Tag Archives: Scotland

Train2Game News First Ever Scottish Games Awards Winners

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The winners of the first-ever Scottish Games Awards have been announced following a gala ceremony which took place on Thursday, 27th of October.

The inaugural awards ceremony took place at Malmaison, Dundee and was the climax of Scottish Games Week, which saw events take place all over the country in a bid to showcase games as Scotland’s secret weapon in the tech sector.
 

Celebrating the very best of the games industry across Scotland, the winners include Dundee studio Team Terrible whose title ‘The Baby In Yellow’ was crowned Best Small-Budget Game, Aberdeenshire’s Brilliant Skies Ltd who won the Technical Achievement award, and BAFTA-winning Amicable Animal who have now lifted the Audio trophy for its work on SOLAS 128. With a Glasgow-based lead writer and artists from Edinburgh, ION LANDS’ epic Cloudpunk won three titles-  Art and Animation, Creativity and Best Large-Budget Game, while Dundonian games industry veteran David Jones won the Lifetime Achievement award.
 

The Scottish Games Awards winners in full are:

Art and Animation

Audio

Best Educational Programme

Best Educator

  • Dr Lynn Love

Best Large-Budget Game

Best Small-Budget Game

Creativity

Diversity Champion

  • Tanya Laird

Lifetime Achievement

  • David Jones 

Stewart Gilray Award (Community Spirit)

  • Colin MacDonald 

Technical Achievement

Tools and Technology

Chaired by renowned journalist and author Chris Scullion, the award winners were selected by a jury of games industry experts with a deep knowledge of the sector, including:

  • Brian Baird: Technical Director at Bethesda Games Studios Austin
  • Joe Donnelly: Feature Writer at GamesRadar+
  • Alisdair Gunn: Director at Glasgow City Innovation District
  • Steven Hamill: COO at Scottish Edge 
  • Keza MacDonald: Video Games Editor at The Guardian
  • Jim Trinca: Games journalist and video producer
  • Jo Twist: CEO of UKIE

     

Chris Scullion, journalist and author of The NES Encyclopaedia said: “It’s been a huge honour to chair the judging panel for the inaugural Scottish Games Awards. The quality of the nominees is a perfect indicator of the enormous degree of talent that can be found in the Scottish games industry, and I’m looking forward to the awards (and Scottish Games Week as a whole) acting as a catalyst to help the industry grow from strength to strength.”
 

Angus Robertson, Culture Secretary, said: “Scotland has a world class reputation for games development as the winners of the first Scottish Games Awards have clearly demonstrated.

“The focus this week on the dynamism of the games sector and its growth potential shows the important role the industry has in supporting our economy. The technology and creativity that drives the sector has also brought benefits to other key areas such as education, healthcare, energy and financial services.”
 

Brian Baglow, Director of Scottish Games Week and Founder of the Scottish Games Network said: “The level of creativity and technical expertise across Scotland is outstanding, as is the passion, enthusiasm and commitment that we see from so many people across the whole games ecosystem. Today we are celebrating those achievements and turning the spotlight on the individuals, organisations and games that make Scotland’s games community such a vibrant and fun place to be.
 

“As the culmination of Scottish Games Week, these awards are a stake in the ground which proclaim that games are important, that we have a significant role to play in Scotland’s future and that we are going to be a far larger, louder and more prominent part of Scotland’s digital future.”
 

The Scottish Games Awards concluded Scottish Games Week, an expertly curated week of events across Scotland, with events focussing on onboarding the uninitiated, bringing together educational institutions and the games ecosystem.
 

Scottish Games Week is being delivered by the Scottish Games Network and is supported by the Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund, delivered as part of its Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) programme. Scottish Games Week is sponsored by 4J Studios, Blackadders LLP, Johnston Carmichael, YAHAHA, Aream and Co, Escape Technology, 4Players, NLAE and The SQA. Scottish Games Week is supported by partners Barclays Eagle Labs, Barclays Games & Esports Team, CodeBase, Dimoso, GT Omega, Digital Xtra Fund and Citizen Ticket.

Learn more about Scottish Games Week by visiting https://gamesweek.scot/

Train2Game News Games Talks Live Scotland Returns

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After a two year ‘IRL’ hiatus, Games Talks Live: Scotland makes its long-awaited, in-person return this month with three dates confirmed in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Created by industry veteran Colin Macdonald in 2018, the Games Talks Live: Scotland event is an evening of short talks from guest speakers interspersed with general networking opportunities, aimed at encouraging collaboration and communication between local Scottish developers and visiting guests. 

The events run over three days, one in each of Scotland’s games hubs of Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow

  • Tues 8th March; Edinburgh (4pm till late, at The Liquid Room, 9c Victoria Street, Edinburgh EH1 2HE)
  • Weds 9th March; Dundee (4pm till late at Beat Generator, 70 North Lindsay St, Dundee DD1 1PS )
  • Thurs 10th March; Glasgow (4pm till late at Revolution, 84 Mitchell St, Glasgow G1 3NA)

Each evening will have an array of speakers from local developers, visiting publishers and others to be announced nearer the time. Speaking sessions will be interspersed with networking breaks to encourage everyone to get to know as many people as possible and help foster potential future collaborations. The golden rule of the event is there should be no recruitment activity – even from companies that are kindly sponsoring or speaking at the event.

“I started running the events pre-Covid because it seemed ridiculous that everyone in the Scottish games industry often only met in Brighton, San Francisco or Cologne.” said Colin Macdonald, Games Talks Live: Scotland organiser. “ I wasn’t sure what the appetite would be for bringing them back, but the number of incredible speakers who were eager to come and talk to all the talented developers in the Scottish games industry has blown me away. Although virtual events will now always have a place going forwards, it’s simply not the same as getting to meet people face to face.”

This year, Games Talks Live: Scotland is delighted to welcome Rami Ismail as the event keynote speaker for all three events. Rami is a Dutch-Egyptian industry ambassador and independent games developer with over 20 titles across PC, console, web, and mobile. His development of tools like the industry-standard dopresskit.com, his prolific and popular public speaking, and highly-regarded consultancy and insights have helped shape industry opportunities for game communities and independent game developers all over the world. 

In addition to Rami, Games Talks Live: Scotland is proud to announce the full in-person speaker line up for the three events. (E/D/G after each speaker signifies if they’re speaking at all cities, or just one/two events)

Tickets for the in-person events can be purchased here with pricing set at £10.00 for each event or £25.00 to attend all three. The talks will be streamed live on YouTube for people unable to attend in person. The link to this is available by signing up for a (free) livestream ticket here. Please note that there will not be any hybrid meeting opportunities for those watching virtually.

There will be a charity raffle held at each of the events with all proceeds going to theUkrainian Red Cross. 

Additional information on the events can be found here 

Train2Game News Scottish Games Company Receives Big Funding

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Blazing Griffin, a digital entertainment group, today announced it has completed its Series ‘A’ round, raising £5 million led by private investors and matched by the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB), the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.
The funds will be used to help support the group’s continued growth and to expand its game development portfolio, film output and post production services.

This latest round of funding builds on 5 years of substantial growth and an exciting year ahead for Blazing Griffin. From its current capacity of 30 staff, the group plans to use this investment to treble its headcount over the upcoming months.

Blazing Griffin is working on a number of on-going and unannounced game development projects. Following the launch of The Ship: Remasted and coupled with the investment, the games studio plans to build at least two new development teams.

The film department recently announced the start of principal photography for its first feature film project, Anna And The Apocalypse, starring Ella Hunt and Paul Kaye and backed by Creative Scotland. Blazing Griffin has many exciting licensed and original properties for film and TV in development with world-class talent and production partners, and is supported by slate development funding.

Building on their achievements and through the work on high profile shows, the post production team have created a new facility in Glasgow, with 4K delivery capabilities, to service UK-wide and international projects, specialising in remote workflows with international and UK partners – the first of its kind in Scotland.

“Having the hard work of all The Griffins be recognised in this way is an awesome feeling. I can’t wait for people to see everything we’re currently working on and very much looking forward to sharing all of our plans over the next couple of weeks and months.” said Managing Director, Peter van der Watt, “We all appreciate the continued support and confidence our investors and Scottish Enterprise have in our ambitious plan to become one of Scotland’s largest entertainment companies.”

The Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) is the investment arm of Scotland’s main economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, operating Scotland-wide in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

“Scottish Enterprise has been working with Blazing Griffin for over three years during which we have seen the company go from a fledgling games development studio to a diversified digital entertainment group” said Kerry Sharp, head of SIB, “Following on from our initial investment in February 2015, we are delighted to again support the group’s growth plans and, capitalising on the talented team it continues to build in Scotland, look forward to seeing the company create brilliant content across its games, film and post production portfolio that will be enjoyed by a global audience”.