Imirt Board Election 2019
Voting for Imirt's new board will take place until midnight on Thursday 17th October 2018. Details of how to vote will be sent to members by e-mail in the coming days. To vote you must be a registered Imirt member. You can sign up for Imirt membership for only €20. Please sign up by midnight on Tuesday 15th October so that your membership can be processed in time to vote before the deadline.
4 out of the 7 board seats are being contested in this election. Board members Brenda Romero, Colm Larkin, Olivier Masclef and Elaine Reynolds will be standing down. Many thanks to Brenda, Colm, Olivier and Elaine for their great contribution to Imirt and the Irish game developer community over the last several years, we wish them every success in future.
If you have any questions please email contact@imirt.ie and thank you for supporting Irish game developers!
The Candidates
Josh Loveridge
Josh Loveridge is the founder and managing director of Loveridge Designs & Loveridge Designs & Development, both are multi-national companies in their respective fields.
He is currently the youngest ever all-star accredited business owner from the All-Ireland Business Foundation at only 20 years of age.
Josh is enthusiastic & driven to transform the gaming industry within Ireland by sharing the vast resources and knowledge he has gained from working within the industry & developing unique business models over recent years, he also feels it is paramount to push for increased funding within the Irish gaming industry over the coming year.
Loveridge Designs & Development is a full-time development studio located in Kilcoole County Wicklow, They focus on developing single-player experiences for Console platforms such as The One We Found, with their most recent title"Castle Costume" releasing later this year on PS4 & Nintendo Switch.
What I hope to achieve
Over recent years there has been major successes within the Irish gaming community, but those successes are too few and far between, I believe that with the right resources and mentorship programs in place Ireland can become a major player within the gaming industry, I hope to establish a program within IMIRT that enables the younger development community to have a fighting chance and to thrive as it has become harder and harder to "break" into the industry over recent years due to increased financial pressure when setting up a studio.
I would also strive to set up more networking events and talks within the country as they are extremely beneficial to both the speakers & event attendees, The knowledge gained at such events cannot be understated enough and often times forge business relationships that last a lifetime, Having more events within the country would also make the gaming scene more attractive to higher-profile members of the gaming community, The more exposure the gaming industry within Ireland gets the quicker it will expand and grow!
These are some of the reasons I believe i am a perfect fit for the Imirt board this year!
Contact
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-loveridge-905361150
Jairo Lopes
Jairo Lopes is a Business Developer currently working at Hermit Crab Studio, the developers of the mobile game “PSG Football Freestyle”. Moved to Ireland in Jan 2017, he has been involved in the development scene for a while before becoming one of the organisers of the monthly meet up The Games Co-op and the Game Jam + . His experience supporting communities goes back to 2014 when he was starting to study games development back in Brazil and was heavily involved with the local community, organising the event BH GameBiz and participating in the foundation of his home state games association - GAMING. In 2016, Jairo founded Nocht Communications and started his career working as a PR for indie games such as Eliosi’s Hunt, Madcap Castle, Lazer Grrl among others.
What I hope to achieve
Actively participating in the game development scene in Ireland for almost 3 years, and having worked on many different local and International games, as well as attending most of the major game conferences around the world, places me in a comfortable position to, through my networking connect people and support the Irish Gamedev industry as it grows. I also believe that my willingness to accomplish goals is a big differential. Ireland continues to grow as an attractive location for technology companies, and I aim to bring bigger companies to our side and help our local community to learn from the ones that have already established themselves. I also aim to support the universities with their events and initiatives as they play a very important role in developing our future professionals.
Contact
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaairolopes
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jairolopes/
Ellen cunningham
Ellen is a game writer, artist and designer based in Dublin who has been working in the industry for two and a half years. She has created a variety of experimental narrative games as well as writing Cardpocalypse and So May It Be: A Witch Dating Simulator.
Ellen has been a passionate and active member of the Irish game dev community since 2015 when she began studying game design at TUDublin. She has attended and spoken at a variety of community events, participated in game jams, promoted the Irish game industry at home and abroad, created the first official Irish game workers union and supported the creation of safe and inclusive spaces for all game devs in Ireland.
What I hope to achieve
I want to encourage a greater diversity of people to enter the industry through raising awareness of the industry in Ireland. I aim to accomplish this by offering the mentorship of experienced game developers to young passionate people of all backgrounds in secondary schools, working with colleges and universities that offer design and computer science degrees to organise work placements and internships at established studios, and through supporting and encouraging the creation of accessible and safe spaces for all game devs to meet and work.
Being a board member of Imirt would facilitate the continuation of my work with Irish film organisations and media outlets with the end goal of promoting the Irish game industry and lobbying the Irish government with the goal to increase funding in our industry.
As a board member I would aim to be a voice for Irish game workers (and GWU Ireland union members) in discussions and conversations with board members in order to create sustainable work environments for all Irish game devs.
Contact
Feel free to shoot me an email and ask me questions
Twitter - @ephemerellen
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ellen.cunningham.180
Email - ellenc1000@gmail.com
Website - https://ellenc1000.itch.io
brendan dillon
I got into the games industry straight out of college in 2005, having studied IT in NUI Galway. I started out as a coder before transitioning to being a producer. Since 2007 I've been working at Demonware - Activision's online technology studio. During my time at Demonware I've worked on projects with all Activision studios and on franchises such as Call of Duty and Skylanders. I've also had the opportunity to work with external partners such as Bungie (Destiny) and Blizzard (Diablo 3).
My current role at Demonware is Director of Studio Operations. In this role I oversee the running of our offices in Dublin, Vancouver, and Shanghai. I also engage with the Activision production teams on every online enabled title from concept design, to green-light, through to final release.
What I hope to achieve
I am a firm believer in the strength of Irish talent and how it can shape the future of the games industry. This is not just the talented people who are working in games in Ireland today but also the vast array of people who have left, and in reality will continue to leave Ireland, to establish careers in the games industry. During my career I have had the opportunity to visit many game development studios and strong Irish talent has been present in each one. However, due to being fragmented across many different countries and companies, this depth of Irish talent is largely going unrecognised.
My aim as a member of the Imirt board would be to create a deeper appreciation of Irish games talent - both at home and internationally. There are two main outcomes that I am hoping to achieve:
1. illustrate to government policy makers that the key ingredient for a larger games industry presence in Ireland already exists
2. show international companies that Ireland is an ideal location to establish a game development studio
Contact
Email: brendan@demonware.net
Twitter: @bren_dillon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdillon/
Denman Rooke
Denman Rooke is the Art Director at Romero Games in Galway, specializing in Concept Art & Illustration. Currently working on Empire of Sin, his work can also be found in Magic: the Gathering and Pathfinder RPG. Starting his art career in 2007, he’s since worked for various industries including games, film, merchandising, publishing, editorial, and advertising. In 2013 he moved from full-time freelance work (and Pennsylvania), to join the video game industry in Ireland as the Lead Concept Artist at Digit Game Studios in Dublin. Since 2013 Denman has been an active member of the Irish Game Dev scene by participating in various game jams, 1 Game A Month (1GAM), holding workshops centered around concept art & illustration, and doing some t-shirt designs and branding for organizations like Gamecraft and our very own Imirt.
What I hope to achieve
Education: As a board member I’d like to team up with many of our experienced game makers to publish a free online resource consisting of recommended pipelines, tools, and quality expectations for our future game makers. Mainly aimed at students and curriculum creators but open to all.
Industry Workshops: Teaming up with industry professionals in Ireland and abroad to bring top-tier workshops for aspiring and experienced game makers alike for either an affordable cost or free.
Mentorship Program: Setting up a regular online small group sessions with industry game makers and Imirt members to talk through their fields and share the knowledge they’ve learned.
Encouraging a broader network of Irish Game Makers: As Imirt, we’ve mainly been centered around Dublin and Galway. It would be great to start connecting with cities like Cork, Limerick, Derry, Belfast, and others. This could be with events and workshops, or even just helping facilitate more game maker meetups.
Advocate for all game makers. I will make sure everyone from the student, employee, independent creator, small indie company, to a large company all have their voices heard on the board of Imirt. I will do my best to make sure Imirt is a place that represents everyone and fosters a diverse community.
Contact
Web: DenmanRooke.com
Twitter: @DenmanRooke
Instagram: @DenmanRooke
Facebook: /DenmanRookeArt
Chris Colston
With a background in both Games Development and Education, Chris has been an active member of the Galway Game Development community for the last ten years, helping to build the first dedicated games course offered in the West with Pulse College, setting up the now long-running monthly Dev meetups and being a founder of the award-winning Spooky Doorway studio and their Darkside Detective title.
During this time Chris has also managed and ran the yearly Global Game Jam in Galway from 2013 to 2018 which was frequently the largest site outside of Dublin, as well as hosting industry and career talks with guest speakers via the College in Galway and is currently working with a Dublin based studio as Lead Unity Dev and writing for Traditional Tabletop Games…
What I hope to achieve
Coming from a background with involvement in both games and education Chris is keen to see Imirt establish more links with games education within Ireland and it’s promotion, for the organisation to champion the importance of good working practices and mental health within the games community and support the growth of developer meetups, events, talks and such outside of the Galway-Limerick-Dublin belt and for Imirt to play a crucial role in supporting the continued growth of the industry across all of Ireland.
Contact
The Tweets–
@Null_l0gik
Email -
christopher.m.colston@gmail.com
Web –
https://chris-d-rom.itch.io/
http://themonodrome.com
Colin Guilfoyle
Colin has been involved in games sector for over 5 years now and founded Nebula Interactive in 2014 and co-founded DigiPool in 2018. He’s spoken at both Irish and International Games Development events and Nebula has released on mobile and pc platforms at this point plus on Pool Tables. Working out of Drogheda Nebula take part in both the Dublin and Belfast games dev scene and anywhere else they’ll let him in. He ran the Global Games Jam 2019 in Drogheda and hopes to do the same again in 2020.
What I hope to achieve
As boring as it might sound I want to build a sustainable games development business model in Ireland. Too many games companies that we met in the early days have gone and more come and go each year. We need to put some thinking, training and funding behind games development businesses in Ireland to allow more to thrive. The games industry particularly for Indie studios is incredibly difficult to survive in and if we’re going to grow companies to the point that they can sustain themselves we need help from organisations at the Imirt level to open doors. Outside of that I’d like to see more interaction with the games development courses run in Irish 3rd Level and a grass roots interaction with students so they are aware of Imirt and it’s work from Year 1.
Contact
@colinbrew