Aphra Kerr and Vicky Twomey-Lee explore how to make game events more diverse and inclusive. The games and technology industries are fond of saying that they have a pipeline issue. They argue that there are not enough people studying and entering the industries, and their solutions have focussed on promoting[...]
UKIE and Dr. Mark Taylor of the University of Sheffield in the UK have published a new Games Industry Census which gives some good insights into the employment of women and black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) people in the British games industry. Funded via the Arts & Humanities Research[...]
“Once upon a time in the DUUG” took place at the Talent Gardens having no one else but James Brady speaking. For the ones who haven’t heard of him, James is a 3D artist with 4 years experience working on AAA games and large indie projects. You can find out[...]
Background My dad worked at a graphic design company in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the 90’s. The company he worked at had Apple Macintosh computers loaded with Bungie’s classic hit “Marathon” and Bullfrog’s legendary title “Syndicate”. After hours, he would sneak me in to play these games along with a[...]
The inaugural Galway Games Gathering took place on the 15th and 16th September at the wonderfully designed Galway, Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) in Galway (see pic above), featuring a series of 20 presentations from speakers in the Irish and International games communities and an expo of Irish indie games.[...]
This year gamedevelopers.ie teamed up with the Network in Play project to offer two students tickets to the Inspirefest conference in Dublin in July. Being tough taskmasters we asked people to explain to use when they were applying what diversity meant to them. The two winners caught our eye with[...]
December 2016 saw Imirt, the Irish Game Makers Association, run a 25 days of Christmas event on Facebook profiling people, games and general info on the games industry. Take a look at http://www.imirt.ie/25-days-of-christmas-2016/
You have probably observed it. Women can be pretty rare at games events. The Irish games industry is not unusual; this is a pattern observed in many countries. Stats for the games industry in the UK and the US usually put the proportion of women across all occupations at around[...]
It was a busy year in 2015 and a bit later than we had hoped here is a brief summary of key events and a list of some of the many games released. There were some key business milestones with Havok purchased by Microsoft in the Autumn, and Brenda and[...]
The annual Global Game Jam took place from the 29th to the 31st of January, 2016 with over 36,000 jammers, 632 jam sites, 93 countries, and over 6860 games made worldwide, this is the biggest Game Jam to date! This year’s jam theme was “Ritual”. We asked a first time attendee[...]
The latest installment in the #IrishGameDev podcast series by Geoff Newman. This one is with Vicky Lee, event organiser extraordinaire including GameCraft, PyLadies, PyIreland, Coding Grace etc. etc. Vicky is committed to organising female friendly and inclusive tech events. See http://GameCraft.it for more info. The next event is on the 13th of[...]
Pavel Barter talks to Drogheda’s John Fuller, producer of Mad Max the game. In 2002, John Fuller travelled from Dublin to Finland to meet Remedy, the studio working on ‘Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne’. As part of the team for Havok, the Irish physics middleware company,[...]
After developing mobile hit Kings of the Realm, DIGIT Game Studios is planning its next offence with a recruitment campaign and a AAA title based on a “huge” IP. CEO Richard Barnwell talks to Pavel Barter about how the company became the biggest developer in Ireland, why a multi-platform approach[...]
In December 2014 Geoff Newman of Endlife Studios interviewed some members of the Irish game development community about how 2014 was for them and what they expected from 2015. He has now published and shared this work with everyone. He will be doing another one too – so if you are[...]
Game jams are an ideal way to unite coders, artists, modellers, musicians, and more, under one roof and building a game in a set space of time. But what is involved? And how does an organiser set up a jam? Pavel Barter talks to three jam organisers: Global Game Jam's Eoin Carroll, GameCraft's Andrea Magnorsky, and Auroch Digital's Debbie Rawlings.
With the announcement of a new GamesSpace initiative in Dublin, indie start-ups may find it easier to source office space. In this feature, Pavel Barter explores the steps you can take to obtain funding and grow a fledgling Irish games company.
This feature summarises the results of the Irish Games Industry Survey 2012, an independent study by Jamie McCormick, Marketing Systems Manager with Dublin based GALA Networks Europe, with input from by Dr. Aphra Kerr of NUI Maynooth and Phil Bourke of LIT Thurles.
This month sees the launch of Games Music Ireland, a new body to represent and promote networking between composers and game developers. In this feature Pavel Barter speaks to Mick Kiely, founder of Games Music Ireland, and developers Alan Duggan from Tribal City Interactive, and Jim Pipe from StoryToys, about the importance of music in games.
This feature reports on a survey conducted by Aphra Kerr, based at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, and Anthony Cawley, University of Limerick, over the summer of 2009. It explores the demographics and functions of game companies on the island of Ireland and traces their geographical spread.
There are now approximately fifteen courses at third level on the island of Ireland, and a few more at second level, claiming to teach game development. Tony Kelly discusses some of the pitfalls to be wary of when considering these courses.
The artists previously known as Torc are on the brink of releasing their impressive Instinct Studio toolset. Pavel Barter talks to Instinct’s much-respected Business Development Director, Mike Gamble, whose career has run the gamut from board games to atomic research.
Just over a year ago Nephin games picked up a Digital Media Award for their first game, a kickboxing game in association with WKN. Their second game, a National Lampoon’s license will be published in the USA shortly. Recently I traveled west to find out from CEO Alan Duggan what has been going on.