IMIRT AGM 2024 and IndieDev Closing Event

The next Imirt AGM will be taking place on the 16th of January 2025. This is your chance to hear our plans for the coming year, meet our new board and CEO, and to give us your feedback and suggestions.

As part of the day we are also including the closing event for the inaugural IndieDev teams. Everything is being hosted by our friends at Black Shamrock in their offices at the Guinness Enterprise Centre. We have a lot to update our membership on, as we look forward to 2025 and supporting the games industry in bigger and better ways. Doors will open at 1:30pm with coffee and snacks served, and the AGM will run from 2pm to 3:30pm.

After the AGM, we’ll have the IndieDev Speed Pitch. Seven teams will present their game to our members and a panel of industry experts. Not only will this pitching session be a really great experience for the teams involved, but we believe our members will learn a lot from watching these pitches and from the feedback our panel delivers.

Finally we’ll have playable demos from the IndieDev teams and a chance to mingle and network in a space in a nearby pub.

We hope to see you all there!

IMIRT Board Election 2024 Results

Voting for the IMIRT Board Elections has concluded, the results have been tallied, and we’d like to say congratulations to the winners!

Elaine Dowman, Robert Emerson and Sylvain Doreau (shown Left to Right below) will be joining the Imirt Board.

If you want a reminder of who they are and why they want to be involved with Imirt, check out the news post below. These candidates will be taking the place of outgoing board members Craig Stephens and Patrick O’Donnell, who we thank for their work supporting Imirt throughout their terms on the board.

Thank you to everyone who voted and ran in the elections. Remember too that Imirt is a volunteer-run, organisation so if you want to get more involved in Imirt or you have an idea for an event or an initiative, drop an email to contact@imirt.ie and let us know!

IMIRT Board Elections 2024

Voting for Imirt's new board members is now open and will take place until midnight on Monday the 9th of December. Details of how to vote and links needed to vote will be sent to members by email.

This year, we will once again be using OpaVote. This system ensures a secure and unbiased voting process. (make sure the email address for noreply@opavote.com is in your contacts so it’s not sent to your spam folder)

There are 3 seats open this year, with Craig Stephens and Patrick O’Donnell stepping down from the Board.

We’d like to thank Craig and Patrick for their time on the board. Their service and expertise has been invaluable to IMIRT over the last two years. A special thanks to Craig Stephens, who served on the board for 4 years, and we cannot thank him enough for all the work he has done.

An email has been sent out to all active subscribers with an OpaVote link. Voting will be open until Tuesday the 10th of December.

Best of luck to all our candidates!

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The Candidates

Craig Walsh

Craig Walsh is an independent computer game developer and writer based in Galway. A graduate of Pulse College Galway, and a volunteer with Galway Game Jam, as well as a contributor to the IMIRT monthly newsletter, Craig is determined to help the passionate, local, grassroots developers and teams to help bring the Irish Game Development Industry to the next level.

My goals are simple but not easy; a lot of talk has been going on over the last year and a half about building locally, getting government attention, funding from national bodies, about attracting the bigger players to the scene here to have a more robust industry. While I agree and understand that approach, and it has paid off in so many great ways thanks to Screen Ireland, Ardán, Northern Ireland Screen, and of course IMIRT, I, personally, would like to work for the local developers.

Because while some parties/organisations were waiting for the "right time" to get involved with games development here, the local developers were volunteering their free time, their weekends, their days off, to grow communities here.

Galway Game Jam, The Games Co-Op, Northern Ireland Game Dev, Cork Game Dev Group, Cats Making Games (Kilkenny), Game Craft, and the founders, members, and board members of IMIRT are the people I want to work for, to strive for. The people who put so much hard work in not knowing if it would ever work out because they do it for the passion, the community, and for themselves most of all. Because for these people, making games is a way of life. I hope to make that way of life easier to make a career.

First goal, and most important/critical, to get an Irish made game Steam Festival going on around St.Patrick's Day. The whole world turns green, the publicity would be phenomenal for our local businesses, from indies dev all the way to corporate producers. GDC is also during this time period in 2025, so it has incredible potential to tranform the scene here.

Secondly, work with more local conventions/events to get Irish made games in front of the Irish public. Gamerfest has done a phenomenal job supporting game makers from all areas, professionals to hobbyists to people still in education. IMIRT could sponsor these events and get discounted tickets/prices for tables, helping the membership have more value. IMIRT has already done this with events like Gamerfest, so widening the pool of events should work out smoothly (hopefully).

Thirdly (and this would most likely be further in the future), "IMIRT-Fest." Or "IMIRT-Con." The name can use some work, but what this would be is essentially an event over a day/weekend where IMIRT members specifically show off their games to the public. Founded, organised, and funded by IMIRT, to once again offer their members a place they can interact with the Irish public.

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Robert Emerson

Rob is a Talent Acquisition & CSR Specialist at Black Shamrock - A Virtuos Studio, with a background in floristry and horticulture. While pursuing a degree in Human Resources Management, he interned at Black Shamrock, where he discovered a gap between university training and industry needs. This led to the creation of Black Shamrock's educational outreach programme, which Rob has led for three years.

Through this programme, Rob has worked with thousands of students across various levels, developed the Black Shamrock Scholarship Programme, and partnered with universities to make courses more industry-relevant. He's a strong advocate for diversity, organizing events like the annual International Women's Day talks in partnership with other studios across the country.

Rob was instrumental in securing the first D&I award for any game studios in Ireland at Black Shamrock, earning accreditation with the Irish Centre for Diversity. He also recently began teaching at Pulse College, guiding future game developers on industry structures, hiring processes, and job application strategies.

In his Talent Acquisition role, Rob has met many of you and often brings good news. He specializes in international relocation and work permits, helping Ireland attract top talent to grow the industry.

I don't tend to mince words when it comes to this sort of thing. Imirt and the wider industry in Ireland face a lot of issues at this moment in time. If elected to the board, I will;

• Partner with other members of the Imirt board to overhaul Imirt-run educational workshops.

• Continue from a new platform my work of partnering with universities to get courses changed to align closer to what the industry actually needs, increasing graduate employability.

• Publish a report on the skills gaps present in Ireland that are affecting the ability of Irish game studios to grow.

• Lobby the Department of Enterprise to add games-related jobs to the Critical Skills List, enabling easier access to the skills this industry needs to expand both in Ireland and internationally.

• Assess the possibility and funding of an Imirt-led scholarship programme for undergraduate students.

• Lobby Screen Ireland for greater involvement in the games industry as the government agency with responsibility for such.

• Assist with securing funding for developers based in Ireland to attend both Gamescom and Develop.

• Lobby Imirt to implement corporate memberships for any interested Irish games studio.

• Reimplement the taking and sharing of minutes at Imirt board meetings, increasing transparency for members.

Ireland today finds itself in the same position Sweden found itself in a number of years ago, an industry forever poised to take off. Help me to light the match and help this industry take off. 

Do hard things. Put in the work.

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Noreen Lynch

Noreen Lynch is a senior tax manager at PwC and an active member of the Imirt Digital Games Tax Credit (DGTC) Working Group.  Noreen is an advocate of the need to enhance Ireland's DGTC to encourage innovation, increase investment in the Irish digital gaming sector, contribute to Irish economic growth and create high quality employment opportunities.   She is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and an associate of the Irish Taxation Institute with over 15 years' professional experience working in both London and Ireland supporting her clients, both large and small, to navigate the complex everchanging tax landscape.   Noreen has good links with the Department of Finance and has worked on various submissions to the Department over the years, including the Imirt pre-budget 2025 submission.  

What Noreen hopes to achieve

• Support Imirt in improving the games development eco-system in Ireland

• Continue working with Imirt and the Department of Finance to bring about much needed enhancements to the DGTC in Budget 2026 

• Engage with the industry, policymakers, Enterprise Ireland, Screen Ireland and the IDA to put Ireland firmly on the map as a global games hub

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Sylvain Doreau

I’m an industry veteran with 30 years of experience in games and animation. I’m currently Sr Director of Creative dev at 2K games in Dublin. After studying Art & Film and spending the early part of my career in France, I moved to Northern California in 1996 with an opportunity to work for Dreamworks Animation, on Antz and Academy award winner Shrek. Then I moved from animation to work on AAA games at the EA Redwood Shores HQ. The next chapter was with ILM/Lucasfilm, to work on animated TV series and films, as games with LucasArts, I had the unique opportunity to directly collaborate with George Lucas on feature films as on Emmy award-winning animated series. With ILM R&D, I contributed to developing innovative real-time-based previs processes.

I then moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to work for Activision Publishing in Santa Monica. There, I was the head of cinematics productions, supporting the worldwide studios, contributing to 20 AAA games, directing cinematics and managing outsourcing studios for the mega-franchises such as Call of Duty, Skylanders, Destiny, until 2017. I kept directing cinematics and trailers with my own production company Spacecargo for Ubisoft, Warner, HBO Interactive, Axis before moving to Dublin in 2018 to work for Hasbro animation at Boulder Media. I recently was Executive Creative Director at Virtuos, and Technicolor Games where I led their India studio, as managing distributed teams Art teams in Asia, Europe and North America.

WHAT I HOPE TO ACHIEVE (AND WILL FIGHT FOR)

I’d like to focus on what I’m familiar with: Craft excellence. I’d like to target few well defined areas of improvement and help the Irish games industry to upskill and gain maturity.

Identify and reduce the games skills gap between Ireland and other EU nations - As a hiring manager in Ireland, this is one of my main concerns I’ve been struggling with: France has amazing animation & games schools. Artists, Designers, Animators are production-ready and fully employable before they graduate. Germany, Holland are strong too, Spain’s also catching up fast.

None of our schools offers a five-year program with a preparation/leveling year, students are not production ready, and we have very low international attractivity for foreign students. We are not UA5 proficient in our schools, game programs are very “generalist” and don’t offer full game art courses.

Animation and VFX had gained more maturity in Ireland over the last 10 year (VFX over the last 5), games are still unfortunately trailing behind. We need to identify what is missing, work with schools on specialized games Art curriculum and lobby with the government (Screen Ireland/Skillnet) to have the same training support for games than Animation and recently VFX had: There is currently a National Talent Academy for Animation and VFX, but not for games … let’s work on this!

Gain more international exposure - Work with government agencies (IDA/Enterprise Ireland), to promote our industry, tax credit, and quality of life to foreign publishers and developers: Create and promote success stories.

Developing the ecosystem upwards - As I mentioned in my bio, I have years of experience with large publishers and dev studios, as on the Games service side. So, how could we become more attractive to mid to large foreign publishers and developers, as with service studios, and have several major industry actors building outposts, publishing offices, and development studios in Ireland? People can Fly moving here is a great story, Black Shamrock story’s also successful, Romero is a landmark, but what is the multiplier, and formula to expand our growth? That’s what I’d like to investigate and improve.

Cross pollination with the Animation/VFX industries - The ecosystem also needs to expand locally and horizontally, by creating a pool of cross over artists who could work with dev studios, animation studios, and VFX. There’s a convergence around Unreal workflows that is favorable, but training needs to catch up alongside education. Again, it’s all tied with education and training, we need to work with Animation Ireland/Skillnet/government agencies on game animation and VFX education, as high end Game Design courses.

Promoting Irish games in industry events: Aim big, but also starts locally - We, of course, have to be present at major events like GDC, Gamescom, XDS, but also need to have a strong insular presence, as in the UK. There was a strong IMIRT presence at NEXUS this year, next year it’ll become bigger and more European, it needs to become our GDC! Render festival in Belfast is to be also interesting, as Develop Brighton. On the Animation side, I’ll be Jurying again the game sting awards at the Dingle animation festival, and this year we created a new game trailers competition that will draw foreign entries and attention to our industry.

It takes a village!

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Elaine Dowman

Elaine has built a dynamic career across the entertainment, sports, and games & creative industries. She currently leads a dedicated team at Barclays, focusing on how the bank can best support the UK’s games and creative sectors, driving growth beyond traditional banking services.

Elaine spearheads a range of initiatives, including Demo Days, Expos, Accelerator programs, and Awards, all designed to foster the growth of the UK games industry. She is passionate about the creativity and innovation inherent in games businesses and dedicates much of her time to supporting indie developers by providing mentoring, facilitating introductions, and creating opportunities for them to showcase their games.

Her commitment to fostering a more inclusive gaming ecosystem is evident through her active work in promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives within the industry. Elaine also fundraises for SpecialEffect, a charity dedicated to making gaming accessible to people with physical disabilities.

Elaine is a strong advocate for the Irish games industry and recently hosted Nexus, Ireland’s biggest B2B games industry event. She has also served as a non-executive board member of a game studio, bringing strategic insight and industry expertise to her role.

What I hope to achieve

• Use my years of experience supporting indie businesses in the UK to help IMIRT create the right support and initiatives for Irish indie studios to succeed.

• Work with key partners like the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to secure more opportunities for Irish studios to gain representation at international events.

• Apply insights from working with the UK games trade body, UKIE, to develop actions that spotlight and support Irish studios.

• Help position Ireland as a global hub for high-quality education and training in game development.

• Support IMIRT in advancing DE&I initiatives to ensure equal opportunities for all Irish studios.

• Leverage my international network of publishers, investors, and industry partners to give Irish indie studios greater exposure.

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John Burke

John is a senior tax manager at Forvis Mazars specializing in innovation incentives, including the R&D Tax Credit and the Digital Gaming Tax Credit (DGTC). Over the past few years, John has worked closely with government agencies, including the Department of Finance, advocating for revisions to the DGTC legislation to ensure its viability and accessibility for Irish game developers. His extensive knowledge of tax incentives and dedication to resolving legislative roadblocks demonstrate his commitment to unlocking the potential of the DGTC as a transformative tool for the Irish gaming industry.

John’s experience positions him as a unique advocate for the gaming community, bridging the gap between developers and policymakers. By leveraging his expertise in tax incentives, John aims to help Irish game creators navigate financial opportunities, empowering studios of all sizes to grow and thrive.

What I Hope to Achieve

If elected to the Imirt Board, I will:

• Act as a liaison between the Irish games industry and government stakeholders to advocate for policy improvements and streamlined processes for the Digital Gaming Tax Credit (DGTC).

• Work to ensure that the DGTC becomes a widely accessible and effective incentive, enabling Irish game developers to compete on a global stage.

• Support Imirt's mission to strengthen the Irish gaming industry by promoting collaboration between creators, policymakers, and investors.

• Advocate for broader funding opportunities and innovation incentives to bolster the growth of both indigenous studios and international game development in Ireland.

• I believe in the incredible talent and potential within the Irish gaming community, and I am committed to helping create an environment where developers can flourish. With a strong focus on actionable solutions, I look forward to contributing to Imirt's vision for a thriving, inclusive, and innovative industry.

Nexus Games Conference

The Nexus Games Conference was held on the 25th - 26th of September 2024 and Imirt were delighted to have a presence at the event. The event was a huge success and around 300 attendees got together to learn about and discuss current issues and opportunities surrounding our industry.

Some of the indie devs attending the event gathered for a group photo.

The first segment of the event actually happened the night before, a drinks reception hosted by Havok, where attendees had a chance to mingle before the event. 

On the 26th, the main body of the conference started with a welcome speech by Elaine Dowman (Head of Games and Creative Industries at Barclays and MC for the occasion). After that the morning was filled with games business insights from representatives from companies such as StoryToys, Meta (The corporation formerly known as Facebook), Black Shamrock, Scopely, Xbox, Unity (Impromptu) and other international experts like Tommy Thompson and business people from all over. As I mentioned before there was also an excellent panel moderated by Imirt CEO Colm Larkin. 

State of Play panel. From left to right: Rick Kelley(Moderator), Emmet O’Neil (StoryToys), Thomas Shibley (NetEase) and Elaine Reynolds (Black Shamrock).

After lunch, the conference switched to a more participative format; two sessions of several simultaneous roundtables, in which attendees had a chance to discuss important issues with other attendees and the tables’s moderators, and since many of them were speakers in previous panels and talks, this also served as a form of Q&A for their previous talks. 

One of the Roundtables featured in the second half of the conference.

At the end of the day, the flock of games industry people migrated to a nearby pub for another networking session to close the event.

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IMIRT at Nexus

Imirt was a part of the Nexus Games Conference, and it was a huge success. First off, Imirt’s CEO, Colm Larkin hosted a panel on the opportunities and challenges of the Irish games industry, how it has developed and how to continue fostering its growth. The rest of the panel was composed by Justin O’Connor, StoryToys’s Head of Finance and Imirt Board Member; Chris Vossen, Larian’s Head of Narrative and finally, Donal Travers, IDA’s Head of Technology, Consumer and Business Services, representing the government.

Colm Larkin’s panel. From left to right: Colm Larkin (Imirt and Gambrinous), Chris Vossen (Larian), Justin O’Connor (Storytoys and Imirt) and Donal Travers (IDA).

Imirt also hosted two roundtable sessions. The first one by Imirt Board Member Dr. Maria O’Brien, where she answered questions about applying to the Game Development Tax Credit, and explained the more complex aspects of it. Imirt CEO Colm Larkin moderated the second one, which was also attended by some Imirt Board Members, this time dedicated to discussing Imirt’s policy course directly with members of the games industry.

This is an important conference to have in Ireland, and we hope next year’s is even bigger. Kudos to the Gamerfest Team, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland for getting this event off the ground!  

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The IMIRT Newsletter

What you just read was an excerpt from the Imirt Newsletter from September 2024. The Imirt newsletter gets sent out at the end of every month and features stories like these, along with other news, to give you insight into what’s happening in the games industry in Ireland. Remember, if you have any news you'd like us to share via this Newsletter, send them to contact@imirt.ie with the subject line "Newsletter Contribution".

Pre-Budget 2025 Submission on Proposed Improvements to Section 481A Digital Games Tax Credit (DGTC).

Imirt has submitted its pre-Budget 2025 submission on Section 481A. With thanks to all those involved in the discussions and particularly to our three case studies.

Executive Summary

Imirt, the Irish games representative body, proposes key improvements to Section 481A (TCA1997), Digital Games Tax Credit (DGTC) to support and expand the digital games industry in Ireland. This submission outlines the current challenges and provides recommendations for enhancing the tax incentive to increase its impact on the sector and the overall economy.

Key Recommendations

1. Permit claims for partial game development projects 

2. Revise cut-off point for qualifying expenditure

3. Inclusion of third party work undertaken in Ireland

Call to Action: We urge the government to consider and implement these recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of Section 481A and support the growth of the Irish games industry.

Linked below is the resources page which includes the PDF with the proposal.

Pre-Budget 2025 Submission on Proposed Improvements to Section 481A Digital Games Tax Credit (DGTC).

Imirt Board Elections 2024 - Call for Nominees

The 2024 Board Elections for Imirt are coming up and there will be three seats of current board members, whose terms are ending, available for nominees to fill (The seats of current board members Craig Stephens and Patrick O’Donnell).

Being on the board of Imirt means you get to add your voice, steer the agenda, and work alongside other members of our industry to implement the goals of the organisation. As a volunteer-run organisation we look forward to welcoming new faces to the board every year and would like to encourage anyone in the Irish games community to consider running. The role will take up roughly between 2 and 4 hours each week, and there is no requirement in terms of years of experience or job role - the most important qualification is that you are passionate about the work of Irish game creators and the potential of Irish games industry. We welcome any and all kinds of nominees and we also welcome everyone who has previously run for the elections to put themselves forward again.

To become a nominee you simply need to e-mail contact@imirt.ie, expressing your interest in contributing to Imirt by Wednesday November 27th. We will then ask for your bio, goals, and an optional photo to put on the Imirt website before the election. If you have questions about what is involved in being a board member, feel free to reach out to any of the current board members. We look forward to hearing from applicants in the coming weeks and welcoming some fresh faces to the Imirt Board.

A Dublin Comic Con full of Irish Game Developers!

Dublin Comic Con Summer Edition 2024 had a lot to offer audiences, and one corner of the Convention Centre Dublin was packed with Irish talent.

Up on the 2nd Floor was the Game Dev area, where plucky independent teams rubbed elbows with industry juggernauts such as Black Shamrock and Larian Studios.

There were so many great developers there, and here are some of them: 

Battleclaws by Lauren Morgan, Jess Kelly, Rachel Appleyard, Thomas West and Eva Kondela

Battleclaws, the local multiplayer claw machine competitive game, has become a staple at conventions around the country in recent months. The dedicated team of 5 are always working their hardest to refine and expand the game, with a recent “Clawsmetics” update focused on giving players costumes for their claws, such as a toilet (Yes, I’m serious).

The game is in Early Access on Steam right now, and you can buy the game here.

Axyz by Space Lion Studios

Axyz is another game very familiar to anyone who is a regular at Irish conventions. The game showed off a new level of their perspective warping, vapourwave world. Kids and adults alike were drawn in by its striking aesthetic and its quite unique gameplay mechanics.

The game can be wishlisted on Steam here. 

Coffee Bot by Four Sided Studios

Sergio, the Team Lead at Four Sided Studios, responsible for Coffee Bot (Forklift Certified), sat down with me to discuss the work his team has been doing on his debut title :

“I couldn’t be prouder of the work they’ve all been doing. Everyone playing the game over the weekend had nothing but good things to say about it. Keep following to see what this team has in store.”

The current demo version of the game is available on the team’s Itch.io page.

Leaf Blower Sim by Lift Indie Games

Fans of cleaning games beware, a new challenger is on the horizon! Leaf Blower Sim looks to fit quite neatly into the niche of the gaming market carved out by the likes of PowerWash Simulator. A pleasant gaming experience, where the goal is to clean up leaves as quickly and efficiently as possible, or… to try to make shapes with them, which isn’t easy with a leaf blower as your only tool (I wasn’t the only one to try doing that okay).

You can wishlist the game on Steam here.

Sol Drift by Mad Moon Studios

In this game you can pilot a variety of spaceships in combat to defend your fleet from attack! Sol Drift features a variety of game mechanics familiar to dogfighting space game veterans, such as radars to detect incoming enemies, projectiles, and even asteroid storms?! With a competitive edge in the form of player ranking via a leader board, this game’s future is looking as bright like the Sol.

You can follow development of the game on their website. 

Forbidden and Side Souls by DeskRage Games

The team over at DeskRage has a passion for darker themed titles, and their love of From Software shines through in their first two offerings.

Side Souls is a side scroller mashed up with the original Dark Souls. The art style perfectly pixelates a beloved classic.

Forbidden is an original title in the Souls-like genre, with 3D third person perspective and a story forming behind the scenes as to why these “Soul Anchors” are scattered across a desolate world.

You can check out both games on their Itch.io page.

Vault by Justin-Lee Morrison

A table top card based hacking simulator, VAULT tasks players with obtaining three pieces of data by manipulating a random number generator. Players have to transmit their data to their handler via generating the correct number on the table top. Did I mention it comes with an awesome mat?

For more information about VAULT, you can check it out here.

Rhythm Strike by Radar Games

And while they weren’t demoing at the event, the team behind Rhythm Strike was present and checking out their fellow devs games.

Rhythm Strike is a VR rhythm game that tasked players with beating enemies to the beat! Use your weapons and armour by moving your hands to attack, defend, and most importantly, dance!

You can keep up with Rhythm Strike here.

Various Games by TOG Hackerspace

An Amiga Emulator running Doom on a Raspberry Pi within a custom made case, single and multiplayer memory games, and a 1-Dimensional Game made from a door stopper, a gyroscope, and an LED strip?!

You can see what the mad lads over at TOG Hackerspace are up to at their website. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 by Larian Studios

And even though this game should require no introduction, I’m going to do one anyway!

The critically acclaimed, multiple award winning Larian Studios had an entire section of the game dev floor to show off their magnum opus, Baldur’s Gate 3, which was partially developed in their Dublin studio. Cosplayers performing as their characters were playing the game, as their characters, in game. The incredible effect this game has had on pop culture ever since its release cannot be understated.

For more information, Larian Studios can be found here.

Black Shamrock – A Virtuos Studio

Black Shamrock had a bunch of PC’s ready for players to demo the many games they’ve worked on including Grounded and The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition. There was a non-stop stream of activity at their space on the Game Dev floor. A staple in the local games industry in Ireland.

For more information check out Black Shamrock here. 

And that was it for Dublin Comic Con 2024! The organisers did a wonderful job of supporting local talent and giving them a chance to show off their hard work to the general public. We hope they continue this part of the event for years to come.

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Contributed by Craig Walsh.

Seven New Prototypes Funded By The IndieDev Fund 2024

Congratulations to the seven teams selected to receive the first IndieDev 2024: Cross-Border Games Prototype Fund!

This fund, announced earlier this year, is spearheaded by Northern Ireland Screen and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, is managed by Ardán and Imirt and aims to help independent studios realise their incipient projects into prototypes they can use as the first step towards other avenues of funding such as publishers or crowdfunding.

The scheme, the first of its kind, will provide every team with 15,000 £/€, and after the two-week per-production period they’ll receive support in the form of workshops and mentorship for the remaining 10-12 weeks, after which the teams should end up with a prototype each.

The seven teams come from all over the island, 4 of them from the Republic of Ireland, and 3 from Northern Ireland. From the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland release, a short description of each game and team:

“Banbha Productions: ‘Wings of Balance’

Wings of Balance is an episodic fantasy action-adventure delving into a world inspired by the tales and legends of Irish mythology. With a focus on narrative the player will dive into a dynamic and immersive story, continuing through a series of chapters, uncovering the origins of a dark power and learning the language and powers of the locals you aid along the way. The core Banbha Productions team members working on Wings of Balance include Kieran Murphy, Katie McGuire, Dylan Hanly, Dave McLoughlin, and David Cañizares Navarro, with the team based out of Galway.

Comedy Séance: ‘Paranormal Platoon’

A pulp tactical action horror set in an alternate WW1, that mixes S.W.A.T. 4, The Mummy (1999) and Kelly’s Heroes. The core Comedy Séance team members working on Paranormal Platoon are Veronica McKittrick, Ethan Topping, Kharis Beggs, and Kevin Regan, with the team based out of Down and Antrim.

Digital Dullahan: ‘Night Strike’

Night Strike is a third person character action game where you play as a broke vampire trying to make ends meet. Fight off hordes of the night and make it look flashy for the camera in this comic book style action game drenched in a 2000s aesthetic. The core Digital Dullahan team working on Night Strike is Najib Magee, Scott Getty, and Morgan Lai, with the team based out of Down.

Dott Studios: ‘The Silver Cord’

The Silver Cord is a cosy puzzle ‘platformer’ adventure where your soul has wound up tied to your favourite doll. Joined by a silver cord, astral project your way through puzzles as you search for a way to undo the spell. The core Dott Studios team members working on The Silver Cord include Donal McClean, Oisin Corr, Tiernan Gribbin, and Tom Daly, with the team based out of Derry, Antrim, and Kildare.

fogcore: ‘Wayside’

In Wayside, following in the footsteps of her missing childhood friend, Étaín returns to the insular hometown she once abandoned - only to find all is not as she remembers. The core fogcore team members working on Wayside are Sara Buckley and Derek Byrne, with the team based out of Dublin.

Margarita Games: ‘Ravel the Frays’

Ravel the Frays is a sci-fi mystery visual novel with puzzle mechanics. Presented with all the lines of a conversation out of order, you must put them in the correct order to solve the puzzle. Solving the puzzle unlocks the ability to watch the visual novel scene play out in full with art and music. The core Margarita Games team members working on Ravel the Frays are Gary Chadwick and Marija Petrova, with the team based out of Limerick and Kilkenny.

Saorspell: ‘Project Raindrop’

Project Raindrop is an impactful narrative-driven adventure RPG punctuated by snappy turn-based combat, potion-brewing mechanics & endearing pixel art. It features a story which highlights themes of societal division, queerness & friendship through sorcery & alchemy. The player, a trainee alchemist, befriends an ensemble of characters & seeks to protect a young raindrop. The core Saorspell team members working on Project Raindrop are Adam Englishby, Megan Fox, and Jade Wren Folan, with the team based out of Galway. “

We are looking forward to seeing these 7 prototypes come to life, and their teams continue their trajectory through the games industry in Ireland and abroad.

If you were one of the many applicants and couldn’t secure funding, be assured that as our industry grows, and the organizations promoting them continue to develop, we can expect many more initiatives like this in the future.

Colm Larkin Appointed as CEO of Imirt

IMIRT, the Irish Game Makers Association, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Colm Larkin as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). With an illustrious career in the gaming industry and a deep commitment to fostering the growth of Ireland's game development community, Colm brings a wealth of experience and passion to his new role.

As CEO, Colm will work to strengthen IMIRT's role as a catalyst for collaboration, innovation, and advocacy within the Irish game development ecosystem. He will focus on expanding IMIRT's membership base, enhancing professional development opportunities, and championing the interests of Irish game developers on both national and international stages.

Colm is no stranger to the Irish game development scene, having spent the last 10 years running his own game studio, Gambrinous. With a track record of creating award-winning titles such as "Guild of Dungeoneering," Colm has demonstrated his ability to navigate the complexities of game development and entrepreneurship at all levels.

Maria O’Brien from the IMIRT board says ‘The IMIRT board is very happy to have someone of Colm’s calibre come on board to lead IMIRT going forward. IMIRT as an organisation has achieved so much as a voluntary led institution. We are very excited to see how much more we can do with Colm at the head’.

Colm Larkin adds ‘I am incredibly excited to lead IMIRT as its first CEO. Over the last decade, alongside running my own studio, I’ve dedicated myself to championing the Irish games community both within Ireland and abroad. I look forward to taking that to the next level as part of IMIRT.’

As Ireland’s games representative body, IMIRT has achieved a lot in support of the Irish industry in the last decade, including a new Digital Games Tax Credit (section 481A). With the appointment of our new CEO, IMIRT will lead the way for the development of all sectors of the digital games industry in Ireland. Imirt is supported by Fís Éireann/ Screen Ireland. the national development agency for the creative screen industries.

Colm will begin his role as CEO in June.

IMIRT Board Election 2023 Results

The results for the IMIRT Board Election 2023 have been tallied, congratulations to our winners, Alanna Kelly, Maria O’Brien, Justin O’Connor and Carlo Azzari!

If you want a reminder of who they are and why they want to be involved with Imirt, check out the news post below. While Alanna and Maria will continue as board members, the other successful candidates will be taking the place of outgoing board members Paul Fahey and Darren Kearney, who we thank for their work supporting Imirt over the last two years.

Thank you to everyone who voted and ran in the elections. Remember too that Imirt is a volunteer-run, community group so if you want to get more involved in Imirt or you have an idea for an event or an initiative, drop an email to contact@imirt.ie and let us know!

IMIRT Board Election 2023

Voting for Imirt's new board members is now open and will take place until midnight on Wednesday the 27th of December. Details of how to vote and links needed to vote will be sent to members by email.

This year, we will once again be using Opa Vote. This system ensures a secure and unbiased voting process. (make sure the email address for noreply@opavote.com is in your contacts so it’s not sent to your spam folder)

There are 5 seats open this year, with Paul Fahey, Brendan Dillon, and Darren Kearney stepping down from the Board. Alanna Kelly and Maria O'Brien are running for re-election.

Thanks to Darren for being an absolutely amazing representative of the industry this year and an extra special thanks to Brendan Dillon who has devoted a truly heroic amount of time to serving on the Board.

An email has been sent out to all active subscribers with an OpaVote link. Voting will be open until Thursday the 28th of December.

Best of luck to all our candidates!

The Candidates

Emmet Byrne

Emmet is a game designer, writer, and producer with experience in animation, videogames, and tabletop games. He is the creative director at Cubicle 7 Games, and was lead designer on Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound and Broken Weave, and has been involved in the creation of dozens of tabletop roleplaying games and books. 

Emmet has been designing roleplaying games ever since he reverse engineered the AD&D rules from the original Baldur's Gate videogame 25 years ago, and he hasn’t looked back since. He lives with his partner, two kids, two dogs, and too many tabletop games.

What I Hope to achieve

• Ensure Imirt supports tabletop game designers through mentoring, workshops, and in any other ways it can.

• Create a greater awareness of the strength of the Irish tabletop industry, and the opportunities available.

• Seek support and advice for tabletop creators through local and national funding and guidance. 

Sean Carton

Sean is a founder and CEO at Kybolt — an independent Irish game studio where their vision is “a world where gamers recognise leadership as a learnable skill”. They make fun commercial games which are inclusive, values-driven, and develop future leaders.

Sean’s roots are in modding, specifically for lane-pushing / MOBA games. He was lucky enough to be playing Warcraft III back in 2003, and ended up making one of the original DotA maps. Since then, he has documented the design and history of lane-pushing games, as well as interviewing many other creators.

Sean is a Women in Games Ambassador championing a more inclusive industry, and associate member of the Esports Research Network. Outside games, he enjoys international culture and exchange. He is a committee member at Experience Japan, and has been a scout leader for 10+ years.

What I Hope to achieve

IMIRT has been an invaluable network for developing my own skills and knowledge. I want to pay that forward, and will:

• Help us transition to represent the wider games sector: including games tech, localisation and support, AAA studios, and academic/XR applications.

• Continue proactive engagement with government, IDA, Screen Ireland, Skillnet, and the EU on our behalf.

• Advocate for an early-prototype fund for games.

• Advocate for a games accelerator or similar model to support the skills and training to turn games into a business success.

• Champion games as an inclusive and viable career path, to ensure a sustainable and growing pool of talent.

• Support the Board as a servant leader and experienced volunteer.

Carlo Azzari

Carlo is a Game Designer who’s been part of the Irish Game Dev community for a long time. Starting his career at Simteractive and then continuing as a Level Designer in Black Shamrock. He’s been in Sweden for a little over two years as a Content Designer in Paradox, but is now back at Black Shamrock as a Senior Game Designer. Through all those years he’s been active as an IMIRT member from the start, and co-host of the Games Co-Op monthly meeting and community since 2019. 

What i hope to achieve

• While the new tax benefits for games companies have the potential to bring investment from abroad and foster the domestic scene, there’s still a lot to do. My main goal is to help Irish developers to get the funding they need to ship their games and improve their chances of commercial success. I hope to achieve this by establishing connections with publishers to put Irish games on their radar, push the government for more grants that can help spur indie development, and creating a network of support and mentorship so we can all help each other towards the goal of a thriving, sustainable and healthy industry.

Maria O’brien

Maria is a researcher and lecturer in Queen's University Belfast with extensive experience on tax credits for Irish creative industries. Initially trained as a lawyer, Maria brings her legal knowledge to bear on the creative industries in Ireland. Maria has had one term of 2 years on the Imirt board, and has been central to policy discussions with key stakeholders during this time.

What i hope to achieve

I want to continue my work on the Imirt board to engage with the industry and policymakers. Imirt as an organisation is at the cusp of transforming into an important trade organisation, with the support of the industry and government agencies. I believe that a strong Imirt board will help develop all aspects of the Irish games industry, including both the indigenous industry and incoming studios. If re-elected to the board, I will further engagement with industry and policy stakeholders to raise the profile of Imirt as a trade organisation. 

If elected to the board, I intend to work in the following areas

• Support an incoming Chief Executive Officer

• Continue to work with contacts in Irish government to develop new supports and expand existing supports for the games industry 

• Campaign to improve Section 481A tax credit regime for Irish industries

• Secure a prototype fund for the indigenous games industry

• Continue to develop Imirt's online and in-person workshop series

josh loveridge

As the Managing Director of Stratton Studios and Loveridge Digital, Josh’s expertise lies in scaling and growing  A-AAA  game companies. With over eight years in the industry, he has collaborated with top-tier studios, Fortune 500 companies, and SMEs, leading teams of hundreds in developing cutting-edge games and technologies.
Josh’s proficiency in various software suites, coupled with a strong foundation in both the engineering and business aspects of game development, has been instrumental in delivering large-scale, high-quality gaming projects. He has a proven track record in creating software solutions that meet the diverse demands of the gaming industry, from indie ventures to complex, high-budget AAA titles.
Josh is recognized for his ability to exceed expectations, combining his technical acumen with leadership prowess to steer teams towards delivering exceptional value. His commitment to continuous learning keeps him at the forefront of software and development techniques, ensuring that he is always equipped with the latest tools and knowledge to drive growth and success in the gaming industry.
Josh’s comprehensive background in game development, marketing, and creative industries has honed his skills in both business and software development. This, along with his experience in engineering and business growth management, positions Josh as a valuable contributor to any game development project, particularly in the high-stakes, fast-evolving world of AAA gaming.

What i hope to achieve

In recent years, the Irish gaming community has seen notable successes, yet these achievements are sporadic. The ultimate goal is to transform Ireland into a powerhouse in the gaming industry through a strategic expansion of resources and mentorship programs. My plan includes establishing a comprehensive program within IMIRT, designed to empower the development community, enabling them to overcome the increasing challenges and financial pressures of breaking into the industry.
A key component of my strategy is to significantly scale up networking opportunities, both virtual and in-person, as circumstances allow. The value of the insights and relationships forged at such events is immense, often catalyzing long-lasting business collaborations. By hosting more of these events locally, we can enhance Ireland's appeal to prominent figures in the gaming world, thereby accelerating the growth and visibility of the Irish gaming industry on a global scale.
Increased exposure and support for the gaming sector in Ireland will spur rapid expansion and innovation. My commitment to these goals, coupled with my understanding of the industry's dynamics, makes me an ideal candidate for the Imirt board. I am dedicated to driving a transformative agenda that will scale the Irish gaming community to new heights.

Alanna Kelly

Alanna wrote her first game, an implementation of Hangman on her father's ZX81 that had been fished out of the attic in 1991. Alanna developed a strong interest in game development, technology and computer programming. In 2005, Alanna started working in Dublin as a programmer for PopCap Games International. In 2012, she moved to Galway and has since worked in diverse fields such as Computer Vision, Academia, 3D/Bio Printing and Telecommunications.

What I hope to achieve

She is interested in driving community projects to encourage game development related learning, collaboration and entrepreneurship. She established Galway Game Jam in 2013 to further this end, which, this year, celebrated 10 years of encouraging people to get into game development in Galway!

justin o’connor

As Head of Finance at StoryToys, Justin works very closely at group level with their parent company Team17, this gives him access to extensive games industry knowledge, not just in Ireland, but further afield too.

Through his role in StoryToys, Justin has gained valuable experience in strategic financial management. Notably, he played a pivotal role in securing and successfully implementing the Digital Games Tax Credit (DGCT) for StoryToys, marking it as the first company in Ireland to adopt this credit. This experience showcases his ability to navigate and leverage government incentives to support and elevate the Irish game development industry. Justin continues to highlight the critical importance of the DGTC to the games industry, engaging with stakeholders in IDA, government departments to improve and expand the depth and scope of the credit. Justin has a BA in Accounting and is a Fellow with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Utilising the platform provided by Team 17, Justin and his colleagues in StoryToys use every opportunity to promote the Irish gaming industry in the UK and further afield.  

Imirt's emphasis on inclusivity, diverse representation, and collaboration resonates with his values. Justin is excited to contribute to the organization's success by bringing a strategic financial perspective, particularly with insights gained from navigating government incentives like the Irish gaming tax credit.

what i hope to achieve

Improve governmental support for the gaming industry, seeking improved government incentives and advocating for the continued growth Imirt’s activity.

• To broaden the scope of the Digital Games Tax Credit (DGCT) making it more widely available to members of Imirt and the broader community.

• Support strategic decision-making and contribute to the overall success of the Irish game development community.  

• I believe that Ireland is only tapping into a tiny portion of the overall potential of the games industry. We have the creativity, talent, and people to become an international centre for gaming and game development. I want to contribute and support Imirt to achieve this. 

Thomas cashman

Thomas is Director at Viridian Software and has over a decade of expertise as a programmer. At 6 years old, he was inspired to become a game developer and in 2017 he founded Viridian Software. Viridian has since grown into a development, porting and publishing studio supporting many developers and publishers worldwide. Thomas has open-sourced many frameworks and libraries and continues to contribute to several game development community efforts such as SDL and FNA.

what i hope to achieve

I believe Ireland has great potential to become a key location for game development in Europe. Having lived in other EU countries for many years, I've seen how they encourage industry growth and how large game communities help each other grow and succeed. As someone who has bootstrapped their studio from zero, I understand the challenges new developers and teams are up against when getting off the ground.

If elected to the board, I intend to work in the following areas to help support developers:

• Re-introduce in-person events and foster community engagement

• Lobbying government to improve supports for new developers/studios

• Establish a mentorship programme that Imirt members can apply to and have the opportunity to learn from experienced industry professionals
  
  
  
  

Mariano Di Murro

I am an award-winning entrepreneur and games developer with over 10 years of experience in the games industry. I started off as a QA and localization tester for a large Canadian game publisher. After that, I started and ran my own successful gaming startup where I raised venture capital funding for games startups here in Ireland, as well as in America, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
I have worked to deliver branded gaming products for international brands including Paramount Pictures, Universal Music, Netflix, Miller Beer, Aldi, Lidl, PwC, The Irish Rugby Team, Curry’s PC World, Lucozade, Kia, Ford Motors, and many more.
I have pitched my gaming ideas everywhere from in front of some of the biggest venture capital funds in Palo Alto Silicon Valley San Francisco, to the main stage at the web summit. I won the most entertaining at Google Start-up Weekend and led my last start-up to be adopted by Google here in Ireland.
During my gaming career I have also been part of the TechStars entrepreneur empowerment program, New Frontiers entrepreneur Program, National Digital Research Centre Gamepad, and Games Ireland's first-ever accelerator.
Recently I took part in the Dogpatch Labs Founders program, Ireland first first-ever Talent accelerator. I worked as a Games Engineer and go-to-market specialist at Google here in Dublin. Where I was able to attend international gaming conferences like Gamescom and work closely on partnerships with the biggest game engines and publishers in the world.
My Current role is head of Gaming and partnerships at Teuteuf Games the developers of the smash hit web games Worldle and Wheretaken, which have over 30 million monthly players. In this role help manage an International team of highly talented developers to work on our titles. I also get to secure partnership agreements with international media brands.

What i hope to achieve

● Offering advice and best practices guidance to any independent Irish game

developers on securing government funding or raising venture investment.

● Help organize community events and networking opportunities that will grow

Imirt's membership and create solid industry links.

● Creation of a workshop to highlight the Irish new tax credit and the opportunities

for growth in the gaming sector.

● Exploring the possibilities of Imirt funding and sponsorship of an Irish games

industry stand at international gaming events like GDC, Gamescom, and

Develop.

IMIRT Election Results

The results of the 2022 Imirt board elections are in and the elected board members are Darren Kearney, Patrick O’Donnell, and Craig Stephens (shown L->R in the image below)

If you want a reminder of who they are and why they want to be involved with Imirt, check out the news post below. While Craig Stephens will continue as a board member, the other successful candidates will be taking the place of outgoing board member Manuel Correia, who we thank for his work supporting Imirt over the last few years.

Thank you to everyone who voted and ran in the elections. Remember too that Imirt is a volunteer-run, community group so if you want to get more involved in Imirt or you have an idea for an event or an initiative, drop an email to contact@imirt.ie and let us know!

Imirt Board Election 2022

Voting for Imirt's new board members will open on Monday, December 19th and will take place until midnight on Friday the 6th of January 2023. Details of how to vote and links needed to vote will be sent to members by email.

This year, we will once again be using Opa Vote. This system ensures a secure and unbiased voting process. (make sure the email address for noreply@opavote.com is in your contacts so it’s not sent to your spam folder)

To vote you must be registered as an Imirt member in order to receive a voting link before voting starts on December 19th. You can visit the website to sign up for Imirt membership for only €20. Please sign up before Monday the 19th of December so that your membership can be processed in time to vote before the deadline.

3 out of the 7 board seats are being contested in this election. Board member Manuel Correia will be standing down while Board member Craig Stephens is going up for re-election. Many thanks to Manuel for his incredible contribution to Imirt and the Irish game developer community over the last several years! We wish him every success in future.

If you have any questions please email contact@imirt.ie and thank you for supporting Irish game developers!

The Candidates

Mariano Di Murro

Mariano Di Murro

I am an award-winning entrepreneur and games developer with over 10 years of experience in the games industry.

Starting off as a QA and localization tester for a large Canadian game publisher.

After that, I started and ran my own successful gaming startup where I raised venture capital funding for games startups here in Ireland, as well as in America, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

I have worked to deliver branded gaming products for international brands including Paramount Pictures, Universal Music, Netflix, Miller Beer, Aldi, Lidl, PwC, The Irish Rugby Team, Curry’s PC World, Lucozade, Kia, Ford motors, and many more. I have pitched my gaming ideas everywhere from in front of some of the biggest venture capital funds in Palo Alto Silicon Valley San Francisco, to the main stage at the web Summit. I won the most entertaining at Google Start-up Weekend and led my last start-up to be adopted by Google here in Ireland. During my gaming career I have also been part of the TechStars entrepreneur empowerment program, New Frontiers entrepreneur Program, National Digital Research Centre Gamepad, and Games Ireland’s first-ever Accelerator. In my current role, I work as a Games Engineer at Google here in Dublin. Where I am able to attend international gaming conferences like Gamescom and work closely on partnerships with the biggest game engines and publishers in the world.

What I hope to achieve

● Offering advice and best practices guidance to any independent Irish game developers on securing government funding or raising venture investment.

● Help organize community events and networking opportunities that will grow Imirt’s membership and create solid industry links.

● Creation of a workshop to highlight the Irish new tax credit and the opportunities for growth in the gaming sector.

● Exploring the possibilities of Imirt funding and sponsorship of an Irish games industry stand at international gaming events like GDC, Gamescom, and Develop.

Contact

Email: Mariano@SocialArcade.io
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariano-di-murro/

Thomas Cashman

Thomas Cashman

Thomas is Director at Viridian Software and has over a decade of expertise as a programmer. At 6 years old, he was inspired to become a game developer and in 2017 he founded Viridian Software. Viridian has since grown into a development, porting and publishing studio supporting many developers and publishers worldwide. Thomas has open-sourced many frameworks and libraries and continues to contribute to several game development community efforts such as SDL and supporting C# runtimes on game consoles.

What I hope to achieve

I believe Ireland has great potential to become a key location for game development in Europe. Having lived in other EU countries for many years, I've seen how they encourage industry growth and how large game communities help each other grow and succeed. As someone who has bootstrapped their studio from zero, I understand the challenges new developers and teams are up against when getting off the ground.

If elected to the board, I intend to work in the following areas to help support developers:

• Re-introduce in-person events and foster community engagement

• Lobbying government to improve supports for new developers/studios

• Establish a mentorship programme that Imirt members can apply to and have the opportunity to learn from experienced industry professionals.

Contact

Website — https://viridiansoftware.com/
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomascashman/
GitHub — https://github.com/tomcashman

Sean Carton

Sean Carton

I’m a game designer and historian specialising in lane-pushing / MOBA games. I was lucky enough to be a Warcraft III modder back in 2003, and ended up making one of the original DotA maps!

That started a lifelong passion. Many years of modding later, I began to document the design and history of lane-pushing games, and to-date I’ve written over 60 deep-dive articles exploring the genre, as well as interviewing other creators.

More recently, I’m a founder and CEO at Kybolt — an independent Irish game studio where our vision is “a world where gamers recognise leadership as a learnable skill”. I lead our team and our efforts to develop future leaders through prosocial and inclusive games.

Outside games, I enjoy international culture and exchange! I’m an active committee member at the Experience Japan festival, and have been a scout leader for many years.

What I hope to achieve 

As a company founder, I am strongly motivated to see the games industry in Ireland grow. I’m keen to continue IMIRT’s support for networking opportunities, and I also want to amplify and enrich the information reaching those who may not be well-networked — such as students from secondary level and up, and new businesses.

To achieve this, I plan to advance the IMIRT website as an authoritative source of information, links, and data for everyone. This is familiar territory for me — I already do content writing work for CareersPortal, where I recently championed the introduction of a new ‘esports’ sub-sector.

I feel I would make a great board member because I’m aligned on values of inclusion, uplifting people, and representing Ireland. I have a growing international network — which I hope to draw upon to support IMIRT’s future training workshops.

I'm also close to academic research as a member of the international 'Esports Research Network', which I believe can help me bring some fresh perspectives to the Board.

Contact

Game Design Writings — lanepushinggames.com
Company Website — kybolt.com
Esports sub-sector — careersportal.ie/sectors/subsectors.php?sub_sector=200&sector_id=18
LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/sean-carton

Steven Humphreys

Steven Humphreys

Hi, I’m Steven and I’ve worked in gaming at Google for more than 5 years working across some of the largest gaming companies in the world across console and mobile. I currently lead the large customers apps & gaming team for the UK market and a strong network in mobile gaming in particular across EMEA. My favorite part of my current role is working with game developers to help them create, design and market their new title launches. This has given me a great appreciation for the hard work and expertise involved from all the teams in different departments when launching a new game.

What I hope to achieve

Marketing games is my area of expertise and I think this would be a really strong complement to the skills of the other board members. If elected, I plan to provide increased support and expertise to all members in the marketing of their games and bring the best of the wider industry to all game developers in Ireland through workshops, webinars and other scaled learning opportunities.

Contact

Linkedin — ie.linkedin.com/in/steven-humphreys-a71b11a7

Patrick O’Donnell

Patrick O'Donnell

I am an experienced equity analyst with a deep focus on the video gaming segment. I have covered the U.K. listed ecosystem since 2018.

The companies include Keywords Studios; Codemasters: Team17; tinyBuild; Devolver Group; Frontier Developments; My experience includes the organisation of specialist events in the space covering key themes dominating the industry; quarterly reports on the global games industry; and stock recommendations and investor interaction on U.K. listed and global games companies. I am also a qualified chartered accountant having trained at Deloitte 2010-2014.

What I hope to achieve

I bring a strong understanding of the video games industry coupled with a broad network of executives across the sector. I can bring a commercial focus to the Irish games association and an ability to leverage my network of both private and public games companies to raise awareness of the opportunity set of setting up here. I also have a deep awareness of how video games tax credits have benefitted other jurisdictions and I have the right blend of skills to liaise with government and companies to achieve a material uplift in relocations here.

Overall; I would hope to bring an increasing commercial focus to IMIRT and an increased awareness of the opportunities at play in an Irish context.

Contact

LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/patrick-o-donnell-81831a1b

Craig Stephens

Craig Stephens

Originally from the UK, I’m Founder & Director of video games PR agency Kartridge. We have been delivering highly successful media and influencer communications campaigns since 2015. Our clients have ranged from AAA publishers - such as Hi-Rez Studios and Square Enix - to one-person indie developers.

My professional life began in the QA teams of EA and Jagex, which provided a solid understanding of the mechanics of games development. Nurturing a keen interest in Public Relations I then worked with Jagex’s freshly-minted PR team on early RuneScape promotional campaigns. Jagex lead to NCSOFT and several multi-year MMO campaigns. My time there culminated in heading up EMEA PR operations. Prior to Kartridge I was headhunted by Gamer Network to promote their network of brands, including GamesIndustry.biz, Eurogamer and EGX.

In 2018 my Irish wife and I married in Dublin, where we now live and work.

What I hope to achieve 

As a member of Imirt’s board I would hope to increase the organisation’s standing, both nationally and internationally, so it is better able to achieve its strategic goals in the short and long term. I would develop mechanisms to fuel the growth of the industry to strengthen its role economically, socially and culturally.

My ideas range from lobbying trade and government to improve on recent tax incentive announcements with more investment and financial aid, developing Imirt’s online resources (for would-be employees, employers and consumers), supporting industry and educational networking opportunities, plus championing Imirt’s goals and initiatives with the press.

A key to identifying opportunities and measuring success is to better understand the scope and value of the industry. I would look to develop a foundation of financial and demographic knowledge on which Imirt can plan its activities.

This will cement Imirt’s key position in this thriving creative industry.

My experience working closely with international trade associations (such as Ukie) on events and initiatives, plus tireless networking with developers, publishers and supporting services would make me a great board member. I bring a lifetime of gaming passion, well-honed PR creativity and (as a company director) a highly flexible timetable.

Contact

Email — craig@kartridge.co

Website — kartridge.co

Darren Kearney

Darren Kearney

Darren Kearney is a community leader in the Galway game development scene, and has been running game jams, workshops and other game community events to support and maintain the community since 2015, with a view to helping shape the community on a grassroots level to go against the status quo and be much more inclusive and welcoming. See https://galwaygamejam.com/jam-archive/

Darren is co-founder, director and game programmer of micro indie game studio *Portal Punch*. Their first game(s) are in development. More here: [https://portalpunch.itch.io/](https://portalpunch.itch.io/) and [https://www.instagram.com/portalpunch](https://www.instagram.com/portalpunch/)

Darren is the co-founder of monthly game developer meeting, 1GAM Galway Meetup in 2017, inspired by 1GAM in Dublin and the online challenge. 1GAM Galway takes place on the first Tuesday of each month. This casual (now virtual) meetup provides a platform for local developers to get constructive feedback on their projects, practice giving presentations, pitching their games, and generally talk about game development news and learnings. See: [https://www.meetup.com/1gam-galway/](https://www.meetup.com/1gam-galway/)

Darren is Global Game Jam Site Organiser for the Galway jam-site, having taken on the role back in 2019. He successfully adapted the annual event to an online-only event during the pandemic, and is now evolving it into a hybrid event for 2023 based on the success of hybrid Galway Game Jam events in 2022

Darren has provided training with Unity game engine as part of the *Count Me In* programme facilitated by the Western Care Association in Castlebar, Mayo. Darren delivered two iterations of the course to students who have specific learning needs or who previously struggled with lack of supports or resources in national education. The outcome is that the students each made a game with Unity. Darren adapted the course materials and methods to suit the learning needs of the students, and make learning Unity more delightful and something that fits in your brain, rather than a confusing chore. Darren is in early discussion around establishing a Mayo jam-site for Global Game Jamin 2023, which Darren will support in an effort to continue the great work of the *Count Me In* programme, to include the students into the wider game dev community.

## GDC

Darren was awarded the Global Game Jam GDC Scholarship in 2022, which enabled him to attend to GDC and share his thoughts and experiences at the Global Game Jam panel discussion. https://globalgamejam.org/news/announcing-our-2022-class-gdc-scholars

Darren took this opportunity to inform the audience of game jam organisers about the

diversity research findings of Dr. Aphra Kerr, Joshua Savage and Vickey Twomey-Lee from their paper titled "Decoding and Recoding Game-making events for Diversity, Inclusion & Innovation". This research identified many problem areas with game jams and proposed a series of steps to run better, more inclusive events, backed by evidence from several events. If you run game jams, you ought to read it too: [https://gamedevelopers.ie/diversity/](https://gamedevelopers.ie/diversity/)

Darren used his time at GDC to explore and learn about game development. On returning to Galway, he informed the community about his findings through publishing blogs and discussing his experience at monthly game dev meetups. While there were many positive learnings, two key pain points for our national game industry emerged, along with an obvious solution:

- There was that there was no Irish presence at GDC (while there was a strong presence from other small countries in Europe like Wales and Switzerland)

- Unfortunately it appeared Darren was the only person in San Francisco telling people about the Irish Tax Credit for digital games.

- Both of these could be solved by the establishment of an Irish Games Pavilion.

Throughout the second half of 2022, Darren has been reaching out to game studios in the Republic of Ireland to gather data about interest in an Irish Games Pavilion project. With a solid understanding of the needs of our game studios, Darren hopes to put an Irish Games Pavilion trade mission on the agenda for 2023, connecting the studios and stakeholders needed to make this a reality. (In general, making a lot of noise about it!)

From August 2022, Darren worked in collaboration with Ardán and CREW staff to facilitate the *Wild Galway Games Initiative* (WGGI) through a game jam event, and as a speaker and volunteer mentor. This initiative is noteworthy as the first directly funded game development project in Ireland to date, with funds specifically for creation of digital games. More details here: [https://ardan.ie/funding/wrapping-up-the-wild-galway-games-initiative-wggi-2022/](https://ardan.ie/funding/wrapping-up-the-wild-galway-games-initiative-wggi-2022/)

What I Hope to achieve

• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders in various adjacent sectors and public funding bodies.

• Clearly communicate the needs of the games industry in Ireland across the board.

• Establish the first ***Irish Games Pavilion*** at GamesCom 2023 with the following features:

• Operate similar to other national booths; hosting multiple game studios, agencies and services, a shared meeting room which can be used for pitch meetings and networking, and various booth events to attract people to the pavilion.

• Support game developers by having a subsidized booth space.

• Provide a platform for game developers to showcase their games and services, pitch to publishers, make industry connections, and learn about what is happening in the wider industry.

• To build the framework of the project in such a way as to create a lasting relationship with key stakeholders to ensure this project is repeatable.

• Establish an Irish Games Pavilion team to ensure the project can operate independently for years to come and that the team can learn, grow and adapt the project with each occurrence.

• To assist with the existing Imirt events, and with organising and promoting Imirt workshops/masterclasses.

• To establish and support game-making events like workshops, courses and game jams to under-represented regions in Ireland.

• To help maintain the Imirt Directory.

• To help promote supports for small game studios in Ireland, such as the creation of a First-Playable-Prototype fund or similar, as exists in many other countries.

Contact

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenfkearney/

Email (specific to this): imirt.service@mindcauldron.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrencearnaigh

Mastodon (rarely): https://mastodon.ie/@darrencearnaigh

You can also find me on the Imirt Discord server.

Imirt 3D Game Art Workshop Announced for October with Jasmin Habezai-Fekri!

Tickets are €5, but free for Imirt members! Login to your account here on the site and check the Membership Content section for info on your discount code.

Get your tickets on the Eventbrite page here!

The workshop will be held online via Zoom.

From Concept to game-ready 3D Asset

From Concept to 3D Asset is a 2-part workshop for beginner to intermediate 3D Artists, with a focus on Environment Art specifically, aiming to cover the stages of creating a 3D Asset within the context of a typical video game production environment. Jasmin will break down her own process of how to approach a concept before creating the asset, what to consider when making highpoly sculpts, lowpolies and textures but also considerations that have to be done when working with video game engines such as Unreal Engine. Along the way, Jasmin will share some tips and tricks for how to achieve interesting silhouettes and details within your models while also reflecting on the importance of iteration and feedback within this whole process.

Workshop day(s) breakdown

Day1

• 2h Presentation & Live Demo on

• Overview of current 3D Pipelines commonly used in Studios

• Breaking Down and analysing a Concept

• Starting with a Highpoly Blockout

• Sculpting tips and tricks

• Clean Topology vs Quick Topology

• When is it okay to Decimate vs doing topology by Hand?

• UVs & Baking

• What to consider in terms of good practises

• Tips and tricks

Day 2

• Quick summary on the last session and recap

• Texturing and Colors

• Differences between Hero Assets or Commonly used Assets within an Environment

• Implementation in-Engine, especifically Unreal Engine

• How to import and set up an Asset, including LODs, Collision, Materials, Textures

• General reflection on iteration and changes within the whole creation process

• Q&A

Jasmin Habezai-Fekri is a 3D Environment Artist currently working as a 3D Environment Artst at Airship Syndicate. In the past, she has worked at other studios such as Airborn (Palia), Square Enix, Monomi Park (Slime Rancher) and Sketchfab. Besides work, she frequently mentors other 3D artists, creates workshops and tutorials to share her creation processes. She has a strong focus on stylized environments and props with PBR- and hand-painted textures and loves creating colorful worlds.

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A big thanks to Screen Ireland for their support on helping these workshops become a reality.

IMIRT Irish Game Awards 2021

IMIRT: The Irish Game Makers Association are pleased to announce the winners for the Imirt Irish Game Awards for games released in 2021. This year we introduced a twist on the Most Anticipated category where instead of having the judges vote on submitted games, the audience submitted the games they were anticipating the most!

We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition and congratulate the winners. We would also like to thank our judges for their time and expertise. The Judges were composed of national and international experts.

The results for the awards are as follows:

BEST GAME DESIGN

Winner: Luzon Rails, by Robin David
Runner Up: Guild of Dungeoneering Ultimate Edition, by Gambrinous

BEST NARRATIVE

Winner: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, by Spooky Doorway
Runner Up: Guild of Dungeoneering Ultimate Edition, by Gambrinous

BEST GAME ART

Winner: The Caretaker, by Squid Monkey Studios
Runner Up: The Heartwoods, by Highwood Education

BEST GAME AUDIO

Winner: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, by Spooky Doorway
Runner Up: Give Me Strength, by James Poole

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Winner: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, by Spooky Doorway
Runner Up: Alchemic Cutie, by Viridian Software

BEST ANALOGUE GAME

Winner: Luzon Rails, by Robin David
Runner up: Judean Hammer, by Robin David

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME

Winner: Eldritch House, by Spooky Doorway
Runner Up: Trepanation, by Robin David

GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, by Spooky Doorway
Runner Up: Alchemic Cutie, by Viridian Software

IMIRT AWARDS 2021

The Awards so twice, we did them twice (in quick succession)!

We just couldn't wait to celebrate the incredible games of 2021 and to look ahead to the exciting releases coming in 2022, so save the date for the 2021 Imirt Awards;

Thursday, April 7th!

From this year on, we're going to be hosting the awards earlier in the year, so that we can kick things off by looking forward to all the amazing games to come. We've also made a slight change to our Most Anticipated category. It will now be voted on by the public!

Submissions are OPEN NOW!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Aw0SCNr9-eGUyMzBjllhbCr7GSmi9t8JbixMz_HGBTE/edit

Submissions close on March 14th, so don't delay! Get your nominations in today!

Imirt Board Election Results 2021

The results of the 2021 Imirt board elections are in and the elected board members are Alanna Kelly, Brendan Dillon, Maria O’Brien, and Paul Fahey (shown L->R in the image below)

If you want a reminder of who they are and why they want to be involved with Imirt, check out this page. While Brendan Dillion will continue as a board member, the other successful candidates will be taking the places of outgoing board members, Denman Rooke, Jairo Lopez and Ellen Cunningham, who we thank for their work supporting Imirt over the last few years.

Thank you to everyone who voted and ran in the elections. Remember too that Imirt is a volunteer-run, community group so if you want to get more involved in Imirt or you have an idea for an event or an initiative, drop an email to contact@imirt.ie and let us know!

IMIRT Irish Game Awards 2020

IMIRT: The Irish Game Makers Association are pleased to announce the winners for the Imirt Irish Game Awards for games released in 2020. We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition and congratulate the winners. We would also like to thank our judges for their time and expertise. The Judges were composed of national and international experts. Scores were submitted blind via OpaVote.

The results for the awards are as follows:

BEST GAME DESIGN

Winner: Empire of Sin, by Romero Games
Runner Up: Cortiça, by Manuel Correia

BEST ANALOGUE GAME

Winner: Cortiça, by Manuel Correia
Runner up: Kingdom’s Candy: Monsters, by Zemilio and Joe Slack

BEST GAME NARRATIVE

Winner: If Found…, by Dreamfeel
Runner Up: Empire of Sin, by Romero Games

BEST GAME ART

Winner: Empire of Sin, by Romero Games
Runner Up: If Found…, by Dreamfeel

BEST GAME AUDIO

Winner: If Found…, by Dreamfeel
Runner Up: Empire of Sin, by Romero Games

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Winner: Empire of Sin, by Romero Games
Runner Up: Smash Karts, by Tall Team

BEST UPCOMING GAME

Winner: This Means Warp, by Outlier
Runner Up: Guild of Dungeoneering Ultimate Edition, by Gambrinous

GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: If Found…, by Dreamfeel
Runner Up: Empire of Sin, by Romero Games

Imirt Board Election 2021

Voting for Imirt's new board members will open on December 6th and will take place until midnight on Monday the 20th of December 2021. Details of how to vote and links needed to vote will be sent to members by email.

This year we are using a new system (Opa Vote). This system ensures a secure and unbiased voting process. (make sure the email address for noreply@opavote.com is in your contacts so it’s not sent to your spam folder)

To vote you must be registered as an Imirt member in order to receive a voting link before voting starts on December 6th. You can visit the website to sign up for Imirt membership for only €20. Please sign up before Monday the 6th of December 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 Denman Rooke, Jairo Lopez and Ellen Cunningham will be standing down while Board member Brendan Dillon is going up for re-election. Many thanks to Denman, Jairo, Ellen and Brendan 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

Alanna Kelly

Alanna Kelly

Alanna wrote her first game, an implementation of Hangman on her father's ZX81 that had been fished out of the attic in 1991. Alanna developed a strong interest in game development, technology and computer programming. In 2005, Alanna started working in Dublin as a programmer for PopCap Games International. In 2012, she moved to Galway and has since worked in diverse fields such as Computer Vision, Academia, 3D/Bio Printing and Telecommunications.

What I hope to achieve

She is interested in driving community projects to encourage game development related learning, collaboration and entrepreneurship. She established Galway Game Jam in 2013 to further this end. Alanna is currently developing a crowd funded indie game full time and is also involved in running the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland.

Contact

Website: alannakelly.ie 

Twitter: @alannakelly_ie

Brendan Dillon

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, Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk, 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

During my first term on the Imirt board I have been leading the game industry's conversations with the various government departments that influence the tax credit for game development, Section 481a. I'm incredibly proud of the success that has been achieved during this process. I believe that the tax credit as it has been defined in the government Finance Bill for 2022 will accelerate the advancement of the games industry here. My primary reason for running for re-election onto the Imirt board is to maintain the relationships with the government departments that have been established over the last 18 months, especially as we work through the final steps of putting the credit into action in the first half of 2022.

In addition to the tax credit, other areas that I intend to work on if re-elected to the Imirt board are:

• Enhance Imirt's relationship with other representative bodies in Ireland, such as Screen Ireland

• Complete the role out of company memberships for Imirt

• Building on the relationship that have been established during the formulation of the tax credit, begin the process of lobbying for a prototyping fund for game developmentContact

Twitter: @bren_dillon

LinkedIn: bdillon

Email: brendan@demonware.net or bren.dillon@gmail.com

Josh Loveridge

Josh Loveridge

Josh Loveridge is the founder and managing director of Loveridge Digital & Stratton Studios, both are multinational 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 while putting a strong focus on research & development and continue to grow and strive within the field. Stratton Studios is a full-time development studio located in Newtown County Wicklow, They focus on developing single-player experiences for Console platforms such as The One We Found, Castle Costume, Costume Kingdom, with their most recent title"Spelink" releasing on PS4/PS5 next year.

What I hope to achieve 

Over recent years there have 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 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 be it virtually or in-person (when all the craziness has subsided), 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

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/josh-loveridge-905361150

Facebook: www.facebook.com/josh.loveridge.3

Twitter: @StrattonStudios

Website 1: loveridgedigital.com

Website 2: strattonstudiogames.com 

Maria O’Brien

Maria O’Brien

I am an academic and researcher working in the area of public policy for cultural and creative industries. I carry out research on tax incentives for cultural production in Ireland/EU and am very interested in seeing how the new digital games tax credit will work out for the Irish games industry. I am currently based in the School of Law & Government in DCU teaching on various courses, reflecting my background as a lawyer. I completed a PhD on tax incentives for film production in Ireland in 2020 in the School of Communications, DCU.

What I hope to achieve

I believe I will be a great Imirt board member because I understand the importance of public policies in shaping the games industry, and am deeply committed to representing the industry in ensuring that government policies support the development of the industry, in all its variety.

My goals for membership of the Imirt board are

• To work on behalf of Imirt represent the interests of all sectors of the games industry in Ireland in all policy discussions including the development of the new tax incentive

• To bring my expertise to bear on policy developments for the industry

• To be involved in listening to the community on what they want from this new support

• To ensure that the games industry is recognised as a key and vibrant player in the Irish cultural and creative industries.

Contact

Twitter: @dublinbermia

LinkedIn: drmariaobrien

Paul Fahey

Paul Fahey

Paul has been a part of the Irish game development industry for the past 7 years. He’s been around the industry in multiple roles including reviewer, developer, and designer but has spent the past three years writing for Digit Games.

He has always tried to make time for his fellow developers, taking part in as many social or outreach initiatives that he possibly could!

In the past couple of years, he has taken a more active role in the community. Outreach to students and those breaking into the industry has been his focus but he wants to work with all of the wonderful developers this community has to make the industry better for everyone.

He wants nothing more than to see the Irish games scene grow into a strong, inclusive, welcoming community and he's willing to put in as much work as it takes to get there!

He will also join your tabletop RPG. It doesn't matter that he already has six ongoing. Oops.

What I hope to achieve

The games industry continues to grow in Ireland, and Imirt has made huge strides in gaining recognition from the government that has been long sought after. I want to continue that push, driving the industry toward tax incentives and legislation to improve the working life of our incredible developers.

I’ve always been an activist at heart. I’ve never liked the idea of leaving the work of improving our society to others and I’ve always tried to live by the mantra “If not me, who?”. Our industry, as much as we love it, has a lot of problems and I believe that we, as Imirt, can do a lot to improve it. I also want to help prop up the amazing talent that we have in our community and shine a spotlight on some amazing games that might not be getting the attention they deserve.

I’ve been involved in community organizations pretty much all my life. Youth politics, teenage activist groups, grassroots movements, I’ve done whatever I could to help wherever I can. As a result, I’ve picked up a lot of confidence when it comes to fundraising, event organizing, and canvassing. I’m still very much in the early days of my game development career, but I’m absolutely dedicated to making this industry better for everyone in it. I hope to show you that as a member of the board.

Thank you for considering me for the board and thank you for doing all that you do for the Irish industry!

Contact

Twitter: @paularexpress

Website: PaulFaheyGames.com

Sara Mena

Sara Mena

Hello, I'm Sara Mena, a multimedia artist. I moved from Portugal to Ireland to start my career in videogames. After that, I was abroad in Germany and Sweden for four years before coming back again to Ireland to found my own company, Doodlio Studio.

During this time, I've been working in a variety of projects from small indie boardgames to large mobile titles to movie festivals, getting much-needed experience. I'm now focusing more on interdisciplinary projects that put together visual art with science/education.

What I hope to achieve 

When I came to Ireland, I felt incredibly welcome to the videogames community, which is part of my interest to apply for the Board.

I'm confident that with my background as a visual artist, I can help with the following:

• Create graphic material to promote and building awareness of Imirt

• Create ways for better communication between members, the community and other organisations.

• Help with proposals for the Irish Government and other organisations by setting up templates for appealing presentations, petitions and auxiliary material.

• Help to organise events like Inis Spraoi and games festivals (Imirt Awards, etc) 

Contact

Website - doodliostudio.com

Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/saramena/

Email - hello@doodliostudio.com