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Jonathan Holmes is the Founder and former CEO of Milky Tea Studios, a BAFTA and…
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Jonathan Holmes shared thisFresh air, great company, good conversations and a couple of pub stops :) Another awesome games industry Netwalking trip last Friday; this time we did a 3.5hr walk up to Easedale Tarn near Grasmere in the Lake District. There’s so much value in getting founders and leaders together away from their desks and studios for an afternoon. Sharing challenges, exchanging ideas, supporting one another and building genuine connections. All while getting a bit of exercise in some beautiful surroundings. Thanks to everyone who came along on this one: Jamie Campbell Jake Woof John Bibby John Keefe Simon O'Brien David Harper Matt Southern David Smith What a great group of people! Next walk: Friday 11th December. If you’re a games industry founder or leader and this is your thing, please send me a DM! #videogamesindustry #gamedev
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Jonathan Holmes reposted thisJonathan Holmes reposted thisThere are many reasons to love the Lake District... and here is one more... VAEWOLF! Our MD Chris Wood spoke to Cumbria Crack about our bloodthirsty Hack and Slash power fantasy game. From Ravenglass to the top of Scafell Pike. Check out the article here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eAFG4nKE #Vaewolf #LakeDistrict #Cumbria #GameDevVaewolf: New dark-fantasy video game based in Lake DistrictVaewolf: New dark-fantasy video game based in Lake District
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Jonathan Holmes shared thisI've been working with a seriously talented team of Unity Engineers here in the UK recently through HOLM, and we're looking to connect with studios and publishers who might need additional support with either: - Porting (PC, Console, Mobile, VR & AR) - Multiplayer - Co-Development Please reach out and DM me if this might be of interest? I'll also be heading to DevGAMM in Lisbon and Playcon in Malta this November, so give me a shout if you fancy catching up at any of these events :) Also, more to come on this awesome team soon! #unity #unity3d #gamedev #videogames #gamedevelopment
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Jonathan Holmes shared thisGreat to see the brand new Vaewolf Story Trailer out at Tokyo Game Show recently, with more of the world and story finally being shown to the public. This was the last video game project I oversaw as CEO of Milky Tea and one I really really loved creatively directing. A huge amount of work went into building the world behind the scenes, with lots of research trips and a lot of talented people bringing together Cumbrian folklore, local legends and real history from the Roman and Viking periods, then mixing that with the mythology of vampires and werewolves. The game is set in Cumbria, UK in 800AD, and wanted to ground the world in real places; recreating places like Ravenglass and Ambleside to Helvellyn and Scafell Pike. It was a pretty difficult creative puzzle to pull together, but exactly the kind of challenge I love taking on :) Vaewolf is a dark fantasy hack and slash roguelite game, coming to PC and console platforms in 2027. Huge congratulations to Chris Wood, Jennifer Tucker and the awesome team at Milky Tea Studios, Megabit Publishing and Aonic, as well as Dylan Shipley and the team at Sun and Moon for some of the amazing 2D art support. This is definitely a project to keep an eye on if you love this genre. Have a watch of the PS5 trailer below and check out the Steam page; I'd love to know what you think :) Steam link here: https://bit.ly/4dq1mja PS5 Trailer link here: https://bit.ly/47p6xwx #videogames #newgame #gamesindustry #gamedevelopment #creativedirection #xbox #playstation #nintendo #PCGames
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Jonathan Holmes shared thisGreat to see the brand new Vaewolf Story Trailer out at Tokyo Game Show recently, with more of the world and story finally being shown to the public. This was the last video game project I oversaw as CEO of Milky Tea and one I really really loved creatively directing. A huge amount of work went into building the world behind the scenes, with lots of research trips and a lot of talented people bringing together Cumbrian folklore, local legends and real history from the Roman and Viking periods, then mixing that with the mythology of vampires and werewolves. The game is set in Cumbria, UK in 800AD, and wanted to ground the world in real places; recreating places like Ravenglass and Ambleside to Helvellyn and Scafell Pike. It was a pretty difficult creative puzzle to pull together, but exactly the kind of challenge I love taking on :) Vaewolf is a dark fantasy hack and slash roguelite game, coming to PC and console platforms in 2027. Huge congratulations to Chris Wood, Jennifer Tucker and the awesome team at Milky Tea Studios, Megabit Publishing and Aonic, as well as Dylan Shipley and the team at Sun and Moon for some of the amazing 2D art support. This is definitely a project to keep an eye on if you love this genre. Have a watch of the PS5 trailer below and check out the Steam page; I'd love to know what you think :) Steam link here: https://bit.ly/4dq1mja PS5 Trailer link here: https://bit.ly/47p6xwx #videogames #newgame #gamesindustry #gamedevelopment #creativedirection #xbox #playstation #nintendo #PCGames
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Jonathan Holmes reposted thisJonathan Holmes reposted thisMade Here is back! 👀 On 29th October, we’re bringing the Liverpool City Region creative and tech community back together for another edition of Navigate: Made Here at Hard Days Night Hotel Made Here is about the people, businesses and ideas being built right here in the city region.It’s a chance to hear the real stories behind the work. The good bits, the hard bits, the lessons learned, the opportunities created and the people supported along the way. We’ll be bringing together founders, creatives, technologists, start-ups, scale-ups and people from across the wider Liverpool City Region ecosystem to share what they’re making, how they’re making it and what we can all do to open more doors for each other. It’s informal, community-led and built around one simple idea: If great things are being made here, we should be shouting about them. 📍 Hard Days Night Hotel, Liverpool 📅 29th October 2026 Book your place here: https://lnkd.in/ezAkEknr Made Here is part of Navigate Together, supported by Liverpool Chamber, GoodShip* and KinShip. Please share Growth Platform Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Baltic Ventures Baltic Creative CIC LYVA Labs Form Sciontec Developments Limited Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool) Bruntwood SciTech
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Jonathan Holmes shared thisReally great to get along to the RE Format Games B2B event in Liverpool last week. Some fantastic speakers, lots of familiar faces and as always, some really interesting conversations throughout the day. Thanks Simran Whitham for inviting me along and giving me the opportunity to be part of a panel as well. Amazing work pulling this all together mate and another brilliant games event :) #videogames #gamesevent
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Jonathan Holmes shared thisGreat to be involved in this yesterday and support such amazing cause in SpecialEffect Nick does amazing job, bringing together a wonderful group of people from the games industry; loved meeting some new faces and chatting with old friends. Let’s make the Liverpool walk bigger next year with a few extra pub stops hey mate :)Jonathan Holmes shared thisSuch a beautiful way to mark #OneSpecialDay with a 7.5 mile walk in Liverpool yesterday with 30 of SpecialEffect's closest friends. Special thanks to Amelia, Maria, Shirley, Jonathan and Lyndsey for making the walk possible, to all who took part and for the opportunity to share Craig's incredible SpecialEffect story afterwards 🙏💙 As SpecialEffect approaches 20 years in 2027 occasions like yesterday and last Friday with laughter, friendship and kindness are in my biased opinion (!) what makes the charity and our supporters so special. The final word on yesterday is that it was a "boss" day for a "boss" charity so I suspect / hope we will be back next year! https://lnkd.in/e5VP3i53
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Jonathan Holmes reposted thisJonathan Holmes reposted thisSuch a beautiful way to mark #OneSpecialDay with a 7.5 mile walk in Liverpool yesterday with 30 of SpecialEffect's closest friends. Special thanks to Amelia, Maria, Shirley, Jonathan and Lyndsey for making the walk possible, to all who took part and for the opportunity to share Craig's incredible SpecialEffect story afterwards 🙏💙 As SpecialEffect approaches 20 years in 2027 occasions like yesterday and last Friday with laughter, friendship and kindness are in my biased opinion (!) what makes the charity and our supporters so special. The final word on yesterday is that it was a "boss" day for a "boss" charity so I suspect / hope we will be back next year! https://lnkd.in/e5VP3i53
Jonathan Holmes replied to a comment
1w
Stig Strand will do mate 👍
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Jonathan Holmes liked thisJonathan Holmes liked thisHigh Command awards Master Gunner F-1524E the #Halloween2026 Medal of Honor for this spooktacular creation. ⚰️🥀
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Jonathan Holmes reacted on thisJonathan Holmes reacted on thisPleased Liverpool City Council and Culture Liverpool have officially extended the daily opening hours for the River of Light festival. The 5km outdoor trail is opening an extra hour early (now starting at 4pm). It also now finishes on November 6 rather than November 1. No doubt this will help the local economy and 4pm is a decent time to catch a Mersey sunset looking down Water Street by Liverpool Town Hall 😉 #Liverpool #RiverOfLight #CultureLiverpool #Placemaking #LocalEconomy #EventsIndustry #CityCentre #LiverpoolBusiness
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Jonathan Holmes liked thisJonathan Holmes liked thisWIP. UE5. A monster resembling a massive swarm of earthworms walking toward you.
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Jonathan Holmes liked thisJonathan Holmes liked thisBarclays Eagle Labs x The Female Panel What an amazing evening 👏 There’s something really valuable about bringing founders together away from the usual networking environment, giving them the space to connect, learn from each other and have genuine conversations about building and growing businesses. And getting to do that with Olivia Norton-Ogilvie while watching J. Cole from our Co-op Live suite made it a pretty unreal setting!! I was genuinely so impressed hearing about what everyone is building and the ambition across the group. Amazing working alongside Sally Curtis to bring this together and see the idea come to life. A great example of what can happen when you create the right environment and bring the right people together. Thanks to Chris Winn & Jamie Treanor for their support too. Jana Stella Sahara Bhanot George Fairhall Jade Kelsall Henrietta Newble Beth Crosier Claudia Kilsby Darcy Gorman Christine Parker Stubbs
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Jonathan Holmes liked thisJonathan Holmes liked thisAs expected, year end events are ramping up! Nov 2-3, I’ll be kicking around SF for GamesBeat Next (I do live here, after all) then 9-12 is Montreal for MIGs and then the 18th is my keynote at Playcon in Malta. Let me know if you’re at any of those, I’d love to catch up!
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Jonathan Holmes liked thisJonathan Holmes liked thisIn our final video with Marek Smagala, we reflected on the growth of Liv Game Summit. 🎮 The first summit began with a simple conversation. A friend encouraged Marek to think bigger than the pub-style meet-ups he had been running and create something on a larger scale. Bringing the 2025 summit to life was a real watershed moment. It showed Marek just how far the network had come, helped him realise his own ambition, and inspired him to take things even further. As Marek shares in this video, Liv Game Summit will return in 2027. 🎉 If you'd like to stay up to date with future events, you can join the Liv Games Network mailing list here: https://lnkd.in/eKFrSKVd #AmbitiousLCR Helen Cross | Pete Woodbridge | Paul Radcliffe | Kate Currie | Janice Mears | Craig Donaldson | Shelley Lockett
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Jonathan Holmes liked thisJonathan Holmes liked thisA busy afternoon, 11 amazing entrepreneurs and 12 consultations — powered by people who give their time simply to help others move forward. 💙 Although I could only stay for the first hour of today’s pro bono Business Clinic, I knew straight away it was going to be a busy one! We managed to gather some of our outstanding volunteers for a group photo… then two more arrived ten minutes later. There’s always room for a few more superheroes! 📸 Huge thanks to Glen Bullivant, who travels from Skipton — a seven-hour round trip, plus three hours helping our entrepreneurs. That’s an extraordinary commitment. Thank you, too, to Richard Leighton from the University of Liverpool’s Brett Centre; Leslie Prichard, our patent attorney; Phil Sutton FRSA, whose work in recycling and reuse has just been recognised by TIME among its Inventions of the Year; and Jenny Wallwork, Donal Bannon and Ali McGrath. Each brings knowledge, experience and encouragement, consistently giving their time free of charge, with no expectation of financial gain. Just a shared determination to pay it forward and help someone else succeed. And heartfelt thanks to our #BIPC superheroes, including Alex, Paul, Samantha Parr, Geraldine Fuller and Richard, whose support helps make it all happen. Starting or growing a business can feel lonely. Having someone listen, believe in you and help you find your next step can make a world of difference. That’s the spirit of our clinic — people helping people, week after week. Thank you, everyone. 🙌 #PayingItForward #BIPCLiverpool #Entrepreneurs #Volunteers #BusinessSupport
Experience & Education
Honors & Awards
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Grit And Valor 1949 - TIGA Games Industry Awards — Winner (Best Strategy Game)
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HyperBrawl Tournament - PAX Online Indie Showcase — Shortlisted Showcase Title
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HyperBrawl Tournament - TIGA Games Industry Awards — Finalist (Best Arcade Game)
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HyperBrawl Tournament - EGX — Crew Choice Award (Winner)
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HyperBrawl Tournament -Game Developers Conference — Best in Play (Honourable Mention)
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Coffin Dodgers (Console) - BAFTA Cymru — Nominee (Games)
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Creative England — Top 50 Companies (Shortlisted)
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Coffin Dodgers (Console) -TIGA Games Industry Awards — Finalist (Best Racing Game)
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Coffin Dodgers (PC) - TIGA Games Industry Awards — Finalist (Game of the Year)
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Prolific North Awards — Winner (Animation / Graphics Studio)
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Roller Rally - BIMA Awards — Nominee
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Roller Rally - DADI Awards — Nominee
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The Well - BAFTA Children’s Awards — Nominee
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The Well - Banff World Media Festival — Winner
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The Well - Digital Emmy Awards — Nominee
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Young Engineer for Britain — Winner
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Organizations
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UKIE
Member
- Present
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