Quick GIC Summary#
Game Industry Conference 2025 has just wrapped! I’ve always had fun in Poznań, but this year was really something else. It was exciting to see more talks and panels touching all kinds of animation related topics.
Some animation highlights:
- Roundtable: “Is Unreal Enough for Animation?” by Marcin Sordyl (Anshar Studios) - my personal favourite as I love roundtables. It was a great chance to talk with many animators, techanims and animaton programmers about their experiences, pain points and tips & tricks in their daily UE5 work.
- A deep dive into Mafia: The Old Country cinematics and how the team created a seamless experience across production by Tamar Weisal (hangar 13), Igor Sobolev (Hangar 13), and Theodore Hillhorst (2K Czech).
- A look at storytelling through movement, with the Laban method and Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions in a talk “How the Body Tells a Story” by Marcin Sordyl.
- “The Etiquette Between Character Artists, Riggers and Animators” by Michelle Rothenbach (Freelance) - a topic that really resonated and could spark bigger conversations about animation pipelines next year.
Animatorowisko Meetup 2025#
On top of the GIC itself, I had a pleasure of hosting the first anniversary meetup of Animatorowisko - the Polish animators’ discord that was created at GIC last year. We’ve met at Grota Gaming Pub - an awesome gaming pub that was recommended to me by Poznań’s Fighting Games Community YOMI - and that couldn’t be more in tune to our animation spirit. It was awesome to talk about all things animation with so many professionals geeking about both our specialization, but also games and everything in-between.
Being the only animator at my studio can by isolating at times, so it was really exciting to meet peers in person who understands the daily challanges of game animation. Watching the community come together - sharing experiences, laughs and insights was awesome and I really felt like I belonged there. I am a huge advocate for growing together as a community and I am happy that we have our Animatorowisko discord. Putting faces to avatars is just a cherry on top.
A huge thanks to everyone who came out and I hope that’s a start of an awesome tradition for the years to come!