Sion Lenton
Course Director for BA (Hons) Video Game Design, BSc (Hons) Video Game Development
Sion Lenton is the Course Director for BA (Hons) Video Game Design for the Games Film and Animation School at Birmingham City University. In addition he also teaches Game Design & Production at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level. Prior to joining BCU, Sion taught Game Design at the National Film and Television School and Bucks New University.
Biography
I am Course Director for BA (Hons) Video Game Design, BSc (Hons) Video Game Development and the Foundation Years feeder courses. In addition, I am Academic Lead for Animation, Visual Effects and Immersive.
Experience
I have over 20 years’ experience in AAA game development having worked for Codemasters (as a Creative Director), Sega Europe (Studio Manager) and Blitz Games (Development Manager). My background was in Games Design and then Production. I have led teams of over 300 developers in the development of console games and have worked with branding and marketing teams to be the public face of IP’s and Brands including Brian Lara Cricket, Micro Machines, Manchester United Club Football, Operation Flashpoint, Barbie, Spongebob Squarepants, Burger King and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Industry connections
BCU has the distinct advantage of being located next to Leamington Spa (or Silicon Spa as it is sometimes called) which contains dozens of Game Development studios and employs hundreds of employees, it is the biggest game development hub in the UK. I personally have connections with many of these studios at a senior level and we utilise these on the course with studio visits as well as inviting them to engage with the course delivering guest lectures and taking part in our game reviews.
Former students
Many of our studios have found employment in Leamington and the surrounding area including Codemasters, Playground Games, Ubisoft, Sumo and Sega. The roles our students gain employment in include Game Designers, Game Producers and of course Programmers.
Notable projects
I am very interested in accessibility within games and am hoping to embark on a research project focused around demonstrating the impact of mental health challenges to users via the use of games technologies and mechanics.