The School of Media at Dublin Institute of Technology, in association with gd.ie, are hosting a ‘State of Play’ seminar on Indie game development in DIT, Aungier Street, on Friday 25th November (6pm – 8.30pm). The event will see a range of companies, some well established and some new, talking for 10-15 minutes about their work and experiences.

The event will take place in DIT Aungier Street, room 4-027, and there will be an informal demo space for ‘students’ & ‘others’ beside the presentation room.

Drinks for all and final shindig before Christmas upstairs in Solas, 31 Wexford Street from 9pm. Room is reserved.

This event will be free to attend but ticketed….to reserve a place go to http://bit.ly/vhp8UC

Companies confirmed for the night include:

– Open Emotion – http://www.openemotionstudios.com
– RedWind – http://www.redwindsoftware.com/web/index.html
– Pufferfish Games – http://www.pufferfishgames.com/powergrid
– Bitsmith Games – http://www.bitsmithgames.com
– Weeman Studios – http://www.weemanstudios.com
– Simplelifeforms Games – http://www.simplelifeforms.com
– Zinc Software – http://www.zincsoftware.com
– Nevermind Games – http://www.nevermindgames.com
– Digital Arrow – http://digital-arrow.com
– SuperfunPlay games – http://www.superfunplay.com

Find DIT Aungier Street at http://www.dit.ie/psai/dublinmapandditlocations/

Find Solas (about ten mins from DIT)
http://culturedigitally.org/backstage/ucp.php?mode=login

For further information contact ‘hatch’ on the boards or check the thread http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/forums/viewtopic.php?p=45957#45957

Max Howard (former President of Warner Bros. Feature Animation, an executive at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Executive Producer at DreamWorks Feature Animation, Producer at Exodus Film Group and consultant through his company Max Howard Consulting Group) will visit Ballyfermot College from the 7th to the 10th November next to deliver a series of master classes.

These classes are primarily aimed at BCFE students and industry guests but there are limited places for others so contact Gareth Lee at glee@bcfe.net if you are interested.

The master classes, which are supported by the Irish Film Board, will be delivered in the Anna Brett Hall, Ballyfermot College Media Building on the following dates and times:

Monday 7th November 9-1pm: Creating An Effective Story and How To Pitch It (Part 1)

Tuesday 8th November 9-1pm: Producing Independent Animated Films

Wednesday 9th November 9-1pm: Acting For Animation and Character Design

Thursday 10th November 9-1pm: Creating An Effective Story and How To Pitch It (Part 2 – Interactive Pitching Session)

In addition there will be an industry-focused evening event (invite-only) with Max Howard (supported by the Irish Film Board and Animation Ireland) on Tuesday November 8th, 7-10pm in The Sugar Club on Leeson Street.

See below for more information on the master classes and Max Howard.

SESSION 1: Creating An Effective Story and How To Pitch It (Part 1) – This talk/workshop will cover how to succinctly create and effectively pitch a story for any type of film and TV production, live action or animation.

SESSION 2: Producing Independent Animated Films – This talk/workshop will look at the opportunities and challenges of producing ‘independent’ animated feature films. Every facet of the feature animation industry is tackled, from story development and physical production to marketing and distribution. Starting with an overview of the marketplace right through to the opportunity to enter a film for Academy Award consideration for Best Animated Feature Film. Max’s experience in working on over 12 feature films, plus 7 short films, provides an unparalleled insight into the challenges and opportunities of bringing an animated film to fruition.

SESSION 3: Acting For Animation and Character Design – The Acting For Animation talk/workshop looks at great acting, utilizing performance examples from both animation and live action. At the heart of any animated film is the requirement that the animators understand and utilize the tools an actor will bring to a role. It is not the technical aspects of animation that create a great performance but a fundamental understanding of the characters motivation.

Max’s career began as a child actor in the British theatre, subsequently working as a director and producer. He has worked with some of the world’s greatest actors, directors and writers. It is this backdrop that allows him to offer this unique program on Acting for Animation. This talk/workshop is designed to broaden the appeal and originality of character design, to establish a unique set of criteria that, used correctly, will enhance a designer’s outlook and originality. You will be taken through the entire development process, giving you the tools necessary to bring your new characters to life and charm your audiences.

SESSION 4: Creating An Effective Story and How To Pitch It (Part 2 – Interactive Pitching Session). This session will include working ‘live’ on specific stories, providing a practical application for the applied techniques that will have been outlined earlier in Part 1. This session will require three attendees to pitch their story ideas for a short, TV or feature with each pitch lasting no more than 15 minutes. Max will then have 30 minutes to discuss each project.

Max Howard

Max Howard created and ran studios for Disney in London, Paris, Orlando and Los Angeles, working on some of Disney’s most memorable films including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

As President of Warner Bros Feature Animation he oversaw such hit movies as The Iron Giant and Space Jam. At DreamWorks, he was co-executive producer for Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron.

Max Howard is currently producing a series of animated feature films for Exodus Film Group. The company’s first production, Igor was released in 2008.

For more information see http://www.maxhoward.net/

The call for sites in 2012 is now open for the IGDA’s Global Game Jam.

Last year in 44 countries, at 170 locations, the dev community created 1500 games in one weekend. We had at least two sites in Ireland – in Thurles and in Dublin.

The next GGJ will take place January 27-29, 2012, worldwide.

Jam Site organizers are invited to apply at
www.GlobalGameJam.org.

The call for jammers will be coming in mid-November! All of last year’s games are playable online.

The Irish School of Animation at Ballyfermot College has teamed up with KINOPOLIS, the Polish Film Festival in Dublin and Pegbar to bring you an event that is open to animation students: a Q&A session with multi-award winning Polish animator Tomasz Bagiński on Sunday 6th November at 2pm in Filmbase, Temple Bar (http://www.filmbase.ie/venue/index.php).

Tomasz Bagiński is a self-taught director and animation producer. His second short animation “The Cathedral” (2002) won first prize for Best Animated Short Film at the largest animation and special effects festival SIGGRAPH in 2002 and was nominated a year later for an Academy Award in the category Short Animated Film.

His next film, “Fallen Art” (2004) won the Jury prize at SIGGRAPH festival in 2005. Bagiński became the first director in the history of the festival to win both main prizes. “Fallen Art” also received the BAFTA Film Award for Best Short Animation. He completed his latest film “The Kinematograph” in 2009 and is currently developing his first full-length feature film “Hardkor 44”.

For more info see: http://www.kinopolis.com.pl/

Darklight 2011: Strictly Roots
20-22 October 2011, The Factory, Grand Canal Dock

Darklight Festival is in just two weeks time! Festival passes are on sale now for €20 via the Darklight website http://www.darklight.ie/festival-2011/buy-tickets/

/ / /

1. DARKLIGHT CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
Darklight is currently recruiting enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers to assist with this years festival which takes place 20 – 22 October in the Factory, Grand Canal Dock.

Available roles include front of house, ushering and technical support. Volunteers are essential for making the festival run smoothly and are hugely appreciated. So, if you’re interested and want to be involved in Ireland’s premier festival celebrating independent, DIY and artist films, email volunteers at darklight dot ie for more information

/ / /

. 2. WORKSHOPS & TALKS AT DARKLIGHT 2011

**3-D.I.Y, Friday 21 October 2011, 2.30pm The Factory, Grand Canal Dock. A symposium of workshops & discussions on the democratization of 3D techniques programmed by Gavin Kelly and Caroline Campbell.

Break-out topics including –

**Mocap Hack Friday 21 October 2011, 3.45pm The Factory, Grand Canal Dock.

Hosted by Gavin Kelly (Piranha Bar), Gavin will run a live experiment to hack the XBox Kinect into a motion capture for 3D animation.

**Mocap Animate –The Making of ’The Last Train’ Friday 21 October 2011, 3.45pm, The Factory, Grand Canal Dock
presented by Ben Harper, director at Giant Creative.

An in-depth look at the production of Mocap Animate short film ‘The Last Train’. This workshop will look at the production techniques of the short film from the original concept through to post production.

**Stereoscopic pipeline Friday 21 October 2011, 3.45pm The Factory, Grand Canal Dock
– camera to screen – for the first Irish 3D film with Sophie Merry and Sigmedia (TCD).

For the workshop Sigmedia will share the insights gained during the production and post-production of the live action material for Clockhead 3D, the first Irish 3d stereoscopic short.

**DATA – DIY Light Graffiti Workshop by Recyclism Saturday 22 October 2011, 2.00pm, The Factory, Grand Canal Dock

Learn how to create a simple Light Painting Software with Max/Msp and build your own Light Spray Can by creating a simple circuit using a battery, LED and push button.

**TOG Friday 21 October 2011, 3.45pm & Saturday 22 October 2011 All Day, The Factory, Grand Canal Dock

TOG will be creating a unique 2 day hardware hacking area at the upcoming darklight festival. LED displays , gas powered music visualizer (Rubens Tube), e-clothing and pin hole photography. Be amazed at the printing of 3D objects with our Makerbot. Be flashy by making one of our LED badges. Be thrilled by the heat of our infamous Ruben’s tube.

SFX UNPLUGGED Saturday 22 October 2011, 2.00pm, The Factory, Grand Canal Dock.

Bellflower Workshop
Inspired by our trip to SWSX, we’ve invited Evan Glodell and Joel Hodge from Coatwolf Studios, producers of critically acclaimed Bellflower to come and talk about their extraordinary DIY special effects skills.

Bellflower Workshop taster via Darklight website :http://www.darklight.ie/festival-2011/sfx-unplugged/

Shadow Puppetry workshop Saturday 22 October 2011, 11.00am, The Factory, Grand Canal Dock
Hosted by Daithi O’hEignigh & Yvonne Woods.

Daithi and Yvonne will make a short presentation on Shadow puppetry concentrating on its practical and artistic applications. The presentation will be followed by a workshop on how to make both elaborate and simple shadow puppetry stages (it’s possible to make a stage from an empty cereal box!) and the actual puppets themselves.

MORE INFORMATION ON ALL WORKSHOPS & TALKS AT DARKLIGHT.IE

/ / /

3. BOX-OFFICE INFO
Weekend and individual day passes are now on sale via the Darklight website http://www.darklight.ie/festival-2011/buy-tickets/

This year it’s a Recession Special – tickets for this year’s Darklight Festival are of great value…

Tickets allowing Access All Areas All Weekend, that is, access to all Film Screenings, Symposium, Workshops and the Darklight Closing party are an incredible E20 (VAT and Membership Inclusive). Alternatively a one day pass is available for E10.

Buy Yours Now! http://www.darklight.ie/festival-2011/buy-tickets/

New in the company database of gd.ie, Dublin based game developer, PufferFish Games Ltd, are pleased to announce the release of their first title, PowerGRID, on the app Store.

Inspired by the classic game Bridges, also known as Hashiwokakero, PowerGRID delivers a truly addictive gameplay experience to those players who enjoy a challenging puzzle game which they can pick up and play in less than a minute.

It’s simple! Connect Power Nodes as fast as you can to complete Power Grids in record time… But what’s the catch…?

PowerGRID includes 3 levels of difficulty, 7×7, 9×9 and 11×11, and two game play modes, Free Play and Time Attack, each presenting you with unique Power GRIDs to be complete.

You can share your best times with your friends on Facebook and challenge them to beat your score while also competing with other PowerGRID players around the globe on Openfeint leaderboards.

PowerGRID also includes a game tutorial to cover the basics of PowerGRID, which can be played at any time.

PowerGRID is free to download and comes with a selection of 7×7 and 9×9 GRIDs. And if you enjoy playing, you can upgrade to the complete version from within the game for just 79c.

PowerGRID Complete unlocks the Ultimate 11×11 PowerGRID Challenge and also provides thousands of additional grids for you to solve.

Company Director, Richard Greene says “With 30,000 grids to solve in PowerGRID Complete, we believe that is enough to keep even the most addicted players going for a very long time. But we do plan to release more level packs in the future. We also plan to release a free bonus level which will be awarded to those players who can complete the 11×11 PowerGRID in record time”

PowerGRID is available now as a free download from Apple’s app Store on iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad.
http://itunes.apple.com/app/powergrid/id455573882?mt=8

PowerGRID will be coming soon to the Android Market!

Keep up to date with PufferFish Games announcements at www.pufferfishgames.com/powergrid or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/powergridapp

Contact PufferFish Games Ltd at
contact@pufferfishgames.com

A new call for applications to the Competitive Start Fund will be launched tomorrow on Wednesday 28th September.

The fund is open to applications from the ICT & Industrial sectors including the following sub-sectors: Internet, Games, SaaS, Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Telecoms, Lifesciences, Cleantech and Industrial Products.

The call close date for applications to this Competitive Start Fund will be 6pm on Wednesday 19th October 2011.

Overview of the Competitive Start Fund

The purpose of the Competitive Start Fund is to accelerate the growth of start-up companies that have the capability to succeed in global markets. The fund is designed to enable those companies reach their key commercial and technical milestones, for example:

Evaluate overseas market opportunities and reach firm conclusions regarding the viability of the proposed business

Build a prototype

Develop a market entry plan for exploiting international opportunities.

Identify suitable channels to international markets.

Secure third party investment e.g. business angel, Venture Capital

For more on application see http://bit.ly/dZjcdl

[we will have a feature on gd.ie in the next couple of days about this fund – Aphra]

Games Fleadh 2012 (http://www.gamesfleadh.ie) is scheduled for 14th and 15th March 2012.

The theme for both of the main events:
* DirectX Ireland Challenge
* XNA Game Studio Ireland Challenge

is Chopper Command (c) Activision 1982, 2011.

StarterKits for these events will be available when approved by Activision.

Robocode will also be taking place along with a number of gaming tournaments. Additional events are being planned and will be announced shortly.

Games Fleadh takes place in LIT-Tipperary, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

ATOPIC FESTIVAL – 3° EDITION
– Les mondes virtuels font leur cinéma !
– CALL FOR ENTRIES

Machinima is the first genre comes from virtual worlds and video games. Following the two previous editions, the Atopic Festival is the only Machinima Film Festival in Europe.

Hybridization between GameCulture, cinema and video experience, the machinima has successfully developed its own narrative system plus an original aesthetic.

The Atopic Festival Committee will be held in late October to make its selection.

The prices evening will be on Nov. 17th at the Gaité lyrique, Paris, France. : 1st and 2nd Jury Prizes, Audience Award and Student Award.

Submitt your Machinima at Atopic Festival !

Deadline for submission Oct. 3d 2011

1. Filed the submission form and send it at machinima@atopicfestival.com

2. Load your video on http://www.dailymotion.com/group/AtopicFestival2011 or send us a link to watch it online.

the PDF can be download here :
http://www.gameinsociety.com/post/2011/09/19/ATOPIC-FESTIVAL-French-festival-on-Machinimas.-Call-for-entries

Ballyfermot College of Further Education’s Irish School of Animation, are joining forces with multi-award winning animation studio Brown Bag Films to deliver a range of evening courses targeted at specific needs within the animation sector in Ireland.

The evening courses, which are due to start on Monday 3rd October, will run for 10-12 weeks on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7pm. The courses will be designed and delivered by current Brown Bag Films staff members with expertise in each designated area.

The courses being run in conjunction with Brown Bag Films are:

1. Introduction to 3D Animation with MAYA
2. Design for Animation with Adobe Photoshop
3. Introduction to 3D Rigging and Modelling with MAYA,
4. Professional Lighting with MAYA
5. 3D Sculpting with Mudbox

There are still places available on these courses and you can apply up until the 3rd October by emailing night.school@bcfe.cdvec.ie

Gareth Lee, Programme Leader of the BA (Hons) Animation at BCFE, said: “The success and rapid development of the animation industry over the last few years in Ireland has led to very specific staffing requirements for the animation studios. These courses will enable students to add a particular specialism to their current skill set.”

For more information on the range of courses on offer, the application process and course fees see www.bcfe.ie.

The Internet Growth Acceleration Programme (iGAP) is an intensive management development programme aimed exclusively at high potential internet/games companies and run by Enterprise Ireland.

Over six months, iGAP will equip key promoters within the Irish internet/games industry with the practical tools needed to formulate aggressive international growth plans and scale their businesses. A list of past participants of iGAP is available on request.

The deadline for the next programme is the 9th of September.

see http://bit.ly/a8wwda

Starting off the new academic year with a bang Open Emotion Studios, in association with the IGDA Ireland chapter, are delighted to present the “National Sham Jam 2011” – a huge games jam in the Open Emotion Studios in Limerick city running from 12 A.M on the 10th of September to 12 A.M on the 12th.

The National Sham Jam is about creating immersive and fun titles in a brief 48 Hour time period for the awesome Winnitron cabinet which has been created by Kieran Murray and Ray Quinn. The cabinet houses titles by Open Emotion Studios and Terry Cavanagh and can now contain titles by… You!

You can keep track of the event here on Game Developers.ie, on Open Emotions Twitter and of course over on the Open Emotion Studios webpage.

To sign up or for further info go to http://shamjam2011.eventbrite.com/

There is only one week left to nominate your favourite online business in 14 categories for this year’s Dot.ie Net Visionary Awards. Nominations close Friday, 29 July 2011.

Dot.ie Net Visionary Awards | Highlights

* Healine sponsor IE Domain Registry (IEDR)
* Awards Ceremony Friday, 30th September
* Venue is the Wintergarden, National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, the home of Ireland’s masterpiece collection and so perfectly befitting a celebration of the creativity and genius of our industry
* Nominations close Friday, 29 July 2011
* Shortlist opens for public voting Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Companies and individuals are nominated by the community, shortlisted by an expert panel of judges, and the winners in each category finally decided by public vote.

To nominate go to http://www.iia.ie/net-visionary/nominate/

This looks like fun

***************

The Buzz Aldrin Allstars are a collection of like-minded musicians looking to keep the kraut rock tradition alive. They feature members from some of Dublin’s finest bands – Si Schroeder / 3epkano / Halfset / Strands / United Bible Studies / My Cousin Dale. Their shows are improvised explorations, revolving around simple melodies, grooves, and loops.

This will be an immersive show featuring live musicians accompanying real gamers playing some of the most the popular video games of all time. The collective will perform along with video footage created by real life gamers, improvising music as gameplay develops. This will be a unique interactive event aimed at creating an explosive sensory experience!

Tickets €10 available from http://www.10daysindublin.ie/eventDetail.php?id=40&category=3

Thursday 07 July

Doors 8.30pm/Tickets €10.00

Support act to be confirmed

10 Days in Dublin – The Buzz Aldrin Allstars vs Super Mario Bros
Thursday, July 7, 2011, 20:00 –
€10.00 – 18+ Buy Tickets

The Workmansclub
10 Wellington Quay,
Dublin 2

Ballyfermot College of Further Education’s Irish School of Animation which has produced international award winning graduates in animation and the film industry, are joining forces with Trinity’s graphics and virtual world experts in an Animation Hub this summer to produce an animated short movie.

Students and graduates of the Irish School of Animation (ISA) are to collaborate with Trinity College’s Graphics, Vision and Visualisation Group (GV2) on the project. Together, students, academics and the company, Giant Creative, a recent startup by BCFE graduates, will work on the initiative, which will be completed in August.

The animation project forms part of an overall partnership agreement between Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE) and Trinity that was signed today in the university by the heads of both institutions, BCFE Principal, Maureen Conway and TCD’s Provost, Dr John Hegarty in the presence of students and staff involved in the animation project. The agreement will enable greater collaborative links in creative practice and teaching between both institutions.

See http://bit.ly/m6DoC3

2011 Net Visionary Awards | Nominations open

The Irish Internet Association has announced details of the 2011 Net Visionary Awards. The awards, now in their 13th year, are a mainstay of the internet business calendar.

This year the awards will take place on September 30th, at The National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.

Companies and individuals are nominated by the community, shortlisted by an expert panel of judges, and the winners in each category finally decided by public vote. While there are no game specific categories there are categories of interest to gd.ie readers.

Visit http://www.iia.ie/net-visionary/nominate/ to nominate your favourite person or company for the 2011 Net Visionary Awards.

Opportunities for sponsorship are available for companies large and small to associate their brand with the Net Visionary Awards.
Please contact Joan Mulvihill, IIA CEO, on 01 542 4154 to discuss these opportunities in more detail.

the National Digital Research Centre at the Digital Hub in Dublin is seeking applications for its ‘launchpad’ programme with a deadline of 8th July. They are also running a workshop for applicants on 30th June at NDRC.

NDRC’s LaunchPad Accelerator is an investment programme focused on supporting the next generation of digital entrepreneurs to accelerate good ideas to sound start-ups. NDRC’s LaunchPad is targeted at enabling great people to launch great ideas in the digital space.

Participating in NDRC LaunchPad gives start-up promoters validation and access to help with every aspect of their business, as well as a fast-track to attracting investment. Targeted at emerging start-up promoters in the digital space, LaunchPad provides:

· 12-weeks alongside other start-ups, innovators, researchers and investors

· Hands-on mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs to guide development

· Weekly workshops and meetings with the right people in the right networks

· Micro-seed investment of up to €20,000 per project

NDRC LaunchPad works with entrepreneurs with great digital ideas and academic researchers looking to create viable commercial enterprises based on their research.

For further information on the programme and how to apply please visit http://www.ndrc.ie/launchPad.

If you would like to discuss further how NDRC LaunchPad could help you take off, contact launchPad@ndrc.ie to arrange to talk to someone.

Q-Con is the annual Gaming & Anime Convention hosted by QUB Dragonslayers, the Queen’s University Belfast Gaming and Anime Society.

The event takes place from the 24-26th of June this year in QUB’s student union building and includes a number of talks by industry professionals including Aaron Donaghey of Dark Water Studios and Liam McGarry of Wee Man Studios as well as comic artists, developers of alternate reality games etc etc.

for more details see http://www.q-con.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159&Itemid=127

Pre-registration for weekend tickets of £15 closes 17th of June but you can also get tickets on the day.

Full Weekend registration: £20
Day registration: £10
Please note: We do not accept Euros during the convention.

The National Digital Research Centre at the Digital Hub in Dublin has made a call for applications for their NDRC LaunchPad IV scheme.

NDRC LaunchPad is an accelerator programme that helps small teams to bring their digital technology concepts to commercial reality over an intensive 12 week period.

The programme provides seed investment of up to €20,000 per team, work space at NDRC, mentoring and access to investors and entrepreneurs.

NDRC LaunchPad works with academic researchers looking to create viable commercial enterprises based on their research, and entrepreneurs with great digital ideas.

The application form is at http://www.ndrc.ie/launchPad
or you can contact them at launchPad@ndrc.ie to arrange to talk to them.

Deadline is the 8th of July..

Upcoming NDRC Events:

23rd May, NDRC is hosting Eric Ries’ ‘Startup Lessons Learned 2011’ event, http://bit.ly/in9RuI

8th July, NDRC LaunchPad closing date for applications, http://www.ndrc.ie/launchpad

The Digital Hub is calling all final-year students of Animation; Audio/Music Production; Digital Design; Film/Video Production; and Multimedia to send their final-year project to their best in show competition.

Their work will be judged by The Digital Hub and also a panel of experts and the students whose work is deemed to be the ‘best’ – the most innovative and accomplished – will benefit from an opportunity to gain work experience, facilitated by The Digital Hub, with a leading company in their field.

See http://www.thedigitalhubexhibit.com/bestinshow

Deadline is the 15th of July

SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS

GAMEON’2011
12th annual European Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games

August 22 – 24, 2011

National University of Ireland Galway, in Cooperation with
National University of Ireland

Dear Colleague,

This is a reminder that the submission deadline of JUNE 1st for GAMEON’2011 is in THREE WEEKS. Late papers can be sent in till JUNE 20TH.

The conference will feature the following invited speaker:
3D face tracking including non verbal expressions
André Gagalowicz, INRIA – Rocquencourt, Le Chesnay Cedex, France – http://www.eurosis.org/cms/index.php?q=node/1722

and the following tutorial:Utilising the Playstation 3 hardware to teach game engineering Richard Davison (Newcastle University) & Dr. Graham Morgan (Newcastle University)
http://www.eurosis.org/cms/index.php?q=node/1723

A quick reminder of the topics for the GAMEON’2011
[] Games Development Methodology
[] Artificial Intelligence
[] Learning and Adaptation
[] Intelligent/Knowledgeable Agents
[] Collaboration & Multi-agent Systems
[] Opponent Modelling
[] Physics and Simulation/Graphical Simulation
[] 3D Scalability
[] Facial, Avatar, NPC, 3D in Game Animation
[] AI and Simulation Tools for games design
[] Game Design
[] Rendering Techniques
[] Voice Interaction
[] Artistic input to game and character design
[] Storytelling and Natural Language Processing
[] Online Gaming – Security Issues in Online Gaming
[] MMOG’s
[] Serious gaming
[] Wargaming Aerospace Simulations, Board Games etc….
[] Games for training
[] Games Applications in education, Government, health, Corporate…
[] Games Consoles
[] Games Console Design
[] Mobile Gaming
[] Perceptual User Interfaces for Games
[] Poster Session
[] Student Session
[] Tutorials
[] Exhibition
Conference Committee
General Conference Chair

Colm O’Riordan, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
General Program Chair

This year Siggraph is taking place in Vancouver Canada from 7-11th August. This is one of the premier academic conferences and exhibitions on computer graphics and interactive technologies. It has previously taken place in TCD in Ireland.

Gd.ie has been advised by the Canadian embassy in Ireland that the BC Government and sponsors are hosting a number of business matchmaking events during the conference.

Welcome Reception – August 7

There will be an international delegate welcome reception on the Sunday evening from 6-8pm, so delegates may wish to arrive by Sunday afternoon to participate.

B2B Matchmaking Program – August 8 – 11

If you require any additional information please contact John Sullivan, Canadian Embassy, Dublin on 01-2344019.

CREATIVED AND THE CITY

Date: May 10th 2011
Time: 10:00 – 13:00
Location: Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 2

EVENT DETAILS:
CreativeD is Dublin’s only network specifically for the creative industries. We believe that collaboration with other creative industries-related projects underway in Dublin brings an added benefit to our members in terms of active engagement with these projects and the potential for business growth.

“CreativeD and the City” has been designed to create such an engagement opportunity. During the event we will get an update on the Creative Dublin Alliance (CDA), a network of diverse leaders charged with identifying and implementing solutions in response to the challenges Dublin faces as an International Competitive City Region.

The Creative Dublin Alliance will talk to CreativeD members about the projects that they are currently working on, including Innovation Dublin and the World Design Capital 2014 bid. The session will also allow for discussion about how CreativeD members can get involved.

We intend to follow the CDA session with a group discussion about how CreativeD can operate as a vehicle to effectively facilitate business growth for our members, including the identification of sales and promotional opportunities. We will also look at how CreativeD members can best showcase themselves at Innovation Dublin 2011 (17th October to 18th November) and the seminar with our European partners, which will take place in Brussels on 25th November.

You need to be there to be involved. Join us on May 10th and help to drive CreativeD forward to meet your needs.

REGISTRATION
The event is open to members of CreativeD and guests. Registration is free for members.

Registration for the event can be made by logging on to www.dceb.ie/networking where secure payment can be made for non-members.

the iHCI conference has just announced that this year’s keynote speaker will be Paul Adams, Product Manager at Facebook, where he works on the design and development of new advertising products. He is recognized as a leading thinker on designing social interactions, and spent four years leading user research for Google’s social web projects including Gmail, Mobile and YouTube. See http://ihci2011.org/keynote.php

2011 marks the fifth year of the annual Irish Human Computer Interaction (iHCI) Conference. This year it will take place on the 8th & 9th of September at Cork Institute of Technology which is located in Cork City in the south of Ireland.

The conference theme for 2011 maintains the strands of interest that were established in the conferences since 2007 and places emphasis on ‘inclusivity’ both in practice and design.

The field of HCI is largely characterised by a convergence of knowledge from different fields into research that is interesting in its process as much as in its practical or academic outcomes. In an increasingly competitive climate for all research the theme for this year’s conference underlines a concern for innovation through ‘integrated practice’ and ‘inclusivity in design’.

For more see http://ihci2011.org/index.php

Tickets for the third, and possibly last, Indie Games Space, are now available for free at http://indiegamesspace.eventbrite.com event.

Attendance at the event is free and tickets were limited to approx 30 on a first come first served basis for this first event.

A Ludum Dare challenge/jam also takes place this coming weekend and this Indie Games Space will use their theme. The rules are on the website http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ if you want to genuinely enter and it’s usually a 48hr thing.

Info on the Indie Games Space

The event which is aimed at, and organised by, indie developers, is providing a social and work space for indie developers to collaborate on projects of their choice.

The event is kindly supported by Filmbase who are providing a training room and facilities for the event. Filmbase is a not-for-profit resource centre for filmmakers to network, train and receive support. Gd.ie is also supporting the initiative.

How it will work

After the intros and discussion of theme people can form collaborations or teams, but working solo is also fine. You can aim to finish your game before the day is out, or you can continue and enter in a monthly challenge.

Attendees are asked to bring their own laptop, notebook, pens etc. Internet connection, desks etc. will be provided.

This event is aimed at people who have some game development or related experience and can contribute either, or both, artistic and programming skills. It is not suitable for complete beginners.

For more information see the forums and follow us on Twitter
– #igsdublin

Irish mobile game service provider, Selatra, announced today that they have signed up with Mobile Streams to include their mobile games on the http://www.appitalism.com/ app store.

The deal is an extension of Selatra’s existing distribution relationship with Mobile Streams that covers the UK, US and Asia Pacific.

The Selatra portfolio includes some of the most popular mobile gaming titles across J2ME, Android, and Windows Mobile platforms. The impressive catalog of games is sourced from over 150 game publishers and is being made available to Appitalism.com users and members around the world.

“We are keen to build on our already successful relationship with Mobile Streams and to have our games available to gaming fans through the Appitalism.com store and to opening up a new revenue channel for our partners,” commented Fergal O’Callaghan, CEO of Selatra.

Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism and Mobile Streams added, “Games are the most popular downloads in our store, invariably topping our monthly download charts. It is therefore important that we keep adding new and exciting content for our members to add to their devices. With Selatra on board we now have access to a wide ranging games catalog that contains something for every type of mobile gamer.”

Appitalism.com is the first store to offer a one-stop-shop for apps across all devices and platforms. Members can discover, discuss and download over ten million premium apps. As well as games the site also stocks, songs, books, and videos compatible with a broad range of digital devices including smartphones, tablets, PCs and eBook readers.

Deadline Extension and Final Call for Papers, Panels, Workshops and Presenters:

IRL 2011: In Real Life
Challenging, Changing and Hacking Practices of Human-Being

Hosted by the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art [IMOCA]
International Conference July 13, 14 ,15; Exhibition opens Friday July 15th

EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS 5:00 PM, FRIDAY APRIL 15th, 2011

IRL 2011: In Real Life is an interdisciplinary dialogue between artists, scientists, engineers, socio-political activists, hackers and others pushing beyond the typical, stereotyped or engineered boundaries and limits to lifestyles, technologies and systems to challenge what is possible today.

Guest speakers include Dr. Henrik Scharfe and his geminoid project [geminoid.dk] and activist Kate Bornstein[http://katebornstein.typepad.com/]

Briefs need only be 300 words max; all accepted papers will be included in an ISBN-registered book which will launch the new publishing programme of IMOCA.

More information and possible topics or areas of research and practice can be found at www.imoca.ie or http://goo.gl/2d9yf

Submissions or questions please contact: submissions@imoca.ie

Submissions
Irish Museum of Contemporary Art [IMOCA]
Pembroke Row, Dublin 2
Republic of Ireland

www.imoca.ie
Twitter: @imocadublin

The second indie games space event takes place in Filmbase, Temple Bar in Dublin on the 26th of March, 12.30-5pm. Tickets are free and still available at http://indiegamesspace.eventbrite.com

The event which is aimed at, and organised by, indie developers, is providing a social and work space for indie developers to collaborate on projects of their choice.

The event is kindly supported by Filmbase who are providing a training room and facilities for the event. Filmbase is a not-for-profit resource centre for filmmakers to network, train and receive support. Gd.ie is also supporting the initiative.

How it will work

After the intros the attendees will choose a theme for a game design challenge (audience suggestions out of a hat).

Collaborations and team formations are recommended, but working solo is also fine. You can aim to finish your game before the day is out, or you can continue and enter in a monthly challenge.

The event will also include a talk by Limerick based indie company Digital Sideburns – see http://digitalsideburns.com/.

Attendees are asked to bring their own laptop, notebook, pens etc. Internet connection, desks etc. will be provided.

Tickets

Attendance at the event is free and tickets were limited to approx 20 on a first come first served basis for this first event.

Tickets are now available at http://indiegamesspace.eventbrite.com

Future Events

The organisers plan to hold one more event on the 30th of April.

This event is aimed at people who have some game development or related experience and can contribute either, or both, artistic and programming skills. It is not suitable for complete beginners.

For more information see http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44713

or the Facebook pg
http://www.facebook.com/pages/IndieGameSpace/177419852299177?v=wall

Call for papers published for Audio Mostly 2011– “A conference on interaction with sound” in co-operation with ACM – SIGCHI
September, 7 – 9 – Coimbra, Portugal.

****************************************************

Audio in all its forms – music, sound effects, or dialogue – holds
tremendous potential to engage, convey narrative, inform, create
attention and enthrall. However, in computer-based environments, for example games and
virtual environments, the ability to interact through and with sound are still today underused.

The Audio Mostly Conference provides a venue to explore and promote this untapped potential of audio by bringing together audio experts, content creators and designers, interaction designers, and behavioral researchers.

The area of interest includes interactivity through sound, tools and methods to support sound design work and evaluation and new and innovative applications of sound. It implies cognitive, psychological and social research studies, as well as applied research and technological innovations in audio analysis, processing and rendering.

The theme this year is “Sound and Context”

We do not limit contributions to narrow themes, because the Audio Mostly conference series is strongly interdisciplinary and makes a space for creative approaches. The following areas of interest are indicative, but not exclusive.

Areas of Interest (including but not limited to):
– Interactivity through sound and speech
– Sound and music in context
– Sound and music in games and other interactive applications
– Sound design for emotions, moods and values
– Sound design for information and mobility contexts
– Sound design for communication, education or therapy
– Alternative interfaces for interactive sound and music
– Affective audio interfaces
– Affective soundscapes
– Audio technologies for social networking
– Tools and methods for sound design
– Tools and methods for the evaluation of sound design
– Sound and music classification, recommendation and user feedback
– Semantic speech, music, and sound analysis
– Semantic audio processing
– Interactive composing, authoring and performance
– Generative music and dynamic composition
– Design of dynamic soundscapes
– Computational creativity techniques in sound design and music
– Cognition of sound and music

— Important dates:

Deadline for submission – Friday, April 29
Notification of acceptances – Friday, June 3
Final paper camera ready – Friday, July 8
Deadline for author registration – Friday, July 8
Conference – September, 7 – 9

— Submissions:

We ask researchers, sound designers and creators, game developers, audio engineers, etc. who are interested in sharing their results, perspectives and insights to a multidisciplinary audience, to submit full paper and posters by the respective deadline.

Please specify whether your paper is for a full paper or a poster.

Position papers from industrial strategists are also
welcome.

– Full Paper format: up to 6-8 pages, anonymized, in ACM HCI Archival
Format with up to 150 word abstract.
http://chi2011.org/authors/format.html#archiveformat

– Poster format: the poster format is intended to provide a venue for researchers and practitioners to discuss their work-in-progress. Submit a 2-6 page extended abstract or short paper prepared using ACM CHI Extended Abstracts format.
http://chi2011.org/authors/format.html#extended-abstracts

— Conference Location and Venue:

The International Conference “Audio Mostly 2011 – 6th Conference on Interaction with Sound” is hosted by Universidade de Coimbra, and will be held at the Center for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra (CISUC).

The Audio Mostly 2011 conference will be held in co-operation with ACM, and all accepted articles will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

Authors are requested to use the ACM Word or LaTeX style templates to prepare their articles. See:
http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates

For more information, please contact us at:info@audiomostly.com

OmniMotion Technology, the Irish games and digital services company, has released Sumo, a new casual and social game for iPhone, iPad and Online. The launch of Sumo represents a broader R&D investment of in excess of €2 million, and is the first in a range of next-generation casual and social games that OmniMotion plans to release this year.

Sumo is a physics-based combat and puzzle game where the player must guide their character through Sumo School before taking on a host of enemies in survival quests and challenges.

The iPhone and iPad version is one of the first handheld games in the world to feature Hi-Def, 50 frames-per-second ‘bump-map’ graphics, delivering a more immersive, fun playing experience.

Sumo is also available as a unique online game with next-generation ‘controller-free’ technology for PC and MAC (www.sumo.ie), being the first game in the world to feature OmniMotion’s gesture recognition software ‘Motion-Flow’, which brings accurate, 3D motion control gaming to PC or MAC downloads using only a standard Webcam.

So, whether your sitting in front of your Webcam waving your hands, or standing back three paces from the screen, the on-screen action is dictated entirely by the movement of a player’s head, hands or body, with no requirement to purchase expensive console peripherals and software. A browser-based ‘classic’ version of the game is also available to sample and share on Facebook.

Niall Austin, Managing Director of OmniMotion, says:

“The addition of exciting new technologies and innovative marketing means that an Irish-owned and operated company has a real shot at international success within the rapidly expanding Apps and Online games industry. And most importantly, whether it’s on your iPhone, iPad or Online, Sumo is great fun to play and might even help people to get in shape!”

The launch of Sumo is being supported by a TV campaign featuring Irish boxing legend, Bernard Dunne, as well as a poster campaign that capitalises on the spherical nature of the game’s characters to challenge potential players with the question ‘Do You Have The Balls?’.

Look out for ‘OmniMotion Sumo’ in the Apps Store or check out www.Sumo.ie

This is a Call for Papers (CFP) for a Symposium on Game-Based Learning (GBL) which will be organised at Waterford Institute of Technology on 19th -20th May 2011.

The purpose of this symposium is to:
– Report on the use of GBL in Irish primary, secondary and third-level education
– Define the roadmap for GBL in Ireland
– Provide evidence of the effectiveness of GBL to both motivate and learn
– Identify how GBL can be included and facilitated in Irish instructional settings.

Target Audience
————————
This symposium will bring together teachers, lecturers, students and researchers, and provide insights from different perspectives such as educational psychology, sociology, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Artificial Intelligence, Game Design, or Instructional Design. It will also be a great opportunity to network and share ideas with other researchers and
practitioners.

Topics for the Presentations
————————————–
Recommended topics include (but are not limited to):

– Instructional design and video games:
* Theoretical models and empirical evidence
* Instructional design and game design
* Intelligent Tutoring Systems and GBL
* Adaptive games design
* Accounting for disabilities in educational games
* Engaging students with learning difficulties

– Educational game design:
* Theoretical models and empirical evidence
* Design patterns
* Theoretical frameworks

– Psychological aspects of educational games:
* Theoretical models and empirical evidence
* HCI and Interaction design in video games
* Motivation
* Emotions and personality
* Learning styles
* Sound, motivation and the cognitive process in video games
* Video games and sociology

– Teaching strategies:
* Guidelines and successful experiences
* Conditions for successful integration of digital games in the classroom
* Integrating educational games with Learning Management Systems (LMS)
* The role of instructors (e.g., teaching strategies)
* Barriers and possible solutions for the introduction of educational games

– Emergent media for GBL:
* Mobile GBL
* Virtual worlds
* Augmented Reality (AR)

Submission Procedure
———————————
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit, on or before March 10th 2011, a 300-400 words abstract for review to pfelicia@wit.ie.

The abstract should clearly explain how the presentation will meet the objectives of the symposium. Authors will be notified of the status of their proposal by March 15th 2011.

Important Dates
———————-
– March 10th 2011: Abstract submission deadline
– March 15th 2011: Notification of acceptance
– April 15th 2011: Registration deadline
– May 19th – 20th: Symposium

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded to:

Dr. Patrick Felicia
Department of Computing, Maths and Physics
Waterford Institute of Technology,
Waterford, Ireland.
Mobile: +353 86 083 51 04
E-mail: pfelicia [at] wit [dot]ie

Update****4th March, 2011

Important update for teams applying from the Island of Ireland: you now only need to have one team member who is from the other region

– please read the full update on this and how you can find other team members at http://www.daretobedigital.com/applications/how.php . You should also take a look at this video http://www.thedigitalhub.tv/dare-to-be-digital-2011

************************************************

It is that time of year again. Dare to be Digital competition deadline is only one month away. This year the teams need to be a mix of NI and RoI members.

*********************************************

The Digital Hub Development Agency, with support from the Department of Education and Skills and Belfast City Council, in association with the University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland are inviting students from the Island of Ireland to enter Dare to Be Digital 2011.

Dare to be Digital is an internationally renowned games development competition for talented computer science and art students to develop a prototype video game. Teams of 5 students, usually a mix of artists, programmers and audio, assemble in a development hothouse in Scotland for 9 weeks during June to August 2011.

Here they receive daily support and weekly training sessions from industry specialists to create their games. This year, teams applying from the island of Ireland will need to have a mix of students from both Northern Ireland and the Republic. Each team will need to have 1 member from each jurisdiction.

* 9 weeks based in Dundee

*Weekly stipend of £150 per student

* £200 team budget

This unique competition is open to students enrolled in further education and 3rd Level colleges on the island of Ireland who are interested in developing a new innovative product in the games sector.

Dare to be Digital presents a unique opportunity for students. Many of the contestants from previous years have been hired by games companies on completion of the competition.

Deadline for entries is Sunday 3rd April 2011.

Students may apply online at: http://www.daretobedigital.com

Please email any queries to: enquiries@daretobedigital.com

Find team members on: http://www.daretobedigital.co.uk/applications/2011-vacancies.php

One event done and another in the offing. The Games Fleadh festival is nearly upon us and the following is an outline of the planned events talking place. All roads lead to the Tipperary Institute in Thurles in March!

See the great line up of professional talks at http://www.gamesfleadh.ie/gamespro/ including people from Playfirst, Open Emotion Studios, Demonware, Nevermind, Havok and Microsoft.

************

9th March 2009

* 09:00 – 14:00 XNA Game Studio Ireland Challenge Colleges Cup, DirectX 11 Challenge, Gaming Tournaments
* 14:00 – 17:30 GamesPro Talks – http://www.gamesfleadh.ie/gamespro/
* 17:30 – 19:00 Christian Martin Counter Strike : Source Memorial Cup
* 19:00 – 21:00 Industry Meal (booking essential)
* 21:00 – 22:00 Games Trivia Quiz, The Monks (O’Gormans)
* 22:00 – till late Games Fleadh Ceili, The Monks (O’Gormans)

10th March 2009

* 09:00 – 16:00 Robocode Ireland
* 09:00 – 14:00 Gaming Tournaments

Full details of all events are available on http://www.gamesfleadh.ie/

General Enquiries:

Games Fleadh, ICT Department, Tipperary Institute, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland
Email : gamesfleadh {at} tippsoc {d0t} ie
Telephone : +353 504 28258 +353 504 28258

The film festival may have started in town but we are going to see if a group of indie game developers can make indie games in one day.

Tomorrow, Sat. the 19th February, will see the first in a series of three “Indie Games Space” days between now and April organised by John O’Kane, indie developer, GameDevelopers.ie and supported and hosted by Filmbase, Temple Bar, Dublin.

A group of independent computer game developers are coming together for the first free event on Saturday 19th February in the heart of Dublin between 12:30pm and 5pm. The purpose of the events is to allow independent developers and teams in Ireland, working on computer game projects on any platform, to come together, share ideas and collaborate on small games together.

Attendees will need to bring your own computer, notepads and pens. The event is kindly supported by Filmbase who are providing a training room, internet access and facilities for the event. Filmbase is a not-for-profit resource centre for filmmakers to network, train and receive support. People interested in networking with other developers are also invited to meet up for show and tell in the Filmbase Cafe.

After the introductions and talks, attendees will all submit a game design challenge, and one will be chosen out of a hat. They can choose to work solo, or collaborate with other people and teams with one goal. Finish the game before the day is finished, or work on it and enter into a monthly challenge.

Indie developer Paul Conway will talk about his new modification for the hit game Dragon Age, and how he developed his “Craggy Island Mod”. See http://tinyurl.com/craggyislandmod.

With the first event already booked out, places for the next two events on 26th of March and the 30th of April will be made available two weeks beforehand and announced on gamedevelopers.ie and made available via http://indiegamesspace.eventbrite.com/.

This event is aimed at people who have some game development experience and can contribute either, or both, artistic and programming skills. It is not suitable for complete beginners. For more information see http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44713 or the Facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/IndieGameSpace/177419852299177?v=wall

FOR MORE INFO:

John O’Kane (Organiser and Indie Developer) – info@theshindig.org

Aphra Kerr (GameDevelopers.ie) – aphra@gamedevelopers.ie

Filmbase is a not-for-profit resource centre for filmmakers. Their building on Curved Street, in the heart of Dublin’s Temple Bar, is a public space where filmmakers can network, hire filmmaking equipment, take training courses and receive support and information about working within the Irish film industry. Filmbase also publishes the cultural magazine Film Ireland and administers a number of film and documentary production award schemes.

We have been sent the following call by the Science Gallery in Dublin who are looking for people to pitch ideas for the design, design, development and delivery of a visitor experience game for the new Science Gallery exhibition HUMAN+ The Future Of Our Species (April 14 – June 24 2011).

This is a commercial call and they are looking for commercial standard documents, ideas, budgets and potential to deliver.

We only received the call yesterday but the deadline is the 13th of Feb!

Contact the Science Gallery directly if you have questions.

**********************************

1. BACKGROUND TO EXHIBITION
Science Gallery [www.sciencegallery.com] in collaboration with The Long Room Hub and the School Of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and supported by Wellcome Trust, is currently developing its new flagship exhibition HUMAN+, running from 14-04-11 to 24-06-11.

The exhibition will be a participatory exhibition experience looking into how we might shape the future of the human race. Using cutting edge technology, immersive game play and art/science installations, HUMAN+ will challenge opinion, stretch the imagination and provoke ideas about our human future.

Will transgenic modifications become the norm? Why do we undergo plastic surgery for pleasure? What is our genetic future? HUMAN+ will explore the overlapping ways we define ourselves – from smart pills, personalised medicare and genetic manipulation – to exploiting converging research in [eg] robotics, biology, nanotechnology.

The exhibition aims to create a dialogue around the scientific, artistic and ethical implications of using technology to manipulate ourselves. An important part of the exhibition experience will be a HUMAN+ ‘Lab-in-the-Gallery’ experience – a pioneering research-led gallery experience where real research experiments involving large-scale visitor participation are conducted through open-ended experimentation.

We are seeking to develop a compelling game experience (reality/mixed reality) to draw visitors through the exhibition experience.

2. GAME INFORMATION

Aims of the game:
– Create a intuitive, personalized and engaging interaction for the audience to explore the themes of the exhibition relating to human enhancement and its ethical/social consequences
– Offer alternate ways of engaging with the exhibition as a whole, particularly to explore the social, psychic and emotional consequences of human enhancement
– Increase audience interest: Encourage prolonged/ongoing engagement with /exploration of the exhibition and its themes.
– Entertaining + informative
– Will encourage social interactions in the gallery
– Encourage people to visit HUMAN+ website following exhibition experience

Type of game:

Open to suggestion. For example: reality or mixed reality
There should be a component that drives visitors to explore the gallery. For example, one could envisage visitors trying out different “enhanced” identities and features, and experiencing some of the consequences of these identities as they move through the exhibits.

3. SPATIAL INFORMATION

The content of HUMAN+ will be made of 15 to 20 art/science installations – developed through open call and invitation.

Themes to consider are: Ageing, Bioethics, Enhancements, Survival, Evolutionary strategies, Population Dynamics.

There are three galleries [1,3, and 4 on the floorplan with an overall footprint of c.450m2] over two levels available for HUMAN+ all of these spaces are to be explored through the game.

Café and shop spaces can be considered in the overall game design. It is important to ensure a cohesive visitor experience in the game play.

Please look at the links for examples of current and previous Science Gallery exhibitions –
http://sciencegallery.com/visceral
http://www.sciencegallery.com/whatsgone_exhibits

Specifically please see the
See also brand guidelines and basic gallery layout attached for reference.

4. PITCH PROCESS
We are currently reviewing potential projects, commissions and invited works to include in HUMAN+ and we are now inviting submissions for a game proposal.

In your pitch please make explicit –

• Your overall approach to the project
• How you will address some of the content themes of Human+
• Your use of materials/technology
• Previous experience of delivering similar projects

Please also include –
• Draft timeline for delivery
• How you will resource the project
• A full breakdown of associated costs.

5. CREDENTIALS & QUOTATIONS
Any proposal submitted should clearly indicate your experience of similar projects, including samples of work where appropriate.

The proposal should include quotations for the work outlined above.

It will be evaluated on the following scale –

Creative Route – 30%
Your creative response to the above brief including your route to create an exciting visitor experience in the Gallery

Compatibility – 10%
Understanding Science Gallery and its Mission

Cost – 30%
Overall cost to deliver the game

Credentials – 30%
Technical and creative capacity / proven experience on similar gallery and/or game projects

5. PROPOSAL TIMELINE
13th February Deadline for submission of design proposals at noon on this date
14th February Designer appointed by Science Gallery
15th February Full design brief meeting at Science Gallery
28th February Draft designs presented
4th March Draft design revision
9th March Design sign-off

6. FURTHER INFORMATION
If you have any questions regarding HUMAN+ or further information about Science Gallery please contact Alison Carey on 01 896 4199 or e-mail alison.carey@sciencegallery.com

The first indie games space event which is to take place in Filmbase, Temple Bar in Dublin on the 19th of February, 12.30-5pm is booked out after only one day.

The event which is aimed at, and organised by, indie developers, is providing a social and work space for indie developers to collaborate on projects of their choice.

The event is kindly supported by Filmbase who are providing a training room and facilities for the event. Filmbase is a not-for-profit resource centre for filmmakers to network, train and receive support. Gd.ie is also supporting the initiative.

How it will work

After the intros the attendees will choose a theme for a game design challenge (audience suggestions out of a hat).

Collaborations and team formations are recommended, but working solo is also fine. You can aim to finish your game before the day is out, or you can continue and enter in a monthly challenge.

The first event will also include a talk by indie developer Paul Conway who will talk about his new Dragon Age mod “Craggy Island”.

Attendees are asked to bring their own laptop, notebook, pens etc. Internet connection, desks etc. will be provided.

Tickets

Attendance at the event is free and tickets were limited to approx 20 on a first come first served basis for this first event.

Tickets were released on thurs 3rd at http://indiegamesspace.eventbrite.com/ but by that evening they were all gone.

Attendees are welcome to come without a ticket but are not guaranteed a seat in the training room and thus may not be able to participate fully in the event. However, the cafe may have some room and you can chat with people there. The Filmbase cafe will be open all day.

Future Events

The organisers plan to hold two more events on the 26th of March and the 30th of April and depending on the response these may be moved to larger rooms.

This event is aimed at people who have some game development or related experience and can contribute either, or both, artistic and programming skills. It is not suitable for complete beginners.

For more information see http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44713

or the Facebook pg
http://www.facebook.com/pages/IndieGameSpace/177419852299177?v=wall

Well the weekend’s IGDA Global Games Jam has come to an end and over 48 hours, teams all over the world worked to create games based on a common theme. This year the theme was ‘extinction’.

In Ireland there were two venues for jams, the Tipperary Institute and Griffith College Dublin.

In Tipperary the weekend was organised by Philip Bourke, Course Coordinator for Tipperary Institute’s Games Design and Development course who said “this is as real as it gets, the sandbox nature of these projects allow students to experiment with games design, development and game-play in collaboration with their peers”.

In all Tipperary saw twenty two concepts pitched and these were eventually narrowed down to just four, Petals, What We Do Now, Human Kind and Petri Paridice. Teams were formed with games programmers, artists, musicians and audio technicians, all of whom are essential in any games development team.

Photographs of the weekend in Tipperary can be obtained from http://tinyurl.com/GGJ2011Photos

All Games produced in Tipperary will be showcased during the annual computer and console game programming festival Games Fleadh next March 9th & 10th at Tipperary Institute. For more information see www.gamesfleadh.ie

All games produced during Global Game Jam are available from the www.globalgamejam.org website.

And I have just noticed that they have a video from Tipperary on the Global Games Jam frontpage!

Well done to all.

Gd.ie members and Filmbase are coming together to organise three days where indie developers and enthusiasts can come together and work on projects. The events will take place on the 19th of February, the 26th of March and the 30th of April.

The event is amed at full-time or part-time indie developers, artists interested in making games, professionals happy to make stuff for the fun of it and creatives from other media interested in games.

The main thing is to provide a regular location where you know you will find similar minded people making games. Overall it will be a relaxed atmosphere where people will have plenty of chances to interact.

The idea is that on the day participants will work on a collective topic and try to design game ideas around that topic. You can also choose to demo a project you are working on or act as an expert for the day on some tool or process.

People could work solo or in groups and we will make some effort to try team people up should they wish, particularly any lone wolves or creatives from other fields feeling a bit lost. There won’t be any formal training, lectures or workshops going on – so some degree of self-sufficiency is expected. Participants should bring their own laptop and digital tools. Tables, chairs and internet connection will be provided.

FilmBase in TempleBar, Dublin, have generously sponsored a room for the first three indie developer days, starting on the 19th Feb (also 26th March, 30th of April). FilmBase are tasked with supporting indigenous film makers and they are interested in the cross-over of films into games culture, process and concepting; and vice versa. We will be based in one of their training rooms, with access to the cafe (coffee, tea, brownies, crisps and what not).

There will be limited spaces, approximately 20, with priority for people who will volunteer their time on the day. Tickets will be free and a ticketing systme for this will be announced soon.

At this stage please spread the word and volunteer your ideas and time on the forums.

see http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44635#44635

Wordsnap Contraption, a new iPhone game from Irish, and Limerick based, video game company Digital Sideburns, goes on sale on the 14th January, 2011.

The game costs just 79¢ (Europe), 99¢ (North America) and 59p (UK) through your iPhone, iPod Touch or iTunes.

Wordsnap Contraption is a fast-paced, addictive word game that’s perfect for a quick play. You have two minutes to make as many words as possible and set a new high score. Online leader boards allow you to compete with other Wordsnap Contraption players from all around the world.

Visit www.digitalsideburns.com to find out more or follow Digital Sideburns on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DigitalSideburns

About Digital Sideburns:

Digital Sideburns Ltd., based in Limerick, Ireland, was formed by Alan Taylor and David Sims in early 2009. They are currently working on a number of original titles, which will see release in 2011.

Their current focus includes the iPhone and traditional online gaming, but they will be expanding to more platforms in the near future. They’re just two guys who love playing and making games and occasionally growing beards.

Alan and David met in college studying Software Development in Limerick Institute of Technology, Ireland and since then they have been working together on various projects. They both graduated with first class honors, Alan in 2007, Dave in 2008 and were both awarded Project of the Year.

Alan has also completed the masters in Interactive Entertainment Technology at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, which included PC and XBox 360 game development.

We have just received this press release about a social games weekend in Limerick aimed at 15-21 year olds.

Takes place on the 15th of January, 12-5pm and 16th of January, 1-4pm at the Belltable Arts Centre, 69, O Connell Street, Limerick. Entry is free. Read on.

**********

To launch it’s new gaming platform, Make and Do will host PlayFair ≠1, Back to the Future, as part of the Youth Arts Festival, at the Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick.

For their maiden voyage, PlayFair ≠1, goes back to the future presenting a suite of old school analogue social games in a futuristic context. For two days the Belltable Arts Centre will be a playground of games, challenges, tomfoolery, creativity and interaction!!!

Social games? What? We define social/pervasive games as those which involve bodies, minds and souls all at once. Games like Stag Hunt, Trap Street and Double Agent ask the players to interact with their city using real people, real places, and in real time. We will also have Limerick based artists and theatremakers showcasing and testing brand new games.

So, if you want to have some fun, meet new people, play some games you’ve never played before and maybe even come up with ideas for your own game, PlayFair ≠1 is for you!!

Who are Make and Do?

Make and Do are a collective of artists, technologists, and designers who work in the intersection between art, technology, and games. We curate games events like PlayFair and design interactive theatre experiences like Emil and the Detectives. We are developing interesting cross platform and transmedia projects using the urban landscape as our playground.

Please contact hilaryos@aol.com for more details about how you can get involved on the day.

Read their blog here – www.weliketomakeanddo.com