Category: DigitalCircle

This is why we need to be looking at Games (or Interactive Media or Interactive Entertainment or Active Education or Instructional Contests or whatever you want to call it) completely differently to the way we view music, art, movies and even sport.

Games frustrate us, they annoy us, they force us to face things that are uncomfortable, they force us to face our fears and they force us to make moral decisions. Games inspire us, entertain us, educate us, inform us, delight us, train us, they force us to recognise good and evil, they take no prisoners.

At the moment in Northern Ireland, games are considered completely alien to the mainstream. The courses tend to be fringe, the support divided and the consideration from our Screen agency is that games are an adjunct to movies rather than accepting them in their own right (especially taking into account that the games industry creates more value globally than movies and music put together).

Lack of understanding is not an excuse for inactivity.

Hi,
My kid wants to work in the digital creative sector, especially with games or animation, and needs a placement over the summer. Can you help?
A Parent

Dear A Parent,

It’s challenging to find a placement with a games company so I would suggest that they expand their horizons to include animation companies and e-learning companies (and, I predict, architectural practices and business process consultancies). They should set out their expectations of payment very clearly and, most importantly of all, I would expect to see some portfolio. We have 9 year olds with published games on the web and 16 year olds with their own games companies. If they have been at the degree for two years, there should be some sort of body of work that can be evidenced.

Every month, we have a meetup of games companies and animation companies and there will likely be heaps of businesses in attendance. There could not be a better time to start to network and make contacts. These are Bloc54 and ToodyThreedy. You can google them easily enough.

They should also come along to 3D Dojo on Saturday mornings and introduce themselves to the mentors there (and perhaps become a mentor). The industry is small enough to be extremely social in nature so being known as a “good person” is just as important as portfolio.

https://www.facebook.com/Belfast3Ddojo

I hope this helps and I hope to see them join the industry.

Sincerely,

Me

Three sessions per day, five days

1. Sunday Evening Mixer
9 am – 10:30	11 am – 1 pm	2 pm – 4 pm	5 pm – Close
1. Game Design	2. Concept	3. Monetisation	4. Project work
1. Game Design	2. Creative Narrative	3. Storyboards	4. Project Work
1. Game Design	2. 2D Visuals	3. 3D Visuals	4. Project Work
1. Game Design	2. Shooting	3. Editing	4. Project Work
1. Game Design	2. Audio	3. Scripting Basics	4. Friday Night Pizza & Beers

Would you want to do it? Think of it as a week-long Ludum Dare?