We're excited to announce that Mark Fascia, Lead Gameplay Programmer on the critically acclaimed Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, is now Splash Damage's Technical Director. Marc will be overseeing our programming teams and guide all of our technology efforts.

This is what Splash Damage's CEO Paul Wedgwood had to say about Marc's appointment:

We're hugely impressed by Marc's combination of insane technical ability and project management skills. In particular its Marc's obsession with fun gameplay and his personable nature that makes him the perfect person to lead our army of awesome programmers.

For more information, including Marc's background in the industry and a bonus quote, check out the official press release.

Finally, if you missed our other big staffing announcement last week, FIFA's ex-development director Griff Jenkins has taken up the role of Director of Production here at Splash Damage. Full details on that over here.

Hot on the heels of Paul's blog post about what you can expect from us this year, we've got our first announcement to make today. We're delighted to announce that Griff Jenkins has been appointed Splash Damage's Director of Production and will oversee all of our development efforts. Griff previously spent seven years at Electronic Arts where he led big franchises like FIFA and Need for Speed and managed multiple development teams simultaneously.

Here's what our fearless CEO Paul Wedgwood had to say about Griff's appointment:

Following FIFA's incredible success, Griff's new role at Splash Damage will be to improve our games by improving the way we make them. Under Griff's leadership we'll elevate production to a discipline on par with art, design, and programming. These are areas that we've always constantly strived to improve, and production should be no different.

For more details about this appointment and Griff, check out the full press release.

We've enjoyed a fantastic first 10 years at Splash Damage and we're looking forward to an even more exciting future. A huge part of this is due to you - our fans - so in this update, I'd like to give you a quick glimpse of what you can expect from us this year.

Amazingly, the Splash Damage Twitter account has officially amassed a following of more than 10,000 thanks to a stealth-like surge during the holidays. Twitter's usually the first place we hurl news, links, and other interesting or caek-related tidbits at, and we also answer questions about our games and the people behind them on there. Plus, and this is a secret and you mustn't tell anyone, there's a better than even chance of the occasional give-away. All in all, it's quite possibly the best way to keep up on all things Splash Damage.

Are you on Twitter and still missing out on Splash Damage's verbal splash damage? Follow us!

And just like that, 2011 is nearly at an end. As we run off into the holidays, we'd like to wish all of you a very happy Christmas period and a fantastic new year. 2012 promises several industrial-sized barrels of concentrated excitement and we can't wait to open them up with you!

Until next year!
-Splash Damage

UK Games industry's magazine-of-record, the imperatively titled "Develop" has published its annual showcase of the most promising new talent to emerge in the games industry. And look! Hark! Listen! See/Hear! See here! Gracing their 30 Under 30 list is our very own Steve "badman" Hessel, justly recognised for his unparalleled youth, vigour and sundry-diverse professional accomplishments.

Having limbo'd under the rapidly descending age bar to claim his place among the industry's youngest and brightest bright young things, Steve is celebrating his inclusion with yet another triumphant twelve-hour shift of website-wrangling and tapir-herding so he can't write this news post himself. Rest assured, gentle readers, that he has been quoted as being "chuffed", "delighted" and "conscious".

Update: Maintenance complete. Thanks for your patience!

Original story: We'll be performing scheduled maintenance on the Splash Damage forums tomorrow morning UK time. Proceedings will kick off at around 10 AM UK / 5 AM Eastern time and shouldn't take more than an hour or so. Please note that the forums will not be accessible while maintenance is going on.

Feel free to take to our Twitter or Facebook outposts during this time to get your fix - we'll also be keeping you updated on maintenance progress there.

Splash Damage's CEO and Game Director Paul Wedgwood gave a special guest lecture at Kingston University earlier this month, sharing advice for aspiring developers. Many topics were covered, including tips for how to make your portfolio shine, how several of Splash Damage's own employees made it in, and a look at the future of the games industry in general.

If you weren't able to make it to the lecture, you can now download Paul's PowerPoint slides and relive some of the excitement. You'll need to be logged in to kick off the download - if you don't have an account yet, click here to create one. It's free and only takes a minute.

Finally, if you have any questions for Paul regarding his Kingston lecture, post them up in the comments.

Special Effect is a charity dedicated to making games more accessible for people with disabilities. They help them and their carers to find out which games they can play, and how to adapt those games that they can't. Special Effect's efforts make a huge difference in the lives of disabled gamers.

We're delighted to support Special Effect and their cause 100%. To kick things off properly, we recently had a meeting with the guys behind it to discuss ways to make games more accessible (think Brink's full button remapping). We'll be implementing their recommendations in our future titles, and we'll also be helping them out with their Loan Library system, which brings specialised games technology to young people.

There's a fantastic editorial over on GamesIndustry.biz, highlighting the great work done by Special Effect, including many awesome stories of how they had a hugely positive impact on people's lives. Splash Damage's CEO and Game Director Paul Wedgwood also features in the piece with plenty of insight from the developer side and our own efforts in the area. Go have a read and help spread the word about Special Effect's efforts.

To find out more about Special Effect, hit their website. If you're on Twitter, be sure to follow our Game Director Paul Wedgwood for bite-sized nuggets about Splash Damage's Special Effect initiative and other SD happenings.

If you're a student at London's prestigious Kingston University, you'll be able to attend a special guest lecture by Splash Damage's CEO and Game Director Paul Wedgwood tomorrow. Paul will be speaking about the future of video game development and how to get into the industry as a university graduate, peppered with plenty of anecdotes and tips from Paul's own experiences. The lecture kicks off at 11 AM tomorrow morning and is open to all games and media students of Kingston.

If you're unable to make it, we'll be making Paul's PowerPoint slides available here on the Splash Damage website soon after.