Interactive Tayside

Emergency responses to natural disasters could be coordinated more quickly and save lives thanks to new software developed at the University of Abertay Dundee.

Using home broadband routers, student David Kane’s prototype programme can ‘ping’ thousands of addresses to check whether buildings are still standing.  The system shows live data on ‘safe’ areas using Google Maps. Within seconds, any disaster can be detected, mapped and its progress tracked – and support efforts targeted to the areas in greatest need at any moment. 

Disasters like the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan showed that coordinating responses is incredibly difficult without visual communication such as helicopters and people reporting in every location affected. David’s system could automate the whole process, providing a constant stream of up-to-date information.

David, a Computing & Networks student at Abertay University, said: “Responding to disasters is immensely difficult and any extra accurate information can make the difference in saving lives.  “I wanted to prove if it was possible to use an ordinary piece of technology we all have – a home broadband router – to map natural disasters in real-time.” 

His final year project is part of the Abertay Digital Graduate Show on Friday 18th May, 5-8pm, in Abertay’s Kydd Building and Hannah Maclure Centre.
 
David added: “The idea definitely works and I’ve built it so anyone can take this code and improve it. It’s certainly not finished, but everything is open source compatible and using XML can plug straight into existing disaster management systems.

“Once the Abertay Digital Graduate Show is finished, I’ll release all the code and let the community take this project on. I just hope my work can make a difference in the future.”

Dr Ian Ferguson, Abertay lecturer and David’s project supervisor, said: “Using existing computer infrastructure to retrieve information about natural disasters as they strike and develop could be a major step forward.  Any extra information can improve emergency responses in complex crises, so projects like this could have a huge impact using relatively simple technological tools.  I set the project as a deliberately difficult challenge, which David has responded to by building a very stable, very professional piece of software. The concept definitely works – the challenge is how this can now be developed.”

The software works by ‘pinging’ home broadband routers and matching this information with an address supplied by the home owner. That address is converted to longitude and latitude values and displayed in Google Maps.  With the support of internet service providers, the opt-in supply of address data could be removed and the whole system automated.

The basic principle of the software prototype could also be applied to mobile phone networks, if an app was developed to support this. And as geolocation runs on satellites, the disaster tracking could remain accurate even as phone networks go down.

Development Studio Serious Parody has raised over £1M in investment to expand the studio’s games portfolio.  This will allow the company to establish a new dedicated studio, based in Dundee and recruit 18 new members of staff in the coming months.

Serious Parody has raised the majority of the money from private investors, with a further £230,000 coming from a Scottish Enterprise regional selective assistance grant.

The investment has allowed Serious Parody to begin an immediate recruitment drive, looking for multiple programmers, artists and animators.   Contact the company directly if you’re interested.

The company’s first title, Wrestling Manager was released for iOS devices several months ago.  The game has received critical acclaim and remains one of the only management games on the App Store which focuses on the hugely popular sport.

Serious Parody CEO, Dan Hinkles, told us:

“We need a number of highly skilled and highly motivated games professionals to lead the company to success, and we’re delighted that these investments allow us to hire these key people.”

“The company has a very clear roadmap to success, taking advantage of the transformational changes that have occurred with in the games industry of recent years. We have a number of highly ambitious new projects underway and we already have a ton of talent at the spine of the company with award winning artists and programmers on board. Now we’re looking for talented developers who can really help ‘raise the bar’ for the genre’s we’re working on.”

Lena Wilson, chief executive, Scottish Enterprise, said:

“The Scottish gaming industry continues to be one of the most recognised in the world and is ranked third in Europe’s top 50 games developer locations. This announcement is very encouraging and testament to our increasing reputation as the partner of choice in major projects.

“Regional Selective Assistance is a key source of funding we use to assist home-grown companies stay and grow in Scotland and equally, to help foreign investors view Scotland as the ideal place to locate and expand their businesses. These new jobs are a welcome boost for the local economy of Dundee and for the wider Scottish economy and we look forward to working with Serious Parody to help them realise their ambitious growth plans in Scotland.”

 Congratulations to Dan and the (growing) SP team.

Virgin Media has partnered with website Eurogamer and the University of Abertay Dundee on a campaign dubbed the 100 Day Game Project, which challenges budding game developers to create a top mobile title in – you guessed it – 100 days.

In fact, the campaign calls for the “best emerging young games developers in the UK” to create the “new Angry Birds” by May 27th. No mean feat.

Entries will be judged by a panel that features the likes of Douglas Hare from Outplay Entertainment, David Hamilton from Digital Goldfish, Craig Lawson from Ubisoft Reflections, and Tom Champion from Eurogamer.

The winning team, which will be chosen in mid-June, will meet up with mentors in Dundee to “turn their concept into a reality”. Then, a beta of the game will launch during the Eurogamer Expo event that’s being held on September 27th.

Planning to attend Apple WWDC or Google I/O?

Let UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) help you learn and connect with more app experts and platforms in just one visit.

UKTI is hosting the Multi Platform App Developer Mission during the week of 18-22 June 2012 conveniently scheduled in the week between Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) (10-15 June) and Google’s I/O Developer Conference (27-29 June).

Send your super star developer to San Francisco to learn from the best and showcase your app during this week long mission of master classes and workshops.

These tech-talks will be specifically tailored for technical architects or developers of already launched business-to-consumer or business-to-business mobile apps.

Book your place

Register on the UKTI event website

As the headline suggests, the Xbox 360 version of indie sensation Minecraft has been doing rather well. Microsoft announced at the end of the week that the game had broken existing sales records for first day sales.  While no figures have been announced, the game was apparently making profit within the first hour of release, according to a tweet from Mojang supremo and game mastermind, Notch.

Initiated by Scottish Screen in 2000, the Alt-w Fund is for practitioners based in Scotland to make and develop new artworks, devices and creative applications that challenge the notions of what new media creativity can be.

The fund supports artists to explore experimental and interactive practice, make use of technology as both platform and medium, and recognise the changing role that digital culture has in our society.

You can apply for up to £10,000 of production costs. Download the guidelines and application form here. Application surgeries will be available in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. Submission deadline is the 4th July 2012. 

The Alt-w Fund is managed by New Media Scotland and is supported by Creative Scotland and the Centre for Design Informatics.

Application process for Cross Creative 2012 is now open. Application pack and guidelines available at bottom of this page.

Cross Creative is TRC’s pioneering and perennially popular digital media initiative. It is a unique and immersive 9 month programme for top creatives in digital media focusing on expanding knowledge and creative horizons and on the importance of the relationships underpinning collaborative projects.

Specific outcomes include:

• Access to a raft of top digital players in the UK and North America • Extended networks, contacts and potential partnerships • Increased knowledge of cutting edge work being undertaken in digital media • New approaches to creativity • Greater awareness of potential revenue streams • Heightened ambition, confidence and belief

Cross Creative provides a series of 7 monthly sessions led by industry experts, combined with 2 field trips, one to Toronto and one to Silicon Valley to meet some of the world’s top creative and technology innovators.

The sessions last 1 day per month and are held at TRC media’s city centre offices in Glasgow offering a great opportunity to learn together and from each other and to form a delegate support network that endures way beyond the nine month programme itself.

The participants on the 2011 Cross Creative programme, an impressive array of creatives driving some of Scotland most interesting games companies, agencies, platforms and publishers, were:

Sara Kinnear – Screenmedia
Bobby Farmer – Extra Mile Studios
Simon Meek – Tern Digital
Joe Tree – Blipfoto
Claire Scally – Illumina Scotland
Kate Ho – Interface3
Jenny Todd – Canongate
Neil Barr – Alienation Digital

Quotes from previous delegates:

“If you get the chance to be part of Cross Creative grab it with both hands!!”
Bobby Farmer, Extra Mile Studios
“Unfailingly useful, always interesting and a great co-mentee group. MORE!”
Dan Hon, Six to Start (Now W+K Portland)
“I came back from San Francisco buzzing with ideas and with the determination to see them through.”
Jenny Todd, Canongate
“Having access to the companies we met – with total freedom to ask questions and engage with them personally – was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Paul May, Design by Front

Carole Dunlop is the Project Manager for Cross Creative.

Attachments : (either click the link or right-click and ‘save’ to your machine)

 CC2012guidelinesandapp.doc

The team at Denki have released a filthy teasing hint that they’re working on their next new game.  Following the success of Quarrel on iOS and Xbox Live, Denki’s next move has been the subject of intense speculation in and around the digital media and interactive industries globally.

Now, the first tiny wisps of insubstantial information have emerged.  The project will be, according to Denki’s very own blog:

• The game will launch exclusively on the super sexy Turbulenz platform, allowing us to deliver console quality in the convenience of your web browser.
• It’s probably the most action-orientated thing we’ve ever made.
• It features the winning combination of naked flames, bold heroism AND fluffy bunnies.

Given the company’s titles to date, that’s pretty exciting.  The key thing here is ‘console quality gaming’, but ‘in your web browser’.  So Denki can be Denki, but in the world’s biggest market – the one without the several million competing products.  Hmmm… intriguing.

And you, yes YOU.  You can be part of it.  Early.  BEFORE the hordes of hipsters and Zynga designers looking for ideas.  Sign up now and you can be kept abreast of the latest happenings from Denki HQ.  (Or of course, you can read your fabulous daily Scottishgames.net)

God speed Denki!

We’re aware that Minecraft was intelligently designed, by the Mojang hero team and has its roots very firmly in Sweden.  However, today saw the release of Minecraft for the Xbox 360, created by the team at 4J Studiosin Dundee (for our readers in Dundee – that’s where you live…)

If you’re not a gamer, or if you only read news sources which totally ignore digital media and the interactive industries (the Scottish media for example) you may not be familiar with Minecraft (yes, that is Edinburgh Castle.  No, Dundee readers, that’s not in Dundee).

It’s a cross between LEGO and The Walking Dead.  You have to mine resources and build things, in some modes, without getting killed by scary blocky monsters.  It’s a wonderful example of sandbox gaming, in which that player is encouraged to build and create and experiment.  It has over 25,000,000 registered users.  It’s sold over 5,000,000 copies on PC/Mac and some people, as happens on the Internets, have taken it too far.  Famous buildings and locations or fairground rides are one thing, working processor units, insanity and life size starships are quite another:

It exemplifies the emergent ‘indie’ spirit in the games world and proves that the lowest common casual denominator is not always the most popular creative decision.

4J Studios are no strangers to the Xbox market.  The company is responsible for the critically acclaimed Xbox 360 versions of titles including Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie and PS3 conversions including Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Minecraft for Xbox 360 is already receiving a lot of love from the media and critics worldwide.  It gets the perfect 100% from the UK’s Official Xbox Magazine and Gaming Age.  It scores 83 out of 100 on the influential Metacritic, while the game gets 4/5 from The Guardian, which also says:

It is strangely profound and meditative experience, aided by the wilting piano score and the soft, simple sound effects, which lend each action a naturalism that works within this universe even when resembling nothing in our own. And don’t be fooled by the chunky docile appearance of the monsters – Minecraft manages to create a creepy, jumpy atmosphere during its night-time hours, with the green, staring Creepers peering through your door and zombies reaching in through the windows. This is a game that replicates every element of solitude and the human imagination – it scares as well as intrigues.

Or you can read an interview with 4J’s Paddy Burns over on Now Gamer.  Alternatively, Paddy also spoke to the team at Hookshot about the project, telling them:

When the subject of translating Minecraft to console came up, Microsoft put forward 4J for the project. “I visited Mojang at the end of April 2011,” says chief technology officer, Paddy Burns. “I questioned Notch in detail about the software architecture of all the different parts of the game– I wanted to get a high level understanding of what it would take to convert to the Xbox 360. At the end of the grilling, Notch said: ‘That was great! No one’s ever asked me questions like that!’ I then put a proposal together showing what we would do, how we would do it, and a project timetable.”

Minecraft for Xbox 360 is out now and costs 1600 MS points.  Or there’s a trial version if you’re tight.

Planning to attend Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (10-15 June) or Google’s I/O Developer Conference (27-29 June)?

Let UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) help you learn and connect with MORE App experts and platforms in just one visit!

UK Trade & Investment plans to host the Multi-Platform App Developer Mission during the week of 18-22 June 2012 conveniently scheduled in the week between AWWDC (10-15 June)  and Google I/O (27-29 June).

Send your rock star developer to San Francisco to learn from the best and showcase your app during this week long mission of master classes and workshops. These tech-talks will be specifically tailored for technical architects or developers of already launched business-to-consumer or business-to-business mobile apps.

UKTI are building the programme and welcome your input. Request to join their Linkedin Group – Multi-Platform App Developer Mission to learn more about the programme as it unfolds and share your ideas on what you think would make this a GREAT mission for your company.

Applications are now being accepted for the Multi-Platform App Developers Mission. For more information and to apply, please visit: http://uktimadmission2012.eventbrite.com/.