Talking at Portsmouth University

I was asked to be a speaker at the GamesRoadshow events (http://gamesentroadshow.ning.com/ and www.gemroadshow.co.uk) and first up was Portsmouth University where I spoke on Wednesday to an audience of students and lecturers from the BSc (Hons) Computer Games Techologies, BSc (Hons) Computer Games Enterprise as well as several postgraduate students.

I was asked to give a 30 minute talk about indie games development, and our particular take on making games about climate change and sustainability. As always I've given up trying to have a stage persona, and instead just talk as me, something which can be quite draining, but is usually far more fun and interesting for both me and the audience.

I had no idea how my talk would go down, but they blew me away with their enthusiasm and interest. They reacted well to our approach and upcoming Climate Challenge 2010 game which was nice and even in the session had some very specific questions, some which caught me totally by surprise but pleased me as they had most definitely been paying attention! I spent almost two hours after the talk answering more well thought out questions from a number of students, many of whom were keen to find out what they could do above and beyond their course in order to get into the games industry. From what I heard their lecturers were giving them a good sense of what the games industry is really like once you get beyond the initial excitement and that it demands hard work and is a very competitive field. They also had a keen awareness of the global nature of the industry.

A number of students approached me about possible placements, and from what I saw that is certainly something that would be of interest to us. There is a great pool of talent here and we hope to work with them soon. Their courses touch on a number of areas, and whilst I would like to see more about games design and quality assurance as well as programming, business and graphics, there is a good core of subjects here. That said I would be delighted to talk at Portsmouth University again and hope that perhaps we can build some kind of ongoing industry/academic relationship with them

I have to say if they are the future of UK gaming then I am hopeful about Britain's place in the games industry in the future. Assuming most of them don't get lured to Canada as so many have in the last few years...