Author: Owen

Seminar – Designing Games for Discoverability with Jason Della Rocca

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Northern Ireland Screen is hosting a development seminar on Designing Games for Discoverability with Jason Della Rocca on Monday 17 June at The Event Space, East Wing, Ormeau Baths, 18 Ormeau Avenue , Belfast

Schedule and Speakers Include:

9:30am to 10:00am – Doors open

10:00am to 11:00am – Design for Discoverability

11:00am to 11:30am – Networking

Teas, Coffees and Breakfast Pastries will be provided.

Jason Della Rocca Bio:

As the co-founder of Execution Labs, he was a hands-on early stage investor to over 20 independent game studios from North America and Europe. Between 2000-09 he served as the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), and was honored for his industry building efforts with the inaugural Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Conference. In 2009, Jason was named to Game Developer Magazine’s “Power50,” a list which profiles 50 of the most important contributors to the state of the game industry.

Who should attend?

Game producers, designers and developers looking to develop commercially viable games that can attract and retain an audience.

Students studying game development or animation may also find these sessions useful.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis, register now to secure your place.

Please let us know if you have any access or communication needs, prior to attending this event and we will be happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that we can make to assist you.

For any further information please contact Donal@northernirelandscreen.co.uk.

Applications open for The Pixel Mill’s Internship Programme

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TRAINEE QUALITY ASSURANCE GAMES TESTER 2019-20

Northern Ireland Screen’s PIXEL MILL intends to run a skills development scheme called TRAINEE QUALITY ASSURANCE GAMES TESTER 2019-2020. The programme will provide a training opportunity for one person to support start up game developers involved in an incubation programme at the Ormeau Baths Innovation Centre. The successful candidate will be working alongside multiple game development teams, in a fast-paced, agile environment across a broad range of projects.

TRAINEE QUALITY ASSURANCE GAMES TESTER 2019-20 is a paid placement scheme (NMW/NLW). The placement will run for 12 months from June 2019 to May 2020 and the participant will gain valuable experience working in all aspects of the game development production pipeline. This position would be of interest to those who want to pursue a career as a Producer.

What are the priorities?

  • Previous experience working with game development engines such as UE4.Unity 3D;
  • Detail orientated, with strong observational, analytical and problem-solving skills;
  • Ability to communicate effectively and openly;
  • Avid player of games in general;
  • Adaptability and willingness to improve processes and own development; and
  • Actively help and assist colleagues and maintain a ‘can do’ attitude.

Desirable but not essential criteria:

  • Technical experience and knowledge of current-gen TRC/XR’s would be an advantage.

Deadline for applications:1200 hrs FRIDAY 31  MAY 2019.

For further information, including application details, please click here.

Immerse UK Investment Accelerator briefing event at Digital Catapult NI

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Digital Catapult Northern Ireland is holding a briefing event for the Immerse UK Investment Accelerator on Monday 10th June 13.30pm – 17.00pm.

The briefing event is designed to give you an opportunity to meet the teams behind the competition, learn more about the scope of funding on offer and details of how to apply for the Immersive Technology Investment Accelerator, which opens to companies on May 20th 2019

Up to £2m is available for UK creative and tech businesses to undertake R&D projects that enable immersive content to be created faster, more efficiently or in new ways through simultaneous grant funding and venture capital investment.

The investor partners, selected in Stage 1 of this competition, are: Creative England, GC Angels, HTC Europe, London Venture Partners, Mercia, Northstar Ventures, Oxford Science Innovation, R/GA, Station12, Techstart Ventures and Warner Music

The competition is open to UK businesses working with immersive technologies. Total project costs must be between £150,000 and £300,000. Innovate UK will provide up to 70% of costs dependent on your business size, with the remaining funds provided byone of our investor partners.

The competition brief, details on how to apply and resources for companies will be published on Immerse UK on May 7th.

To register for the event, click here.

 

The Pixel Mill 2019/20 – Now accepting applications

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Northern Ireland Screen is inviting applications from companies to take part in The Pixel Mill’s 2019/20 programme.

Successful applicants will receive support to build their teams, market their capabilities and navigate third party relations.

KEY AIMS OF THE PIXEL MILL:

  • Support a sustainable screen industry in Northern Ireland.
  • Provide games business with the support to access external finance.
  • Prepare teams for taking their concepts through to production and to release.
  • Develop high quality teams and projects that are aligned to opportunities.

WHAT YOU GET:

  • Up to 12 months free access to incubation space and facilities.
  • Weekly coaching to address Business, Marketing, Operating and Partner milestones.
  • Invitation to apply to the Northern Ireland Screen Fund to develop projects that support agreed business goals.
  • Pitch for platform, tech and marketing support.
  • Access to extensive user testing facilities to gather feedback for projects.
  • Opportunity to pitch for production funding of £100k through the Assembler programme.
  • Invitation to UK/EU market trade delegations.

Companies going through this programme will be encouraged to attract additional finance to their project either through revenue, crowd sourcing or investment.

APPLICATION

To support the development of application materials, Northern Ireland Screen is hosting a series of short pre-start taster sessions at The Ormeau Baths, 18 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast BT2 8HS, Northern Ireland, and applicants are strongly encouraged to attend.

Date Detail Time
31 January 2019 Introduction to Working with Publishers 10 am to noon
4 February 2019 Introduction to Commercial Game Development 2:00pm to 4pm
14 February 2019 Introduction to Marketing for Games 10 am to noon
25 February 2019 Introduction to Operations 10.00am to noon
4 March 2019 Closing deadline for receipt of applications 9.00am
8 March 2019 Successful applicants notified and contracted
8 April 2019  2019/20 cohort move and start date

The deadline for receipt of applications to The Pixel Mill is Monday 4th March at 9am. For further information, including application details, please click here.

Introducing the first ever Jamfuser

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Jamfuser is a game jam that feeds into Tranzfuser (a UK wide talent development programme for graduates looking to break in to the video games development industry). Northern Ireland Screen acts as a regional hub for Tranzfuser in Northern Ireland, offering an inspirational central space and focal point for Tranzfuser teams to locate in or meet periodically whilst working elsewhere; providing a dynamic learning environment that cultivates this diverse community, acting as a hot house for innovative games IP development and resulting in high level of achievement over a short period of time.

  Jamfuser will

  • Support team self-selection opportunities, encouraging mixed institute/more diverse teams
  • Enable teams to work together in a free form environment with a shared goal, that encourages skills development and fosters positive team relationships
  • Gives teams the opportunity to test and explore their game idea in a short development cycle
  • Share information regarding the Tranzfuser 2019 application process and criteria for selection
  • Provide further support with the promotion of Tranzfuser
  • Develop the Tranzfuser community
  • Engage Tranzfuser Alumni to act as mentors during the jam

Jamfuser is ” just for fun”. So as such there is no physical or cash prizes for taking part and ‘winners’ will not be selected.  Your prize is your product.  There is, however, a community voting system in place and all Jamfuser teams can vote for their ‘favourite’ game(s) based on the Jamfuser criteria (see below).   Each team is encouraged to use the final votes on their game as early feedback on their project, making adjustments where necessary.

So to sum it all up…  If you’re thinking of applying to Tranzfuser 2019, Jamfuser is a fantastic opportunity to start exploring your team’s dynamics, honing your technical skills and being creative.

  Who can participate?

  • Team members should be undergraduate / masters or post graduates who have or will graduate between 2017-2019
  • Team size between 4-6 people
  • Teams with a residential address in the UK
  • Team who have submitted their Jamfuser Team Registration Form

All teams wishing to participate on Jamfuser are required to fill in the Jamfuser Team Registration Form (see link below).  This will ensure that:

  • Your team is included in all communications from the Jamfuser organiser (this includes gaining access to our Jamfuser 2019 Discord Channel)
  • Your team is assigned a mentor
  • Where possible, your team is connected with one of the participating Local Hubs.

Should your team wish to vote on the Jamfuser theme please ensure you have submitted this form by Friday 1st March 2019.  Following this, guidance on how to vote on the theme will then be emailed.

The FINAL DATE for teams to submit their Teams Registration Form is Tuesday 5th March 2019 (your team will be unable to vote on the theme at the point).

Link to Jamfuser Registration Form

Further information on Jamfuser can be found here.

Belfast – Ukie Hub Crawl: Getting Investment Ready

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The Hub Crawl is back! Come and join fellow games developers and publishers and identify new opportunities and strategies to support the growth of your business.

This years Hub Crawl will focus on helping games business get investment ready. This will consist of a series of free events, located all around the UK, bringing games businesses together to learn about types of investment, with practical guidance on business planning, pitching and growth.

Each event features a series of short, informative sessions from industry experts and this will be followed by a games panel featuring companies from the local area. Content will change at each event so make sure you check out all the events in your region.

After each session there’ll be a chance to network and share ideas with your peers.

This is a free event open to anyone involved in the games industry. Please feel free to invite your colleagues, friends and associates.

Speakers to be announced soon. 

Please register here.

Other Hub Crawl Locations (dates tbc):

  • London – 22nd January
  • Brighton – 23rd January (Date TBC)
  • Manchester – (Date TBC)
  • Liverpool – (Date TBC)
  • Leeds – 5th February (Date TBC)
  • Edinburgh – (Date TBC)
  • Guildford – 12th February
  • Cardiff – (Date TBC)
  • Portsmouth / Southampton – (Date TBC)
  • Ipswich – 19th February
  • Cambridge – 20th February (Date TBC)
  • Belfast – 21st February
  • Bristol – 28th February (Date TBC)
  • Newcastle – 27th February
  • Nottingham – (Date TBC)
  • Leamington Spa – (Date TBC)

There are still opportunities to get involved through sponsorship of the Hub Crawl. Speak to Leon or Sam for more details. 

Northern Ireland Screen hosting talk with Dolby

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Northern Ireland Screen is hosting a talk with Dolby to examine how developers can integrate Dolby Atmos using the Microsoft Spatial Audio Platform to further understand the general capabilities of spatial audio. The session will also examine how using Unity and Unreal plug-ins into existing audio workflows can create more immersive user experiences.

The talk will take place on Thursday 24 January at The Lounge, Ormeau Baths, 18 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, County Antrim, BT2 8HS from 6:00pm – Refreshments will be provided.

Schedule and Speaker Include:

Speaker

Andy Vaughan

Sr. Developer Relations Manager

Andy Vaughan works in content relations for Dolby Developer, helping developers (from independent to AAA) deliver Dolby Atmos-enabled titles for PC and Xbox. Based in Dolby’s San Francisco headquarters, he works in a larger Consumer Entertainment Group that helps advance the science of sight and sound in the cinema, at home, and on-the-go.

Session

Taking Game Audio to New Heights

Game developers are now able to deliver Dolby Atmos audio in Xbox One and PC games, bringing three-dimensional audio, including height and depth (with headphones), to the gaming experience.

In this talk Andy will provide an overview of Dolby Atmos technology, and how the Microsoft Spatial Audio Platform supports Dolby Atmos over HDMI and headphones.

Who should attend?

Game producers, programmers and audio engineers looking to take their content production to the next level.

Students studying game development may also find these sessions useful.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, please RSVP early to avoid disappointment. Register now to secure your place.

Please let us know if you have any access or communication needs, prior to attending this event and we will be happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that we can make to assist you.

For any further information please contact Donal@northernirelandscreen.co.uk

Virtual Reality Audience Testing by Digital Catapult

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Digital Catapult is hosting a Virtual Reality Audience Testing event at the Immersive Lab in Ormeau Baths on Thursday 13th December at 12pm.

Come experience the history of the cosmos through virtual reality at Digital Catapult’s brand new immersive lab. After experiencing the 8 minute piece, you will be asked to fill out an five minute questionnaire.

How to get involved?

Please sign up via Eventbrite here.

Further information:

Official timings: 12pm – 7pm

For every 15mins, 3 individuals will have the opportunity to test the VR technology. Please ensure to arrive on time for your slot.

Digital Catapult is the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation Centre, driving early adoption of technologies to make UK businesses more competitive and productive and grow the country’s economy. Digital Catapult connects large established companies, startup and scaleup businesses and researchers to discover new ways to solve big challenges in the manufacturing and creative industries. Through this collaboration businesses are supported to develop the right technologies to solve problems, increase productivity and open up new markets faster.
Digital Catapult provides physical and digital facilities for experimentation and testing that would otherwise not be accessible for smaller companies.
  • Ormeau Baths
  • 18 Ormeau Ave
  • Belfast BT2 8HS
  • Northern Ireland