Into Games launches new site, showcases educational routes into games industry jobs
Into Games (part of the Ukie Education family) are pleased to share their new website, which now showcases the largest collection of games industry roles mapped to educational pathways available online, with over 100 roles and still growing.
Each role has an interview with an industry professional to go alongside it, and we have ensured that 80% of these have been conducted with people from underrepresented groups. We have interviews with employees from some of the UK’s biggest studios including Creative Assembly, Mediatonic, Sega, Rockstar, and more.
Alongside these career pages, we have been conducting Twitter Q&As with some of our interview subjects, giving aspiring game-makers the chance to ask questions of their favourite industry professionals.
Check it out for yourself at intogames.org and be sure to follow our work on Twitter. If you or your studio would like to get involved in what we do, contact hello@intogames.org
Sugar shares its sweetest fund raising top tips
Last week, the team at Sugar shared their expertise with Ukie members as part of its Access to Finance event in a lively question and answer session.
So it made sense to the team to share the answers to these questions with the wider games industry community in the hope of helping anyone with questions about the big wide world of finance.
Check out the full blog here for tips on asking for the right level of finance, how much time you need to dedicate to searching for it, the best ways to connect with investors and more: https://www.add-sugar.io/fundraising-our-top-tips/
Realtime UK tips top free tools for video game artists
Looking to ‘brush up’ on your art skills? Are you considering changing your tool set for your next project? Or do you want to play around with something a little different to what you usually work with to get some inspiration?
Earlier this year, the team at Realtime UK pulled together a post for their Insights blog to take a look at some free tip top tools and advice available for games artists.
You can check the full post out in all its glory here: https://www.realtimeuk.com/blog/free-resources-for-artists/
LDN UTD’s to host charity live stream on 17th September to celebrate diversity in games
In partnership with Leyton Orient FC, LDN UTD is hosting a live charity stream on 17th September in support of the fight against racism and to celebrate diversity in gaming.
Open qualifiers for the community will take place on the 13th of September in three major titles - PUBG, FIFA and Rocket League. Winners with then play against various sports and gaming influencers including Joel ‘JMX’ Morris, Ouss Cissè, Sam Sergeant, Daniel Lewis and Dermot Bailey in the live stream.
The broadcast will also include short form content addressing diversity, including a short film on racism in football from film-maker Rich Walker.
Sign ups are via www.ldnutd.gg. #UTDAgainstRacism
Maverick Media helps Bandai Namco score Best Trailer of Gamescom 2020
The latest addition to Maverick’s award shelf, Best Trailer of Gamescom 2020, was awarded to Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe for their latest title: Little Nightmares 2.
Not only did we continue our legacy of award-winning game capture, we lived and breathed the brand to ensure the spirit of the title stood front and centre. From beating both the original and new games, to embedding ourselves in fan sites discussing dark theories – it’s safe to say our Mavericks are now masters of the macabre.
You can relive the moment Brand Manager Pierre Tartaix accepts the award and thanks us here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX6ugK504Uo
Universally Speaking grows by 540% in six months, driving diversity in the process
Univerasally Speaking has seen its headcount rise by 540% over the past six months which has allowed for an influx of exceptional talent. Building a culture and a future for games that is representative, accessible and united in creative is a primary goal for Universally Speaking.
Horton: “We are delighted to be able to welcome so much talent into Universally Speaking. This growth allows us to drive change. We want to create a studio culture that inspires creativity, champions diversity and stands in solidarity against oppression and racial segregation.”
Universally Speaking continues to make key partnerships that are aiding in the growth and evolution of the sector. Outside of the next generation support, partnerships such as the one they have with Facebook Oculus adds another string to their bow.
Universally Speaking is capable of offering support for QA, Localisation, and Audio at an even greater capacity than ever before. From current to the next generation – it’s end-to-end support – we have it all, today.
For more information go to: www.usspeaking.com
LocalizeDirect to launch Gridly - the only headless CMS in the world tailor-made for the games industry
Gridly is a collaborative CMS for multilingual game projects with an open API, spreadsheet UI, and built-in functions to handle localization and frequent updates. Gridly has undergone numerous test and eval cycles from distinguished games studios during the Beta phase. We are happy with how this has gone and are nearing full release. Would you like to join in and see what we’re excited about? You can register your interest on the gridly.com website.
Platform invites the industry back for fun through its GameSafe initiative
Platform closed right before its one year anniversary due to COVID19. After 5 hard months of work, we’ve managed to reopen, rebrand and launch our new website and new menu. While trade is starting to pick up, we would love to see members of Ukie back to Platform.
We are now a COVID certified hospitality business, with rigorous systems in place to assure everyone’s safety during their experience. We’ve launched our GameSafe initiative, you find more information in the Covid-19 notice section of our website.
All information are displayed on our new website: www.experienceplatform.co.uk
Polystream soft launches new in game spectator mode FANTOM
Following their inclusion in the Newzoo Global Cloud Gaming report released last week (Sept 3rd), Ukie member Polystream have soft launched FANTOM; their new in-game spectator (IGS) mode that allows game developers to create cloud native, fully interactive ways to enable passive viewers to become interactive spectators in a live game.
CEO of Polystream Bruce Grove said: “This summer, so many of us found where and how we work has changed, which has especially impacted our creative thinking and development timelines. I, like many people in the industry, have taken time to pause and think bigger about what comes next.
I’ve been speaking with several studios about virtual audiences, and how it’s impossible to experience unrepeatable moments in a game that your friends all talk about without either being a player or watching on Twitch. In an accelerated response, my team has created FANTOM.
We’re looking to fully launch by the end of the year, but for now we warmly welcome Ukie members to get in touch and arrange a FANTOM demo for their studio to see what is possible."
See more at Polystream.com
Waste Creative provides tips for brands looking to get into games
Look, there’s no denying it: games are one of the best ways to reach massive, engaged audiences of consumers. We even saw it ourselves when we worked with the Government to get Stay Home, Save Lives messages into games at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis.
But what do brands thinking about getting into the game need to do to make sure that they go beyond being a form of nice – but not very effective – digital wallpaper? Waste Creative shared their tips with New Digital Age.
https://newdigitalage.co/2020/07/24/the-gaming-opportunity-add-value-not-wallpaper/
Kwizzbit team talks through the practical challenges of adapting to the new COVID-19 normal
KwizzBit is a cloud-based quiz platform, which fuses cutting-edge smartphone technology, with traditional pub quiz formats. Designed and developed by a team of tech and gamification enthusiasts, with the impact of COVID-19 on physical pubs and clubs, the company realized that it needed to pivot to a virtual business model that could support online players at volume. Learn more about how they did this.
Feature in our next members' news round up by emailing Leon Cliff at leon@ukie.org.uk.