News

The Video Game Show got under way this Thursday with one of several parallel activities prior to the official opening this Friday at 12.  The University of Andorra (UdA) held a workshop entitled 'Introduction to the Video Game World', given by Mariano Rivas, professor at the U-Tad University Centre of Technology and Digital Art, and Project Director at Unity Tutors.

The aim of the workshop, organised by the University as part of a broad programme of workshops and conferences entitled 'Make your Passion your Profession', is to introduce vocational and university students to the world of video game design and programming and demonstrate the job prospects offered by a sector "with a great future".

'Make your Passion your Profession' includes up to five activities that will continue Friday morning at the Illa Carlemany cinemas with 'Want to Make Video Games your Future?', a orientation session with two round table discussions and the participation of industry professionals and specialists, aimed at shedding light on the particularities of the indie world and careers in the development of video games, explaining the business model and introducing those in attendance to the types of training involved.

The two other activities, also organised by the UdA, were more practically-oriented and aimed at other audiences. The workshop 'Computational Thinking for Younger Minds', on Friday between 4:30 and 7:30 pm in Prat del Roure introduces teens from 11 to 18 to programming, developing an entire game they can bring home, right there at the workshop.

On Saturday morning, another workshop will be held in Illa Carlemany for children up to 15 years of age entitled 'Robots in the Family', for programming educational robots. The shopping centre will also be holding a workshop organised by the Carmen Thyssen Andorra Museum called 'The Pixelated Painting', given by the museum's educational department, an activity for all ages.

The educational programme has been expanded to include a new conference from Edgar Martín-Blas Méndez, CEO and creative director of Virtual Voyagers. A pioneer in design and digital advertising, he was the co-founder of the Teaser and Xocolat Design companies, and one of Spain's first app designers. He later joined Tuenti-Telefónica as the creative director to launch the brand in Latin America. His career now is focused on Virtual Reality, a theme to be the focus his talk at the Show, and for which he has been recognised internationally with such awards as the Lovie Awards and Google Best App. The conference will take place on Saturday at 12 in Prat del Roure, the Show's main venue.

Opening

The official opening of the show will be Friday at 12 in Prat del Roure in Escaldes-Engordany and will feature 13 games zones and 93 game positions. Beyond the normal online and face-to-face competitions, this year's edition is highlighting e-sports, virtual reality and motor simulators.

This year's show features the collaboration with the French embassy, which has invited various studios to present their latest games or ones currently under development. This includes Masseka Game Studios, Zero Games Studios and Smiling Crook, three examples of France's blossoming video game industry. The French contingent will be complemented by the Spanish studio Chloroplast Games and its founder, Pau Elias Soriano.