- The 'Hackett Out' live blog captured the evening: Read along with State of Play here.
- Get the data: Jamie McCormick’s report on the state of the industry can be found here.
- Who’s funding indie development in Ireland? See Wayra Ireland and NDRC
- Got some free time? @seriousgamesIRL live-streamed the whole event. Find it here.
 |
| Ku from Bit Smith Games Source: Bit Smith Games |
From artists to coders, new blood is in short supply in this growing industry. The number of companies working in video-games here has jumped from 21 in 2009 to over 83 this year.
Jamie McCormick, Marketing Systems Manager at Gala Networks Europe, published his report on the state of the industry in Ireland last week. He said video-games are now worth €210m to the Irish economy every year.
His study, “Games Industry Ireland 2012”, is available online on gamedevelopers.ie. McCormick said that the study highlighted skills shortages in in Ireland, especially in the area of animation.
And he proposed solutions. He’s trying to bring together the Irish Film Board and the game’s industry to pool their talents.
Kevin McGarry from NeverMind Games said that his studio is looking for both artists and programmers. The company’s maths based puzzler TroubleSum is out now for mobile platforms iOS and Windows Phone 7.
Snow Globe Games team member, Marc Diamond talked about the evolution of their iPad title Paper Saga. The game’s unique aesthetic uses layers of 2D art to create a rich and colourful environment. Snow Globe are looking for concept artists and 3D artists to join them on their latest project.
The event was centred on a series of talks given throughout the night, with Hugh McAtamney from DIT doing his best to keep the programme on track. The talks ranged from the highly technical key note from MonoGame to a simple round-up of the year’s successes from developers.
Outside, up to 21 demo-stations were set up on the fourth floor of DIT Angier St to allow attendees to get their hands on some of Ireland’s newest indie games.
There were success stories there on the floor. One company, Glass Robot, are working on a platform game for the iPad and other mobile devices, that allows players to build their own levels and share them with friends.
Johnny Murphy, one of the four-preson team, said that the studio had recently been awarded €50,000 and 9 months of access to professional office space in Dublin through the Wayra accelerator programme. He said they only formed their company in June of this year.
The Little Acre - one of the many games on show - a quirky take
on the story of one Irish man who fought for the British in WWII.
More established companies, like Bit Smith Games, have come a long way over the past 12 months. Their iPad adventure Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan is a visually striking top-down action game. The title was partially funded through fundit.ie earlier this year.
Bit Smith are another studio looking to expand, and Owen Harris from the company called on teams to collaborate more. He offered the services of Bit Smith team members to help out with other's projects, if needed.
Andrea Magnoraky from Bat Cat Games, who spoke about her own studio’s successes, said that “the talent in this room is staggering." She emphasised the value of collaboration and has been involved in organising two game-jam events in Dublin over the past year.
The mood at State of Play 2012 was enthusiastic. The sudden growth of the industry, the volume of new talent and the abundance of original ideas on show mean that games in Ireland can only continue to grow.
For skilled artists, designers and programmers out there, opportunities abound and there’s a strong community forming in the industry to keep that momentum going.
No comments:
Post a Comment