games development

June Newsletter

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Bristol Games Hub Newsletter

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 a cost price with no strings attached so you can get on and create amazing games. Contact debbie at aurochdigital dot com for more information or with news items for the next newsletter and let us know if you have any news you would like sharing in the next one by 15th July please!

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

We’ll give you more info on what they will be closer to the time, but stick the date in your diaries! If you have a suggestion for a talk, drop us an email!

Games Hub News:

BGH Marketing Group Meetup
The Hub marketing group, an informal meet-up of people to talk about the means and ways to market games, is meeting on Wednesday 17th at 7.30pm. We’re talking Reddit & Facebook this time plus a general chat. If you want to come along, please email tom at aurochdigital dot com so we know you’re coming as numbers are limited! If you can’t make it, we’ve got an email discussion group too here.

Going to Develop: Brighton?
We’re putting together an informal dinner for developers, on the evening of the Tuesday 14th. If you are interesting in coming for some food, drop us an email to debbie at aurochdigital dot com. Spaces are limited, so we can’t promise anything!

Monday 22nd June: Unity Meetup – More Procedural Meshes!
Full info is below in events. Info page is here.

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

Pocket Gamer Connects – San Francisco

After successes in London, Helsinki, and Bangalore, Pocket Gamer Connects is going stateside and bringing the premier mobile-focused B2B event to San Francisco on the 7th and 8th of July. More information is available at pgconnects.com, and you can keep up with the event on #PGCSanFran. If you’re headed out there, contact Bristol-based journalist Peter Willington, who will be in attendance.

More info links:
http://www.pgconnects.com/
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23pgcsanfran
Or contact Peter on; peter.willington at steelmedia dot co dot uk

Creative Gaming Award

PLAY15 festival introduces the new ‘Creative Gaming Award’ You can submit concepts, alpha and/or 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 and winner gets €3000! Full info on this PDF.

Auroch Digital

First off, a huge thanks to all who have signal-boosted the news of Dark Future: Blood Red States. We had great coverage from PC Gamer, Kotaku, Game Debate, Rock Paper Shotgun, Pocket Tactics and many more! We’ve also announced the winner of our Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night competition – to write the best 80s action movie style review!  We’re also recruiting and have a jobs page on our site now, which can be found here and below.

Twice Circled

Twice Circled, “I released the Big Pharma beta earlier this month. It’s a game about running your own pharmaceutical company. I’ve been astounded by the response from Youtubers/streamers with some really high profile people covering it, including Northern Lion and Sips from The Yogscast. Despite a few graphical bugs and some performance problems, the general reception has been overwhelmingly positive and I couldn’t be happier. The full release on Steam is planned for later this year. For further information, head over to the official website.”

Jobs & Opportunities

Auroch Digital

We have now filled the Producer role (and welcome Kelly Venables to the team!) We’ve still got open vacancies for an experienced programmer and an office manger/book keeper! http://www.aurochdigital.com/jobs/

Creative Youth Network

Creativeyouthnetwork.org.uk do great work with young people and are looking for a paid mentor to help a talented upcoming game developer – anyone interested?

Events Diary

Games Hub Marketing Group (June 17th 7.30pm)

Join us at Bristol Games Hub for a peer learning session about how to tell fans about our games. We’ll be looking at social media and Reddit. Email tom at auroch digital dot com if you want to come along!

Lunchtime Talk: Bringing computing into the real world (1pm Friday 19 June – Pervasive Media Studio)

We all love our computers, but generally they are mostly something we keep indoors. In this week’s talk, the PM Studio are delighted to welcome digital artist and creative coder Seb Lee-Delisle to the Studio. Seb will be showing us that really amazing things can happen when we take our computers into the elements.
http://www.watershed.co.uk/pmstudio/events/fri-19062015-100pm

Wales Games Developer Show (June 19th)

Pop over the border to see what the great devs in Wales have been up to and make some new connections! Info is here: http://www.walesgamesdevshow.org/

Unity Meetup – More Procedural Meshes! (June 22nd 7.30pm)

At Bristol Games Hub: The Unity meetup is back, on a Monday no less! This time around we have the second instalment on how to create 3D models from code ready for you. In this final part of his talk, Alexander will cover the following topics:

  • A short recap on creating procedural meshes to introduce newcomers to the topic and provider a refresher to everyone who attended last time
  • UV coordinates & Texturing. How to put pretty pictures on the surfaces of your meshes.
  • Bezier curves. Create smooth curves to define surfaces or paths
  • Delaunay Triangulation. Turn an arbitrary series of points into a surface with Triangle.Net

Signup to the meetup can be found on our meetup page:
http://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Unity-Game-Developers-Meetup/events/223161687/

Board Game Night (1st July, 7.30pm)

Join us at Bristol Games Hub on 1st July to play amazing board games. Bring a title along and/or join in another game. All welcome – email tom at aurochdigital dot com if you want to come along.

Lunchtime Talk: Hardware Startups, Manufacturing, and the Far East: a how to (1pm Friday 17 July – Pervasive Media Studio)

This week the PM Studio welcomes back product designer, maker, manufacturing engineer and 3D printing enthusiast Richard de Lancey. He was nominated for Stuff Magazine’s Design of the Year award for his work on AlphaSphere and is currently running his third startup business; DELCO – a design and manufacture agency based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
http://www.watershed.co.uk/pmstudio/events/fri-17072015-100pm

Quick Links

Thanks all!

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Wellcome Trust and Epic Games Launch Big Data VR Challenge

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This is a great opportunity peeps! Need to email them by the 31st March if interested!

THE WELLCOME TRUST AND EPIC GAMES LAUNCH: THE BIG DATA VR CHALLENGE

The Evolution of Data Visualisation – Taking Research to the Next Level

Tuesday, March 24th 2015 – For many, the collision of the video games world with the serious business of biomedical and humanities research seems like an unlikely event, but that’s exactly what the Big Data VR Challenge is designed to facilitate.

By harnessing some of the brightest minds in interactive entertainment, the Challenge is attempting to solve an ever-present problem in research – how to sift through huge data sets to find connections, trends and solutions in order to unlock hidden meanings.

The Challenge is a joint initiative from the Wellcome Trust and Epic Games, and today marks the call for submissions. At stake is a $20,000 prize for the winning team, whilst all six participating teams will each receive $5,000 to cover out of pocket expenses. The selected teams will be invited to participate in the first workshop at the Wellcome Trust on Thursday 9th April when three research topics will be unveiled.

Dr. John Williams, Head of Science Strategy, Performance and Impact at the Wellcome Trust, said: “We are lucky to live in a world where we are surrounded by an astonishing amount of data in all its various, sometimes nebulous, forms. Researchers need to be able to handle data better – to follow threads, play with connections and immerse themselves – without feeling overwhelmed. This is where the skills of the games industry can really help. The Big Data VR Challenge has the potential to convert that information into knowledge for the wider benefit of the research community, and that is hugely exciting.”

The highly immersive nature of virtual reality provides the best format in which to explore the potential threads and connections that may present themselves within huge data sets. The Challenge will explore how skills like intuitive UI development, management and manipulation

of large data sets and the creation of immersive, inherently understandable worlds can be usefully applied to the scientific community. Game developers are familiar with working with large data sets.

A modern open world game, for example, is built from a huge amount of data, combining massive geometry, textures and sounds and a lot of effort goes into building processes to transform, load and validate all of that data.

The Challenge will also explore how entertainment-focused game design skills can impact the handling of big scientific data sets which are not necessarily innately engaging, easily understandable, or traditionally entertaining.

“Year on year, the games industry continues to improve the science behind these amazing pieces of entertainment. The calculations required to recreate a lifelike environment are enormous. Our latest demo enables a player to explore more than 250 square kilometers of open terrain which is all generated in real time, something that would have been unthinkable as little as two years ago. Game developers are continually pushing the boundaries of what is possible, which in a way gives them a strong affinity with science researchers who are trying to define the unknown,” commented Mike Gamble, European Territory Manager, Epic Games.

Teams with an interest in creating immersive VR experiences are invited to apply to take part in the Big Data VR Challenge, which will be run with peer review during the development stage, and a jury to determine the overall outcome. The Challenge will culminate at this year’s Develop Conference in Brighton. In the first instance, studios should register an interest in participating by sending an email to bigdataVR@bastion.co.uk. Applications to participate will close at midnight on Tuesday 31st March.

About Unreal Engine

Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for bringing high-fidelity experiences to PC, console, mobile, Web and VR. Unreal Engine accelerates the creation of games, applications, simulations, visualizations and cinematic content. Download Unreal Engine for free at unrealengine.com, and follow @UnrealEngine for updates.

About the Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health. We provide more than £700 million a year to support bright minds in science, the humanities and the social sciences, as well as education, public engagement and the application of research to medicine.

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Level-up! Bristol Games Hub Sept. Newsletter

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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 page – Find 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

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Bristol Games Hub August Newsletter

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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 page – Find 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 (link, link), 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 Twitter, Facebook 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

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Bristol Games Hub Newsletter

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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

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Bristol GamesDev Newsletter – 29th April 2013

Posted on Updated on

Bristol Games Hub
Bristol Games Hub is thriving and we’ve had some more space opened up to us recently so we have some desks available to rent on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.  Contact Debbie for more info.
Our first monthly Knowledge Share is happening on Thursday 2nd May from 6-8pm and we’re kicking off with a session on Unity. These are free events and pizza will be provided for this one. Sign up on Eventbrite here!
Force of Habit
Along with a sizeable Bristol contingent, Force Of Habit attended the Launch conference up in Birmingham last Tuesday. In the unlikely (borderline irresponsible) event that you missed it, we put together a write-up of the day, offering all sorts of advice covering how to deal with the press. That’s right, we’ve also got a blog now. Head along to http://forceofhab.it/ for some juicy language snacks.

Will Luton
Will Luton’s book Free-to-Play: How to Make Money From Games You Give Away is now available for preorder on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321919017/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0321919017&linkCode=as2&tag=will_luton-21 and will be published by Pearson on 16 June. He has also just launched a new blog at http://www.will-luton.co.uk/

Auroch Digital
XX Game Jam Workshops
Following on from the highly successful XX Game Jam which Debbie produced back in October 2012, the first all female game jam in the UK, Auroch Digital are running a number of workshops in May for women with tech and/or creative skills to make the crossover from other disciplines into games.  The workshops are free to participants and funded by the DCRC and FiG (Females in Games) to encourage more women into the games industry.  There are currently only 6% of women working in games when you take out the supporting roles.  UKIE along with many other partners are now working to change that!  Please contact Debbie for more info.
 
Get £2K+ to Game Jam Cutting Edge Science into Fun: Deadline 1st May
The Royal Society is looking for experienced games development studios to take part in a new initiative that will turn some of the research on show at its annual Summer Science Exhibition into video games. The Royal Society will host a 12 hour game jam on 24th May that will see developers work with the scientists behind exhibits to produce five exciting new games. Five development teams of up to 4 developers will be partnered with the selected exhibitors for an all-day game jam from 10am – 10pm. Each development team will receive £2,000 to further develop their games after the game jam so that they are ready to be played at the Summer Science Exhibition which runs from 1st – 7th July. The games will be available free online and at the exhibition itself so that the public can cast votes for their favourite game. The team that receives most votes will receive an additional £2,000 to further develop their game once the Exhibition closes.  This is a great opportunity to get your name known, make some amazing games and get paid too!  Reasonable travel costs, food and refreshments will also be provided. Interested developers can find out more about the competition and how to apply from the Royal Society’s website at http://bit.ly/RSgamejam
Pervasive Media Studio
Ken Eklund – Transmedia For Change
Tuesday, 30 April 2013 1:00pm – 2:00pm, Pervasive Media Studio, BS1 5TX, FREE
The Pervasive Media Studio and UWEs Digital Cultures Research Centre present a very special, one-off lunchtime talk with game and experience designer Ken Eklund.
From World Without Oil to Ed Zed Omega and Evoke (and Future Coast, upcoming), much of Ken’s work enlists the hypothetical context of Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG) to pose questions about social change and societal challenges. He’ll discuss “authentic fiction,” the art of designing for mass participation, and the potential of play in social change.
Lunchtime Talk: Mitch Altman on Hackerspaces, and the Pluses and Minuses of Technology
Friday, 10 May 2013 1:00pm – 2:00pm, Pervasive Media Studio, BS1 5TX, FREE
Godfather of hackerspaces, pioneer of VR and creator of TV-B-Gone Universal remote will be joining us for a good chat/rant/argument about who owns technology, global open developer communities, and what happens when profit drives progress.  Will this change be good?  Can we have influence over it?  Will hackerspaces be an ameliorating and positive influence?
Mobile Pie
We’re proud to announce the launch of Mobile Pie Stockholm! Read more about our second studio here: http://www.mobilepie.com/2013/04/mobile-pie-sweden/
With Pavilion Dance South West and UWE we’re working on an innovative new social game and are looking for a freelance community manager. If you happen to know anyone who might be interested there’s more information here: http://www.paviliondance.org.uk/page/3312
Job Opportunities
 
Rumpus Animation

Rumpus Animation are looking to take on a Unity developer for a point and click game we are making. If anyone is interested email seb@rumpusanimation.com

Opposable Games

Opposable are looking for some Uni interns / recent grads to help with 3 things: some networking tech which requires Android chops, then some Unity and web work. Students are initially preferable, but if we don’t hear anything by end April then it’s open to everyone. Please pass on to any students you may know!

 
Geek Beach

We’re looking for a full-time 3D artist to come and help make cool mobile games at Geek Beach in Bristol. If you are, or know someone, who has lots of experience creating low poly characters and environments as well as animating them (as an example see our game Battle Monkeys) then please get in touch. You can find more info here –http://geekbeach2.squarespace.com/3d-designer/ Thanks!

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