MONTREAL GAME INCUBATOR
INFORMATION SESSION:
Weds April 13 from 5-7pm in the TAGlab at Concordia University (EV building 11-455, 1515 St. Catherine St. West)
Weds April 20 from 5-7pm in the TAGlab at Concordia University (EV building 11-455, 1515 St. Catherine St. West)
As some of you know Lynn, Saleem, Steph and I have been working with Shawn Bell (our Dawson buddy) and Jason Della Rocca on preparing a pilot project to help bring Dawson and Concordia students together, along with indy, arts and industry developers, in order to make some games (we eventually hope to include students from other Montreal universities and colleges as well). The whole project is connected to TAG specifically in terms of encouraging the development of experimental and innovative games, working to help support the independent development community, involving students in portfolio building projects, and addressing the issue of university-industry collaboration. Not only do we want to be involved in making more “different” and “innovative” games but we also very much want to think about models for how university and college based research/creation and training might make a difference in terms of sustainable community and career-based (rather than job-based) game and game related digital media development. That’s the long way of saying we want to help make Montreal an International hub for critical, innovative and progressive game development!
Its a big (actually its huge) and ambitious plan (but those are the best kind!). We are starting small and intimate however, and we invite any and all TAGsters and friends of TAG to come and find out more about the plan this Wednesday (tomorrow) during our usual 5-7 time slot. There will also be an additional information session on April 20th also from 5-7.
We are especially interested in inviting any students and/or developers (grad and undergrad) who might want to participate in our summer pilot project (8 weeks in July and August). We are basically looking for students or teams of students who already have an existing game prototype (perhaps developed for a course or term project or on the side) who would like to take their game to the next level (ideally to the market demo stage). Participants in the project will get access to equipment, software and technical support as well as the expertise of industry mentors. We will also provide a small stipend to participants to help defray costs since participants should be willing to work full time on their games for the 8 week period.
You don’t need to have a game prototype in hand to come to the info sessions or to participate. Part of the the job of the sessions is to find out if there are individual artists, programmers, designers, etc. who might want to form a team or join existing teams to supplement their expertise. The idea here is somewhat Game Jam like. For example, if you have a prototype but you need a programmer or an artist or level designer with specific expertise to take it to the next level, we may be able to help you find those people.
Therefore, if you are an undergraduate or graduate student interested in making games then you should come to these information sessions. We would like to hear from you as much as you might like to hear about what we are planning. We recognize this is short notice and it is exam time, but this will give you a much needed break to imagine something fun and productive for the summer.
Deadline for incubator and participant proposals is May 15th, 2011.
Click here for the Call for Proposals
For proposal submissions, questions and queries you can contact Shawn Bell (sbell.zomes@gmail.com) or Saleem Dabbous (tag.coordinator@live.com)