TIGA's decision to bolster its board with five new members comes at a time when the UK trade association seems to be being celebrated and criticised in equal measure.

The UK Government's decision to offer tax breaks to the games industry saw TIGA's long time campaign for such measures come to fruition, but that hasn't stopped some calling out the body for its membership fees and claiming it's out of touch with indies.

New board member Ella Romanos - who is MD of Remode Studios and also co-founder of digital interactive festival Extended Play - claims TIGA is always willing to listen to those who have feedback.

We caught up with Ella to ask where she thinks TIGA should go next, and how she plans to help the organisation get there.

Pocket Gamer: How did the appointment to TIGA's board come about?

Ella Romanos: I initially got to know TIGA through the Extended Play festival, which is a games event that I co-founded in the south west.

TIGA was keen to support us and CEO of TIGA Richard Wilson was our opening night keynote speaker for the inaugural 2011 event. From that moment I started talking to Richard and other board members about their vision and goals for TIGA, and I became keen to see if I could contribute.

What do you consider TIGA's role within the industry to be?

I think the fundamental purpose of TIGA is to give developers and the UK games industry at large a voice.

TIGA is able to promote and represent UK developers to organisations outside the sector, whether that’s the Government or another country with an emerging market for UK games production, as well as monitor any challenges that may arise in what is an ever developing and fast faced market.

This allows the UK games industry to remain competitive and able to react to any challenges or issues that may arise quickly and successfully.

What do you plan to bring to the table yourself?

My focus is to support smaller and start up studios in the UK.

TIGA already does a lot of good work in this area, but are keen to enhance their offering to ensure they are helping a new wave of developers that is emerging today.

With my experience of growing Remode over the last five years, I hope that I can effectively represent the views of smaller developers and help TIGA effectively maximise their support for this particular group.

Another area that I hope to contribute to is education, which is something I am passionate about having come straight from university to establish and manage Remode.

I believe that availability and quality of computer science education is paramount to ensuring that the UK games industry continues to grow and deliver across the globe.

TIGA's most recent success was lobbying the UK Government for tax breaks for the games industry. What kind of impact do you think this will have on developers and publishers alike?

Tax breaks can have a significant impact on the UK games industry. The fact is that currently other countries are more competitive than us because of the tax breaks they receive and newly established tax breaks for the games industry in the UK will help alleviate the problem.

My aim is to ensure that they benefit small companies as well as larger ones and that the application of the criteria set out in upcoming legislation continues to be in the best interest of the wide range of developers, large and small, across the UK.

On the flip side, TIGA's prominent role means it's also come in for criticism from some quarters of late. Do you think there's room to look at the way the organisation charges for membership, for instance?

It's always good to see feedback from the industry.

It's what keeps TIGA constantly developing in order to serve not just its members but the industry as a whole as effectively as possible, and TIGA's success in campaigning for tax breaks and improvements to the R&D tax credits are just two examples where the organisation’s work goes beyond its membership.

While TIGA is a not-for-profit organisation that relies on its membership fees for funding, the big picture is that it helps to represent everyone that forms part of the UK games sector.

I have always found TIGA to be incredibly receptive to dialogue, particularly with smaller and growing independent studios, and I know that a number of small developers have had inspiring conversations with TIGA at the recent TIGA Smartphone & Table Conference and the GameHack event at Pinewood Studios.

The most important thing is that developers communicate what their needs are to TIGA, so that the organisation can continue to support our industry comprehensively and I would encourage anyone who has ideas about what support would benefit their own studios to approach TIGA directly.

Personally speaking, what does the TIGA appointment mean to you?

As Remode grew, I was able to see more and more how industry-wide policies on taxation, recruitment, R&D and retail affected each developer in the UK.

I wanted to be able to contribute to the industry, not just as a studio manager, but as a representative to help shape a better future, where UK developers are able to focus on what they do best – making creative and exciting games.

Joining TIGA was the most effective way to get involved and I’m excited to hear from all developers and look forward to working together on making the UK games industry the strongest one there is.
Thanks to Ella for her time.

You can find out more about TIGA on the trade association's website. There's also more about Extended Play on the festival's website.