all electronic sounds and visuals as she moves around the stage. Having toured her work across the globe, she aims to humanise the digital and to create experiences that have a deep emotional impact as well as being sonically, visually and technically breathtaking. Chagall has no educational background in either music or technology, but is a living example that technology, computer programming and electronics can be mastered if you know what you want to get from it. With this philosophy she has also recently started LoveLace - a foundation to support female identifying artists to learn and apply technology in their work.

Guy Davidson has been making games for over 40 years, nearly 25 of them at Creative Assembly. Now he is embarking on a top secret project with an unnamed company as the Head of Engineering.

Rami Ismail is a Dutch-Egyptian independent games & tool developer with over 20 titles across PC, console, web, and mobile. The co-founder of the influential now-retired indie games studio Vlambeer, Rami worked on award-winning and genre-defining games such as Ridiculous Fishing and Nuclear Throne. His development of tools like the industry-standard dopresskit.com, his prolific & popular public speaking, and highly-regarded consultancy and insights have helped shape industry opportunities for game communities & independent game developers worldwide. Rami continues to advocate the creation of a fairer and more equal industry for developers anywhere through his work at gamedev.world. His versatility and work resulted in him receiving a wide range of recognition, including the prestigious Game Developers Choice Ambassador Award, the IndieCade Gamechanger Award, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 nomination.

Deon van Heerden is an award-winning composer and sound designer, best known for his work on games like Broforce, Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood and Teef, and From Space. Over the past decade he has scored over 30 video games, dozens of trailers and an animated feature. He has a passion for indie games and education, and loves mentoring young composers.

Anton Roebben (Toon), is an animation film producer and co-founder of the Belgium-based animation studio Walking The Dog, which he co-founded with Eric Goosens in 1999. He started his career as graphical animation designer at CPS (Creative Picture Systems). In 1991, Anton Roebben became Art Director and Graphical Director at LBO (Little Big One) in Brussels, where he was responsible for the realisation of 3D animated projects. In this capacity, he was co-director of the first 3D ride-movie, Devil’s Mine, in 1993. In 1994, as co-founder and creative director at TRIX, he was responsible for the preparation, monitoring and supervision of all graphic, commercial and artistic projects for both Television and Film. Walking The Dog has always been at the forefront of both traditional and cutting-edge CGI animation. The studio's achievements include Oscar-nominated classics such as "The Triplets of Belleville" (2003) by Sylvain Chomet and the enchanting "The Secret of Kells" (2010) by Tomm Moore. The appeal of Walking The Dog extends to projects such as "A Monster In Paris" (César 2012), "The Congress" (Cannes 2012), "Jack and the CuckooClock Heart" (Berlinale 2014), “Another Day of Life" (EFA 2018), "Where is Anne Frank"(Cannes 2021), "Richard The Stork 2" (Annecy 2023), “Fox and Hare Save The Forest”(Berlinale 2024). Currently the studio gears up for upcoming releases - "The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol" by Sylvain Chomet and "Outfoxed!" by Paul Bolger.

Marketing Consultant in open source and gaming

Eric Goossens is an animation film producer and co-founder of one of Belgium's renownedanimation studios, Walking The Dog, which he set up with Anton Roebben in 1999.Walking The Dog has consistently been at the forefront of both traditional andcutting-edge CGI animation. Studios achievements include Oscar-nominated classics suchas "The Triplets of Belleville" (2003) by Sylvain Chomet and the enchanting "The Secret ofKells" (2010) by Tomm Moore. The appeal of Walking The Dog extends to projects such as"A Monster In Paris" (César 2012), "The Congress" (Cannes 2012), "Jack and the CuckooClock Heart" (Berlinale 2014), “Another Day of Life" (EFA 2018), "Where is Anne Frank"(Cannes 2021), "Richard The Stork 2" (Annecy 2023), “Fox and Hare Save The Forest”(Berlinale 2024).Currently the studio gears up for upcoming releases - "The Magnificent Life of MarcelPagnol" by Sylvain Chomet and "Outfoxed!" by Paul Bolger.

Started as musician in the 90ties, state-up GRID VFX with Luc, Independent director, producer creative at Collectiv until today,

Traveling a meandering path, Shana is a former beautician turned game dev. Not being a gamer herself, she chose her path based solely on the premise of being able to do art and earn a living with it (she likes a good challenge, too). After 12 years in the industry as an Art teacher at DAE, freelancer for names like Fortnite and Warner Bross, and working on todays largest Mobile Warhammer game Tacticus, she has gathered a broad spectrum of experiences she's eager to share. Specialized in Character art, her main passions lie in sculpting anatomy, expressive faces, stylized textures and pretty renders. The link to beautician is easily made. Character artist is however not the only hat shana wears, as she has grown into the role of Art Producer, ensuring the production of all art coming out of the Snowprint Tacticus team runs smooth and on schedule, and is up to quality standards. Shana's rich background and atypical profile provides interesting  and refreshing viewpoints that might leave you feeling better equipped for this fast paced, high pressure lifestyle called Game Dev.

Deloryan Hommers is the CEO and founder of Studio Deloryan, a women-led game studio known for the browser game Horse Reality. Inspired by her childhood love for horses and a desire for more mature horse games, Deloryan developed a horse management game featuring realistic genetics and stunning art. Since its launch in 2018, it has grown into a vibrant community of over 370,000 players. Deloryan offers insights on balancing creativity and business in game development, drawing from her journey to becoming a game studio CEO.

Jan Kaluza is a Senior Technical Artist at Epic Games working on Fortnite. In the past he has worked as Lead Technical Artist at Yager and Fishlabs, and as a freelance Unreal Engine Technical Consultant for various game and non-game clients.

Thomas Waterzooi is a solo-dev from Brussels who previously worked on Divinity Original Sin and Hitman. Now he makes accessible games inspired by human interest. His games are not about skills or high-scores, but about relaxing, reflecting, experimenting, and being absorbed into the story & aesthetics.‘Please, Touch The Artwork’ received several awards at a.o. Google Play Indie Festival ‘22, Tokyo Game Show and the Belgium Game Awards.‘Please, Touch The Artwork 2’ was downloaded more than 400.000 times.

Jeroen Janssen is the CEO and one of the founders at leading creative videogame developer Happy Volcano. He manages the studio’s day to day, makes sure the team is happy and healthy, and has a passion for growing the company. In his spare time, he likes cooking over an open fire and sharing food and wine with friends.

As Genvid’s chief creative officer Stephan Bugaj brings a wealth of past creative and technical direction experience, including as CCO of DJ2 Entertainment, the Hollywood company behind the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, forthcoming Tomb Raider anime, and more. Stephan has held senior creative roles at Hanson Robotics (developing the AI personality of the Sophia android and premiering his short films starring her at Cannes)and Telltale Games (overseeing creative and story for beloved narrative games including Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead). Earlier in his career, Stephan spent a dozen years at Pixar on both creative and technical teams, with credits including Cars, The Incredibles, Brave, and Wall-E.