The opening ceremony for the University of Abertay's White Space took place yesterday afternoon, with Alex Salmond, the first minister in attendance, along with representatives from many of the development studios in Dundee.
White Space is an impressive addition to Abertay's existing facilities, featuring a huge open space, lots of natural light and enough PCs and Macs to make even a fair-sized game developer jealous.
It already houses the Dare to be Digital project, the Creative Scotland transition team, the Hannah McLure centre and numerous other initiatives. It's less about the big, pretty, white space - or even the ubiquitous Macs and more about the thinking behind it.
White Space is open for new ideas. It's embracing the future of digital entertainment and interactivity and actively looking for new ways to err, interact with it.
It is in short, very cool.
Exactly the sort of space that Scotland needs and it highlights why Abertay is doing so damn well when it comes to the academic side of game development and attracting new students.
They're genuinely excited by all this new technology stuff and instead of falling into the trap of thinking about the usual platforms, categories and pigeonholes, they're giving people the chance to take it in new directions.
Which made it all the more interesting yesterday, when the first minister popped by to open the whole thing and make it official.
Mr Salmond was shown around by Principal Bernard King (we have to interview that man at some point soon...), who was genuinely excited by the whole thing and even the half a dozen words we grabbed showed he's completely mad about the whole idea.
After being introduced to the winning teams from last year's Dare, Mr S (or FM as I believe insiders say), chatted to representatives from several of the local companies.
We spoke to them earlier, to find out their impressions of the whole thing...
Colin Anderson, MD, Denki: "Alex Salmond was extremely approachable
and interested in the whole industry. We covered quite a lot of
areas which are affecting game developers in Scotland. As an industry we in Scotland are
facing a number of very different issues to our colleagues down
South. Even something as simple as attracting talent requires a
different approach. Scotland has a declining population and we're
not getting nearly as many talented immigrants as other areas of the
UK. We need a different approach.
This isn't an area which is currently
controlled by Scotland, as it's a reserved issue for Westminster, but
I did get the feeling Alex understood the problem.
I tried to make it clear just how much
of an advantage Scotland has in the games market, We have a proven
track record and there's a real opportunity for the government to get
behind the industry and show leadership in making Scotland's games
industry a global leader."
Jamie Bryan, Creative Director, Tag Games: "Apologies first, for hogging the First Minister - and to his security personal for going into my back pocket to show him my i-Phone. The bodyguard had his hands full – after taking charge of the first minister's empty lunch plates and glass while I fumbled around my pocket to show him what an iPhone was [he did ask!]
Sorry for the panic, mate.
I spent a great deal of time chatting to Alex, my new pal, he was generally very interested in the industry and what we were up to. Still couldn’t help thinking though, that information
isn’t really getting through and the games sector is still down played. Recently Mark Ettle and Chris Wright hit the nail on the head in the Scotland on Sunday business supplements by highlighting what the industry needs to move forward and be competitive on a global stage.
This was backed up by Bernard King’s announcement before he handed the stage over to Alex for the official opening. Great to get that coverage but how do we pick up pace from here? I would suggest that as an industry we need to have a spokesperson who can interface with the Scottish Parliament, to lobby and advise on the industries behalf.
It’s true that Scottish Parliament could do more to help business to be more competitive. It's telling that their Spokesperson suggested that the industry is already supported through
support for Dare to be Digital. It's fantastic that they now recognise the competition, but falls far short of what most companies would consider structured and planned support. If we don’t organize ourselves and have one voice we will always be seen as a bunch of fragmented companies, rather than an industry which can be taken more seriously by parliament. How about you trying for the job Mr Baglow?
[Thanks Jamie, I'll owe you a coffee for that - BB]
It's either that - or future First Ministers will be surprised to find GTA8 (VIII?) was made in Scotland."
Colin MacDonald, Studio Manager, Realtime Worlds: "It was extremely encouraging to see the First Minister make the time for both
Dundee, and the creative industries in general, yesterday. Dundee’s been one of
the world’s hub of games for countless years (decades almost!) now, but it
rarely seems to be recognised as such by those in power – whether that’s
government, investors or press – so it’s incredibly promising to see that start
to turn. Hopefully the mammoth contribution the industry here makes won’t be
forgotten once GTA4 eventually drops out of the charts."
Bonjour mes amis. C'est moi, le photo du Jean Craven! 
