What people say about working with Liam and Ali

On working with Ali Durrant.

Ali is one of those rare producers who combines a huge amount of experience with a genuinely people-first approach. She understands how creative teams work, how to bring structure and clarity to complicated projects, and - just as importantly - how to build trust with the people and team making them.

I worked closely with Ali at Dream Reality Interactive, where she led Production across ambitious, technically complex projects involving multidisciplinary teams and external partners. She has an instinct for seeing what a team needs, asking the right questions and finding pragmatic ways forward without introducing excessive processes.

What really stands out about Ali is the human side of production. She's warm, collaborative and supportive, but she's also experienced enough to challenge constructively when something isn't working. She makes people feel listened to and helps teams find collaborative solutions rather than simply telling them what to do.

Whether she's mentoring an individual producer, advising a leadership team or helping a project get into better shape, Ali brings experience, perspective and an enormous amount of care. I'd happily work with her again!

On working with Ali Durrant.

I worked with Ali at a time when I was pivoting into a new domain and she was a Vet from the industry. I saw an example of what leadership truly means. A good leader doesn’t assume, impose or criticise, they use their years of experience to steer their team through chaos and the unknown towards a solution. This is the important skill that I learnt first hand from Ali, a skill that helped me build and steer multi disciplinary teams in fast paced environments in the years that followed. Ali has the grace and art of transitioning into a mentor and guide effortlessly. A conversation, an act of faith and simple advice woven beautifully to make you feel that you had the solution all along. Ali, through her years of experience working through projects and organisations of different scales taught me the simple equation of effort vs impact, again something that I have used and perfected with several clients to deliver products at every scale.

If you are looking for balanced outcomes, mentoring, support or just a wise sounding board to navigate through ideas or setting up for a production, Ali would be the one stop you need.

Liam has a superb and detailed understanding of the development process and has a ton of great experience across a range of companies. He’s also a lovely person!

Liam's ability to navigate the intricacies of AAA game development is unparalleled. He possesses a keen eye for detail, coupled with a strategic mindset that drives projects forward. His emphasis on teamwork and cross-departmental collaboration was crucial to our success.

Liam's key strengths are his innate intelligence and understanding of human beings; his strenuous work ethic; his professional outlook; his focus on team building and maintaining a high level of morale; his keenness to constantly be learning and improving, both for himself and for his team; the emphasis he places on clear communication and team directives.

I’ve worked with Liam through some tough development cycles, and I can honestly say that his observations, help, support and recommendations had the most positive impact at both a team and an executive level.

Liam took the time to really understand the business, strategy, and our motivations before wading in with heavy handed executive directives or sweeping change. This approach earned trust and faith, something that’s easily given, but much harder to maintain and build upon. That’s what Liam brought to our team, studio, and company, with lasting effect and positive change for the good.

All with a disposition that’s not too serious, which makes things a lot easier and more fun to work with.

If you are looking for some Production support, mentoring, consulting or any help, I can confidently recommend Liam’s talents from both a capability point of view, as much as the right balance of personality to make it happen.

Liam is an incredible professional with loads of experience in the game and software industries. His skills in operations, production, and project management are top notch, and his leadership style is calm and rational. He has a practical understanding of every aspect of game development and organizational methods.

His ethics are beyond reproach, his intelligence is both quick and thoughtful, and his sense of humor is dry and infectious. It is a genuine pleasure to work with him as he is full of encouragement and supportive to a fault.

At Wargaming, he helped us stand up an entire new division catering to mobile games within the chaos of a fast-growing multinational corporation. He worked diligently and was always helpful while being unafraid to address problems directly. He is comfortable working hands-on under any conditions and tackling issues from a position of servant leadership due to his being approachable, introspective, and industrious.

I absolutely recommend Liam to assist with any difficult endeavor and would work with him myself in an instant if I could steal him away from his consultancy.

Published during Ali’s time at nDreams. Ali is now a Senior Consultant at the Academy.

I have been fortunate enough to work alongside Liam twice in my life. He has been a constant friend and mentor and I hope we will get to work together again in the future. He is a born leader, with a deep belief of empowering and encouraging those around him to be their best selves and do their best work.

Liam has a razor sharp ability to spot areas of development or processes that need improving, then creates and implements strategies to see those improvements come to life. He understands development and business from root to tip and keeps himself informed, at the cutting edge of all the relevant areas of his work, so as to constantly drive things forward.

Liam also has a razor sharp wit! I enjoyed every meeting I had with him and there were hundreds! He is kind, empathetic and thoughtful, as well as being amazing at what he does. I learnt so much from him and I will always be grateful for our time working together.

Knowing Liam’s extensive experience in navigating the complexities of game development, I wholeheartedly recommend and endorse his consulting services.

For any studio looking to proactively identify and avoid costly production mistakes while striving for sustainable growth, Liam’s experience and insight will be invaluable.

Having witnessed his dedication to servant leadership firsthand, I have no doubt that he will be a fantastic asset to any game development team.

Liam’s deep understanding of both the creative and logistical challenges, combined with his wealth of experience, makes him uniquely positioned to offer practical and impactful support and advice.

Liam is a Project Management Guru. He is someone who can lead both vertically and horizontally with a beautiful balance of his deep understanding of Project Management, human psychology and business acumen.

He is a mentor, a champion for game production and game producers who often just have to hit the ground running without support or guidance in an ever changing tech and creativity driven games industry.

With Liam at the helm you can be sure to see process, pipeliness, production and overall product quality improvement which is crucial for any company's success.

I've worked with Liam twice at two different companies and been grateful for the opportunity each time. His calm demeanor combined with years of experience in overseeing complex game projects makes him a voice of reason you can listen to and always learn from.

With a keen focus on production and team efficiency Liam wastes no time in identifying and tackling the biggest challenges game teams face and does so in a way that brings them on the journey and leaves them better prepared for the future. Very much the game production equivalent of the proverb "Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he can eat for a lifetime", Liam is all about ensuring teams have the skills and support they need to define their own futures.

Liam has been a champion for communication, transparency and consistency the whole time I've worked with him, and has tirelessly tried to find ways to help make the process around making games more suited to the realities of creative software development.

He's also a huge part of the sense of fun we have in our day to day jobs, bringing a sense of humour to topics that can often be difficult to deal with and as such help to defuse tensions and encourage alignment and co-operation. Working with Liam has been a massive joy for me, and I am certain it will be for anyone else lucky enough to have such an opportunity.

I had the pleasure of working with Liam Wickham at 9 Lives Interactive, also known as Nyan Heroes. During this time, Liam consistently demonstrated exceptional talent and dedication, making him a standout colleague and professional.

Liam and I collaborated closely on the foundation and fundamental process for Nyan Heroes, where his role as a Production Director was pivotal to our success. His ability to manage complex tasks and deliver high-quality results was always evident. One process setup highlighted his skills: Liam was fundamental in setting up and administrating our Jira and Slack platforms, which were instrumental in connecting fully internationally distributed teams across multiple time zones. His innovative solutions and strategic thinking significantly enhanced our workflow and overall project outcomes.

What truly sets Liam apart is his ability to balance technical expertise with excellent interpersonal skills. He is not only a skilled producer, but also a fantastic team player who always supports his colleagues. His positive attitude and effective communication foster a collaborative and productive work environment.

I highly recommend Liam for any role that requires a blend of strategic vision, production management, and a collaborative spirit.

I’d recommend Liam for EP, head-of-studio or C-level roles in games or real-time software industries. He’s a great choice to oversee reorganisation or deep process reform. He bases decisions on objective data, but has the pragmatism and emotional intelligence to get people bought in. His servant-leader approach helps him balance diverse requirements and manage change effectively.

Liam has a deep understanding of modern game production and Live Ops, weighing commercial and development considerations. He seems to love production as a craft, but is ever pragmatic about it. Rather than buzzwords and half-baked agile trends, Liam mentors teams in effective planning, roadmapping and stakeholder management.

Consider speaking with him if you need an energetic, organising leader to scale/optimise/fix development.

I have worked with Liam in different capacities in a number of companies. He has great experience and insight at many levels of software businesses from C-level to hands on production, so understands team needs at all levels of a company. He has also worked in enterprise software, free to play mobile games and AAA PC/Console giving him a great understanding of the business needs and drivers for different types of products and different points in their life cycle. If you have a challenge, big or small, at the top or bottom of your company, Liam will hunt it down and come armed with practical solutions.

He has a great understanding of the demands and phases of a business be it large or small, or if it is in R&D, pre-production, production or post launch LiveOps. All of these factors make Liam very effective in being able to identify risks or need before they arise and proposed solutions that are a good fit for the size and phase of company.

In short Liam can add massive value to companies large or small, in early or late stages of development and across all areas of the business; a very rare profile and a pleasure to work with.