Author: Lauren

The Pixel Mill Trainee 2022 – Trainee Producer (Video Games) is an entrant scheme for aspiring video game producers. We are looking for motivated individuals who want to develop a career in Northern Ireland’s thriving interactive sector. Do you enjoy working and communicating within a team to deliver projects? Are you a planner with an eye for detail? Are you passionate about video games?

There is one place available for a Trainee Producer and we expect a high level of competition. If you gain a place as a trainee at The Pixel Mill, you will be given an 18-month contract (Real Living Wage) and have the opportunity to work on a range of video game projects. We will train and develop you for a career in the video game industry and you will be assigned a senior industry mentor. You will be expected to work closely with video game studios to support them tracking projects and identifying bugs within games.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join the professional video game development industry in Northern Ireland and gain hands-on experience in producing and QA. This position would be of interest to those who want to pursue a career in producing in the video games industry.

The duties of the Trainee Producer may vary from company to company. Administrative skills and being organised will be a key part of the role. The candidate will need to work well as part of a team to support the management of projects so that they can meet milestones.

Individuals applying should come from a creative media production or administrative background, but no specific academic qualifications are required. However, you should be able to demonstrate your ability and knowledge of how to plan and manage a project. This can be done through professional experience and personal projects. More importantly, we want people who are passionate about the video game industry, have the ability to manage projects and are enthusiastic about working with teams.

Deadline for applications is 12 noon on Friday 4^th March 2022.

For more information and to apply, visit the Company Placements section on Northern Ireland Screen’s website.

The Pixel Mill is hosting a Community Strategy for Indie Studios workshop on Thursday 3rd March at 10:30am. The session will be delivered online by Matt Knott, Community Director at Future PLC.

At Future PLC, Matt oversees community strategy for some of its best known brands, including PC Gamer and Space.com. Prior to this, he was the English Language Community Manager for Riot Games in Europe, being a key point of contact for players and press before taking point on product releases for the Player Behaviour Team. He worked alongside developers to craft projects and messaging plans for feature launches raising awareness among the game’s fan base and making them part of the event.

The workshop will focus on strategic planning of campaigns for indie studios to engage and develop communities around their games. The workshop will cover best practice of how to develop a campaign, for example feature announcement, launch, new character reveals, and give practical tips of how to best implement and manage campaigns.

If you would like to attend the workshop please email rory@northernirelandscreen.co.uk to book a space.

Platform is a business accelerator programme for video game companies in Northern Ireland aimed at supporting companies to self-publish a new game based on an original IP within 12 months.

Working out of The Pixel Mill based at the Ormeau Baths in Belfast, companies will have access to facilities, mentors, training and funding as well as the opportunity to attend markets to build their business network and meet consumers.

Northern Ireland Screen is inviting applications from companies to take part with support for up to 3 successful companies to develop their business and build their teams. As part of Platform companies will receive:

• Up to 3 teams
• Up to £60,000 in development funding per company
• Up to 12 Months Office Space and access to mentors
• Market Attendance – Gamescom and EGX

For further information please click here.

Deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 11^th February 2022.

Screen Academies have released new dates for its upcoming workshops across VFX and game development. Both academies will run for 12-weeks from January t0 March 2022.

VFX Academy

Participants will learn about the different aspects of creating a game or designing VFX shots, mentored by professionals who work in the creative industries. This is an exciting opportunity to hear more from industry professionals and get a feel for what the VFX industry is like in Northern Ireland. The VFX academy will take place at the Nerve Belfast office in Havelock House. During this academy you will gain experience in using industry standard software such as Nuke and Blender as well as learning about the process of shooting for VFX to create your own portfolio.

Games Development Academy

Throughout the Games Development course you will have the opportunity to learn about the different departments who work on a game, as well as developing a game idea in small teams under the guidance of industry mentors who are working in highly successful gaming companies. This course will take place in both the Nerve Centre in Belfast and Derry-Londonderry.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, where meeting in person is not possible the Academies will offer blended learning through online classes and in venue training sessions in adherence with government guidelines.

For more information on both of these academies please visit www.screenacademiesni.org for more information and to apply.

Closing date for both academies is Friday 10th December.

The Pixel Mill Trainee 2022 (Community Manager) is an entrant scheme for aspiring video game marketers. We are looking for motivated individuals who want to develop a career in Northern Ireland’s thriving interactive sector. Can you create gifs that catch people’s attention? Do you like creating short video content that tells a story? Are you passionate about video games?

There is one place available for a Trainee Community Manager and we expect a high level of competition. If you gain a place as a trainee at The Pixel Mill, you will be given a 12-month contract (Real Living Wage) and have the opportunity to work on a range of video game projects. We will train and develop you for a career in the video game industry and you will be assigned a senior industry mentor. You will be expected to work closely with video game studios to support them in creating content and curating communities around their games.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join the professional video game development industry in Northern Ireland and gain hands-on experience in community management and marketing. This position would be of interest to those who want to pursue a career in community management, marketing or publishing in the video games industry.

The duties of the Trainee Community Manager may vary from company to company. Content creation for online and using social media platforms will be a key part of the role. The candidate will need to work well as part of a team to post content that is consistent and to a high standard.

Individuals applying should come from a creative media production or marketing background, but no specific academic qualifications are required. However, you should be able to demonstrate your ability and knowledge of how to create content/assets for online, for example gifs, stills or short videos. This can be done through professional experience, personal projects, being a Streamer/Content Creator or an admin for online community forums. More importantly, we want people who are passionate about the video game industry, have the ability to generate ideas based on current events/seasonality and are enthusiastic about building online communities.

Deadline for applications is 12 noon on Friday 3rd December.

For more information and to apply, visit the Company Placements section on Northern Ireland Screen’s website.

Turkish mobile game studio, Hungri Games, has today announced they are opening a new studio in Belfast and is actively seeking game developers, level designers and project managers for its new office. The Belfast-based studio is supported with funding from Northern Ireland Screen and its video game co-working space, The Pixel Mill.

Hungri Games, which has achieved significant success with two mid-core games published global in the last two years led by its experienced team based in Turkey, is aiming to accelerate its global growth and add talent to its team. As part of its worldwide talent strategy the company is eager to hear from passionate game developers from across the globe, with applications welcomed from Turkey to Belfast and beyond.

Hungri Games’ Co-founder Kagan Berk Kocak, stated that having a studio based within the UK will allow the company to have a finger on the pulse of gamers in the European market. Kagan added: “We are currently working on a new and exciting game about World War I. In addition to our talented team in Turkey, we have started to recruit talent for our new studio. We are focused on attracting talent from a range of cultures and experiences, with the ambition of growing the team to 25 people by the end of 2021 in our Belfast studio.”

Kagan underlined that Hungri Games’ ultimate goal is to be a globally recognised and respected mobile game company. Led by a team with a track record of experience and success in the global video game industry, Kagan added: “We aim to be in the top 20 grossing games for core and mid-core game in the EMEA and US markets. The whole team is focused and determined to achieve this goal. We will continue to progress down this path with our Istanbul and Belfast studios.”

Established in Istanbul in 2019, Hungri Games is an innovative mobile game development and publishing company focusing on mid-core and core areas. Hungri Games’ goal is to create value on a global scale by localising the games it developed in Turkey around the world, producing content with a player-centred approach. For detailed information, visit www.hungrigames.com.

The Pixel Mill is running a series of workshops on Technical Art in Video Games for artists, modellers and animators working within the Northern Ireland interactive sector (video games and immersive). The course will be delivered online across 8 evenings over 4 weeks between Tuesday 16^th November to Friday 10^th December.

The workshops will cover 4 areas:

• Game Engine Fundamentals
• Animation
• Rigging
• Python

The goal of the workshops is to give video game artists an opportunity to learn how to use a game engine as well as upskill in technical art disciplines with a focus on the animation and rigging pipeline. The workshops will be delivered using Unreal and Maya.

The dates and topics of the workshops are as follows:

Game Engine Fundamentals	An introduction to a game engine (Unreal) and the features for game artists. Some of the topics include: ·       Navigation and basic usage of the editors ·       FBX interoperability ·       Mesh triangle counts ·       Clean mesh construction ·       Collisions ·       LODs – Level of Detail ·       LightMap UVs ·       Static vs skeletal meshes ·       Naming conventions ·       Unreal Engine PBR workflow ·       Textures guidelines	Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th Novemer	6:00pm to 9:00pm
Animation	Sequencer and Cameras – Day 1 ·       What is Sequencer? ·       Sequencer Interface ·       Cinematic Views ·       Organising Sequences ·       How do Cameras Work? ·       Using different tracks types   Animation and Cinematics – Day 2 ·       Animation Import/Export ·       Skeletal Animation vs Geometry Cache ·       Rendering Out Cinematics ·       Post Processing for ‘Film Look’ Colour Grade in Engine ·       Using Spawnable Objects	Tuesday 23rd and Thursday 25th November	6:30pm to 9:30pm
Rigging	Creating a Biped rig ready for realtime – Day 1 ·       What are the limitations of a real-time rig? ·       Skeleton Setup ·       Skin-weights and Deformers ·       Creating Controls Adding advanced features and controls – Day 2 ·       Node Editor ·       IK/FK Switches ·       Custom Attributes ·       Tweak Controls ·       Squash and Stretch	Tuesday 30th November and Thursday 2nd Dec	6:30pm to 9:30pm
Python	Intro to Python in Maya – Day 1 ·       Why use Python? ·       Variable Types ·       Loops ·       Condition Statements ·       Maya API/Commands ·       Functions ·       Definitions and Attributes ·       Creating tools   Python for rigging – Day Two ·       Modular rig setups ·       Rigging a leg with Python ·       Adding custom attributes ·       Starting a Custom Library	Tuesday 7th and Friday 10th December	6:30pm to 9:30pm

No prior knowledge of Unreal, animation, rigging or python is required to take part in the workshops. However, workshops are for freelancers/employees actively working within the Northern Ireland interactive sector (video games and immersive) that are seeking to upskill and develop their knowledge. The programme is not open to individuals in full-time education. The workshops will be delivered as a series so it will not be possible to sign-up for individual workshops.

Those applying to the must:

• Be a resident in Northern Ireland.
• Have at least 1 credit on a completed video game or immersive project in an artist/animator/modeler role.

Or

• Have at least 6 months experience working within video games or immersive across multiple project.

To apply for the programme please email your CV with recent credits of interactive projects (video games or immersive) you have worked on to kerry@northernirelandscreen.co.uk. Spaces on the course are limited and will be assigned, if application meet the above criteria, on a first come first serve basis.

Deadline for applying is Friday 12^th November.

Northern Ireland’s young gamers are being given the chance to play a leading role in the future of one of the fastest growing industries in the world.

Film and education charity Into Film has launched a new initiative to find out what young people aged 5-19 think about the games they are playing so they can develop training programmes to support the industry.

This project kicks off with The Big Games Review 2021, a Northern Ireland wide competition in which young people submit reviews of the games they are playing with a chance of winning prizes including a new PlayStation 5.

Into Film Programme Manager Sean Kelly said: “The games industry is big business in Northern Ireland and the kids are the future game creators. They’re the experts and we want to hear from them.”

From Fortnite to Fall Guys, Minecraft to Mario, Into Film wants to hear about games played on everything from consoles, PC’s or even games pupils might play on a tablet or smartphone.

Mr Kelly added: “Writing reviews is brilliant for developing literacy skills and critical thinking. We want to hear from as wide a range of young people as possible. With the games industry going from strength to strength locally, it feels like the best time to invite young people to have conversations with us at Into Film on what they are enjoying playing.”

The games industry in Northern Ireland is growing at a rapid speed and Into Film hopes to work to support young people to find out more about the opportunities available.

Kevin Beimers, Creative Director at Italic Pig Gaming has said: “Games are a fast-growing industry with a strong presence in Northern Ireland – its important young people are aware of the career opportunities that are available and feel encouraged to analyse and review the games they are enjoying.”

The Big Games Review is running from Friday 24^th September – Friday 10^th December. Into Film encourages and supports young people to discuss and review games in many formats, they welcome review submissions in English, Gaelic, picture exchange symbols, spoken audio files and drawings.

To enter or find out more visit www.intofilm.org/games.

The Pixel Mill is hosting a series of workshops for new entrants in the video and interactive industry from Tuesday 19th – Thursday 28th October.

The workshops aim to prepare individuals seeking to enter the industry as a freelancer or employee with advice and guidance, covering topics from writing a CV and preparing for interviews to legal and finance for freelancers. Workshops will be delivered online, and the full list can be found below.

Date	Workshop	Time
Tuesday 19th October	CV Writing Workshop This workshop will cover the fundamentals of writing a CV and how to best present your experience/knowledge when applying for roles within the industry. The workshop will be delivered by Helen Thompson, producer and former Lead Talent Manager at the BBC.	2:00pm
Thursday 21st October	Interview/Portfolio This workshop will be delivered by OPM Recruitment who specialise in the video game industry. The workshop will cover interview prep and what to expect in an interview, as well as some do’s and don’ts. Portfolio’s (both art and programming) will be covered and how best to present your work.	1:30pm
Friday 22nd October	Legal for Freelancers This workshop will be delivered by solicitor Simon Sellars with a focus on the legal basics for freelancers, covering; ownership IP, re-use of existing material with different clients, exclusivity/non-compete restrictions, payment for work and ending contracts.	1:30pm
Monday 25th October	Finance for Freelancers This workshop will be delivered by accountant Sean Murphy who has worked in the screen industries for over 15 years. The workshop will focus on how to set up as a freelancer and best accounting practice for a freelancer, including invoicing, tax and HMRC.	10:30am
Wednesday 27th October	Working in the Video Games Industry This workshop will be a panel discussion about starting out into the industry. Panellists will include:Christina Logan – Freelance Artist Martin Alltimes – CEO, The Imaginati Studio Tina Lauro – Director/Games Producer, Brain and NerdThere will be opportunities to ask questions and advice on starting out in the industry.	10:30am
Thursday 28th October	Employment Law (Employees and Employers) This workshop will be delivered by the Labour Relations Agency who provide a free, impartial and confidential employment relations service to those engaged in industry, commerce and the public services. The presentation briefly covers subjects such as the sources of employment law, the employment contract and main terms & conditions, pay, working time, notice & dismissal, discipline & grievance, family-friendly employment rights, equality legislation and redundancy. They will also give an overview of Labour Relations Agency and its role.	10:30am

People are welcome to sign up for the whole series or just individual workshops. Numbers will be limited for each session and will be reserved on a first come first serve basis. If you would like to book a place on all, or one, of the workshops please email kerry@northernirelandscreen.co.uk.

The Pixel Mill is hosting a Q&A with a Publisher workshop with Secret Mode Director of Publishing James Schall on Thursday 30^th September at 9:30am – 11am.

The workshop will be an opportunity for developers, new and experienced, to ask questions about video games publishing. James will cover topics ranging from how to pitch games, what publishers look at when considering a game as well as general game industry trends. There will be an option for companies to have one-on-one meetings with James to discuss projects after the Q&A.

James Schall is Head of Secret Mode at Sumo Group’s Publishing Division. He is a veteran of the UK games industry, spanning 30 years of experience at retail and publishing. James spent 8 years at Amazon.com working on their videogames offering and over 13 years at SEGA where he was VP of Global Digital business. James has extensive knowledge of Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and other online platforms and services and the magic and secrets of unlocking success in an ever-changing games market. He currently leads Secret Mode, the publishing division of Sumo Group.

The workshop will be held in-person at the Ormeau Baths (with a limited number of people and social distancing measures in place), however there will also be an option to join remotely. If you would like to attend the workshop please email Rory Clifford, Interactive Manager, rory@northernirelandscreen.co.uk. Please include whether you would like to attend in person. Numbers will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

Companies interested in taking part in the one-on-one meetings should let Rory know ahead of time. There is a limited number of sessions and will allocated on a first come, first serve basis.