FLEGA

The Belgian woman who created a mobile game before mobile games existed

Christophe De bont

24/01/2020

Think about your first mobile phone. If you already could play games on it, chances are it didn’t get more advanced than Snake, Pinball, or Breakout. It wasn’t until the introduction and early adoption of more powerful smartphones that mobile games turned into the goose with the golden eggs of the games industry.

The story of Sabine Allaeys and the creation of her mobile game universe MiniFizz kicks off way before that.

“Back in 2004 telecommunication companies were looking to grow their data business, and mobile games were a big part of that. It’s very easy to understand that 1 in 2 users are female, and the female market had always been underserved in terms of games and game characters. So there was this opportunity to come up with something new, a universe with girl avatars. Stylish and smart at the same time.”

Encouraged by her engineer father, Allaeys was introduced to computers and technology from an early age, and as such always wanted to express her creativity through the use of cutting edge technology. Research at the time showed that the market payed attention to what girls liked and the fact they now had a mobile device on them suddenly turned them into an interesting target group for companies. “For me it was clear there was an opportunity to launch a universe with girl avatars more adapted to real girls and not the typical female heroines featured in male oriented games. And the way to do it was through mobile games.”

To create a believable world and avatars, Allaeys made sure that her universe could be read on several layers. It had to be fun to engage with on a superficial level, but also have the ability to inspire and empower young girls.

Even though MiniFizz was picked up internationally and distributed throughout North America and Europe, the public at the time wasn’t as ready as the industry. Again, this is still a couple of years before Steve Jobs would introduce the world to the iPhone. Looking back on it now, it was quite a pioneering adventure.

A creative entrepreneur at heart, Allaeys took her universe more multi-channel in later years, expanding it to a mix of gaming, e-commerce and online community, where girls could play around with real fashion they could actually buy. But even in the crowded mobile space of the present day, she doesn’t see anything like MiniFizz out there. While her current focus is the creation of online animated explainer videos, she says she still has a warm heart for a good gaming universe. “I believe a next generation will be so used to have their gaming universe as a starting point for a lot of activities, that selling fashion from an avatar in your pocket, combining input from friends and info from brands still makes sense.”

Learn how to embrace video games in the classroom at Games in de Klas study day

Christophe De bont

22/01/2020

Video games play an ever increasing role in the lives of our children. To highlight the importance of embracing games in the classroom, Mediawijs together with the Department of Education and Training are organising Games in de Klas (link in Dutch). Aimed at bringing together Flemish teachers, educational professionals, and educational game developers, the event takes place in Brussels on March 6 from 9 until 16. Registering is free but as there’s a free lunch included, please keep in mind that no-shows will be charged € 10 to limit food waste.

As games make their move from the playground to the classroom, teachers and other educational professionals are faced with new challenges, but are equally presented with plenty of opportunities. After an introductory key note where you’ll get more information on the Game.Learn.Grow toolbox that will be offered to all attendees for free, you can attend two other sessions. The event will conclude with a network drink where you’ll be able to share your learnings with colleagues or discuss a topic further.

The program (link in Dutch) is as varied as the medium itself and different sessions tackle a wide array of topics. Educators that have previously worked with games can brainstorm with educational game developers on best practices. Among the confirmed developers are our proud members Strongly Typed Solutions and Bits of Love, showcasing ViKiD and Kr8cht (link in Dutch) respectively. They are joined by Assassin’s Creed: Discovery Tour, Squeeze (link in Dutch) and VRKeer (link in Dutch).

Discovery Tour turns Assassin’s Creed from a AAA action game into a AAA history class.

Furthermore there’s in-depth sessions on how to create a video game themed lesson, there’s a session exploring the benefits of working with games in the classroom and how to convince sceptics on your team, and you’ll even be able to learn how a video game can help with the sensitive subject of cyberbullying.

On top of that our very own David Verbruggen and Dirk Bosmans of PEGI are doing a session on safe and responsible gaming. They’ll cover topics such as age ratings, parental controls, and talk about SpeelHetSlim (link in Dutch), a platform sharing valuable tips on how to deal with potential time and money issues, as well as preparing kids for a safe online game experience.

If you’re not able to get to the event, Mediawijs has compiled a series of articles on the subject (link in Dutch). Games in schools aren’t going anywhere, so we’re very happy with the initiative to specifically highlight the ever increasing importance of our valuable medium, and hope to see you in Brussels on March 6.

Swen Vincke to receive first Belgian Lifetime Achievement Award

Christophe De bont

17/01/2020

Even though there’s still over a month to go before the Belgian Game Awards 2020 take place as part of 1UP 2020, we’re already happy to announce that Swen Vincke will receive the very first Belgian Lifetime Achievement Award during the ceremony. The award is a celebration of the career and achievements of a game developer who has made an everlasting impact on the #BelgianGamesIndustry, and this man fits the bill perfectly.

As the only soul crazy enough to start a game studio in Belgium during the mid nineties, the sole founder of Larian Studios is effectively the founding father of the #BelgianGamesIndustry. And while he currently runs an internationally renowned studio with 200 employees spread out over three continents, and is creating the sequel to one of the most treasured RPG franchises ever, his road to fame and fortune wasn’t without hardships.

Inspired by the freedom of Richard Garriott’s Ultima series, Larian Studios was founded to create world class role-playing games, yet no publisher believed this new kid on the block would be able to pull that off. While this contributed to the demise of their first RPG project LMK, they struck back with the action RPG’s Divine Divinity (2002) and Beyond Divinity (2004).

Unfortunately, publisher trouble would become a constant in Larian’s history. Divinity II, which had great design ideas like mind reading and the ability to roam the world as a dragon, was pushed out of the door massively undercooked, and got a very poor reception, almost driving the studio out of business. It wasn’t until Vincke unshackled himself from publisher control and turned to crowdfunding, self-publishing, and the community that Larian’s wildest design ideas could blossom into world class RPG’s.

He also pushed his company to the brink of extinction in the process. Going all-in on the development of Divinity: Original Sin was a risky move, but one that ultimately set up the studio for international success and expansion. Upon release, follow-up Divinity: Original Sin 2 was named one of the best RPG’s of all time, an accolade that surely helped Vincke in his quest to obtain the keys to the legendary city of Baldur’s Gate.

It’s safe to say that the amazing work of his studio has inspired a lot of people to follow their dreams and get into games. Larian Studios has been the fire that’s fueled the #BelgianGamesIndustry for many years and while the success undoubtedly is a team effort, it all boils down to the idea of one man that just liked to see his friends have fun with the games he made. Congratulations Swen. We wouldn’t be here without you.

If you want to join the celebration of Swen Vincke and all the other winners to be announced during the award ceremony, you can still get your tickets here. If you fancy hearing more about how Larian convinced Wizards of the Coast to hand over the Baldur’s Gate licence, Larian’s Spencer Low will tell you all about it during his talk at 1UP Conference.

Larian Studios winning best game for Divinity: Original Sin 2 at BGA19

This celebration of #BelgianGamesIndustry success wouldn’t be possible without the valued support of WALGA, ScreenBrussels, VAF/GAME, Flanders DC, Wallimage, Game Mania and Cronos Interactive.

New Starship Troopers game is made in Belgium

Christophe De bont

15/01/2020

It’s not every day you get the chance to work on an established Hollywood IP. Yet it’s exactly what the strategy game specialists over at The Artistocrats are currently doing with their newest real-time strategy project Starship Troopers: Terran Command. And going by the latest trailer, it looks very cool!

The game takes place in the movie universe of the 1997 science fiction action flick Starship Troopers. Intergalactic war is raging between the human Mobile Infantry and the alien Arachnid. Outnumbered by the bloodthirsty insects, players will have to come up with clever strategies to ensure the survival of human civilisation.

You’ll fight for control over an entire planet in the campaign mode, where the storyline and missions develop according to your choices and achievements on the battlefield. Want to be true to Terran Command philosophy or take a more rogue approach to barbecuing bugs? The choice is yours! You’ll also be able to develop and customise your forces through a detailed technology tree and upgradeable leader characters that can be assigned to units to give them strategic advantages in the heat of battle.

Flying a bit under the radar, The Artistocrats have been creating computer war strategy games since 2015. Their debut title Order of Battle – WW2 was a big hit among strategy fans and spawned no less than 6 expansions, that each explored different World War II battlefronts. Starship Troopers: Terran Command, which is out later this year, is their most ambitious title to date and might just launch them into strategy stardom.

VLAIO clusters help you grow your company, together

Christophe De bont

10/01/2020

To a lot of people game development is a leftside industry, exerted in a lone wolf ecosystem with little value for other businesses. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Game design thinking and game technology certainly have their merits, and because relatively few people wield the power of game development, you can use these unique skills to help out other companies achieve their mission.

Growing and getting more competitive through collaboration is precisely what VLAIO clusters (link in Dutch) are are all about. The objective of the cluster policy is to unlock untapped economic potential and to achieve an increase in competitiveness among Flemish companies through an active and sustainable cooperation between ambitious enterprises, knowledge centers, and the government.

Within the cluster, a cluster organization acts as facilitator of the network and representative of the cluster members. VLAIO supports these cluster organisations both financially, with up to 50% of funding, and operationally, ensuring they can work as effectively as possible.

There’s two types of clusters. Spearhead clusters (link in Dutch) are long term (10 years) collaborations between 50 companies, centered on a strategically important domain for Flanders, such as Blue Cluster or Flux50 (links in Dutch).

Perhaps more suited to our maturing industry are the innovative business networks (link in Dutch). They differ from spearhead clusters in scale, maturity, time horizon and level of ambition. These are smaller scale initiatives between 10 companies which can be supported for up to 3 years. Interesting examples for some of our industry players include EUKA, Smart Cities Vlaanderen, and IoTValueChain – The Beacon (links in Dutch).

We’re well aware this is all a bit theoretical (and quite heavy), yet we hope it might be of interest to some of the bigger players in our beloved industry who want to work together to become even bigger.

Put your gamedev skills to the test during Global Game Jam 2020

Christophe De bont

08/01/2020

Always wanted to create a game but didn’t really know where to start? Then it might be a good idea to participate in Global Game Jam 2020. During this world wide event, starting from January 31 until February 2, you group with a bunch of kindred spirits to create a game in 48 hours. To make matters even more exciting, your playful creation has to be based on a secret theme that’s to be unveiled at the start of the event.

There are several locations in Belgium where you can get your jam on, but Global Game Jam Antwerp has the longest track record by far. The venue is so popular with jammers that the organisation has doubled the capacity from last year, so up to 50 jammers are welcome to join.

Jammers have to pack nothing but their gamedev weapon of choice, enough power bricks and network cables, a sleeping bag and a(n) (air) mattress for those precious power naps. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included in the admission fee of € 25 and there’s coffee to keep you going when the going gets tough. As there’s no showers on site, please do everyone a favour and make sure you arrive freshly scrubbed and don’t forget to bring deodorant and enough spare clothing.

Global Game Jam Antwerp welcomes all kinds of creative profiles, so don’t be shy if you’ve never made a game before. Jams are a great way to forge creative partnerships, and quickly learn the tricks of the trade. A lot of developers took their first steps during a game jam, so maybe 2020 is your year?

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