Curated by Sharna Jackson
“I’m delighted to be once again curating Ensemble, for its seventh edition, with another extremely bright, bold and brilliant cohort of talent drawn across different roles in the UK games industry. Once again, we forefront the importance of a diverse industry, by demonstrating its significance in the creation of rich and intoxicating worlds and experiences for everyone.”
Annabel Ashalley-Anthony
CEO & Founder
Jonas Gawe
Community Manager
John Giwa-Amu
Producer
Patrick Haraguti
Creative Director & Founder
Bulut Karakaya
Lead Programmer
Zakia Khan
Senior Character Artist & Lead Artist
Tara Mustapha
CEO & Founder
Sarah York
Founder
Previous Ensemble Cohorts
Ensemble 2024
Maja Bodenstein
Writer & Narrative designer
Terrence Cua
Talent Specialist & Manager
Jerreau Henry
Marketing Manager and DEI Chair
Rafif Kalantan
Co-Founder & Designer
Venkatesh Krishna Murthy
Entrepreneur, Founder & CEO
Dan Seto
Senior Communications Manager
Danielle ‘Ebonix’ Udogaranya
CEO & Founder
Nareice Wint
Indie Developer & Senior Producer
Ensemble 2023
Dr Romana Ramzan
Producer
Samuel Amini Schaife
Indie studio founder
Wayne Emanuel
Global partner lead at TikTok
Yoyu Li
Narrative designer & studio founder
Ben Wilson
Creative producer
Cassandra Hughes
Streamer & content creator
Chirag Machhar
Technical audio designer
Roman Alkan
Indie games studio founder
Ensemble 2022
Adam Campbell
Award-winning producer and diversity campaigner
Haroon Thantrey
Sound and audio designer
Jay Shin
Studio founder and lecturer
Jay-Ann Lopez
CEO and founder, Black Girl Gamers
Taiwo Omisore
Self-taught indie developer
Lili Ibrahim
Art director
Leah Muwanga-Magoye
Writer and narrative designer
John Lau
Producer and designer
Ensemble 2020
Abubakar Salim
BAFTA-nominated Actor/Producer launching his own games studio
Adrian Hon
CEO of Six To Start who lead design on the groundbreaking fitness adventure game Zombies Run!
Catherine Unger
Freelance 2D Artist/ Art Director who has worked with Nintendo, State of Play and Broken Rule
Corey Brotherson
Writer, editor and creative consultant for games, comics and TV
Elle Osili-Wood
Editor-in-Chief for Glass House Games and and presenter of video game content for the BBC.
Nida Ahmad
UX designer and researcher integrating scientific user research and UX processes in mobile games and advocating for accessible and player-centered design.
Nihal Tharoor
Interactive writer and co-founder of Electric Noir Studios, working on BAFTA-nominated interactive crime drama Dead Man’s Phone
Rosemary Buahin
Games Category Lead for Xbox, Vice Chair of BAME in Games and a board trustee for Into Games
Ensemble 2019
Anisa Sanusi
A UI/UX designer with credits on indie games and triple-A titles including Planet Coaster and Elite: Dangerous
Brenden Gibbons
Freelance narrative designer who has worked on projects ranging from adventure puzzle games to kids’ AR titles
Luciana Nascimento
A 2D artist who developed the art style for Wargroove by Chucklefish before co-founding indie studio Bunnyhug Games
Malath Abbas
Creative Producer and founder of the Biome Collective, a creative studio and co-working space for experimental games projects
Quang Nguyen
Veteran developer who originally taught himself to program for the Game Boy, forming his own studio Asobi.tech in 2018
Ranjani Natarajan
A former stock trader turned Games Producer working on award-winning titles for London developer Six To Start
Shay Thompson
Streamer and presenter for major clients including Xbox and McLaren, and founder of Glass House Games Media in 2019
Zi Peters
Level Designer for Sumo Digital who worked on the bestselling Hitman series which is renowned for its unique approach to level design.
Ensemble 2018
Chella Ramanan
Journalist-turned-developer working at Massive and making her own narrative titles as part of 3Fold Games
Des Gayle
BAFTA-winning Producer, formerly EA and Square Enix, now running his own studio
Jade Leamcharaskul
A composer who created the soundtracks for numerous indie games and is about to launch her own games music label
Jodie Azhar
Former Lead Technical Artist at Creative Assembly on the Total War who founded her own studio, Teazel Cat Games.
Meg Jayanth
Writer of the critically acclaimed 80 Days and contributor to major titles including Horizon Zero Dawn and indie hit Sunless Sea
Moo Yu
Ex-Insomniac and Media Molecule programmer now Foam Sword co-founder, creator of handpainted adventure game Knights On Bikes
Nadir Miheisi
Self-taught programmer who founded his own VR studio, Funky Gorilla, and is working with narrative game studio Electric Noir
Wei Xing Yong
A games and film animator, formerly of Ubisoft Reflections and Framestore – he also worked on the Oscar-winning film Gravity