Bright Head Games are a start up Educational Games company.
They are holding a story game workshop for research purposes this Saturday the 28th of July in exchange dublin.
For more see
http://brightheadgames.com/2012/07/20/story-game-workshop-at-exchangedublin-28th-of-july/
http://www.facebook.com/events/319620601465750/
Great to see that BatCat Games have released their twin-stick shooter, P-3 Biotic, on PC today.
It is available via:
IndieCity – http://store.indiecity.com/game/P-3-Biotic
and IndieVania – http://www.indievania.com/games/p-3-biotic
P-3 Biotic was released on the Xbox LIVE Indie Games marketplace in January 2012 and since then has been undergoing radical cellular mutations resulting in a PC version with increased graphical fidelity, global leaderboards and achievements, and an expanded and remastered soundtrack.
P-3 Biotic is an intense twin-stick shooter featuring advanced real-time lighting and gorgeous particle effects. Pilot the MK4s nano-ship inside a petri dish against 14 waves of infectious bacteria as they attempt to destroy the Nucleus, a bio-engineered organism growing at the center of the dish.
Use mines and weapon power ups to defeat increasingly tough bacteria, and collect energy dropped by vanquished enemies to keep the Nucleus healthy. Or walk a finer line and use the energy stored in the Nucleus to charge up your weapons, turn your entire ship into a projectile, or unleash a devastating shockwave to wipe out all bacteria. The choice is yours, but the Nucleus must survive.
P-3 Biotic is available now via IndieCity and IndieVania for €2.99.
About BatCat Games
BatCat Games are an award winning indie developer based in Dublin, Ireland, developing games around a set of core principles designed to make immersive games playable in bite-sized chunks.
We respect the value of our players time, and our games reflect this in their carefully considered flow. Our games reward skill over mindless repetition, and we eschew cutesy graphics and adolescent themes in favour of a more mature aesthetic.
In March 2012, BatCat Games were successful in securing funding from Enterprise Ireland under the Competitive Start Fund program, a funding program designed to accelerate the growth of Irish start-up companies.
Since then, they have continued to grow the company, taking on additional staff and winning multiple awards for the first release of their game, P-3 Biotic, on the Xbox. They are also actively involved in programs designed to promote indigenous and foreign awareness of Ireland as a powerhouse games development country, helping to organise events such as Dublin Gamecraft, and most recently the Irish Indie Bundle, which is a collection of games created in Ireland designed to showcase our burgeoning industry.
Website – http://www.batcatgames.com
Email – info@batcatgames.com
Facebook – www.facebook.com/batcatgames
Twitter – @batcatgames, http://www.twitter.com/batcatgames
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/BatCatGames
IndieDB – http://www.indiedb.com/company/batcatgames
First call for academic papers and demos for this games conference.
Aphra
********************
14-17 May 2013
Chania, Crete, Greece
http://www.fdg2013.org/
We invite researchers and educators to submit to FDG 2013 and share insights and cutting-edge research related to game technologies and their use. FDG 2013 will include presentations of peer-reviewed papers, invited talks by high-profile industry and academic leaders, panels, and posters.
The conference will also host a technical demo session, a Research and Experimental Games Festival, and a Doctoral Consortium.
The technical demo session will include novel tools, techniques, and systems created for games. The Research and Experimental Games Festival will showcase the latest experimental and research games.
The Doctoral Consortium serves as a forum for Ph.D. students to present their dissertation research, exchange experiences with peers, discuss ideas for future research and receive feedback from established games researchers and the wider FDG community.
IMPORTANT DATES
—
Workshop proposals:
* Submission: 28 October 2012
* Notification: 11 November 2012
Papers, panel proposals, doctoral consortium:
* Submission: 10 December 2012
* Notification: 1 March 2013
* Camera-ready: 18 March 2013
Research and experimental game festival:
* Submission: 13 January 2013
* Notification: 22 February 2013
* Camera-ready: 18 March 2013
Posters and demos:
* Submission: 4 March 2013
* Notification: 18 March 2013
* Camera-ready: 31 March 2013
FULL PAPERS
—
Full papers must not exceed 8 pages in length. Authors should submit to either the general conference or one of the following tracks:
* Game studies, social science track (games, players, and their role in society and culture)
* Game studies, humanities track (aesthetic, philosophical, and ontological aspects of games and play)
* Game design (methods, techniques, studies)
* Serious games (building and evaluating games for a purpose, learning in games)
* Game education (preparing students to design and develop games)
* Artificial intelligence (agents, motion/camera planning, navigation, adaptivity, content creation, dialog, authoring tools)
* Game technology (engines, frameworks, graphics, networking, animation)
* Interaction and player experience (game interfaces, player metrics, modeling player experience)
PANELS
—
Panel submissions should be in the form of a 2-page extended abstract describing the focus of the panel, providing a list of confirmed speakers, and indicating their areas of expertise relative to the topic. We encourage both debate-style panels that include representatives advocating several positions
on a topic of disagreement, and emerging-area style panels that consolidate and explain recent work on a subject of interest to the FDG community.
RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL GAMES FESTIVAL
—
The Festival is designed to showcase playable games that are experimental or have a research component. Submitted games could be significant because they are designed to answer a research question or experiment with the design process, or because their technological components represent research
advancements.
Works in progress are permitted, but the game will ideally
include at least one playable level (or comparable unit of play time). Works that have not yet reached this stage may be more suitable for the conference demo track. In addition to submitting the game, submissions should also include a 2–4 page writeup of the project.
POSTERS AND DEMOS
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The poster and demo track provides a forum for late-breaking and in-progress work to be presented to the community. Submissions should be in the form of a 2-page extended abstract. The interactive technical demo event will showcase
the latest tools, techniques, and systems created for games by academic or industrial research groups. (Playable games should instead be submitted to the Research and Experimental Games Festival.)
WORKSHOP PROPOSALS
—
The conference workshops are full-day and half-day sessions focused on emerging game-related topics. These workshops provide an informal setting for new developments to be presented, discussed and demonstrated. We are particularly
interested in topics that bridge different communities and disciplines. Concise workshop proposals (2 pages) should include: an extended abstract, the objectives and expected outcome of the workshop, the planned activities, the
background of the organizer(s), the anticipated number of participants, and the means for soliciting and selecting participants.
DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM
—
We invite PhD students to apply to the Doctoral Consortium, a forum to provide PhD students with early feedback on their research directions, from fellow students, researchers, and experienced faculty in the area. The consortium is
intended primarily for PhD students who intend to pursue a career in academia, who will soon propose, or have recently proposed, their research.
To apply, doctoral students should submit a CV, a 3-page extended abstract describing their proposed research, and a support letter from their PhD advisor. The abstract should address the goals of your research, the proposed approach and
how it differs from prior work, any results you may have, and your plans for completing the work. Invited Doctoral Consortium students will give a presentation and present a poster at the conference.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
General Chairs
Georgios N. Yannakakis and Espen Aarseth
Program Chairs
Kristine Jørgensen and James Lester
The new PEGI age ratings system for video games will go live in the UK on the July 30th.
This will replace the current system whereby games are rating both by PEGI and, if they contain mature content, the BBFC. PEGI will assume sole control from the end of this month.
Of importance and interest here is that PEGI ratings will also become legally enforceable for the first time, meaning retailers will be forced to observe the age restrictions when selling to minors, or else face prosecution.
For more see http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/pegi-ratings-go-official-on-july-30th