Develop Brighton 2026: Conference Programme

Develop Brighton Conference 2026 brings three days of cutting-edge talks, workshops, and networking to the UK's south coast games industry hub from 14-16 July 2026. Held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole, this flagship conference serves game developers, designers, artists, audio specialists, and business leaders from across the interactive entertainment sector. ## What to Expect The conference features a comprehensive multi-track programme spanning art, audio, business, coding, design, discoverability, mobile, performance, and indie development. A dedicated Games:Edu track explores professional development and learning pathways in the games industry, while Roundtables and Indie Power-Up sessions provide focused collaboration opportunities. AI integration in game development features prominently in 2026's programme. The Games:Edu keynote, "Apprenticeships & the Tacit Knowledge of Game Development," examines how tacit knowledge—the practical understanding acquired through observation and collaboration—remains central to effective game development, particularly as remote working reshapes traditional learning pathways. Speakers Jake Habgood (Sumo Digital), Laurence Oldham (Digital Impact Incubator), and Dr Tom Cole (University of Greenwich) explore how studios can sustain knowledge transfer and maintain cultural cohesion in modern production environments. Rob Davis's "AI Wants to Play: A Game Designer's Guide to AI in Every Stage of Development" provides hands-on guidance for using AI throughout the development pipeline. Drawing from experience as a Studio Design Director and Creative Director, Davis demonstrates practical applications from prototyping with Lovable, Claude, and Gemini to implementing runtime AI systems. The session covers audience modelling, gameplay mockups, and custom neural network implementations for dynamic character generation and dialogue systems. ## Who Should Attend Develop Brighton attracts professionals from AAA studios, independent developers, middleware providers, publishers, and educational institutions. Whether you're exploring AI tools for rapid prototyping, seeking to understand knowledge transfer in distributed teams, or looking to connect with the UK's vibrant Brighton games community, this conference delivers practical insights you can apply immediately. The multi-track format al