Ricky Wood

Ricky Wood is an accomplished Principal Animator with extensive experience in the gaming industry, currently working at People Can Fly Studio since June 2019, where responsibilities include player combat and traversal, creature animation, cinematics, mentoring, and tools development. A guest speaker at GDC24, Ricky delivered a talk on animation layers to enhance playfulness in animation. Previous roles include Principal Animator at Defiant Studios, where Ricky focused on boss encounter prototyping and NPC systems, and roles at Avalanche Studios, where contributions ranged from character animation sets to dynamic gameplay systems. Ricky's career began at Ninja Theory Ltd, contributing to high-quality character animations and pioneering realistic facial animations. With an educational background from Solent University, Ricky continues to push the boundaries of animation through collaboration and innovative workflows.