April Newsletter
All the latest updates from the Hub, news from Bristol & SW developers, jobs, opportunities & events.
Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events, and also rent desk space at cost price with no strings attached so you can get on with creating amazing games. Contact nina at aurochdigital.com for more information.
Nina can also be contacted regarding including news items in the next newsletter, the deadline for which is 10th May.
Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 28th April, 7.30pm
This month we’ve got:
Toxic Games demoing their new game, ‘Gravitational’
Tomas Rawlings – How to start a games studio
So join us then! We’re at 77 Stokes Croft on the 3rd Floor. The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft, above MEATLiquor.
Games Hub News
Congratulations Opposable!
Bristol Games Hub would like to congratulate Opposable Group for knocking the VR World Congress out of the park! With over 20 speakers and 25 exhibits it was a sell-out success! It’s great to see one of our own making such leaps in the industry and really helping to put Bristol on the map when it comes to games development.
SW Freelancer/Company Dev Directory
If you’re looking for people to help on a project, or you are available for work – put your details in. Please only list info you’re happy to have in the public domain: http://bit.ly/bghdirectory
SW Game Dev Jobs Facebook page – Find roles and post new openings here…
Monthly Indie Spotlight
Toxic Games
Toxic Games, established in 2010, is a UK based developer founded by former classmates. The team began development on Q.U.B.E as a student project in 2009 and sought out investment from independent game dev veterans, Indie Fund. All three core team members were game designers and were involved in bringing Q.U.B.E. to fruition without any programming expertise.
Thanks to the encouragement of academic mentors and with the help of Indie Fund, Toxic Games went from student hobbyists to independent developers upon graduation from University.
Five years on and the team have developed a richer Q.U.B.E. experience within the Director’s Cut version, which was released on PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U and mobile platforms in 2015. Toxic Games is now developing a third person puzzle platformer call Gravitation as well as Q.U.B.E. 2 so keep an eye on the newsletter for updates!
Dev Scene News
Force of Habit
Some cool new features for indie games portal Game Jolt. The site now supports upload of GameBoy, GameBoy Colour and GameBoy Advance ROMs and they will all play right inside the browser! Homebrew only though, can’t be infringing on copyrights now can we! Watch this space for a potential unofficial homebrew game jam 😉
Additionally, Ashley’s press management tool, similar to Distribute and Promoter, is in private beta. Email him at ashley(at)forceofhabit.it if that sounds intriguing and you would like to give it a try before release.
Auroch Digital
The Early Access journey of Last Days of Old Earth continues, with a huge new chunk of content being added to the game in the form of the Stealth Update, and another update coming in the very near future. Plus those in the mood for a bargain should check out both of the Chainsaw Warrior games that are part of the massive Games Workshop Sale on the Humble Store right now!.The deal ends at 6PM BST this evening, so get there quick to take full advantage!
Out of Bounds Games
Out of Bounds Games have been busy working up to the announcement of their upcoming self-inflicted bullet hell game, starring space disco, robots and a ton of lasers. They had the pleasure of getting announced on the official Playstation blogalong with the release of the announcement trailer.
If you want to follow the development of the game or just have a craving for 70s music videos, you can head over the the game’s dev blog. See you in space cowboy!
Lo Fi Games
Last month the Monthly Indie Spotlight shone the light on Lo Fi Games and their upcoming beta release, Kenshi. After 6 years of development, this squad-based, roaming PC-RPG has been released to beta on Steam. It features 355 square miles of world map to explore and has a full year’s worth of updates since its Early Access release. Click here to see what Robot Said have to say about it.
PlayWest
PlayWest, a student and graduate games studio based at UWE, have just taken their latest game ‘The Breakfast Club’ to Steam Greenlight. It is a collaborative, physics-based party game where players must work together to make delicious morning meals. Originally built as part of the Global Game Jam earlier this year, they have added more levels and the game has been described as ‘I am Bread’ meets ‘Surgeon Simulator’ with its devilishly tricky controls and low poly art style.
Click here to help support them in their Greenlight campaign.
Jobs & Opportunities
Crowd10
A new scheme to support 10 South West startups looking for between £20-150k in launching crowdfunding campaigns on Crowdcube in June. For more info or how to apply , click here.
Jennifer Ann’s Group
Up to $11,000 in prizes from Jennifer Ann’s Group’s Life.Love. Game Design Challenge as featured on gamesindustry.biz. Click here for more info or to enter. Entry closes 1st June 2016.
Aardman Animations – Creative Director
Aardman are looking for a creative individual with at least 5 years experience in a commercial and digitally focussed environment to join the team of Creative Directors. You will be responsible for a number of individual projects from generation of an idea through to its full creation, spanning new business and live projects. Click here for full job spec and how to apply.
UWE – Lecturer in Games Tech
The Department of Computer Science and Creative Technologies is looking to appoint a new Lecturer. You will contribute to teaching on the BSc (Hons) Games Technology degree programme. For more info and how to apply, click here.
Plus… South West Games Dev Jobs
There are job posts on South West Games Dev Jobs Facebook page including 3D games artist over at Rendermedia and with PQube for a Digital Media Assistant.
Events Diary
Unity Group (moved to 27th April!)
Hey Unity lovers! If you find your way to this month’s meetup, Ben Pitt from Unity will be giving us a talk on Navmeshes and AI, which is what allows characters to navigate around an environment. Signup to the meetup here.
Bristol Games Hub Antisocial (28th April)
See above for more details or click here to RSVP on the Meetup page.
Grrrl Gamers (3rd May)
The monthly Grrrl Gamers will be held from 7:30pm onwards and is open to women at all levels of the industry. Click here for more info or to RSVP.
Unreal Meetup (5th May)
Come along to chat all things Unreal at the monthly Unreal Engine Meetup.