Zürich games festival Ludicious has added seven new speakers to its already 20-strong line-up ahead of the event on January 18th to 21st 2018.

Ustwo Games senior artist Lauren Cason is one of the new speakers joining the line-up, along with VGVisionary head Vlad Micu and Red Hook Studios creative director Chris Bourassa.

Power Up Audio's Jeff Tangsoc, Dutch Game Garden's Menno van Pelt-Deen, One Life Left's Ste Curran, and Stray Fawn Studio's Philomena Schwab round off the new additions. They join already-confirmed speakers such as Raw Fury's Callum Underwood and 11 bit studio's Patryk Grzeszczuk.

Awards time

Ludicious also revealed the nominees for two categories of its Ludicious Awards 2018. 263 games from 47 countries were submitted to the competition in total.

"What we asked for, and found, are the most exciting, creative and original new games on any platform," said the festival’s Artistic and Conference Director Tobias Kopka.

"In particular this year, we encouraged developers to submit projects which contain a strong innovative aspect. This could be in any area; from the game mechanic through to the narrative, or even business model."

Ludicious takes place on January 18th to 21st Zeughaushof in Zürich, Switzerland. Tickets and more info can be found on the event's website.