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 Exit Games senior engineer Erick Passos.

Part of the Photon Quantum (deterministic predict/rollback multiplayer engine) core team of developers, Passos is a former computer science professor with a background in light field displays and software engineering.

At PGC London he'll host a talk entitled 'How Predict Rollback Determinism Will Revolutionise Real-time Multiplayer Game Development'.

PocketGamer.biz: Could you tell us a bit about the company?

Erick Passos: Founded in 2003, Exit Games are the developers of state of the art realtime multiplayer solutions like Photon Realtime, PUN, Bolt and Quantum. Besides SDKs, Exit Games also runs the Photon Cloud service, a global scalable turnkey infrastructure to host games based on any of Photon SDKs.

What does your role entail?

• I'm lead developer for quantum's C# cross platform deterministic physics engines (2D and 3D);
• I also oversee several other aspects of quantum's SDK development, like general API, long=term goals, etcetera;
• Lead evangelist for Photon Quantum ECS multiplayer game engine;
• P&D on other topics like anti-cheat systems, machine learning, data analysis and general multiplayer game state synchronisation strategies

Why did you want to work in the games industry?

Because of the challenges and the great satisfaction that comes with overcoming them. This ranges from finishing and shipping a game to now being able to give other game developers the right tools to achieve their goals.

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

Being persistent and smart is the most important, but also pay attention to never underestimate how much a solid foundation can help you (being it in programming or art training)

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

It's been a very intense year with the release of Photon Quantum ECS engine and all the games that have been in the making since then (that I can't still talk about).

Outside of our nest, we've been closely following the trends on high-performance programming, content distribution (game store newcomers like Discord and Epic) and online real-time multiplayer dominance on mobile platforms.

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

More and more studios jumping in the trend of fast real-time multiplayer games on mobile platforms. Essentially a complete dominance of real-time online multiplayer on mobile (as it's already the case on other platforms).

How has the games industry changed since you first started?

It's been a roller coaster ride since the advent of mobile asset stores, the rise of Unity as a major game engine, the rise, fall and consolidation of indie games as a significant part of the market. Just nice to know we're part of it all.

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

Meeting the game development teams, current and prospect customers. Always nice to catch up with the latest technical trends and challenges to come.

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