Book now for IMMERSION Forum & Showcase (May 24, London) with a 10% discount on attending this leading international event focused on monetisation, funding and distribution of games and immersive social media; the future of MMOs, games, social media, virtual worlds, serious games, augmented reality, virtual goods, micropayments & billing, geospatial apps and search, Facebook apps, iphone apps .. and much more!

Book now using promo code GEN10 to claim the 10% discount to attend the Forum for only £269.10*. www.immersion10.co.uk

…. and if you can’t make it to the Forum, then for only £29* come along to the Exclusive Networking Party in the evening in central London – open to all.. not just delegates .. It’s going to be the best Mixer Networking Party this Spring! Book through the above link.

You’ll be networking with key media and games industry figures .. many with budget .. many with funding opportunities .. many looking to hook up for projects … all with vision for the future. What’s not to like!

Awards: Got a great game? Then submit it for the IMMERSION Awards 2010. Submission deadline 17 May. Click through the link to book Forum, Party or to submit you game for the Awards.

Please share this with industry colleagues.

Confirmed speakers include:
• Peter Bazalgette, NewBaz
• Ian Livingstone, Square Enix
• Adam Singer, BSAC
• Peter Edward, Sony
• Matthew Jeffery, EA
• Mike Rawlinson, ELSPA
• Nic Mitham, KZero
• Toby Beresford, Nudge
• James Bamford, Bing
• Oisin Lunny, Sulake (Habbo)
• Tim Harrison, The Mobile Consultancy
• Ben Keen, Screen Digest
• Richard Bartle, Essex University
• Andy Taite, Pembridge Partners
• Gina Fegan, South East Media Network
• Kim Bayley, Entertainment Retailers Assoc
• Rob Edmonds, SRI
• Justin Bovington, Rivers Run Red
• Ron Edwards, Ambient Performance
• Dave Taylor, Imperial College
• Mike Dicks, Bleedin Edge
• David Burden, Daden Ltd
• Ian Hughes, Feeding Edge
• Jeremiah Alexander, Ideonic
• Michael Schumann, Second Interest
• Modwenna Rees-Mogg, Angel News

We worked really hard developing the MirrorMe application and took risks to push both technical and creative boundaries. This makes it even more rewarding we receive recognition from the digital community.

We launched in Q4 2009 and are excited to announce that MirrorMe has already won its first award! MirrorMe beat competition from across the World to win an outstanding achievement award in the lifestyle category of the 2009 Interactive Media Awards. It’s a great honour to get this award and hopefully the first of many!

http://www.interactivemediaawards.com/winners/certificate.asp?param=70503&cat=1

Education is broken and we need a gameplay mechanic to help us fix it. We’re looking for a games programmer – passionate about games and eager to make a difference – to join us at Ideonic HQ on our mission to change the world.

Salary: Dependent upon experience

(No agencies please)

Responsibilities will vary but will generally include:

• Cross-platform games development (web, desktop, console, mobile)
• Taking gaming principles and applying them to web and software development
• Designing and rapid prototyping new gameplay systems and ideas

Required Skills:

• The ability to learn new skills and technologies really quickly
• Strong knowledge of Object Orientated Games Programming
• Good ideas and ambition to push new boundaries
• Knowledge of Adobe Flash/Flex

Bonus Skills:

• Experience working with young people
• Knowledge of Web Development

We’re really open about applications, skills and passion are more important to us than years of experience, so send us a CV, covering letter, work examples and anything else you think demonstrates your suitability – hr@ideonic.com

I took such a long time to right this blog post but it’s taken me a while to follow up with the great contacts I met and also just absorb all the lessons I learned while on the Digital Mission. In both LA and San Francisco we met many of the major players: Lionsgate, Warner Bros, Sony, Facebook, Apple, to name a few. But we also met many of the smaller creative agencies and start-ups breaking new ground.

To recap, on the 11^th Oct I flew out to LA as part of a select group of 14 of UKs most exciting digital companies. The Digital Mission was organised ‘and might I add excellently’ by Chinwag and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI). The other members on the group were amazing and I learnt just as much from them as I did from the companies in the states; a great mix of digital agencies, animation, gaming studios, technology platforms and video producers.

Digital Mission LA & SF 09 Companies: agency2 – Amaze – Audioboo – etv media group – Great Fridays – Littleloud – MoviesThatRespond – NixonMcInnes – Orangepanda Digital Media – Plug-in Media – Twofour – Type3 – Videojuicer

Once in LA we got to met with the Major movie studios Lionsgate, Warner Bros, Sony each of whom has strong digital strategies planned for the year ahead. We also met with the many smaller (by comparison) creative companies, including G-net and Ant Farm both of whom have done some great work with Gaming Clients including many of the online marketing strategies and poster campaigns you have seen for AAA game titles such as Call of Duty.

In both LA and San Francisco receptions were held in our honour at the Consul General’s residence. In LA Dame Barbara Hay hosted an excellent reception with a great delegation of film, interactive and business experts from across LA – and also the most tasty miniature Yorkshire puddingsJ.

When we arrived in San Francisco late and were rushed off our feet, meeting with many of the top tech companies. We met with Facebook whose office’s, from the outside looks like a school but inside gave off an aurora of true creativity. NDAs were signed at the door, so I can’t say much about what was discussed but it focussed on the Facebook Platform, which was great for us and we are doing some interesting projects on Facebook at the moment and it looks like the platform will only being getting better.

We were also privileged to meet with Johnny Ive the lead designer at Apple – it is said that genius is often linked to modesty, and Johnny totally adhered to that rule. It was amazing gaining an insight into how Apple designs their products and including a focus on user observation over user testing.  We also met with the iPhone team and we’re given a crash course in getting the best out of our iPhone Apps.

We also had a great tour and meeting at IDEO, probably the world’s top design firm and also a company with a name very close to our own – we both love ideas. From the original computer mouse, to bicycles without breaks and the rules of brainstorming, IDEO was a place of great ideas and truly creative approaches. I’m currently reading ‘The Ten Faces of Innovation’ by Tom Kelley, a key member of the IDEO team.

The reception in San Francisco was hosted by Julian Evan. A lively event where I was fortunate to met some great people at the reception including Peter Moore of EA and Xochi Birch of Zuno and co-founder of Bebo. Julian also had a great collection of Welsh Beers, which made the end of the night less memorable than the start J

It was an awesome trip and I loved visiting both Cities and plan to venture back out there in the New Year.  A huge thank you goes out to the people who made this possible:  Sam, Emily, Juliet, Carlo, Sat Darshan, Dame Barbara, Jaclyn, Meagan, Arthine, Julian, everybody we visited and anybody I missed of the list. Thank you very much!

Chinwag’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinwagcom/4013972480/in/set-72157622449349491/

What Next? Well just over a week after being back I’m off again, this time to India (subject to my Visa getting issued in time) to take part in the UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur trade mission. Looking forward to meeting all the great business in the Games and Animation sector in India, expect an update soon.

We recently found out that we had been selected as one of only two companies in the North East of England to take part in the Digital Mission to LA and San Francisco. I will be going to represent Ideonic and along with the other 13 candidates will be flying the flag for Britain’s creative digital sector. As well as receptions in our honour at the British Consule General we will also be taking part in a number of high profile meetings, including: Sony, Facebook, Warner Bros and IDEO just to name a few.

This is an excellent break for us and a real opportunity to demonstrate the great work we’re doing at Ideonic, in the North East and in the UK. I will attempt (no promises though) to write a blog post everyday detailing the activities while I am on the trip, I will also try to increase the frequency of my twitter posts (subject to internet connectivity of course). The mission is organised by Chinwag and UKTI.

Read more about Digital Mission LASF ( http://chinwag.com/digitalmission/lasf09-companies )

Our quest for international success doesn’t end there, I am also proud to announce that I have made it to the finals of the UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur awards J As part of the finals, me and the 5 other finalists will be travelling to India from the 27 October to 6 November 2009, where we will find out more about the interactive sector in India’s and meet many of the great companies responsible for cultivating it’s rapidly growing creative economy.

The final interviews will take place in early December and the winner will be announced in late February 2010 at a UKYCE awards ceremony.  Again I will keep regular blog posts while in India and about the rest of the activities I get to take part in over the next few months as a British Council UK Interactive Entrepreneur representative.

Read more about UKYIE ( http://www.creativeconomy.org.uk/ukyce/Finalists.asp?ID=42 )

We have an opportunity for you to join our team as a part-time community manager. The secret project will be released across multiple social networks and an iPhone version is in the pipeline. You will work with us over the next few months to support the release of the product and make sure it gets maximum exposure by taking part in online discussions, submitting it for reviews and promoting it to key online communities.

To apply please complete the application form below, we look forward to your submissions:

(Applications now closed)

In March we launched a ten-week episodic adventure game – Battle for Planet Science. The online game was designed to engage young people and develop their interest in the different aspects of Science. The game delivers over half an hour of science driven fun, combining clever panoramic visual and problem solving gameplay to create an enjoyable educational experience.

Released alongside a ‘Design a Superhero and Villians’ Schools competition, all characters were designed by Pupils and the winners redrawn by a professional comic book artist. The game was designed to match the comic book theme and if you complete the game and you’ll even be able to print your own comic book based on your in game choices.

We developed Battle for Planet Science using Adobe Flash. We believed it to be an excellent game and it appears Adobe agree. Battle for Planet Super Powers made it to the semi-finals of the Adobe Max 2009 awards. Though it’s a shame we didn’t make it to the final, recognition in such a high profile award shows we are making massive leaps in the quality of our development.

Try the game out on Planet-Science (www.planet-science.com/psp/battleforps/psp.html) and let us know your opinion.

The quality of the ideas was amazing, they really knew about technology including quite modern advances such as Bluetooth 3 and Active RFID. Additionally, some groups had functional prototype to demonstrate the software components of their ideas. Even the Graphical Design work was also far beyond what I had expected for that age group; I would be happy with them designing some of our marketing materials!

In the evening everyone was given a chance to relax with a quiz and I’m proud to say that my team won BOTH ROUNDS :-) but unfortunately I can’t say it was because me. My general knowledge has much room for improvement but fortunately they made up for my weaknesses.

On the Second day the judging began with each team delivering a 20 minutes pitch and they were all excellent: well structured, well delivered and covering all the key points – better than many pitches I have seen by real businesses. After some difficult judging the winners were selected and prizes awarded (laptops, a trip to Microsoft, and a trip to BT). Regardless of which group won, I honestly believe they all have bright careers ahead of them and I think the future is in good hands.

GameHorizon Conference 09

 The North’s premier games development conference returned this year with some more insights into the future of the games industry. Technology wise, Andrew Oliver of Blitz Games demonstrated their developments into stereoscopic gaming with a Ninja themed platform game; unfortunately it requires you to wear polarised glasses but worry not 3D TVs should be available in a couple of years.

We were treated to demos of APB from Realtime Worlds and Guillaume de Fondaumiere of Quantic Dream demonstrated the amazing looking Heavy Rain for the PS3. So a lot of great insights into traditional gaming but  the key focus of the conference was the advancements in online/download markets including Facebook and the iPhone – online/download is really allowing smaller developers to break into the games market.

What Comes Next?

Channel 4 Education’s summer conference opening with a fantastic keynote from Zenna Atkins, who you would almost not believe was the Chair of OFSTED. Zenna had an excellent insight into the challenges faced by the UK education system and the need for teachers and people in education to just be brave and innovate. 

Shaun Bailey, Mary Sharpe and Yvonne Roberts gave a great panel, demonstrating the need for more creative and digital solutions to help level the educational playing field especially for those from low income families.

Matt Locke & Alice Tayloralso demonstrated the great projects they have been working on over the past year including BattleFront and Routes. A great conference and no doubt we’ll see some more great projects from Channel 4 next year.

Showcomotion

I returned to the Showcomotion conference for the second year after realising it is about so much more than just TV. Showcomotion is a children’s media conference bringing together people from all sections of children’s media (TV, web, games, etc) and giving them a platform to share ideas. Peter Salmon the newly appointed head of BBC North opened the conference, talking about his passion for the North and excitement about the BBC move to Salford. The conference then continued for 2 days of exciting talks and rather than reinvent the wheel you can check out some great blog posts about on the Showcomotion website.

I believe that is all the conference I will be attending this Summer, so it’s back to the office to begin work on an exciting new project… more news soon.

For the weekend, I hung up my business hat and went along purely as a geek. I ended up working on an idea called Citipedia. Originally submitted by Dundee based designer Lyall Bruce, Citipedia was a platform for giving communities more information and ultimately power over the space around them.

I chose to work on this project because I loved the vision of creating a fun ’simcity like’ interface for people to explore how wasted space could be better used. My contribution to the project was a Flash based editor, that used googlemaps to display an real space which users could then add different terrain and features ontop of and estimate the total development costs and time - in the future we intended to add counters to additional measure the environmental and social impact.  

This editor formed part of a larger social networking platform allowing users to share their ideas and utimately create change. We should hopefully have the full application online at somepoint but until then you can >> Start Planning.