This is Not a Game!

Is a video game challenge for Irish students. The goal is to use the fun and popularity of viceo games to raise awareness of Marine issues like overfishing, ocean pollution and ocean acidification. The challenge is being organised by CoderDojo, the U.S. Embassy, and Griffith College. This is the first of a series of local launch workshops across Ireland.

The competitionis open to 10-18 year olds with an interest in any aspect of game making, the ocean-themed competition challenges secondary school students to create a game that allows others to “learn by playing” about current dangers to our ocean ecosystem.

Finalists will get to showcase their games at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, receive mentorship from industry professionals, and get a chance to have their games played by thousands of gamers. Interested students should register at www.thisisnotagame.org

Event Details:

Location: Conner Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster, Belfast

Date: 27th of September

Time of session: 10.00am - 1.15pm

Price: Free to attend

Schedule:

• 10:00 am  Registration

• 10:30 am  Introduction to the program  

• 10:45 am  Donal Griffin (Irish Basking Shark Research Group): Why Our Oceans are Important

• 11:30 am  GameMaker exercise/team building

• 12:30 pm  Brenda and John Romero: Gaming for Understanding 

• 1:15 pm  Event ends

Requirements for the event:

• Students should bring their own laptop to use.

• The FREE GameMaker Download should be pre-installed for use at the event.

• Students should bring a packed lunch.Students under 12 years of age (including 12) have to be supervised by a parent at the event.

Speakers:

 John Romero

 John Romero is a game designer, programmer, artist and sequential artist whose work spans over 130 games, 107 of which have been published commercially, including the iconic works Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake. His contributions and philanthropy within the commercial game industry have led to a myriad of inspired games and the founding of 10 companies. Romero’s design innovations include intuitive and immersive 3D-level design, game balance and overall progression for both single-player and multi-player. He is a completely self-taught programmer, designer and artist.

Brenda Romero

Brenda is an American video game designer and developer. She is best known for her work on the Wizardry series of role-playing video games and, more recently, the non-digital series The Mechanic is the Message. For Wizardry, Romero provided game design, level design, system design, writing and scripting. She has worked in game development since 1981 and has credits on 22 game titles!!!

Workshops will be taking place across the country during September and October so follow us on Twitter @thisisnot_agame for updates on the next workshop.

Please Note: We would ask that all attendees 13 and under are accompanied by an adult at the event. Students have to bring their own laptops to work with at the session. Please do not book a single adult ticket and attend alone. Adults will not be allowed into the event unless they are supervising a student attending the event.