1) IGDA Event - Notes from the GDC 2008 - The Art Track On Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008, IGDA Winnipeg presents "Notes from the GDC 2008 The Art Track" at Fortune Cat Game Studios (2nd Floor - 62 Albert St.). The meeting will run from 7:00 - 9:00pm. We were very fortunate this year to have a number of Manitoba IGDA members attending the 2008 Game Developer's Conference. We've planned a number of events to bring some of that knowledge back to industry at large. First on the agenda in our "Notes from the GDC 2008" program is the Visual Arts track: Thomas Lepp, one of our local world-class digital artists and 3D instructor at Red River College is a veteran of the Game Developer's Conference, having attended the event every year consecutively for the past several years. Tom will be giving away all of the the best techniques for making the most out of your Normal Maps. In addition, Jonas Van Niekerk and Adrian Cheater of Complex Games Inc. will be bringing internationally regarded developer/publisher Valve software to the table. Having attended their presentation on the "Illustrative World of Team Fortress 2", Jonas and Adrian will talk at length about how Valve went about creating the unique cartoon look of TF2, and show how you can apply these techniques directly to your own game (with examples). There is no charge for admission and attendance is open to the game development and larger New Media communities. Refreshments will also be available. 2) "Game On Manitoba" Website Launch Destination Winnipeg Inc. and partners - Fortune Cat Games Studio; New Media Manitoba; the International Game Developers Association, Winnipeg Chapter; Manitoba Trade and Investment; Manitoba Science, Technology, Energy and Mines; Industry Canada and Red River College - announce the launch of the Game On Manitoba partnership and website (www.gameonmanitoba.com) at the Game Development Conference (GDC) in San Francisco on February 20, 2008. Game On Manitoba was created to foster investment in the emerging interactive game development community in Winnipeg - attracting labour, venture capital, company startups and business expansions - and to create awareness around interactive game development. The website portal will consist of industry information, company profiles, funding support and education/training capabilities.
There will be a brief presentation on the "Game On Manitoba!" initiative at the April 2nd IGDA Winnipeg meeting. 3) Video Games Live Coming to Winnipeg! IGDA Winnipeg is very happy to announce that Video Games Live will be coming to Winnipeg on the 5th of June at the Centennial Concert Hall Date: Thursday, June 5 Time: 8:00pm Pre Show Festival in lobby: 5:30pm Venue: Centennial Concert Hall Tickets: $35.00 – 65.00 plus fees & GST Tickets are now available for sale and can be purchased here: http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/110040677E29889B?artistid=976815&majorcatid=100 01&minorcatid=52 For those of you who are not familiar with Video Games Live: Video Games Live is a multimedia concert experience featuring the best music and exclusive synchronized video clips from the most popular games from the beginning of video gaming to the present. Performed by top orchestras and choirs, the show combines video clips and specially designed Laser and light sequences, special FX showcasing over 50 different games in a wide variety of styles. The show has a segment dedicated to the old arcade classics – but there is also modern music and older, more memorable pieces that few have ever heard live. There is a pre-show festival & post show meet and greet (with industry designers, creators, voice actors, performers and special guests) open to all ticket hodlers - at NO extra cost. Pre-show activities include hands-on game demonstrations, Guitar Hero competition, costume contest and prizes including a draw for a gaming console from Future Shop. As reviewer Leo Cotterell noted, "Nothing could have prepared me for the spectacle...I found myself surrounded by video game characters. These were not paid professionals but enthusiastic fans... I discovered and enjoyed being part of another world for a night." 4) Flash-Eating Games Website Launch & Recruitment Flash Eating Games, a new Winnipeg game company, is looking for Flash game reviewers locally and abroad. If you're interested in reviewing a Flash game – or you know of someone who might be - then contact me on how to get started at request@flasheating.com. No prior experience is needed when submitting reviews and I pay good rates for reviews published on the site.
Company: Flash Eating Games Contact: request@flasheating.com Website: www.flasheating.com 5) Cogmation release robotFoundry and robotSim Local Winnipeg robotics specialists Cogmation Robotics have just announced the release of two new revolutionary software applications for controlling consumer-grade robots. robotFoundry is a powerful graphical coding environment for robotics. Use drag and drop modules to add functionality to your code, quickly linking them to create program flow and robot controls. Generate code with a click, and transfer your code to your robot or robotSim with another click. robotSim is a portable, lightweight 3D simulator easily installed and easily used. Code generated in robotFoundry is dragged onto robot shells, and started in robotSim at the push of a button. Watch your robot using the code you created interact with a variety of rooms, or switch to controlling the robot yourself to explore and enjoy. For more information, check out: http://www.cogmation.com/ In addition to IGDA Winnipeg news, our friends at New Media Manitoba have announced a number of events and programs that should be of particular interest to many people in our game development community: 7) New Business Plans for Procrastinators On Monday, March 31, 2008, New Media Manitoba presents the first of its kind Business course for new and existing businesses entitled, "New Media Business Plans for Procrastinators." This course will be delivered one evening per week for six weeks and will force you to create a business plan for your company or product. Some of the excuses we hear for why people never develop a business plan is, "not enough time," or, "it's too much work," and, "what's the point ?" Even after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment, staff and overhead expenses, many new media professionals will never create a business plan because they feel it's too involved or they don't see the benefit. Well on March 31, you won't have a choice. You will develop your new media business plan or else. :) There are just 6-spots left for the training event at our discounted rate! We have spent over 8-months building this course together with Meyers Norris Penny - one of the foremost business consultancy firms in Western Canada. At the end of this six-module training you will have not only a fully completed business plan, but the knowledge to take your new media firm to a new level of financial stability and operations. There has never been a better time than NOW to take a Manitoba targeted new media business
planning course. Several case studies from Harvard Business Review will be taught including Massive Inc, and Facebook. Head to www.newmediamanitoba.com for all the juicy bits! 8) Search Engine Optimization Strategies On Tuesday, April 15, 2008, New Media Manitoba will present "Search Engine Optimization," at the Psych Health Centre on Bannatyne in Winnipeg. The meeting runs from 7 pm - 9 pm and will features video interviews from our trip to New York with companies like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. You will walk away with useful information like how to optimize your site the way the Search Engines want for better placement, as well as some insights into "Black Hat" optimization for fooling the search engines into ranking your site even higher than the average bear. This presentation is meant to help you develop your corporate search engine strategy today, as well as how you can improve your clients' website rankings. Stay tuned for more details as the event unfolds! In the meantime you can register in advance at our website: www.newmediamanitoba.com . 9) Telefilm one-on-one meetings Telefilm will be coming to Winnipeg on April 2, 2008, to hear a variety of pitches for projects from Manitoba New Media developers. Their goal is to meet with as many emerging film and new media producers, and current clients as possible to hear about your projects. 30-minute pitching sessions will be scheduled from 10 am to 5 pm.The day will wrap up with an informal wine-and-cheese reception. Telefilm's selection process is simple: Submit a one-page PDF version of your synopsis via email to Julianne Lockhart at lockhaj@telefilm.gc.ca two weeks (or asp) before Telefilm arrives in Winnipeg. a. Please specify which funding program you feel your project is best suited to (i.e. CNMF, CFFF, etc); b. Include a line or two on the budget you expect to have associated with your project; and c. Include any co-production or co-venture partners. A Telefilm representative will call you to confirm your pitching time, venue, and provide details about the reception. RSVP for reception by sending an email to RSVP@telefilm.gc.ca