November 17 Newsletter

Posted on November 16, 2017 Updated on November 16, 2017

All the latest updates from the Hub, news from Bristol & SW developers, jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events, and also rent desk space at cost price with no strings attached so you can get on with creating amazing games. Contact nina@aurochdigital.com for more information.

To have your news, events and/or job opportunities featured in the monthly newsletter, you can contact jake@aurochdigital.com. The deadline for entries is 10th December.

Next Games Hub Anti-Social: Thursday 30th November, 7.30pm (Changed date from mailout, apologies for any confusion!)

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

George Osborn – Under press-ure: how the changing video game media landscape affects developers

Getting your video game covered by the press remains one of the biggest challenges for a developer to overcome. But how is that challenge evolving as the games media itself is changing?​ This talk seeks to outline how the press is changing, why it is doing so and what that means for anyone looking for publicity.

Nina Adams – An Agile Approach to Making Games.

An introduction into how Agile project management methods can be used in game development to reduce stress and increase productivity.

So join us then! We’re at 77 Stokes Croft on the 3rd Floor. The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft.

Games Hub News

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

Auroch Digital

The Kickstarter for our Cthulhu-themed Christmas cards ended over the weekend, and we’re incredibly proud to announce we gained 226% of our initial goal! This allowed us to include some great stretch goals, with two unspeakable extras now included; backers will now receive A4 prints and mugs with the fantastic artwork from Dylan Shipley and Stu Griffin. You can check out the designs on the Kickstarter page. Huge thanks to everyone that supported the project!

We’re also continuing to update Ogre with new features, and would love for those of you that have picked up the game so far to let us know your thoughts and feedback in the Steam Discussions. If you haven’t already, feel free to leave a review too!

Ndemic Creations

We’ve been busy working on a few things here at Ndemic HQ, not the least of which is Plague Inc.’s upcoming Mad Cow Disease-themed Mutation 15 update, with its three new official scenarios (details here!).

This past month saw the launch of iOS 11, and we got to see the effects of being featured by Apple in one of its ‘developer stories’ App Store editorials. Downloads of the game surged in number following this piece, showing them to be a really effective way to help a game stand out from the infamously crowded storefront.

We’ve also announced the winner of the Scenario Creator competition. If you fancy spreading a tabletop RPG pandemic then give the winning entry a try! 😉

Jobs & Opportunities

Aardman Animations

Aardman’s games department is looking for a Unity FX artist or programmer for a short term contract. If you have a passion for making particle effects, explosions, amazing volumetric lighting, fluid systems or anything like that then drop us a line! George.rowe@aardman.com

Events Diary

SW Megagames (Sat 27th January @ Frenchay Village Hall, Beckspool Rd)

South West Megagames are running a ‘megagame’ called Crisis in Elysium in Bristol on 27th January. If you’re not familiar with megagames, they’re probably most comparable to a large board game/RPG hybrid style of event that takes place over a single day. The game has units and maps but also role-playing elements and a lot of communicating and negotiating with other teams. You can check out full details as well as past events here. Reservations can be made here.

Crisis in Elysium – When the tension hits breaking point in the giant Martian city-dome of Elysium, local authorities, Earth governments and radical factions fight over control of the city’s streets. Players take on the roles of political leaders, diplomats, military commanders and more, representing the factions on all sides of the conflict – including the forces of powerful Earth governments, multiple radical groups, local Martian authorities, and also some other actors with a stake in the future of the city.
Influence and control, as well as sudden strikes, raids and combat will be happening across three maps representing Elysium’s three main domes – whilst the Council of Mars meets to discuss and enact solutions. And, as ever, yet more diplomacy and discussion is being had in back rooms and dark streets across Elysium, outside of official government channels.

The City of Games 2018 (9th – 11th February @ Future Inns, City Centre)

A massively varied and exciting new 3-day gaming convention in the heart of Bristol, running from 9th – 11th Feb 2018. They’ve absolutely smashed their Kickstarter and tickets are very limited, though there are still some left for the Friday. You can also upgrade your ticket to take part in the Board Game Jam! Check them out, pledge your support and hopefully see you there!

Quick Links

• More games released on Steam this year than whole of 2016
• Are Steam games too cheap?
• What do devs want from Steam?
• Switch sells 2 million units
• Rediscovering History’s Lost First Female Video Game Designer

Thanks all!

October 2017 Newsletter

Posted on October 23, 2017

All the latest updates from the Hub, news from Bristol & SW developers, jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events, and also rent desk space at cost price with no strings attached so you can get on with creating amazing games. Contact nina at aurochdigital.com for more information.

To have your news, events and/or job opportunities featured in the monthly newsletter, you can contact jake at aurochdigital.com. The deadline for entries is 14th November.

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

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

‘How the Hub can help you make better games’ – a talk from several members of the Hub about how basing themselves here has benefited their processes and releases.

 ‘What’s happening in the Steam market place? Reflections on launching games onto Steam’ from Hub director Tomas Rawlings.

So join us then! We’re at 77 Stokes Croft on the 3rd Floor. The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft.
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

PQube

October is a busy month for PQube: we’re going to three different events and releasing two games in the span of four weeks!

On October 6-8, we worked with NGI Events to host the biggest fighting game tournament in London, Revolution, with players coming from all over Europe and as far as Saudi Arabia to attend! The 5 winners of the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, our core fighting games, are currently in Japan, all expenses paid, for the Arc Revolution Cup, which is the world cup for those games!
Last week, we had a booth at Play Expo in Manchester, showcasing two unreleased games: Cat Quest and Under Night In-Birth Exe: Lat[est].

We’ve also just release CHAOS;CHILD on PS4 and PS Vita, a murder mystery visual novel on Friday 13th, which comes straight from Japan and has a gripping story!

Finally our biggest event will be MCM Comic Con in London at the ExCeL centre, which is next weekend. We’ll be there with a big booth with Rice Digital, and lots of playable games, including some unreleased games and a new game announcement for the weekend! We’re also releasing on the same Friday 27th Raiden V, from the famous series of shoot’em ups, and we’ll have it playable at the show too!

Here are some pictures from Revolution if you’d like as well: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0hqzy6f42ssf14d/AACOQlC1Zw7AWqIpwtXSyMxDa?dl=0

Auroch Digital

What a month. We have a Kickstarter project live, right now! We’ve just broken 100% funding for our Cthulhu-themed Christmas cards (check them out!) but there promises to be some very cool stretch goals as additional pledges come in.

We also released Ogre onto Steam, which has gone very well and has garnered some really positive reviews so far from outlets such as Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamesN and more! We’ll be continuing to release updates for this over the coming weeks, and have recently announced a Mac version of the game coming soon. For more info on both of these points and more, check out our latest blog post.

Opposable Games

Opposable Games is offering three contract job roles working on a VR arcade project in the Bristol VR Lab. These are listed in the Jobs and Opportunities section below.

Ndemic Creations

The Mad Cow Disease Update is coming! Earlier this month we revealed the first details on the next big update for Plague Inc., which introduces three all new scenarios: ‘Mad Cow Disease’, ‘Flight Club’, and ‘Where Is Everyone?’. Expect plenty of moo-tations, a world full of airports (including in Greenland!), and a proper post-apocalyptic challenge.

Plague Inc. featured by Apple for iOS11 launch! Apple’s new look App Store, which launched alongside iOS11, features a lot more editorial content, and it chose Plague Inc. to be one of the first games to feature with an extended article and interview piece. It looks especially cool, so if you have an iOS11 device click this link to get an eye full: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/story/id1288074098

Plague Inc: The Board Game back in stock (soon!) Amazon US has run out of copies of the board game (a good problem to have!), but have no fear as we’ve got a literal boatload of freshly printed copies on their way over there right now (we made it through customs with thousands of boxes labelled ‘PLAGUE’ again – phew!). For those keen on grabbing a copy for Christmas gifting purposes, we should have plenty of games ready just in time for the holidays.

Somerset Games Hub

Somerset Games Hub is a community for game makers that has recently launched. Their venture will start as a meetup for like-minded individuals in the surrounding area to network and share what they’re working on. Check it out if you’re down them ways!

Jobs & Opportunities

Opposable Games

Multiplayer networking/VR hardware/API integration Unity developer

3D modeller and animator

VFX and games Unity programmer

Opposable is also offering  a longer term opportunity for a junior position to help us run day to day operations at Bristol VR Lab; Bristol VR Lab Assistant.

Mobile Pie

Mobile Pie are looking for a freelance video editor to put together showreels of our various games. Send details of your experience and day rates to jobs@mobilepie.com if you’d like to be considered.

Events Diary

‘South Bristol Gaming & Anime Expo III’ @ Knowle West Media Centre – 4th & 5th November

The South Bristol Gaming & Anime Expo returns in 2017, with two days of retro gaming, Virtual Reality gaming, manga illustration, Minecraft and more. Details can be found here.

Bristol Games Hub Anti-Social @ Bristol Games Hub – 26th October

Details above.

Quick Links

• Independent Body recommends more funding for UK games industry – yay!
• Tackling toxic game communities – Valve vs Blizzard
• TIGA partners with ITN Productions on current affairs-style games industry programme The Next Level
• Should players get access to all a game’s content even if they don’t play through?

Thanks all!

September Newsletter

Posted on September 25, 2017 Updated on September 25, 2017

Bristol Games Hub Newsletter

All the latest updates from the Hub, news from Bristol & SW developers, jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events, and also rent desk space at cost price with no strings attached so you can get on with creating amazing games. Contact nina@aurochdigital.com for more information.

To have your news, events and/or job opportunities featured in the monthly newsletter, you can contact jake@aurochdigital.com. The deadline for entries is 13th October.

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

The Anti-Socials return after a summer hiatus! Talks TBC but check in on the Meetup page, where we’ll be updating the event when talks are confirmed!

So join us then! We’re at 77 Stokes Croft on the 3rd Floor. The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft, above Meat Liquor.

Games Hub News

Bristol Games Hub’s first Game Investment Pitch Event! This is on 18th October at 7pm and will kindly be hosted at the new Bristol VR Lab. If you’re interested in investing in games, or would like to see how the process works for a future pitch, please do come along! Note spaces are limited. Contact nina@aurochdigital.com for more info or to book a place.

This month, we welcome new residents PQube into the Hub! We look forward to seeing how they develop and thrive at Bristol Games Hub. See below in the Dev Scene News for their September update.

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

Mobile Pie

Proud to announce the launch of our latest Go Jetters game for CBeebies. Glitched weather has taken over the Go Jet Academy! Jump in the Truckster and see who needs your help in this 3D WebGL game for young players.

We’ve also updated our hugely popular Swashbuckle game – My Swashbuckle Adventure. Now you can enjoy a quick round of Deck Golf or take part in Shark Racing if you’re brave enough!

Auroch Digital

Since last time, we’ve had a bit of a whirlwind of interest in our Ogre project with Steve Jackson Games. The Ogre community has been wonderfully supportive of the game ahead of its launch on Steam, and the reaction from the game at Gen Con 2017 was also overwhelming. We’ve had coverage from Polygon, PC Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer and more, which has been fantastic.

On other projects, things are equally exciting. Here you can see perhaps the earliest piece of marketing material we’ve ever made! It’s a photo from one of our designers of a rough physical prototype he’s been working on, of an unannounced digital title we’re working on We won’t be announcing this one for a while yet, but we’d love to hear theories on what people think it might be…

Plus the Producer of Dark Future: Blood Red States took part in an impromptu AMA on Reddit recently. There’s all sorts of questions in there about how we create video games based on tabletop IPs, so take a look if you’ve ever wondered about how we work.

PQube

CHAOS;CHILD has a new trailer and a release date! From the creators of the Science Adventure Series that spawned the wildly successful visual novel, STEINS;GATE, comes the haunting and grisly mystery tale of CHAOS;CHILD. Coming to Europe on October 13, 2017, and North America on October 24, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. Watch the New Generation Madness trailer here

Gal*Gun 2 is in production and we will be releasing it in Europe and North America in early 2018! The time has come to prepare your bodies once again! The most feel-good shooter of all time makes its return with the announcement of Gal*Gun 2, coming to Europe and North America in Q1 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition is coming to Europe! The Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition includes the original game along with The Pirate Queen’s Quest, and the upcoming Friends Mode and Costumes Mode DLC. It will be releasing both physically and digitally on PS4 and Nintendo Switch in 2018.

Fight of Gods released in early September! Our deity based indie fighting game, FIGHT OF GODS, released on Steam Early Access on September 4 and caused a bit of an uproar. Malaysia and Thailand both banned the game and Malaysia actually blocked all of Steam to prevent their residents from having access to FIGHT OF GODS. Lost amid the chaos was that fighting game players were legitimately enjoying the open-ended combo system and levelling up their Jesus skills. Watch the FIGHT OF GODS trailer here.

Ndemic Creations

Quite exciting, we just won the South West Small Business of the Year Award for international trade!

Aside from that we’ve been organising the second production run of Plague Inc: The Board Game, and we’ve also put together a blog post detailing the Kickstarter process that we went through to get it made. It’s a multi-parter, so expect parts two and three soon.

Aside from that we’ve also been preparing Plague Inc. for iOS 11. Keep an eye open for its new look App Store entry!

Jobs & Opportunities

Aardman Animations

Aardman are looking for one more 3D artist to work on a beautifully crafted indie game. 6 month contract based in their Gas Ferry Road Studios. 3DS Max required, Unity and Substance Painter/Designer experience would be great.

Aardman are also looking for an Event Scripter to work on a beautifully crafted indie game. What’s that you ask? You’d be a vital link between the animation and level design teams, setting up scripted events, integrating cinematics, handling map logic etc.
The role would suit junior/mid-level programmers with an artistic eye for camera. Experience with Unity + C# a must. If either of these sound like something you’d be interested in, drop me a line at george.rowe@aardman.com.

Mobile Pie

We’re in the process of updating our freelancer lists – so if you have experience on the art or tech side of making games (mainly HTML5 but also Unity) then please do get in touch with links to your portfolio: jobs@mobilepie.com

In addition we’re also looking for a 3D artist to join us full time, more details here.

Events Diary

Knowle West Media Centre Takeover (30th October – 15th December @ KMWC)

Opportunity for gamers, gaming artists and game designers to take over our Gaming Test Space: More info here

Bristol Anime & Gaming Con (7th – 8th October @ Bristol Future Inns)

Featuring Exhibitors, Performers, TCGing, Gaming Tournaments, Talks with many activities including the Cosplay Masquerade with a £100 first-prize, Talent Show, Quiz & more. Tickets are on sale here.

Quick Links

• Catherine Allen’s think piece on VR is live on the pmstudio website
• Fixing our broken internet culture
• The indie games are too damn cheap
• Good discussion on marketing of an indie game (via Reddit)
• Crunch, what is it good for? A discussion
• There is a gamedev bizdev book!
• Be authentic, get that dream job…

Thanks all!

August 2017 Newsletter

Posted on August 11, 2017

All the latest updates from the Hub, news from Bristol and SW developers, jobs, opportunities and events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events, and also rent desk space at cost price with no strings attached so you can get on with creating amazing games. Contact nina@aurochdigital.com for more information. 

To have your news, events and/or job opportunities featured in the monthly newsletter, you can contact jake@aurochdigital.com. The deadline for entries is 10th September.

Summer is here! This means we’re taking a break from the Anti-Socials, which will return on September 28th.

Games Hub News

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

Anti-Socials returning next month, slots open for talks!

The BGH Anti-Socials are back in September after a long summer off, and we have multiple slots available for talks and showcases. If you’d be interested in bringing something along, be it a project you’re working on, a new piece of technology you’re utilising, or anything else related to the industry, send an email to nina@aurochdigital.com to organise a date.

Auroch Digital

Two of our games, Chainsaw Warrior and Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night, were featured in the fantastic Games Workshop-themed ‘Skulls for the Skull Throne’ event on Steam, which went really well and gained the games a lot of exposure.

Gen Con 2017 runs from August 17th-20th, and the legendary Steve Jackson Games will have a stand there featuring, among other exciting stuff, our adaptation of their classic tactical wargame, Ogre! We’ll have lots to show off from this event so keep your eyes peeled. Steve Jackson also published an update on the adaptation on his Daily Illuminator blog, which you can check out here!

Jobs and Opportunities

Reach Robotics – Unity Developer and iOS Developer

Looking for 2 experienced contractors at Reach Robotics to work on their gaming robots ASAP. There are two roles posted;
– Unity Developer: https://goo.gl/k9qLrz
– iOS Developer: https://goo.gl/b7r2rH

Ignite – Investment Opportunity

The Ignite team are in Bristol and Bath on 15th Aug to run office hours in the EngineShed. It’s a chance for companies to learn more about what Ignite offers, and receive advice on funding, hiring, scaling, or anything start-up related. Book here (if full, email wil@ignite.io and he’ll try to make space).

They have also opened applications to companies from Wales and the South West. Link to the application form is on their website.

Aardman Animations – Unity Developer and Maya 3D Artist

Aardman Interactive are looking for a Unity developer to create an app for iOS and Android that encourages users to search for and photograph specific objects. We are ideally looking for someone that can work in house from late September to mid December. If you are interested please contact Hannah.jones@aardman.com for more information on the brief.

Aardman are also looking for a Maya 3D Artist to help support our existing design team. This person would be building 3D assets for our game environment and helping to develop a pipeline between design and development. Initially we are looking for someone for 2 weeks in September. If you are interested please contact Hannah.jones@aardman.com for more information on the brief.

Events Diary

BGH Bi-Monthly Board Game Night (7.30pm 15th August@ PM Studio)

We’ll be playing table top and card games such as Netrunner, Ogre, Blood Bowl, Pandemic and more! Come along to meet fellow gamers and developers, build your network and most importantly, have fun!

Tickets for this event have all gone but if there’s enough of a demand, we can potentially bump the numbers up. To register your interest, let jake@aurochdigital.com know 🙂

Jack Bevan-Davies – My First Year (6pm 14th August @ The Arcade Vaults, Cardiff)

For this free talk, Jack Bevan-Davies of Duel Fuel Games Ltd talks about how his first year has been and everything he learned from Tranzfuser, to his first paid contract, to then opening a company.

Please note that you will need to arrive before 6pm to be let in!

Quick Links

• Thread! (Why diversity matters…)
• Team17: Digital storefronts need a radical rethinking 
• VR growth steady as she goes – HTC 
• Nintendo  is killing it on mobile

Thanks all!

July 2017 Newsletter

Posted on July 26, 2017

All the latest updates from the Hub, news from Bristol & SW developers, jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events, and also rent desk space at cost price with no strings attached so you can get on with creating amazing games. Contact nina at aurochdigital.com for more information.

To have your news, events and/or job opportunities featured in the monthly newsletter, you can contact jake@aurochdigital.com. The deadline for entries is 10th August.

Summer is here! This means we’re taking a break from the Anti-Socials, which will return in September.

Games Hub News

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

Opposable Games

VR World Congress won the Totally Killing it Award at The SPARKies last month, an accolade the team are hugely proud of after putting in so much work over the last three years. If you didn’t get to the event, don’t worry; Opposable have now put the majority of the talks live on the VRWC YouTube Channel (there are some that are sadly not allowed to go out to the masses – more reasons to attend in person!).

Alongside the talks Opposable have published an absolutely stonking wrap-up video featuring some beautiful hyperlapse shots of Bristol, make sure you give it a watch!

Auroch Digital

What a fantastic month we’ve had! We were nominated for a Sparkies Award from TechSPARK in the ‘Best Place to Work in Tech’ category! While we didn’t win, our fantastic friends over at Edo did, and we had a wonderful night.

We’ve also been included in Games Workshop’s ‘Skulls for the Skull Throne’ sale, with Chainsaw Warrior and the sequel Lords of the Night both discounted by 75%! We’ve also added a set of new achievements to both games and Lords of the Night has a brand-new weapon to unlock. Check out the savings here.

We’ve also begun advertising a fantastic opportunity to join our team at Auroch! We’re looking to hire a Games Designer with demonstrable experience to lead a design team on an exciting, as-yet-unannounced strategy game project. More details can be found in the Jobs and Opportunities section below.

Ndemic Creations

This week sees the release of the first major update for the Scenario Creator on mobile, which has proved really popular thus far with core and casual players alike. We’ve also just closed the entries on our board game-themed Scenario Creator competition, so should be plucking out a winner for that fairly soon.

Speaking of board games, we’ve got a second production run of Plague Inc: The Board Game well under way ready to land at the tail end of summer. Just in time to replenish our fast dwindling supply!

We’ve also published the first part of a new blog series, ‘A vivisection of Plague Inc: The Board Game’. In it we detail the lessons learned from Kickstarting the game, so do take a look if you’ve a project on the horizon!
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1804370/insights-plague-inc-board-game-kickstarter

Nathan Hook

The Bristol-based game designer and academic has published his next card game. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a card game of trading and loan taking. It’s his next Shakespeare-themed card game, following on from Midsummer. It’s available internationally from here.

Jobs & Opportunities

SGS College – Full and part time lecturer positions available

SGS college are looking for part and full time game design lecturer positions in Bristol (Filton) and Stroud. Interested in outgoing people who can do any combination of the following: Unreal Engine 4, 3D modelling & animation (pref. Maya), game audio, concept art, pixel art. More info can be found on their Jobs and Vacancies page.

Auroch Digital – Games Designer

We’re currently looking to add a new Designer to our award-winning team, leading the design on an exciting, long-term, currently unannounced strategy game project. More information can be found on our Jobs page.

Events Diary

BBC ‘Game Play to Learn’ Commissioning Event (July 27th at Media City UK, Salford)

BBC Learning have arranged a ‘Game Play to Learn’ event in Salford on Thur July 27. We are looking for teams to come and find out more about our commissioning objectives for young people and to then pitch for a share of some development cash.

Teams can sign up here.

GDWC 2017 (Ongoing, but deadline is Sept 30th)

The largest game dev contest on earth. Participation to GDWC is a great opportunity to gain global visibility and connections. The contest has two categories, pro and hobby, depending on the level of the developer. Both categories are open for games from all platforms.

Register here.

Bristol Games Hub Bi-Monthly Board Game Night (7pm on Aug 15th at PM Studio)

We’ll be playing table top & card games such as Netrunner, Ogre, Blood Bowl, Pandemic and more! Come along to meet fellow gamers and developers, build your network and most importantly, have fun!

Tickets are available on Eventbrite. The event is free and will be on every other month.

Quick Links

• Looking at SteamSpy data to try and predict success on Steam
• Video games & the social contract (video)
• Superhero games show how the industry has changed
• E3 2017 press conferences were a contrast between heart and cash
• Games as biography
• Is high-end VR over?

There is some more info about these links here.

May 2017 Newsletter

Posted on May 16, 2017 Updated on May 17, 2017

All the latest updates from the Hub, news from Bristol & SW developers, jobs, opportunities & events.

Bristol Games Hub is a non-profit space for games and play. We run this newsletter, host events, and also rent desk space at cost price with no strings attached, so you can get on with creating amazing games! Contact jake at aurochdigital.com for more information.

Jake can also be contacted regarding including news items in the next newsletter, the deadline for which is 10th June.

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

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

Matt Walker – Red Panda Audio

Red Panda Audio’s Matt Walker talks us through his experiences designing sound for games – complete with ukelele!

So join us then! We’re at 77 Stokes Croft on the 3rd Floor. The entrance is off Thomas Street, just up from the junction of Thomas St/Stokes Croft, above MeatLiquor.

Games Hub News

BAFTA Breakthrough Brits Applications Open

For five years BAFTA has been running a mentoring programme to support burgeoning dev talent in the British video games sector. Applications for the 2017 programme are currently open and will close on May 30th.

Successful applicants (of which there are 20 each year across videogames, TV and film) receive a bespoke programme of career development support, including one-to-one mentoring, guidance sessions and networking opportunities, as well as free access to BAFTA events for 12 months.

To qualify applicants must have a professional credit on a piece of work released in the UK between August 2016 and August 2017, and reside in the UK. Applicants should be over 18, and there’s no upper age limit. Small teams may apply, though each team member must complete the application process individually.

It’s easy to apply or find out more: http://www.bafta.org/supporting-talent/breakthrough-brits/apply-now-to-breakthrough-brits

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 happyto have in the public domain: http://bit.ly/bghdirectory

SW Game Dev Jobs Facebook page – Find roles and post new openings here…

Monthly Indie Spotlight

Cole Jefferies

I’m Cole, a one-person indie dev who makes games under the banner of ColePowered games. I recently moved to Bristol after living for a while in Gloucestershire and Cardiff, so I decided to join the Games Hub – really loving it so far! I haven’t done any high profile games, but Concrete Jungle is probably the one you’re most likely to have heard of – a city-building puzzle game.

I’m currently working on a brand new project that involves managing a detective department, and catching a generated criminal/crime syndicate. Basically it’s a procedurally-generated police procedural. I’m drawing inspiration from 90s management/strategy games of old, as well as recent indie games such as ‘Orwell’ and ‘This is the Police’ that touch on similar themes. It’s super early days, so I don’t have much to show at the moment (the only graphical asset right now is a corkboard texture), but I’m hoping this project will turn into something interesting. See you around!

Dev Scene News

Opposable Games

Opposable VR are busy beavering away preparing for the opening of the Bristol VR Lab later this year. They’ve also recently posted official VR World Congress photos on the event’s Facebook page! There are some absolute beauties in there so do go check them out and getting tagging yourselves and your colleagues if you were at the event, or simply have a scroll through!

Tuesday pics
Wednesday pics
Thursday pics

A huge thanks to Scott Salt and his photography team for doing such an excellent job! Videos of the talks are coming soon!

Auroch Digital

We’ve had lots of exciting steps forward in our development of Dark Future: Blood Red States and Ogre.  We’ve also met with investors to pitch ideas for our future projects, which was all really positive and we’ll hopefully have more to share on that soon!

Both Chainsaw Warrior titles are on sale at 50% and 60% off respectively in the Humble Store Spring Sale.

You can also check out the three new Dark Future screenshots on the Steam page and wishlist the game now to be kept up to date with developments.

Ndemic Creations

After its launch last month in the USA and UK, Plague Inc: The Board Game is now available in Canada, and is going down really well both online and in brick and mortar stores across the country. We’re also in the process of planning out a second manufacturing run and have our sights set on localised versions for European fans.

We’re celebrating both the board game launch and the arrival of the Plague Inc: Scenario Creator for mobile with a community competition this month, asking players to create scenarios based on the theme “Board Games”. Winners will be picked in August, so look forward to some interesting fan creations!

We’ve also seen one more addition to the team, bringing us up to a full roster of seven in Office Zero!

Jobs & Opportunities

Complete Control – Senior HTML5 Developer

Complete Control is a double BAFTA award winning children’s entertainment and games agency, located in a beautiful studio just outside of Bath. We are a small team of 17 that produce digital content for the best loved children’s brands across the BBC, Cartoon Network, LEGO, Nickelodeon, Penguin Books and many more great clients. More info at https://www.completecontrol.co.uk/job/senior-html5-games-developer/

Aardman Animations

Aardman Animations are in the hunt for animators exprienced in using Motion Builder. For more information email george.rowe@aardman.com

Events Diary

Ocean Games Jam (May 20th-21st)

The weekend of May 20th-21st sees Noize Fabrik in Berlin host the Ocean Games Jam. The two-day event will bring together game developers, scientists and journalists to develop new playful ways to tackle environmental issues associated with the oceans such as pollution, overfishing and resource exploitation. Participants should register their interest on the website here. Flights and one night’s hotel accommodation will be paid for the first 8 UK-based participants who register their interest!

Unity Group May Meet Up – Pervasive Media Studio (May 18th)

Hi everyone. We had a great time at the PM Studio last time and we’re very grateful that we’re able to host this month’s meetup there again.
Thomas Greener, a developer at Atkins and former developer at Opposable Games will be leading the main talk. He’s developed his own asset for the Unity Asset Store and will detail how he developed that from concept to finished product and detail the other challenges of marketing and supporting his asset.

Quick Links

• How to survive as a solo game dev http://www.sizefivegames.com/2017/05/04/how-to-survive-as-a-solo-dev-for-like-a-decade-or-so/
• SEGA’s plan to go huge on PC http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-12-sega-had-a-plan-to-quietly-become-a-powerhouse-in-pc-publishing
• Games mobile revenue grows (again) https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/13/worldwide-mobile-game-revenue-grew-53-to-11-9-billion-in-q1/
• Get into Games for Good! http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-05-10-gamesaid-launches-digital-for-good-fundraising-initiative

Thanks all!