On Thursday 11^th February the Grads in Games team headed up to Animex Festival’s networking event at Teesside University in Middlesbrough.

Animex is an inclusive event that celebrates games and animation, providing a space for academics, students and industry professionals to network and entertain. The festival took place from the 8^th-12^th February, with an array of workshops, networking events, exhibitions and screenings.

Thursday was gaming day at Animex, with a variety of games related talks from leading professionals including Sony, Avalanche Studios, Rare Ltd and Blizzard Entertainment. We attended the evening networking event, where many students and industry professionals got together for a chat and queued up to try Samsung Gear’s latest VR.

Director Gabrielle Kent threw a charity auction, where we donated several gaming goodies alongside donations from other games industry companies. In total, our goodies racked up nearly £200 towards a whopping £1847 in total for charity! And if the event wasn’t eventful enough, we even witnessed a surprise proposal on stage between two games industry professionals; Alex Trowers and Leanne Bayley!

We had a fantastic time at the unique festival that is Animex, managing to speak to over 100 students and professionals in total and celebrating the wonderful world of computer games and animation.