Lecture at the Animex animation festival
Middlesbrough, England
A quick overnight trip back to Middlesbrough to deliver my lecture, "Will Computer Games Ever Be a Legitimate Art Form," to the crowd at Animex. This was the first time the festival had included a "Game Day" in the proceedings, and there were some serious developers there. I was pleased to get a chance to chat with Andrew Oliver of Blitz Games, one of the oldest privately-owned developers still around in the UK. Andrew gave an excellent practical lecture on developing characters for video games.
A quick overnight trip back to Middlesbrough to deliver my lecture, "Will Computer Games Ever Be a Legitimate Art Form," to the crowd at Animex. This was the first time the festival had included a "Game Day" in the proceedings, and there were some serious developers there. I was pleased to get a chance to chat with Andrew Oliver of Blitz Games, one of the oldest privately-owned developers still around in the UK. Andrew gave an excellent practical lecture on developing characters for video games.
A short but enjoyable trip up to my new home as a Visiting Fellow. My maiden lecture was "Putting the Ghost in the Machine," about artificial intelligence in games, and I followed it up with a design workshop. The best part was afterwards, though, when my host took me to visit various local sites including 
The IGDA has a new chapter. At the invitation of Michael Kenna of Enterprise Ireland, Tony Kelly of Intel, and the delightfully-named Aphra Kerr of Dublin City University, I went over to deliver the inaugural lecture at their first meeting, along with a game design workshop the next day. I gave the perennial favorite, "Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie!" It was an overflow crowd and their energy and enthusiasm were infectious. Ireland may be small and new to the business, but they have some very smart and imaginative people.
