BGH – June Newsletter

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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 July.

The Antisocial is going on Summer Holiday and will be back in September.

The usual Meet Ups will still be on, see the Events Diary below for more details on those.

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

BGH Board Game Night Successfully Launched

Tuesday night saw the first Bristol Games Hub Board Game Night open to the public. It was a huge success with a great turnout. They will run every other month from now on so keep an eye on the Meet Up page for the next one and discussions about games to play next time!

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

Aaron Ashbrooke

“I first started in the industry (aside from a short stint as a tester at Lionhead) about 4 years ago, leaving my engineering software job to join Goldhawk Interactive to work on their 2D indie X-Com alike ‘Xenonauts’ as an artist and general production and design helping hand. We are now working on the follow up, ‘Xenonauts 2’, as a Unity title. I also started a company, Slow Blade Systems, to work on my own game project called ‘Aloft – Airship Pioneers’ which is a 2D physics based game where you design and fly airships. I maintain a dev diary of progress on that which can be found here.

Dev Scene News

Demon Apathy – Critter Fritter

Demon Apathy rebuilt their old game, Critter Fritter, from the ground up and it’s better than ever. It has everything: new graphics, smoother gameplay and farting skunks. Truly everything! The premise is that you, the player, are an alien having to abduct zoo animals (or rescue them, you’re not quite sure) that need to be organised, so you can fit them into your spaceship.

See it for yourself: get it on your iPad / iPhone or Android device or even on Amazon, for whatever reason.

Auroch Digital

If you’re heading down to Develop this July, then make sure to come see our talk there! It’s titled “Second Generation Crowdfunding: How to Make Crowdfunding & Kickstarter Work” and will cover all sorts of details about our experience with crowdfunding for Elections of US America Election: The Card Game. In equally exciting news, we’re proud to announce that our card-based PC strategy game Last Days of Old Earth has now left Early Access and the full 1.0 version is available now. Plus, we’ve been geeking out over all this original Dark Future art work.

Games for Health UK Conference 2016

Coventry University’s renowned Serious Games Institute (SGI) is hosting the second Games for Health UK Conference on 21st July. The event will feature leading names from the games industry, healthcare and academia. Speakers include; Jamie King – co-founder of Rockstar Games, Andy Yeoman – founder of Focus Games, and Howard Rose – CEO of DeepStream Virtual Reality which is developing a system of drug-free pain relieving systems. Click here for more info and for tickets.

Jobs & Opportunities

Women in Innovation Award and Funding

Innovate UK is a government initiative focusing on boosting innovative businesswomen. 12 finalists will receive a package of support tailored to their needs and 4 winners will each receive £50,000 to support their innovation project or activities. For full details, click here.

PQube – Entry Level Content Editor

PQube are looking for a talented writer with an encyclopaedic knowledge of video games to join the editorial team to create articles, features, opinion pieces as well as bit of video editing. No experience necessary, other than able to show you can write about games and the industry. To apply email Oscar Taylor at oscar(at)pqube.co.uk with your CV and some examples of your writing. Click here for examples of content.

Weston College – HE Lecturer in Games & Animation Production – Part Time

Weston College in Weston-Super-Mare is looking for a part time lecturer for their Game and Animation Production Degree. For more information or to apply, click here.

Creative England – Game Development Fund

Funding for studios which show high growth potential. Investments of between £50k – £150k will be made for the development and commercial release of new game IP. Click here for full details and how to apply.

Creative England – Greenshoots

For the third year running, Creative England have partnered with Microsoft to develop the Greenshoots funding programme. Intended for smaller studios and start ups, this funding is for between £25k – £50k along with other benefits, including; bespoke technical guidance and support directly from Microsoft on the ID@Xbox programme for Xbox One Dev Kits. Click here for full details and how to apply when it opens in early July.

Plus… South West Games Dev Jobs

There is a Facebook group for devs to post opportunities; South West Games Dev Jobs. It’s for companies seeking new people, freelancers and the like. It’s free to use but please don’t use it to ask for work. Currently it has opportunities from, Game Debate, Rendermedia and PQube.

Events Diary

Bristol Refugee Hackday (24th – 25th June)

Come along to a Hackathon, intended to bring those with coding and technical skills, social media and web skills together with those who have experience of the asylum system and the needs of refugees in Bristol. The hope is to create the beginning of a problem solving, constructive relationship across Bristol. Click here for more info.

Grrrl Gamers (5th July)

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 Meet Up (14th July)

Next month’s Meet up has been moved to a week later, so to discuss the latest tools and news from Unreal Engine, click here for more details or to RSVP.

Game for Health UK Conference (21st July)

See above for more details or click here.

Quick Links

Thanks all!

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