Get Irish game Algebalance

algebalanceAlgebalance is an iOS game aimed at teaching young kids the basics of Algebra. It does so through a fun puzzle game where the player has to rearrange colourful “Vumbles” around on a set of scales, and ensure that they still balance.

We have just heard that the game is now free on the App Market, so grab it if you’ve an iDevice.

 

Secondly, the game is now also playable, in its entirety, on your web browser directly from the official Algebalance website.

 

No plugins are needed, but having an updated, modern browser certainly helps.

 

‎Algebalance
‎Algebalance
Download QR-Code
‎Algebalance
Developer: David Collins
Price: Free

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Game Creators Organisation

At a meeting last week a group of Irish based game creators, supported by Brenda Romero, announced that they are going to develop a new organisation to build awareness of games made in Ireland.

The core goal as currently formulated is:

‘Improve awareness of game creators in Ireland.

A core goal is to improve national and international awareness of game creators in Ireland including their games, companies, events, achievements and opportunities.’

You can see the draft principles and goals online.

They are asking people to provide feedback on the draft document and for interested parties to nominate themselves for the board elections taking place in 6 months.

Follow some of the key figures on twitter and facebook, or keep an eye here, and we will announce things as we hear them.

3D Artist, Variable State (Dublin)

Virginia Banner

 

Variable State is looking for a contract 3D artist to work on Virginia.

The role will begin in May and last for 15 months.

Please be advised this is a fixed term contract position and will likely not lead to a full time position even if you are entirely lovely.

Responsibilities:

– Working with Terry, our art director on look and style
– Concepting, modeling and texturing in-game assets, including props, environments and characters
– Technical proficiency in areas such as lighting, rendering and writing shaders
– Investigating and proposing new techniques, implementing them and training the team
– Be able to take simple sketches or photo reference and translate your own work to follow the game’s established style and art direction
– Deliver work via Perforce

You must be able to:

– Work remotely, using your own hardware and software
– Participate in web-based company chat and video conference
– Be available for normal business hours in UK time / GMT+0
– Work in 3ds Max and Unity
– Deliver FBX models
– Work independently with confidence, own your tasks and deliver to quality in a timely manner and to deadline, while providing your own embellishments

Added bonuses:

– You have shipped PC or console titles before
– You’re familiar with Unity
– You live in or near Dublin, Ireland

We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of age, gender and ethnicity, but, as women, LGBTQs and members of ethnic minorities are under-represented in games, we would encourage applications from members of these groups.

We value folk who are patient in their dealings with others and thoughtful and conscientious in their approach to work. We like people who are open and communicative about what they do, who like sharing knowledge and enjoy educating team members about their field of expertise.

Interested? Send a link to your portfolio and CV to jobs@variablestate.com

Game Design Internship, Social Arcade (Dublin)

Social Arcade is providing work experience in 2D game design and development.

This position starts immediately and will run until the summer.

Skills include

  • Working with GML
  • Passion for Gaming
  • CSS, HTML

 

Outcome of the internship

  • The designer will have experience working with a team of designers and programmers.
  • Working in an office environment.
  • Designing Apps that large brands will use in marketing campaigns.
  • Experience in Marketing campaigns
  • Game Design.
  • Working with Web Apps, Oculus Rift and the Kinect for brands.
To apply send your CV and relevant information to  Eddie at socialarcadeapp.com

Social arcade are located in the National Digital Research Centre, The Digital Exchange, Crane Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.

 

Two Nominations for A MAZE 2015

Two Irish game creators have been nominated for the A MAZE festival which will take place in Berlin, Germany, this coming weekend, the 22-25th of April.

The first is Curtain by LLaura Dreamfeel.

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The second is Deep by Owen Harris and Niki Smit.

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This is the second year in a row that Ireland has been represented after last year’s finalist Control by Keiran Nolan.

A MAZE. is an international festival for independent games, digital arts and playful media. It provides an international platform for independent games that invites professionals and creatives from various fields to exchange their knowledge and visions, presenting their projects, playing, making contacts to collaborate on future projects. This is its fourth year.

You can find the other nominees here.

Tickets are not too steep so check out your flights now! Congrats all and good luck!

Web Designer / Graphic Artist Zoodazzle (Dublin)

Zoodazzle is looking for a talented web/graphic designer with expertise in UX/UI design to work on our game-technology UI and associated cloud and websites. This is a great opportunity to work on exciting projects in an Irish games technology company. This is a full-time permanent position.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be responsible for the design of a variety of media including application UI/UX design, web and portal design and maintenance, game asset design and production, newsletter graphics, promo pages and various marketing collateral.

Skills Requirement

• Proficiency in the Adobe suite of products to create layouts for application, web and mobile platforms.
• Skilled in the use of HTML and CSS
• Skilled graphic artist or illustrator
• Possess strong visual and verbal communications skills and be able to operate well with changing demands and deadlines.
• Be able to design for maximum usability and site performance, while achieving business goals.
• Flexible; can understand and pick up new systems or processes quickly
• Comfortable with working on multiple projects at the same time
• Work within a Scrum team to deliver user stories.

Experience

• At least 2 years’ commercial experience, preferably working on an ecommerce site or application.
• UI/UX design – 2+ years of experience as senior/lead designer.
• Experience with the WordPress architecture and styling.
• Experience with Adobe InDesign
• Working knowledge of PHP an advantage.

Company Information

Zoodazzle is a games-tools creator based in the Synergy Centre, Institute of Technology, Tallaght, and has developed a software product used to create games, interactive-software and multimedia applications for smartphone and desktop platforms.
Our technology lowers the technical barrier-to-entry for designers by providing a single development environment, a cross-platform development tool providing users with state-of-the-art visuals and audio with real-time team collaboration, with members working on the same project from anywhere in the world.

Website: http://www.zoodazzle.com
Contact: jobs@zoodazzle.com

GDC Europe scholarships

Applications to be an IGDA Scholar at GDC Europe & Gamescom 2015 are now available!

GDC Europe will take place 3-4 August and Gamescom from 5-9 August, 2015 in Cologne, Germany. Students from undergrad to PhD programs interested in going into the games industry are eligible for this opportunity.

The IGDA Scholarship Program is a 14 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. Scholarship winners will receive:

· Conference Passes to GDC Europe & Gamescom.
· Mentorship: A veteran, industry mentor assigned to the scholarship recipient based on the field of his or her 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: In 2014 students toured DoubleFine, 3 Rings, DICE LA, Insomniac Games, and Gree as part of their IGDA Scholarships. Our program works hard to ensure students receive studio tours at each conference experience.
· Booth Tours: This is usually specific to E3 and Gamescom. As part of this students get to play games and meet with developers one on one. During Gamescom 2014, students met with Lewis Brown from EA about how to get into industry, spoke with Tim Symons from Nintendo Europe about publishing with Nintendo, sat down with industry legend Don Daglow, and received special access to the Sony Press Conference.
· Q&A Sessions: We invite students to speak to veterans in private sessions. In 2014 our GDC Europe & Gamescom scholars had the opportunity to speak with industry luminaries including Brenda and John Romero, Oculus Product Lead Joe Chen, and Microsoft Tech Evangelist Lee Stott!

Applications for GDC Europe & Gamescom 2015 are due the 5th of May! 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.

 
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Additionally, please be advised that scholarships to E3 are due March 24th!
Students can submit for both scholarships by visiting http://scholars.igda.org/how-to-apply/.

Game Design Internship – Simteractive (Dub) – position filled

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Job Title – Game Design Internship

Job Location – Dublin, Ireland

Job Type – Six-month full-time internship

Job Salary – Expenses paid

 

Simteractive are looking for a game design intern to join their team and work on high-quality sim/tycoon games for mobile devices. This is a great opportunity for an aspiring game designer to get games industry experience, to advance their game design skills, to get a credit on a mobile game, to work alongside an experienced team and to join an early-stage game development company.

Responsibilities:

  • Review and playtest the game at each stage of development and identify design issues
  • Carry out play sessions of the game with users, noting issues that arise and suggesting design solutions
  • Offer creative, practical solutions to design problems that show awareness of game design theory
  • Maintain game design documentation and create additional documentation when needed
  • Assist with adjusting game balance and progression
  • Assist with various aspects of game design e.g. tutorial design, system design, mini-game design
  • Come up with new content ideas e.g. for game characters, game items, quests
  • Perform various design research tasks (e.g. comparative feature analysis with other games, complex testing tasks for play balance, researching current design trends/best practices)
  • Assist with general game development tasks that arise e.g. preparing promotional material, assisting with production planning, assisting with QA etc.

Requirements:

  • Graduate or student in game design or related area with excellent academic record
  • Portfolio demonstrating practical game design and development experience (including student projects, hobby-level game development, game jams etc.)
  • Smart, conscientious individual who is committed and motivated to achieve high standards
  • Eager to gain a wide variety of game development experience and open to feedback
  • Knowledge of game design theory
  • Passion for creating mobile games, particularly sim/tycoon games
  • Awareness of why people other than oneself play games and ability to design with this knowledge in mind
  • Ability to analyse and thoroughly think through design problems, to consider the game as a whole and to come up with creative and practical solutions
  • Strong analytical and numerical skills and ability to deal with large amounts of numerical data in Excel
  • Excellent attention to detail
  • Good knowledge of current mobile games market, free-to-play monetisation and social games
  • Experience with a range of software tools and ability to learn quickly e.g. Excel, OmniGraffle, Unity
  • Outstanding communication skills – written, listening and presentation
  • High degree of self-motivation and ability to multi-task, prioritise and manage personal workflow

To Apply:

Please email hello@simteractive.com with a cover letter, CV, details of previous game development experience and when you would be available to start. We will shortlist a number of applicants to complete a game design test.

 

UI/UX Designer – Simteractive (Dublin)

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Job Title – UI/UX Designer – Mobile Games

Job Location – Dublin, Ireland

Job Type – Permanent

Job Salary – Negotiable dependent on experience

 

Simteractive is seeking a motivated, talented UI/UX designer to join their team, working closely with the game director, engineering team and art team to create high-quality mobile sim/tycoon games with beautiful user interfaces and an excellent user experience.

Responsibilities:

  • Design intuitive, elegant, beautiful interfaces that enhance the gameplay experience
  • Create high quality UI art assets
  • Create, update, and maintain the UI styles and standards between all new and existing games, including updating the style guide where needed to retain visual integrity
  • Collaborate with the rest of the game development team to ensure visual design meets the necessary creative and technical requirements
  • Collaborate with the technical team to ensure smooth workflows for UI as well as looking for ways to improve the pipeline and the quality of assets
  • Suggest and implement improvements to existing UI for games in production, taking business milestones into account
  • Create storyboards, wireframes and interactive mockups to explore interaction concepts
  • Create and implement optimal UX design processes for the studio
  • Incorporate iterative design, live data and user testing throughout the development process
  • Conduct usability testing and translate findings into actionable insights and design improvements
  • Act as “go to” with in-depth knowledge of user interface best practices and standards

Requirements:

  • Portfolio demonstrating strong UI skills and graphic design skills
  • 2+ years of relevant experience included at least one shipped title, ideally for mobile or tablet
  • Exceptional design skills, production value and attention to detail and ability to create high quality art assets efficiently
  • Knowledge of usability principles and current design trends/best practices for mobile game tutorials, game navigation and common UI/UX patterns
  • Strong understanding of visual design principles and how they relate to game development and user interface
  • Experience incorporating prototyping, iterative design, live data and user testing throughout the development process
  • Strong understanding of the challenges presented by mobile platforms including working with different screen sizes
  • Ability to analyse and thoroughly think through problems and come up with creative and practical solutions
  • High level of expertise with relevant software packages
  • Outstanding communication skills – written, listening and presentation
  • Ability to consider the broader context of their work and how it fits in with the overall business goals of the company
  • High degree of self-motivation and leadership skills and ability to multi-task, prioritise and manage personal workflow

To apply, email hello@simteractive.com with a cover letter, CV and portfolio link.

Creative Europe Funding call for Video Game projects

So we had a message from the folks over in the European Game Developers Federation. They noted that there were only a few applications from Ireland to the last Creative Europe call for funding and wanted us to send around the information.

 

This programme allows for up to 50% of prototype development costs to come from EU money.
EGDF has made this checklist helping you to determine, if this funding instrument is suitable for you.
creative-europe-230x180
Official guidelines and application forms are available here.

 

Deadline is the 26th of March, 2015, Brussels time.

Educational Games competition

Third International Competition on Educational Games will be held this year in conjunction with the European Conference on Game-Based Learning (ECGBL), which is being held in Steinkjer, Norway on 8 -9 October this year.

The aims of this competition are:

· To provide an opportunity for educational game designers and creators to participate in the conference and demonstrate their game design and development skills in an international competition.

· To provide an opportunity for GBL creators to peer-assess and peer-evaluate their games.

· To provide ECGBL 2015 attendees with engaging and best-practice games that showcase exemplary applications of GBL.

Games submitted to the competition are expected to accomplish an educational goal. We welcome contributions relevant to all levels of learning (primary, secondary, tertiary or professional. Both digital and non-digital games are encouraged. Competitors should be prepared to explain their design and evaluation process, why it is innovative (the game itself or its educational setting) and how they achieved (will achieve) the impact they seek. The game should be in a development state that engages the player for at least 10 minutes.

For further details.

In the first instance authors should submit details of the game using the online abstract submission form.

The closing date for submissions is the 16th of June.