Animated Britain: Selections from Collections

Guest blogger: Ayesha Farooqui, Bradford College Animation Student

Paul Wells spoke on behalf of the Archive for British Animation Collections (ABAC), which is trying to create a British animation archive. He was well spoken, really clear and to the point.



Paul talked about the several issues which prevent and delay them from creating this archive, such as damage to objects and film, and locating and securing artefacts which may have been passed to the animators' family. An obvious issue is funding, and the transfer of skills and knowledge is a future issue.

If you want to listen to Paul's presentation, the podcast is available on SoundCloud.



Up until the screenings, I was really uninterested. I thought preserving the history of old animations wasn't worth my time, never mind my money. But then I saw what animation was like back in the old days. The Police Dog is a divine animation that needs to be kept and stored. Its quality animation, its innocent humour even made this modern day audience chuckle.

Fun on the Farm was so imaginative and creative. Eggs are rolling around, and one cracks which brings out the egg ambulance and egg paramedics to treat the injured egg. It's an hilariously adorable animation. The soundtrack reminded me of the soundtrack from the Disney film Pinocchio. So upbeat and happy with corn that dances like the Egyptians. For an old animation it's very smooth, and I learnt so much watching just these few animations.

Simon Oliver shares his Lessons for Independent Developers at BAF Game

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content Coordinator

Simon Oliver is the founder of Hand Circus, creators of the hit Rolando series of games for the iPhone and Okabu on the Playstation 3. He was at BAF Game to advise anyone who wants to get into independent games development.



Simon spoke about the history of indie, entwined with a bit of personal history.

The first computer he used was programmable, at a time when there was no divide between the people who created the games, and the machines they were created on. The government encouraged computer literacy, and for schools to teach ICT at a deeper level - not just Microsoft Word, but the basics of computer science.

When games consoles were released they were just machines for consumption. There was no concept of open source, which was a huge barrier to entry.

The release of the iPhone was a key moment for Simon, who wanted to grasp the opportunities and meet the challenges presented by this new gaming platform. And so, Hand Circus was born.

Simon is obviously concerned about the future of independent games development, given the expectation that games will deliver hyper real experiences which simply can't be created by a small team.

However, he cites David Braben's Rapberry Pi, which will teach children the building blocks of computer science and Codea (formerly Codify), which lets you create games on the iPad using a simple, easy to learn coding language, as two developments of the kind that Simon is really excited about.



The vast number of tools on the market gives developers freedom through access to these technologies. Unity stands out for Simon; it gives you a very sophisticated tool set, without which Hand Circus would not be able to create their games.

Freedom is a concept that Simon keeps on repeating...

• The lure of independent development is freedom
• Freedom through technology
• Freedom to work differently
• Freedom of expression
• Freedom to meander

Is this why people are moving away from the AAA console space?

For Simon, this is the best work ever, and that's his message for today. It's the most challenging, and the level of personal involvement can make it an emotional experience, but Simon has some advice from fellow indie developers to help you along the way, which you can read about on his blog.

Or, to listen to the full presentation, here's the podcast which you're free to download and share.