ScottishGames.biz

 

Glasgow Caledonian University is the host centre for Scotland's participation in this weekend's Global Games Jam.  If you're familiar with the Dundee Games Jam, this then is very similar - only bigger.

If you haven't come across a games jam before, it challenges developers (artists, programmers, designers and so on) to create a working game in a very short space of time.  Typically one or two days.

The 2009 global games jam starts on January 30th (Friday evening) and runs through till Sunday afternoon on February 1st.

There are over 70 locations around the world participating in this competition and there are prizes galore.  For the Scottish competition Denki, Realtime Worlds and Firebrand have agreed to judge and, in some cases, provide prizes. 

There's still time to regsiter and take part.  While Glasgow Caledonian does have equipment there, you can bring your own (and they encourage you to do so).

This is an event with some serious indie-cred chops and it looks like it may well spawn a number of new games. 

Visit the official website for all the lowdown and for information on how to join in.

Dave IS Denki

The folks at Denki have been making quite a splash recently.  From their pre-Christmas 'Top 100 Games', through to their DenkiOrNot online game and calculated seduction of The Guardian's Keith Stuart, the company has shifted up a gear - with their own very special aims in mind.

The first results of their DenkiOrNot campaign have now been revealed, with the appointment of David Thomson as the company's Number One Fan.

Number One Fan is, we believe, what most companies would refer to as marketing in some sort of form...

DenkiOrNot has certainly sparked imagination across wide areas of the Internet.  Offworld, Boing Boing's game site has posted a story about the game (toy?) and Brandon, the editor is proud of scoring 10/10.

Hell, we're even asking readers to submit their scores in our latest online poll (which was posted last week, but for some reason appeared way, way down the page in ancient history terms...)

Congratulations Dave and congratulations Denki.  What with Denki recruiting, Ruffian officially existing and releases galore, it would seem that the games sector in Dundee is actually doing quite well.

Hurrah to that and coffees all round.

Future Publishing Jumps Shark - 8/10 For Distance & Style

Future Publishing, the UK's largest games media group has found a new channel through to its dedicated audience of gamers: dating.

Yes, now YOU can find love with that special someone who shares your love of obscure text adventures and who also finished Leisure Suit Larry.

We'd imagine.

A brief search indicates nothing in the way of platform preference or abhorrence of specific genres, which should be a must for any serious dating site aimed at gamers.

Indeed going through the first few pages, we were asked about eye colour (red) and hair (bald), but nothing at all about Horde/Alliance affiliation or whether we were DS or PSP freaks.  In fact, having signed up, we couldn't see *anything* about games at all. 

Not a single pale, emo-type chick with claws from playing Fallout III non-stop since late last year.

We'd be inclined to think it's nothing more than a cheap rip-off, if we didn't know that Future have your best interests at heart... 

[Image from XKCD]

iPhone Development & Tag Games - Guardian Online

The next section of Keith Stuart's adventures in the wilds of Dundee was posted late last week (yes, we should have posted this earlier, but we have real jobs now and needs must...)

As usual Keith is on sparkling form and Paul Farley from Tag highlights many of the opportunities and issues facing developers who are developing for the new Apple sex(y) toy.

You can read it here...

Ruffian - New Dundee Development Studio!

Following SG.biz's exclusive speculation pre-Christmas - and then a few rounds of drinks last Monday, Ruffian is finally announcing it's existence to the world at large.

The studio remains tight-lipped over any project information, but have simply stated they've signed a contract with a major publisher.  Not only this, but have a mission too: to bring the best in action gaming to current generation consoles.

Which is a good mission as these things go.  We now know they're focusing on consoles and are unlikely to be doing brain training or pet care games.

Here's the full press release - along with their contact details,  You know, just in case...

19th January 2009, Dundee, Angus, UK - Ruffian Games announced today
the formation of a new development studio with a mission to bring the best in
action gaming to current generation consoles.

Creative Director Billy Thomson said, "Our highest priority is gameplay.
Everything we do is focused on enhancing the player's experience. We strive
for tight intuitive controls, well-balanced goals, game changing rewards, and
player progression that will make you feel like a god! Above all, we want to
provide an online experience rivaling any other through co-operative and
competitive multiplayer gaming. Online play is the future of gaming and we're
incredibly excited about where that is going to take us”.
Ruffian Games feel they are well placed to make good on these promises.
Their staff has made significant contributions to many major titles including
Fable 2, Crackdown, Moto GP and Grand Theft Auto.

According to Studio Head Gaz Liddon "Creative and talented people are the
lifeblood of any studio and I am so excited to be working with the best the
industry has to offer. It simply isn't possible for any studio to have a better
start than this."

Having recently secured a development contract with a major publisher
Ruffian are currently working hard on their current project in the lead up to its
announcement.

Now YOU Can Dare To Be Digital Too

Following the huge growth and expansion of the 2008 Dare to be Digital Competition, Paul Durrant and his team at Abertay have announced another significant new addition to the 2008 competition. 

Dream is a new aspect to the competition, which allows members of the public to submit game concepts.  These will be judged by Dare and then the winning concepts will be go on to be created by one of the competing teams.

This is another important addition to the overall games industry from Dare and Abertay.  Currently there's little or no value in games concepts. 

If you have a great new idea for a game, it can be difficult - if not impossible to find a way to implement it.  Unless you can develop it yourself, or work within a sympathetic development studio, which encourages new ideas.

This opens the whole Dare process up to an entirely new channel for ideas and concepts, which can only help the competition in the long run.

We hope to follow this year's Dare in more detail across the whole of 2009.  Since the editor can now hit the University of Abertay with a carefully tossed bread roll, we hope that might actually happen...

In the meantime, kudos again to the Dare team and we can't wait to see the results of this brave new step.

Finally, Dare has produced it's own promotional video to fill in people who have yet to hear about the world's premier game creation competition...

A Growing Flock...

Proper Games' FLOCK has been picking some some very positive coverage in the last few days.  Rock, Paper, Shotgun carried a nice preview, linking to several videos showing the game in action.  The Guardian too has just covered the game, with the GameBlog's Keith Stuart covering the game in-depth, following a chat with the team earlier this week while he was in Dundee. 

Finally, you can check out the latest information on the game on Capcom's own site, or visit Proper Games' blog.

Ruffian Games - Live & Online

Following last month's exclusive revelations on your very own Scottishgames.biz site (ok, vague rumours if we're being honest,) Ruffian, Scotland's latest new game developer, has confirmed its presence, with it's own website.

Ruffian Games is now live and welcoming visitors.  No word on any projects as yet, but the site includes a blog, recruitment section and the now infamous Flickr stream.

We're hoping to talk to some of the people behind the new studio and find all of the latest details on Ruffian's plans for projects.  We'll bring you all of the news and updates as soon as they happen...

I am. He Is. She Is. They Are - How About You?

Thanks to the Internet, it's now easier than ever to evaluate your complete psychometric profile.  Unlike the FBI version, which is used to track down criminals and serial killers, the online tests, checks and quizzes tend to let you identify which Smurf / Friends character / musical / Quality Street you are.

Pointless tosh in other words.

However, the boffins at Denki's new fun labs have put their mighty brains to the task of helping the population of the world to discover something genuinely useful...

How Denki Are You?

Now, for the first time ever, without having to submit to blood tests and attend a week-long course at a 2-star town-centre hotel, you can find out just HOW Denki you are.

Everyone, from seasoned game developers, design geniuses, games legends, mums, dads, grandparents, kids, pets and online avatars can now tell - SCIENTIFICALLY - just how fun, funky, groovy, joyful, creative and swish* they are.

Created and fully-endorsed by Denki's in-house games legend, Gary Penn.  AmIDenkiOrNot offers everyone who's ever been interested in, or used the word 'fun', a chance to assess their true and honest worth.

Visit.  Play.  Enjoy.  Ponder...

* percentage of swish-ness calculated logarithmically.

Want To Write About Games?

Ready-Up, the online games community and website is looking for a new staff writer.  The applicant must be willing and able to blog, review, attend press events and generally get their hands all inky in the pursuit excellence in writing about games...

This is a definite opportunity for anyone with an interest in the art, culture - and playing of games.  Of course, it's also handy to want to know more about where games come from.  If you're a huge Keiron Gillan fan, weep quietly as you think about Stuart Campbell, have passionate arguments in the pub about whether Brooker or Blyth were better writers for Zone, or generally bore the back teeth out of non-gaming friends with your opinions on the titles they recently wasted money on; then you really should think about this.

If you know you have what it takes - if you can prove that you're capable of stringing many words together in enjoyable and useful ways, then pop by the Ready-Up site and let them know.

The full job description and benefits are outlined after the jump.