Category Archives: Dundee

Diversity in the Creative Industries Panel

Diversity in the Creative Industries Banner

Join us at Abertay University on Thursday 26th March from 5pm to hear from a panel of games industry professionals on the current state of diversity within the games industry, and the role of women in games. Our panelists will be sharing their own personal experiences, stories, advice on getting a foothold in games and building meaningful relationships within the development community.

Eventbrite - Diversity in the Creative Industries Panel

The panel is open for anyone to attend whether you’re a student, professional, educator, or just curious. Tickets are free, even for non-IGDA members. A donation on the night in aid of WRASAC Dundee would be appreciated.

Abertay Feminist Society Logo

We’re hosting this special event in association with the Abertay Feminist Society. If you wish to stay up to date on their activities, please like their Facebook page for all the latest news, or contact Paige Shepherd to learn more.

 

The Panelists

IGDA Scotland Presents: Ed Fries Recap

Last Tuesday, IGDA Scotland hosted our 2nd ever special event at Abertay University, Dundee. Ed Fries, the “father of the Xbox” privileged our 200 or so audience with a candid talk describing his amazing industry experience from programmer beginnings at Microsoft to what he is best known for, co-founding the Xbox project. After one or two glasses of wine in the reception party we all settled in to the university’s Main Lecture Theatre ready to absorb the wisdom and inner stories that this industry giant would tell us.

Ed Fries responds to an audience question

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June 2014: Early Access in Dundee

Hannah Maclure Centre cinema

At long last, the sun has returned to shine it’s scalding, blinding rays upon bonnie Scotland once more, briefly. Escape the heat (and rain) and join us on Wednesday 18th June in the Hannah Maclure Centre at the University of Abertay Dundee for June’s IGDA Scotland meeting, where we’ll be taking a look at Early Access.

We have two great speakers lined up, with Alex Zietler from Guerilla Tea announcing their next project, plus a unique Guerilla twist on the early access model; and Karl Inglott from Space Budgie discussing their early access experiences from the ongoing development of Glitchspace. Register your free ticket on Eventbrite below:

Alex Zeitler from Guerilla Tea: Quo Vadis Indie? (or Guerilla Warfare for Game Developers)

A quick look at the current state of indie (featuring “The Mythical Indie Bubble”), the upcoming indiepocalypse and why there are two different kinds of freedom. And on top of that, a first sneak peek at our upcoming project Contraband Empire and how we are planning to apply Guerilla tactics to make a difference! (WARNING: will contain a lot of opinions and probably some swearing)

Karl Inglott from Space Budgie: Glitchspace Early Access

Starting with an overview of the steps leading to it, Karl Inglott from Space Budgie will be discussing the pros, cons, and the projected future of the Early Access move for programming game Glitchspace.

Eventbrite - IGDA Scotland June Meeting: Early Access in Dundee

February 2014: Global Game Jam Play Parties

Game Jam Play Party
Once again on Wednesday the 12th and 19th of February, the Scottish game community and it’s denizens descended on Glasgow and, for the very first time, Dundee to play some of the great games created at this year’s Global Game Jam at our annual Play Parties. The Global Game Jam, for those who don’t know, is an event held across the world with teams of developers racing to create a game in 48 hours. This year Scotland played host to several venues, including Glasgow, Dundee, and Edinburgh.

This year’s jam was huge, with well over 200 jammers registered across all the venues, and all of the games which were produced turned out to be genuinely innovative and incredibly fun to play.

Global Game Jam
Attendees at the Play Parties were also given the chance to vote for their favourite game, and help it win the IGDA Scotland Community Choice Award. At the Glasgow site the stunning Prism Saga, from a pair of game jam virgins no less, swooped the award. Prism Saga is a shiny 3D platformer with two-dimensional freedom of movement, which is really fun to play. The developers of the game are hoping to expand it further, aiming for a commercial release to bring the title to a wider audience. You can play Prism Saga here: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/games/prism-saga

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The winning game at the Dundee Play Party was the beautifully innovative Light in the Night. Light of the Night is an experimental game in which there is a small town enveloped in a fog, and by walking around you clear the fog away. This effect works really well, and the visuals are very impressive for a game created in just 48 hours. You can check out Light of the Night here: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/games/light-night

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A massive congratulations is also due to the fantastic Timea Tabori, who received the inaugural IGDA Scotland Most Valuable Person Award for her outstanding commitment and service to the chapter over the past year. Truly well deserved, and a huge thanks to Timea for all she’s done.

 

Finally, although only two titles could be chosen, all of the games that I played at the Play Parties were great! There was some real talent showcased at this year’s jam, and we hope to see you at next years event! You can play the other games from the various venues at the links below:
Dundee: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/jam-sites/dundee-scottish-game-jam-abertay-university
Edinburgh: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/jam-sites/edinburgh-napier-university/games
Glasgow: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/jam-sites/scottish-game-jam)

A huge thank you to everyone who came and exhibited their game at either Glasgow or Dundee (or both!), and to everyone who came along and played them. We all had a fantastic time, and we hope you enjoyed the Play Parties as well. Thanks also to Dave Sharp for allowing us to use his photo from the Global Game Jam Glasgow venue in this post.

Don’t forget we have plenty of other IGDA events running throughout the year, with the next one being an evening of microtalks in Dundee on March 26th. More details and tickets can be found by clicking here.

Upcoming Meeting: March – Microtalks in Dundee

Hannah Maclure Centre cinema

With GDC rapidly looming on the horizon, we’re pleased to announce that we’re back in the University of Abertay Dundee’s Hannah Maclure Centre the week after GDC for an evening of quick-fire microtalks on 26th March, starting at 7:30pm.

The evening will give you the chance to give a quick 5-15 minute presentation on any game development topic of your choosing, be it design, code, art, audio, lessons learned from a recent project, some shiny new technique or technology you want to share, a game you’d like to highlight, or just a good old-fashioned frustration-venting rant. You could even talk about or respond to some of the news that is bound to come out in the wake of GDC. The evening is going to be quite laid back so there’s no need to go overboard on preparation, just think of something and get it submitted to us!

Just as we did for the Pecha Kucha Night last October, we’re throwing the doors open for the community to take the stage (and the limelight). If you have something you’d like to talk about and share, feel free to fill in our online form and submit a microtalk of your own. We’ll update you on the evening’s talks nearer the date.

Don’t miss out by registering your free ticket on Eventbrite or in the registration box above. Non-students must be registered ahead of the event in order to enter the Abertay Student Centre.

The Launch Conference: Video Links

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Last November we were delighted to partner with The University of Abertay to provide a satellite site for the 2013 Launch Conference, which was held in Birmingham between 21st and 22nd November.

Those who joined us in the University’s Hanna Maclure Centre cinema were able to watch both days of the conference live and for free. Speakers included UKIE’s Jo Twist, FourDoorLemon’s Simon Barratt, Remode’s Ella Romanos, Jagex’s Richard Murray and many more.

The overriding theme of the first day was “Launch A Business, Launch A Product”, whilst on the second day the theme was “Launch A Career”. The conference also included the Launch Awards, where the winners of categories such as Best Portfolio, Best Startup, and Best Product were announced.

For those who attended the screenings (and for those who were unable to!) the Launch Conference has very kindly provided us with links to recordings of both days, meaning you can catch up on all the talks from the event.

The videos for both days can be found here:

Once again, a huge thank you to Abertay and Launch for providing us with the opportunity to bring the conference to Dundee and thank you to everyone who attended.

Global Game Jam 2014 Play Parties

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It’s a new year, and to kick things off in style we’re hosting our annual Game Jam Play Parties, which allows jammers to showcase the games they created during this year’s Global Game Jam, as well as get feedback from other jammers and members of the public.

However this year we’ve decided to expand the Play Parties and host not one, but two events, giving you the opportunity to try out even more fantastic games. There will also be the chance to vote for your favourite game and help them win the IGDA Scotland Community Choice award at each event.

The first Play Party will be held in Glasgow on February 12th (that’s this coming Wednesday!) in the Admiral Bar. You can sign up for the Glasgow Play Party by clicking on the button below.

Eventbrite - Third Annual Game Jam Play Party - Glasgow

GDS_Dare_BannerThe second Play Party is in Dundee on February 19th, and the event is being hosted in association with the Abertay Game Development Society who have very kindly arranged for us to use Bar One in Abertay’s Student Centre. You can register for the Dundee Play Party by clicking on the button below.

Eventbrite - Third Annual Game Jam Play Party in association with GDS - Dundee

We hope that you are able to join us in playing the brilliant titles that were produced during this year’s game jam at either Play Party (or even both!), and we look forward to sharing more details about our upcoming events soon.