Posted on - Comments Off on Sjoerd De Jong from Teotl Studios
 CategoriesGuest Lectures 

Sjoerd De Jong from Teotl Studios

Teotl Studios (formely known as Toltec Studios) is a young game development studio located in central Sweden, currently in its final stages of production on its debut game, The Ball.

Sjoerd De Jong – lead designer and developer of The Ball, and founder of Teotl Studios – is coming here this week for two reasons: first to give you guys feedback on the levels you’ve produced since his last visit, and second; to give two lectures.

Thursday, 22nd April (10:00 – 17:00, E31)

  • Feedback from Sjoerd

Friday, 23rd April
Lecture 1: The Ball (10.00-12.00, B51)

  • A look at an alpha build and introduction to the game and story
  • History of the project
  • How we work and organize ourselves
  • Efficient Design – Why a ball?
  • The concept and gameplay analyzed
  • The pacing and balance of the game.
  • The Art Style

Lecture 2: Working in the Games Industry (13.00-15.00, B51)

  • How I started and how I got to where I am today
  • Whats good about working in the games industry
  • Whats bad about working in the games industry – The problems
  • The challenges of the future and how the games industry is constantly evolving
  • Small companies compared to large companies
  • Freelancing
  • How to break into the industry and get hold of your first job.
Posted on - Comments Off on Game Concept Challenge 2010
 CategoriesGuest Lectures 

Game Concept Challenge 2010

Note: this talk has been cancelled due to problems with flights!


Marlene from Game Concept Challenge 2010 is coming here to present and explain the rules for this years contest… Deadline is in October.

GCC is a prestigious competition for game concept developers. GCC has now been running for 8 years. GCC has previously been opened only for students from SOFE (School of Future Entertainment) and Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, BTH. But is now opened for students studying in all areas within game development as well as graduated students, not yet working for the industry, from all over Sweden.

The winner of GCC will receive an attractive award – 500 000 SEK to develop their game concept to full prototype stage. This goes hand in hand with a developing spot at Sweden’s first game incubator, GamePort. Thereafter, coaching and support will be given to professionally pitch the result to publishers. With publisher backing, getting to the next step, full-scale game production is possible.

Time: Thursday April 22, from 11:00 – 12:00 (cancelled due to flights)
Location: E31

Posted on - 2 Comments on Mirjam nails her dissertation!
 CategoriesBlog 

Mirjam nails her dissertation!

“Spikning” (lit. nailing) is an academic ritual in connection with the submission of a dissertation. Three weeks before the dissertation thesis is published it must be made available to anyone who wants to read it and come up with criticism for the disputation. The Swedish tradition is to have the respondent ceremonially nail a copy of the dissertation to a wall, for public display.

Our soon-to-be doctor Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari has done research in story construction, characterization and identity in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. She has built an AI-system (The Mind Module) that infuse game actors with “individuality”. The system can simulate personalities, relations, feelings, mood and temper, and many other character factors. The system was tested and evaluated in a MMO prototype; the Pataphysic Institute.

Mirjam passed the Viva Voce with flying colors at Teesside University the 23rd of February, examined by Dr Alan Hind and Prof Richard Bartle (co-creator of MUD, 1978).

Video in Swedish only, sorry. 🙁

Posted on - Comments Off on Introduction to game development (2010)
 Categories2D games
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Introduction to game development (2010)

Introduction to Game Development – our annual crash course in production methodology. Students arrive in the autumn – unknowing and ill prepared. They are ordered into teams, introduced to SCRUM and given a license to Torque 2D. Then we tell them to make space shooters. It never ceases to amaze me, the growth we see in our students during these intense first weeks.