January 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 February.
Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 26th January, 7:30pm
This month we’ve got:
Mega Dev Quiz 2017 – The annual Mega Dev Quiz is back! Come along and test your knowledge, as a team or team up when you get here.
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
Global Games Jam 2017
3 days and counting until we kick off GGJ17. We’re very excited to be hosting a site again this year at the PM Studios in the Watershed. With only 6 tickets left out of 40 you need to get your skates on if you want to come along! Tickets can be found here and for all the details for the venue, timings etc. please go to the Global Game Jam site page.
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
Ground Shatter
Initially a one-man powerhouse of PC and console development, Ground Shatter released SkyScrappers (Steam/PlayStation 4) and Black & White Bushido (Steam) in late 2015, and has subsequently rattled out console ports of fiendish puzzle platformer Binaries (out now), classic musical puzzler Chime Sharp (out soon), and the long-awaited console versions of Black & White Bushido (out eventually).
Ground Shatter has recently expanded to three people and expanded its ambitions accordingly. Now working on a buddy-cop themed first-person shooter, the currently-unnamed game is due for Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview release in the summer. The company is currently looking to enlarge yet further – so see the posting in the jobs section for more details.
Dev Scene News
Brexit and the Games Industry
Over the next three month’s Ukie are touring the country with its Brexit Roundtables. They want to hear from game businesses about their post-referendum concerns and examine opportunities for providing more support for the sector.
On the 31st January, they will be holding the Bristol event at the Watershed. This is a great opportunity to be heard on behalf of the UK Games Industry. For full details and to register for your place, please click here.
Opposable Group
VR World Congress 2017 is now officially THIS year! It sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how many time we would call it ‘this year’s conference’ back in 2016…
Anyway, plans for VRWC17 are still full steam ahead, with a host of new speakers announced at the tail end of last year. This includes a special talk from Microsoft concerning HoloLens – something we know many developers will be keen to learn more about!
We’ll also be announcing a fair few more talks and exhibitors very soon that we hope will catch the eye of local developers, so keep a lookout on our Facebook, Twitter and newsletter for those announcements.
Ndemic Creations Ltd
This month amongst other things, we finally got the office all set up after our recent move from London to Bristol, finished shipping Plague Inc: The Board Game to Kickstarter backers and prepped the Shadow Plague update for XB1 and PS4. We also did Locked in a Room (Invisibility Gene) for our Christmas party – highly recommend it!
We are looking to hire a number of people (permanent and freelance) to work on Plague Inc. and other projects – check out the jobs page here: http://www.ndemiccreations.com/en/19-careers
Auroch Digital
After a well-deserved break we’re back hard at work on all our projects, including Dark Future: Blood Red States with Games Workshop, Ogre with Steve Jackson Games, and some more titles we’ll be telling you all about in the coming year. In the meantime, it’s not too late to prepare yourself for the upcoming US presidential inauguration with a copy of our critically acclaimed Elections of US America Election: The Card Game.
Jobs & Opportunities
Ndemic Creations/Plague Inc – Various Roles
Ndemic Creations is the creator of Plague Inc., one of the most successful paid mobile games ever with over 85 million players worldwide. It was recently recognised by the Sunday Times as one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country.
We have recently moved to Bristol and are hiring across multiple areas including:
- Graphics
- Programming
- Community Management.
More information and application details here: http://www.ndemiccreations.com/en/19-careers
Ground Shatter – Communications and Marketing Assistant
Ground Shatter are looking for someone to help handle our marketing, comms, and community management on a full-time basis. Would suit a recent marketing graduate with a love of games, a journalist looking to move into the heady world of dev, someone with social media and streaming presence looking for an expanded challenge, or YOU, if you think you fit the bill.
For more details, click here.
Auroch Digital – Games Designer
Auroch Digital is looking for an experienced Game Designer who has demonstrable experience leading the design on a selection of commercial projects. An attractive salary for the right candidate who has worked with Unity (and preferably other engines too!) and ideally will be a fan of turn-based strategy games.
For more information or to apply please send a covering letter and CV to nina(at)aurochdigital.com
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
Global Games Jam (20th – 22nd January)
See above for more details.
Antisocial (26th January)
See above for full details or RSVP on the meetup page.
Brexit Roundtable – Bristol (31st January)
See above for details.
Grrrl Gamers (7th February)
The Grrrl Gamers monthly meetup, for more info or to RSVP click here.
Scaling Up Inclusively – Minding the Gap (24th February)
A free event at The Engine Shed, looking at how enterprises can thrive and ‘scale up’. Members of the panel includes The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, and Helen Simpson – Professor of Economics at UWE. For more info or to register for a ticket, click here.
#GAconf (27th February)
Advancing accessibility for gamers with disabilities – San Francisco, click here for more info.
Thanks all!