What does game design actually mean in 2026. This TPIF roundtable brings together three experienced design leaders who have built and shipped games across multiple eras of the industry. Hal Sandbach is a veteran design director and former Head of Design at d3t, with a career spanning from Psygnosis and Codemasters through to Sony and Evolution Studios. Nigel Kershaw is Director at Wushu Studios with over thirty years of hands on development experience, known for championing creativity and fun even as teams scale. Will Maiden is a gameplay and systems designer at Chief Rebel, currently leading core product work on Fellowship, with deep experience in prototyping, pitching, and building modern multiplayer systems.Together, they unpack how the role of the designer has evolved across modern studios, game engines, and genres. From creative problem solving and player psychology to procedural generation and AI driven systems, this episode explores how games are really made today and why the designer often acts as the glue between code, art, production, and player experience.The conversation moves between big picture philosophy and the realities of day to day development. There is debate around innovation and risk, the pressure to ship, the usefulness and limits of data, and how vision changes once a team starts building. It is an honest look at the trade offs, tensions, and messy decisions behind modern game design, from prototype to release.https://www.linkedin.com/in/hal-sandbach/https://www.linkedin.com/in/willmaiden/https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigel-kershaw-266b94/
