Newsletter

May Newsletter

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Bristol Games Hub Newsletter

Below is news 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 a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact jake at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us news for the next one by 15th June please!

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 28th May, 7.30pm

Join us for two great talks!  This month we’ve got:

Making Sense of Steam Greenlight & Hyper Thetical Games Demo!

Making Sense of Steam Greenlight; Join us for an informal panel looking at Steam Greenlight and how to get your game passed on it, as well some general thoughts about the process. Sam Chester from Owlbear looks at how they got Barbara-ian through in just over two months on the system, while Tomas Rawlings looks at the process of getting Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land through and Alexander Birke will talk about The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle. They will share hints and tips, then get you all to join in a discussion about the system.

There is also a demo from Hyper Thetical Games; “Designed in UE4 specifically for VR, CentraSphere is a checkpoint racing game set inside a sphere for 1 – 2 players. Single players race for extra time checkpoints while shooting targets for bonus points before running out of time and being plunged into darkness. 2 player pits players against each other battling for checkpoint supremacy, shooting will create slow bubbles on the arena to impede opponents. A full featured version is on our long term plans, but we have 3 other games planned to make first.”

So join us then…we’ve got a buzzer! 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 what was DHS Heating.

Games Hub News:

Also note; May Meetup – Intro to Procedural Mesh Generation is on 20th. More info below in Events.

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…

Dev Scene News

Hyper Thetical Games

Ele-Mental is a fast paced arcade game of colour matching and enemy dodging available on  PSVita in the Playstation Mobile store, from the newly established indie game studio Hyper Thetical Games. A simple concept but with very challenging gameplay, requiring quick thinking and a high level of hand-eye coordination. Players must use the face buttons to switch elements to absorb enemies of the same elemental type. As a sucker for difficult games, Chris wanted to make this a challenge for anyone to play, but also make some modes accessible for any new player to get started. Each game mode includes a high score so players can keep on improving. Enemy absorption stats are tracked from each game and certain milestones will earn points which can be used to unlock more features, music and game modes. The games second version release saw the inclusion of PSTV compatibility.We are currently working on a third and final version which will add some very difficult challenges to earn medals. A special reward has been planned for the first person to collect them all and show us the proof. We are now working using Unreal engine and intend to bring a sequel that will graphically live up to the element nature of the name, and of course the mental part. The release of our game CentraSphere that was showcased at the South West VR conference is also just around the corner and we have another new project we intend to start working on and announcing soon. Check out our website for more information on our work. www.HyperTheticalGames.com

Creative Gaming Award

PLAY15 festival introduces the new ‘Creative Gaming Award’ You can submit concepts, alpha, beta for any game that deals with the medium in a creative way. Categories are;
– Most Creative Game
– Most Innovative Newcomer
Deadline is 15th July and there is no cost to enter. Winner gets 3000 euros! Full info on this PDF.

GAMe-ONe Show

GAMe-ONe is a new games exhibition here in Bristol at the UWE Exhibition Centre. It’s on October 24th and 25th 2015. There are lots of ways for developers to get involved and show their games to gamers. See here for the stand & signup info and here for thefloorplan. The Indie section is a table top allocation that is without charge to the small developers in exchange for them promoting the event to all their existing customers.

Kinect Testers Needed!

This is a request for interested female participants to take part in an investigation into how virtual avatar representation can affect perceptions of the environment & body. This experiment makes use of Microsoft Kinect and will involve a small amount of physical exertion, primarily using arms. Short semi-structured interviews will be given throughout the experiment, and the entire experiment will take approximately 45 minutes, total. The research has been approved by UWE’s research ethics committee. If you are interested, please visit: http://doodle.com/uwn5f8kvza4hu4bg
Or for more information, please contact: Sophie2.Pink at live.uwe.ac.uk

Auroch Digital

We’re running a competition for Chainsaw Warrior & Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night where you can win an original copy of the game! Full info is here. The BBC game we did (with Demon Apathy and Force of Habit) is still live on BBC Taster, please give it a play and rate it! We’re also looking for an office manager/bookkeeper. Full info is here. Thanks!

Force of Habit

Friendship Club has had a few new releases on Early Access, including the Armour Update (http://timmybibble.com/blog/release-18-armour/)! We’ve also rigged the animation engine (Spine) with the ability to directly make calls to FMOD via marker keyframes which is blimmin’ great – sound event implementation without the need for extra programming (give us a shout if you want a little bit of insight into this – we can maybe do a blog post). Oh yeah, and you can now have unlimited bullets too, as if eight per player weren’t enough already…

Fundsurfer

Fundsurfer is a Bristol based funding platform for creative, social, and green projects. Raise money through crowdfunding, startup loans, peer-to-peer lending, and more.

We really want to help some game projects! Our crowdfunding fees are normally 5%, but we are slashing that to 2.5% for all game projects that go live before the end of June.

There’s more information about what we do at https://www.fundsurfer.com/crowdfunding/for/games

Duel Launches!

PM Studio-based Duel has now launched in the UK; check it out here – http://duel.me/ – they want feedback!

Opposable Games

Greenlight Greenlight Greenlight! Opposable Games is preparing for launching a Salvaged Greenlight campaign right now. We’re looking to launch in a couple of weeks so please keep an eye out and give us a vote when it goes up. The link won’t work until we publish the Greenlight but you can have it anyways, here it is, don’t say we never give you anything.

We’ve been in the studio recording dialogue with the excellent Kate Davies for the Salvaged multi part audio log Salvaged prologue, which has been rather fun. The logs are proving to be a wicked intro to the game and are lovely and atmospheric due to the efforts of audio extraordinaire Joe Charles AKA LabGrownMusic AKA Gizmode. Check them out right here – Part One, Part Two, Part Three. Part Four will be up tomorrow so keep an eye out on our social feeds for news of that one.

We’ve also been getting pretty blog-happy with a series of explorations of the Salvaged development process, here’s a selection from the excellent Salvaged writer-designer Daniel Dowsing.

A Control Room, VR and Dual Screening
‘Guardian’ – Thaddeus and Contracts
‘Angels with Machine Guns’ – Agents
‘How We Roll’ – Gameplay
‘Bang! Bang!’ – Weapons

There’s even more beautiful promo art from the very talented Lewis Gilliard up on the Salvaged site so go check that out, sign up to the Salvaged newsletter if you want more info and do keep an eye our for our Greenlight! Cheeeers!

Jobs & Opportunities

Aardman

Here at Aardman we have some particularly meaty and exciting projects in the pipeline at the moment and need more talented and enthusiastic devs to come and join our steadily-growing team of awesome.
We are looking for:

  • Good HTML5 / JS game developers, particularly those familiar with Phaser to join our team working on a chunky and highly creative project which is all about inspiring the next generation of game makers. Would be ideal for any ex-Flash game devs who have graduated onto JS.
  • Unity devs who like an interesting technical challenge to work on a game project for some innovative and rather cool new hardware (may involve sheep).

For more info please contact digital at aardman.com

Watershed

Graduate Job opportunity at @wshed as a Researcher, funded by @JerwoodFworking across creative team, marketing & PR: http://wshd.to/14e The successful participant will work with colleagues across the organisation, supporting the creative producing teams, marketing and PR and the Head of Development with insight, research and ideas. They will work with Watershed’s Talent network to capture their stories for wider sharing – offering them a unique way into a thriving network of creative economy collaborators and partners.

Auroch Digital

Auroch Digital is a small, friendly, creative company that makes innovative computer games.  We have a staff team of 13 plus freelancers and partners. We’re centrally based in Bristol with offices in Bristol Games Hub on Stokes Croft. We are looking for an experienced, qualified bookkeeper and office manager to take care of our finances, ensure the office runs smoothly, efficiently and effectively and  provide personal assistant support to both the Directors. We need a highly organised and friendly person to be at the heart of our business! No experience in the games industry is necessary. Full info and how to apply is here.

Bristol Data Dome Commissions

Bristol now has a 3D immersive data dome in the At Bristol Planetarium in Millennium Square. It’s going to need content and there are up to three development commissions available to produce prototype works that will profile the potential of the dome for Bristol audiences. The estimated total budget for all the commissions is £60k. After the workshop, teams will be invited to complete a short and simple proposal document and attend a pitching session on or around Tuesday 2nd June when the commissions will be awarded. If you are interested REACT invites you for lunch and to an afternoon workshop at Watershed Friday 22nd May to explore the potential of this exciting new environment for your company and for communities in the city. If you want to go please email joanna.lansdowne at watershed.co.uk

Events Diary

GamesAid (May 11th)

GamesAid’s sell-out Comedy night, ‘Stand Up for GamesAid’ returned to the world-famous London Comedy Store on May 11th, marking its third year. The previous two years have seen great success as the event has established itself as a favorite in the industry calendar.

Unity Group May Meet Up – Intro to Procedural Mesh Generation (20th May, 7.30pm)

Hello fellow Unity heads! We had a really good turn out at the last meetup so we hope to see just as many of you this time around. Alexander Birke will give the talk on how to create 3D models only with the use of programming, a bit of cleverness and a hefty dose of math. As always we follow the talk with a show and tell session where you can ask for feedback or help with whatever you are currently making with Unity. After the meetup we head of to the Bell for a relaxing pint or two. Signup to the meetup here.

Ken Eklund: The Future is an authentic fiction (6pm, 3rd June @Watershed)

Ken Eklund designs immersive play experiences about socially relevant issues like climate change and the environment. He’ll be speaking about his previous projects including World Without Oil, FutureCoast and Giskin Anomaly, as well as new cross-media works designed to engage people by playfully shaping positive futures. Ken is an internationally recognised game and experience designer, creating “immersive stories that seek to write themselves.” His socially relevant alternate-reality games explore real-world issues through collaborative play. His work springs from deep beliefs about the transformative effect of participation and the power of play to open people up to true inquiry and learning. More Info & Tickets

Quick Links

Thanks all!

November Newsletter – How to Start a Games Studio…

Posted on Updated on

Special Offer on New Desks! Bristol Games Hub is offering 5 desks to new residents at half-price for the first month ie just £55 (that’s internet, all bills, tea &coffee and of course a desk and chair). Please email Debbie if you’re interested at debbie at aurochdigital dot com

SW Freelancer/Company Dev Directory
If you’re looking for people to help on a project, or you are available for work, just add and update your details. Please only list info you’re happy to have in the public domain: http://bit.ly/bghdirectory
SW Game Dev Jobs Facebook pageFind and post new opportunities here…

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 27th November, 7.30pm – New Starts! level 1 Begins! Four amazing talks about kicking it all off!

How to Start a Games Studio
Auroch Digital’s Tomas Rawlings will share his top tips for how to start your own games development studio. Whether you’re thinking of taking the leap or already on the road to Indie Stardom, there will be pointers from over 10 years running his own studios to help you along.

Green Capital Digital Challenge – Find out all about it!
Debbie, producer of the Digital Challenge, will talk about this great opportunity to take part in an amazing gamejam/hack event where the best game/app will win £50,000 to develop it. More info here too.

WebStart Bristol
Mike Jackson, Founder and CEO of Bristol based incubator WebStart Bristol will talk about his programme based at the Engine Shed and the challenges and opportunities of getting further investment.

Kickstarter Top Tips
Constance Fleuriot will share her knowledge on using crowdfunding to support your game project, after attending a Kickstarter presentation organised by TIGA in London. Constance is about to launch her own call for funds to develop a game, Lux & The Shadowmaker, as part of Creative England’s Queen Of Code initiative with Crowdfunder UK.

Unity Developer Group – 24th November, 7.30pm

For this month’s talk, Unity meetup members David and Jeremy have stepped up to take you on a whirlwind deconstruction of the development of their kids App:  Alpine Train 3D  “We are going to whizz through loads of topics from Unity techniques and bespoke tools to monetisation. We want to share with you all that we have learned along the way and hopefully inspire you to get your idea out there too. There will be something for everyone in this talk, as we cover the whole process of development, publishing and marketing all within about an hour”  Ambitious!

P.S. If you’d like to give a talk at a Unity meetup, just get in touch.

Dev Scene News

Join Bristol Games Hub!

The Bristol games hub is a non-profit that offers very cheap & flexible dev space – £110 per desk per month. That’s everything – rates, internet, desk itself, tea, coffee, access to meeting rooms, events etc. Plus you’re in a supportive community of fellow devs to chat with and share knowledge. There is no contract and you can expand/contract the number of desks on a per month basis as your project needs change. Contact geoff at aurochdigital dot com for more info or to book a time to visit the space.

Don’t Die, Mr. Robot! for PSVita – made in Weston-super-Mare

The game was released on 29th October for PSVita in the EU, and 4th November for the Americas. It’s an arcade style dodge-em-up with loads of game modes, unlockables and a rather tasty soundtrack made by us too. You can learn more about our game here: http://infinitestategames.com/games/ddmr/Infinite State Games is a two man team based in Weston-super-Mare.  We have developed the game and published it entirely by ourselves, and hope to bring it next to iOS platforms while working on our next release for PSVita. If you want any more information or maybe would be interested in a talk from us don’t hesitate to ask. All the best, Team ISG.

Victory at Sea TIGA Win!

Evil Twin Artworks’ WWII Naval battle game – Victory At Sea was nominated in two categories at the 2014 TIGA Awards. The game ended up winning the Best Action/Adventure by a Small Studio Award at the event on London’s Southbank.

Auroch Digital

One of our newsgames, NarcoGuerra, has been nominated for a Media Innovation Award. Fingers crossed! Full info here
We have also announced our latest Games Workshop collaboration – Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night. More info here and a nice article on RPS!  We also have other exciting news but that’ll have to wait til next month when we can talk about it publicly 😉 Auroch is thriving and now has a permanent staff team of 13.

Force Of Habit

We’ve released two updates to Friendship Club since the last newsletter, adding a new character and the ability to play in teams. Get your 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 1 (or even 2 vs 1 vs 1) on everyone! We may be hosting a small gathering in our studio for the next Ludum Dare. Shoot me an email if interested as we have limited space: ashley@forceofhab.it

Opposable Games

Opposable Games have had an exciting month, starting with winning 2 awards at the Sparkies: the ‘Good’ Award for Pesky gNATS, which uses game environments to assist adolescents with anxiety issues, and their managing director Ben Trewhella winning the ‘Individual Contribution to Technology‘.

Opposable also announced a partnership with Motion Experiential to create some awesome Virtual Reality experiences, and are in the early stages of organising the SouthWestVR conference that will take place on February 26 2015, showcasing everything that is most awesome with Virtual Reality, and put Bristol and Bath in the center stage of this new exciting technology. They have also begun full production of their multi-screen (and now Virtual Reality based) game Salvaged, and in doing so welcome three new members to the team – Thomas Greener and Rob Brooks as developers, and Mike Parker who is joining the 3d team.  Opposable are on the lookout for volunteers / temp staff who are able to help out with virtual reality events, and thinking about hiring for a sales manager if the right person came along, interested people please get in touch via jobs@opposablegames.com

RTS Awards Open for Entries

The Royal Television Society in the West of England is calling for submissions for the 2014/15 RTS WoE Awards. There are interactive/games categories. All entries must have been broadcast or published between 1st December 2013 and 1st December 2014. Submission forms and a list of categories can be downloaded from the RTS website: www.rts.org.uk/bristol DEADLINE for submissions is Monday 1st December 2014. The Awards Gala will be held on Sunday March 8th 2015 at Bristol Old Vic, more details in the New Year.

Jobs & Opportunities

Green Capital Gamejam/Hack Event – £50,000 for best game/app! (Application Deadline 4th December)

Bristol 2015, the company established to facilitate Bristol’s year as European Green Capital, is asking Europe’s brightest minds to identify new ways that software can be used to tackle environmental challenges in cities in the European Green Capital Digital Challenge. This will include a 48-hour Digital Challenge Hack Weekend on the 6-8 February hosted during Digital Bristol Week, produced by the BBC. This two stage challenge will see teams of developers compete for the chance to scoop cash prizes of up to £50,000 to stimulate innovation in the development of software applications and games, addressing five environmental challenge areas: energy, transport, food, resources and nature.

Teams can find out more information and register to take part now at:www.bristol2015.co.uk/digitalchallenge to express your interest in being selected to attend as a team. The deadline for expressions of interest is 1 January 2015 and the selected teams will be notified by 16 January 2015.
For moreinfo see http://www.bristol2015.co.uk/digitalchallenge or emaildebbie@aurochdigital.com

The Writing Platform Bursary 2015

There are two bursaries of £4000, available for writers and technologists to embark on a writing – or writing-related – collaboration over a period of three months.  This is a fantastic opportunity for writers and technologists to collaborate, experiment and learn together, and to make work they wouldn’t be able to make on their own. Writers and technologists can apply individually or in pairs. The programme is open to UK residents aged 18 and over. The deadline to apply is Thursday 4th December. More info:http://www.thewritingplatform.com/bursary2015/

Develop.me Training Courses

</develop.me> are providers of web design and development training for businesses and individuals, from beginners through to industry professionals. Founded by industry experts they are funded by Creative Skillset and supported by Creative Skills Hub. They will be running workshops and short courses focusing on the many facets of web development. From introductions to the fundamentals of web development through to specialist tools of the trade for professional developers. Up coming courses/events are:
Introduction to Web with HTML & CSS
Getting Started with WordPress: Installing, Theming and Plugins
Version Management with Git and GitHub

Events

Green Capital Digital Challenge Informal Chat (20th Nov, 6pm)

Bristol 2015 has just launched the Green Capital Digital Challenge. The Challenge is seeking professional teams to develop new software to address 5 environmental themes. More details can be found here. This meetup is for individuals looking to form a team to take part. If you have creative, tech, project management or green skills and experience this should be a great opportunity for you. Come along and meet other interested people over a beer or coffee at the PM Studio. More info here.

TIGA’s Cardiff GameDev Night

It’s on the 20th November. Sign up here!

Quick Links

Bristol Games Hub Newsletter October 2014

Posted on Updated on

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events and also rent amazingly cheap desk space at a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact geoff ataurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us know any news for the next one by 15th November please!

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 pageFind roles and post new openings here…

Bath Digital Festival 27th Oct – 5th Nov

There is no social this month as many of us are taking part in Bath Digital Festival. So please come along and support the two games events at the festival, both on the 29th Oct:

Gaming for Good (29th Oct12.30pm-1.30pm @ The Auditorium, City of Bath College)

Games are doing much more now than just fun – they are educating, becoming therapy and helping to tackle serious problems. Non-gamers often only see games in over-hyped tabloid headlines casting them in a bad light. However with around one in three of our fellow citizens now playing games, this session takes a second look at an industry that has grown in scope, subject matter and relevance. Join us to find out how Auroch Digital have been turning news into games, how Knowle West Media Center used games to talk about domestic violence and accessibility expert Ian Hamilton on how technology can be built to open them up to wider audiences.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/games-for-good-the-panel-tickets-12707294861

Virtual Reality : Oculus Rift (29th Oct, 1.30pm – 5pm @ Roper Reception, City of Bath College)

Virtual reality is a buzzword once more, but this time round the technology is there to back it up. Ever since Oculus VR took to Kickstarter and raised a record-breaking $2 million, interest has been steadily rising in a vast and eclectic range of fields. Psychologists, therapists, games companies, developers, architects, movie studios and some company called Facebook, who paid a modest $2 billion for Oculus VR this year, have been significantly adapting to the incredible advantage offered by VR.

SouthWest VR will be giving you the chance to see for yourself just how powerful and immersive this technology is by demoing games and experiences from a range of developers including Opposable Games.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/virtual-reality-oculus-rift-tickets-12707349023

Other Hub News

Games Tournament Idea
Who’s the best gamer? We’re looking to try out a games night or two at the hub. We’re also taking suggestions for games people would like to see played at these LANs and tournaments – or even board games.  Please email matt@voondaba.com with game suggestions under Subject ‘LAN Game Suggestion’.  Ideally with fairly short rounds to easily allow a tournament to occur in one night. Plus let us known when we should run these events! http://strawpoll.me/2786226

22nd October – U, I & Unity: Hands-on the new UI system:

This months Unity meetup will feature super-special guest presenter Alejo, who will be taking us through the in-beta GUI features in Unity. He has this to say When the 4.6 beta was released I jumped on it viciously to try out the new, long awaited, UI system. After some tinkering I’m ready to share some of it’s wonders for those of you that are lazy or busy enough no to try it for yourselves. That’s ok buddies, the new UI system is easy to use and likes lazy and busy people. Also likes beer (so bring some).

I’ll be making a tour more than an extensive explanation. Showing some examples on the shiny new buttons, the event system, input module and other sweet treats it has to offer. Also some things that are not working yet and features that are still changing across the beta sub-releases.  If you already have any specific suggestion for a use case or an example you would like to see shown, don’t wait until the show is on. You can do it right now, here in the comments

As usual we will be at the Bristol Games Hub, 77 Stokes Croft BS1 3RD, on 22nd Oct at 7.30pm, where we will talk, laugh, cry, share tall tales of life and love, and then do a meetup about Unity or something….

Dev Scene News

BGH Games Marketing Group

We just had the first meeting of the games marketing group and it was a great success! Lots of great ideas exchanged for marketing our indie games. There is now a discussion list for the group: http://bit.ly/BGHmarketing – which you are welcome to join. Sam has already, very kindly, adapted his thoughts into a document, on building a content strategy. There will be another meet-up soon too: watch this space!

Aardman Animations

Sheep Stack – A new official Shaun the Sheep game from Aardman Animations!
Sheep Stack is the new game from Shaun the Sheep, where flying by the seat of your pants has never been so much fun! Using a pair of massive pants, launch Shaun’s flock into the sky and stack ‘em high to help them reach a plate of doughnuts waiting at the top. But watch out – the slightest wobble and your woolly wonder will crash to the ground!
For the trailer please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fFhPJlaD04 Available at iTunes, Google Play and Amazon

Auroch Digital

We recently celebrated a year since our first Games Workshop & Steam title,Chainsaw Warrior, was released. To celebrate we made a Zombie Gif Party! Plus there is a video of Tom’s keynote at #NewsGamesHack this year.

Twice Circled

Last month I announced my latest game Big Pharma – a game about running your own pharmaceutical empire! Just days later we took it to EGX London and gave punters their first experience of the game. The response so far has been really positive and I’ve been inundated with feedback and suggestions for things people would like to see in the game. For more information, check out Episode 1 of the Official Video Blog. It’s a bit of a slow start so if you’re just interested in pretty graphics then jump to around 15 minutes in.
http://www.twicecircled.com/2c/

Force of Habit

A new release of Timmy Bibble’s Friendship Club is coming this Friday. Character select and other gubbins. We’ll post a blog up when it goes live, and probably take it to the next BVGS Main Quest if you want to try it yourself! Oh, and Ashley has been shortlisted for “Best Coder/Developer” in this year’s SPARKies awards – huzzah!

Sparkies Shortlist Announced!

Huge well done to all the games companies and individuals shortlisted in the Sparkies awards. It’s great to see games so well represented. Also a well done to… US!!! We were shortlised for best service provider.

Bertram Fiddle launching on iOS the 4th December

At Rumpus we are currently busy finishing the first episode of The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle, an episodic point and click game for mobile and desktop. So if you fancy a quirky take on Victorian London inhabited by strange characters with even stranger noses then check out the App Store at the start of December to get your fix of dark humored murder mystery.

 

Jobs & Opportunities

Greenshoots Round 2 – DEADLINE MONDAY (Oct 20th)

Creative England are still accepting applications for Greenshoots Round 2, giving up to 10 studios the chance to work with Microsoft to get their game off the ground. With a cash injection of up to £25,000 per studio, the fund aims to help studios develop original IP into a money-making reality. In a change to the first iteration of Greenshoots, investors and publishers are now involved from day one which means the supported studios have the potential to receive additional investment from the start of their project. Applicants can now also apply to develop for Xbox One with the programme no longer limited to tablet and mobile development. For more information and to apply click here. For any questions on the application process, contact ella.waving@creativeengland.co.uk

 

Events

U, I & Unity: Hands-on the new UI system (22nd Oct/7.30pm)

Great guest speaker! See the top of this newsletter or here.

Creative Territories (11th Nov)

The Creative territories project about gamemaker collaborations that has the Bristol Games Hub as a partner is having its final event in November 11th at the Watershed. If you’re interested in coming along to take part in the discussion email Patrick.Crogan@uwe.ac.uk
Full info here: http://creativeterritories.dcrc.org.uk/mapping-the-collective-potentials-of-indie-game-collaborative-dynamics/

Board Games Night (13th Nov 7.30pm)

We’re looking to have another board game night on 13th Nov. Email tom at aurochdigital.com if this date is good for you!

Quick Links

Thanks all!

Level-up! Bristol Games Hub Sept. Newsletter

Posted on

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. You find news from the hub, news from Bristol & SW developers then jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this news letter, host events and also rent desk space at a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact geoff at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us news for the next one by 15th October please!

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 that you’re happy to have in the public domain: http://bit.ly/bghdirectory

SW Game Dev Jobs Facebook pageFind roles and post new openings here…

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: Thursday 25th September, 7.30pm

This month we’ve got: Auroch Digital’s Abhishek Sagi shares the basics of his award winning new technology for making cloth in games!

“Even today in video games, accuracy and level of detail for cloth in-game is mostly coarse due to complex non linear physical properties, and computing power necessary to simulate it real-time. The talk will provide an introduction to developing robust, scalable and parallelized soft body simulation frameworks for real-time and offline rendering.”

So join us on the 25th September at 7.30pm – we’ve got a buzzer now! The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft, above DHS Heating.

Games Hub News:

9th October 6pm – Games Marketing Chat
Making games is one things, selling them another… With around 200+ games PER DAY being released, how do you let players know about your creation? This informal group is going to discuss strategies, ideas and more. Contact tom at aurochdigital dot com for more info or just come to the hub that evening.

OpenCo! Visit the Hub!
The Games Hub is taking part in the OpenCo event where the doors are thrown open and you can come and check us out and what we do! If you’re really desperate for some Opposable action though…catch us at OpenCo at the hub on 2nd October:
http://uk.openco.us/bath-bristol/

Dev Scene News

Queen of Code

Creative England and Crowdfunder.co.uk have joined in order to fund England’s top female game developers and freelancers via an innovative crowdfunding campaign. Female developers are asked to submit their campaigns, and the first 3 to hit their target will each receive a £5k boost from Creative England. More info here:www.crowdfunder.co.uk/queenofcode

GamesLab Campus

Creative England have teamed up with PlayStation® on an incubator and accelerator programme called GamesLab Campus. Creative England’s GamesLab Campus programme will invest a maximum of £250,000 into five Games companies (up to £50,000 each) to support the development of new and innovative entertainment experiences on PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®Vita. More details here:http://gameslab.creativeengland.co.uk/gameslab/campus/

GamesLab South West Masterclasses

GamesLab Masterclasses will be running in Bristol 13th – 15th October. The classes offer 3, day sessions on; Player Research, Narrative Development, and SCRUM Agile.  Early bird tickets are £50 (available until 29th September) with normal price being £100. More details here: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gameslab-south-west-masterclasses-tickets-11803292967

Opposable Games

We recently published a short showreel with a whole host of our work on, so if you haven’t had the chance to check it out then do please take a look and pass it on. It features some pretty sweet music from local boy labgrownmusic and some rather tasty editing from another helpful local by the name of Jim Roper. A lot of what we’re doing is classified right now; if we told you we’d have to kill you. Sorry.

If you’re really desperate for some Opposable action though…catch us at OpenCo at the hub on 2nd October, or under the SouthWest VR monicker at the Watershed’s Sci Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder event on 25th October, or the Bath Digital Festivalon 27th October.

Auroch Digital

We’ve been giving our website a bit of a much needed re-vamp: check it out here!http://aurochdigital.com – oh and we also welcomed the 13th employee of Auroch, Mark, who joins our busy dev team!

Bertram Fiddle going on an adventure to EGX London

Rumpus will be at EGX London to showcase our point and click game staring leading Victorian explorator Bertram Fiddle. Visitors will be able to explore brand new locations, share a cup of tea with Sherlock Holmes and be dazzled by our wide array of fantastical moustaches and quirky noses. So if you are at EGX feel free to drop by, and give the game a go at our booth.

Get #hookedonmusic

Calling all music lovers. Last chance to help science figure out what makes pop music catchy. #hookedonmusic is a citizen science game developed by The Reading Room for the Museum of Science and Industry and supported by the Wellcome Trust. www.hookedonmusic.org.uk
PEACEapp

Have a great game about facilitating peace or an idea for one? Submit it to PEACEapp, a competition that aims to showcase the work of developers who examine peace and promote games as venues for cultural dialogue and conflict management. Send your entry here by the October 15 deadline.
http://www.unaoc.org/peaceapp/enter/

Events

Chaos Unpub: Playtest Event for Board & Card Games

On Saturday, 4th October we’ll be dedicating ourselves to playtesting unpublished tabletop games and providing valuable feedback in an attempt to bring those designs one-step closer to publication. We invite game designers, publishers, players, retailers and artists from all over the country to attend the first Chaos Unpub event…and it’s FREE!  Hosted by Chaos Publishing, this event will be taking place at the Christian Malford Village Hall where we can open our doors for up to 150 budding designers/playtesters. We will be prepared with plenty of available parking at the venue and food available throughout the day. The event will start at 11:00 and run until 20:00. We hope to see you there!
Please find the full details at: http://www.meetup.com/Playtest/events/202898032/
…and also on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/659760337472982/

Bath Digital Festival – Gaming for Good

Games are doing much more now than just fun – they are educating, becoming therapy and helping to tackle serious problems.

Non-gamers often only see games in over-hyped tabloid headlines casting them in a bad light. However with around one in three of our fellow citizens now playing games, this session takes a second look at an industry that has grown in scope, subject matter and relevance. Join us to find out how Auroch Digital have been turning news into games, how Knowle West Media Center used games to talk about domestic violence and accessibility expert Ian Hamilton on how technology can be built to open them up to wider audiences.

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/games-for-good-the-panel-tickets-12707294861

Shadowing: Come and play in the light

As the sun sets and the street lights come on, traces of those who have passed under the lights are played throughout the city, re-animating the streets. As you walk under the light, the shadow of the previous visitor walks beside. While you interact or react to the shadow, your movements and actions are recorded, becoming the shadow for the next visitor. If a visitor remains under the lamp, the lamp reaches further back in time, playing back the shadows of its previous visitors. Shadowing will appear in locations across the city, and linger until the end of October. Shadowing.cc
http://shadowing.cc/

Lunchtime Talk: Nikki Pugh’s Colony: Friday, 19 September 201413:00 to 14:00

As part of her ongoing project Colony, artist Nikki Pugh has been in residence at the Pervasive Media Studio over the Summer constructing panicked heartbeats, twitchy tails and slinky vertebrae. Join us for a lunchtime talk (and possibly a walk afterwards) as all these are brought together to form landscape-reactive ‘creatures’, carried/worn by participants and designed to affect how we experience moving through the city.
http://www.watershed.co.uk/pmstudio/project/colony

Lunchtime Talk: Oscar Raby Friday, 24 October 2014 13:00 to 14:00

In 1973 Oscar Raby’s father witnessed the execution of a group of prisoners captured by the military regime in Chile, the army he was a part of. Raby, a multimedia designer and visual artist, turned to the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset to tell his father’s story in Assent. Come along to hear about Oscar’s journey in interactive storytelling and the making of the innovative and moving Assent project. This talk is guest presented by Mandy Rose, director of UWE’s Digital Cultures Research Centre.
http://oscarraby.net/wp/assent/

Quick Links

Bristol Games Hub August Newsletter

Posted on Updated on

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. You find news from the hub, news from Bristol & SW developers then jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this news letter, host events and also rent desk space at a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact geoff at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us news for the next one by 15th September please!

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 that you’re happy to have in the public domain: http://bit.ly/bghdirectory

SW Game Dev Jobs Facebook pageFind roles and post new openings here…

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 28th August, 7.30pm

Join us for 2 fascinating talks!  

POPBOX #shareyourtalent

Calum Yuill from Picton Street Media will be demoing a user generated social video gaming platform prototype/wireframe with a view to seeking criticism and feedback from the development community.

Automate, Streamline, Win! Creating custom workflows for content heavy games

At Rumpus we are currently creating The Adventurers of Bertram Fiddle, a point and click adventure game with tons of animation and dialogue. Since we are a small studio, a big focus has therefore been to reduce the workload when working with so much content. The topics covered include good workflow methodologies, automation, creating custom juicy workflows and doing other kinds of editor magic to accelerate your development.

So join us on the 28th August at 7.30pm – we’ve got a buzzer now! The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft, above DHS Heating.

Dev Scene News

Force Of Habit

Er, so much has happened! Earlier on in the month we released The Wonky Wagon update for Friendship Club (link), then last week we announced and released a game for OUYA called Neon Caves (linklink), and now today we’re announcing that our appetising debut Toast Time will be coming to Steam on August 27th!

We’re going to be at Insomnia 52 this weekend, and then flying over to Seattle for PAX Prime and releasing the game from there! Crazy. We’ll sadly be missing the next anti-social, so how about we throw Bristol a big games party when we’re back? Yeah? Cool. Ashley & Nick

Opposable Games

It’s Pesky gNats aplenty over at the Opposable Games side of the hub, so if you’ve got an interest in serious applications of the holiest of art forms (yes, we mean video games), then make sure you’re stalking for updates over at the Pesky gNats Twitter as there’s some really great content soon to come.
 
The first of our SouthWest VR events kicked off to great fanfare and glorious cupcakes complete with suitably jaw-dropped attendees. Drinks were drunk, talks were talked, wares were flaunted and hopefully some useful contacts were made by all. Luckily, nobody did any damage to themselves, gear or beer while flailing around on virtual rollercoasters, and that dreaded sim sickness didn’t rear its ugly head too much. The next event, planned to be bigger-er and better-er, will be announced through the SouthWest VR TwitterFacebook and meetup group.
 

Opposable Games and SouthWest VR continued to fly the proverbial flag of virtual reality at the actual (real life) Balloon Fiesta, demonstrating just how much fun it is to be an elephant in a magic land of bouncy policemen (really). Further appearances from SouthWest VR and Opposable Games can be expected at OpenCO on 2nd October right here at the Bristol Games Hub, Bath Digital Festival on 29th October and as part of the Watershed’s Family Arts Festival on 25th October.

Auroch Digital

We’ve been asked to comment for some articles in the Guardian of late, coming off the back of our GameTheNews work:

iBeacons

We set up 100 iBeacons around Bristol – they’re in all of the major attractions (SS GB, Suspension Bridge, Bristol Museum etc).  Happy to let any dev’s have access to the network to try a game related exercise. Network was featured in the Evening Post and a few other online PR avenues. Do let me know if you want any further info etc. Additionally – do you want a beacon or 2 in there/ your office.  We’re building up a social networking/ discovery app for business too. Simon – simon at cpagroup.co.uk

Jobs & Opportunities

Aardman Digital

Aardman’s Digital team are on the look-out for talented, freelance developers with experience in the games and web industry. Specifically: Unity and Haxe Developers experienced in producing high-end mobile games and apps; and Drupal/ PHP developers. Please contact digital@aardman.com with your CV and examples of your work.

Playniac Needs an Artist

It’s not SW based, but they are lovely people! http://www.playniac.com/jobs/2d-artist/

Events

Monthly Unity Meetup

You now the drill people. It’s meetup time again! This month’s Unity meetup will again be of a more open format (unless someone have a talk they are burning to give in which case you are more than welcome!) So come and show of your new cool ice shader, that randomly generated level creator that will bewilder players for hours or your new VR 5D flight simulator. As always you are also welcome to bring up any Unity related issues you are having and see if the wisdom of the crowd can’t help you. As always at around 10pm we will head to the local pub so any problems we have not been able to help you with at least can be temporarily forgotten. Join us the 20rd August 7.30pm at Bristol Games Hub 77 Stokes Croft BS1 3RD. Signup happens through our meetup page. Hope to see you there!.

28th August @ Bristol Games Hub – POPBOX 

Calum Yuill from Picton Street Media will be demoing a user generated social video gaming platform prototype/wireframe with a view to seeking criticism and feedback from the development community. 7.30pm at the Game Hub, entry is free.

Playable Cities Conference – 10th/11th Sept

Featuring Google Creative Lab’s Tom Uglow, architect Usman Haque, artist Luke Jerram, Ogilvy’s Tara Austin and academics from the University of the West of England, this two-day international conference will explore the theme of the ‘Playable City’, asking what it might mean for citizens, urban planners, tech giants, small companies, artists and designers in imagining and making the cities of the future. On10 and 11 September, we will be bringing together a brilliant group of thinkers, makers, planners and civil disobedients to look at cities as playable places and ask the question: how do we make and unmake our future cities? The conference will feature playful interventions, networking, debate and discussion, artist commissions and an academic strand convened by the Digital Cultures Research Centre at UWE. For more information on the conference programme and speakers see; http://www.watershed.co.uk/playablecity/conference14/

VR TGO 2014 – 11th Sept.

A future gazing conference that will inspire and inform developers and businesses using and looking to use VR on its potential.  The conference will be looking where the future of VR is taking the entertainment and games industry while also looking see at this cutting edge technology can do for serious applications for automotive, modelling, training, marketing etc. Attendees will have the oppotunity to go hands on with both Sony’s Project Morpheus and Oculus Rift.  More info here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vrtgo-2014-vr-conference-tickets-11583525637

OpenCo – With Bristol Games Hub! 2nd Oct

What this space as the hub becomes part of the OpenCo national event – he’s the info so far! OpenCo is a community event spread across an entire city. Instead of going to a sterile hotel ballroom, attendees fan out to visit their selected companies’ headquarters. These “HostCO’s” are companies that are driving innovation through new business practices of open collaboration, open platforms, and an openness to new ideas and new business models. Hundreds of these companies open their doors during our festivals and share how they are trying to change the world and why.

Quick Links

Bristol Games Hub July Newsletter

Posted on

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. You’ll find news from BGH first, news from Bristol & SW developers then jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events including monthly socials and rent affordable desk space on a rolling monthly contract basis so you can focus on creating amazing games. Contactdebbie at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter by 15th August please!

SW Freelancer/Company Dev Directory
If you’re looking for people to help on a project, or you are available for work, add your details. Please only list info you’re happy to share in the public domain: http://bit.ly/bghdirectory

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 31st July, 7.30pm

Join us for two great talks!  This month we’ve got:

Achromatic Postmortem

Bristol Games Hub resident Lukas Roper will be talking about his recently released Windows Phone game Achromatic and the lessons he learnt during the development of the game and will discuss whether targeting a market other than iOS and Android is really worth it. 

So join us on Thursday, 31st July at 7.30pm – we have a buzzer now! The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Jamaica St/Stokes Croft, above Dynamic Heating Services.

PS. Stokes Croft is getting loads more cycle parking!!

Dev Scene News

VoDo Far Out Bundle

Bristol Games Hub residents, Vodo, have a new and freaky bundle out! http://vodo.net/farout

Opposable Games

Opposable Games is helping to organise a VR meetup by the name of SouthWest VRon Tuesday 29th July featuring oodles of exciting guests. While the event is currently oversubscribed, joining the group will keep you notified of future events. Outside of SWVR, the team’s been working hard on Pesky gNats and a couple of as-yet unannounced projects. As ever, keep an eye on twitter and Facebook for updates as they come.

Force of Habit & Clockwork Cockoo

Force Of Habit & Clockwork Cuckoo’s collaboration project “Timmy Bibble’s Friendship Club” has an update coming on 25th July. It will feature a brand new arena – The Wonky Wagon saloon – where almost everything is destructible, and an updated Mexican Standoff mode. If you haven’t kept up to date with the progress of the game, check out the dev log, and as always if you haven’t already, please vote for it on Steam Greenlight. Much-o thanks! 🙂

Devlog: http://timmybibble.com/blog/
Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=254848856

Auroch Digital

We were quoted in a recent Guardian article looking at how games developers cover war: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/15/war-games-developers-military-conflict

Plus… updates from the Facebook group…

Jobs & Opportunities

500 More: Game Artist

500 More are looking for a game artist to contribute to our small team and help develop and produce the visual artefacts for our new game ‘Walking Safari’.  The work required is to engage in the design process and produce mockups, develop a design style and produce completed artwork for screen elements (backgrounds, objects, animated characters, fonts, UI elements) for the game.  The 2D game is a simple, arcade style mobile app and is being developed across the major mobile platforms using cross platform technologies. The game targets phone users only (tablet designs are not required for this project).

500 More is a startup organisation which develops mobile app games for health and wellbeing.  Walking Safari is a game built around walking, and requires players to actually walk to play the game.  Game characters form avatars, based on safari animals, which react to players levels of activity.  The characters have to perform various tasks, arranged in levels of increasing difficulty and with occasional hazards to avoid.  Players can also compete with other players or in teams against other teams.  Because of the interaction between physical and virtual worlds, the game interface must be able to convey key information at a glance, players will not normally be looking at the screen during game play.

We are looking for an individual with experience of producing artwork for mobile app games and with an understanding of UI/UX. UI element design will be a significant part of the requirement so a familiarity with standard mobile UI components (scrollviews, tableviews, navigation bars, toolbars etc.) would be beneficial. You should be able to demonstrate a good eye for composition and colour .
Contact: Greg Smart – greg at 500more.com

Video Game Funding Guide

TIGA and Google have published a free guide to funding your video game. See here (PDF).

Entertainment on the move – Innovation Contest

Deadline – 29th July. IC tomorrow is offering 4 businesses up to £25k each to encourage digital innovation in the area of entertainment on the move in music, book and magazine publishing and games/interactive entertainment. More info.

 

Events

Monthly Unity Meetup

This month’s Unity meetup will be a slightly more open one – We don’t have a main speaker, so instead we will be opening up the Floor (a.k.a table with projector) to whoever would like to present something. This might involve showing off your latest game, showing off your utility project, showing off some fancy Unity related techniques or just plain showing off! If you have any issues you’d like to share, or questions about best practice, regardless of how much experience you have this will give us all plenty of opportunity to open up a discussion with the group. So if you have a topic you’d like to present a micro-talk on, get your powerpoint ready (3 graphs per slide minimum), if it’s a game get a less-buggy build together (see: adjective “Impossible”), or if your around just to chat, get your… vocal chords ready (recommend choir practice warmup), and after all the painstaking preparation if you have any time left at all, come along to the meet up, 23rd July 7.30pm at Bristol Games Hub.
More info: http://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Unity-Game-Developers-Meetup/events/195258072/

Bristol Video Games Social

Join up here:
http://www.meetup.com/bristolgamers/

Upstarter Bristol: Who’s the audience?

Monday, 28 July 2014 from 10am to 1pm Bristol
A workshop for people who have an idea for new businesses, social or for profit, to have a clearer idea of different possible product formats and would like to know how to get more users or customers..
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/upstarter-bristol-whos-the-audience-tickets-12149550633

Playable Cities Conference

Featuring Google Creative Lab’s Tom Uglow, architect Usman Haque, artist Luke Jerram, Ogilvy’s Tara Austin and academics from the University of the West of England, this two-day international conference will explore the theme of the ‘Playable City’, asking what it might mean for citizens, urban planners, tech giants, small companies, artists and designers in imagining and making the cities of the future. On10 and 11 September, we will be bringing together a brilliant group of thinkers, makers, planners and civil disobedients to look at cities as playable places and ask the question: how do we make and unmake our future cities? The conference will feature playful interventions, networking, debate and discussion, artist commissions and an academic strand convened by the Digital Cultures Research Centre at UWE. For more information on the conference programme and speakers see; http://www.watershed.co.uk/playablecity/conference14/

Quick Links

Bristol Games Hub Newsletter

Posted on

June 2014

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. You find news from the hub, news from Bristol & SW developers then jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this news letter, host events and also rent desk space at a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact debbie at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us news for the next one by 15th July please!

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 26th June, 7.30pm

Talk: The development of Woopaloo, a music based platform game

Making games is hard. Making music based games is even harder! In this talk I will cover the development of Woopaloo, a platform game that generates levels to the beats of a piece of music of your choice. To start with I will cover the two ways music can be used to drive a game mechanic namely using predefined tracks or a full on procedural approach that analyses an arbitrary piece of music to determine where significant changes are happening. One approach on how to do the later will be covered and it will be shown how it was implemented in the Unity game engine. The end of the talk will be used to discuss the design implications of music based game mechanics, and what challenges they pose in regards to how the perception of music affects the game experience. A video showcasing Woopaloo can be found at http://vimeo.com/62236437

So join us on the 27th March at 7.30pm – we’ve got a buzzer now! The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft, above DHS Heating. All welcomed!

Other Games Hub News:

Techie Brekkie : Gaming Trends; Console vs Mobile – Who’s Winning (and does it matter?)
Date/Time – 2nd July, 8.15-9.30am. With around one in three of all UK citizens playing games regularly, it is no surprise that from pure entertainment to health to education, gaming is a hot topic. The global games industry was already growing year on year and then exploded with the advent of smart phones and social platforms. However the ‘old guard’ of gaming, in the form of console and PC game companies, have been making a resurgence to recapture their former dominance of the industry with a series of major technology and content announcements. Who will come out on top and as the sector diversifies its offerings, is it even right to think about a single ‘games industry’ to be on top of? Join us at the home of gaming in Bristol, Bristol games Hub, to discuss where this dynamic disruptive industry is going. Introduction from Dr. Tomas Rawlings, Design & Development Director of Auroch Digital. Thanks to the Games Hub for providing a fantastic venue for this topic, and the kind sponsors Elance, who are providing breakfast! Sign-up required! http://www.meetup.com/TechSPARKbristol/events/189574222/ (Spaces are limited!)

Kotaku Visit: Hi all, I’m Leon Hurley, the news editor for Kotaku UK and I’ll be visiting the Bristol Games Hub on July the 4th to speak with people about the UK indie scene, gender and representation in games, and hopefully see any interesting or experimental projects you have to show off. I’m hoping to arrange a couple of informal round table interviews for the first two topics and then see as much as I can for the games. I can’t guarantee everything and everyone will get coverage but I’m keen to push the ‘UK’ side of my remit and this seems like a good way to meet the industry on a local level.

Marketing Breakfast – We’re planning to run a morning event to discuss the best way to market our games. Email tom at aurochdigital.com if you’re interesting in coming along. Spaces will be limited.

Freelancer/Company Directory – We’ve created an open Google doc to list details of companies and freelancers in the SW offering game development services. 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

Dev Scene News

Auroch Digital

We’ve just put out a new newsgame – Camelina Caper – onto iOS & Android; it’s free to download so reviews & rating welcomed!   We’ve also released a demo of the JtR125 project to create a ‘playable documentary’ around the Jack the Ripper murders;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rKprmntnAE 

Jobs & Opportunities

Pitch For Investment!

Following the success of the Silicon Gorge investor day in late March, SETsquared, WebStart Bristol and BathSPARK/TechSPARK have teamed up once again to organise the 2nd investor day for 2nd July (from 2pm). The event follows the same format as in March – 5-minute presentations from 15-20 startups to a room full of 30-40 investors from London and the rest of the UK. This event will take place at The Engine Shed on 2nd July, and the audience will be restricted once again to investors + those presenting on the day. The event is sponsored by Invest Bristol and Bath. The competition for presentation slots is fierce, and there are only 3 ways to get a slot:

  • if you are in the WebStart Bristol programme, you must talk to Mike Jackson about getting a slot;
  • if you are part of SETsquared Bristol or Bath you can talk to Simon Bond or Nick Sturge about getting a slot;
  • if you are neither of the above, you will need to go through a selection process which will include pitching to a group of judges (like a semi final) on the 25th June (from 5.30pm) at the Engine Shed. Only the best companies (and the most ‘investor ready’) will be allocated a slot for the 2nd July. Companies interested in entering this selection process need to apply via this Google form.
  • Deadline is 6pm Friday 20th June. Good luck!

And finally, don’t forget to visit TechSPARK.co or follow @techSPARKuk for information about Silicon Gorge and other news and events from the Bristol & Bath tech sector.

RPG Maker Dev Competition

Are you ready for the excitement of the 2014 Indie Game Development Contest? Make your dream game during the month of June for a chance to win huge cash prizes (up to $10,000), widespread acclaim, and possibly a review by one of our celebrity judges. Now is your chance to grab the spotlight and become a renowned indie developer! Deadline June 30th – http://contest.rpgmakerweb.com/

Crowdfund your games at Fundsurfer

Fundsurfer is a new Bristol based reward and donation crowdfunding platform for creative and social projects. We can help you create, manage and run your project. You only get the money if you reach your target, but we’re more relaxed and flexible than other platforms about deadlines, allowing you to extend your campaign if necessary. We’re looking for game projects of all sizes, so if you have something you want to build – and that people will want to play – then come and get started atfundsurfer.com!

UWE Internship @ Opposable Games

If you or anyone you know are at UWE and fancy an internship with Opposable Games we’ve got a placement for a web-based games developer coming up very soon! Get applying! https://infohub.uwe.ac.uk/workgroups/uwe-undergraduate-internships/jobs/779428 (need to log in before you can see this page)

Noise Festival – Call for Entries

NOISE FESTIVAL 2014 “CALL FOR ENTRIES” is now open for submissions until July 6. Emerging creative types can get their work seen by industry professionals. Curators across 14 creative categories, including Ian Livingstone (Games / New Media), Brian Eno (Music) handpick submissions to offer the best undiscovered creative talent, a unique opportunity for showcase, recognition, mentorship and job opportunities. See the full panel here! Submit via the www.NOISEfestival.com online NOISE portfolio

Sift Digital Apprentice Developers

Sift Digital are looking for apprentice developers. Details here:
http://careers.sift.com/ts2__JobDetails?jobId=a0Kb0000002NmSpEAK&tSource

Events

Bristol Video Games Social: Main Quest #1

Nick from Force of Habit has been amazing enough to help sort out a whole bar for a full group, so we will be upstairs in the Big Chill bar on Small Street, on Thursday 19th June. As we get into the flow of our regular meetups, we’ll gradually be able to plan these events further in advance.  We’ll have our own bar, a projector with a PS3 set up for some quick, 4-player action, and a laptop for games on Windows – as well as anything else you’d like to bring, of course.
http://www.meetup.com/bristolgamers/events/189061912/

8-bit Night 2.0!

Hexadeci + 2G1B + Spazrammer + Tommy Creep + Olive FREE ENTRY. Thursday, September 4 at 8:00pm. The Mothers’ Ruin in Bristol.  https://www.facebook.com/events/670037096404339/

Cardiff Meetup @TIGA

Thursday 26th June 2014 at 6pm in the Digital Cardiff Showcase, The Courtyard, County Hall, Cardiff Bay, CF10 4UW. (In the County Hall building opposite Atlantic Wharf.)
http://gamesdevsw.org/meetup-tiga-event-june-26th/

Quick Links

May Newsletter from Bristol Games Hub – News! Opportunities! Power-ups!

Posted on Updated on

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. You find news from the hub, news from Bristol & SW developers then jobs, opportunities & events. We’ve had a bit of a re-organise at the Hub, moving desks around to make better use of the space and the ongoing building refurbishments are making the place look good!

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this news letter, host events and also rent desk space at a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact debbie at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us news for the next one by 15th June please!

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: Thursday 29th May, 7.30pm

Talk – Dan Pope: Calling Cthulhu

A study of the sound design process for the video game Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land. Dan will talk, and play audio examples, covering his experience in providing the music and sound design for this game. How do you create antique artillery noises without shooting people? How do you create an atmosphere of spiralling insanity? What sound does “The Spider of Leng” make? Find out the answers to all these questions and more. More about the game can be found here and the music is here.

So join us on the 29th May at 7.30pm – all welcome! Ring Tom on 07974793227 if you have trouble finding your way in! Map is here. Note: we’re having a new door fitted so entry might be via DHS Heating on that night!

Games Hub News: Get More Ca$h for Games Dev from Tax Breaks!

Just prior to the anti-social, UKIE are putting on a workshop for tax breaks in games ahead of the next social at the Bristol Games Hub. If you are building games on yourself or have a company (or commission games) you will find it very worthwhile. Sign up here! (FREE! But limited places)

Shader talk at the Unity Developers Meetup

Now with our own meetup page! The monthly unity meetup is back and we now have a shiny new meetup group as well. The next talk will be an introduction to shaders. Shaders are small programs that run on the graphics card and instruct it how the geometry and surfaces in the game should look like. They can be used to add a lot of flavor and uniqueness to games so they are a handy tool to know about. We will assume that the audience has a basic understanding of Unity but knowledge of shaders is not required. The talk will take about an hour and the remaining time will be used to answer questions and showcase demos, jam games and other cool stuff you want feedback on. After the Games Hub closes at 10 we are always a couple that heads to the nearest pub so you are also more than welcome to join us there. Sign up for the talk here:
http://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Unity-Game-Developers-Meetup/events/180345912/

Dev Scene News

Shaun’s Game Academy: teaching kids how to make sweet games!

Aardman have a launched a new project to try and get 8 -12 year olds making games using the drag-and-drop coding tool Scratch. Hoping to inspire a new generation of hot-shot game developers, Shaun’s Game Academy provides learning resources not just about coding but also game design theory, a pack of Shaun the Sheep assets to be used in the games, and also a competition that kids (or anyone) can enter their final games into. Go check it out here: www.shaunsgameacademy.co.uk

Demon Apathy – Jetpack Bull in a China Shop

If you like smashing plates OR delivering them intact to the valuable customer, Jetpack Bull in a China Shop is the game for you. As the Distribution and Logistics Co-ordinator (a.k.a. shopkeeper) at the local china shop you’re not only tasked with satisfying customers’ china needs, but bulls’ worldwide reputation depends on you as well! Of course having a jetpack rarely helps a bull in a china shop, but it’s store policy to have one. But don’t worry, you can actually be a bull in a china shop and smash everything in Smash mode if you so desire!
Trailer: http://youtu.be/LQSpwd8DAVA
Android: http://ow.ly/wfb6z
iOS: http://ow.ly/wmMhv

Auroch Digital

Auroch Digital was invited to open the first ever European Newsgame Hack event in Cologne, Germany. There’s a good write-up of the event in The Guardian and more links here.

Introducing Creative Territories

There is a DCRC research project, partners with Bristol Games Hub, looking at how co-working spaces such as the hub are created and can thrive. Check out the project site here and join them on twitter here.

Jobs & Opportunities

Aardman’s Digital

Aardman’s Digital team are looking for a Game Developer Intern to join them on a 3 month placement over the summer. This is an amazing opportunity for a budding game developer to get their foot in the door in the industry working on some exciting projects with high profile clients. See:
http://www.aardman.com/about-us/jobs/game-developer-internship-2/ for more details.

Eagle Transporter

Contract 3D Modeller/s Required; We are looking for an experienced 3D Modeller to create some 3D models for our website and forums www.eagletransporter.com on a per model freelance basis. 2D reference material and dimensions will be provided and resulting 3D models must be supplied in a file format agreed between us. If interested please contact chris@eagletransporter.com enclosing your CV, Linkedin profile and examples of work for more details.

Lofi Games

We are looking for an additional experienced C++ programmer to work on Kenshi (www.lofigames.com). It’s full-time employment, working in Bristol. You need to be awesome and somehow able to demonstrate this. Preferably with either industry experience or a degree in something like computer science. The job will likely involve a mix of both gameplay programming and low-level technical stuff. Email them at “contact at lofigames.com” with your CV and stuff if interested.

Games Lab £10K Fund

Creative England has another funding opportunity, this time there are £5-10K pots for new games project. Deadline is 1st June. For more info see here.

Events

Can you help the PM Studio host the ‘Young Rewired State Festival of Code’?

The Pervasive Media Studio would like to host a Young Rewired State Festival of Code at Watershed from Monday 28th to Thursday 31st July 2014. In order to be able to collaborate with Young Rewired State on their great programme we are looking for volunteer mentors. Do you have some time to support the next generation of coders? Do you know someone who might? The Festival of Code is an annual celebration of everything code for those aged 18 and under. It occurs in regional centres all over the UK and this year ends with a long weekend in partnership with i-DAT at Plymouth University, where everybody comes together and showcases their achievements. If you are interested in this, please email:Jess.hoare@watershed.co.uk by 21th May 2014 with  a brief summary of your skills and the dates you are available. More info is here.

Games Research Network Launches in UK

The UK Chapter of DiGRA will be launching on 17th June at the Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of West England. The launch event, entitled ‘Pervasive Provocations: The State of Games in the UK’, at the DCRC at The University of West England, Bristol, will interrogate key issues in Games Studies in the UK. You are encouraged to come along with a short provocation and get involved. Pop-up speakers throughout the afternoon already include Greg Foster (Larking About), Dan Hett (BBC Children’s Gaming), Prof Tanya Kryzwinska (University of Falmouth), with others to be confirmed. The afternoon will be followed by a DiGRA  inaugural meeting in the DCRC and a launch party in the Watershed. Please sign up for the event here as places are limited: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pervasive-provocations-the-state-of-games-in-the-uk-tickets-11446255057

Meet this Year’s UWE Graduates!

With the end of the academic year approaching, we are very proud to be launching yet another Games Technology graduate cohort into industry next month. Whether you are currently hiring, or just interested to see what and who we teach – why not come meet them and see what we have been up to?

Formally: Our students will be exhibiting final year individual and group projects at the Faculty of Environment and Technology Degree Show, on the evening of the 5th of June, Frenchay Campus.
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fet-computer-science-and-creative-technologies-degree-show-tickets-11644363605?ref=estw

Informally: Join graduates from the range of Creative Technologies award for a social event / mixer at the Big Chill, Small Street, Bristol, on the evening of the 3rd of June.
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-informal-evening-with-staff-and-students-of-creative-technology-tickets-11618652703

Quick Links

Thanks all!

Bristol Games Hub Newsletter

Posted on

April 2014 – SPECIAL NEWS!

Opposable Games has just launched the Kickstarter for their multi-screen tactical action PC game, Salvaged. The game has been getting really positive responses at Rezzed and Gadget Show Live with the public, and you can see exactly what they’re talking about on the Kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opposablegames/salvaged

About Us

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. You find news from the hub, news from Bristol & SW developers then jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this news letter, host events and also rent desk space at a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact debbie at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us news for the next one by 15th May please!

Next antisocial will be 29th May... Also we have a UKIE tax breaks event on same day too!

Dev Scene News

Opposable Games

Opposable Games has just launched the Kickstarter for their multi-screen tactical action PC game, Salvaged. The game has been getting really positive responses at Rezzed and Gadget Show Live with the public, and you can see exactly what they’re talking about on the Kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opposablegames/salvaged

It’s been a busy few days for Opposable because last week also saw the launch of Embarrassing Bodies: Angry Boils – a mobile game developed for Channel 4 and Maverick TV. Combining fast action and perplexing puzzle gameplay, it’s free to download and play, and is marginally less gross than the TV show! You can download it for iOS or Android at the following links:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/embarrassing-bodies-angry/id725489619?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.channel4.embarrassingbodiesgame

Auroch Digital

Auroch Digital’s GameTheNews.net project has been invited to give the Keynote speech at the first ever European-wide Newsgame Hackathon in Cologne next month. Full info is here.

Open Device Lab Bristol: Your free web-testing haven

What is the point of having great content if nobody can find it? Responsive web design provides the best user-experience for every visitor’s device, whether that’s a smartphone, tablet, smart-TV, or a desktop computer. So you’ve designed your website to be responsive on every single device known to man. But, have you really? How do you categorically know that it works? Before you start adding every device available to your Amazon cart, let us help.

Bristol’s first and only Open Device Lab (ODL) has opened with 17 free-to-use devices and 8 different operating systems including Linux, Symbian, Android and iOS.  Digital marketing agency, Noisy Little Monkey, sponsors the lab, which is open to everyone to use for free because the company wanted to help Bristol’s creative industry.

Jon Payne, Director of Noisy Little Monkey, says: “Bristol has a wonderful heritage in advertising and creative technology. Enabling clever people to do their jobs better means that Noisy Little Monkey plays a small part in turning that createch heritage into a legacy.” ODL Bristol is the place to test your website across different platforms for free while enjoying a cup of tea at the same time. Jon added: “Developers and marketers can come in and test their new websites and apps on multiple popular devices. No more online emulators. No more testing it on your phone and your partner’s when you get home.”  You have one website, and ODL Bristol has the many devices. With mobile sales leading over desktop sales, can you afford not to test your website’s mobile responsiveness?  Book a visit: www.odlbristol.co.uk and follow ODL Bristol on Twitter: @ODLBristol

For more information please email: josh@noisylittlemonkey.com

VODO – Otherworlds Bundle

We just released another bundle over at VODO which includes some really nice indie sci-fi content. The bundle is called ‘Otherworlds’ and includes two Steam games (AI War and Bientôt l’été) as well as two great feature films (Drones and Ghosts with Shit Jobs) and some really nice ebooks and comics from the likes of Cory Doctorow and Apex Magazine. 5% of all proceeds go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Check it out here: http://vodo.net/otherworlds

Coinbench

Coinbench recently started processing Bitcoin payments for Lo-Fi Games and their awesome game Kenshi.  Coinbench has provided an easy opensource platform for Lo-Fi to sell Kenshi with automatic fulfilment of licensing keys.  You can purchase a copy of Kenshi with Bitcoins here https://coinbench.io/kenshi/ The Coinbench team are based in Bristol, just a couple of roads behind the games hub. Coinbench urge developers, particularly indie ones to look at accepting Bitcoins for their games as it’s a great way to generate interest and has nearly next to no transaction fees.  If you’d like to chat about how you can start drop the team a line: http://twitter.com/coinbenchor mark@coinbench.io

Jobs & Opportunities

Lofi Games

We’re looking for an additional experienced C++ programmer to work on Kenshi (www.lofigames.com). It’s full-time employment, working in Bristol. You need to be awesome and somehow able to demonstrate this. Preferably with either industry experience or a degree in something like computer science. The job will likely involve a mix of both gameplay programming and low-level technical stuff. Email them at “contact at lofigames.com” with your CV and stuff if interested.

Mobile Developer needed to Develop Daredevil Project’s new Social Photo Challenge Game

TheThis project is to develop a first prototype on either android or iOS before expanding the team to deliver the game on both operating systems, testing, then launching to an international market.  We’re looking for a talented mobile developer with skills in either iOS or Android development to take ownership of this project, liaise with other freelancers, and bring the product to market on your chosen OS – you will be involved with every aspect of the process so we’re looking for somebody to really throw themselves into the project.  You will have developed mobile projects and bought them to market in the past, but extensive experience is not required. The game/app is an asynchronous turn based photo challenge built upon either game/play centre or Facebook, so an understanding or experience of developing gaming mechanics (and love of gaming!) would be perfect. Please email paul [at] daredevilproject.com for more info

UWE Tech & Games Tech Jobs

UWE has a significant number of new posts currently being advertised on the UWE and jobs.ac.uk web pages, with a closing date of 23 April. There will be an advert’ appearing in Times Higher Education next week. The posts are: Professor in Creative Technology, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science (2 posts), Senior Lecturer in Information Science , Senior Lecturer in Creative Technology, Senior Lecturer in Games Technology  & Graduate Tutors  (3 posts) The graduate tutor role is fixed term for 5 years and includes undertaking a PhD, teaching and completion of the ADP.

Events

Interface: A Digital Networking Event for the Cultural Industries

Applications are now open for Interface, a unique sharing event that is coming to Bristol this Spring.  Conceived by Shakespeare’s Globe as a space for discovering talent and forging links between large cultural institutions and young ambitious digital companies, the event is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and network with the cultural sector’s leading digital commissioners. This years’ event is being organised in partnership with Watershed and Bristol Old Vic, and will take place at Bristol Old Vic on Mon 12 May.  Download an application form and guidelines:
http://www.watershed.co.uk/get-involved/opportunities/2014-04-21/interface/

UKIE Tax Breaks Event

Join us and UKIE to find out about what tax breaks mean for you as a games developer! Get a ticket now for the event on 29th May. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-get-your-uk-games-production-tax-credit-bristol-tickets-11315140891

Quick Links

Bristol Games Hub Newsletter March 2014

Posted on Updated on

Below is news from the growing Bristol & South West games development scene. You find news from the hub, news from Bristol & SW developers then jobs, opportunities & events. 

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this news letter, host events and also rent desks at a bargain price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact debbie at aurochdigital.com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us news for the next one by 15th April please!

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: 27th March, 7.30pm

Join us for two great talks!  This month we’ve got:

Kickstarter Preparation, Braving the Elements: Crowdfunding / Trials and Tribulations in the Tabletop Gaming Industry

After bringing his first board game, Medieval Mastery, to publication–as the co-founder of Chaos Publishing–Miles Ratcliffe is currently preparing a Kickstarter launch for their second title, Brave the Elements (going live April 16th). With many hard lessons learnt along the way, he has helped propel the sales of his games through distribution for over 1000 copies. Now, after building up a wealth of contacts and advice, his Kickstarter is on the horizon and is willing to share his experiences / what he’s learnt.

Tech Demo – SeePlay

SeePlay is a live musical composer and performer for visual media, developed as a final-year project by Jamie Henson, a computer science student at the University of Bristol (and brief Hub resident last summer). An example of application for SeePlay could be for a game with no soundtrack. Running SeePlay in the background, it would perform live visual analysis on the game and generate music as you play based on these visual features!  There will be a low-key demo, consisting of a simple Unity test environment, where you will be invited to interact with the environment and give feedback on the music that is produced as a result of your actions in-game.

So join us on the 27th March at 7.30pm – all welcome!

Other Games Hub News

Thanks to all those who came to our board-game night. We’re thinking of doing the next one on a Sat or Sun during the day so we can take on bigger games. Email tom at aurochdigital.com if you’re interested in taking part.

Dev Scene News

Twice Circled

Twice Circled has managed to successfully raise funding to develop its next game, a strategy/simulation title for PC, via a publishing deal. Development starts in May.

I wrote a piece for the Full Indie UK column on PocketGamer.biz (despite it being a PC title ;P ) about my experiences of raising funding which you can read here if you are interested. I barely managed to scratch the surface in that one so if anybody would like to know more just come and grab me next time you see me.

Opposable Games

It’s an exciting time for Opposable Games, where the team are hard at work on their new multi-screen tactical shooter Salvaged. You can find out much more over at theSalvaged websiteTwitter or Facebook and, if you’re planning on attending Rezzed(28th – 30th March), grab a play of an exclusive early build.

Elsewhere in the world of Opposable, the team have given their site a rather striking refresh at opposablegames.com, Ben’s adjusting to PDT at GDC, and new recruit Dan Page is getting stuck into his role as Marketing and Community Manager.

Home Groan Games

Our game The Grave Digger is now on Steam Greenlight, if you’re a Steam user please help support us by voting for it. Thanks!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233069775

Auroch Digital

It has been a busy month for Auroch Digital. A game we developed for BBC Radio 1xtra, Rap Battle, launched this week. Thanks to Force of Habit and Infinite Playground for their help with the game!  We were also short-listed for a GamesIndustry.biz Innovation Award for GameTheNews.net – you can vote for us here: http://bit.ly/1phjaLB  There is also an article about our JtR125 project on the AHRC website entitled ‘The Future of News’: http://bit.ly/1et8c3Z

Red Wasp Design

Red Wasp Design’s Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land hit Steam this month after successfully passing though Greenlight. See: http://redwaspdesign.wordpress.com/

Jobs & Opportunities

Aardman Interactive

Aardman Animation’s Interactive team are about to embark on a number of new interesting gaming and other app developments and are therefore looking out for talented, creative freelance people with experience in the games and web industry. Contact hannah.jones@aardman.com for more information.

Javascript/ HTML5 Game Developer
Developer with strong Javascript capabilities, experienced in HTML5 game development and Canvas animation. Some experience with game frameworks is required, preferably Phaser, otherwise Impact/ Flixel/ FlashPunk would be useful. – Available from w/c 24 March or as soon as possible from this date.

Interactive Developers
Developers experienced in producing high-end mobile games and apps using cross-platform technologies such as: Unity, Abode Air (preferably Starling), and HAXE.

Interesting Designers
Talented UI designers experienced in designing for mobile and online games, apps and responsive websites. Experience in childrens’ content would be useful, as would illustration expertise.

2014 Graduate and new talent competition (two places available)

Prize: £500 bursary and a minimum of one month in residence at the Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol.
http://www.watershed.co.uk/pmstudio/project/2014-graduate-and-new-talent-competition
For the second year, we are launching a competition to find 2 fantastic new Pervasive Media Studio residents to join our vibrant community of artists, creative companies, technologists and academics. The residencies will take place in September 2014 and will include a £500 bursary for each selected applicant. We are looking for two individuals who have recently emerged from education, or are at an early stage in their careers.

Jennifer Ann’s Group: Game Design Challenge with a first place prize of $7,000.

Can you create a video game about teen dating violence….without using violence in the game itself? Since 2008 Jennifer Ann’s Group, a nonprofit charity headquartered in Atlanta, has run a game design challenge to promote awareness of teen dating violence and provide educational information to protect teens. The contest is the largest and longest-running of its kind in the world and was recently named a 2014 Top 10 Trailblazer as selected by the National Youth Advisory Board. The contest is open to all over the age of 13 and receives entries from both the domestic and international video game community. The winning games for 2013 came from Argentina, Belgium, Ireland, and Thailand.Rules, sign-up information, FAQs, and previous winners are available through Jennifer Ann’s Group online at:
http://bit.ly/LifeLove2014

Events

Lunchtime Talk: Growing a community of web-native storytellers

Friday 21 March, 13:00, Pervasive Media Studio, FREE
http://www.watershed.co.uk/pmstudio/events/fri-21032014-100pm
What happens when you bring together filmmakers, web developers and designers for a weekend of story hacking? Gilles and Philo organise Popathon – a series of hackathon events that encourages multidisciplinary experimentation in the field of web-native storytelling. They will be sharing some of the lessons they learned and discuss the relevance for web documentary and also take the opportunity to demo some of the projects created during the weekend-long hackathons.

Lunchtime Talk: Overcoming the Resistance to Resistors; bringing art and technology together

Friday 28 March, 13:00, Pervasive Media Studio, FREE
http://www.watershed.co.uk/pmstudio/events/fri-28032014-100pm
Rachel Rayns is Artist-in-Residence and Creative Producer at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. She’s on a mission to make interesting things happen. At Raspberry Pi she is focusing on how we can support small art organisations with navigating investment and implementation of low-cost technologies.
Personally she’s working on Zoë Star, a herd of neurotic, humorous machines from an alternative reality. Funded by Art Council England, the project aims to explore how we, as users and makers, engage with technology: absurd outcomes are eagerly anticipated.


Thanks all!