Call for participation: Game-Based Learning Conf (Cork)


The call for participation to the 8th Irish Conference on Game-Based learning (iGBL2018) is now open.

iGBL2018 will be held on 28th and 29th June 2018 in Cork City (Ireland), and welcomes abstracts from developers, instructors and researchers for game demos, presentations or workshops on the themes of games for learning, motivation and change.

If you have used or conducted research on digital or non-digital games to support change, learning and motivation, and you would like to share your experience with like-minded researchers and practitioners, you may consider presenting at iGBL2018 and submit your abstract by 22nd January 2018.

Authors who submit their abstract(s) by 22nd January will be notified on whether their abstract has been accepted by 22nd February.

Authors who submit their abstract(s) by 22nd February will be notified on whether their abstract has been accepted by 22nd March.

Galway Games Gathering 17 – a roundup

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.

The event opened early Saturday with John Romero of Romero Games, who spoke about his life in games, telling the story of the industry through his own story as a developer. His presentation covered his well-known accomplishments such as Commander Keen and Doom, as well as lesser known periods of his life, such as his exposure to games as a child visiting Sierra College near to where he grew up, or his co-founding Loot Drop. At each phase, John spoke about his work within the larger context of what was happening in the games industry as a whole at the time, and closed by drawing our attention to some patters he has seen in the industry, including a return to digital distribution originally seen in the era of early BBS, and a resurgence of e-sports, which have transitioned from arcade championships to large-scale stadium events.

Colm Larkin, creator of Guild of Dungeoneering, was up next. He spoke about the positive impact that sharing an “embarrassingly early” version of his game had on the development process. In particular, he advised developers to not let the fear of their ideas being stolen stop them from sharing, saying that the idea itself isn’t what’s special, it’s the iterations on it that make it so.

Colm Larkin in his speaking jacket!. Photo by Jacinta Moore

Anna Jenelius from Stockholm Sweden founded her own company, Talecore Studios, in 2015. She spoke about our responsibility to do something positive with our games, noting that while there is nothing wrong with mainstream games, we can do much more with the stories that we tell and the players that we reach. [See her Gamastura posts and her own website].

Paul Conway of Spooky Doorway gave a Post-Mortem of ‘The Darkside Detective‘, walking attendees through the 2.5 year process of creating and releasing a successful indie title with a team of five people and no budget.

Neil Homes spoke about self-publishing and presented ID@Xbox as an platform for indie publishers, specifically highlighting the importance of timing the release of an indie game to not be overshadowed by AAA titles. Om Tandon, UX director at Digit Games in Dublin, spoke about how applying the correct UX methodology to a F2P app increased participation in events by 300%.

John Romero introduces Om Tandon. Photo by Jacinta Moore

Elaine Reynolds started out as an intern at Starcave in Galway. Today she has her own company, Simteractive, based in Dublin, and she spoke about how she has used psychology in game development, while Dario D’Ambra presented the work he has been undertaking in working on the game “Don’t Make Love”, exploring romance through meaningful conversations in which the player is a participant. Afterward, Liz Mercuri explained the use of Unity to create procedural camera rigs and gameplay cutscenes.

Elaine Reynolds, GGG 2017. Photo by Aphra Kerr

Brett Douville, the lead programmer on Skyrim and Fallout 4, made his first trip to Ireland to give Saturday’s final presentation. Brett spoke about useful tensions in game development, outlining ways in which project managers can subtly shape productive tensions within or between teams, such as by occasionally pushing individuals slightly beyond the limits of what they think they can accomplish, by pitting teams against one another in friendly implied competition, or even by intentionally delaying a feature to force the team to develop creative solutions. Brett also warned against unhealthy tensions, such as long hours and work crunches, and highlighted the importance of a manager’s awareness of the physical, mental, and emotional health of members of a team. [See his games blog and see an interview here.]

DAY 2

Following a reception in the city on Sat. evening everyone was back out nice and early for a full day of talks on Sunday.

Sunday was kicked off by Stephen O’Callaghan, the head of Sound, Tools, and Technology at Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, who spoke about unlocking the creative potential of teams and individuals. He illuminated some of the ways in which Sony’s Creative Services Group emphasise and explore creativity, noting that an environment of creativity requires three things: building connections, facilitating discovery, and nurturing curiosity.

Stephen O’Callaghan (Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe) : Photo by Jacinta Moore

Elisabeth Sampat spoke about her ethical free-to-play philosophy, highlighting four emotions that monetise: Curiosity, Frustration, Amusement, and Desire. Most important of all, however, Elisabeth noted, is generosity: transactions should be designed for value, not addiction. [See her GDC 2017 talk here and her 2017 book Empathy Engines: Design Games that are Personal Political and Profound]

Gd.ie’s own Aphra Kerr spoke of how gamedevelopers.ie emerged at the same time as Nokia’s N-Gage mobile device and then looked at some early games developed in Ireland. Bringing things right up to date she introduced her new book, Global Games, and drew attention to some recurring patterns —such as the return to small development teams—and the emergence of new game making locations, including China, Finland, Sweden, and Poland. This point to lots of potential for indie game devs based in Ireland.

Keith O’Connor, the CTO at Romero games, presented a Junior Coder Survival Guide, emphasising that good code is simple, maintainable, debuggable, and stable, after which Pete McNally, the Technical Art Lead at Havok, showed how to perform 3D Scanning for Games on a Budget.

Keith O’Connor (Romero Games) – Photo by Jacinta Moore.

Craig Stuart Garfinkle spoke about writing memorable game music, stating that the secret is a balance between novelty and familiarity. He demonstrated some using his current composing setup: an octave-and-a-half keyboard, his laptop, and a 13TB HDD of samples.

Kevin Murphy presented some bold ideas for alternate payment models of the future, ranging from paid virtual experience to selling virtual real estate in games and monetising FPS games the way others monetise paintball: by selling the ammunition.

Mike Bithell, creator of ‘Thomas Was Alone’, gave an honest (and at times side-splittingly funny) list of 20 tricks that developers can do to improve their games, 10 for games that are already in development and 10 for projects that have not been started yet. Mike was followed by Denman Rooke, who hosted a live digital painting session while sharing some industry tips and techniques.

The final speaker of the event was composer and conductor Eimear Noone, who showcased some of her recent undertakings, and who highlighted the things that are possible when the community is engaged, such as the fan-created orchestra performance of “Malach: Angel Messenger” at iDiG 2017 and the recently released “The Celtic Link”, which is a collection of music from The Legend of Zelda series performed by the DIT Irish Traditional Music Ensemble. [Listen back to her talk from Inspirefest 2017 in Dublin earlier in the year.]

Along with the excellent set of speakers, the indie games expo showcased some of the exciting game development that is happening across Ireland.

Galway Games Gathering 17 Foyer of Games

 

Foyer in GMIT, GGG 2017. Photo by Aphra Kerr

Exhibitors were also judged by a panel selected from among the organisers and guests, and a number of awards were given:

Best Game: Final Horizon

Excellence in Design: Sub-Species

Excellence in Art: Jennifer Wilde

Excellence in Audio: Dark Side Detective

Excellence in Narrative: Dark Side Detective

Best Multiplayer Game: Trash Team Racing

Best Student Game: I Dare You

People’s Choice: Licky The Lucky Lizard

Overall, the first Galway Games Gathering was a rousing success. With so many events centred on Dublin, it is exciting to know that a new annual event on Ireland’s western coast has garnered so much attention and support. Here’s to next year’s Gathering!

Galway Games Gathering 17 organisers – glad it is all done!

L-r: John Romeo- Romero Games, Manus Burke – Howling Hamster Games, Geraldine McLoughlin – Western Development Commission, Patrick Tobin – GMIT.

 

Speaker Badge. Pic by Aphra Kerr

 

Write up: Joshua D Savage, PhD student, Maynooth University and Aphra Kerr, gd.ie & Maynooth University.

Photos: Mostly by Jacinta Moore unless noted as Aphra.

Thanks to Manus Burke, of Howling Hamster Games, for forwarding on the pics and all his work on the event.

See https://www.galwaygamesgathering.com/ 

Games to Inspire event (Cahir Castle, 23 & 24th Nov.)

“Games to Inspire in Youth Work and Development Education”
in
Cahir Castle  on  the 23rd and 24th of November
 

The conference is part of our exciting 2 year international project funded by ERASMUS on gaming and youth work, and, together with partners from UK and Greece we are hugely excited to host a range of international and Irish speakers to explore the potential of games to inspire, to motivate and to positively impact on the lives of young people.

To showcase and nurture the potential of games to inspire, to motivate and to positively impact on the lives of young people.

The conference will actively engage participants in creative collaboration and discussion on local and global development informed by youth work principles of equality, justice and social inclusion. The content and format of the conference will be particularly aimed at inspiring young people and at those working with young people aged between 12 and 25. The conference will have a strong emphasis on encouraging action on the issues highlighted as well as encouraging follow on and collaboration between participants.

To encourage and equip Youth Workers in the creative use of games in their youth work practice through presentations, demonstrations and workshops.

To give young people, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, an opportunity to experience the transformative potential of games by playing with and speaking with games developers.

To inspire participants through experiencing games designed specifically to present, explore, and respond to contemporary issues facing young people.

To develop a community of practice in the use of games in Global youth work

DAY 1: Focusing on Youth Workers, Development Educators, Games Designers Academics and Educators

DAY 2: Focusing on Young people having the opportunity to meet games designers and explore and design games.

You can be an expert or you can be a beginner but you will be prepared to explore the potential of games!

Closed – Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer in Game Art & Animation (Limerick)

Note: This position is now closed – please do not apply. This ad has been left here for information purposes only.

Limerick Institute of Technology is seeking to recruit a person(s) who will contribute to the teaching responsibility in the area of Game Art and Animation and will contribute to the continued development of the courses.

The person(s) appointed would be expected to teach across a range of years on the programmes as well as taking shared responsibility under the direction of the Head of Department for development and administration of the subjects generally.

To this end the successful applicant should have proven professional practice and have experience in the area of Game Art & Animation.

Further details at http://www.lit.ie/Vacancies/Documents/Post%2016%20Job%20Spec.pdf

[Edit: 15th Nov. 2017 – the deadline has now passed and the link above no longer operates.]

VR storytelling event (06/11- Dublin)

An event of interest from Animation Skillnet – Talk on VR Storytelling with Colum Slevin (Head of Experiences at Oculus VR)

Animation Skillnet with support from Animation Ireland, Screen Training Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland are delighted to host a talk by Colum Slevin (Head of Experiences at Oculus VR) on VR Storytelling.

The talk will take place on Monday 6th November from 6.30pm-8pm in The Morrison Hotel, Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin.

Colum Slevin oversees the experiences group for the Oculus VR content team, helping a portfolio of third party developers making 360 video, narrative, and real-time experiences for Mobile VR and Rift. His early background in production for animated TV and features led him to Industrial Light + Magic, where he was Director of Computer Graphics, and later Vice President/Head of Studio Operations at Lucasfilm, where he was responsible for the animation division in California and Singapore. Colum joined Oculus in 2015 from Telltale Games, where he was Studio General Manager. He is obsessed with movies and, while he can never choose his favorite film, his current favorite quote is from Pulp Fiction: Mia asks “When in conversation, do you listen, or do you just wait to talk?” Vincent thinks about it and then responds, “I wait to talk, but I’m trying to listen.”

Please note that this talk is free but that places are limited and allocated on a first come first served basis.

Registration here: http://animationskillnet.ie/event-registration/?ee=176

 

 

 

Unity3D environmental artist & 3D artists (Dub)

 

Award winning Pink Kong Studios creates branded entertainment for TV, Film, Games and Advertising Houses from our base in Dublin.

One of our most recent jobs was working alongside Variable State on their highly successful game Virginia. This was a fantastic team and project to work on and we want to recreate that team environment.

We have been awarded a fund from Audi Dublin International Film Festival (ADIFF) and Screen Training Ireland to create an immersive VR experience.

We are looking for an environmental artist to help bring this production to life. The art look will be guided by our highly experienced team creative team and we need someone who can help build that in a games engine.

We are on the lookout for a Unity3d environmental artist who’s a real wizz with lighting, materials, vfx, and particles to make the experience come together and pop.

We are also looking for 3D artists and animators to come on board as part of the project. An understanding of creating games ready assets is a massive bonus.

Looking for:

*Unity3d environmental artist
*3D Modeler/ Riggers (for both environments and characters)
*3D Animators

So if you want to do something really fun and engaging in VR contact job@pinkkongstudios.ie

Please put “Games Lighting” “Games Modeler” in the subject line

The experience will be part of the ADIFF in 2018!!

Unity Games Developers, Artists & Animators (Dub)

 

Award winning Pink Kong Studios creates branded entertainment for TV, Film, Games and Advertising Houses from our base in Dublin.

We have been awarded a fund from Audi Dublin International Film Festival (ADIFF) and Screen Training Ireland to create an immersive VR experience.

We are looking for Unity developers to help bring this production to life. The art look will be guided by our highly experienced team creative team and we need someone who can help build that in a games engine.

We are also happy to consider 3D artists and animators to come on board as part of the project.

So if you want to do something really fun and engaging in VR contact niamh@pinkkongstudios.ie

The experience will be part of the ADIFF in 2018!!

 

 

Apply to present at GXI

Games Expo Ireland (GXI) takes in the RDS, Dublin, this Autumn.

While the larger show is aimed at fans, they will be hosting an industry Games Summit, bringing some of the biggest and the most interesting companies and players together to talk about the industry.

They are now looking for applications from indie game devs who would like to present at the summit and they are offering limited space for free this year for indies and educational institutions. To apply see http://www.gxi.ie/games-summit/

Regardless of whether you’re curious what goes on behind closed doors, trying to decide if the gaming industry is for you, or looking for inspiration, the Games Summit will have something for you. Space is limited so apply early.

Tell them gd.ie sent you!

 

 

 

 

Simteractive wins WiG Europe Mobile Awards

Simteractive have won two awards at the inaugural European Women in Games Mobile Awards at the ceremony in London last week.

The Leadership Award recognises the talents and accomplishments of an individual, and was given to Simteractive CEO Elaine Reynolds.

The studio then went on to get a special mention in the best mobile title developed by women or a team led by a woman award for their recent game Eden Isle: Resort Paradise, by Irish studio Simteractive.

The overall mobile game award was given to A Normal Lost Phone, a mystery title drawing on social themes created by French studio Accidental Queens.

If you want to find out more about Eden Isle, the website is www.EdenIsleGame.com.

See http://www.womeningames.org/mobile-awards/

Congrats!

Software internships – Demonware

Demonware offer software development internships in our Dublin and Vancouver offices all year round. All internships are paid, and interns are assigned real-world projects to work on during their stay.

Details—

Eligibility: To qualify, prospective candidates must be undergrads or recent post-grads/graduates of university/third level education. We regret that we cannot offer Transition Year work placements to Dublin candidates.
Duration: 4, 8, 12 or 16 months
Hours: 35-40 per week
Pay: Competitive
Start Date: September/January/May

Application Process—

Apply through your University or by emailing: jobs ‘at’ demonware.net. To help us select you, please include:

CV/Resume
Cover letter (optional but preferred)
Transcripts of grades from your university

Code: A coding challenge is part of the application process. Once you have completed the test, your results will be reviewed by our hiring managers along with your resume/cover letter/transcripts. You will need a full 90 minutes of uninterrupted time to complete the challenge. Click on the test link and complete your details. We recommend that you use the “Try Demo” option available from the welcome page before attempting the official test.

The Interview: The interview will be 1 hour, either in person (ideally) or via phone or Skype for out-of-town applicants. For the in person interview, there is no need to wear a suit; we’re not like that. The team will be interested in learning about recent projects you have been involved in, as well as your technical skills. Please highlight any experience you have with Python or Linux – these are not required but highly desirable.

see https://www.demonware.net/internships/ for more

WarDucks Releases Sneaky Bears for PSVR

WarDucks Releases Retro 80s themed First Person Shooter ‘Sneaky Bears’ for Rapidly Growing PlayStation VR Market. Cute Evil Teddy Bears Want to Take Over the World in the Dublin-based Studio’s New Release Sneaky Bears

 

WarDucks, a virtual reality game studio founded by a former Facebook employee, has launched the game Sneaky Bears for PSVR and will soon release on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive platforms.

In Sneaky Bears, Frank, a twisted Teddy Bear Mastermind, has taken over a toy factory and has created an army of evil teddy bears to help with his quest to take over the world. Frank is sarcastic, ruthless, and hilarious, and he has made his army of teddy bear minions in his own image. They may look cute, but they are anything but cuddly!

Players face the evil bears in three different, challenging game modes armed to the teeth with weapons which include a toy gun, shotgun, water gun, and freeze gun, before they can unlock the ultimate Boss Level. In each level, sneaky little bears come at you from every angle; flying, running, and hitting you from afar until your head is spinning and your trigger fingers are numb. Whatever you do, don’t let ‘em catch you!

This is WarDucks’ first release on console and desktop virtual reality platforms, having previously launched two Top Grossing titles on the Samsung Gear VR. “We are all very excited about this release”, said Nikki Lannen, WarDucks founder & CEO. “The team had worked tirelessly and the result, Sneaky Bears, is a nice tribute to the 80’s alongside being a fun and entertaining title. We’re thrilled to finally be able to share it.”

PlayStation VR has a significant lead on other desktop and console Virtual Reality devices, with estimated sales of over 1.8 Million units so far this year. With the hardware only launching in November 2016, it surpasses both Oculus Rift, estimated at 380,000 and HTC Vive at 660,000. WarDucks plans to launch Sneaky Bears on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive very shortly.

There has been some success already with game development for Console and Desktop VR platforms. Owlchemy disclosed revenues of $3m+ for its game Job Simulator and were subsequently snapped up by Google.

Sneaky Bears is ready to add to the growing list of fun VR games. As Lannen says, “This game will make you jump, laugh, and even potentially cry. Most folks are unable to put it down. It’s a great game for all ages and a super spectator game!”

Sneaky Bears launched on PSVR in the US on 29th of August and in Europe on 31st of August at a €19.99 price point.

Oculus Rift and HTC Vive support will follow very soon.

WarDucks aims to be a leading game developer in the virtual reality market. With one of the most talented teams in the industry, they are releasing fun and immersive games across various leading VR platforms.

See http://www.sneakybearsvr.com/

https://www.warducks.com/ 

Inspirefest Novices reflect

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 phrases like ‘Diversity is the coming together of great minds that don’t always think alike ‘ and ‘diversity is a litany of stories.’

MA students in DCU and in Maynooth, we met at the Bord Gáis centre to experience Inspirefest, talks by game legends like Brenda and John Romero and Rhianna Pratchett, and by those who dared to be different. In what follows we asked the two winners to report on their experience.

Pic: Left to right: Dearbháil Ní Chúirc, Aphra Kerr and Katherine Thomas.

Katherine Thomas

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar opened the Inspirefest 2017 paying tribute to the “true poet in mathematics,” William Rowan Hamilton,  who in the 19th century carved equations on a Dublin bridge that today are the basis for computer graphics in games like FIFA.

Following the Taoiseach’s remarks Inspirefest paid homage to DCU, who have renamed several of their buildings after inspiring female figures, which also made this DCU postgraduate quite proud.

This was simply just the opening hour of Inspirefest, which set the scene perfectly for the two inspirational days ahead.

A rich tapestry of speakers took to the stage to ‘stretch our minds’ including American astrophysicist and director of the National Science Foundation, Dr Frances Córdova.  Speaking to Inspirefest’s powerhouse, Ann O’Dea, Córdova described her illustrious journey, which included becoming NASA’s chief scientist, advising that “our differences makes us stronger.” Córdova highlighted the important intersection where art and science meet, and she asserted that these subjects should be promoted together, to bring about synergies.

Next to the stage was Dr Niamh Shaw who perfectly exemplifies how art and science synergise.  Dr Niamh Shaw described her trailing blazing adventures and her impressive resilience in realising her lifelong dream. Shaw started her career as a scientist, then shifted gear to become a comedienne, to explore her love of drama. Then, following a moment of self-discovery, she realised that she’d lost her ability to “dream big”.  This eureka moment prompted Shaw to reassess and began her pursuit of her lifelong dream, to become an astronaut. A dream that she is now in the process of making a reality and she urged the audience, to never let go of their dream.

Relating this to future generations, she stated the importance for young minds to be inspired too. Shaw implored “You cannot be, what you cannot see”. An accompanying video underpinned this message showcasing Lottie dolls (from an Irish company) modelled on up and coming kids that are aspiring to “dream big” too.  One such doll, is modelled upon a young teenager called Taylor Richardson (also an aspiring astronaut) that comes equipped in its very own NASA space suit! This powerful anecdote, demonstrated to me the importance of role models for young people, (especially young girls) to inspire them to dream big!

Dr Shaw was followed by a presentation by the Trinity Walton Club to promote their exciting initiative, which is cultivating the STEMers of tomorrow. Every weekend, young members of the Walton Club visit Trinity College and are given the opportunity to discover the world of STEM, whilst Trinity’s STEM postgraduates are on hand to nurture their talent and provide invaluable mentorship.

The inspiration continued via a myriad of fierce speakers such as Dr. Sue Black OBE who challenged the audience to ‘scare’ themselves everyday, whilst Scissor Sisters Ana Matronic promoted embracing the age of the Robot!

 

Day 2 of Inspirefest continued this theme, describing the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Accenture’s chief strategist, Omar Abbosh asserted that AI has the potential to someday “download our brains to the cloud,” – to effectively immortalise us!

The role that disruption plays in the pursuit of innovation was a common topic raised amongst speakers, including Facebook’s Colin Graham, networking expert Kelly Hoey, conductor Eimear Noone and some phenomenal founders such Nora Khaldi,  Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh and Bart Weetjens.

A spirited discussion on the evolution of our working life also stressed the importance of continued intergenerational learning.

The enigmatic self-professed ‘dirty hacker’, Tara Wheeler held the Bord Gáis theatre in the palm of her hand, as she regaled us with tales from the front line of cyber security and her mission to “find the cracks in the world.”

Compelling stories and salient advice flowed freely throughout Inspirefest, and key takeaways for me were to feel the fear and do it anyway and to view everything as a lesson and an opportunity to grow.

A special congratulations must be extended to the young, Irish, entrepreneurial sisters from Izzy’s Wheels that presented their innovative designs for wheelchair users. This dynamic duo serve as role models to young people everywhere (and made me wonder what I’ve been doing with my 35 years on this planet!). The sisters received a rapturous applause and standing ovation from a truly inspired audience. (See https://www.izzywheels.com/)

The representation of female speakers at Inspirefest was a breath of fresh air (in stark contrast to male dominated conferences) and Ann O’Dea was the perfect Master of Ceremonies.

To conclude, Inspirefest gave me an energizing jolt of inspiration and a renewed sense of what’s possible …so thank you to gd.ie and Network in Play for the opportunity to attend this one of a kind inspirational event. I hope that with my renewed inspiration – I can be, what I saw!

Bio: Katherine is a communications professional who has over 10 years events industry experience. She is currently studying her Masters in Management Operations online at DCU. She describes herself as an ‘entrepreneur in training’ and is an avid tweeter supporting #womenintech and an advocate to #changetheratio Tweet her @dubkatt

 

Dearbháil Ní Chúirc

The Bord Gáis Energy Theatre was already bustling by 8 o’clock on the first morning of Inspirefest 2017 as crowds of professionals, entrepreneurs and students congregated around the booths that had popped up around the theatre’s foyer area. Companies such as Hays, Nokia Bell Labs, Dropbox and even a virtual reality set-up by Facebook’s Accenture were showcasing their products and organisations. This was all before the opening remarks had begun and a precedent was set for the next two days.

As a social science student who came to Inspirefest with an interest in technology, gaming and gender, the event was honestly inspiring.

Listening to the experiences of these women, such Dr. France Córdova, Dr. Keri Kukral and Dr. Niamh Shaw provided not only an in-depth perspective on entering the field of science, but they also offered strong encouragement for those seeking to do the same. Other speakers such as Dr. Arlene O’Neill and Dr. Lisa Looney discussed in detail the drive women have entering STEM fields and the importance of diversity within these spaces.

There were other speakers, such as Rhianna Prachett and Brenda Romero, who discussed storytelling within video games, whilst also providing further insight into the experience of women working not only within the game development process but also the process of writing female characters within these narratives. This inspirational encouragement that the speakers at Inspirefest fostered this year remained a constant theme throughout the talks, alongside another constant drive to offer as many diverse perspectives as possible.

 

Pic: Brenda Romero interviews Rhianna Pratchett. Pic by Dearbháil

Diversity was not only in terms of the number of female presenters. Speakers such as Dr. Sue Black discussed her struggles as a single mother entering into the computer science field. John Romero, famous game designer and programmer, also talked about his working class background and getting into game development as a young adult. Arlan Hamilton was another speaker of interest, who discussed her experience as a venture capital fund manager as an African American LGBT+ woman. Suffice to say, not only did the speakers offer a multifaceted perspective on the different array of STEM fields in relation to gender, but also relation to social class and ethnicity.

Attending Inspirefest 2017 offered me the opportunity to explore the directions in which the video game industry, general science, computer science and entrepreneurship within these fields are progressing in today’s world. The conference also offered a diverse, vast range of speakers that, over two days, expressed their passion for their fields and their drive in their work, which was incredibly inspirational, even as someone who operates outside of these fields.

The stories I have heard from Inspirefest will be taken to heart in any of my future endeavours to explore not only the spaces these people occupy within STEM fields, but also to understand the people who are driven to thrive in these spaces to begin with.

Bio: Dearbháil Ní Chúirc is a Maynooth University graduate with both a BA and MA degree in Sociology (Internet and Society, 2017). Her research focuses on the internet and technology in relation to society. Her recent postgraduate thesis for the MA explored gender construction within e-sports and competitive video game spaces. Follow her on twitter: @dnichuirc LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/2xqjG60

Well done to both of our winners.

Keep an eye on gd.ie for more diversity related events, workshops and advocacy in 2017/18 from our Network in Play project.

For more on Inspirefest see https://inspirefest.com/

 

 

The Danger Games is released.

THE DANGER MOUSE APP ‘THE DANGER GAMES’ IS HERE
World’s greatest secret agent undertakes a new digital mission

Devotees of Danger Mouse can get their hands on ‘The Danger Games’, the brand new app dedicated to the world’s greatest secret agent and developed by 9th Impact in Galway, Ireland.

Available globally on the App Store and Google Play from Wednesday 23rd August, The Danger Games app takes fans on a mission-busting journey allowing them to play as their favourite characters including DM, Penfold, Colonel K, Baron Greenback and more.

Based on the episode Quark Games, this epic multiplayer race battle and trading card game enables users to interact with DM on multiple levels plus you can battle real players from all over the world– shrink them with a Shrinkatizer, stun them with a Carrot Rocket, throw Milk Bombs at them or cover the track behind you in Jam.

The app was unveiled to the public last week at Gamescom in Germany.

Danger Mouse blasted back onto CBBC in 2015 and became an immediate hit on the channel.

The animated comedy action series follows the adventures of the eponymous secret agent and his ever faithful sidekick Penfold as they engage in all manner of mind-blowing missions aided, abetted and aggravated by a menagerie of old and new allies and adversaries.

‎Danger Mouse: TDG
‎Danger Mouse: TDG
Download QR-Code
‎Danger Mouse: TDG
Developer: 9th Impact
Price: Free+
Danger Mouse: The Danger Games
Danger Mouse: The Danger Games
Download QR-Code
Danger Mouse: The Danger Games
Developer: 9th Impact
Price: Free+

Animation and VFX Graduate Traineeships 2017

Screen Training Ireland and Animation Skillnet are currently seeking applicants for the third iteration of their hugely successful graduate Traineeship Programme for Animation and VFX.

Start Date: Monday 16th October 2017

End Date: Friday 30th March 2018

Deadline for applications: Friday 8th September 2017.

Interviews in September with Final Selection on Friday 6th October 2017.

See information on the call and how to apply see the webpage below:

ANIMATION and VFX GRADUATE TRAINEESHIP 2017-2018 Call for Applications

 

Animation Skillnet
http://animationskillnet.ie/
https://twitter.com/AniSkillnet
https://www.facebook.com/animationskillnet

Two companies win Creative Europe MEDIA funding

Congratulations to Tribal City Interactive and Pewter Games Studios on their Creative Europe MEDIA Video Games 2017 funding awards!

Tribal City Interactive received €115,000 to help develop their project, Tir Anann. Pewter Games Studios were awarded €150,000 for their game, Athanasia.

In total 32 European Video Games were selected for a total amount of €3,729,550.

Since 2013, three Irish game companies have received €435,000 in funding awards – Tribal City Interactive (2 awards); Story Toys; and Pewter Games Studios.

The next call for the Video Games Development scheme will be announced in the Autumn with a deadline expected in February or March 2018.

For more see http://www.creativeeuropeireland.eu/media/funding/production/development-of-video-games

Congrats!

2017 Imirt Board elections – call for nominees

The 2017 board elections for Imirt, the Irish Game Maker’s Association, will happen in September.

There will be four seats available for nominees to fill (it was three last year). Being on the board of Imirt means you steer the agenda and implement the goals of the organisation.

To become a nominee you simply need to be a member of Imirt and e-mail contact@imirt.ie expressing an interest (i.e. you self nominate).

We will then ask for your bio, goals, and optional photo to put on the Imirt website in the run up to the elections.

If you have any other questions or suggestions see http://www.imirt.ie/news/2017/7/31/2017-board-elections-call-for-nominees

ShipItCon 2017 & Diversity

ShipItCon 2017 takes place on August the 25th in the Mansion House in Dublin.

ShipItCon is a conference about shipping software safely, and delivering value through rapid feedback cycles. We’ve got speakers from different size companies talking about how they ship their products, and about how they provide customers value through delivering often.

Talks range from technical deep dives to shipping philosophy to QA practices, all with the focus on creating higher value through frequent small deliveries.

This is a non-profit event, organised by volunteers and any remaining funds will be donated to a local charity.

For details of our Keynotes, speakers and other news check us out on Twitter @shipitcon or at http://shipitcon.com/

In addition, the goal is to create a safe, diverse and inclusive environment for all. As well as their Code of Conduct http://shipitcon.com/code-of-conduct/  they are offering a “Diversity and Inclusion” discount. Contact the organisers if you would like to hear more and if you think you might qualify.

If you are from an under-represented group in the tech industry but would love to learn more about shipping code then please join us and help #ChangeTheRatio

ShipItCon’s Platinum sponsors are Demonware, DIGIT Game Studios, Workday and Dynatrace. The full list of sponsors for the event can be found at http://shipitcon.com/sponsors/

See their event page at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shipitcon-2017-tickets-33376944339?aff=eac2

TouchPress (Dublin) Multiple Roles

 

 

Image result for touchpress

TouchPress Inc, (formerly StoryToys)  make educational apps for children and are looking for candidates for multiple roles.

The company which is behind the hugely successful My Very Hungry Caterpillar franchise is based in Trinity Street, Dublin.

The vacancies are for:

*Build Engineer
*UNITY Engineer
*Full Stack Senior Developer
*Graphic Designer/Art Director
*Project Manager

These vacancies are full time.

For more info and to apply go to: https://www.touchpress.com/careers/

 

FreemantleMedia & 9th Impact Sign Danger Mouse App Deal

FreemantleMedia Kids & Family has announced today that it has signed a deal with award-winning Irish studio 9th Impact to produce a Danger Mouse licensed app.

The Danger Games app will be available globally on App Store and Google Play Store this summer. Taking the episode Quark Games as its inspiration, The Danger Games app takes fans on a mission-busting journey which allows users to interact with the World’s greatest secret agent on multiple levels.

Ahead of its anticipated release, the app will be unveiled to the public this August at Gamescom in Germany.

Danger Mouse burst back on to CBBC in 2015, the high-octane comedy animation follows the adventures of the eponymous secret agent and his ever faithful sidekick Penfold as they engage in all manner of mind-blowing missions aided, abetted and aggravated by a menagerie of old and new allies and adversaries.

Tessa Moore, SVP Global Brand Management FremantleMedia Kids & Family said: “With the second series of Danger Mouse back on CBBC screens this year, we are thrilled to be working with 9thImpact on this exciting new digital partnership. We hope consumers will have as much fun interacting with these innovative games as they have watching the show.”

9th Impact is an award-winning game development studio based in Galway, Ireland. With a workforce of, Irish artists, French animators, German and Irish engineers developing mobile games in partnership with other artists, studios or rights owners.

Finn Krewer, Head of Development at 9th Impact said: “Our team are all huge fans of Danger Mouse and our mission is to make a game that our fellow fans of the show young and old will love. We’ll be releasing snapshots of the game as it develops on the game’s website and social media.”

To celebrate today’s announcement, consumers can get their hands on a free sticker pack full of characters from the world of Danger Mouse exclusively for iMessage users available on the App Store.  Link to iMessage Stickers: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/danger-mouse-stickers/id1197019341

See http://9thimpact.com/ 

The Little Acre now out on iTunes

The Little Acre is now out on iPad and iPhone.

The Little Acre follows the story of Aidan and his daughter, Lily, set in 1950’s Ireland. After discovering clues as to the whereabouts of his missing father, Aidan begins investigating until he inadvertently finds himself transported to a strange new world. Ever the hero, Lily sets off after him, encountering her own perils along the way. Featuring full voice-acting and hand-drawn animation, The Little Acre is a memorable, lovingly crafted adventure game.

The Little Acre is developed by Pewter Games, alongside Executive Producer Charles Cecil (Broken Sword, Beneath a Steel Sky).

Well done all!

Features:

-Two playable characters
-Traditional hand-drawn animation
-Unique perspective transitions
-Beautiful original score
-Fully voice acted
-Text Available in English, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.

 

‎The Little Acre
‎The Little Acre
Download QR-Code
‎The Little Acre
Developer: Pewter Games
Price: €2.99

 

Inspirefest Family Fringe – GameCraft Unplugged

GameCraftThis year’s Inspirefest 2017 will again include a range of Family Fringe events.

Hosted at Accenture’s The Dock building on 8 July, the free event is set to have some of Ireland’s most exciting workshops for kids, allowing them to create whatever they like, from board games to their own soft robots. Familiar faces from gamedevelopers.ie, GameCraft and Coding Grace will be involved along with a host of others.

Gamedevelopers.ie and GameCraft will be collaborating with Inspirefest to run two workshops  that allow children who love board games (and their parents) to put their good ideas to work and create their very own games, with GameCraft UnPlugged providing all the necessary tools.

Each game session will be 1.5 hours each, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Materials are provided on the day to make your crazy game, you don’t need to bring anything but you and your family. Come along, say hello or join in.

DSC_0126

Attendance is free but you must register in advance via eventbrite –https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/inspirefest-family-fringe-accenture-the-dock-8-july-tickets-34921355715

Senior Unity Developer role Dublin City

At Kitman Labs, we want to revolutionise preventative health and optimise performance. We’re doing that by building software that enables world class sports teams to perform at the peak of their abilities. Our clients are elite professional and international squads in sports like rugby, soccer, American football, baseball and basketball.

About the Job

At Kitman Labs, we’re focused on helping our customers collect data in real time and turning it into actionable insights that they can use to reduce the risk of injury and optimise the performance of their athletes.

Our computer vision tools allow customers to perform efficient and accurate biomechanical screenings using consumer technologies like the Microsoft Kinect. We’re looking for Unity developers to join the team and help us develop those tools and provide an amazing user experience. The ideal candidate should enjoy writing clean, efficient, and tested code for a shared codebase.

We expect each engineer to help define what their priorities should be, but some projects we imagine you working on would include:

  • Research and prototype new techniques to improve the accuracy of the data we collect
  • Developing new user interfaces for screening large numbers of users
  • Work closely with our product and design teams to create new computer vision tools

REQUIREMENTS

Skills you definitely have

  • A minimum of three years experience in Unity3d
  • At least one shipped Unity3d project
  • Experience working in a team environment
  • Experience with source control systems such as Git, SVN or Mercurial

Skills that will help, but aren’t a requirement

  • Experience using Microsoft Kinect
  • Experience creating 2D and 3D assets
  • Experience developing with the Unity SDK for Windows Store
  • Experience with automated testing of Unity applications

Contact wendy@kitmanlabs.com for more information.

Win Student tickets to Inspirefest 2017

inspirefest logo-2017

Many of you will know that the Inspirefest conference is coming up in early July. The main conference runs from July 6th & 7th in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin’s Silicon Docks.

We like their focus on diversity and inclusion which is in line with the ethos of gamedevelopers.ie and of our Network in Play project.

We have two student tickets worth €95 euros each to give away in advance to this important networking and knowledge sharing event.  Tickets give entrance to the full conference progamme and to Fringe festival July 6th – 8th, with live music, spoken word, international theatre premieres, art exhibitions, coding workshops and much more.

In order to enter you must:

*Write up to 400 words max on what diversity means to you and why attending Inspirefest could be useful for you.
*include a 1oo word biography for yourself
*include a scan of your student card – you should be registered and attending a post-secondary college course (university, IT or private college course)
*We also ask that you write a 350 word blog post after the conference about your experience which we will post on gamedevelopers.ie after the event

Closing Date is Friday the 30th of June at 18.00.

Send your entries to news@gamedevelopers.ie with Inspirefest competition in the subject header.

The winners will be announced on Tues the 4th of July.

You should be able to meet Aphra from gd.ie at the venue on the first day to get your tickets and gain entry.

For more on Inspirefest see https://inspirefest.com/

For more on the Network in Play project see https://gamedevelopers.ie/diversity/

 

Boon is seeking a 2D art intern (Dublin)

2D GENERALIST INTERN – GAME ARTIST/ANIMATOR

Boon is seeking an awesome 2D Generalist to join us for a 6-month internship starting mid-June. This is an excellent opportunity to learn from the super talented Boon art team.

The position is unpaid but travelling expenses will be paid. It is located just off Merrion Square in Dublin 2.

Key qualities we’re looking for:

  • Outstanding artistic abilities demonstrated with portfolio.
  • Knowledge of adobe suite or equivalent

Nice to have

  • Spine experience
  • Any 3D experience

Other Qualities

  • Display high standards, good attention to detail and a methodical work process.
  • The ideal candidate should have an ability to work effectively in a small team.

To Apply

You will need to send us a portfolio showcasing clear examples of your 2D skills. We’re looking for high potential!

Send us an e-mail at jobs@boon.ie and check out our website for more info http://www.boon.ie

Imirt Inspire – an evening of talks, June 28th (Dublin)

Wed June 28th 5pm – 7:30pm
Neill Theatre, Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin

Imirt, the Irish Game Makers Association is proud to present an evening of talks about game design and culture on June 28th from 5pm to 7:30pm.

The event is in collaboration with the MSc in Interactive Digital Media in Trinity College Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute. We have been able to bring two excellent international speakers to Dublin thanks to support from Enterprise Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen.

The event is free but space is limited so please reserve a ticket here:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/imirt-inspire-tickets-35342979804

Elizabeth LaPensée

‘Game Mechanics as Cultural Expression’

Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph.D. is an award-winning writer, designer, and artist of games, comics, transmedia, and animation. She is Anishinaabe, Métis, and Irish, living near the Great Lakes as an Assistant Professor of Media & Information and Writing, Rhetoric & American Cultures at Michigan State University. Most recently, she designed and created art for Manoominike (2016), a motion game about practices of wild ricing, as well as Honour Water (2016), an Anishinaabe singing game for healing the waters.

Christopher Floyd

‘Interview: Building Games Communities’

Christopher has worked all over the video game industry and its various sectors, including production and press, including several years at Indie MEGABOOTH, growing the company from just two domestic events per year, to over six international showcases in USA, Europe, and Asia. In his spare time, Christopher has organized Dota 2 eSports tournament ‘The Rektreational’, and is an active member of Seattle Indies. He currently runs a co-working office for game developers in Seattle, Indies Workshop.

Imirt 2016 Irish Game Awards presentation

Awards for the inaugural Imirt Irish Game Awards will be handed out in a short presentation.

Brenda Romero, chairperson of IMIRT, was excited to see the results of this year’s competition. “We had a wide variety of entrants from across the sector, including solo independent developers, students and professional development teams,” said Romero. “ It was genuinely a pleasure to see the variety and quality of games being created in Ireland.”

With thanks to:

Source: http://www.imirt.ie/news/2017/6/12/imirt-inspire-an-evening-of-talks-on-june-28th

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Black Shamrock Expanding – Multiple Development Roles (Dublin)

Black Shamrock is a fast growing game developer based in Dublin city centre. We are passionate about developing (and playing) truly awesome, world class games – and we need your help make them!

We are developing Action-RPG and strategy titles for PC / PS4 / XboxOne, for several fantastic and established game IPs. Our headline title which we are working on is the popular World of Darkness RPG, Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

The studio is managed by game industry veterans and backed by an established publisher/developer with a very successful track record over the last 15 years.

We are expanding and now hiring intern, junior and senior staff in multiple roles…

…and we want to hear from YOU!

-AI programmers
-Gameplay programmers
-GUI and VFX programmers
-Tools programmers
-2D & 3D Artists
-3D Animators

To apply, check our website www.black-shamrock.com and send CV and application letter to: job@black-shamrock.com

Bookings open for 7th Irish Conference on Game-Based Learning (Cork)

igbl

The forthcoming 7th Irish Conference on Game-Based Learning (iGBL2017) will be be hosted by in Cork this year on 22nd and 23rd June 2017, and bookings are now open.

iGBL provides a forum for all stakeholders interested in exchanging ideas, projects, and best practice on the use of games and game-based approaches to support motivation, learning, and change.

Researchers will be able to present and share their latest findings. Students will have an opportunity to present their work, showcase their games, meet specialists in this field and obtain feedback. Instructors will have the opportunity to discover new ideas and learn and share new game-based skills that they can integrate in their teaching. Companies will be able to showcase their products and explain how these can be used in the context of learning and motivation. The conference includes a mix of academic presentations, practical workshops, digital and non-digital games demos, along with plenty of opportunities to network.

This year, more than 70 authors (e.g., teachers, researchers, and students) will be presenting their work and developments on games and learning through 31 presentations (e.g., workshops, game demos, and research and practitioners’ presentations). See http://www.igbl-conference.com/authors/

So, this promises to be a very interesting programme, and you can now register your place :

*Students: €49
*Regular: €99

The registration fees cover entry to all events during iGBL2017 (i.e. presentations or workshops), a conference pack, light refreshments and a lunch. The fee does not include the cost of accommodation or evening meals.

So, if you are enthusiastic about games and would like to share your experience or meet like-minded people, then iGBL2017 will be a great event to attend, and you can book your place now at – http://www.igbl-conference.com/registration/

Inspirefest 2017 – AI, robotics & games meet Diversity

Last week saw the official launch of the Inspirefest 2017 Programme in Grand Canal Square, with an array of speakers announced from as far afield as Silicon Valley, New York, the UK, France, Australia and Africa. Gamedevelopers.ie popped along to see what was happening.

Themes this year will vary from Blockchain, Fintech and Medtech, to Infosecurity, A.I., Robotics, and Games as well the Future of Work and STEM pedagogy for a new landscape.

Games – so what might be involved here?.

We know last year Brenda Romero spoke – see her talk here –

 

In fact this year Brenda is back but she is joined in a panel by Rhianna Pratchett, lead writer, Tomb Raider and Eimear Noone, composer and conductor, World of Warcraft. Since she spoke last year of course Brenda has become a BAFTA award winner for her contributions to the games industry and games education.

In non games related talks – Inspirefest will welcome over 50 speakers from 15 countries on July 6th and 7th, with keynote speakers including the President and CTO of Nokia Bell Labs, Marcus Weldon; Silicon Valley icon and venture capital partner Ellen Pao; Games leader, Rhianna Pratchett of Tomb Raider fame; the head of the US National Science Foundation, Dr France Córdova; and Chief Strategy Officer for Accenture, Omar Abbosh.

Another intriguing inclusion will see Other Voices founder Philip King teaming up with engineers from Nokia Bell Labs to create a special performance to close the first day of the conference at the Bord gais Energy Theatre, while Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters fame will offer her unique view on Robotics.

Inspirefest 2017 will take place from July 6th – 8th 2017, in the Dublin docklands. This unique international conference and festival of technology, science, design and the arts, has diversity and inclusion at its core.

In its third year, each evening the event will be topped off with a Fringe festival of banter, music and culture, hosted in Facebook (Thurs) and Airbnb (Fri), while the popular Family Fringe event returns on Saturday July 8 with exhibitions and workshops from Space exploration to coding and a mini Dublin Maker, at The Dock, Accenture’s multi-disciplinary research and incubation hub at 7 Hanover Quay.

gamedevelopers.ie is also happy to collaborate once again in the fringe event and will be working with partners to run a family friendly games unplugged event which this year will take place in Grand Canal Dock on Sat 8th of July. More soon at http://inspirefest.com/fringe/

*** NO REPRODUCTION FEE *** DUBLIN : 26/5/2017 : Inspirefest 2017 Programme Officially Launches in Dublin’s Grand Canal Square. Last night saw the official launch of the Inspirefest 2017 Programme in Grand Canal Square, with an array of speakers announced from as far afield as Silicon Valley, New York, the UK, France, Australia and Africa. Themes this year will vary from Blockchain, Fintech and Medtech, to Infosecurity, A.I., Robotics, and Games as well the Future of Work and STEM pedagogy for a new landscape. Inspirefest will welcome over 50 speakers from 15 countries on July 6th and 7th, with keynote speakers including the President and CTO of Nokia Bell Labs, Marcus Weldon; Silicon Valley icon and venture capital partner Ellen Pao; Games leader, Rhianna Pratchett of Tomb Raider fame; the head of the US National Science Foundation, Dr France Córdova; and Global Strategy Officer for Accenture, Omar Abbosh. Again this year, the collision of technology and the arts will also be tackled with Other Voices founder Philip King teaming up with engineers from Nokia Bell Labs to create a special performance to close the first day of the conference at the Bord gais Energy Theatre, while Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters fame will offer her unique view on Robotics. Some 3,000 people are expected over three days, and headline sponsors this year are Accenture and Bank of Ireland, with other organisations involved including Facebook, Dropbox, Intel, Nokia Bell Labs, Deutsche Bank, IDA, EI, SFI, IRC and Dublin City University. Pictured at the launch of Inspirefest 2017 Programme were Michelle Cullen, Managing Director and Head of Diversity at Accenture, Ann O’Dea, Founder of Inspirefest and David Tighe, Head of Innovation at Bank of Ireland. Picture Conor McCabe Photography. MEDIA CONTACT : john@mkc.ie

Pictured at the launch of Inspirefest 2017 Programme were Michelle Cullen, Managing Director and Head of Diversity at Accenture, Ann O’Dea, Founder of Inspirefest and David Tighe, Head of Innovation at Bank of Ireland. Picture Conor McCabe

There are a number of ways to get involved:

Buy a ticket (early bird ends May 31st!)  – http://inspirefest.com/#tickets

Volunteer – http://inspirefest.com/volunteer-application-form/

Are you researching a technology related topic currently? Enter the research communication competition – deadline 2nd of June – https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/researchfest-2017-deadline-extended 

 

 

3D4Medical seeks 3D Animator/Rigger (Dublin)

3D4Medical_Job

(Not quite a games company.), but 3D4Medical are looking for a 3D animator/rigger.

The perfect candidate will be given the opportunity to work in a vibrant workplace to develop ideas and help build products which transform how students learn. We are looking for someone with expert ability in both 3D animation and rigging. Collaborating with in-house and outsourced artists, as well as a Medical team you will help create high quality medical animations for our award winning products and help us push the quality found within the industry.

​​Duties and responsibilities:

*​​Design, maintain and improve on complex riggs for realtime animation of bones, muscles and connectives for our award winning application Complete Anatomy.
*​​Understand and animate anatomically accurate movement of bones, muscles and connectives.
​​*Troubleshoot problems with rigs and animations for a proprietary engine.

​​Requirements:

​​*3 years experience with 3D Studio Max rigging and animation.
*​​A solid understanding of human anatomy and motion.
​​*A tidy and methodical work ethic.
*​​Able to manage time effectively within a deadline sensitive environment.
*​​Able to process and apply feedback constructively.


​​Bonus Skills:


​​*Understanding of Maxscript or Python.
​​*Interest in body mechanics and Science.
*​​Experience with realtime engine workflow.

​​Location:

*The Grange Offices, Stillorgan Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin

​​Please apply through the 3D4Medical careers page – https://3d4medical.com/about/careers 

 

Imirt Inspire Interview 15: Anya Combs

The Imirt Inspire Interview series features inspirational members of the international game development community talking to Irish game creators.

The next interview will be with Anya Combs. It will be streamed on Thursday June 8th, 3:00pm Irish time.

ANYA COMBS

Anya Combs is the Games Outreach Lead at Kickstarter, where she focuses on working with game creators. She has been active in the digital games space for nearly a decade, overseeing multiple mobile and online titles launched for Nickelodeon & Addicting Games. She is excited to continue supporting developers through the most widespread crowdfunding platform out there, as they bring their creative projects to life.

The Q&A will be streamed live on the Imirt twitch channel, and later added to the Imirt Inspire playlist on youtube.

WANT TO BECOME AN IMIRT MEMBER?

http://www.imirt.ie/join/

VIEW PREVIOUS INSPIRE VIDEOS

http://www.imirt.ie/inspire/

Source: http://www.imirt.ie/news/2017/5/24/imirt-inspire-interview-15-anya-combs

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Call for Speakers – Galways Games Gathering

galway-default

The Galway Games Gathering – An International Games Event on the Edge of Europe

Sept 19th/20th, Bailey Allen Hall

NUI Galway, Ireland

 

The Galway Games Gathering is taking place this coming September and they are looking for speakers.

The renowned John Romero and Eimear Noone are already on the list as key note speakers.

Apply to speak at http://www.galwaygamesgathering.com/page-speaker-submissions.html

Coming soon you will be able to apply to demo your game.

Programmer – Mobile Games (Dublin)

simteractive_logo

 

Job Title – Programmer – Mobile Games

Job Location – Dublin, Ireland

Job Type – Permanent

Job Salary – Negotiable depending on experience

 

Simteractive is seeking a talented, experienced and enthusiastic programmer to join their team and work on Eden Isle and future mobile games.

 

Responsibilities:

*Technical direction for an entire mobile game project
*Implementation of new gameplay systems
*Programming tasks across all areas of the game including AI, UI, GameSparks integration, Facebook integration, saving and loading systems, in-app purchases and in-game adverts
*Implementation of character animations, effects and art assets
*Optimisation, refactoring and bug fixing of existing game systems
*Maintain a high level of code quality
*Co-operate in the overall planning of projects
*Evaluation of third-party tools
*Technical design of new projects

Requirements:

*3+ years of relevant professional experience in a programming role including at least two shipped titles, ideally for mobile or tablet
*Excellent programming skills including knowledge of Unity3D and C#
*Strong understanding of the challenges presented by mobile platforms
*Confidence and experience with third-party tools such as GameSparks, Facebook API, NGUI, advertising, analytics and plugins
*Great communication skills and ability to work well with all disciplines
*Hard-working, focused, high degree of self-motivation and ability to solve problems independently
*A strong personal interest in creating fantastic simulation games for mobile devices
*A degree in computer science, game development or equivalent

 

We Offer:

*Technical ownership of an entire project
*Join a small, multicultural, friendly and dedicated team
*Bright offices in the very centre of Dublin
*A good work-life balance
*A chance to join a company in a key role at a very exciting stage

 

How to Apply:

To apply, please email hello@simteractive.com with a cover letter and CV by 22nd May 2017.

 

About Simteractive:

Simteractive is a Dublin-based mobile game studio specialising in creating simulation games. We are currently working on Eden Isle: Resort Paradise, which is in soft launch in Canada.

 

www.Simteractive.com

www.EdenIsleGame.com

www.Twitter.com/Simteractive

Lecturer/Lecturer below the bar in Game Development (Limerick)

UL logo

Lecturer/Lecturer below the bar in Game Development & Playable Media

 
The University of Limerick (UL) with over 13,000 students and 1,300 staff is an energetic and enterprising institution with a proud record of innovation and excellence in education, research and scholarship. The dynamic, entrepreneurial and pioneering values which drive UL’s mission and strategy ensures that we capitalise on local, national and international engagement and connectivity. We are renowned for providing an outstanding student experience and conducting leading edge research. Our commitment is to make a difference by shaping the future through educating and empowering our students. UL is situated on a superb riverside campus of over 130 hectares with the River Shannon as a unifying focal point. Outstanding recreational, cultural and sporting facilities further enhance this exceptional learning and research environment.

Faculty/Department: Science + Engineering/Computer Science & Information Systems

Title of Post: Lecturer/Lecturer below the bar in Game Development & Playable Media

Contract Type: Multiannual

Contract Type: Lecturer below the bar – Contract Type: Tenure Track (five year fixed term).

During the term of the contract the successful applicant will have the opportunity to apply for tenure in accordance with the University’s Policy and Procedures for Granting Multi-annual Status to Entry-level Academic Staff

Salary Scale: Lecturer – €51,159 – €79,146 p.a.

Salary Scale: Lecturer below the bar – €38,348 – €52,722 p.a.

Informal enquiries regarding the post may be directed to:
Prof Tiziana Margaria
Head
Department of Computer Science & Information Systems
University of Limerick
Email: tiziana.margaria@ul.ie

See https://cloud.corehr.com/pls/ulliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.display_form

 
Contact Person : Prof Tiziana Margaria Competition Type : Academic
Contact Email : tiziana.margaria@ul.ie Job ID : 022148
Contact Number : Close Date : 26-May-2017 12:00
Further Particulars :

Competitive Start Fund for Female Entrepreneurs – info event

Competitive Start Fund (CSF) for Female Entrepreneurs Open Evening in the Guinness Enterprise Centre (GEC) in Dublin on May 8th.

Enterprise Ireland’s €750,000 Competitive Start Fund (CSF) for Female Entrepreneurs will open for applications on Wednesday 3rd May and closes at 3pm on Wednesday 17th May. Equity funding of €50,000 is available to a maximum of 15 successful female applicants with early stage, female-led start-up companies. Last year, one in three companies that received CSF investment from Enterprise Ireland were female-led.

The purpose of this CSF is to accelerate the growth of female-led start-up companies that have the potential to develop an innovative product or service for sale on international markets, and the potential to create 10 jobs and €1m in sales within 3-4 years of starting up.  The fund is designed to accelerate ambitious females to reach their key commercial and technical milestones, build out and validate a scalable business proposition.

As well as securing up to €50k in funding, 10 of the successful applicants will also have the opportunity to participate in Enterprise Ireland’s INNOVATE programme delivered by Dublin Business Innovation Centre (BIC). The INNOVATE programme will increase the capabilities of the participants, moving them to investor-ready within a short period, and will be delivered over a 12-week period in the Guinness Enterprise Centre (GEC).

Please join us in the Guinness Enterprise Centre on Monday 8th May at 6pm where you can hear more details on the INNOVATE programme from Enterprise Ireland , Dublin BIC and GEC.

Please register here to attend this informative event!

Develop:Brighton – call for Indie games for showcase

develop Brighton

 

 

Develop:Brighton’s annual search for the next big thing in indie games dev is officially underway as submissions open for the seventh Indie Showcase competition sponsored by Unity.

The competition is totally free to enter and all 10 finalists will get the opportunity to show off their games to over 2,000 developers, publishers and media at Develop:Brighton. They’ll also receive a free conference pass for Wednesday and Thursday, pre-event publicity plus a profile on the event website.

Previous Showcase winners that have gone on to be successful include Gunpoint, That Dragon Cancer, Hue and Darklings which made it into the top-100 grossing games chart on iOS.

Entry to the Indie Showcase is FREE and is open to:

• Studios with no more than 15 people

• Studios – and games – that are non-publisher funded

• Games which are not published by a third party at the time of submission

• Games that have a development budget of less than £1 million

• Games that are created in the “indie spirit”

The deadline for submitting your game is 19 May 2017

Find out More

 

Eden Isle Updates

simteractive_logo

 

Simteractive quietly released Eden Isle in Canada, Belgium and the Philippines a little while ago. As with most mobile games, we released it in a few countries first so we can make sure everything is working perfectly before we release the game worldwide in the coming months. If you are in one of the countries where the game has been released, you can download it for free from the app store.

The second update came out on Wednesday. It’s a very exciting one because, along with bug fixes, shorter loading times, better visibility of your resort’s star rating and happier guests, it has some great new features.

There’s a new activity, the Peach Blossom Spa, which is one of my favourite things in the whole game. Like the scuba diving and swimming with dolphins, it’s an activity that you can develop at a particular site in the resort.

The game now has an opening cutscene, telling you about how you came to be running the resort. These have become very common in simulation games to help set the story. I think it’s good to show players what the game is about and what kind of long-term goals they have. In Eden Isle it’s about getting to a five star resort, developing the island from the state it’s in when you take it over, with weeds, dusty buildings and the ruins of previous activities and developing it into something you can be proud of, something you’ve built yourself that has your personal stamp on it.

We’ve also added in new animations for all the guests, the staff and the Huggable Tree. A big part of Eden Isle is the guest types and the characters and the special animations we’ve added enhance their personalities and they’re great fun. Different guest types react differently to the Huggable Tree. Look out for the different signs the male treehuggers take out and the different things that Chloe, the receptionist, does when she’s not working.

Some players were contacting us asking about how to raise the happiness of guests so we’ve added more information about this. Each accommodation building needs access to a suitable bar, shop and restaurant. When you select a business, you can now see which accommodation buildings it’s suitable for by the green icons that appear over the accommodation buildings. You can also select an accommodation building and see which of the three businesses it has access to.

Quite a few people have requested the ability to invite friends from within the game so that’s what we’re working on for the next update. We also have a few more exciting activities to add to the game but we’ll keep them under wraps for now.

We’re really keen to get feedback on the game so if you have any suggestions on what improvements you would like to see or if you are experiencing any issues with the game, just drop an email to hello@simteractive.com or you can message us through our Facebook page. There’s also the help and support page on the game’s website.

Happy resort building!

Elaine

[Gd.ie is cross posting this blog post from Simteractive’s website – See https://simteractive.com/2017/04/21/latest-eden-isle-update/]

Simteractive is a Dublin-based video game developer, specialising in casual sim games. Simteractive reimagines sim games for the current generation of free-to-play games on smartphones and tablets.

Beta Testers Wanted – Cork studio

halesoft_logo_480x320 (1)

Hi, we’re Halesoft, based in Cork in the south of Ireland. We make games as well as provide a long list of other web based services.  We just came out of the woodwork lately, sprung up in Cork a few months ago.  We’re a bunch of lads from varies backgrounds, mainly engineers who ticker about with game development outside of our day jobs.  It started as a hobby but quickly became an obsession.  Twas either this or philately.

Anyway we’re looking for some beta testers to help facilitate the initial features of one of our latest projects that we are working on for a British developer/publisher.  The game is called the Lost Legacy (for now) and it’s a physical 3d puzzler.  It has similar game mechanics to such titles as the room.

We’re looking for some feedback from tech experts in Ireland so figured this was the perfect area to reach out to like minded people.

So if you want to help us with our product testing and you have an android device try it out here in the play store Lost Legacy and feel free to throw some suggestions our way.

Lost Legacy: Demo
Lost Legacy: Demo
Download QR-Code
Lost Legacy: Demo
Developer: Unknown
Price: Free

See http://www.halesoft.ie/

Game Artist (Animator), Team Leader, QA (Dublin)

Based in Santry, Dublin, Ireland BetStone is a privately owned company with worldwide operations, developing platforms and games to the Server Based Gaming market.

At BetStone we work together with the best people who possess the energy to make a difference. The company taps into your enthusiasm by giving you the responsibility and authority to make decisions, as well as harnessing your energy through creative challenges. BetStone respects your abilities by giving you enough autonomy to work independently day to day, while also being part of the wider team in an environment where you can make a significant impact and be recognised for doing so.

We currently have three exciting new full time permanent roles available for outstanding individuals to join our talented team.

We’re looking for a passionate, innovative Game Artist to help create the next generation of online and land-based casino games. With 5+ years’ experience in design, illustration, animation and postproduction, your creative flair and excellent communication skills will bring new games to life.

We also need a Team Leader, to lead, inspire and manage one of the world’s most innovative game development teams. A great communicator with proven professional management experience in the software industry and a passion for maximising team collaboration and development, you’ll be driven to achieve successful outcomes for projects, review performance and solve problems.

And last, but by no means least, if you live for results we’ve got a world-class opportunity for a Quality Assurance professional specialising in software testing. Responsible for the planning, execution and completion of software testing, including quality of product, you will take responsibility for delivering practical results with concrete outputs and outcomes.

Please email joinourteam@betstone.com for more information.

See also http://www.betstone.com/en/home.html 

 

ShipItCon 2017 – tickets available

ShipItConLogo

 

ShipitCon is a community event for engineers involved in the building and deployment of software.

ShipItCon is being organised primarily by engineers and managers working within the games industry in Ireland including Demonware and Digit Game Studios.

This is a non-profit event, organised by volunteers and any remaining funds will be donated to a local charity.

Tickets are now on sale!

Early bird registration will end on April 30th. They also offer an unwaged ticket.

Speakers

Frederic Meyer

Frederic Meyer

Senior Director of Pipeline Engineering at Workday

Continuous Delivery @ Workday

Workday patches more than 1000 customers every Friday night, for the last 10 years. It takes a good code Pipeline, and a lot of automation to make this possible. I’ll cover tools, processes, challenges and ideas related to Continuous Delivery @ Workday.

 

Eric Maxwell

Eric Maxwell

Success Engineer at Chef Software

The Looming Complexity Crisis

Join me as I tell you the story of Jane, a rockstar developer with a great idea that could breathe new life into her company! That is, if she doesn’t table-flip trying to figure out HOW and WHERE to deploy her great idea. Cloud? PasS? Docker? Follow Jane as she descends into the fiery depths of infrastructure-complexity hell. If only a Habitat plan.sh could come together to save the day…

 

Jacopo Scrinzi

Jacopo Scrinzi

Product Engineer at Intercom

What I wish I had known before moving to Infrastructure As Code

Not long ago, the infrastructure at Intercom was entirely handcrafted. Provisioning would mainly rely on ops, making the process painful, risky and slow. With our rapid growth, this quickly became unsustainable. To address this, we decided to investigate Infrastructure As Code using Terraform, with the end goal of giving Product Engineers the ability to safely and easily make changes to our infrastructure. In an uncharted territory with many questions and unknowns, changing the way we provision is not an easy task. This gave us the opportunity to explore different approaches and determine what Infrastructure as Code means for us. In this talk, we will cover: How we’ve set our requirements, why we picked Terraform, the challenges, mistakes and lessons learned, our vision and future plans for this ongoing project.

 

Eugene Kenny

Eugene Kenny

Ops Engineer at Intercom

Deep dive on how Intercom ships code to production 100 times a day

Intercom has practiced Continuous Delivery since the very early days of the company. This has meant that our engineering culture and practices have evolved around, and heavily rely upon, our build and deployment infrastructure. With the rapid growth we’ve experienced over the last few years, maintaining and improving these systems has been critical to keeping our ability to move fast and iterate quickly. This talk will cover the evolution of Intercom’s internal deployment system, Muster, as our engineering organisation has grown from 4 people hacking on a Rails app to a team of almost 100 working on multiple applications in a constellation of languages and frameworks.

 

Book and reserve tickets at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/shipitcon-2017-tickets-33376944339

Gambrinous X 2 positions (Dublin/remote)

guild of dungeoneering

 

As metioned at State of Play last week Gambrinous are looking to hire two people to work on their next game: a Game Designer and a Writer. This is a chance to join the award winning games studio Gambrinous as they embark on their second game making adventure.

The ideal person for the Game Designer position would

  • love creating engaging, elegant systems that are a joy to play, learn and master
  • have a deep interest in board games and card games and what makes them tick
  • be keen to apply board & card game mechanics to a digital game
  • have a portfolio of previous games or prototypes they have built
  • enjoy working in a small team where everyone’s effort makes a big difference

The ideal person for the Writer position would

  • be able to absolutely nail character and dialogue
  • deliver branching interactive narrative with humour and charm
  • have a knowledge and passion for 80s and 90s toys, games and pop culture
  • have previous creative writing experience – not necessarily in gaming
  • work autonomously to deadlines
  • be happy to absorb ideas from all team members – we’re sharers

We are based in Dublin, Ireland but are also willing to talk about working remotely with the right person.

Interested? Great! Drop us an email (jobs@gambrinous.com) and tell us about yourself. We would also love to see some of your previous work and get an idea of your salary expectations.

Thank you!
Colm Larkin

About Gambrinous

Gambrinous is an independent game studio based in Dublin, Ireland. We make digital games inspired by the wonder of tabletop & board games. Our first title Guild of Dungeoneering was released for PC in July 2015 to much acclaim and has since seen two expansions and been ported to iOS & Android.

Posted April 2017

 

Assist Lecturer in Computing Games Dev (Dundalk)

ASSISTANT LECTURER IN COMPUTING GAMES DEVELOPMENT (FIXED TERM CAREER BREAK)

DESCRIPTION

Qualifications:

Applicants must hold a primary honours degree in a relevant discipline and ideally have a postgraduate qualification of at least Masters level and have a minimum of three years¿ post qualification experience. A relevant PhD and/or relevant industry experience is of advantage.

Applicants should have expertise in the following areas:

  • Java, C++ and C#.
  • Web Development (XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.).
  • 2D and 3D graphics engine development in DirectX, OpenGL, WebGL, or XNA;
  • Unreal or Unity Engine;
  • 3D content in 3DS Max or Maya;
  • Game development lifecycle and Agile development;
  • Cloud based software repositories (e.g. Bitbucket).
  • Web Development (XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.).

The appointee will be expected to contribute to teaching and supervision at undergraduate and postgraduate level across a range of areas within the Computing discipline.

Salary Scale: Assistant Lecturer €36,743 – €50,487 (10 points) per annum

See full description at  https://my.corehr.com/pls/dkitrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.display_form 

Application forms may be accessed on the DKIT on-line e-Recruitment system.No other form of application will be accepted. Further information is available on the Institute website www.dkit.ie, IrishJobs.ie and PublicJobs.ie.

Late applications are not accepted.

All interviews for the post of Assistant Lecturer in Computing will be held face-to-face with no remote interviews being facilitated.

Dundalk Institute of Technology is an Equal Opportunities Employer

Posted April 10th, 2017.

BAFTA Special Award for Brenda Romero

Brenda

We are delighted to hear that BAFTA has announced that it will honour Brenda Romero with its Special Award during next week’s (Thurs the 6th of April) ceremony in London.

The accolade recognises not only her creative contribution to the games industry, but also her advocacy of the creative process and the work she has done in encouraging a new generation of game makers.

Brenda Romero said: “I am first and foremost grateful to BAFTA for recognising the artistic potential and power of games. This recognition is culturally critical for games overall. So for that, I am profoundly thankful. As for me? Genuinely, I am still in a state of shock, having been chosen. I’ve devoted my life to games – making them, teaching them, playing them – and to receive any honour from the community is incredible. But a BAFTA? It’s well beyond anything else.”

People in Ireland will be very familiar with Brenda’s work and Romero Games in now based in Galway, Ireland and Brenda is active with Imirt, the Irish Game Makers Association. There is a nice pic of the staff of Romero games on gamesindustry.biz here, with some familiar faces. We look forward to hearing more about their latest project.

On the night, the ceremony will be streamed live at twitch.tv/bafta.

BAFTA’s website will feature highlights, photography and winners’ interviews, as well as dedicated coverage on its social networks including Facebook (/BAFTA), Twitter (@BAFTAGames / #BAFTAGames), Instagram and Snapchat.

We recently announced that Brenda will also be teaching and directing the new MSc in Game Design and Development at the University of Limerick from Autumn 2017.

Full press release here.

Well done!

Updated: State of Play 2017 – Talks & Expo, 5th April

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State of Play is Ireland’s premier Independent Game Maker Event hosted by the School of Media in the Dublin Institute of Technology, in conjunction with IMIRT, the Irish Game Makers association. This year it will take place on Wed the 5th of April.

From 18.30 there will be an exciting and eclectic mix of inspirational international & Irish Guest Speakers.

This will be followed by the ‘After Party’ which will take place once again on the Rooftop Bar in Odessa.

 

 

 

Speakers

Keynote this year will be the world renowned game maker Brenda Romero., who now lives and works in Ireland.

 

Other speakers have been confirmed for the night and you can see the full list at http://www.stateofplay.ie/

Tickets for Talks.

Check out https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/state-of-play-2017-irish-game-maker-expo-and-talks-sop17-tickets-32256399760?aff=efbevent for tickets for the evening event.

NOTE: The EXPO  which takes place earlier in the day (1-5pm) is free. It is only the evening talks that you need a ticket for. If you wish to register to demonstrate at the EXPO or as a speaker please visit www.stateofplay.ie for more details. The EXPO will see developers, students and industry professionals demonstrating their work.

 

 

 

 

Call for Chapters: Contemporary Media Art in Ireland

For those who like to write about games this might be of interest (gd.ie).

“Submissions are invited for a collection of essays provisionally entitled, Contemporary Media Art in Ireland. This will be a volume of essays that provides a detailed account of born-digital art in an Irish context.

For the purposes of this collection, “Irish” is considered in the broadest and most inclusive sense, and suitable artists and/or works should simply demonstrate some significant connection to the island and/or relevant subject matters. “Contemporary media art” is an equally inclusive term, and includes any form of artistic practice that is rendered on a screen of any type: electronic literature, video games, film, interactive performances, or any other type of experimental screen fiction or multimodal production.

Artists and practitioners are welcome to discuss their own contributions, though all submissions need to be presented in a scholarly fashion using an appropriate critical framework.

Proposals

Proposals for 6,000-word chapters should be sent to j.c.osullivan@sheffield.ac.uk by June 1st.

Proposals should be approximately 300-500 words in length, and give a clear indication of the proposed chapter’s content and significance. A biographical note should also be included.

Publisher

A number of academic presses have expressed interest in this manuscript, so a draft will now be prepared. All submissions will be peer-reviewed by the publisher.

Editor

James O’Sullivan is the Digital Humanities Research Associate at the University of Sheffield. His work has been published in a variety of interdisciplinary journals, including Digital Humanities Quarterly, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, and Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures. He edited Reading Modernism with Machines (Palgrave MacMillan 2016) alongside Shawna Ross. He is also a published poet, and the founder of New Binary Press.”

See also http://josullivan.org/call-for-chapters-contemporary-media-art-in-ireland/ 

Q-Con XXIV

q-con xxiv - web logo

Now in its 24th year, Q-Con takes place annually in Queen’s University Belfast Students’ Union, and is a weekend long celebration of everything gaming and anime related, from eSports and Tabletop, to Cosplay and Movie Screens.  Major events already confirmed to make a welcome comeback in 2017 include The Irish Video Game Orchestra, Q-Comedy Show,  the Saturday night pub quiz,  Club Q-Con across two floors and much more to be announced.

As always Q-Con’s award-winning roster of gaming competitions will be back with a bang, including a weekend-long League of Legends tournament, dozens of console tournaments from open until close every day, a huge timetable of traditional, tabletop and board gaming tournaments and lots more.

Anime fans can be the centre of attention again with a number of cosplay competitions planned, complementing our timetable of panels, workshops, screenings and unique events that won’t be found anywhere else!

Expect Q-Con’s trade hall and artists’ alley to be once again packed with everything you’ll need to make your weekend a memorable one, including Replay Games and many more – a full list will be confirmed as the weekend draws near.

Their immensely popular indie game developers area will be soon accepting applications – this will be announced in due course.

Last year over 5,500 attendees packed the Students’ Union building as well as the nearby Elmwood Hall and South Dining Hall.  Once again, the event is expected to be a sell-out and attendees are encouraged to pre-register online to avoid disappointment.

SoP GameJam

DIT are running a gamejam for State of Play on the 1st of April.
It will be located at the grangegorman DIT campus.

Tickets cost 10 euro and give you free entry to state of play.
Each game will be shown at SoP and the crowd will vote on their favourite in order to enter to win cool prizes donated by DIT and GameCraft!

Food and Refreshments will be provided on the day we just ask that you bring your own mug!

Find the link to the Eventbrite here!

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/state-of-play-gamejam-2017-tickets-32960361328

 

Irate Traffic by Polyonic Studios released on Android

Polyonic Studios is an independent games development studio based in Sligo. They are a team of three, who met in college studying games development. After leaving college they started Polyonic Studios and began development on Irate Traffic in August of 2016.

“There has been a sharp learning curve for all of us throughout the development process, but we learned a great deal from it and had fun doing it as well.

Today we are proud to officially announce the release of our new game, Irate Traffic on the Google Play Store.”

Irate Traffic is an endless runner where you control a vehicle weaving it’s way through oncoming traffic whilst trying to collecting coins on the road to buy new vehicles. With plenty of vehicles and five unique areas to speed through there’s plenty to keep you playing.

Irate Traffic
Irate Traffic
Download QR-Code
Irate Traffic
Developer: Polyonic Studios
Price: Free+

If you want to learn more about Polyonic Studios you can visit thier website: http://www.polyonicstudios.com

New MSc Game Design & Development in UL

UL logo

Starting in the Autumn 2017 the University of Limerick is launching a new MSc Game Design & Development.

Led by Brenda Romero as course director, the MSc in Game Design & Development is a two-year program (level 9) which takes place over four semesters. Students are encouraged to use the summer break between years 1 and 2 to expand their game horizons, exploring experimental work and working on independent game projects. You can find a full break down of the core modules at http://www.ulgamedev.com/curriculum/

The course also has an impressive list of national and international people on their advisory board including people from Occulus, Microsoft, Insomniac and of course Romero Games.

Brenda told us that “With modules in Game Balance, System Design and Rapid Prototyping, this program is designed with the game designer or gameplay programmer in mind. I am particularly excited because it’s so much more affordable than similar education in the States, and it makes this field far more accessible. I look forward to welcoming our inaugural cohort of students in the fall.”

Prerequisites are a knowledge of programming and applicants must have a portfolio.

Applications are open until July 1.

For more visit http://www.ulgamedev.com/

Games Fleadh 2017 update

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LIT Tipperary, will host Games Fleadh on Wednesday March 8th 2017, the annual colleges and schools game development competition, and the theme for the 2017 event is Racing Game.

Games Fleadh will also feature games development and research talks by industry veterans and researchers. The full list of speakers is now available on our Games conf page. Companies and organisations that will take part in the talks include Microsoft Ireland, EA, Imirt, Game Sparks and SimVirtua.

Games Fleadh 2017 is open to the public for free. Tickets can now be reserved on their tickets page.

For more follow @gamesfleadh on twitter or the hashtag #gamesfleadh.

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