Month: July 2020

Northern Ireland Screen and Digital Catapult NI, with the support of Future Screens NI, have partnered with Unity to deliver the Unity Developer Programme (UDP). A free skills development programme for interactive and immersive content developers to work towards becoming certified as Unity Developers.

The UDP will run for 11 weeks starting Wednesday 19th August and will be a blend of online classes delivered by Unity experts and self-guided learning. At the end of the programme, the participants will have the opportunity to sit the Unity Certified Programmer exam, an industry recognised qualification.

This training covers six topic areas:

• Programming core interactions
• Working in the art pipeline
• Developing application systems
• Programming for scene and environment design
• Optimising for performance and platforms
• Working in professional software development teams

The format of the workshops are project and activity based where participants will be individually programming in Unity. Participants will be challenged to build two complete Unity projects, implementing core interactivity, supporting systems and platform optimisations. By successfully completing the projects in the workshop, participants will have had extensive, guided practice in the programming skills needed to pass the Unity Certified Programmer exam.

Who is it for?

We are seeking applications from those who are interested in developing their skills to create video game or immersive content (VR/AR).

The course is aimed at individuals who have 1-2 years’ experience of programming with Unity and are comfortable with C# programming language. This can be from education, however no formal educational background is needed, or professional experience. Working on personal projects can also count towards valid experience.

We are also open to participants from any industry background as long as they can demonstrate a commitment to creating interactive or immersive content. It will be best suited to those who have existing, related, software skill proficiency in the likes of CAD or 3D modelling packages.

Schedule

The Unity Developer Programme will be delivered remotely in 3 phases across 11 weeks:

Phase	Activity	Dates
Phase 1	On Ramp   Self-paced online content to allow participants to get up to speed  to the same level as they should be when starting phase 2	2 weeks 19th Aug- 2nd Sep
Phase 2	Workshops – Certification prep 10 x 3hr workshops delivered by a Unity Certified Instructor covering the subject areas of the Unity Certified Programmer. The last sessions will include a practice test to allow participants to gauge which areas they should focus on during the next phase.	4 Weeks 2nd Sept – 21st Sept Mon/Wed/Fri 2pm-5pm
Break	Participants have access to the online content to review and work through in their own time.	2 weeks 28th Sept – 11th Oct
Phase 3	Tutorial Sessions Tutorial session will be a mix of 10 x 1hr sessions with a Unity trainer and self-paced learning. Each session will be focused on a subject area to help guide study At the end of the 5 weeks participants will have the opportunity to take the Unity Certified Programmer exam	5 weeks 12th Oct – 11th November Mon/Wed 6:30pm-7:30pm
Exam		w/c 23rd Nov

How to apply?

If you are interested in participating, or have any questions, please email your CV and a cover letter (max 1 page) explaining how you meet the criteria for the programme to Rory Clifford, Interactive Manager, rory@northernirelandscreen.co.uk.

Deadline for applications is 12noon on Friday 14^th August.

The Pixel Mill will be hosting a 2-day online interactive workshop on UX and UI in video games on 18th & 19th August from 11am to 1pm.

The workshops will be led by Senior UI/UX Designer Lauren Woodroffe. The UX workshop will focus on how to put together a game flow, how to structure menus, designing a control scheme and the UX differences between platforms. The workshop on Game UI will focus on visual design, covering screen layout, providing feedback to players, fonts and the importance of style guides.

Lauren Woodroffe is a Senior UI/UX Designer at Two Point Studios where she designs both the visuals and interactions of game interfaces. Over the 7 years she has been in the games industry she has shipped over a dozen games on PC, console, VR and AR in a wide variety of genres and experienced the unique design challenges that each of those bring.

If you are interested in attending please email Rory Clifford, Interactive Manager – rory@northernirelandscreen.co.uk, to book a place. Spaces are limited and will be assigned on a first come first serve basis and limited to 2 people per company.

Boost is a support programme designed for Northern Ireland video game studios who are seeking to secure significant funding or investment for their company/next project. This programme is targeted at studios at early stage of development, either with a working prototype or at a minimum a Game Design Doc/Company Pitch deck.

Boost is a 3-month programme for up to 5 companies where they will be provided executive coaching to develop the commercial potential of their projects and companies. Boost will put companies through a programme of development were every aspect of their game/studio will be tested and challenged to improve its commercial potential and viability.

For each studio selected, coaching efforts will be focused on the following key areas:

• Commercial viability of project
• Marketing and community development strategy
• Studio scaffolding and vision setting
• Fundraising timeline and project vs studio funding determination
• Pitch deck refinement
• Event/MeetToMatch approach planning
• Introductions to publishers, investors, and platforms (if/as appropriate)

As part of the programme there will also be a series of webinars which will be open any studio within Northern Ireland focused on:

• Funding models and fundraising strategy – 3pm, Friday 7^th August
• Pitching and pitch construction – 3pm, Monday 10^th August
• Design for discoverability and community planning – 3pm, Wednesday 12^th August

Companies selected for Boost will be expected to attend are three webinars.

Companies interested in taking part in the programme should complete the following application submitting a video of their game (if they have one) and/or a pitch deck. Click HERE for the application.

Deadline for applications is 12noon Friday 24^th July.

If companies have any question please contact Rory Clifford, Interactive Manager – rory@northernirelandscreen.co.uk

FAQ

Who is Boost for?

Boost is open to any company that is aiming to raise £250,000+ in investment/funding for their project or studio. We are open to start-ups and established studios. However, it is expected that companies interested in pitching to publishers/investors have a working prototype/vertical slice of their game.

Companies at an earlier stage will receive coaching and support to refine their company/project pitches.

Criteria for Selection?

Studios will be selected based on their stage of development (ideally with at least a playable prototype), and perceived commercial potential and suitability to be introduced to potential partners.

Is there development funding?

No, Boost aims to work with companies with an idea already developed. Support is in the form of individual executive coaching and webinars.

Who will be delivering the workshops and 1-on-1’s?

Workshops and 1-on-1’s will be delivered by Jason Della Rocca. He specialises in business development, pitching/funding, and has worked with indie studios from all over the world. As the co-founder of Executions Labs, he was a hands-on early stage investor to 25 independent game studios from North America and Europe. Jason also hosts the annual Pitch competition at GDC.

What do companies need to submit?

Companies applying to Boost will need to submit the online application form, including a pitch deck and gameplay video.

The pitch deck can be provided in PDF or PPT, or equivalent format. The video should be linked to Youtube, Vimeo (optionally with password), or hosted on your own cloud folder.

What will the executive coaching involve?

This will form a series of webinars and individual company 1-on-1’s with experienced industry professionals that will cover investor/publisher readiness, game design, production planning and marketing.

How will this be delivered?

Webinars and 1-on-1’s will be delivered remotely via Zoom, with email follow-up and share documents, as appropriate.

The Pixel Mill will be hosting an online workshop on Writing for Video Games on Tuesday 28th July from 10am to 5pm.

The workshop will be led by video game writer and director Andrew Walsh and will focus on narrative design within video games and how the artistic, commercial and design aspects of games writing and games narrative fit into the global video games industry.

The workshops will explore the writing process and the skills required to work in this field, how to design/structure narrative for video games and the role of dialogue and environment plays within storytelling. The workshop will cover story structure, character development, speech design, narrative design, dialogue branching plot, dialogue structures and post-production.

This will be an interactive workshop with an opportunity to discuss writing for video games with an experienced writer and industry peers. Andy Walsh is a freelance video game writer whose credits include Earthworm Jim, Prince of Persia, Harry Potter, Fable Legends and Watch Dogs: Legion. He is also the Treasurer of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, a Videogames Committee member and a member of IGDA’s Writing SIG.

The workshop is aimed at both those seeking to break into writing for video games and experienced writers who are seeking to learn best practice. Spaces for the workshop are limited and will be assigned on a first come first serve basis.

If you are interested in attending please email Rory Clifford, Interactive Manager – rory@northernirelandscreen.co.ukm, to book a place.

Billy Goat Entertainment and PQube have announced that they are bringing Supermarket Shriek to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC on Steam.

Supermarket Shriek is a unique and amusing co-operative experience in which players assume the role of a man and their screaming goat positioned in a shopping cart. Players ‘shriek’ to steer their cart around a series of stores, racing to the checkout while collecting groceries, solving riddles and occasionally avoiding large swinging axes, spike traps and/or fire pits. Supermarket Shriek received development funding from Northern Ireland Screen.

In the new release, the developer has stated that there will be more modes and features than the original version. This includes 38 whacky stages, unique co-op “Duet Mode” and three chaotic PvP party modes for between two to four players.

The release date on the additional gaming devices is still to be confirmed.