Ernest Adams appointed a Visiting Fellow at the University of Teesside.
I am extremely proud to announce that, thanks to the support of Dr. Clive Fencott, I've been appointed a Visiting Fellow to the School of Computing at the University of Teesside, in Middlesbrough, England. The school is well-respected for its excellence in computing and mathematics, and it is actively promoting close cooperation with the game industry -- this is no ivory tower! In addition to the school's technical credentials, there is also a strong interest in the aesthetic and narrative aspects of the interactive medium, which is one of the reasons that it appealed to me.
Keynote at the Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia Conference, Norrköping, Sweden
University of Linköping campus, Norrköping, Sweden
This was an academic-style conference on advances in mobile computing, and I stepped in to fill the spot of a keynote speaker who had to cancel at the last minute. I gave an overview tutorial on game design with observations on how it differed in the mobile gaming world, and also a lecture on what I see as the future of mobile entertainment. I learned quite a lot, too -- I hadn't realized just how far mobile programming had advanced.
In the Game Masterclasses for The Game Plan
Liverpool and Manchester, UK
This was a pair of evening events for young people (ages 16-26) who want to get into game development. The Game Plan is a training scheme run by a group called Media Training North West, whose function is, amazingly, to provide training for the media industries in the north west of England. There were three speakers from the game industry: Nick Wiseman from Bizarre, the audio lead on Project Gotham Racing 2; Gina Jackson, business development manager at Kuju; and me. I was glad to make their acquaintance -- they're both smart, professional game developers with tons of experience. I gave a short presentation about the role of the game designer and the hiring process in the game industry. Good fun -- we gave out loads of free T-shirts and books to encourage participation (anybody who asked a serious question got a T-shirt).
