Dundee's Local Devs, Schools To Host Game Start-Up Workshop

The shaken development climate in Dundee, Scotland is getting some more help: some of the region's schools and game businesses will hold a free workshop in the area for local game developers seeking new jobs or studio entrepreneurship opportunities. The workshop aims to offer resources for unemployed developers as well as for start-up indie companies seeking advice on raising funding for games, IP protection, promoting titles before a launch and more. This event, slated for Tuesday, August 31 at Scottish Enterprise Tayside, is one of several being held in the effort to provide support to employees facing job loss as Realtime Worlds enters administration. Activision, Blitz Games and The Creative Assembly have also announced recruiting events in the area. Interactive Tayside, a business that supports the Tayside Region gaming industry, and digital PR company Revolver will be organizing the event. It will be held at the Scottish Enterprise Dundee offices and will feature speakers from local schools and companies. Abertay University and Dundee College representatives will present lectures topics such as finding funding for game developers and honing business skill sets, while indie developers Blitz 1Up will offer advice for indie start-ups. Law firm Murray Buchanan Associates will also offer a talk on intellectual property protection. TIGA, the UK game industry's trade association, expressed support for the event. Chief executive officer Dr. Richard Wilson commented, "The recent redundancies have been a huge blow to the interactive sector in the UK. However there is a huge amount of talent and experience around Dundee and we'd like as much of it as possible to stay in the country create their own studios." "There are already many young, high-growth start-ups in Tayside and we hope this workshop will be the first step in welcoming many more. TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, is committed to helping small and start up developers to grow and prosper," he said. Interested parties can find further info on the event's schedule and speakers at Interactive Tayside's official website.