Author Archives: IGDA Scotland

GDC 2017 AI Scholarship and Next Gen Leaders Program now open!

Posted on 10/12/2016 | Comments Off on GDC 2017 AI Scholarship and Next Gen Leaders Program now open!

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The IGDA Foundation has announced two more scholarships for IGDA members.

First is the Eric Dysband Memorial AI Scholarship. This scholarship is available to full-time undergraduate, graduate or doctoral (or similar) students, or former students who graduated in the 6 months prior to the event they are applying for. Applicants with an interest in AI should apply, and they will in addition to the benefits other GDC scholars receive they will also have access to AI mentorship and an invitation to the AI Programmers Dinner and AI Game Programmers Guild, as well as an invite to the AI Summit at GDC.

Applicants can apply here. The deadline is the 8th of January.

Second is the new Next Gen Leaders program in association with Microsoft. Unlike other scholarships, this program is targeted at current game devs with 3 to 10 years of experience. This program is not tied to any discipline, but also looking to include those who identify as an under-represented minority. In addition to a GDC pass, they will receive workshops, mentorship and additional networking opportunities.

Applicants can apply for the program here. The deadline is also the 8th of January.

Both programs have a travel stipend available for successful applicants. Good luck!

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IGDA Women in Games Ambassador applications are open!

Posted on 30/11/2016 | Comments Off on IGDA Women in Games Ambassador applications are open!

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The IGDA Foundation’s Women in Games Ambassador program for GDC 2017 is now taking in applications. The program is open to women-identified IGDA Members who are over 18 years old and in full time undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral studies (or similar), or those who have graduated in the past 12 months prior to their application.

As with other IGDA Scholarships recipients will be provided with an all access GDC pass, a travel stipend, a week of insider events and access to Q&A sessions and group mentorships with industry professionals. The cutoff date for applications is the 30th of December 2016.

Scotland regularly punches above its weight when it somes to successful applicants, with one of the highest number of Scholars per capita. This year Scotland was represented by Kirsty Keatch at GDC Europe and Andrew Reid, Divij Sood and Caitlin Goodale at GDC, supported by the IGDA Foundation. Previous WiG Ambassadors from Scotland include Jess Hider, Zoë Sams and Caitlin Goodale.

Click here to apply for the program or find out more information on the WiG Ambassadors.

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Posted in GDC, IGDA Scotland, Scholarship

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Glasgow Caledonian University hosting Antura Jam to aid Syrian children

Posted on 30/09/2016 | Comments Off on Glasgow Caledonian University hosting Antura Jam to aid Syrian children

Glasgow Caledonian University is hosting a game jam to make games that can help Syrian refugee children. You can register here: http://bit.ly/anturajam

Over 2.8 million children are out of school due to the five year conflict. These children receive no education and a wealth of potential human capital, creativity, and achievement is being lost.

In the light of this horrible tragedy, Cologne Game Lab, Wixel Studios and Video Games Without Borders teamed up to form a partnership and find a way to limit the consequences of the situation. Antura and the Letters is a game project being led by Emmanuel Guadiola from the Cologne Game Lab. The game will be released on iOS and Android so that Syrian children can receive an education and learn how to read.

We are hoping to prototype a few different game ideas over this jam weekend and we need your help!

The jam will take place in rooms C116 and C117 in Charles Oakley building at GCU, from Friday 7th through Sunday 9th

We will have access: • from 5pm-8pm on Friday 7th • from 10am-4pm on Saturday 8th • from 10am-3pm on Sunday 9th.

About Emmanuel

Emmanuel is a Game Director and expert in game design methodology, Emmanuel Guardiola contributes to more than 30 major titles in the game industry, for independent studios (Life is Strange, Frank Herbert’s Dune…) and publishers (Ghost Recon, Prince of Persia…). PhD in computer science, he also drives research on player psychological profiling through gameplay at the CNAM computer science laboratory (Paris). He was one of the key creators of the game design training at the French Graduate School on Games and Interactive Media (ENJMIN) If you want to learn more about Emmanuel’s work, you can check out his LinkedIn, or his MobyGames profile

http://bit.ly/anturajam

 

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Posted in Community, Glasgow

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Congratulations to our GDC Europe/Gamescom Scholar!

Posted on 04/08/2016 | Comments Off on Congratulations to our GDC Europe/Gamescom Scholar!

We are happy to announce that once again Scotland is being represented in the next crop of IGDA Scholarships!

This year sees Kirsty Keatch head out to Germany for both GDC Europe and Gamescom with an All-Access Pass, mentorship from an industry professional, and an unforgettable IGDA-organized itinerary.

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Kirsty is a Scottish game developer, creative programmer and sound designer based in Edinburgh. She’s interested in the role of mobile dynamic audio and the design of new mechanics for touch screen devices. She graduated with a First Class Honours in Music Technology BMus at Edinburgh University and is currently in her final semester of a Masters by research in Sound Design, developing a portfolio of games, that raided the toy box for inspiration, to present Katakata – a kinetic sound sculpture, Freq and Hedra – one touch games with a twist!

Congratulations Kirsty!

To find out more about the IGDA Scholarships programme or see the full list of Scholars, visit the website.

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Posted in Edinburgh, GDC, Scholarship, Student

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March 2016 Glasgow Meetup Recap

Posted on 04/04/2016 | Comments Off on March 2016 Glasgow Meetup Recap

The first meetup in our calendar of monthly events for 2016 was held at MEGAbytes cafe in Glasgow on the 30th March.

We kicked things off in a relaxed style with our usual “Announcements” open mic session, where anyone attending can get up and plug their current project, event or interest. And what a response we had, with a whopping nine things talked about! In case you missed them (or if you were unable to attend) they were:

Wow, what a productive community we’ve got. With all those announcements, was there even time to fit in the meetup’s Post-GDC roundup panel? Well of course there was!

The panel was Caitlin Goodale, Andrew Reid, Jon McKellan, and David Farrell discussing their various experiences of GDC from the perspectives of academics, students, and developers. They talked about what they had hoped to get out of the conference, what they actually spent their time doing, how to organise meetings with publishers, networking (and which parties to avoid!) and finally how they paid for their trips and how you the avid audience-member might receive some funding towards attending GDC yourself next year.

We hope to have a recording of the panel available soon.

The evening was rounded off with socialising until venue close.

We’d once again like to thank our panellists, MEGAbytes for hosting us, and our ever-useful volunteers.

The next meetup will be at Codebase in Edinburgh on Tuesday 19th of April, see you there!

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Posted in GDC, Glasgow, IGDA Scotland, Meetings

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IGDA Scotland March Meetup: GDC Round up!

Posted on 28/03/2016 | Comments Off on IGDA Scotland March Meetup: GDC Round up!

Now that the dust has settled and jet lag is fading away, IGDA Scotland is happy to announce that we’re hosting our annual GDC Roundup at MEGABytes in Glasgow on Wednesday 30th of March from 7pm. We’ll be having a roundtable of students, academics and professionals discuss their experiences and takeaways from the biggest game developers event of the year, so if you’re interested in GDC at all then come hear about it from the horses’ mouths!

 

 

As always, we will have an open floor for announcements before the panel kicks off. So if you have any news you’d like to share then feel free to come down and do so! We’ll also be opening up to general networking after the panels.

Don’t miss your chance by registering your free ticket on Eventbrite or by using the handy registration box below. Our meetings are open to all, even if you’re not a member of the IGDA. Non-students must be registered ahead of the event in order to be guaranteed entry to the venue.

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Gender Action Plan

Posted on 28/08/2015 | Comments Off on Gender Action Plan

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As part of Scottish Government’s  response to the final report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, The Scottish Funding Council have been asked to tackle the gender imbalance in Colleges and Universities in Scotland. They are currently developing a  Gender Action Plan, to tackle the gender inequities in the most imbalanced subject areas in Further and Higher Education. After engaging with Colleges and Universities they are now at the next stage of consultation. You can find a lot more info about the plan via the link above.

The Scottish Funding Council are looking to gather thoughts for the Gender Action Plan, from industry and training bodies. Closing date for the consultation is the 31st of August, so only a few days left, but we’re hoping to reach as many of you as possible in that short time. 

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