February Bristol and South West Game Developers Newsletter
We want to say a huge thanks to all who took part in January’s Global Games Jam. The Hub hosted over 70 developers from all over the South West to make 13 amazing games. It was really inspiring and there were many newbies at the event as well as some experienced hands.
Main Winners:
1st Place – Senseless Runner by No Sense (See here: http://bit.ly/MyWrOe )
2nd Place – Sanbiki No Saru by Opposable
3rd Place – Mutable by Circular Mongoose
Other Category Winners:
Best Technical Achievement: Whiteout by TEAL (Which is on the Google
Play store: http://bit.ly/1hlZ4yQ )
Best Artistic Achievement: MMME by MMME
Best Gameplay Achievement: Sanbiki No Saru by Opposable
Best Sound Achievement: AHOD! by AHOD!
Auroch Digital
We’re extremely proud to announce that we have been working with Ndemic Creations to bring Plague Inc. to desktop. The new version sees the same captivating gameplay with the addition of multiplayer, user-generated content and much more. Plague Inc: Evolved launched on Steam Early Access on the 20th February and we’re continuing to work hard to bring you the extra features in this hugely successful, multi-award winning, viral hit. The game’s official page can be found at http://plagueincevolved.com and you really should watch the trailer, its awesome and shows just what our amazingly talented team have been up to 😉
Evil Twin
Our new website for our upcoming game Victory at Sea has launched!In Victory at Sea players start out as a Destroyer Captain early in the war and can travel across the Pacific, Atlantic and the Mediterranean, seeking out and destroying enemy shipping and capturing ports. Control and fight against over 65 classes of ships across 3 theatres of war, in the battle for the seas. War will be declared Summer 2014 for desktop platforms, with the game launching on mobile in the Autumn. You can see it here http://www.victoryatseagame.com/ and see more about us here http://eviltwinartworks.com/
Deeperbeige Games
White-Out, our entry for Global Game Jam 2014 is now available completely free on iOS and Android. Built in just 48 hours at the Bristol Games Hub, it’s had some modest organic success on the app store with around 6000 installs so far.
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/white-out/id817420135?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.deeperbeige.whiteout
Lonewolf
Lonewolfwilliams (Gareth Williams) has nearly finished working on an advanced Unity tutorial ebook “Design patterns for Unity” which should be useful for intermediate to advanced level developers working in teams on larger-scale Unity projects. The ebook will be available for free and comes with supporting videos and a demo project, Game Hub people can preview here: http://bit.ly/1obandH and feedback to Gareth@lonewolfwilliams.com
Events & Opportunities
iDocs 2014
This two-day event dedicated to the rapidly evolving field of interactive documentary will focus on these pressing themes; Production Models, Engagement & Evaluation and New Territories. The event is at the Watershed on 20th/21st March and will feature the projects supported by the REACT documentary strand. Find out more and sign up here:http://idocs2014.dcrc.org.uk/
TechSPARK Event – Silicon Gorge
Silicon Gorge (26th March, Engine Shed, Bristol) will showcase web and tech startups drawn from the Bristol and Bath area to an audience of angel and institutional investors from London and beyond. It will combine the resources of the world renown SETsquared Bristol and Bath centres, the new WebStart Bristol Web Incubator and the Bath and Bristol TechSPARK network to present a carefully selected showcase of what our region can offer.
If you want your startup to be considered for a pitching slot at Silicon Gorge, you need to complete this application form: http://bit.ly/1fMkfto
Silicon Gorge is about showcasing the best startups in our region, and
therefore, there is a selection process that goes something like this:
(i) Submit your application form by 6pm, 5th March;
(ii) If selected, you will get an invitation to pitch to a selection panel;
(ii) Pitch to a selection panel (either on 11th March in Bath or 14th
March in Bristol); and
(iii) If selected by the judges, you will be awarded a slot at Silicon Gorge (26th March)
Silicon Gorge is sponsored by Invest in Bristol + Bath. The selection panels are supported by RocketMakers and SETsquared and are organised by the Bath and Bristol TechSPARK network. Thanks and if interested, make sure you get your form in fast!
Service Jam Bristol
From the 7th to the 9th of March 2014 there will be a Service Jam event here in Bristol, this is an event where you will collaborate in the development of an idea in a creative and innovative environment – potentially leading to new products, businesses and services. There is an opportunity to apply for up to £10,000 from WebStart Bristol to further develop an idea at the end of the event.
See: http://www.gsjbristol.com/
Plus if you are interested in joining the team and working on amazing
new games for Steam and mobile and want to get ahead of the crowd,
please do send us your CV if you are a Unity coder or Unity artist –
debbie at aurochdigital.com
PM Studio
Graduate and new talent competition (two places available) – £500
bursary and a minimum of one month in residence at the Pervasive Media
Studio, Bristol, UK
The PM studio is looking for people to join thier 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. They are looking for two
individuals who have recently emerged from education, or are at an
early stage in their careers. You have fantastic ideas and want to
explore how to make them a realit and your ideas fall into one or more
of the following: Interaction/Experience design, Games design, Digital
Storytelling etc. Feel free to contact them for a chat
admin@pmstudio.co.uk
A Room Full of Talent – an evening showcase for employers on Tuesday 11 March, 5-7pm. Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) and the Creative Skills Hub (West of England LEP Skills) invite you to ‘A Room Full of Talent’:
Over the last five months eight young people have been working at KWMC as Junior Digital Producers – supported by the Creative Employment Programme for their first roles in the creative and digital industry. They have worked with IBM and artists, using technology to generate data feeds and visualise the information in exciting and accessible ways.
Come and meet them, network, enjoy refreshments, and explore their cardboard creation ‘The Living Living Room’ – an interactive art installation and gaming zone that gathers information about our lifestyle choices and our perceptions of our community. www.datapatchwork.co.uk
On this journey the Junior Digital Producers have learned many new skills that we understand employers are crying out for. They’re now coming to the end of their employment with KWMC: Could you be a mentor for them, or even their next employer?
This is a great opportunity to meet new creative talent and find out how your organisation can support young people into further employment.
Do let us know if you would like to attend or want more information about the event. For further information please contact nicky.williams@woeskills.co.uk
Directions: Free parking and accessible access http://kwmc.org.uk/contact/
Auroch Digital
Auroch Digital is looking for a full-time accounts administrator/office manager, based at Bristol Games Hub. Must be AAT qualified, with plenty of on the job experience. Competitive salary for the right person. Please contact Debbie with CV and a covering letter; debbie@aurochdigital.com Deadline is Monday 17th March at 12 noon. Interviews to take place later that week. No recruitment agencies!
What comes after Vine and Vyclone? Come and work on a revolutionary new social video app. Matter 2 Media is looking for a developer to help build an Android and iOS app for video capture, editing and playback. This is an R&D project. The successful candidate will be able to work quickly, robustly and independently on both platforms, including native APIs; also able to spend regular time with co-developer Tim Kindberg at the Pervasive Media Studio in central Bristol. Experience with camera operation and video playback is highly desirable. The exact scope of work, timing and fee/day rate are negotiable. I will need someone to help during roughly the weeks beginning 17 March to 28th April (not necessarily full-time throughout).
For further details contact Tim Kindberg: tim@matter2media.com and see our project website nthcamera.tv. To apply please send CV, links to your work, day rate and a paragraph about why you’re the person for the job to the same address.
Bsquare (out in Trowbridge) is hiring: https://www6.ultirecruit.com/BSQ1000/JobBoard/JobDetails.aspx?__ID=%2AEBBC6A7F8D3BEA65
App Developer – Rendermedia CGI
At Rendermedia we deliver high-end CGI & Animation for digital & broadcast channels. Creating beautiful CGI and Animation for clients.
We are looking to recruit a graduate developer in an internship position working closely with the CG team to help us develop interactive or app versions of the work we create, offering our clients a comprehensive in house service. The ideal candidate would be someone with an interest or experience in app development and able to take 3D assets in a variety of formats to helping us to deliver applications using AR and interactive 3D. This position would suit somebody willing to apply their knowledge to an already available wealth of assets and to build to their portfolio and CV. This opportunity is on 2-3 month basis with potential for future work. To apply please contact Producer Stephanie Knapp via email. Please include CV, Cover Letter and examples of previous work. Email: Stephanie@rendermedia.co.uk/
Red7Mobile
Red7Mobile is looking for 3 more permanent mobile game developers to join our 20-strong team based in Temple Studios. Our Sports, Casino and Social games/apps, are built in Javascript/HTML5 but our developers come from a variety of backgrounds including native iPhone/Android, Actionscript, C++ etc… what they have in common is a flair for game development and a computing background. We work in a flexible team based environment with an attractive remuneration package. For more information please contact matt@red7mobile.com
That’s it for now. I’ll be sending March’s newsletter out towards the end of the month with details for the next anti-social.
Auroch Digital Job Opportunity for a Book-keeper
Auroch Digital have an opening for a qualified, experienced book-keeper, initially for 2 days per week for an immediate start. Please send CV and a covering letter to debbie at aurochdigital dot com
The Wellcome Trust Funding Opportunities
The Wellcome Trust have a few funding opportunities with deadlines for the end of January;
Bristol Games Hub December Newsletter – News, Jobs,Games and More!
As a bit of a wind down for Christmas we’ve been experimenting with ZX Spectrum graphics emulation in OpenGL. If you’d like to read about how we’ve done it, Ashley has written a blog post.
Have a lovely Christmas everybody. Big hugs. Kiss. xoxo etc.
Mutant Labs – Plymouth
Mutant Labs has released a version of their game, half-inch heist, for the Leap Motion. Called Half-Inch Heist Turbo, it uses the Leap Motion controller. a video can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN3DrVq06zg
A press pack can be found here: http://halfinchheist.com/turbo/press_pack.zip
Static Games – Bournemouth – Static Games Ltd. gets an honourable mention in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup Pitch Video Challenge with a new, as yet unannounced title! The next step is stage two, the Project Blueprint Challenge.
(link: http://staticgames.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/microsoft-imagine-cup-pitch-video-challenge/)
– Static Games’ fun farm and genetics simulator, “Mendel’s Farm” is now on Valve’s Steam service as a Greenlight concept! This is the first step in getting a title “greenlit” and will introduce the game to a huge audience worldwide who can comment, rate and make suggestions about what will appear in the final game — we would love to hear from everyone!
(link 1: http://staticgames.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/mendels-farm-steam-greenlight/)
(link 2: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=158549153)
Pocket Gamer Connects: 20-21st January 2014 – Vinopolis – London
Brand new for 2014 comes Pocket Gamer Connects, a global mobile games conference from Steel Media, the publisher behind Pocket Gamer and PocketGamer.biz.
Building on our experience of running the leading mobile games industry portal alongside some of the best industry networking events, we believe we can bring something fresh to the conference scene that will be genuinely useful, engaging, and enjoyable.
What is PG Connects?
- Two Content tracks – “East meets West” global publishing stage and our How to be an Indie Rockstar stage
- Stunning location in the heart of London
- A jam packed day of fringe events including our Very Big Indie Pitch and a Pocket Gamer Drink up
- Interactive workshops
- Exciting exhibition area and top notch networking
- Awesome Pocket Gamer Party – to end all parties!
Who should attend?
Like most of the activities under the Steel Media banner, Pocket Gamer Connects aims to be an inclusive event, providing something of value to a wide range of industry players.
However, the two core focal points are global game publishing strategies (particularly in key Asian markets) and providing a survival guide for indie development studios. All of which means it’s especially useful for the following groups.
The Very Big Indie Pitch – 20th January
Following the success of our three Big Indie Pitch events in 2013, we’re bringing an even bigger and better version to the PG Connects schedule.
The Very Big Indie Pitch will be exactly what it says on the tin: a mammoth developer pitching competition open to all types of independent developers, wherever they are.
We have 80 big name speakers from the global mobile world inclusing representatives from Tencent, Kakao, Perfect World, Halfbrick, Rovio, and King for what promises to be an unmissable mobile games conference. ready to take to the stages onTuesday 21st January
On the content side, speakers from platform holders Amazon and NTT Docomo should guarantee a fresh perspective to the global publishing track, while cool indie studios such as I Fight Bears, MediaTonic, Lemon Moose Games, Remode Studios, and Remote Control keep things game-centric.
Elsewhere, Berlin-based Wooga, St Petersburg’s Nevosoft, Lisbonian Miniclip, and Metaps of Tokyo further add to the international credentials, whereas representatives from Channel 4 and UKIE ensure the British end is kept up.
Mon 16 – Tue 17 Dec, 16:00 – 22:00, The Eye, FREE
Following the huge success of their captivating Submergence installation, Award-winning international artists Squidsoup have continued in residence in Bristol Temple Quarter’s The Eye, using the same hardware system to explore digital materiality, decay, granularity and movement in physical space.
As a special Festive treat, for two nights only, Watershed and Squidsoup are inviting audiences to step back into 8,064 dynamic points of light to experience this new work in progress.
Like Submergence, visitors will walk into a virtual world where pixels on a screen are replaced by thousands of points of light floating in space. Shapes and images will slowly appear, wrap around and dissolve, suggesting form, presence and movement within physical space.
http://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/4588/squidsoup-a-light-work-in-progress
The Pervasive Media Studio will be taking a break from our lunchtime talk and Open Studio Friday programme over the Christmas period but will be back with a vengeance in the new year.
Lunchtime Talk: Kim Plowright
Friday, 10 January 2014 1:00pm – 2:00pm, Pervasive Media Studio, FREE
Drawing on her experience of working as a Producer and New Media Consultant for Channel Four, Hide&Seek and Storythings, Kim Plowright will be talking about the life cycle of projects – from development to post-release.
http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/events/fri-10012014-100pm
Lunchtime Talk: ‘Recife: The Playable City’
Friday, 17 January 2014 1:00pm – 2:00pm, Pervasive Media Studio, FREE
In an exciting change to our usual format, this week’s lunchtime talk will showcase ideas in progress from Watershed’s collaboration with the Brazilian city of Recife.
In partnership with the British Council and Porto Digital in Brazil, we are bringing together artists, creative producers and creative technologists from Pernambuco (Brazil) and the United Kingdom, to develop new ideas that use creative technology to explore the theme of the Playable City.
Job Opportunity at Auroch Digital for an Experienced Designer/Producer
Auroch Digital have an opening for an experienced designer/producer for a 3 month contract initially, starting in January. Be part of a growing indie studio working on a wide variety of games projects. This role will be based at Bristol Games Hub. Please send CVs and a covering letter to debbie at aurochdigital dot com by 5pm on Wednesday 18th December, with interviews taking place on Thursday 19th, although do please get in touch if that’s an issue. Feel free to share far and wide. Thanks
No recruitment agencies, thank you!
Board Game Jam a Huge Success!
We’d like to thank all who took part in our first ever Board Game Jam and the first game jam hosted at the Hub’s base in Stokes Croft. The event was a huge success with people traveling from far and wide to take part (kudos to those who traveled from Brighton and Cambridge to join in!). We have 5 team of developers who created 5 amazing games made on the theme of ‘Winter’ created and a huge amount of energy, creativity, meeples and sweets to go around. There are photos from the day on our Tumblr account.
We’d also like to thank our sponsors for the event:
- UK Trade & Investment (who supported the event!)
- Aardman (for help with refreshments!)
- Unity 3D (for the chairs in the event space!)
Plus thanks to Excelsior Comics and boardgameextras.co.uk
The consensus seems to be that the event went really well and more would be welcome so we’ll be looking to do another one – as well as the Global Game Jam in January – so watch this space!
Tickets Available for our First Ever Boardgame Jam!
There are a few tickets available for Bristol Games Hub’s first ever boardgame jam! Starting on Friday 22nd November at 6.30pm and on Saturday the 23rd, the jam challenges game developers and other interested participants to create a new board, card or other non-digital game in just 24 hours. While the games need to broadly be non-digital, using digital to augment the real-world experience is also encouraged. Prizes will be awarded for the best creations. The event gives an opportunity for those interested in finding out more about the games industry to work alongside experienced developers and together create a new game.
Dice, card, counters, meeple and other helpful props as well as food and refreshments will be provided for all participants. Tickets for Bristol Games Hub’s Boardgame Jam are free, but going going fast – you can sign up here.
This event is very kindly sponsored by UKTI and Aardman Animations.
