We’re delighted to announce that Game Central will itself be relaunching soon after a very quiet summer, so what better place to kick that off  than at this event? To celebrate – and to encourage Game Central followers to get involved in the future of games in the region – those kindly folk at Birmingham Science Park have offered some pretty special deals for Game Central …

• First ten people to email us quoting ‘GC Launch Offer‘ in the subject line will get FREE entry to the event
• Thereafter, you can still benefit from a 35% DISCOUNT by quoting ref LAUNCH_GCENTRALHALL in the discount code when you book your place online

Games industry training course Gamer Camp is having a Gamer Camp Pro Open day on Saturday March 19th for those interested in taking part to get a taster of the camp and learn more about the nuts and bolts of the course.

Pop along to the Gamer Camp: Pro Open Day on 19th March 2011 and you’ll get a taster of what Gamer Camp is all about with taster sessions, free coffee and all the dry but important info you’ll need to know about accommodation, fees and loans.

For the uninitiated, Gamer Camp Pro gives you:

• 9 months of tangible, intensive, game development experience in a studio environment
• Fundamental, technical grounding in the specific skills the industry require
• An MA in Video Games Development from Birmingham City University
• Your own working console game to impress recuriters

To attend the Open Day, we strongly recommend that you should be in either the final year of your degree, or have relevant experience or a degree in either an art, design, maths, physics, or computer science based course.

For further information and to sign up visit www.gamercampopenday.eventbrite.com

Each workshop will last approximately 5 hours. Light food and drinks will be made available at both workshops thanks to our sponsors (Game Central, Audio Motion & Sheridans).
 We will encouraging all contributors to place their notes from the workshops into a shared and public Google document, that can then be use by both workshops and shared with the entire indie development community.

Chris Swan, Project lead said “”It’s great to be able to bring indie developers together to discuss this often-overlooked, almost-taboo subject… We aren’t trying to claim that the IndieCity team are complete experts when it comes to indie marketing. Like the main site we are aiming to be a great service provider, which is why we are facilitating these workshops.”

For full information and to reserve your place at the Leamington Spa event then visit www.indiemarketing-uk.eventbrite.com

or the US event at www.indiemarketing-us.eventbrite.com

Further details are below and you can sign up at the following link.

Join us for a chance to meet key players; , John Terle, Managing Director of RAW Games, Neil Holmes from Blitz1Up, Stephen Hands, Managing Director of 3dnative and Jude Ower, Managing Director at Digital2.0

You’re invited to a relaxed networking event, which will give you the opportunity to quiz these games professionals, get an insight into the industry and hear about their experiences.

Dare to be Digital is a unique opportunity for computer games designers, programmers, digital artists and audio engineers to take their first steps towards being spotted by the industry and landing their dream job. But Dare has even more to offer…

Elaine Russell, Dare to be Digital project manager, said: “Like the hugely exciting games industry, Dare to be Digital has stepped up to meet the fast-moving changes in the industry.

“This year we’re looking for exceptional creative game development talent, as well as strong commercial ideas about how the games developed at Abertay University can be taken to market after the competition.”

Intel will support Dare to be Digital 2011 as part of their Visual Adrenaline Software Developer Program (http://software.intel.com/sites/billboard/) by providing – for the third year – state-of-the-art hardware and software tools to help students develop their game prototypes.

Based at Abertay’s Centre for Excellence in Computer Games Education, the successful applicants get invaluable advice from industry mentors, as well as the opportunity to showcase their games to the public and the industry at the Dare ProtoPlay games festival in August.

Applications are now open and the deadline for applications is 3 April and on February the 16th there will be an information session at Wolverhampton University. Exact details and times for the session are yet to be released, but keep the date in your diary and keen an eye on the Dare site for full details

Spaces are of course limited so sign up asap. Further details on the jam can be found over on the IndieCity blog and sign up at the Global Game Jam site .

Good news also as this year the jam’s remit has expanded out from just computer games to include the development of more analogue games such as board and card, so if you’re up for the challenge but not as computer literate then head along.

Other jams taking place across the West Midlands include Staffordshire Uni (currently full) who will be liveblogging the jam across the duration.

UK Trade & Investment is offering programmes to UK SMES during GDC to:
CONNECT you to leading US publishers and partners. DISCOVER new market trends and ways of accessing the US market . SHOWCASE your innovative games and products to an international audience of publishers, aggregators and media

Choose from two options to maximise your business potential:

1.    Executive Lunch Sessions (limited to 20 UK companies at  £515 per company): 2nd  – 4th March 2011, Moscone Centre:

• Attend three exclusive executive lunch sessions and find out more about the future industry trends from leading US industry luminaries. Also meet international games industry contacts.
• Past speakers include: Motorola, SONY, EA, Incomm, Apple, Nintendo, Playfish and Facebook.
• Participate in intimate and candid behind-the-scenes conversations that can change the direction of your strategy.
• Expo pass to GDC (worth $250).

Places will be reserved on a first come first served basis.

2.    Best of British Gaming Showcase (limited to 15 UK companies at  £515 per company): 2nd – 4th  March 2011, 4pm -6pm, Moscone Centre:

• Each day from 4pm to 6pm five leading UK companies will have the opportunity to demonstrate the best of British products to key industry decision makers, press and potential partners. Attendance is on application only.
• Successful applicants will have their own company branded demo station in the Brit showcase.
• UK Trade & Investment San Francisco and their partners will promote the showcases to their vast and expansive industry contacts.
• Showcase participant will receive promotion through online, offline and social media marketing.
• Let us know which contacts or companies you would like to meet.
• Showcase exhibitors will receive a GDC Expo pass (worth $250).

Please note that both these opportunities are for SMEs only.
For more information on both these great business opportunities contact:
Carri.cunliffe@codeworks.net
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 490 9141

GameHorizon Conference 2011, The Sage, Gateshead. 28th and 29th June 2011Offer: £169 ex VAT until midnight, 31st December 2010. To register use promo code ghc_swm at www.gamehorizonconference.com

If you are a manager, entrepreneur, consultant, journalist, producer or commissioner working in games or the interactive entertainment industry the GameHorizon Conference is a must-attend event.
·         Here from the thought leaders and business professionals
·         Get a glimpse into the future of the Games industry
·         Meet like minded individuals at our party and networking dinners
·         Make sure that you and your team are ahead of the game!

This January we’re joined by Mudlark’s Toby Barnes talking about pervasive communter larks with their recently launched project Chromaroma. Using your Oyster Card & Bike Key, Chromaroma lets you play the city as you travel. It tells you stories, gives you points, & visualises your movements on an interactive map of London.

As always MEUs are FREE to attend. Simply RSVP at the link below to join us for talks, larks with food and drink care of our sponsors at bluegfx.

Thursday January 27th. 6:30 – 10pm
Urban Coffee Company, Birmingham
RSVP: http://meujan.eventbrite.com/

]]> http://www.gamecentral.org.uk/2010/12/meet-em-up-chromaroma/feed/ 0 http://www.gamecentral.org.uk/2010/11/indiecity/ http://www.gamecentral.org.uk/2010/11/indiecity/#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:18:14 +0000 Marie F http://www.gamecentral.org.uk/?p=293 With Blitz 1Up, The Indie Games Arcade and World of Love all produced by companies in the region the West Midland’s seems to be quietly becoming an increasingly supportive hub for UK indie games development. Something which will hopefully be added to by yesterday’s announcement of IndieCity.

IndieCity aims to become the destination community site for indie games and is being supported and funded by Leamington Spa’s Blitz Games. On the IndieCity team are also a few recognisable names from those involved with Blitz 1Up Chris Swan and Deejay (Binary Tweed, who’s title Clover was distributed through the scheme)

Chris Swan say’s on the site’s blog “We’re all about being a destination for those that want something different from/for their gaming. Something off the beaten track, counter culture and anti mainstream. The opposite of manufactured ‘pop’ games, this is about self expression and individualism. It’s about people power and giving the smaller guys a bigger voice and improving ways of tapping into their fans. It’s both customisable and personal.”

Chris continues “we firmly believe that the indie gaming world could be far better served, as opposed to being generally hidden behind AAA attention-grabbing banners on the majority of the gaming platforms out there.”

Although the full scope of the site and the project are still unknown, its certainly sounds like an exciting venture and one which builds on the support Blitz and the West Midland’s are already offering to the indie community so be sure to keep an eye on the site’s blog for more details.