CODE news The latest on establishing New Zealand’s Centre of Digital Excellence – April 2020

About CODE

In October last year, the New Zealand Government agreed to invest $10 million from the Provincial Growth Fund into developing a Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE) in Dunedin. CODE’s ambition is to help create a $1 billion video game development industry in New Zealand within ten years.

Dunedin will act as a hub from which a supporting ecosystem for the game development industry can be developed.

CODE’s objectives are focused on enabling and supporting:

• improved perceptions of gaming and game development

• new industry education, skills and training pathways

• more diversity in the sector – notably greater inclusion of Māori and women

• national and global partnerships that grow our digital capacity and knowledge

• access to national and global industry experts

• grants and contestable funding for product development

• new employment opportunities

• Games for Health development

Dunedin City Council’s Economic Development Unit, Enterprise Dunedin, is leading the establishment of CODE in partnership with a Working Group comprising representatives from Ngāi Tahu, the game development industry, and the education and health sectors.

Moving forward in challenging times

As a result of the COVID-19 situation, much has changed for everyone since the Government announced funding for CODE in October last year. There are significant new challenges to be faced and the game development industry won’t be unaffected by these.

While we are facing new challenges, the industry is relatively resilient and there is much to be optimistic about, which is reflected in the following articles:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-09-covid-19-the-state-of-the-games-industry

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-09-the-games-industry-must-protect-its-vulnerable-businesses

As the situation unfolds, we know that CODE’s role in supporting the local and national economy will be more important than ever.

There are many opportunities within the industry and scope for it to make a contribution both economically and socially, including through the development of serious games – with those supporting health and education especially relevant right now.

As an example, the World Health Organisation has recently collaborated with the international video game industry to create #PlayApartTogether, a campaign to encourage healthy physical distancing and other health measures during the COVID-19 crisis.

It’s also worth highlighting that some of the technologies being used for people to work and study remotely during the COVID-19 lockdown - such as chat room Slack - had their origins in the game development industry,

During this lockdown period the CODE establishment team, led by Enterprise Dunedin, continues to focus on getting CODE’s supporting structure in place – including the legal entity and office location – while doing work to bring forward the timing of some key initiatives, such as grants, to help support local game developers and supporting industries as soon as possible.

And thanks to digital technology and Dunedin’s GigCity connectivity, we’re able to continue building the local, national and international relationships and ecosystem that will support CODE’s success – albeit with some creative juggling and at a different pace.

Overall, despite current events and challenges, our national and international stakeholders’ appetite for collaboration with CODE remains strong, and as a team, we remain optimistic about the future of game development in New Zealand and CODE’s ability to support this.

Building foundations

Since CODE was announced in October last year, the CODE establishment team have been doing the work needed to develop a solid framework to support CODE over the coming years.

Creating community

CODE is fundamentally about people. Its success will depend on a large and diverse range of people connecting and collaborating over a long period of time.

We’re lucky that people working well together is one of Dunedin’s strengths and a key reason why the Government chose to base CODE here.

This means we’ve been engaging with a lot of people in recent months – both locally and internationally – to start building CODE’s ecosystem.

Much of the discussion has centred around creating new education and training pathways into the game development industry and building strong and productive relationships with local and international industry experts who are keen to work with CODE.

Ticking legal boxes

During the last few months, the team have been working through options and seeking advice from legal experts on the best way to structure CODE as an entity. This is another factor critical to CODE’s success. The structure we land on needs to be fit for purpose and robust, with enough flexibility to respond to the changing needs of the game development industry – which is why we’re taking the time to get it right.

The right space

How do we ensure the CODE office and activity space is welcoming and accessible to anyone with an interest in game development? How do we use it to its best effect? How will it help achieve CODE’s outcomes? Where should it be?

We recently issued a Request for Quote to local providers to see what space is available for CODE and how they think those, and other questions, could best be answered. We look forward to sharing the outcome of this when the process concludes.

The best people

Once CODE has a space, it will need people to bring it to life. A key role that we’ll be recruiting for is CODE’s Director.

Whoever takes on this role will need to have the passion, skills and experience to help develop and drive the ecosystem to support CODE’s vision of a $1 billion game development industry in New Zealand.

They’ll also need a talent for influencing and

inspiring, and for leading collaboration and change, along with a deep knowledge of the game development industry, and the ability to recognise and pursue opportunities.

Pre-COVID-19, our plan was to advertise the role locally and internationally through a variety of channels during April. However, with the current situation, there are challenges with this and we’re looking at interim options to tide us over until a full recruitment process can be undertaken. We’ll keep you posted on the outcome.

Finding new pathways

The game development sector offers diverse employment opportunities for a variety of talents. One of CODE’s main objectives is to ensure there is an equally diverse range of pathways into the industry that can cater for both learner and industry needs.

We are currently working with both national and international stakeholders to look at ways of developing existing education and training programmes to meet these needs, while also fostering new, complementary pathways. Of note is the work we’ve been doing with Professor Gregor White, Dean of Abertay University’s School of Design and Informatics in Dundee, Scotland and a Co-Director of InGAME: Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise. Being able to tap into Gregor’s experience in curriculum development and the wider game development industry is of huge value for CODE.

The role of Māori involvement in the industry and Māori gaming products are a particular focus for CODE. An online hui, organised in collaboration with and hosted by ngā rūnaka o Puketeraki and Ōtākou, was held on 2 April to develop ideas, aspirations and pathways for Māori involvement. The collective wisdom, passion and ideas of Ngāi Tahu and Māori creatives, te reo experts and digital and gaming experts emerging from this hui and ongoing collaboration will be pivotal in shaping CODE’s approach.

Creating momentum

Pre-COVID-19, we were starting to build some real momentum in providing local game developers with access to international and national experts and mentors and linking local people into opportunities within the game development ecosystem. Although some plans have been put on hold and options for continuing with others are more limited right now, which is disappointing, we are working in the background to keep this momentum going where we can.

In the meantime, here’s a roundup of a few CODE-related visits which created a buzz in recent months:

Memorandum of Understanding with JP GAMES

On 28 November, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between successful Japan-based video games publisher, JP GAMES, and CODE.

JP GAMES was launched last year by Hajime Tabata, Japanese game director and previous Luminous Productions chief operating officer and head of studio. Prior to that, he was head of game development company Square Enix’s Business Division 2 and the director of Final Fantasy XV. The MoU will provide a basis for developing links between JP GAMES and CODE in computer game development, and for investigating and progressing, by mutual agreement, areas of cooperation or projects.

The MoU was signed on Mr Tabata’s behalf by JP GAMES’ Global Account Manager, Ken Kawashima, with Creative Director, Hiromitsu Sasaki, also in attendance.

We’ve remained in contact with JP GAMES since that time and will continue looking at opportunities as they arise where possible during the COVID-19 challenge.

Check out this ODT article on the MOU signing and visit of JP GAMES reps: https://www.odt.co.nz/business/tokyo-dunedin-alliance-boosts-game-developer

Tabitha Hayes and Adam Clark visit

In February we were privileged to host Tabitha Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer for Star Stable Entertainment in Stockholm and former Vice President, Global Brand Management and Marketing for Electronic Arts (EA), and her husband Adam Clark, who has worked for EA for more than 12 years, across multiple franchises - including Need for Speed, FIFA, Battlefield and The SIMS. In that time Clark has worked in EA’s Singapore, Vancouver and San Francisco studios and is currently the senior producer of Star Wars Battlefront II at the DICE Studio in Stockholm.

While in Dunedin, Tabitha and Adam attended the University of Otago Summer School to speak with game development students and an industry meet-up at the SIGNAL ICT Graduate School.

https://www.odt.co.nz/business/game-developers-coming-dunedin-pass-expertise

https://www.odt.co.nz/business/game-developer-sees-much-potential-dunedin

www.dunedinnz.com/CODE

Celia Hodent visit

In February, CODE was able to sponsor a visit to Dunedin by international video game user experience (UX) consultant, author and former UX director for the international video game hit Fortnite, Celia Hodent. Ms Hodent holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Paris and has been working in the games industry since 2005. Before starting her consultancy in 2017, she was Director of User Experience at Epic Games, where she developed UX practices and strategy for games produced by the studio – including Fortnite, Unreal Engine 4, Paragon and Battle Breakers.

While here, Celia gave a free public lecture on the psychology behind Fortnite’s success at Dunedin’s Signal ICT Graduate School. The public lecture followed a sold-out masterclass Ms Hodent ran at the ICT Graduate School on the topic of game-based UX and cognitive science, which referenced her 2017 book The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game Design.

https://celiahodent.com/about/

https://www.odt.co.nz/business/theory-behind-gaming-explained

Delaney King visit

CODE, in conjunction with Christchurch Game Developers and the Dunedin game development community, welcomed Delaney King to speak at SIGNAL in Dunedin on 6 December 2019.

Delaney King is a freelance digital artist, sculptor and teacher based in Melbourne, Australia. With over 20 years experience in computer graphics, her titles include films Where The Wild Things Are and video games Unreal Tournament 2004, Dragonage: Origins, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, Civilization IV, Fury, Mythos and many more.

This meetup was of special interest to digital artists, especially those who work in 3D, but was also relevant to anyone interested in video games and game development.

https://www.delaneyking.com/