Scotland's Games Ecosystem Cluster
There's a new code-based event coming up in central Edinburgh and the organisers have asked us to pass it onto the clever people in the games industry... The Technology Strategy Board is looking into how it can support better software engineering in the UK. All UK companies rely on software to work and Specialist workers …
Continue reading "Multi-disciplinary Software Construction Workshop"
A week ago, the second Turing Festival took place in Edinburgh. Â The inaugural event in 2011 was astonishingly good. Â Diverse, eclectic and expert, it pulled in speakers and participants from a huge range of disciplines and, almost uniquely, seemed to focus on a speaker's ability and knowledge, rather than job title or employer. I spent …
Continue reading "Compendium Of Interest – Turing & Technology & The World Of Tomorrow"
Outpost Defense, the latest iOS release from the team at Dynamo Games has been created on conjunction with Scottish film production company Black Camel Pictures. Based on the newly released movie: Outpost II: Black Sun, which was released last weekend at Fright Fest, the game is part of a whole transmedia experience which features Nazi Zombies.  Thousands …
Continue reading "Lurching Horror Of Zombie Flick Fun For Dynamo & Black Camel"
After a jaunt to the frozen North, visiting the far frontier of UK games development, we return with a guest post from the astonishingly resilient Colin Riley (aka @Domipheus) who took part in the first ever Dare to be Digital Indie Showcase at this year's Protoplay event. Â We say resilient because Colin ran his entire …
Continue reading "Exhibiting At A Festival – Lessons For Indie Developers"
We are, of course, entirely objective here at Scottishgames.  We love all of the developers and games companies in Scotland without favouritism or preference. There are a few companies though, who do get us quite excited when we hear they're working on a new game.  We were lucky enough to see Bad Hotel in development, during an …
Yesterday Edinburgh Interactive closed, with a Dragons Den type affair; the idea concerning a pitch of a game or interactive experience to a panel of Ian Livingstone (Life President Eidos), Rob Woodward (CEO Scottish TV), Bill Liao (Co-founder coderdojo.com), Mark Phillips (Harbottle & Lewis) and chaired by Sean Dromgoole (GameVision/Some Research). The event was done …
Continue reading "Dragons, Zombies and A Day in the Life – Edinburgh Interactive (Session 4)"
Back from lunch and into the fray with Are Computer Games Art?  Chris Bateman @SpiralChris International Hobo and Ren Reynolds (@RenZephyr) Virtual Policy Network got a good response from the audience. Hell, yes! We thought computer games were art. Hosted by Ren, he posed the question to Chris who started with Ernst Gombrich’s Meditations …
Continue reading "Art, Squirrels and the New Reality – Edinburgh Interactive (Session 3)"
Getting Brands to Pay for in Game Purchases With spiralling development costs, piracy concerns, and a competitive market meaning less return on each project; game developers are increasingly looking at new business models. At the forefront of this is Free2Play or freemium games such as EA’s Battlefield Play4Free series on PC and Rovio’s Angry Birds …
Continue reading "Pay, Horsepower and Reward – Edinburgh Interactive (Session 2)"
David Yarnton, Chairman of Edinburgh Interactive, opened the 10th anniversary festival. Selling the festival on the aspect of change, the speed of change and the impact on everyday lives as an introduction to the festival at large. With advances in the industry David noted how inundated we are with options for entertainment, including social media. …
Continue reading "Fun, Consequence and Emotion – Edinburgh Interactive (Session 1)"
Indie Game - the documentary which chronicles the trials and tribulations of independent game developers as they sacrifice their lives, income, pets and children in order to realise their dream, is coming to Scotland. The film has received critical acclaim and much love from the development community for its stark and unflinching portrayal of the …
Continue reading "Indie Game: The Movie – Scottish Premiere"