State of Unreal

Colin has worked at The Coalition with a focus on visual features, performance optimization, and content creation workflows for over ten years. Most recently, Colin supported Epic with shipping The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience on Xbox. Prior to that, Colin shipped Gears 5 and Gears of War 4 as Studio Technical Art Director.

Kate Rayner’s career in game development and technology leadership has spanned over two decades, from heading development teams on venerated AAA franchises including SSX, Skate, NBA, and Need For Speed, to co-directing the Frostbite Engine at EA, to joining Microsoft and driving game technology forward throughout Xbox in her role as Partner, Technical Director at The Coalition​​. 

Jakub Knapik is a VFX Supervisor / Art Director and CG Artist with over 20 years of experience working in the film and commercial industry. Currently working as Art Director at CD PROJEKT RED, in the past he has worked as a generalist, compositing artist, lighting artist, and visual effects supervisor, both directly with clients and on set with film crews. 

In 1998, Jason Slama started learning the craft of game making by creating custom mods for various video games. He joined the games industry professionally in 2008 and has since gained invaluable experience on AAA and mobile titles alike, working on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and GWENT: The Witcher Card Game, among others. 

A graduate of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Paweł Zawodny began his professional career in 1997 at the Wrocław-based company, Techland. In 2018, he joined the CD PROJEKT Group, initially heading up the Group’s Wrocław studio, before becoming CTO/Head of Production at CD PROJEKT RED. In this role, he oversees the studio’s technological and organizational transformation. 

Aaron Sims began his career over three decades ago as a special effects artist working under industry giants Rick Baker and Stan Winston (Evil Dead, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Men In Black, A.I., War of the Worlds). As a critical voice in the making of cinema's best-known creatures, his techniques helped influence the face of character and concept design for film and television early on in their application.

Dallas Dickinson is Franchise General Manager for Tomb Raider at Crystal Dynamics, where he oversees the ongoing development and future of the Tomb Raider franchise across all media, including video games, movies, television, and licensed consumer products.

Tim Sweeney started Epic Games in 1991 with the release of its first shareware game, ZZT, and then wrote much of the first-generation Unreal Engine. He has led the company in building an end-to-end digital ecosystem for creators through the eras of PC, console, mobile, and online gaming, and now, the metaverse.

Kim Libreri is responsible for fusing state-of-the-art technology with the pinnacle of visual artistry. Prior to joining Epic, Kim was the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Lucasfilm where he was responsible for the company's Star Wars technology strategy. Kim has credits on more than 25 films. He supervised visual effects on the original Matrix trilogy, including development of ‘Bullet Time’ technology, for which he earned two Sci-Tech Awards. 

Dana Cowley leads communications for Unreal Engine. Dana also partners with Epic’s teams that elevate the creator ecosystem, including 3Lateral, Cubic Motion, Quixel, Capturing Reality, Twinmotion, ArtStation, and Sketchfab. During her two decades in interactive entertainment, Dana has spent the last 14 years with Epic. 

Nick Penwarden oversees development for all aspects of Unreal Engine. During his eleven years at Epic, which covers multiple generations of Unreal Engine, Nick has also served as Lead Graphics Programmer and Senior Engine Programmer.

Zak has spent the last ten years at Epic Games focusing on helping developers ship their games with Unreal Engine. From developing in-depth tutorials to hands-on work with game studios, Zak works directly with a wide variety of developers to make sure Unreal Engine projects are shipping at maximum potential.

Teddy Bergsman Lind is responsible for the success of the Megascans content creation strategy within Epic Games, including setting the vision and goals for scanning projects, helping to drive innovation in asset creation, and fostering successful integration with other products and teams. Prior to Epic, he co-founded Quixel in 2011 with the mission to scan the world. Teddy would also like to say a big thank you to all creators who provided additional content and 3D assets for his presentation.

Sjoerd de Jong looks after how to best serve developers all over the world through the Unreal Engine community channels, learning and on-boarding content, and evangelism. With over 23 years of experience in Unreal Engine, Sjoerd is an expert in a wide range of content creation topics, most notably world creation, tech art, and Blueprint.