Derry ‘could be video game development mecca’

At a ScreenWorks workshop for 14-19 year olds, the team from Kippie CIC introduced the young people to video game design with the aim of giving them real life experience.

Kippie Manager Katherine Rowlandson said: “It’s such an exciting time in the industry, there’s an explosion of creativity right across Northern Ireland. I believe Derry in particular could rival Dundee as a world game development mecca, we just need to convince our talented young people to stay at home. We can do this by supporting young people to try gaming as a career through programmes such as ScreenWorks and our workshops of Girls Make Games.”

“To be a successful games company, you don’t need great road infrastructure or public transportation. What you need it a good internet connection and to foster new talent so that they stay,” she added.

She cited Hypixel Studios in Derry, which was acquired by the world-leading publisher Riot Games, but decided to set up an office in Derry, the home of the company founders.

ScreenWorks is a ground-breaking partnership between Northern Ireland Screen and Into Film, that gives young people who want to pursue a career in the industry the chance to gain free hands-on experience with some of the leading experts working across film, TV, animation and games.

Sean Boyle from ScreenWorks said: “Gaming is a fast-growing industry in Northern Ireland and we felt it was essential to offer young people the chance to see what it would be like to create their own game. There are great jobs out there and excellent university courses in Northern Ireland so by reaching out to young people at this age we can show them what it would be like to work in the industry.”

He added that they were very keen to work with Kippie as the organisation was quickly developing a reputation for its excellent hands-on games design courses tailored to young people.

Kippie is a partnership between Katherine, her sister Caroline Anderson who is a programmer and her wife artist Justine Scoltock.

Katherine explained: “We were all working separately but felt there was a real need out there to work with young people and help them develop their skills. Our first job was at a local gallery and we worked with young people exploring games inspired by the art. It was amazing how the kids responded. They just spontaneously started working together, sharing ideas and developing together. When their parents came to collect them, they didn’t want to leave and the parents said they hadn’t seen their children that excited about learning.”

She added that this generation of parents grew up playing games so they see the value in potential careers in video games development. “It used to be that parents and teachers thought of video games as a hobby. That has really changed,” she added.

In addition to the ScreenWorks session, Kippie runs an on-going Girls Make Games project for 10-13 year-old females.

“There are so few girls in tech in general and in gaming specifically, yet girls and women make up a huge part of the market of those buying and playing games,” she said. “That means stories by females with strong women characters aren’t being created as much as they could and should.”

“It’s our ambition that as the gaming industry grows across Northern Ireland and especially in Derry that under-represented groups are given opportunities,” she added.

For more information about ScreenWorks go to www.intofilm.org/screenworks and to find out about Kippie go to www.kippie.org.uk.