Interactive Tayside

A whopping £50,000 prize is up for grabs for the software geniuses who can design a handy app which can help Scottish businesses cut their carbon.

The Scottish Government, SSE, SEPA and Microsoft have teamed up to launch the SME EnviroApp competition.

Software developers are being invited to create an app which is related to climate change, carbon management and energy efficiency and which can raise awareness of Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets.

The app should be targeted specifically at small and medium-sized businesses to help them measure, manage and reduce their carbon emissions.

Competition entries can be any kind of software application for the web and can be designed to operate on personal computers, mobile handheld devices or any software platform widely available to the public.

First round entries should be submitted by 10 June and finalists will be invited to make full presentations in July or August.

Enterprise Europe Network Scotland can assist and offer more information on the competition. Contact EEN Scotland at info@enterprise-europe-scotland.com or by calling 0141 228 2797.

More information on the competition can be obtained by visiting the SME enviroapp competition website.

Think you can develop an app that inspires Scottish businesses to think greener? (if you do, you could win £50,000).

By 2020, Scotland has committed to reduce carbon emissions by 42%.

The Scottish Government, SSE, SEPA and Microsoft have launched a national competition to create a software application that helpsScotland’s SMEs respond to these ambitious climate change goals by measuring, managing and reducing their carbon emissions.

So, what do I have to do?

The Challenge

Using your development skills and ninja-like abilities, you must create an exciting and innovative software application which has the power to enableScotland’s SMEs to respond to carbon reduction goals.  We want your app “to raise business awareness amongst SMEs of climate change requirements, measure progress towards carbon reduction, or assist SMEs in either carbon management or enhanced energy efficiency “Success lies in not only dazzling the judges with your software development skills but also your understanding of climate change challenges for Scotland’s SMEs and how you intend to address them.

For more information visit the website.

The European Commission has extended the deal which granted French developers a 20 per cent tax rebate, provided that they can prove that the games in questions are culturally significant.

A previous deal, fought for by the EGDF, and Guillaume de Fondaumière in particular, extended the offer only until December 31, 2011. The new agreement extends that priviledge until the end of 2017 at the earliest.

The news has special significance for the UK industry, which has saw continued pressure from TIGA rewarded in the last budget by the promise of a games tax break scheme for Britain. However, as apart of the EU, the British government had to await the Commission’s decision before enacting the plan.

“I welcome this important resolution for our industry,” said Fondaumière, EGDF chair and co-CEO of Quantic Dreams.

“It will allow France to pursue a scheme that has proven very successful, in particular to relocate creative forces that had left the country. But more importantly for Europe as a whole, I hope that this extended window will now encourage other countries such as the United Kingdom to quickly put in place similar measures.Through this decision, the Commission has also confirmed the legitimacy of games as a form of cultural expression, putting video games on equal footing with films or books.”

Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, has made the acquisition of tax breaks a key aim during his incumbency. The quick double victory of an assurance from both the UK Government and the EU, is a major coup for his campaign, as well as the UK industry.

“This is a critical victory not just for the French games development sector but also for the UK games development and digital publishing industry. Together we have demonstrated that video games are economically important, can be educational, and can be cultural products. “TIGA successfully convinced the UK Government to introduce a tax break for games production in the March 2012 Budget. Today’s announcement by the European Commission gives the UK the green light to introduce this vital tax measure as soon as possible. This is a triumph for the French, the UK and the wider European games development sectors achieved by SNJV, TIGA and the EDGF trade associations, and I applaud the Commission’s decision.”

From now until the end of the Summer, First Thurstday events will be taking an extended coffee break.  Watch this space for news of future events.

A social media gamble by a Perth-based internet firm has paid off after it was chosen to design and operate a major international poker tutorial site.

Inspire IT Services used a microblogging service on Twitter to get the opportunity to build a poker training website for US-based poker champion Joe Tehan and cash game expert John “Nicolak” Kim. 

Martin Smith, director of Inspire, said he had spotted the opportunity to tender for the poker site as he following some of the players online.  The firm put forward its proposal and won through despite stiff competition from US-based rivals and has run the project in Scotland every since. 

Inspire was founded in 2008 by Martin and fellow Director David Dwyer and although it has been successful in picking up clients throughout Perthshire andTayside,Scotlandand the widerUK, the poker site was the company’s first international contract.

Martin said the power of the internet meant a physical barrier as mighty as theAtlanticwas no restraint to forging a successful business relationship even for a relatively small outfit such as Inspire. 

“We beat off theLas Vegascompetition and ran the project fromScotland, which has presented some challenges, such as the eight-hour time difference, but in the end it was very successful.”

Now that StackEmCoaching.com has gone live, the local MSP and Finance Secretary has praised the company’s entrepreneurial instincts.

The loveable scamps and Digital Goldfish have a slew of new titles heading for the iOS market, with The World’s Strongest Man out now and the adorably titled Chip Trippington And The Kwiff Frizz Quizcoming soon.

The World’s Strongest Man is a licensed game, based upon the gentleman of the same description.  A mighty fellow, he can, as Charlie Brooker so memorably put it, ‘lift a filing cabinet full of coal, over his head – with his eyelids’.  Which translates to a whole wild world o’ strength-based challenges including carry an entire car, pulling and entire lorry and, unless we’re mistaken, lifting Africa.  That’s quite strong.  It’s certainly stronger than Duke Nukem, Conan or NINE Yoshimitsu’s.

You can build a career, train your strongman and lead him to such a peak of strongness that he could pop a roomful of balloons and a monkey, by glaring.  The World’s Strongest Man is OUT NOW and can be purchased for a puny weakling price of £1.99, saving you money for protein shakes, a bullworker and an official World’s Strongest Man strength moustache.

Chip Trippington on the other hand is an entirely different sort of thing.  Entirely.  An old-school point and click style adventure, players must guide Trip through a variety of adventures and, we’re going to assume, mis-adventures (we’ll go further and guess they’ll be inadvertent and hilarious) as he attempts to track down his favoured styling product and secure the kwiff of ultimate stylishness.

Crude humour is promised, as is a hard-hitting and frank insight into  liquid rejuvenation engineering.

We’re so there.  Point and click – great.  Crude humour – smashing.  It’s like Digital Goldfish have come up with a new idea which excites them – and are now developing it into a game.  This could be a brave new move in the rapidly evolving mobile market – and one we’d like to see more of.

Thanks Digital Goldfish!

With 650 participants registered, Game in Scotland 2012 was sure to another successful year.   If you’d like to see some of the presentations  – here’e a video to watch.

Aspiring computer game developers now have just one week to apply for Dare to be Digital 2012, the world’s leading computer game design competition for students. 

Entries should be made online at http://www.daretobedigital.com/

The competition brings 15 teams of five students to the University of Abertay Dundee each summer to build a working game prototype in just nine weeks.

The games then go on show to the public and to industry experts at a games festival in Dundee in August, with three winning teams picked to compete for the BAFTA ‘Ones to Watch’ award.

Sophia George, who led the BAFTA-winning team from Dare 2011, said: “I think people should enter Dare to be Digital because it is a great opportunity for students who are keen to break into the games industry. I feel the experience was priceless and I met so many wonderful people.”

Sophia’s team are now in discussions about publishing their winning game, Tick Tock Toys, on the iPad.

Elaine Russell, Dare to be Digital Project Manager, added: “Dare is a life-changing opportunity for students looking to step into the games industry.

“Coming to Abertay University for a summer to work solidly on your own game, which then goes on show to thousands of members of the public, is an amazing experience.

“If you love games and want to make them for a living, then apply to take part in Dare to be Digital 2012.”

This year applicants are also required to do a video ‘pitch’, explaining their game idea. Entries should be made online at http://www.daretobedigital.com/

The past weekend saw the ever awesome Game In Scotland event take place in Dundee.  A recruitment fair, networking opportunity, platform for new talent and general shindig for the games industry in Scotland, it introduced a whole range of entirely new companies, working across a huge range of new and interesting areas of interactive entertainment.

Chief amongst these was Red Radiant Media.  Regular readers of Scottishgames will have come across the company before.  They let us know about a new augmented reality app towards the end of 2011, as well as looking for new staff.

At Game In Scotland however, Red Radiant emerged, as if from nowhere, with a number of fantastic announcements about new games, new projects, new partners and major plans for the rest of 2012 and much of 2013.

The first of these was Moops, an original new title being developed in conjunction with Darkside Animation.  Moopsis somewhat platform-y, in which the player has to hunt and ‘thwack’ critters, so your trusty companion can vacuum them up and rid Barrel City of the nasty things.

From what we saw, the game uses a combination of gestures and physics-based gameplay, to create a cross between a classic platform game, with elements of Luigi’s Mansion.

Moops is due out in May 2012 for iOS devices.

A second title – Kitchen Games is due out later in 2012, though fewer details on this title were given.  iOS again and a cartoon style variety of indoor athletic events from what we could see.

Tahir, the head of Red Radiant also dropped a number of hints and showed a couple of screenshots for several new projects which the company has in the pipeline.  Another Moops title was mentioned, but the biggest reaction from the crowd was for a game based in the  underwater city of Atlantis.  Since Red Radiant boasts team members who are former members of Realtime Worlds and Irrational Games, with titles under their belts including Crackdown and Bioshock (I & II) – with sales of over 20,000,000 games and four BAFTAawards between various team members.

Only a single screenshot was shown, but the style and atmosphere was very reminiscent of everyone’s favourite underwater dystopia.  We won’t lie.  We’re excited.  Very excited.  Expect this one to get a rapturous welcome (sorry).

We hope to have more news and updates from Red Radiant Media in the near future.  In the meantime, Moops is coming to an iOS device near you soon.  We recommend you pick a copy up…

The BAFTA and Dare to be Digital ‘Ones to Watch’ award for a new student game was awarded tonight to Swallowtail, a team from Norwich University College of the Arts and the University of Abertay Dundee.

‘Ones to Watch’ is a unique BAFTA prize, only available to competitors in the University of Abertay Dundee’s world-leading game design competition Dare to be Digital.

The winning game is a beautiful, colourful puzzler called Tick Tock Toys for the iPad, where you need to clear a toy box to help your clockwork robot pass a series of obstacles.

Each summer 15 teams come to Abertay University to build a working game in just nine weeks. The games then go on show to thousands of members of the public at the Dare ProtoPlay games festival in Dundee.

Last year’s festival was opened by the man behind the Raspberry Pi credit card-sized PC, David Braben.

Sophia George, team leader of Swallowtail, said: “We’re really thrilled and shocked to win – and very excited for the future. We’d really like to release Tick Tock Toys for the iPad.

“Dare to be Digital has been such an amazing experience, from coming to Abertay University, working through the whole Dare experience with amazing mentors, and now to the BAFTAs.

“We hope we’ve made our universities, teachers and families proud of us.”

Sophia studied at Norwich University College of the Arts before moving to Dundee to study Abertay University’s applied Professional Masters in Games Development course.

Swallowtail’s other members are Rosie Ball, Mark Bamford, Kristian Francis and Callum Goold.

 Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop said: “Scotland is known the world over as place of great creativity and innovation, with our computer games industry undoubtedly one of our global success stories.

“I would like to congratulate Swallowtail on being named BAFTA ‘Ones to Watch’ in 2012, the Year of Creative Scotland. They and the other nominees from Dare to be Digital are helping to enhance Scotland’s international reputation for creative excellence and contributing to the success of our creative industries sector.”

Professor Louis Natanson, who leads computer games education at Abertay University, said: “Winning a BAFTA is a life-changing experience for anyone looking to enter the games industry, and we’re delighted to see a game as enjoyable and as professional as Tick Tock Toys taking the ‘Ones to Watch’ award this evening.

“The quality of the Dare to be Digital games is quite incredible. Building a game in just nine weeks is an amazing achievement, and thousands of people saw, played and enjoyed these games last summer at our Dare ProtoPlay games festival in Dundee.”

He added: “These students are entering the games industry at a fascinating time, with unprecedented opportunities for small teams to publish their own games online.

“Just look at the huge success of Minecraft, whose creator Markus Persson won the BAFTA Special Award this evening. Small, creative teams can create sustainable businesses, which is a major focus for both Dare to be Digital and Abertay’s Prototype Fund.”

 All three BAFTA-nominated teams also had the opportunity of pitching their games to a panel of industry experts at a special BAFTA and Abertay University Prototype Fund event on Thursday night.

Applications for Dare to be Digital 2012 are now open at http://www.daretobedigital.com/ with a closing date of April 10 at 5pm.

The career-launching award was announced at a glittering ceremony in the London Hilton, Park Lane, hosted by comedian and games enthusiast Dara O Briain.