Dundee will be fizzing with videogames talent, innovation and fun for the next four months as a Summer of Games rolls out across the city!
Following the launch of V&A Dundee’s latest exhibition, Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt on April 20, the city is gearing up for a programme of public, academic and industry events – from immersive tech conferences and videogames design competitions to a public celebration of graduate talent, a family-friendly digital treasure trail and the return of the nationwide UK Games Fund Awards.
Partners from across the city and beyond including the UK Games Fund, Abertay University, Dundee City Council, Creative Dundee, Biome Collective, V&A Dundee, InGAME, UK Interactive Entertainment, 4J Studios and the University of Glasgow will be offering up a feast of activities to showcase the work and creativity of the games sector.
Director of InGAME, Sean Taylor said: “It is great to see so much activity around the videogames industry in Dundee in store this summer and we are very much looking forward to revealing some of the key projects that InGAME will be focussing on. This industry is vitally important to Scotland and we are committed to working with local companies as we seek to increase the scape and value of the Dundee cluster.”
Here are some of the many things on offer:
- Kicking the summer off will be Abertay University’s Digital Graduate Show, expected to draw a crowd of thousands from May 10-14 as students from Europe’s top games university showcase their achievements.
- Panel event im/material: Virtual Encounters With Material Worlds will feature a discussion between academics, game designers, and digital storytellers, exploring the opportunities for storytelling and gaming created by the blurring between virtual and physical worlds.
- As if that wasn’t enough for the opening month, games fans can also attend Creative Dundee’s biggest ever Pecha Kucha Night event at the Caird Hall on May 28, where legendary games composer Ged Grimes – creator of soundtracks for the likes of Earthworm Jim 3D, Enter the Matrix, Shrek 3 and the critically-acclaimed The Bard’s Tale IV Barrows Deep – will be among the speakers. Get your tickets here!
- The Summer of Games will continue into June and July with a series of other activities, including a digital treasure trail for families as part of Dundee City Council’s Dundee Summer Streets Festival, a UK Hub Crawl workshop for local games companies from UK Interactive Entertainment and an R&D showcase event from the city’s new Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise (InGAME) project – a collaboration between the universities of Abertay, Dundee and St Andrews.
Gillian Easson, Director of Creative Dundee said: “This year is a great opportunity to show just how important Dundee’s creative industries are to Scotland and there’s never been a better chance to shine a light on all the amazing projects we have going on in the city. There’s so much talent in the videogames cluster and it’s a real privilege to collaborate with people working in the sector across Dundee through projects like Pecha Kucha.”
If you enjoy Creative Dundee’s work……
…would you consider becoming one of our Amps Supporters? Besides helping us connect and amplify creativity in the city, you get access to lots of perks, like reduced-priced Pecha Kucha tickets, meet-ups with other Amps and eligibility to apply for our Community Ideas Fund – each subscription makes the fund bigger. Find out more and join the community here!