London
To advance the careers and enhance the lives of local game developers by connecting them with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect us.
News / updates
Writing event
On the 3rd of December 2009 in London's South Bank, IGDA London, the Game Writers' SIG, and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, teamed up to present an audience with a panel of experienced game writers.
The panel, from left to right: Tom Jubert, James Swallow, Rhianna Pratchett, and Andrew Walsh.
Writer's block
Spend an evening with a group of experienced games writers who will share their thoughts on game writing and where it’s headed by regaling stories of how they broke into the industry, discussing the obstacles that face writers new to the industry and answer any questions the audience might have. In association with IGDA’s Writing SIG and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, IGDA’s London chapter invite all those interested in games writing to join them on the Thursday, December 3 at 7 pm at London South Bank University (followed by a pint at The Ship).
Keyworth Theatre A
London South Bank University
Keyworth Street
Should UK game developers get tax breaks?
| Yes | 20 |
| No | 0 |
Tax Breaks, Game Ratings, and the UK Game Dev
Members of IGDA London gathered on Thursday 24th September 2009 at the London School of Economics to hear from a panel of game policy pundits.
the panel from left to right: Vincent Scheurer, Michael Rawlinson, Fred Hasson, and Ren Reynolds
Our speakers were:
Busy month for IGDA board
August was a busy month for the volunteers of the IGDA's board of directors. They elected Tobi Saulnier as co-chair.
Work Experience on the Gravity Crash Project
This is an article from the previous web site by Amanda Allen.
IGDA's Tim Langdell and Mobigame title Edge
A story is currently circulating the blogs about a trademark dispute between Edge Games and Mobigame over the game Edge for Apple's iPhone.
Post GDC talks and social (take 2)
This is an imported event from the old site.
Would you attend an event at Goldsmiths?
| Yes | 2 |
| No | 0 |
Post GDC Social
IGDA London members gathered at the Slug and Lettuce in Soho to socialise. Demetri Detsaridis (Massively Mobile) gave an informal debrief on GDC'08 "the best and worst of the show". Unfortunately there was a mix up with the booking and the downstairs area was not available. Fortunately, the turn out was fairly low so we all got a seat!
Rules of the game: legal issues in game development
Over the last few years, many game developers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. From careless use of copyrighted imagery to unintended violations of a game's intended age rating, game development is full of hidden legal pitfalls. This evening gave us a better insight into how to protect ourselves and our companies.
London Games Festival
IGDA London is working with Sense of Play 06 and JumpStart Workshop.
More look than feel?
The event started at 7.00 p.m. with Autodesk giving an exclusive presentation of their new software. This was followed by a talk from Richard Hince of Artem Digital on their head scanning and facial capture systems.
With the rapid advancement of game console and graphics technologies, game developers are now able to create highly detailed and realistic looking game characters. But how believable are these characters when it comes to emotional interplay? Are we even approaching effective simulation of basic human emotion? And do mainstream developers and publishers even care?
Is There A Future For Mobile Gaming?
The event was held at the Kings-Cross O'Neil's and as has been typical of our meetings, all went smoothly in hosting another interesting I.G.D.A gathering. We introduced a £2 entrance fee for the first time for non-members, and the turn-out was decent considering the added fee (around 25-30 people, with 15 being non-members). Most people who came didn't mind the entrance fee, though we believe it turned more people away.
Developing for the PlayStation3
Speaker: George Bain, Developer Support Manager, SCEE Technology Group
Sponsor: mary-margaret.com
This event which turned out to be the chapter's largest, second only to the party held last September, had an attendance of been eighty to ninety, including the sponsors for the event (mary-margaret.com, developers and some media), was an eye opener in terms of what was revealed for the development options and potential for the forthcoming PlayStation3 (PS3).
Christmas quiz
What does 'IDDQD' do for you?
How well do you think you know your games? Could you name the hospital in Silent Hill? Do you know how many dots are on a Pac-Man board? Or could you name the famous producer of Boktai? These were just a small sample of the 50 questions posed to a large audience of gameaholics at O'Neills, Kings Cross under the guise of the Xmas IGDA quiz. There were five rounds each with ten questions, and each round finished with a bonus 'Woo Hoo' question.
What's so retro about retro?
- What is it about retro games that keep us coming back for more?
- What do we mean when we describe a game as retro?
- When does a game become retro?
These were the questions that sparked off riotous but friendly debate amongst an abundance of games people in the function room of O'Neill's last week, Our two speakers of the evening, Oliver Hume and Paul Scargill, both Audio Programmers from SCEE, moderated these debates amidst the beer drinking that was donated by Climax, and the previous function room occupant's Halloween decorations.
Sketchup Demo
Mark Baker and Derek Poon took us through a great demonstration of the CAD tool SketchUp, originally developed for architectural applications but now adopted by the games industry. They took us through how quickly simple structures could be made in the minimum amount of time and the capabilities of the tool in creating more complicated environments.
After a beer session session several of us went for a lovely Chinese meal.
Crisis in Creativity?
Will the next generation of hardware stifle creativity in the game industry? Is it possible to get original concepts onto the next gen hardware and if so how? These were just some of the questions asked and answered at the London Chapter meeting that took place on Wednesday 29th June.