Category Archives: Special Events

ARCADIA Dundee

Posted on 04/09/2017 by | Comments Off on ARCADIA Dundee

This Friday, ARCADIA will be opening its doors in Dundee for the first time. ARCADIA is a grassroots celebration exploring independent, alternative, and experimental play in games, spaces and cultures.

arcadia

The conference, by Biome Collective and We Throw Switches, will be filled with talks and workshops from leading local and international creators, followed by an after party full of incredible games and music.

IGDA Scotland are proud to be supporting this conference through the Screens & Scenes Panel on games-related culture featuring Cara Ellison, David Hayward and Paul Callaghan.

The conference will be held on the 8th of September at Dundee’s West Ward Works, with an extra day of workshops and board games on the 9th of September at Biome Collective, 20 Greenmarket. More information and tickets are available here.

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Posted in Community, Dundee, Special Events

Scottish Global Game Jam Sites!

Posted on 17/01/2017 by | Comments Off on Scottish Global Game Jam Sites!

It’s January, and that means that the Global Game Jam is upon us once again! Scotland plays host to a number of sites in a few different locations, so if you’re interested in taking part, be it to further your skills, develop new ones or just meet others interested in making games then do try get along to one.

IGDA Scotland will also be hosting our Play Parties in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee in association with We Throw Switches early in February, so please bring what you’ve made and have fun!

Here are some details about Global Game Jam sites this year:

Dundee

Abertay Game Lab – Abertay Uni

Abertay’s Game Lab will be hosting a GGJ site in celebration of their 20 years in games education.The site will have some equipment available to participants, but ask that jammers try to bring their own to avoid disappointment.

Tickets are currently available for students or invited non-students here.

Makerspace

The Dundee Makerspace will also be hosting a GGJ site. It is open to anyone who is 18+ years old. They are currently looking for sponsors to help pay for food for jammers, and encourages participants to bring their own equipment where possible. They also have on-site equipment such as 3D printers, laser and vinyl cutters and soldering tools for those looking to make a physical game.

Tickets are available here.

Edinburgh

Napier University

The Napier University Game Dev Society’s site is open to anyone over 18 years old, or over 16 if you are in college or university. They have some equipment available at the campus and will be providing food, but recommend people bring their own laptops to be safe. This site is also looking for some sponsorship.

More details here.

Napier are also hoping to livestream the site on Twitch here

Glasgow

Glasgow Caledonian Uni

Last but by no means least, Glasgow Caledonian Uni will be hosting their annual GGJ site in the Saltire Centre at the university.

They will be hosting about 200 jammers, a mix of students, industry professionals and keen amateurs. Alongside the jam, some documentarians will be making a short film to be shown at the end of the jam. Finally, a relaxation area with games will be provided by We Throw Switches.

Tickets are currently sold out, but a waiting list may be available. For more details head here.

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Posted in Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Global Game Jam, Special Events

Upcoming Event: Game Think 2.0 – 3rd Feb 2017

Posted on 12/01/2017 by | Comments Off on Upcoming Event: Game Think 2.0 – 3rd Feb 2017

Building on the original event in 2015, Game Think 2.0 is a half day mini-conference that will provide students, researchers, and games industry practitioners with an opportunity to share their current video game-related research and development interests in a fun, informal way. You can register for the event at https://game-think-2.eventbrite.co.uk
This year, the headline speaker is renowned game theorist (and occasional game developer) Jesper Juul. Jesper is currently Associate Professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Visiting Associate Professor at Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT. He is the author of The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (MIT Press, 2013) and Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds (MIT Press, 2005) and has published extensively on topics relating to game design and theory. A second headline speaker, and the full line up of talks, will be announced shortly.

The event will take the form of a series of short ten-minute talks with an additional five minutes for discussion following each talk. The line-up includes talks on topics including: successfully obtaining a UK Games Fund Grant, organising games exhibitions, the design of serious games, queerness in games, the impact of game audio in modern culture, and more. The mini-conference will be followed by informal drinks and networking is actively encouraged.

A limited number of modest travel bursaries are available to support UK-based postgraduate students – please contact [email protected] for details. Funds are also available to support follow-up meetings between attendees from industry and academia, with a view to developing future collaborations.

 

#GameThink

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Posted in Glasgow, Special Events

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Adrienne Shaw Special Event Video

Posted on 05/09/2016 by | Comments Off on Adrienne Shaw Special Event Video

At the start of August we had the great honour of hosting an event with Adrienne Shaw, thanks to the generosity of the IGDA Foundation.

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Adrienne is an Assistant Professor in Temple University’s Department of Media Studies and Production, a member of the School of Media and Communication graduate faculty, and author of Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture. Her current primary project is the LGBTQ Game Archive.
Adrienne discussed her book – Gaming at the Edge – as well as her new project, LGBTQ Video Game Archive.

Thank you to everyone who came along, we hope you all enjoyed the talk as much as we did.

In case you weren’t able to come along, you can watch a recording right here.
Thank you again to the IGDA Foundation and Abertay University.

Watch the video recording of Adrienne’s talk.

With thanks to Jason Hadlow and Ross Brydon for filming and editing.

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Posted in Dundee, IGDA Scotland, Special Events, Uncategorized

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Shahid Ahmad Talk – Recap

Posted on 13/06/2016 by | Comments Off on Shahid Ahmad Talk – Recap

shahid
On the 24th May we were delighted to welcome Shahid Ahmad to Dundee, where he gave an inspirational talk about his phenomenal career in games and shared his advice for both established and aspiring game developers.

Shahid gave a heartfelt talk about his years in the industry, explaining how his fascination with early game consoles inspired him to learn programming at a young age in order to make his own games. Shahid talks about the love he had for programming at this time, and how it enabled him to maintain a degree of control in amidst childhood situations which were ultimately uncontrollable. After establishing himself as a talented game developer Shahid eventually moved to Playstation, where he worked as a Developer Relations Manager, spending many successful years meeting with developers and securing games for the platform. The talk was filled with anecdotal examples of Shahid’s own experience, which danced between both the comical and the heart-wrenching. Using standout moments from his career, Shahid shared his practical advice in regards to success, reputation and pitching, from the point of view of someone who has lived, learned and evolved during their career.

Shahid spoke candidly about his own ‘mistakes’ during his career and shared the wisdom that followed. For instance, the necessity to be nice and respectful when talking with peers and clients, to be able to deliver on the promises you make, and to allow yourself to evolve with the ever changing circumstances of life in order to be the best you can be.

We want to thank Shahid for sharing with us his invaluable experience and providing us with a wonderfully entertaining talk. We’d also like to thank our partners for this event; Abertay University and Henderson Loggie.

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Posted in Dundee, Special Events

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Introducing our new Board of Directors

Posted on 01/12/2015 by | Comments Off on Introducing our new Board of Directors

A big thank you to everyone who was able to join us at our Annual General Meeting last Wednesday and we hope you enjoyed taking part in our pub quiz! We had a great time and congratulations to the winning team! We also had a raffle, so congrats to the two lucky winners who received a Steam voucher each.

And of course we announced the winning candidates in this years elections, so in case you missed it we’re very excited to introduce our new Board of Directors!

Board of Directors

After receiving 14 ballots, we had a three-way tie and so in order to resolve it, we decided to use all seats allowed on the Board (our Bylaws outline a maximum board size of 9) and welcome 5 candidates: Andrew Macdonald, who was re-elected to remain on the Board this year, Mal Abbas, Tony Gowland, Jaime Cross and Jon McKellan! They’re joining the existing board of 4, Mark Hastings, Bert McDowell, Alice Rendell and Timea Tabori.
Congratulations to you all and welcome on board!

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We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Brian McDonald for all his work during his time on the board.

Thank you, Brian! :)

 

We’re all excited to work together and start planning our schedule for the coming year. We hope to see you then!

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Posted in Community, IGDA Scotland, Special Events

Remembering Stew Hogarth

Posted on 22/09/2015 by | Comments Off on Remembering Stew Hogarth

Remembering Stew Hogarth banner

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of local game designer Stew Hogarth at age 34 on the morning of the 15th September 2015 after a lifelong battle with congenital heart disease. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and his wife Inez at this difficult time.

You are invited to join us for a celebration of his life at 13:15 on Wednesday 23rd September 2015 at St. Columba’s Roman Catholic Church, Derwent Avenue, Dundee, DD3 0BE followed by a reception at the Invercarse Hotel.

Smiling Bag Games

Stew was widely known and much loved within the Scottish game development community. After graduating from Abertay University in 2004, he worked for local studios Denki and Chunk before founding his own studio Smiling Bag Games to work on independent projects and game jams. However you knew Stew, we thoroughly encourage you to seek out and play his games or read his blog.

Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association

His family have requested that any donations in Stew’s name be made to The Freeman Heart & Lung Transplant Association (Registered Charity 1157894) during the memorial service, or online via JustGiving; in recognition for all the help and hope they have given Stew over the last few years. As of writing, the campaign has already raised over £2,000 to support transplant patients in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

You can find more news coverage of Stew’s passing online on Gamasutra and Develop.

On a final and personal note, I’d like to thank Stew for repeatedly reminding me that your health need not get in the way of being creative or making games. It doesn’t have to take over your life and “it doesn’t control you”. I only wish I could have told him the difference he has made myself.

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Posted in Community, Dundee, Obituaries, Special Events

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