Author Archives: Andrew Macdonald

We’re back in Edinburgh on Wednesday 15th October at Teviot Row House for another meeting, in association with the University of Edinburgh Game Development Society, to learn about how collaboration and open source software can empower developers.

This meeting is hosted in association with the University of Edinburgh Game Development Society, who have graciously organised the Teviot Dining Hall in EUSA‘s Teviot Row House for us. If you want to stay up to date on their activites, go ahead and check out their website, or contact them at [email protected].

• Marc Williamson from Tag Games: Collaboration, Independence and Engines

  

  • Moving to Free-to-Play offered a few problems to Tag.
  • A very independent streak at Tag meant that we wanted control of tools and tech
  • Unity scares (not allowed on store and risk of company acquisition) reinforced these ideas
  • What we have developed internally:
    • Engine: Chilli Works
    • Online Platform: Chilli Connect
    • Metrics: Chilli Metrics
  • Why is that important to you?
  • Our big idea
• Aaron Dron from Codeplay: An introduction to Hackerspaces for Indie Game Developers
  • The global hackerspace movement and why you should care.
  • The Edinburgh Hacklab – who we are, what we do.
  • Software development in a hackerspace – how you fit in.
  • Collaboration, tools and jams.
• IGDA Scholarships Panel/Q&A: What are they, and why should you apply?

  

  • Andrew Macdonald: GDC 2014 Scholar and Chair of IGDA Scotland
  • Timea Tabori: GDC 2013 Scholar
  • Luci Holland: GDC Europe 2014 Scholar, and Deputy Director of Edinburgh Game Symposium

It’s the start of a brand new academic year, and we will once again be returning to Dundee’s Hannah Maclure Centre on Wednesday 17th September to learn how mentoring can help pass the great collective wealth of industry experience down from seasoned veterans to the next generation of game developers.

This meeting brings two fantastic speakers, with Phil Harris from One Thumb Mobile and Christine Farmer from GameMentorOnline (over Skype) each sharing their mentoring knowledge and advice, to ultimately inspire others to either seek the guidance of a mentor or become a mentor themselves. Register your free ticket on Eventbrite below:

Christine Farmer from GameMentorOnline

By day Christine Farmer works as the Coordinator of PR and Marketing in the Americas for CD Projekt Red, developers of the Witcher 3. By night, Christine works to develop and drive the GameMentorOnline project on behalf of Women In Games International.

She holds a BA from University of California Santa Cruz and studied Game Design at the Academy of Entertainment Technology at Santa Monica College. In this session Christine will introduce the GameMentorOnline platform and highlight how professionals can use it to give back to the global community, as well as the ways that students and those looking to develop their skills can find direct one-to-one support.

Phil Harris – Pass it On

Why would you mentor and what do you gain from the experience? Phil Harris talks about the groups he has mentored, the trials and tribulations and why you should mentor people too.

We are thrilled to announce our second special event, an evening with a very special guest to be held on 8th July from 7pm. IGDA Scotland Presents: Ed Fries organised in association with Abertay University will provide insights into the life of one of the pioneers of the modern games industry as well as his vision for where we could be going.

Ed Fries has been developing video games for more than thirty years but he’s most celebrated for his roles at Microsoft where he helped to create the Xbox and brought some of the most high profile games to the platforms as Vice President for Games Publishing. In 2004, Ed left Microsoft to pursue other opportunities, and today he advises a number of studios and companies as well as running FigurePrints, a service providing 3D prints of player avatars from World of Warcraft.

This rare opportunity to listen to one of the industry greats promises to be an excellent night. We hope you will join us as we share in Ed’s wisdom at Abertay University by registering for your free ticket on Eventbrite using the registration form above. Doors open at 7pm, event starts at 7:30pm.