Festival Patrons

Norwich Games Festival is a free, family-friendly celebration of games, brought to you by The Forum. 

Norwich Games Festival is a non-profit event run by The Forum Trust, the self-financing charitable organisation which manages The Forum building in Norwich. All money raised by the festival is reinvested in the event. 

Dan Scales

Daniel is a Principal Gameplay Developer at Saltwater Games, originally from Norwich. Daniel has worked on a number of titles from indie games such as 10 Second Ninja X to VR titles - having most recently finished work on Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom.
Daniel has a huge passion for making games accessible to everyone and encouraging young people to explore careers in games; having produced the Norwich Games Festvial with The Forum for a number of years. In 2019 his work on the Festival saw him nominated for the MCV 30 under 30 award.

Stuart Ashen 

Stuart Ashen is a comedian from Norwich, whose YouTube channel “Ashens” boasts over 1.6 million subscribers. He has written two books on video games: Terrible Old Games You’ve Probably Never Heard Of and its follow-up Attack Of The Flickering Skeletons. He also co-wrote and starred in the comedy films The Quest For The GameChild and The Polybius Heist.

Melissa Phillips 

Melissa Phillips works as an Operations Consultant and Fractional C-suite Director, supporting Studios with strategic planning, scaling, leadership development, and complex negotiations. Alongside her consultancy work, she is the Founder of Games Leadership®, focused on strengthening leadership practice across the Industry through Training, Coaching, and Community. Her work bridges real-world Studio experience with evidence-informed Leadership practice, supporting Developers and Teams to lead more sustainably. 

Find out more about what Melissa offers at www.gamesleadershipacademy.com