Unity Developer Days are back – and we’re coming to San Francisco, California on December 7th at DNA Lounge. You’re invited to our event on Thursday, December 7, hosted in partnership with SF Game Development. Doors open at 1:30pm for registration.
Developer Days are more than just free events showcasing local indie and AAA talent; they’re also exciting opportunities for developers, programmers, artists, and others to share knowledge and build connections in person.
Join us for two games-focused conference tracks featuring talks by a host of Unity experts. You'll also have the chance to network with fellow developers, meet educators and industry leaders, and connect with the Unity community.
View the full list of speakers and session topics below. Space is limited, so register now to secure your spot.
Welcome Remarks - Mike Geig and Jordan Schuetz
The road ahead for game development with Unity - Mike Geig
This is a don’t-miss session to learn about the most important advances for the Unity Editor and Unity Runtime. We’ll cover support for the latest platforms such as Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3, optimizations for Unity Wētā Tools for game developers, ambitious new multiplayer solutions, and our key investments in AI – and we’ll finish with a sneak peek at what’s ahead.
Muse Sprite and Muse Texture Demo and Q&A - Manuel Sainsily
Unity generative AI tools are now in closed beta, and in this session, you’ll get to see demos and ask questions directly to the creators of these powerful tools. See first-hand how Unity Muse helps creators of all skill levels create usable assets with just a few prompts, to go from idea to prototype faster than ever before.
Keeping the game alive, with Unity Realms - Esteban Maldonado
In this development journey, you’ll see how you can take advantage of Unity’s new Gaming Service, Unity Realms! You’ll see how easy it is to set up, and the benefits of applying it to improve your game whenever you need to keep a persistent state in a world!
Creating realistic real-time human facial animation from 4D capture to AI assisted digital puppets - Mark Schoennagel
Learn how Unity created the realistic facial animation from the cinematic short 'Enemies' by using 4D capture and shader techniques. From there using the power of AI and WetaTools we can use that 4D capture data to train a AI puppet which can replicate the performance or animate something new with rigged puppet. Finally we will see the results from using Ziva Face Trainer to create an AI puppet from a single static mesh of a head. The majority of the presentation is in the Unity Editor but no specific Unity knowledge is required to know in advance.
Multi-platform graphics with URP - Arturo Núñez
In this session, you will discover how to build beautiful multi-platform games using the Universal Render Pipeline (URP). You’ll look at the new URP Sample project and learn tips to apply to your game. We’ll also discuss features like custom post-processing, custom lighting, and shaders.
Welcome Remarks - Mike Geig and Jordan Schuetz
The road ahead for game development with Unity - Mike Geig
This is a don’t-miss session to learn about the most important advances for the Unity Editor and Unity Runtime. We’ll cover support for the latest platforms such as Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3, optimizations for Unity Wētā Tools for game developers, ambitious new multiplayer solutions, and our key investments in AI – and we’ll finish with a sneak peek at what’s ahead.
A Deterministic pattern using DOTS + Mesh Multiplayer - Ken Anderson
While Tashi's mesh multiplayer mode allows for strict peer-to-peer gaming, understanding deterministic patterns to keep all player simulations in sync is critical. This pattern allows for serverless gaming while synchronizing many entities across multiple players. Tashi's Network Transport even helps with preventing event timing conflicts, answering the question of "who got there first?" with a cryptographically authoritative ordering of events.
Follow the White Rabbit: Creating an AI Mixed Reality Adventure You Play in Your Real Room with Your Real Friends - Nicole Lazzaro
Come follow our latest adventures building Follow the White Rabbit with Generative AI. Understand how we optimized the core project as we hopped along from headset to headset to headset. Learn tips as we show what based on our player research makes Mixed Reality tick. Like John Henry vs the Steamdrill, discover how we are testing GenAI in every layer of the production process along with what worked and what did not.
Whether you are into XR, AR, VR, or dabble in all the 'Rs; you won't want to miss this session.
Fluid: Your next computer will be worn, not carried - John Dagdelen
Description: In this talk, John will discuss Fluid’s vision for the future of spatial computing and the challenges and opportunities around building a spatial browser on multiple XR platforms. He’ll describe how the Fluid team is leveraging Unity to bring collaborators together, no matter where in the world they are.
Everything you need to know about Unity PolySpatial + visionOS - Matt Schoen
Matt from Unity will introduce Unity’s support for visionOS and the technology they developed to help creators bring beloved games and apps to a whole new ecosystem or to create something entirely new. You’ll learn about key features, tools, workflows, and best practices to consider when building or porting apps for visionOS.
"Unity", Unity logos, and other Unity trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Unity Technologies or its affiliates in the U.S. and elsewhere (more info here). Other names or brands are trademarks of their respective owners.
Mark is the manager of Industrial Advocacy at Unity Technologies, with a strong technical background in 3D animation and rendering of film, video games, and industrial applications. Being a VFX industry vet with almost 30 years experience, Mark has had a front-row seat from the humble beginnings of time-intensive ray tracing all the way to today’s multi-GPU real-time LED megawalls.
Adding to this vast knowledge of 3D game tech, Mark is an award-winning presenter with an engaging style of showcasing complicated technology. When not a stage presenting, Mark enjoys Formula 1, sim racing, photography, and virtual reality experiences.
Arturo Núñez works as an evangelist for games at Unity Technologies. Arturo has been in the games industry, programming games for over a decade, he started working on mobile and web games for large and indie studios in Mexico. Currently, Arturo is focusing on spreading the word of Unity’s new Data Oriented Tech Stack (DOTS), Project Tiny and Connected Games.
As a Technical Specialist on the Unity Solutions team, Drew acts as an ambassador for the Unity brand showcasing the latest in virtual reality and augmented reality innovations from Unity. Coming from Finger Food Studios ATG. (now Unity Solutions), Drew has already established himself as a key player in telling the Unity story having spoken at a variety of key industry events and presented to prospective customers across multiple industries.
Elizabeth Guzman is a Technical Specialist for Unity’s AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) business. As an architect, Elizabeth has spent her nearly decade-long career in the professional and academic setting focusing on project management, BIM, energy analysis, experience management and how those affect the development of Smart Cities. Elizabeth holds a MASc in building engineering and has published multiple peer-reviewed research papers that continue to influence the AEC industry today. In her spare time, Elizabeth volunteers assisting workshops to help engage youth about science, engineering and tech.
Mark Schoennagel is a Unity Evangelist with a strong technical background in 3D Animation for both film and video games. For nearly 20 years he was the lead evangelist for Softimage 3D, enjoying a front-row seat during the renaissance of the 3D industry. From witnessing the humble beginnings of the first ray-traced animations all the way through to today’s blockbuster AAA game titles, he’s seen it all. When not pushing the limits of 3D, Mark enjoys Formula 1, photography and VR… which of course is just more 3D.
Mike Geig is an Evangelist for Unity Technologies where he develops and delivers recorded, live, and onsite learning content. He has experience as an indie game dev, a university educator, and rumor has it that he also wrote a book called "Unity Game Development in 24 Hours." A gamer at heart, Mike works to make game development fun and accessible for all skill sets. Hi mom!
Housein Cornell is a Content Evangelist at Unity Technologies focusing on creating content and demos focusing on the Automotive, AEC, and non gaming industries. He brings hands-on expertise from working in VFX and automotive visualization, as well as a BFA and training in mechanical engineering. He loves being part of a really great team of people who allow each other to grow together while helping others, and enjoys learning new things, on the job and off.
Ennio is a Software Engineer and he's been using Unity since 2013. He started his journey as a gameplay programmer for a gaming company in Rome. In 2016 he and his friend Veronica Vecci founded their own company, Ambiens VR.
Ambiens VR mission is to provide tools, resources and assets for architects and civil engineers to help them produce astonishing interactive project presentations and reach new goals creating applications instead of static images.
Abdulrahman Moussa (“Moses”) is the Technical Product Manager for Pacelab WEAVR. He is responsible for defining the product roadmap & vision, identifying and presenting innovative product solutions, managing customer projects, and coordinating product releases with marketing, sales, and development teams.
Antonia is an XR Technical Specialist with a decade of experience in public speaking, and several years of experience developing XR applications. In her role at Unity she works across industry verticals, from automotive to architecture; creating demos, delivering talks, and using XR to push the boundaries of what's possible.
I'm an engineer building tools for exploring synthetic perception data for ML using Unity. I love making deep tech accessible to all, from computer vision to graphics to compilers. Previously in the Core group at Unity I contributed to UIElements, shaders, ECS, C++/C# interop, .NET standards, and general API design. I'm a teacher and tech in our church, a gamer and a father.
As a Senior Technical Specialist, Jerome acts as an ambassador for Unity’s growth into new industries specifically Automotive, Transportation and Manufacturing. Jerome has two decades worth of experience having built interactive user experiences across Web, XR, Installations, mobile and embedded devices for brands such as Tata, Airbus, Panasonic Avionics and architectural visualisation apps for the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, one of the largest and acoustically most advanced concert halls in the world.
Chris is a Software Product Manager at Ultraleap, responsible for Tools that enable developers to build content that utilises our world class hand tracking and mid-air haptics. Chris’s mission is to advance the adoption of the technology by helping developers to understand why and how they can use Unity to create their own mind blowing experiences. Prior to Ultraleap, Chris worked for an augmented reality start-up acquired by HP, running a creative team that built AR content for mobile devices. Chris was also product manager for a WYSIWYG web tool that enabled the creation of AR experiences without the need to code.
James has 14 years of experience building and applying simulation and artificial intelligence technologies. He started his career in the simulation brand at Dassault Systèmes, where he worked on mechanical simulation solutions for automotive and aerospace customers. He spent several years managing the delivery of natural language systems for Alexa at Amazon. He has worked as a product manager in the AI organization at Unity since 2019 focusing on Unity Simulation and Unity's solutions for computer vision and is excited about the next frontiers in AI.
Matt is a Unity Game Developer at Ultraleap, responsible for developing software that showcases the hardware and software that Ultraleap provide to their customers. Matt strives to evoke wonder in the audiences of these applications and inspire them to be creative about the uses of the technology. Prior to working at Ultraleap, Matt was involved in making 'Gamified' interactive software to encourage learning through play and interaction. This was particularly targeted at encouraging school children into STEM.
Matt is a Unity Game Developer at Ultraleap, responsible for developing software that showcases the hardware and software that Ultraleap provide to their customers. Matt strives to evoke wonder in the audiences of these applications and inspire them to be creative about the uses of the technology. Prior to working at Ultraleap, Matt was involved in making 'Gamified' interactive software to encourage learning through play and interaction. This was particularly targeted at encouraging school children into STEM.
Drew acts as an ambassador for the Unity brand showcasing the latest in virtual reality and augmented reality innovations from Unity. Coming from Finger Food Studios Inc. (now Unity Solutions), Drew has already established himself as a key player in telling the Unity story having spoken at a variety of key industry events and presented to prospective customers across multiple industries.
Steve manages the Physical System’s group in Unity’s Emerging Technology organization. Physical Systems operates Unity’s Robotics Lab at the Holodeck facility in Vancouver where sensors, RT3D, and robotics are combined to solve client business problems in industry and retail. Steve’s an Electrical Engineer with a wide range of hands-on industry experience ranging from mining, off-shore exploration, subsea electrical systems, and amusement park attractions.
Born and raised in Italy, living and working in France, Turi is an eclectic and multi-disciplinary creative who has produced a wide variety of products and experiences across the physical and digital worlds.
Turi began his career as a car designer and soon started expanding his expertise to other creative disciplines like concept art, industrial design, interaction design and user experience design.
Today he is a design and innovation consultant for companies in the automotive, aerospace, industrial, hi-tech and luxury goods fields.
Turi's profound knowledge of modern technologies like real-time graphics and 3D printing, recentely led him to produce a series of advanced virtual tools for designers named VirQube. This constantly growing collection includes a parametric 3D modeling tool, a virtual reality design platform and a series of high quality product configurators.
Alongside his industry-focused activities Turi has been consistently active in providing corporate and academic design training.
To learn more, you can visit his website as well as virqube.com.
Mark Steelman is a long time XR enthusiast and developer that has a passion for using technology to enable better and more accessible education for everyone. He has worked on projects in the enterprise and entertainment sectors on a variety of XR platforms including Quest, Magic Leap, Hololens, Snapchat, and PCVR.
He specializes in interaction frameworks and bridging the best practices in XR user experience design with best practices in technical system development. At Transfr, Mark leads the Interaction Systems team as a Senior Unity Engineer working on the future of job skills training and systems for creating XR content. Outside of Transfr, Mark has been an XR Access member since 2019 helping make the future of XR accessible to people with disabilities.
Find out more about Mark by following him on Twitter @steelmanxr and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/steelmanxr/
Sean Wybrant currently crafts tomorrow’s heroes in his classroom by teaching students to critically think and solve problems through computer science and video game development.
In 2012 Sean began his work in Career and Technical Education where he is dedicated to designing, implementing, and evolving cutting edge practice for students through his classes so they can impact the world in positive ways while still in school. Students in his programs create augmented and virtual reality simulations, explore live-action motion capture, and are immersed in a variety of other technologies. Much of this work led to his selection as the 2017 Colorado State Teacher of the Year, which opened up opportunities to travel to the White House, Europe, and beyond.
Sean has also led numerous professional development sessions around Next Generation Learning strategies, technology use in the classroom, personalized learning, and service learning over his career.
Thomas Terkildsen is a Psychophysiology Researcher at Aalborg University, a consulting FACS Director, and Principal Investigator at APEX of Fear (Recreational Fear Lab, Aarhus University). He is the Lead Developer of the award-winning LGBTQ+ VR museum, and an expert in emotions, psychophysiology, affective computing, and adaptive VR content.