Diversity in Games Workshops (April/Galway)

We are going on tour with our Network in Play Workshops!

In April 2018 Network in Play and our partners are running three workshops for beginners in Galway which are female friendly and inclusive. This follows on from our diversity workshops in Dublin in the summer of 2016.

This is part of the ReFig: Network in Play project that Aphra Kerr and Vicky Twomey-Lee are involved in – http://gamedevelopers.ie/diversity/

When: Sat Apr 7/14/28 2018

Duration: 11-4 with lunch provided.

Where: PorterShed (1st two workshops, 7 & 14 April) / (note change of venue) Galway Technology Centre, Galway (3rd workshop, 28th April).

The three workshops are:-

***Apr 7 – Charlene Putney – an interactive fiction/game narrative workshop

***Apr 14 – Robin O’Keefe – a board-game design workshop

***Apr 28 – Tracey McCabe – an intro to games development with Unity3D

Level: These workshops are aimed at over 18s who are complete beginners with no prior experience of game development.  We are particularly keen to attract women, people from diverse creative backgrounds, people who are unemployed and people of colour.

Price of workshops start from €10 (incl. lunch), with deductions for unemployed, students and attendance at more than one workshop.

Any left over proceeds will be donated to COPE Galway.

All materials and technology provided. Just bring yourselves.

To sign up go to to https://ti.to/refig-nip/galway-diversity-in-games-workshop/

Safer Space Polices and Codes of Conduct

We have developed our own Code of Conduct within inputs from our network partners. See here. Comments and suggestions welcome. This is a work in progress.

Our colleagues in our ‘parent’ Refiguring Innovation in Games Network have developed a Safer Space policy. We will be adopting this also for our events. See here.

Our partners include the people from Coding Grace who have a lot of experience running diversity friendly events in Ireland. Their Code of Conduct can be found here.

Want to let us know about other useful approaches, codes and policies?

Drop us an email here.

Call for Papers: IEEE Games & Entertainment Conf (Galway)

IEEE Games Entertainment & Media conference, will be held in Galway, Ireland 15th-17th August. The IEEE GEM 2018 conference aims to bring together researchers, developers,industry & government partners working on gaming technologies, entertainment, multimedia, Virtual & Augmented reality,IoT, Artificial intelligence & interdisciplinary areas.

GEM encompasses all aspects of gaming and interactive digital media ranging from theoretical advances in algorithmic and mathematical techniques, to new enabling technologies, advanced consumer electronics systems, novel sensing technologies, to socio-economic impacts and unique and original uses and applications of these technologies.

GEM is for scientists, engineers, psychologists, sociologists, mathematicians, programmers and games researchers of all disciplines, united in their interest and enthusiasm for digital games, interactive entertainment & media and the significant uses and impacts these technologies have on our lives.

GEM delegates are encouraged to submit original research works on the above areas. The submission deadline is the 31st of March and this article covers some of the main technology tracks for presenting your research work at the conference.

Track 02 – Mobile& Wearable Technologies: This track has a focus on new mobile & wearable technologies. There have been some really interesting developments in this sector, especially with some of the efforts to develop low-cost augmented reality support for today’s smartphones from DIY cardboard mounting systems to advanced Augmented Reality development frameworks. And we also had killer gaming experiences such as Pokemon-Go which redefined the nature of mobile gaming!

But this track is broader in scope as it encompasses all of the new technologies that are rapidly evolving in the smartphone and wearable sectors, including advanced motion sensing, camera and connectivity technologies. Research into new gaming related applications and use cases are also encouraged.

Have you been developing some research using one of these technologies – please consider sharing your experience with us at IEEE GEM 2018.

Track 03 – Augmented& Virtual Reality: This is a field were exciting new technologies are beginning to democratise the adoption of AR/VR and most recently mixed-reality where a combination of sound, visual cues, haptics and other sensory stimulations are combined to create new compelling gaming experiences.

Several of our keynotes will address related topics, but we also want to gain insights from your research and application experiences with these new technologies.

Have you developed some cool new applications or use cases for the Hollolens? Or perhaps you’ve been working on a new immersive VR simulation? Do consider sharing your work and experiences with us in Galway this Summer.

Track 06 – Emerging Technologies: This track encompasses a broad range of technologies that provide potential gateways to new gaming experiences. New user interface techniques and technologies will fit into this track as can motion or location-sensing and location aware technologies or use cases.

Techniques and applications involving touch & haptics or advances optical displays or sensing methods and advanced motion capture or body-aware technologies are also relevant. In fact any technology that can enable or enhance the gaming or media experience for the user is of interest. We need your contributions at IEEE GEM.

Track 10 – Augmented Spaces: This track takes its lead from our conference theme: “Augmented Spaces and Virtual Worlds”. As consumer electronics technologies continue to evolve with smart speakers moving into our homes, OLED TV panels creating dynamic, photorealistic viewing experiences and advanced soundbars bringing immersive surround sound our living room is turning into an augmented entertainment space. But it can become more – a gateway into new, Virtual Worlds with associated entertainment & gaming experiences that we have yet to imagine.

GEM isn’t limited to technology tracks, and more information is coming on other conference tracks, from societal impacts, to serious gaming and esports.

You can find information on all of the conference tracks here or liaise with individual track chairs here, and if you are ready to submit a paper via EDAS you can go here.

Countdown to the deadline of the 31st of March.

 

 

Animation MasterClasses in Dingle

As if you need another excuse to go to Dingle! Sign up by Fri. 16th of March.

Animation Skillnet are teaming up with Animation Dingle to offer the master classes outlined below at Animation Dingle 2018 (with support from Skillnets, Screen Training Ireland and the BAI).

Please note that places on each of these master classes are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. To enable the maximum number of people to attend at least one master class please select the one master class from the three advertised that you’d most like to attend when registering. If we can’t register you for your chosen masterclass we’ll aim to register you for one of the other masterclasses.

Registration for these master classes is only open to those who have already bought Animation Dingle festival passes.

Please register here: http://animationskillnet.ie/event-registration/?ee=183

The deadline for registrations is Friday 16th March.

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Masterclass 1 – Dan Katcher – Friday 23rd March 10am-12.30pm – Beehive Theatre

Biography: Dan Katcher is a renowned Los Angeles-based creature designer for television, games, and film. He is best known for his design of the dragons on HBO’s hit, Game of Thrones, which earned him Emmy recognition for three straight seasons. In addition to Game of Thrones, Dan is currently at work on creatures for a number of DC Comic productions, including The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl. See more here: https://www.dankatcher.com/

Master Class Title: Making Monsters in Zbrush (How to Make a Dragon – An Anatomical Approach). Dan will talk through the importance of understanding of physiology and anatomy while creating creatures using Zbrush.

 

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Masterclass 2 – Ryan Woodward – Saturday 24th March 10am-12.30pm – Beehive Theatre

Biography: Ryan Woodward has worked in the film, animation and gaming industry in various roles such as animator, storyboard artist and director for 23 years. He began his career in 1995 as an animator on the film Space Jam. Since then, he has gone on to work on the following films: The Iron Giant, Spider-Man 2 and 3, Cowboys and Aliens, Where The Wild Things Are, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Avengers and many more. He currently works at Riot Games on the development of future projects. See more here: http://ryanwoodwardart.com/

Master Class Title: 2D Animation – Ugly Drawings Moving Beautifully. Ryan will go through his theories and approach to animation and the value of understanding the depth of characters and story structure.

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Masterclass 3 – Keith Sintay – Saturday 24th March 2pm-4.30pm – Beehive Theatre

Biography: Keith Sintay has been a professional animator for over 23 years. Having worked as a traditional paper and pencil animator, an all-digital character animator to VFX blockbuster animator and supervisor, he offers a unique perspective on the industry. He began his career at Disney Feature Animation in Florida as a traditional animation artist on the Disney film Pocahontas and from there worked on such films as: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron, and Sinbad (Dreamworks). …After working for 10 years in Feature Animation, he made the transition into VFX animation while still at Sony, and went on to work on I Am Legend.  … He is currently working as Animation Supervisor for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on the Warner Brother’s CW network. See more here: http://www.animationmentor.com/mentors/keith-sintay/

Master Class Title: Tips and Tricks for Character Animation and VFX Animation. In his Master Class Keith will be discussing his methodology and workflow that has allowed him to be successful and efficient throughout his digital career. He will offer Tips and Tricks for approaching both VFX Animation and Character Animation.

Games Blockchain Unity Developer (Intern/Dub)

Job title: Games Blockchain Unity Developer
Term: Paid 3 month internship

Location: The Digital Hub, Dublin 8, Ireland

 

Bitcoin Marketing Team is a successful and Irish owned cryptocurrency marketing agency. We will be putting together a series of events over the coming year, and we have a once in a lifetime opportunity for a video game development student with an interest in blockchain to join the team on a paid 3 month internship in our Dublin 8 offices.

The quest, if you choose to accept it, is to help us build out some underlying functions between Unity and a number of blockchain API’s, and using them as some of the trigger points in unity. This will require a knowledge of Unity, and API’s, and connecting the two via Javascript and JSON, API’s etc.

Once complete, the role will then include building out some rudimentary game prototypes as a proof of concept, which can then be used as a basis for a series of Games Blockchain Hackajam’s to be hosted in Dublin in June or July.

You can register your interest by emailing blockchaingameshackajam@bitcoinmarketingteam.com and there will be approximately €1,000 worth of bitcoin in prizes split three ways.

An example of our starting point can be seen here – https://dailyblockchain.github.io (open the page, zoom out with ctrl+ your mousewheel, change to another tab for about 2 minutes, and then come back to the screen).

So if you’ve an interest in blockchain, can work your way through API documentation and code it to work, and then feed the information into Unity, and build some basic gameplay with leaderboards around them, get in touch today with a CV and cover letter/audio message/video message at collegeplacements@bitcoinmarketingteam.com