The gaming industry has had a dramatic surge in growth in Scotland with the above institutions driving the success story. A host of leading gaming experts will address students, staff and interested gamers on the present digital landscape and debate diversity within the industry.
Colin Macdonald, Channel 4 gaming commissioner and Head of All4 Games, will lend his expertise and share his insights in to the present landscape with a session on the ‘state of games in Scotland’. As Channel 4’s first games commissioning editor, Colin was responsible for creating interactive games based on Made in Chelsea, Hollyoaks, and The Snowman, before his appointment as head of its new games publishing label, All 4 Games. Colin is expected to present new and creative business models and address some of the challenges faced by creatives, producers, broadcasters and start-ups.
David Farrell, GCU lecturer in Digital Design Technologies, said: “Since the 1980s, Scotland has been punching way above its weight when it comes to games. For such a small country, we have an amazing diversity of work being made here. This event is a rare opportunity to look at Scotland’s games development output across the whole spectrum.
“From arts and performance games that explore new ways of telling stories, to mass market mobile phone casual publishing, to independent solo developers, and successful independent studios with massive investment backing, there isn’t going to be another event like this in the country this year.”
A panel discussion will take place with representatives from across the board of Scotland’s commercial game sectors including Mike Cox, studio head of Blazing Griffin; Jon McKellan of NoCode, who recently won a BAFTA for being a Breakthrough Brit and whose new title Stories Untold has received universal acclaim; and Tony Gowland from Ant Workshop.
Iain Simons, Director of Game City and the National Videogame Foundation; Simon Meek, The Secret Experiment; and Morgan Petrie, Creative Scotland, will lead discussions on the untapped value of videogamers to the cultural establishment.
And finally Bafta Scotland will host a session on diversity in gaming, featuring Sally Blake, Associate Producer on The Division (Ubisoft Reflections), Kirsh Hirani, Chair, BAME In Games and GCU’s own Dr Romana Ramzan.
After the panel sessions there will be a ‘play party’ a hands-on gaming event hosted by We Throw Switches and IGDA.
BBC Digital Cities – Games in Scotland will celebrate the best games development work coming out of Scotland. The event will take place at GCU during the afternoon and evening of March 15. Sign up here
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