Project Funding – MEDIA programme

The European funded MEDIA sub-programme provide supporst for the following measures: the development of European audiovisual works in particular films and television works such as fiction, documentaries, children’s and animated films, as well as interactive works such as videogames and multimedia with enhanced cross-border circulation potential.

A new Call has been published for Single Project Development with deadlines of the 15th January & 16th April 2015.

See further information at this link.

Please contact Eibhlín Ní Mhunghaile, at the Creative Europe Desk in Galway, if you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss a potential application.

Creative Europe Desk, Cluain Mhuire, Monivea Road, Galway, Ireland.

T: +353 91 770728 F: +353 91 770746 E: eibhlin@creativeeuropeireland.eu W:http://www.creativeeuropeireland.eu

EyeSodic Games Wins Best Digital Game

 

 

Life after Us

 

At the recent Eircom Spider Awards EyeSodic Games won the best digital game against formidable competition. The competition was looking for ‘entries from game developers who have created an online game that is well designed, (original artwork, environmental design to be well considered, character motion to be well produced, general playability of the game must be good, user friendly controls etc.) innovative, intuitive to play, operational on multiple platforms/devices/operating systems and engaging for the user.’

Their winning game, Life after Us: Fading Light is a series of short horror games based in a universe inspired by the stories of Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft.

Fading Light, the third in a series sees you play a man who wanders away from a tour group in a cave only to fall into the depths of a long forgotten part of the caverns which are home to more than just the darkness.

The game is free but they are accepting donations – so give them what you think is fair!

You can also download it from GameJolt.

Founded in 2008, Eyesodic Games are based in Kilkenny.

 

eyesodic games

Pic left to right: Jennifer Maguire (Presenter), Dan Kenny (Eyesodic Games), Don Farrell (Managing Director, Circulator, sponsor of the games award) and Bernard O’Shea, (Presenter).

Be an #Irish Game Dev interviewee?

In 2013 Geoff Newman (aka krudd) of EndLife Studios produced a number of podcasts interviewing people in #Irishgamedev including Jamie McCormick from gd.ie, Diarmuid Murphy from Microsoft, a Dare to be Digital Special with James Sadlier and Alan Boyce from NeverMind Games and Andrea Magnorsky from BatCat Games. He has a nice history of gamejam-featuredhis podcasting online.

Now he is also working on video documentaries including one we recently highlighted on gamejams.

Unfortunately Geoff is no longer living in Ireland having moved across the water to the UK for an employment opportunity.

But this Christmas he will be home for two weeks and he is looking to interview companies based in Ireland who have developed games this past year. If you are interested, drop him a line

twitter: @john_geoffrey
web: johngeoffrey.com

New Game – NinjaGo released

9th Impact, a company based in Galway, has released a game on Google Play.

NinjaGo Endless Runner is a fast paced ninja adventure as you jump, slash and somersault through various terrains.  It tests your ninja jumping skills as you soar from branch to branch through the trees of Kuroi Jukai and your battle skills as you use Shuriken (throwing stars) or your Katana (Samurai sword) to fight the giant killer hornets of Yamanakako.

Although the continuous motion and leaderboards based on distance achieved, put this firmly in the endless runner category, there are several unique elements to the game.

Firstly, the controls are “gamer thumbs” layout rather than “swipe” motion which make this infinitely more playable in landscape mode on phones.  The jump button has 3 states – press to jump, press and hold to leap and press while in the air to somersault.

It’s one of those games that you will find yourself coming back to again and again, despite the fact that you’ve higher budget apps downloaded – proving that independent games studios can compete with the dominant players by designing engaging games.

There is clearly a lot of attention paid to the small stuff throughout, with even the marketplace and level select screens beautifully rendered.  The soundtrack is composed and recorded by Keita Takahashi – the only member of the team not based in Ireland.

Download NinjaGo

 

Featuresninjago app screen

Beautiful 9th Impact graphics.
Original soundtrack by Keita Takanashi.
Run, leap, slash and somersault your way through treacherous terrain.
Battle the killer wasps of Yamanakako and many more enemies.
Use weapons including Shiruken (throwing stars) and Katana (samuri sword)
Access special powers from the Temple of the Dragon

Levels

Jungles of Kuroi Jukai (Black Sea of Trees)
The Ruins of Yamanakako
The Neverending Mountain …and more to come.

Record your high score on the leaderboards for each level.

Well done all.

 

 

 

 

IGDA Scholarships for GDC 2015 – call open

The IGDA Scholarship Program is a13 year old program that kick-starts careers of the best and brightest students entering the games industry.  This program awards scholarships to select individuals who apply. Here’s the full list of what award winners receive:

Conference Passes: All access passes to GDC, GDCE, Gamescom, E3, TGS, and CEDEC

Mentorship: A veteran, industry mentor is assigned to scholarship recipients based on the field of their study. This mentor meets with them during the conference, helps them network, and maintains a relationship with the student throughout his or her career.

Studio tours: This year students toured DoubleFine, 3 Rings, DICE LA, Insomniac Games, and Gree.

Booth Tours: This is usually specific to E3 and Gamescom. As part of this students get to play games and meet with developers there. This year students sat down one on one with designers from Ubisoft, attended a Destiny after hours event, met with Disney, sat down with Oculus after hours and more.

Q&A Sessions: We invite them to speak to veterans in private sessions. A few of the ones from this year included Brian Fargo (Fallout, Wasteland, Wasteland 2), Don Daglow (Intellivision, Utopia, Neverwinter Nights), John Romero (Doom,Ravenwood Fair, Red Faction), and Jenova Chen (ThatGameCompany, Journey,Flow, Flower).

Applications for GDC 2015 are due the 2nd of December! Visit: http://scholars.igda.org/how-to-apply/ to apply.

For general information visit scholars.igda.org!

And follow us on Twitter @IGDA_scholars for updates.

Early Bird Deadline extended – Irish VFX & Animation Summit

Screen Training Ireland, Animation Skillnet and Enterprise Ireland are supporting the second Irish VFX and Animation Summit, taking place in the Science Gallery on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30thNovember.

animationskillnetlogo

This event is open to students, graduates, educators and professionals working across VFX, animation and games, and will include presentations, panel discussions, demonstrations, screenings and Q&As.  In addition, the local animation and VFX community will be part of the Summit, offering advice and expertise to attendees through showreel clinics and informal networking sessions.

Early bird tickets for the summit can be purchased until Saturday 8th November.  Discounted group rates for students are available.

 

The line-up so far includes:

KYLE McCULLOCH               VFX Supervisor, Guardians of the Galaxy

EAMONN BUTLER                 Animation Director, Cinesite

JAMES COOPER                   VFX Supervisor, Penny Dreadful

DARREN O’KELLY                Managing Director, The Mill

MARK HILLS                          Head of Systems Development, Framestore

GAVIN GRAHAM                    Co-Head of 3D, Double Negative – Interstellar

LAURIE BRUGGER               Head of Rigging, Framestore – Paddington

PAUL YOUNG                        CEO, Cartoon Saloon – Song of the Sea

 

More speakers to be announced in the coming days.

For further info, go to http://vfxsummit.com/

For all queries, contact info@vfxsummit.com.

T.E.R.R.A. – A Massive FPS Game now on Kickstarter

Coming to PC, Mac OS and Linux in April, Irish developer Starcave Entertainment (Galway) has taken to kickstarter to increase funding for its latest project, a hybrid FPS/ RTS called T.E.R.R.A. This link will take you to the Kickstarter Page.

Also greenlit by the Steam Greenlight program, T.E.R.R.A. supports instant swapping between FPS & RTS.

T.E.R.R.A. is an FPS (First Person Shooter) competitive team-based game set in the near future of the year 2099 against the background of the Solar System. Terraforming is the key to Humanity’s survival after an deadly World War 3 decades previously and the focus of changing the Galilean moons of Jupiter to habitable zones.

 

Terra_Poster3

This is Not a Game Challenge

November the 15th will see the launch event in Cork for the ‘This Is Not A Game Ocean Challenge’ (www.thisisnotagame.org).

‘This Is Not A Game’ allows 10 to 18 year old students to partake in the creation of video games that have far reaching results – games that have real impact on other fellow students and society. The jam kicks off with a day of keynotes, speakers from the games industry, workshops to get you started and brainstorming space for your new team.

The theme of your game this year will be about oceans, and how we can achieve sustained benefit from this valuable resource. After the launch date, you and your team can use Coder Dojos and mentors from the games industry to keep your game development going smoothly. Your games will be reviewed by a panel of experts and industry professionals and the best games will be displayed at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in January.

The best games will be displayed at the BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition in Dublin during January.

See the video below for information on last year’s event.

 

 

Launch events are taking part around the country and it will come to UCC in Cork on the 15th of November, 11-2.30, in UCC’s Insight Centre.

Each event sees an industry speaker give  a broad overview of the game industry and talk about some of the most successful games and what elements makes them so popular.

Launch events have already taken place in Dublin, Belfast, Derry, and Limerick and have included speakers like John and Brenda Romero  (see pic below).

John Romero

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This event is run by the US Embassy in association with Coder Dojo and Irish educational partners.

For more information see the website www.thisisnotagame.org