PAX AUS Developer Guests Revealed
In the last few years it is fair to say that PAX Australia had been lacking a bit for guest game developers. The organisers at PAX have heard the cries of fans and press/influencers alike about this and with PAX AUS 2024 have responded in a big way announcing a range of incredible game developer guests to complement those already revealed to be attending the October 11-13 event.
Fans of all things Middle Earth will be eating well this PAX AUS with a healthy representation of talent from Weta Workshop discussing all things Lord Of The Rings and specifically the upcoming ‘Tales Of The Shire’. “Art Director Stephen Lambert will share his insights into the construction of Bywater in this one-hour Fireside on Friday. Saturday PAX attendees can hear from Lead Game Producer, Calliope Ryder, Game Designer, Catherine Booth, Art Director, Stephen Lambert and a name that will be familiar to veterans in the gaming industry, Game Studio Director Tony Lawrence, all about the highly anticipated cosy sim, Tales of the Shire” the PAX AUS press release outlines.
BAFTA nominated actor, and CEO of Surgent Studios, the developers of 2024’s Tales Of Kenzera: ZAU, Abubakar Salim flies into town as well, and if it wasn’t already enough to feature on Dev Diary and episodes of House Of The Dragon all in the same year, Abu will be making his presence felt throughout the weekend.
Rich Lambert of Elder Scrolls Online fame, and essentially every other PAX AUS because he seems to love visiting, returns for yet another year to further connect with the passionate community. Who knows, maybe he’ll again chat for a third Dev Diary episode.
The Elder Scrolls Online isn’t the only MMORPG making a big splash at PAX AUS this year, with Final Fantasy XIV getting some representation as well! Senior Story designer for FFXIV, Natsuka Ishikawa and Saki Takayanagi, Teams Quest and NPC Designer for FFXIV, will be joining the PAX Aus Special Guest lineup.
“As a Senior Story Designer, Natsuko is responsible for crafting compelling scenarios and managing related aspects of game development. She played a key role in shaping the critically acclaimed main scenarios for Shadowbringers and Endwalker. Currently, Natsuko continues to support the team as a senior member, bringing her expertise and passion to the ongoing evolution of Final Fantasy XIV. Saki Takayanagi has also been an integral part of the Final Fantasy XIV team since 2013, joining during the development of A Realm Reborn. As a Quest Designer, Saki is responsible for designing and implementing quests and coordinating characters within the game. Her contributions play a crucial role in shaping engaging and immersive experiences for players.”
Fans of PlayStation Studios will be happy too with Sonia Coronado coming to town. Sonia is a senior music designer who has played a part in undoubtedly one of your favourite PS5 titles having worked on God of War Ragnarök, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part II.
The music theme continues with ideo game/anime composer and DJ based out of Tokyo, Japan, James Landino, coming to visit. “He is best known for his work on the musically acclaimed video game Omega Strikers, along with other projects including No Straight Roads, Fortnite, Tower Of God, Roblox, Chunithm, Osu!, RWBY, Cytus II, Amplitude HD, PUBG Mobile, Dropmix. James most recently produced for the vtuber music project Advent’s original song “Sirens,” for Hololive.”
In terms of other developer guests, Josh Weier is venturing over as well. Josh’s game-dev experiences span 20 years where he has worked on acclaimed titles such as Half-Life 2 and Portal 2 with Valve among other titles.
All of the aforementioned developers join the already announced line-up which includes Storytime speaker Julian Wilton (Creative Director of Massive Monster, creator of Cult of the Lamb), Mark Meer (voice of Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect game series), and John Robertson (The Dark Room, Comedian)
There is some incredible talent coming to Melbourne for PAX AUS 2024. Let us know who you’re most excited to bump into this year!