Darren Kearney
Darren Kearney is a community leader in the Galway game development scene, and has been running game jams, workshops and other game community events to support and maintain the community since 2015, with a view to helping shape the community on a grassroots level to go against the status quo and be much more inclusive and welcoming. See https://galwaygamejam.com/jam-archive/
Darren is co-founder, director and game programmer of micro indie game studio *Portal Punch*. Their first game(s) are in development. More here: [https://portalpunch.itch.io/](https://portalpunch.itch.io/) and [https://www.instagram.com/portalpunch](https://www.instagram.com/portalpunch/)
Darren is the co-founder of monthly game developer meeting, 1GAM Galway Meetup in 2017, inspired by 1GAM in Dublin and the online challenge. 1GAM Galway takes place on the first Tuesday of each month. This casual (now virtual) meetup provides a platform for local developers to get constructive feedback on their projects, practice giving presentations, pitching their games, and generally talk about game development news and learnings. See: [https://www.meetup.com/1gam-galway/](https://www.meetup.com/1gam-galway/)
Darren is Global Game Jam Site Organiser for the Galway jam-site, having taken on the role back in 2019. He successfully adapted the annual event to an online-only event during the pandemic, and is now evolving it into a hybrid event for 2023 based on the success of hybrid Galway Game Jam events in 2022
Darren has provided training with Unity game engine as part of the *Count Me In* programme facilitated by the Western Care Association in Castlebar, Mayo. Darren delivered two iterations of the course to students who have specific learning needs or who previously struggled with lack of supports or resources in national education. The outcome is that the students each made a game with Unity. Darren adapted the course materials and methods to suit the learning needs of the students, and make learning Unity more delightful and something that fits in your brain, rather than a confusing chore. Darren is in early discussion around establishing a Mayo jam-site for Global Game Jamin 2023, which Darren will support in an effort to continue the great work of the *Count Me In* programme, to include the students into the wider game dev community.
## GDC
Darren was awarded the Global Game Jam GDC Scholarship in 2022, which enabled him to attend to GDC and share his thoughts and experiences at the Global Game Jam panel discussion. https://globalgamejam.org/news/announcing-our-2022-class-gdc-scholars
Darren took this opportunity to inform the audience of game jam organisers about the
diversity research findings of Dr. Aphra Kerr, Joshua Savage and Vickey Twomey-Lee from their paper titled "Decoding and Recoding Game-making events for Diversity, Inclusion & Innovation". This research identified many problem areas with game jams and proposed a series of steps to run better, more inclusive events, backed by evidence from several events. If you run game jams, you ought to read it too: [https://gamedevelopers.ie/diversity/](https://gamedevelopers.ie/diversity/)
Darren used his time at GDC to explore and learn about game development. On returning to Galway, he informed the community about his findings through publishing blogs and discussing his experience at monthly game dev meetups. While there were many positive learnings, two key pain points for our national game industry emerged, along with an obvious solution:
- There was that there was no Irish presence at GDC (while there was a strong presence from other small countries in Europe like Wales and Switzerland)
- Unfortunately it appeared Darren was the only person in San Francisco telling people about the Irish Tax Credit for digital games.
- Both of these could be solved by the establishment of an Irish Games Pavilion.
Throughout the second half of 2022, Darren has been reaching out to game studios in the Republic of Ireland to gather data about interest in an Irish Games Pavilion project. With a solid understanding of the needs of our game studios, Darren hopes to put an Irish Games Pavilion trade mission on the agenda for 2023, connecting the studios and stakeholders needed to make this a reality. (In general, making a lot of noise about it!)
From August 2022, Darren worked in collaboration with Ardán and CREW staff to facilitate the *Wild Galway Games Initiative* (WGGI) through a game jam event, and as a speaker and volunteer mentor. This initiative is noteworthy as the first directly funded game development project in Ireland to date, with funds specifically for creation of digital games. More details here: [https://ardan.ie/funding/wrapping-up-the-wild-galway-games-initiative-wggi-2022/](https://ardan.ie/funding/wrapping-up-the-wild-galway-games-initiative-wggi-2022/)
What I Hope to achieve
Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders in various adjacent sectors and public funding bodies.
Clearly communicate the needs of the games industry in Ireland across the board.
Establish the first ***Irish Games Pavilion*** at GamesCom 2023 with the following features:
Operate similar to other national booths; hosting multiple game studios, agencies and services, a shared meeting room which can be used for pitch meetings and networking, and various booth events to attract people to the pavilion.
Support game developers by having a subsidized booth space.
Provide a platform for game developers to showcase their games and services, pitch to publishers, make industry connections, and learn about what is happening in the wider industry.
To build the framework of the project in such a way as to create a lasting relationship with key stakeholders to ensure this project is repeatable.
Establish an Irish Games Pavilion team to ensure the project can operate independently for years to come and that the team can learn, grow and adapt the project with each occurrence.
To assist with the existing Imirt events, and with organising and promoting Imirt workshops/masterclasses.
To establish and support game-making events like workshops, courses and game jams to under-represented regions in Ireland.
To help maintain the Imirt Directory.
To help promote supports for small game studios in Ireland, such as the creation of a First-Playable-Prototype fund or similar, as exists in many other countries.
Contact
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenfkearney/
Email (specific to this): imirt.service@mindcauldron.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrencearnaigh
Mastodon (rarely): https://mastodon.ie/@darrencearnaigh
You can also find me on the Imirt Discord server.
