Devcember Industry Stars: Inspiring Influencers

For the final Devcember cohort, we’re looking at four inspiring people who make a big impact, showing initiative and compassion to create change within games.

These talented individuals have made impressive strides to change the industry in various ways, whilst being an inspiration to others looking to do the same. We’re delighted to share the impacts and achievements of the below inspiring Industry Stars to round off Devcember!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate stars from across all disciplines and corners of the games industry. We’ve experienced so much joy in reading about hundreds of amazing people, and it’s given us so much hope for 2025. We know it’s been a tough couple of years, but with such stars spotted across our industry, it’s hard not to see a bright future ahead for all of us.

Thomas Hunt

Thomas is the creator of ‘I’ll be Brave, Tomorrow’, a game telling the story of a child in hospital who finds escapism through a 2-D platformer on their TV. Tom used his own experiences in hospital as a child to create this authentic and emotional experience for players, in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he was treated. Not only that, but Tom spoke at GOSH to educate children about game development, whilst also pledging to donate 50% of all revenue from the game to GOSH to support the children currently in their care.

“Tom has been a massive inspiration, showing the good that games can do and always wants to do his very best to help children and GOSH, even at the cost of his own personal gain.”

Em Bailey

Em made every place she has worked at a friendly and welcoming environment for others, bringing a level of support and detail to everyone she interacts with and every project she works on. Em started her own games studio, Green Bit, which aims to reduce the carbon impact of the games industry. She has been a huge player in Code Coven’s success, and shares the success she has earned with everyone around her.

“She is an unstoppable force of nature, and we should all make way to let her make this industry a worthy place of her time!”

Michael Farrow-Killick

Michael is dedicated to his students, creating career paths and support networks for those to enter the industry. He actively pushes for new ways to unite students with the cogs of the games industry as they turn, organising talks and mentorship with professionals and hosting in-house expos to exhibit student talent and success. Michael published his own games design book to teach students how to get into game design and pursue their dreams.

“Since meeting him at my open day for college, I have been involved in some exciting lessons and workshops that have shown me how I can bring my ideas to life. This has all been through the time and effort that Michael has shown for his students and supporting us with our careers into games design.”

Ellie Gibbs

Ellie is a Women in Games Ambassador and Women’s Employee Resource Group Co-Leader, making huge impacts to the marketing efforts and community team at Junkfish. She is unshakeable in her role, overcoming steep learning curves and encouraging others to seek opportunities within their fields. Ellie has been instrumental in implementing the Menstrual Leave Policy within Junkfish, which has not only improved company reputation and brand recognition, but has been a huge support for the staff there.

“Ellie is such a positive driving force not only of digital marketing practices, but for women in marketing too. Ellie does a brilliant job elevating women’s voices within our company.”

That concludes Devcember 2024 – what do you think? Shall we bring this initiative back in 2025? Let us know by sharing our social media posts far and wide, so that everyone learns of the fantastic efforts our Industry Stars have put in this year, to make the games industry a brighter, more accessible, safer and welcoming place.

Wishing you all the happiest of holidays! We hope you have a restful break; that you have time to recharge, so that we can take on 2025 and be the change we want to see – following the example of all our Industry Stars. Let’s do this!