Calling all gamers! UON hits play on first creative developer meetup in collaboration with Northampton Film Festival

In a bid to carve-out a collaborative networking space for local games creatives, innovators and designers in the town, the University of Northampton have launched their first in a series of game developer meetups in collaboration with Northampton Film Festival and Performing Room.

Taking place on Wednesday 23 April at Performing Room in Northampton, academics from one the University’s in-house gaming studios, Goblin Games will be opening their doors to welcome local gamers – and those interested in gaming – to offer a space for them to come together, chat and collaborate.

The event will have practical screens, table spaces and easily accessible electricity ports for people to bring along any projects they’re working on, as well as free snacks and refreshments.

“There is such a strong and established community of games professionals and enthusiasts within the county, but most don’t know about each other!” explains the University’s Programme Leader for Games Design, David Nicholls.

“We wanted to address this issue and offer a welcoming and inclusive space for a broad spectrum of gaming enthusiasts – developers, designers, business owners, games artists, aspiring professionals, or even those who just enjoy talking about ‘all things games.’

“Here at UON, we share the ethos with Northampton Film Festival that there is such a broad array of creative talent here in our town, we just need to find opportunities to meet, network, and work towards a more collaborative future for local games professionals.”

For this inaugural event, a number of outside developers have already confirmed their attendance, looking to hear from the up-and-coming talented gamers of our county. There will also be an opportunity to have a go on a playable demo of Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, a new turn-based RPG game with real-time mechanics which is currently pending release.

Becky Carrier, Director of Northampton Film Festival says “NFF has recently opened its new The Creative Place hub on Northampton Market Square to not only assist local filmmakers to connect and collaboration, but to assist the whole creative community. With so much crossover between the world of Games and Film, this meet up felt like a great first step to understanding the community’s wants and needs, so we can help make it an even stronger community in Northants.”

This FREE event is open to everyone across the county. Please come along to the  Performing Room (Guildhall Road, Northampton, NN1 1DP) from 6-9pm on April 23. Book your tickets today via Northampton Film Festival’s website.

Find out more about studying Games Art, Games Design and Games Programming at the University of Northampton.