New recruits!

With 7 days left on the international application deadline to our Master programme we’ve got some great news to share! Professor Doris C. Rusch and Mischa Hießböck (DePaul University) are moving to the island and joining the department full-time, in June!

Doris C. Rusch on stage at the Gotland Game Conference 2017!
Doris spoke at the Gotland Game Conference 2017! Watch the talk here.

Mischa hails from a series of Austrian studios such as Game Gestalt, Sproing and Ferrytells, while Doris founded the Deep Games Laboratory at DePaul, worked at the GAMBIT Game Lab, MIT and at Vienna University of Technology. Their work represents a veritable smörgåsbord for our department’s wish list. Not just encouraging, but dragging games to be better: to talk to the human condition; to represent nuance and a range of emotions.

Rusch’s work is focused on the theory and practice of game design, particularly in regard to games that model the human experience. For example she’s made;

  • Zombie Yoga a game for emotional empowerment
  • Elude – a metaphorical game on depression
  • For the Records – an interactive documentary that deals with young adults and mental disorders such as OCD, ADD, eating disorder and bipolar disorder and
  • Soteria – Dreams as Currency, a game to teach strategies to overcome anxiety disorders.
  • Doris also published the book Making Deep Games, on how to make games about the human experience using metaphor and allegory.

Join us at the Gotland Game Conference (5-6th June) to say hi and welcome them both!

GDC Vault and Safari Books Online

An early Christmas present to our students:  Uppsala University Library has just helped us extend the GDC Vault subscription throughout 2019, and vastly expand our access to Safari Tech Books Online.

Safari Book previously held only our 100 most used course books and references, and supported a measly 5 simultaneous users – which made it practically useless as a replacement for expensive course literature when an entire class needed it at the same time. From 2019 the database will be merged into the New O’Reilly Safari Collection, with access to 40 000+ books, and unlimited simultaneous users!

GDC Vault lets you stream from the ~12000 presentations that the Game Developers Conference has uploaded so far.

You can access both from the university library database page, and they both require password A for access.

alt.ctrl.GDC 2019

The 2019 Game Developers Conference is just months away, and today the organizers announced the 20 games that were selected to exhibit at alt.ctrl.GDC, the on-site showcase of alternative control schemes and interactions in games.

Like last year we managed to earn three of those coveted spots on the San Francisco show floor – well played and congratulations to Coal Rush, Neon Nemesis and ReLeap!

Alumni Days 2018

Update 2018-12-21: the Alumni Day talks have been published. Enjoy!

The Alumni Days are back again! The 14-15th of December we’ll have guest lectures, portfolio reviews, coder job interviews, mentor speed dating and a party!
Alumni Days 2018 Schedule

Speakers:

  • Daniel Gustafsson (MAG Interactive)
    • “From school to industry – real world advice from us at MAG”
  • Eva Sokolova (Valiant Game Studio):
    • It’s not cheating if you call it a workflow
      A game artist’s thoughts and tips after a year in the indie space and why having the skills to create appealing art is only one of the artistic challenges in shipping an indie title.
  • Martin Greip (Eat Create Sleep):
    • Studio Startup Survival Kit
      The rosy days of the golden indie age are gone. Do you want to start a new studio but feel lost and think “where do we go from here?”. In this talk Martin will talk about their journey at Eat Create Sleep since they started their company in 2014 and give you some insight in how you could survive as a startup. Mileage may vary.
  • Peter Stråhle (Might & Delight)
    • The Developer Ethos of Might & Delight
  • Simon Wulf (Starbreeze)
    • Character Customization IRL
      A web programmer turned game developer shares his list of some of the best skills you won’t find in the curriculum.
  • Emelie Rodin (BetterBuilt Studio)
    • An indies Survival kit – or – How I learned to double down and love the niche
      Ever wondered about the glorious life of a indie developer? Let us talk what it takes to survive out there, with the deluge of games growing by the minute? How do you stand out and what do you need to make it?
  • Science Park Gotland
    • What is there to learn from the startup world?
      The choice is before you to dare to team up and build your own venture in the gaming industry or spend half your life working for the “man”. We will share three key learnings from those that have tried, make clear the support, funding and connections that actually exist here on Gotland as well make sure we have answered or confirmed any questions or thoughts you have in the space.
  • Lisa Swanström, Star Stable
    • Artist’s Journey to the Games Industry

Note:

    • All lectures are in E22 and open to the public.
    • The party and alumni Mentor Speed Dating requires registration*
    • Portfolio Reviews requires registration (and some preparation)*
    • To apply for a coder interview, you’ll have to submit a work sample to MAG Interactive*
    • * check your student email for the links and MAG information