Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd. To give you a taste of what to expect, we'll regularly be publishing interviews with the speakers at the show.

For more details on PGC London and to book a ticket, head to the website here.

In today's Speaker Spotlight we're talking to freelance game UX consultant Celia Hodent.

Hodent is recognised as a leader in the application of user experience (UX) and cognitive science in the games industry.

She holds a PhD in psychology and has over 10 years of experience in the development of UX strategy and processes in video game studios. Through her work at Ubisoft (e.g. Rainbow 6 franchise), LucasArts (e.g. Star Wars: 1313), and as director of UX at Epic Games (e.g. Fortnite), she has contributed to many projects across multiple platforms, from PC to consoles, mobile and VR.

Hodent is also the founder of the Game UX Summit, advisor for the GDC UX Summit, and author of The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX can Impact Video Game Design.

She currently works as an independent consultant, helping studios increase the likelihood of their games to be engaging and successful.

At Pocket Gamer Connects London, Hodent will host a workshop on 'How Neuroscience And UX Can Impact Game Design'.

PocketGamer.biz: Could you tell us a bit about what you do?

Celia Hodent: I've been working in freelance since November 2017, a few months after the launch of Fortnite.

I help game studios to develop their UX strategy globally or at a project level, develop a UX pipeline within a project (including playtests), or to improve the onboarding, engagement, and retention of a specific game by identifying the biggest UX issues it has.

Having a clear understanding of what the studio or the game team is trying to accomplish (what experience they want to offer to what audience, and their business model) and to identify the biggest hurdles they face to reach their goals, with regards to user experience.

I also do a lot of game UX trainings inside studios, like the one I'm proposing the day after PGC in London.

Lastly, I help companies improve their diversity and inclusivity, for example by giving workshops on unconscious biases.

Why did you want to work in the games industry?

I've been playing video games all my life. After I got my PhD degree in Psychology I realised that I could use my knowledge of how the brain works to help developers make more engaging games.

It's very rewarding to help craft games, and to watch people having fun playing them. The games industry is very dynamic and many different talents need to collaborate to make a game (artists, designers, engineers, etcetera), which makes working in this industry quite fascinating.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?

Start making games and network! The games industry is still a small world and it's hard to get in without networking.

What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?

The video games industry is starting to mature. It's now the biggest industry in entertainment and studios are developing more rigorous processes.

It was quite exciting to witness the growing influence of having a UX mindset in the past year. The past 12 months have also sadly exposed our diversity and inclusivity issues that are still critical today.

What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?

I hope that more diverse teams will craft diverse games. More than the tech challenges we face with the explosion of online games, streaming, esports, and new platforms (such as AR and VR), I wish that indie developers from all around the world will take more space in the next 12 months.

How has the games industry changed since you first started?

It's a much bigger industry today than 15 years ago. More complex and maybe harsher, as making games is costing increasingly more while standing out among the competition is getting increasingly challenging.

Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?

Meeting new people and seeing old friends!

Find out more about Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 on the website.