Global Companies Australia

One of my ideal destinations to work in would be Australia, heres a few companies I'd like to work for.



Blue Tongue Studious ( Melbourne, Australia )

Blue Tongue Entertainment is one of Australia's premier game development studios; we've been making games for consoles and PC for over a decade. We began life as an independent studio in 1995, and became a part of THQ in 2004. We now have more than 100 staff, and are continuing to look for talented individuals to join our teams.

We've shipped games in a wide range of genres, and have a number of popular titles under our belt, including Starship Troopers Terran Ascendancy, Jurassic Park Operation Genesis, the Nicktoons series of games, and Marvel Super Hero Squad.

Our acclaimed Nintendo Wii game de Blob launched in the US and Europe September 2008, and in Japan and Korea in November 2008. Our sequel, de Blob 2 launched on Xbox360, PlayStation 3, Wii in February 2011. Find out more at www.deblob.com.

All our games are made using our constantly evolving proprietary engine and toolset; we develop for all the current consoles, including Nintendo Wii TM , Microsoft Xbox 360® and Sony Playstation®3





( Brisbane , Australia )

Wildfire Studios continues to grow its profile as a preeminent developer of casual games.

Founded in 1995, Wildfire gained immediate recognition with the launch of the best selling and critically acclaimed pinball simulator Balls of Steel. The company has now released some 15 casual games across multiple platforms.

Wildfire�s games are distinguished by technical excellence, the highest quality graphics and attention to detail. The games are available on all the major game portals including Yahoo!, Big Fish Games, RealNetworks, Oberon, MSN and worldwide retail outlets.

Hollywood’s Leading Concept Designer uses a Wacom Intuos

What kind of software/hardware do you use when you create a concept art?
My studio setup is relatively simple. For digital paintings and drawings, I only use Adobe Photoshop. Currently, I’m using CS1 on my mobile laptop and CS5 on my nuclear-powered Alienware at home. It’s important to have a powerful machine because much of our work involves complex paintings which require a lot of RAM to load. The specs for my Alienware are:

Intel i7 960 Quad Core CPU
12 Gigs of DDR3 RAM
2 x nVidia GTX 295s in Quad SLI mode
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

This PC is connected to a 30” Apple Cinema Display running at 2560 x 1600 resolution (great for digital paintings).

And of course the Wacom tablet is required. At home, I’m using the new 9x12 Intuos 4. At work, I’m still using the 9x12 Intuos 3 tablet.

The only other software I use is ACDsee. This is a photo manager application which is great for viewing reference images. It’s quick, has a small memory foot-print, and inexpensive to buy.

What are your ideal equipments/tools for concept art?
For me, speed is the key. I can’t stand lag or waiting for anything to load. So the first priority is a powerful PC with lots of RAM. Second are the displays. I prefer dual 30” screens running at very high resolutions (2560 x 1600). Next is the 9x12 Wacom tablet. Finally, match all this equipment with Photoshop and you have the perfect working environment.

I do get a lot of questions about MAC or PC. For me, I prefer the PC; simply because there are way more cool games on the PC than MAC. Since I work in the entertainment industry, it’s important for me to also play with the products. Currently, I have about 30+ games installed on my Alienware PC.

What is the advantage of using pen tablet/Interactive Pen Display?
Working digitally has a lot of advantages over traditional media. For example:

- The freedom to explore different directions without wasting material such as paper or paint
- Smaller studio footprint. I no longer need a huge drawing table with multiple lamps. This also makes the studio look much cleaner and modern
- The Wacom also allows me to go portable. A powerful laptop + Wacom is a cool combination
- Working digitally is also good for the wrists and eyes. You don’t need to move your arms much and there’s no need to squint. If you want to see something, just zoom in. And if you want to draw/paint a specific area, just pan the image to match your hand position
- No need to wait for paint to dry (a big slow down back in the classic painting days)
- Control-Z! This is probably the most important tool – the ability to change your mind and fix mistakes.

How Wacom products help you and your team to minimize work process?
Doing away with traditional media saves a ton of time and money. For example, back in the old days (10+ years ago), every designer on the team required a huge work area. Each space had a big drawing table, markers, lamps, paint brushes, storage bins, etc. It can take years to fully equip one designer. When the Wacom came along, all that changed. Now we just buy a PC, a tablet, and load up Photoshop. The studio is much more efficient as a result and work gets done faster. The Wacom tablets are one of the most important tools in a design studio – it literally changed the way we work.

What do you expect from Wacom?
I’ve owned every Wacom product since the ArtZ II days (back in 1996). Since then, I’ve always enjoyed every product that has come along. I can’t wait to see what will come out next. My dream is to have a wireless 9x12 Cintiq!

Just thought this would be an interesting insight into the software the leading concept artists use.

Films Been Turned To Movies

Home | Games Archive
13 videogames being made into films
Simon Brew

We've been through the production lists of Hollywood again, and uncovered a wealth of console and computer games coming to the big screen....

Published on Mar 13, 2008

Yesterday, we dug up 38 old films that are currently in the process of being remade. Today? Here are thirteen computer games coming to the big screen…

EverQuest
The huge online role playing game is currently in the hands of writer Michael ‘300’ Gordon, who is penning a screenplay for a potential 2010 film.

Max Payne
Personally, I love the Max Payne games, and consider it a blight on the face of gamers everywhere that they weren’t more popular. But they’re very movie friendly, and that’s why filming has now commenced on a movie that may yet re-start the gaming franchise, too. Mark Wahlberg is starring, and John Moore (not the one who writes for us, rather the one who remade The Omen) is directing.

Kane & Lynch
Eidos’s 2007 game seemed to be made with the big screen in mind, and thus Lionsgate has picked up the tale of two Death Row inmates on the run. Jieho Lee is in negotiations to direct the film, which could move into production this year.

Gears of War
Underworld and Die Hard 4.0 director Len Wiseman is being linked with a live action version of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 hit game. Stuart Beattie is currently writing a screenplay (his credits include Pirates of the Caribbean, Collateral and the upcoming Spy Hunter). It’s still in the early stages of production, though.

Spy Hunter
Talking of Spy Hunter, the classic 80s arcade game (which re-emerged reasonably recently) is also being scribed by Stuart Beattie for the big screen treatment. Paul W S Anderson is down to direct the film, which is still at the writing stage.

Halo
Peter Jackson was linked to the project once upon a time, and Alex Garland has been working on a script. Yet the whole project seemed to hit the buffers last year, and thus far, there’s little sign of it coming back to life. Proposed director Neill Bloomkamp stated that he though the project was dead last Autumn, and he could well be right…

Prince of Persia Sands Of Time
Brit director Mike Newell has signed on the dotted line for the big screen Prince Of Persia outing, which has original creator Jordan Mechner involved in the script. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing, and the film is now in pre-production. Cast is yet to be confirmed, but it’ll be on the screen next year.

Splinter Cell
A film based on the Tom Clancy-branded stealth/action game is in the early negotiations stage right now. That’s make a finished product some way away…

Mortal Kombat
Another film in one of the more successful videogame franchises, this one has Christopher Lambert rumoured to be attached, but no script so far. Doesn’t usually stop them where game-to-film adaptations are concerned…

Metal Gear Solid
The game that pretty much popularised the stealth genre in games is coming to cinema screens, possibly as early as next year. Michael De Luca – who also has Ghost Rider on his CV – is producing, but no cast or director details yet.

Devil May Cry
Capcom has apparently signalled its attention for a film to be made around another one of its popular franchises (after Resident Evil), and while little else is known about the Devil May Cry movie project, 2010 has been pencilled in for its release.

Rainbow Six
John Woo is producing, but seemingly not directing, a movie adaptation of another Tom Clancy-branded videogame franchise. Rainbow Six is a bit more action packed, mind. Zach Snyder was attached, but apparently isn’t any more.

Broken Sword: The Shadow Of The Templars
The adventure game series is ripe for a film, and so one is being written right about now. Charles Cecil – who created the series – is attached as Executive Producer, and a 2009 released is planned

3DS Making people Ill

s revolutionary 3D screens were supposed to provide gamers with a mind-blowing experience.
But it seems Nintendo's new console has only succeeded in giving them a headache.
Hundreds of angry users have complained that playing on the 3DS makes them feel unwell.

Health warning? Hundreds of angry Nintendo users have complained that the electronic firm's new 3D console makes them feel unwell
The handheld device was launched last week to huge fanfare in Britain, Europe and the U.S.
But gamers, some of whom queued overnight to become the first to own it, are already reporting side-effects including dizziness, nausea and headaches.
One Twitter user said: 'Warning to everyone, if you’re already ill and have a migraine, DO NOT play the 3DS with 3D on. Urgh. '
Another gamer said: 'The 3D gave me a headache, so I hated it.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371435/Nintendo-3DS-makes-gamers-sick-gives-headaches.html#ixzz1Mc2OxahK

[iPhone game] Samurai: Way of the Warrior

Was just looking on the unity site and found this game entitled Samurai Way Of Warrior, I thought it was a great source of research having us used Unity and Maya, software we have used before soI have experience in this kind of software. I also really like the graphical approach of the game, and the sort of style I really approve. Heres the trailor of the game.



Located in beautiful Brno, Czech Republic, MADFINGER Games brings together a team of veteran game developers. MADFINGER's portofolio includes many popular games, previously worked on big budget AAA titles for PC, XBOX, PS2, PS3, XBOX360.

Committed to providing the highest quality software for the mobile platform, MADFINGER Games' mission is game development with a focus on gameplay and player experience, with a major emphasis on total customer satisfaction.

MADFINGER Games' goal is to create console quality games for mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with a major emphasis on total customer satisfaction.

Global Companies - Canada

Was just looking around at some of the global gaming companies around, I was focusing my search mainly towards three countries, been Canada, American and Australia as these are the three countries I could see myself working mainly due to the lifestyle similarity and hobbies interest. I start my search looking at Canada. Heres a few companies Id Like to work for.



Play Brains Studious ( Canada, Ontario )

Playbrains is a game development studio specializing in digitally-distributed fun. We create console and PC games that blur the lines between downloadable and retail games. We absolutely believe that downloaded entertainment can be as rich and immersive as traditional retail games, and we are committed to creating easily-distributed, high-quality fun across all game genres





Dot Bunny Studious ( Canada, Ontario )

dotBunny is a zazzy independent game studio based out of Peterborough, Canada. We make games that are different, and are proud of it. We also do some pretty awesome work in the areas of application development and visualization.
Founded in 2006 by Matthew Davey, we have grown from being a two-person professional services company with a dream of creating games, to a licensed development studio committed to the full lifecycle of game development. Since the beginning we have provided services and development assistance to some of the most critically acclaimed games on the market.
Today, we continue to develop new and astonishing intellectual property for clients, as well as groundbreaking titles of our own.



Having a look around heres two companies for example I'd like to work for. I really like the style of the graphics used with the games and target market the aiming for, thats something I can see myself been a valuable team member and shall follow these companies.

3DS Hacked in 1 Day

So you just got a Nintendo 3DS following its launch in Japan -- what do you do? While most would be content to simply pass the time with Pilotwings for at least a few days, others are a bit more... curious. In that group you'll find the folks from Tech-On!, who have already torn the handheld apart and even gone the extra mile to examine its 3D display under a microscope -- they assume it's a Sharp parallax barrier display, but weren't able to confirm it as such. As if that wasn't enough for a day-old system, YouTube user ayasuke2 has already hacked the system to use R4 cards and run unauthorized Nintendo DS games. Head on past the break for some video evidence of that, and hit up the source link below for the complete teardown.

On The Brink

With Brink having been released in the past few days gamers have been telling Splash Damage that the game has bugs and flaws with their gameplay and online system Splash Damage have responded with apollogising for the problems and offered free Downloadable COntent to gamers, here is the article:

Brink closes its checkered launch week with news of free DLC and promises it's fixing the crippling lag in its multiplayer.

With an update now live, Brink developer Splash Damage is introducing a configuration change for Xbox 360 users (which will also be available for the PS3 when PlayStation Network comes back) that limits Campaign matchmaking to eight human players (default is up to 16). The config change will also be available in most Freeplay modes.

Those who haven't had lag problems can find the 8 vs. 8 setup in something called the "Big Teams" configuration in Freeplay, and also via custom settings in Private matches.

As a token of appreciation for those who've offered feedback on Brink and stuck by it through this first week, the game's first DLC extension will be free. Splash Damage says it's planned for a June release and will offer "additional maps and new content for players."

Technology Replaces Fitness

Video games are replacing sport as new government policy allows kids to play Wii during PE lessons.

Parents of kids in trial schools can now opt for their children to play games like Wii Fit and Wii Sports during physical education. Some schools are even offering Wii as an optional sport amongst a list of traditional outdoor activities. This comes after a move made by the NSW Department of Education and the Australian Sports Commission to add the fitness titles to the PE curriculum, in the face of rising obesity levels in children.

As you would expect, the decision has been met with both criticism by some and praise by others. Australian boxer Danny Green says if video games were offered in place of sport, he would pull his kids out of school. "I could think of nothing worse than having my kids stuck indoors in front of a computer and square box," the father-of-two says. "They are inside a school long enough and to put them indoors for sport is disgraceful."

Principal of Belmore South Public School, Gail Dyer, defends her school’s use of four Wii consoles during both PE and music lessons. "We don’t have a tennis court and this [is] as effective as having kids out (playing) on one," she says. "Many of the kids live in apartments, so a lot of them don’t get out to play sports."

Last year, a PE conference held for the NSW Association of Independent Schools had a component focusing on using Wii Sports. It explained how Wii could be used from kindergarten - for dance and gymnastics - right through to HSC topics, such as how biomechanical principles influence movement.

Melinda Turner, a consultant for the Australian Sports Commission, says anything that gets children interested in sport is a good thing. "If this is what has to be done to promote what you can do when you play sport, then that’s fantastic," Ms Turner says.

Law To Make Facebook Private? ( California )

A landmark law proposed in California would upend social networking sites' privacy policies by instituting new restrictions on what user information is shared and requiring sites to institute more stringent privacy settings.

Internet companies and trade associations have already opposed proposal "SB242," authored by Senator Ellen Corbett, arguing that it would have "unintended consequences," a negative effect on their business, and force users to make uninformed decisions about their privacy, by making them choose their privacy settings before ever using the social networking services.

The bill, which would apply only to users in California, would prohibit sites from displaying users' home addresses or telephone numbers without their consent and would mandate services remove of any information about a user within 48 hours of the request, or face a $10,000 fine.

Under the proposed law, social networking sites would be required to have all users choose their privacy settings--explained in "plain language"--as part of the registration process. It also spells out a privacy setting that would be mandated to serve as the default on all sites and that would prohibit "the display...of any information about a registered user, other than the user's name and city of residence, without the agreement of the user."

"You shouldn't have to sign in and give up your personal information before you get to the part where you say, 'Please don't share my personal information,'" Corbett said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Internet Alliance, a trade association that includes companies such as Google and Facebook, is among the groups that have expressed concerns and misgivings about the law.

SB242 "would force users to make decisions about privacy and visibility of all information well before they even used the service for the first time, and in such a manner that they are less likely to pay attention and process the information," Internet Alliance executive director Tammy Cota wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Story continues below
AdvertisementAdvertisement"This legislation is a serious threat both to Facebook's business in California and to meaningful California consumers' choices about use of personal data," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said of the proposed law, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "Any legislative or regulatory proposal must honor users' expectations in the contexts in which they use online services and promote the innovation that fuels the growth of the Internet economy."

Meanwhile, Corbett has accused the world's largest social networking website of operating in "stealth mode" to fight her proposal by offering "talking points" to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, prior to the hearing, on why the bill should be opposed.

Whilst who knows what will happen, and whether or not more countries / states proceed in creating a negative atmposhere towards facebook, however this could have an impact on social gaming and online gaming, what with content on users been available, such as age and location which could lead to strictor privacy.

LA Noire - Technology

LA Noire is the new game developed by Rockstar, world wide famous for there back catalogue including big hitters such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.
eam Bondi have updated the standard of facial recognition and reality that comes into games through its in house tecnology using a 360 degree covered facial recognition. Picking up any facial movement from the actors and actresses from gestures, smirks to simple grins and cheek movements as this technology plays a huge part in the story of L.A. Noire and allowing a sense of realism and thought to gameplay. This is just another step forward towards realism,whilst the technology included is deeply impressive Im not a fan of ultra realism. Heres the viideo below.

Star Wars, Making Of And Concept

I remember be shown a documentary about the behind the scences in coming up with concept art for the Revenge Of The Sikth Film, however I couldnt find the extracts I was looking for on youtube. However I found some examples of concept art I think was entitled for the film, however I'm not sure and may have been aimed towards the game.



However while still searching for the video I previously make I came across this documentry talking about the video game Star Wars : Return Of The Sith, It would have been nice to get both extracts and compare and contrast between the two formats.

Becoming Game Concept Artist

Matt Kohr is a student at Savannah College of Art and Design who wants to work as a concept artist in the video game industry. He's already nabbed a few gigs doing some artwork part-time while in school and during his summer break. In this interview conducted by professor Brenda Braithwaite (who teaches a course Kohr is enrolled in called Applied Game Design class, which mimics the game industry environment), he explains his artistic process and the secret to his success so far.

Prof. Brenda Brathwaite: The concept artist is often considered the holy grail of art positions. As a budding concept artist, does this intimidate or inspire you?

Matt Kohr: It's a little bit of both. Sometimes I get scared because there aren't many concept art positions to go around, and I'm overwhelmed by the portfolio competition. Luckily, I've had the opportunity to see the influence of concept art in the studio environment. In a team setting, seeing a strong piece of concept art can really inspire everyone and give them a strong goal to progress toward. When one of my pieces causes someone to stop and say, "Yes! That is what we need to make," it makes all the effort worthwhile.




BB: What is your process from initial idea through to final concept?

MK: As many artists know, one of the hardest questions is "What should I draw?" Luckily, the concept artist is immune to this question -- a game development team is never short on ideas to be illustrated.

In addition to Cowboy Cave [images shown], I'm currently working on an indie game with fellow SCAD student and game designer Will Miller. He will give me an assignment like, "Give me a tank. I want the tank to have a personality. Maybe give the tank a face or something." I take this cryptic prompt and begin to gather visual source material.


Working from existing art and photographs, I create small "thumbnail drawings" to decide how the tank is shaped. Once I get a thumbnail with personality, I'm practically done. If the shape is clear and interesting at one inch wide, it will work large scale. The rest is polish.

BB: As a student, you've spent summers and some time while in school working in the industry as a concept artist. How has this industry experience benefited you?


MK: School can't totally prepare you for the industry. At school, the week before finals, students flood the computer labs. Everyone feverishly works under their deadline, giving feedback to one another. It's a great working environment! Communal energy of that sort only happens once per term in most classes, though. A game studio gets that every day.

The simple act of working for nine hours every day makes me a stronger artist. Doing it surrounded by a team of talented game developers makes it fun.

BB: Others are likely interested in how you got an industry gig in the first place. Can you share how that came to be?


MK: My freshman year, I found myself in a lunch meeting with Hi-Rez Studios and listened to them describe their upcoming PC MMO Global Agenda. Luckily, they were attending our annual conference here at SCAD, The Game Developers eXchange (GDX). They said they were looking for graduating seniors, but being a defiant freshman, I totally ignored them and introduced myself to the producer.

I forgot to bring a portfolio, but told him to visit my web site at the end of the week. When I told him that, though, I did not actually have a web site! A week later, however, I did.

When we exchanged emails after that, I made it quite clear that I would help in any capacity -- and at any price. I told him I would work for free. Some combination of passion and portfolio landed me a summer internship, which led to a fantastic working relationship throughout college.

BB: What advice do you have for aspiring concept artists still in college?


MK: You have to love designing, and do all the hard work yourself. Never put your pencil down. Seriously. School work is not enough to get you where you want to be. Find a team and make a game or a mod. All of the best work comes from extra-curricular drawing. Always be imagining. If you practice enough, the technical part will stop hindering your art, and you can focus on being creative.




Also, make sure to be a part of online communities such as www.ConceptArt.org. These sites are great places to see how the pros work and to get valuable feedback.

There has never been a better time to be an aspiring artist. The internet is alive with art community and free media. You can even watch DVDs where artists create entire works while narrating their process, such as the Gnomon Workshop series. So, if you really enjoy it, put in the hours drawing, and put yourself out there. You never know when you might need to show off your portfolio

Crysis 2 Concept Art ( Dennis Chan )

Concept artist and illustrator Dennis Chan has released concept art he created for Crytek’s first person shooter Crysis 2. Dennis worked on creating concept art, cover illustrations and environment designs

Social Gaming Colapse

Denis Dyack known games designer believes that gaming in the social network will crash as he see no economy within that aspect of gaming, here is the article from Industry Gamers:

Facebook has attracted numerous traditional game developers to "switch sides" to the social games space - a sector that has truly blown up in the last couple years. Zynga, according to some estimates, is worth more than $10 billion. Denis Dyack, founder of Silicon Knights, is not a believer in social games - not personally or commercially. In fact, he thinks social game makers will be in for a very rude awakening in the future when the industry's bubble completely bursts.


We asked Dyack if the rise of social and the migration of traditional talent to the social space is a detriment to the traditional games market. He answered, "It is damaging traditional gaming for sure but... how it’s going to work out is anyone’s guess. The trend that I see is it’s probably going to be one of the biggest bubbles and explosions that our industry's seen in a long time and I think when it crashes it’s going to crash very hard. I don’t think there’s an economy there."


That would imply that the mighty Zynga and other top social game makers are doomed, but Dyack didn't want to get into specifics. He thinks the amount of money invested in social is foolish, however.


"I don’t know about Zynga – I think that’s a big micro, but I think that the amount of venture that’s being poured in, in general, that's most of the video game industry investment. As far as I know right now, it's going into pure social gaming. It looks like marketing to me. It doesn’t look like real gaming. And maybe it’ll change, I don’t know. It looks very, very dangerous. I think Zynga’s valuated more than some traditional publishers right now that have been in the industry for decades. I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it. It seems imaginary to me... it doesn’t look long term healthy to me," he continued.


"And right now you’re seeing a lot of influx in venture and you’re seeing a lot of excitement and a lot of pie in the sky ideas, but when games actually have to start showing pure revenue and real ‘here’s how much we made and here’s how much it cost’ ...I think that industry is going to not last very long."


Traditional publishers, with the exception of EA (which bought PlayFish), have been slow to jump on the social bandwagon. Activision in particular has been roundly criticized by industry pundits for essentially ignoring social and mobile. Dyack believes that other publishers actually are more aligned with Activision than we think but have been reticent to state their stance on social.


"I think there are a lot of publishers out there that don’t agree with it and they just haven’t spoken about it," he said. "I don’t see Nintendo going into that space, as an example. There are a lot of publishers that I don’t see going into that space. And, you know, EA is one of the few that's [embraced social]. Just to be clear - there’s a difference between experimentation and [committing to the space]. So if Silicon Knights said hey, we’re going to throw 3 or 4 people on a social game and see what happens that’s very different than me saying, ‘hey I think that’s going to be really successful.'


"You know, we may do that in the future but it’s kind of like an experiment versus 'this is our business model.' I tried playing FarmVille, I really did, but it’s not my cup of tea. And I’m not saying that FarmVille’s a bad game but as a gamer who's played games all my life, I know what kinds of games I want to play. I play games every day and I’m always trying new stuff. Our golden rule is we make games that we want to play ourselves and I just look at those [social] games and those are just games I don’t want to play for whatever reason. I just think that they're not a good use of my time versus quality."


Do you think Dyack is on to something? Will the whole social games industry come crumbling down?

Link to the article http://www.industrygamers.com/news/facebook-gaming-will-crash-very-hard-says-dyack/

Social Gaming Growth

According to a new report released today from market research firm Parks Associates, social gaming is on track to become a $5 billion industry in the next five years.




Staggering as that estimated growth rate and market size is, according to Juniper, mobile gaming is expected to grow to $11B over the same period.

Both of these parallel trends underline the massive shift to and within digital. According to Electronic Arts, digital now accounts for 45% of the overall games market up from 31% in 2008

Uploading and Hosting Work

Was just looking around at possible websites inwhich you can host your work / create a portfolio for free, In the hope of gaining a little recognition and get followers, Ive always thought it was pretty good idea to host your work and maybe allow people to download / use for free however people would always be informed on which is your work and still have the liscense for so potential clients can get in contact and build on for there, when starting out you dont want to overprice yourself so be prepared to start at a loss.

Heres a few sites which were reccomended upon users.

Carbonmade
Deviant Art
Coroflot
Shared Den
LillypadsKrop
Shadowness
Fig Dig
Krop

Im a user of Deviant Art and have uploaded some of my work up there, heres an example of my monkey robot their. http://divinitywithin7.deviantart.com/art/Monkey-Controlling-Robot-209094273.

Video Game Merchandising

Was just thinking about the merchandising aspect of Video Games, and its up there with the film and Music Industry, for example was just having a look around at the many popular video games characters which image have been thrown on everything at must amount to a huge revenuee. The one that initially springs to mind is Mario, possibly the most popular video game character around.

Angry Birds Sucsess

On March 10 the creators of Angry Birds (Rovio studios) announced that they had taken $42 Million in funding. They currently hold the record for the best selling iOS game ever. There is talks of a movie being produced featuring Angry Birds. You can already buy stuffed animal versions of the birds.

As Wired Magazine eloquently put it: “Every day, users spend 200 million minutes — 16 years every hour — playing the mobile game. Three trillion pigs have been popped. It has filled billions of those interstitial moments spent riding the bus, on a plane or in important work meetings, and it is or has been the number-one paid app on iTunes in 68 countries, as well as the best-selling paid app of all time.”

I overheard someone dismissively talk about how Rovio had everything handed to them and that’s why they had “overnight success”. I almost went medieval on them.

There is no denying that Angry Birds is a culture phenomenon, but one thing it’s not is an “overnight success”.

Did you know that the guys at Rovio spent 8 YEARS working on other games before they finally caught a huge break? That takes dedication. For almost a decade they didn’t have any big wins. Sure they had some small to moderate success early on, but nothing massive. Heck when Angry Birds came out on the iOS app store sales were pretty slow for the first 3 months. The Rovio guys believed in their product and kept their nose to the grindstone. Through an iterative process they were able to grow Angry Birds into the massive success that it is today.

“Over night success” is often idolized in the startup world, but sometimes the glamor is based in myth rather than reality. Show up and work hard each and every day and remember that you’re getting closer. You can’t have a breakout hit if you never show up.

Bad Effects Of Video Games

Most of the bad effects of video games are blamed on the violence they contain. Children who play more violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping, according to a scientific study (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). The effect of video game violence in kids is worsened by the games’ interactive nature. In many games, kids are rewarded for being more violent. The act of violence is done repeatedly. The child is in control of the violence and experiences the violence in his own eyes (killings, kicking, stabbing and shooting). This active participation, repetition and reward are effective tools for learning behavior. Indeed, many studies seem to indicate that violent video games may be related to aggressive behavior (such as Anderson & Dill, 2000; Gentile, Lynch & Walsh, 2004). However, the evidence is not consistent and this issue is far from settled.
Too much video game playing makes your kid socially isolated. Also, he may spend less time in other activities such as doing homework, reading, sports, and interacting with the family and friends.
Video games do not exercise your kid’s imaginative thinking. Using imagination may be important in developing creativity.
Some video games teach kids the wrong values. Violent behavior, vengeance and aggression are rewarded. Negotiating and other nonviolent solutions are often not options. Women are often portrayed as weaker characters that are helpless or sexually provocative.
Games can confuse reality and fantasy.
Academic achievement may be negatively related to over-all time spent playing video games. Studies have shown that the more time a kid spends playing video games, the poorer is his performance in school. (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Gentile, Lynch & Walsh, 2004)
Video games may also have bad effects on some children’s health, including obesity, video-induced seizures. and postural, muscular and skeletal disorders, such as tendonitis, nerve compression, carpal tunnel syndrome.
When playing online, your kid can pick up bad language and behavior from other people, and may make your kid vulnerable to online dangers.
A study by the Minneapolis-based National Institute for Media and the Family suggests that video games can be addictive for kids, and that the kids' addiction to video games increases their depression and anxiety levels. Addicted kids also exhibit social phobias. Not surprisingly, kids addicted to video games see their school performance suffer

Positive Effects Of Video Games

Video games give your child’s brain a real workout. In many video games, the skills required to win involve abstract and high level thinking. These skills are not even taught at school. Some of the mental skills trained by video games include:
o Following instructions
o Problem solving and logic
o Hand-eye coordination, fine motor and spatial skills. In shooting games, the character may be running and shooting at the same time. This requires the real-world player to keep track of the position of the character, where he/she is heading, their speed, where the gun is aiming, if the gunfire is hitting the enemy, and so on. All these factors need to be taken into account, and then the player must then coordinate the brain's interpretation and reaction with the movement in their hands and fingertips. This process requires a great deal of eye-hand coordination and visual-spatial ability to be successful. Research also suggests that people can learn iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills from video games. There have been even studies with adults showing that experience with video games is related to better surgical skills. Also, a reason given by experts as to why fighter pilots of today are more skillful is that this generation’s pilots are being weaned on video games.
o Resource management and logistics. The player learn to manage resources that are limited, and decide the best use of resources, the same way as in real life. This skill is honed in strategy games such as SimCity, Age of Empires, and Railroad Tycoon
o Multitasking, simultaneous tracking of many shifting variables and managing multiple objectives. In strategy games, for instance, while developing a city, an unexpected surprise like an enemy might emerge. This forces the player to be flexible and quickly change tactics.
o Quick thinking, making fast analysis and decisions. Sometimes the player does this almost every second of the game giving the brain a real workout. According to researchers at the University of Rochester, led by Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive scientist, games simulating stressful events such as those found in battle or action games could be a training tool for real-world situations. The study suggests that playing action video games primes the brain to make quick decisions. Video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons, according to the study.
o Strategy and anticipation - Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter, calls this "telescoping." Gamers must deal with immediate problems while keeping their long-term goals on their horizon.
o Developing reading and math skills – Young gamers force themselves to read to get instructions, follow storylines of games, and get information from the game texts. Also, using math skills is important to win in many games that involves quantitative analysis like managing resources.
o Perseverance – In higher levels of a game, players usually fail the first time around, but they keep on trying until they succeed and move on to the next level.
o Pattern recognition – Games have internal logic in them, and players figure it out by recognizing patterns.
o Estimating skills
o Inductive reasoning and hypothesis testing - James Paul Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that playing a video game is similar to working through a science problem. Like students in a laboratory, gamers must come up with a hypothesis. For example, players in some games constantly try out combinations of weapons and powers to use to defeat an enemy. If one does not work, they change hypothesis and try the next one. Video games are goal-driven experiences, says Gee, which are fundamental to learning.
o Mapping – Gamers use in-game maps or build maps on their heads to navigate around virtual worlds.
o Memory
o Reasoned judgments
o Teamwork and cooperation when played with others – many games are played online and involve cooperation with other online players in order to win.
o Simulation, real world skills. The most well known simulations are flight simulators, which attempt to mimic the reality of flying a plane. All of the controls, including airspeed, wing angles, altimeter, and so on, are displayed for the player, as well as a visual representation of the world, and are updated in real time.

Studio Hire

Just looking into renting out some studio space in around the area of Leeds for example, say Ive set up a company with some mates and were looking at a settlement to establish ourselves.

East Street Arts - Patrick Studios
ESA is a visual arts organisation founded in 1993 by artists to meet the need of practitioners working in a range of disciplines at different stages in their careers. Patrick Studios is a bespoke centre for artists and provides up to 34 quality studio spaces, resource areas and large project space, as well as specialist support such as access to facilities, information, training and contacts. There is a strong sense of community and identity via communal area and membership scheme and access to networks locally, nationally and internationally. Studio space at Patrick’s is £9 per sq ft pa with studio rentals ranging between £79 - £230. The average size studio costs around £130 per month including heating, rates, electricity, water and offering 24 hour access, 7 days a week all year round.

Location: Leeds

Round Foundry Media Centre
The Round Foundry Media Centre Leeds, a state-of-the-art facility for digital, media and creative businesses offering 40 offices for 2 to 25 people, most with parking. Contemporary, stylish and located just 10 minutes’ walk from Leeds train station at the heart of Leeds’ newest internet quarter. Offices with flexible terms, high quality digital telephony, broadband internet and a wide range of business support services and networking events. Offices cost around £34 per sq ft, one-person workpods are £200 per calendar month and “front desk” virtual office packages start from just £25 per month.

Location: Leeds


Holbeck Urban Village
An area of Holbeck just to the south of Leeds City Centre has been designated an urban village and is the focus of a multi-million pound regeneration programme. The long term vision for Holbeck Urban Village is the creation of a thriving new business community with a focus on creative and digital industry.

Location: Leeds


Theres plenty more but heres just a few examples feaured above.

12 Reasons Not To Go Freelance

Reason 1: To Sleep in All Day and Leave Work Early
It’s true that as a freelancer, you can set the hours you work. However, if you think that means you can sleep in all day and get off early, you’ll be sadly disappointed.

Clients still expect you to keep some normal business hours. While it’s ok to shift your schedule to times where you’re most productive, you’ll still have clients who request to speak to you by phone during nine to five hours. Limiting your work hours to starting at midnight and ending at 3 a.m. will cause you to lose a lot of potential business.

Reason 2: Freelancing Will Make You Rich
If you want to start freelancing, you shouldn’t do it solely for the money. While you’re free to set your rates, chances are you’ll have little or no money when starting out. Making tons of cash, even if you’re a seasoned professional, is pretty unlikely.

Reason 3: You Hate Working with People
Sorry to burst your bubble, but even if you plan on working by yourself, you still have to work with people. You may have to work with clients, agencies or other freelancers.

Reason 4: To Spend the Day with Your Kids
Unless you’re planning on only working part-time, expecting to be able to spend ample amounts of time with your kids is a huge potential pitfall. Once you get your business going, you’ll rarely have time for lunch and bathroom breaks; much less to change diapers, have playtime and offer help with homework.

Plus, if you’re not careful, staying at home with your kids can be a huge distraction and prevent you from getting any work done. Especially with younger kids, the temptation to spend time with them can often throw a productive day out the door.

This isn’t to say freelancing isn’t a good option for stay-at-home parents. You just have to be realistic in your goal settings and realize you’re not going to be able to be as productive, busy or profitable as a regular freelancer.

Reason 5: You Can Charge Whatever You Want
Related to Reason 2 above, you can’t simply charge any amount of money for your work and expect anyone to hire you. Your rates have to fall into what the market can bear and take into account your quality of work and experience you offer.

Of course, the busier and more well known you become the more you can charge to “fit” in those clients or schedule them in months ahead of time.

Reason 6: Freelancing Is An Easy Job
Freelancing is one of the hardest jobs out there. It’s one of the few careers where you’re truly alone, in the sense that you’re responsible for everything. This includes finding the work, doing the work, billing for it, tracking down late payments and taking care of the books and taxes. That’s a lot of work for one person!

Reason 7: To Keep Up with the Household Chores
It drives me nuts to wake up to a kitchen full of dishes or stuff where it shouldn’t be. However, I often have to hold back this urge until lunchtime or after work. Just like kids, it can be tempting to take just a “few” minutes to pick up the house and promise yourself you’ll get “right” back to work. Before you know it, half the day is gone and you haven’t done any work…paid work that is.

Personally, I try to have the dishes from the night before finished that night so I don’t wake up with them in the sink. I try to pick up as I go throughout the day so there isn’t a mess, or I wait until my lunch break to clean up what’s needed.

Reason 8: Work Will Just Come to You
It takes a lot of work to freelance before you even start “working”. Just sitting at your computer everyday and staring at your screen won’t get you clients.

Reason 9: No Boss!
Without having someone behind you to make sure you’re staying productive, it can be tough to stay motivated and on target. You have to make sure you have enough drive to push yourself to make it through the boring everyday tasks of freelancing.

Reason 10: You’ll Save Lots of Money
While it’s true you’ll no longer have to fight morning or evening traffic, that doesn’t mean you can sell the car and save lots of money. It gets lonely in your own office so you’ll want to work remotely a few times a week.

Often, you’ll find yourself going to your local bookstore, cafe, or restaurant to work for a few hours and you’ll probably end up spending some money there as well. After you factor in this spending money and gas, plus the extra money you’ll spend on electricity and water now that you’re home more often, freelancing can easily add up to be more expensive than a nine to five job.

I once spent a ton of money at Target when I had no money coming in because I was “bored” from being at home all the time. Don’t make the same mistake!

Reason 11: You’ll Have More Free Time
When you’re a freelancer, you’ll actually have a lot less free time than when you were working a regular nine to five job, even if you keep the same or less hours than before.

Why? The biggest reasons are overscheduling and procrastinating. It’ll take some time to properly schedule your work, but even then it’s impossible to predict if a client is going to have last minute changes or a rush project. You may even end up working nights and weekends.

Reason 12: Your Family Will Respect You More
Most non-web people don’t understand what we do at all. They understand even less what we do as freelancers. You’ll probably have some difficulty getting your family members to understand that you’re really working, even if you’re at home. They may not understand you’re running a real business and trying to make some real money.

To this day, my mom still doesn’t understand that I can’t just drop everything I’m doing in the middle of the day to do something with her. Just because I set my own hours, doesn’t mean I can make myself free whenever I want to, as I still have to take care of my clients.

20 Reasons To Go Freelance

1. You're your own boss
That's right! No one is the boss of you anymore. No more appraisals. No more getting told off for being late. No more working for control freaks, strange managers or directors. You are in control of your working life and no one else.

2. No more Monday mornings
Monday mornings... aren't they a pain! Well, not if you're freelancing. Because whilst the rest of the world is taking part in the dreaded Monday morning commute, you can choose to be tucked up in bed instead. Hate Mondays? Take the day off! You're a freelancer and can choose your own working hours.

3. No more office politics
That's right! No more office politics, bitchy colleagues or annoying people to deal with. Just you, your slippers and a nice cup of tea - all cosy at home in your own home office. You don't have to worry about getting noticed and competing against colleagues. You are on your own and that's just grand.

4. You make the decisions
Want to change the way your website looks? You can. Want to decide which clients to work with? You can. As you're a freelancer, you can make all the decisions. You're in control. No one else.

5. You're free to do what you want, any old time
Ok, so taking inspiration from the Stones here but it's true - we all love our freedom. And freelancing brings a wealth of freedom, if that's what's important to you. No one can tell you what to do and no one can stop you from doing anything. You're pretty much free to work as you like.

6. You choose your working hours
Don't fancy the dreaded 9am start on a Monday? Want to finish work early on a Friday? Like the idea of taking every Wednesday off to go out on your bike? As a freelancer, you can choose your own hours. Just because everyone else is working 9am-5pm, doesn't mean you have to. If you're worried about clients disapproving, just pretend you're 'in a meeting'. Who's going to check?

7. You can work from anywhere
Working from home is superb but it doesn't suit everyone. These days, technology allows us to work from pretty much anywhere. If it's sunny outside, you can go to your local park and soak up the rays while you're working. Or if you need to get out of the house on a rainy day, you can find a cosy cafe and take your laptop. Freelancing allows you to work from anywhere.

8. You can pick your clients
When you first start working for yourself, you'll take every bit of work you can get. Once you've established yourself, you'll be able to pick and choose who you work with. And in those early years of freelancing you'll soon learn to recognise the early signs of who will and won't be good to work with. When you're your own boss, you can have the luxury of choosing your clients.

9. You have greater earning potential
Ok, so a salary might be safe and comforting. But when you work for someone else, your earning potential is never as good as when you freelance. As a freelancer, you pretty much have an unlimited earning potential. The world is your oyster, that's for sure.

10. You benefit from working longer hours
The great thing about freelancing is that the harder you work, the more money you'll earn. If you work for someone else, working longer hours won't necessarily earn you more money. It might help further your career, showing your boss how keen and committed you are. But it won't put more money in the bank. Freelancing allows you to earn as much as you like.

11. You're lining your own pockets
When you work for someone else, it's easy to become bitter about working all hours when it feels like you're lining your employer's pockets. That doesn't happen when you freelance because all money you make goes directly into your own wallet.

12. You have more security
It seems daft but freelancing definitely offers more security than a full-time job. This might seem like a ridiculous statement but no job is ever safe. Particularly in these difficult financial times. So what makes freelancing any different? At least when you're a freelancer you have some control over your own destiny as it's really down to you whether you survive.

13. There's plenty of work to go around
There is loads of work out there, trust me. From agencies requiring freelance support to small businesses needing affordable services - there is plenty of work to go around. How you find it and secure it is down to you. No one else can win that work for you, so make sure you prioritise your own marketing and get out there and meet people.

14. You'll learn so much more
Freelancing brings many challenges, there's no doubt about that. But these challenges always offer some invaluable lessons. When you work for yourself, you'll learn so much from the people you come across; the mistakes you make and the clients you work for. You'll also learn a hell of a lot by always striving to improve your own skills.

15. You'll build your confidence
When you freelance, you only have yourself to rely on. You'll go to meetings on your own; you'll carry out work without any input from anyone else and you'll manage projects from start to finish. With so much responsibility your confidence will only soar.

16. It's character building
Freelancing definitely puts you into a hell of a lot more situations than working for someone else ever will. You'll have weeks when you wish the earth would swallow you up but you'll also have weeks when you're on top of the world. The whole freelancing experience will be the best thing that's ever happened to you.

17. Freelancing is something to be proud of
Not everyone can freelance. It takes a certain type of person to be able to do it. If you're freelancing, you should pat yourself on the back for being brave, ambitious and having a 'can-do' attitude. It takes 'balls' to be able to do it, so you'll get a wonderful sense of job satisfaction out of achieving something that many people would find too difficult.

18. You can take longer holidays
Ok, so you won't be earning money when you do go on holiday but you can always take your laptop with you. Freelancing allows you to have so much more freedom than a conventional job would ever offer. And that means you can go on holiday as much as you like. Or as much as you can afford to.

19. Freelancing could bring bigger things
When you freelance, you have the potential to grow from a sole trader into a limited company. It's entirely possible that you'll be employing your own staff one day. And why wouldn't you want to be a success and leave a legacy? When you freelance, there is a world of opportunities waiting for you out there. It's really down to you how far you go.

20. You can do the work you love
Finally, why else would you put yourself through the long, working hours and difficulties of freelancing without doing what you love? Despite the obvious disadvantages of freelancing, the main fact is you're doing exactly what you want for a living. Now you can't get better than that!

Free Lance Concept Artists Al Haitham Jassar

Hi Alhaitham thanks for your time. Can we start off with just a quick introduction and a bit about yourself for the readers, please?

Hi, I’m really happy for being here. I’m a self-taught freelance artist who deals with illustrations and concept art. I’ve been into art since I was a little kid, but I really got my hands dirty with digital art after finishing high school. My first 3D software that I’ve learned well was Blender, and my favorite 2D software was, and still is, Photoshop.

Where do all your ideas and inspirations come from? And why do you love creating them?

It all depends on what the project is aimed for. Is it a commissioned job? A personal painting? Or probably a contest entry? I definitely brows through other artist’s works… I even have an inspiration folder on my computer that is getting bigger day by day! Another source: Movies.


We are very interested to know what type of graphic software’s do you use?

Blender, Zbrush, Mudbox, Photoshop and Painter.

Do you use any special techniques and tools, such as a tablet, or is it mainly the mouse doing all the work?

Tablet all the way! I can’t imagine what I would do without it.

Carnivorous Plant is one of my favorite images from your 3d gallery, can you tell us little more about on how you went to create this image?

That illustration was a contest entry held by 3D Total. My usual method was used here: sketch-model-texture-render and finally post process. The first stage, sketching, is crucial to develop the idea and structure of the image even though it isn’t that detailed. After defining a sketch and liking it I start to design the elements of the scene, from characters to rocks and plants. No 3D stuff so far! When finishing the above steps I open Blender and build the 3D elements ( I use ZBrush and/or Mudbox when needed ). I usually paint my textures using Photoshop. When all the 3D elements are built I send all the render passes to the Photoshop oven and begin the magic of producing the final image.

You are also extremely talented in designing 2d pieces. Do you approach a 2d illustration different from a 3d work?

They start basically the same; I first consult a sketch before starting to work on the real thing.

Can you tell us how the idea for your latest project ‘Werewolf’ came about? And can you give us a quick outline to what the story is all about?

Painting is a form of relaxation to me. I started to paint “Warewolf in pain” just to kill the stress and boredom, you can say it was a reflection of what I felt that day. The idea, in the end, was just a warewolf screaming in pain and sadness… why? Who knows.

Since you love creating characters, please give us a look into your top 3 favorite characters, and also explain what makes them so special.

Hmm, my favorite would be Davy Jones for sure, everything about him is just so cool. After him would come King Kong, the sensitive beast ( my type of monsters ). Lastly, the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, I know she’s a creature but to me she is one hell of a character!

What areas of your work do you enjoy the most?

Painting and post processing, I just enjoy adding effects to my work.

Of all of your artwork, which piece is your personal favorite and why?

It’s hard to choose really, but I would say “Snail’s final moment”, I just love that snail!

What is one piece of advice you would give to any artist looking to improve their technique?

Get inspired! Check out other artist’s works and keep them in a special folder. Another thing to do is to post your work and listen to all the critiques you can get.

Do you have a good piece of advice for anyone wanting to start a carrier in the graphic industry?

Love it with all your heart, build a portfolio and read and practice as much as you can. Find another job to go along with it!

What are your hobbies and please describe your free time, if you have any?

It’s hard to find any free time these days, but I do enjoy fish-keeping, martial arts and watching movies.

Photorealsm

Depending on your point of view, photo-realism is either a scourge or a grail. The drive for it has come to dominate the visual aesthetics of videogames, and current technology seems to be pushing us very close to a peak. Limited markets and rising development costs, however, seem to indicate a gaping abyss. So will photo-real games be well crafted marvels of technology, or feats of economic hubris infused with mediocre gameplay?

The photo-real push is obviously important to many people within and surrounding the game industry, as demonstrated not only by the persistent trend in commercial development, but also by work such as the System Shock 2 mod Rebirth, which replaced some of the models with curvier versions, designed for more powerful machines than the original game.

Yet increasingly, the push is sneered at. Among some of the gamers I know, the latest graphical offerings get little more than apathy. Critics cite rising development costs and the potential of different artistic goals, and are generally scornful of industry resources being poured into visually superior concrete and monsters. Nonetheless, they seem dangerously close to drowning under the effusion of marketing departments and most players.

In what appears to be a fit of turnabout, gamers often murmur "Of course, it's all about gameplay" when graphics blunder oafishly into the conversation. Well of course, interactivity is more fundamental to the medium than most if not all other parts of it. We'll always stand by gameplay: but it's graphics that will be handcuffing us to the bed during our next "business trip".

The industry and the market are bewitched by the idea of more pixels and polys. Higher visual quality is fair enough, but why is it equated with better stabs at photo-realism? What's the point of aesthetics at all? If they don't matter, how come E3 can sucker-smack a "wow" or two out of so many gamers each year? Why, after gushing over how good stuff looks, do we hypocritically trot out that almost apologetic load of bollocks about gameplay moments later?

I'm guilty of it. I think it's time that particular conversational old dog was taken out back and shot. By no means am I suggesting that aesthetics are the very substance of games, but obviously, "it" is not all about gameplay. I suspect even the most fanatical ludologists have been watching tech demos with the curtains drawn.

We may not know a great deal about what they are or exactly what they do, but aesthetics are clearly important to us. As a phenomenon, aesthetics have manifested in every culture and sub-culture throughout history, and furthermore survived the demise of each. From food through to music and architecture, all of our possessions and many of our experiences are purposely shaped by designers for aesthetic as well as functional purposes. Aesthetics pervade all media, and games are no exception.

The general value of aesthetics is not derived from any one particular style, as evinced by the massive variety in historical and contemporary design. So why do games seem to focus so singularly on photo-realism? Could it be that, because games lend themselves to simulation of reality, their aesthetics meekly follow? Are designers choosing a default option at the expense of aesthetic variety and potential?


Heres an interesting read on Photorealism vs Gmeplay. Thought this was an interesting read what with been very interesting in concept art.

Getting Into Industry - Concept Art

It comes to mind when one is painting that getting into the games industry as an artist can be a tricky thing to do. I myself am 19 and currently studying a Games Development course in the UK. This is good, however, will it be enough to get my foot in the door as an artist in the industry that eveyone wants to be in.

As the Games Industry is one of the most prodominent industries in the world at the moment and to try and get a foot in the door can be close to impossible. Some information that I have found out though, is that University Degrees are not that needed. Now that can be good news for you if you do not want to go to university. The industry requires experience and talent and only the best but if you don't have the proof of what it takes then what can you do?

To those in the UK, if you are over 18 and you want to get your foot in the door and be given a chance to prove your worth in the industry then here is some valuable information to you. As you probably know, most games companies don't really give you a chance as they are on strict deadlines and have an extremely busy schedule so they can't really take on random people for work experience etc, SO, with some help from my tutors I have stumbled across a games company ran in Leamington Spa in the UK for people of the age of 18 or over who wish to get their foot in the door of the industry.

The company are called Blitz Games and they are running a programme for people who wish to gain work experience in a professional workplace. The place is only for those who are extremely serious about the profession and they will not accept those who do not have a decent portfolio and a will to be the best. The place lasts for 8 months and you can apply any time of the year. There is an application form on the site and it is not just for those wanting to be concept artists. The positions they will give you will be the the Junior levels so, if you want to be a 3D modeller and they give you a place then you shall work for 8 months as a Junior 3D modeller, if you want to work as an artist then you will be a Junior artist etc.

For those who don't know how to get into industry then this will benefit you extremely.


Haven just visited there website, this deeply interests me and I plan on getting in contact for more infomation as I believe this is a great idea as new talent has to come through.

Personal Life / Hobbies

when it comes to entering the big world, who knows what mat happen, Obviously Id like to stay in the UK and have a job as local as possible, cause family and friends are important. Hoewever the games indusrty is such a competitive market, and while the Uk is very strong and is ranked as the 4th best region in the world for the games market. It may be that I have to go international for employment which excites me just as much. However I know that some cultures / lifestyle just arnt for me. For example places such as Japan / China just dont apeal to me, plus theres the issue of language barriers which is a huge factor. The locations that greatly apeal to me at the moment are the USA, Canada and Australia. 3 country's that I can definatly see myself settling into the culture.

A few of my main hobbies outside of Video Games / concept art are Im really into my live music and sports especially and all 3 countries are very sporting and musical. However theres something about Australia which apeals to me. I think its having freinds who have emigrated / visited and have deeply enjoyed it. Having visited America once while I enjoyed it, it just seems too in your face, and cant really commment on Canada, I think id have to investigate further on this topic such as immigration and important issues like that which could affect things.

Triotech

Was looking around at games industry in Canada, and came across this developer named Triotech who have designed Many motion simulators however have gone one step further, having first herd about the concept a while back on an extreme rides documentary. They've now developed the product and can be experienced in Las Vegas upon many other locations. However They've now gone one step further and turned a standate motion simulator into a first person shooter as shown in link.

http://www.trio-tech.com/page/XDdarkride.html which claims itself as a 7D.

Brink : Developers Diary

While looking into Splash Studious, based in London. I found this really interesting Behind the scenes look into the game and the development, what I really found interesting is the way they took influence from locations such as San Diego station and Rio Shandy town and inspired into the game. Also how they travelled to The middle east to record sounds for weaponary. Overall this was a really intersting look into the games industry and the level which is required

The UK

I was actually surprised at the amount of game developers in the UK, I was only familiar with the more well known companies such as Rockstar and Lionhead Studious, however I believe that online gaming and handheld games such as on the Iphone are expanding the growth of the industry. I noticed alot, if not all have released games playable via Iphone and other forms of handheld device's. Obviously big cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester are popular locations, but theres companies spread out all over the land, One thing I did notice, is that they all seem to be located near airports, potentially for meeting with international clients.

Splash Damage ( London )




Cobra Mobile - Dundee






Dark water Studious ( Derry )





Just a few examples of some over companies situated around the UK

Motion Capture - Renting Equipment And Space

Sticking with Eurocome Developments, They have motion cap studio and facilities, and have setup the space with the option of other companies using the facility and the space if they cant afford to have there own, and is benifitial to both parties involved. Below is a look at there showreel and an idea of the facility.





Heres there page http://www.eurocom.co.uk/mocap/

Local Companies - Eurocom Developments (Derby)

UK-based Independent Developer


Eurocom has been around since the earliest days of videogame development, and have created some of the best selling games in the industry in the process. We've always preferred to let the games speak for themselves, and devote our efforts exclusively to development.

Now in our 22nd year, we have steadily expanded our development efforts to cover all the major consoles and PC. We have a development team of over 260 people based in our Derby studio, working on multiple projects across Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo platforms, and on PC.

Eurocom have developed numerous titles to date, and there are many more in the pipeline. In the video games section you will find details on Eurocom's latest released titles and also a full history of our games.



Eurocom are definatly a more established company than Strawdog, having produced a whole range of products ranging across all platforms, from the likes of Vancouver 2010 as mentioned above, Dead Space for Wi, ica Age 3 just to name a few however looking upon the titles they seem to range for more a more graphical / realism games, out of the two Id much rather be an employer for Strawdog as its more suitable for my personal tastes. However I did notice they had a carears page on the the Eurocom site, none of which are suitable for my line of role, however its worth keeping an eye on and they mentioned a possibility of ocasionally taking on junior designers.

Local Companies ( Derby)

Strawdog Studios is an innovative and modern video game development company based in Derby, UK.

Formed in 2003 by industry seasoned individuals, our combined experience covers a wide spectrum of game development disciplines and genres.

Strawdog Studios develop both original and contract (license/conversion) titles for publication on Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, PC and iPhone using our in-house, cross-platform technology.

We regularly attend industry trade events, such as GDC, Game Connection, Develop Brighton etc., and are always happy to meet with Publishers interested in licensing our original games. We are also happy to discuss contract projects and outsource development for Publishers or Developers, so please get in touch and let’s talk about how we can help you to develop your product.

Strawdog Studios are registered developers for Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3, PSP and Apple iPhone



Looking at some of the games they have developed, they apeal to the casual audience, there graphics are colourful and cartoon like, A kind of style that really suits me and one I enjoy coming up with concept for. Would be good sometime to have a look at there setup / studio and get some advice as I live right around the corner.

I found this company using the site I mentioned a few blogs back, I had a look to see upon the local companies situated around where I live, at the moment Im Studying in Leeds however one I finished my 3 years, I will be moving back home which for me is Derbyshire, while my original thoughts would be when looking for employment Id have to move in the UK, maybe internationally however there is a few located nearby.