Fawzi Mesmar

Fawzi Mesmar is an award-winning game designer, leader, author and public speaker that has been in the gaming industry for over two decades in a career that spanned the middle east, New Zealand, Japan and Europe working for companies such as Ubisoft, EA, Activision Blizzard, Gameloft and Atlus to name a few. He has worked on over 20 titles that have been enjoyed by millions of players worldwide including entries in Mario Rabbids, Battlefield and Star Wars franchises. He is also the author of "Al-Khallab in the Art of Game Design" the first Arabic language text book on game design and the upcoming book "Demystifying Creativity: On Originality in Game Development" published by CRC press later this year. 

Demystifying Creativity in Games

What drives us to think outside the box? Where does a fresh idea originate? And how can one truly gauge originality? This talk delves into the core of the creative process, blending insights from psychology, neuroscience, and personal experiences and the importance of understanding such processes in order to inspire and create games that feel unique and different. It aims to unpack the intricate dance of inspiration and dissect what gives birth to original thought through grounded exploration of the mechanisms behind creativity and what needs to be done to arrive at originality to help teams feel emboldened to take risks and create games that are 'game changers'.