Creative & Immersive development company Silverink have designed a new professional live video-streaming platform with creative industries in mind.

With the current social context of Covid-19, Belfast-based creative development company Silverink have designed a live video-streaming platform to cater to the needs of music artists and associated industry. Whilst many artists have adapted to the social platforms such as YouTube and Facebook to stay creative and keep in touch with their fans, their output often suffers from a lack of quality in platform output and methods of monetising. In response, Silverink has developed a quality platform for video live-streaming that integrates e-commerce and ticketing with a focus on fair pay for the creative industries. Fans can now support their music artists through paid access to curated streaming events and shop window options for merchandise and digital downloads. Music industry, management and the artists are offered branded pages and seamless global delivery of high-quality video and audio. Fans can enjoy quality music experience whilst the creative industries suppling the content benefit from the income they deserve through curated streaming events and within a unified digital interface.

Stage Left is a professional live video-streaming platform with integrated e-commerce/ticketing and a focus on fair pay for the creative industries. For more information on Stage Left visit: https://stageleft.live

Silverink is a Belfast-based creative/immersive development company with 20yrs R&D experience in the UK and EU. For more information on Silverink visit: https://silverink.com

Co-Investigator: Prof Frank Lyons - Professor of Music and Associate Dean of Research and Impact in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Ulster.

This project has been funded in part by a Future Screens NI Pre-Commercialisation R&D award.

Áras Uí Chonghaile launches ground-breaking Augmented Reality Heritage Trail designed with Future Screens NI associate Yellow Design.

Áras Uí Chonghaile, The James Connolly Visitor Centre, recently launched Belfast’s first Heritage Trail which is powered by Augmented Reality. The trail was launched by Director of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Paul Mullan, Paul Maskey MP and Lord Mayor of Belfast Kate Nicholl.

Supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund, the trail retraces prominent locations across Belfast associated with the renowned Republican and international Trade Union leader, James Connolly, and his time in the city over 100 years ago.

Paul Mullan, Director of HLF said,
‘The Heritage Fund is delighted to be supporting this project which sheds a light on a sometimes overlooked aspect of the James Connolly’s story, his role in the labour movement and his fight for worker’s rights in Belfast. The project will build on and enhance the great work which has already commenced through the James Connolly Visitor Centre.’

Underpinned by extensive research, the intergraded design team determined a series of flagship locations most associated with his time in Belfast at the turn of the last century.

The dynamic trail begins in Belfast City Hall, meanders its way through Belfast’s historical city centre, sweeping through Custom House Square, Sailortown and the Docks area, past Speaker’s Corner at Library Street, up along the Falls Road past one of Belfast’s last remaining restored working mills, before arriving at Belfast’s award winning visitor attraction, the James Connolly Visitor Centre.

Belfast Lord Mayor Councillor Kate Nicholl said: “Cultural and heritage organisations like Áras Uí Chonghaile have an important part to play in our city’s recovery post-Covid, and the development of this trail using the latest technology will be a huge draw for both residents and tourists alike. It offers the opportunity to discover more about the city’s history and explore the stories that make Belfast what it is today in an accessible format, which is just fantastic.
 
“One of the four key priorities in our 10 year cultural strategy, A City Imagining, is about protecting and promoting cultural heritage including Belfast’s diverse cultural narratives. The James Connolly Heritage Trail ticks all of those boxes.”

Eimear Hargey, Heritage Development Officer at Áras Uí Chonghaile said,
‘Despite the challenges raised by the global pandemic, we are thrilled to bring forward this groundbreaking Heritage Trail, the first of its kind in Belfast to be powered by Augmented Reality. The free downloadable app from both iOS and Android App stores will allow for local citizens and visitors alike to uncover the hidden story of James Connolly in Belfast and present them with Belfast’s heritage at their fingertips. We’re delighted to partner with Féile an Phobail, Ireland’s biggest Community Arts festival, to offer a guided tour that will complement the Augmented Reality experience. 

You can book your tour now online at: www.arasuichonghaile.com/heritagetrail

Harry Connolly, Director of Fáilte Feirste Thiar, praised the initiative,

‘As Belfast emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and as we rebuild our communities and our tourism infrastructure, we are delighted that this heritage centred tourism product powered by the latest Augmented Reality technology will form a core part of Belfast’s and indeed west Belfast’s tourism offering. This new product will ensure that the opportunities associated with tourism are maximised at a local level as it will encourage visitors to neighbourhoods and communities as well as inviting them to explore Belfast’s historical city centre. We want to thank National Lottery Heritage Fund for their continued support, especially during the challenges of COVID. We are thrilled to have worked with market-leading heritage and exhibition consultants Redhead Exhibition and award-winning creative design company Yellow Design.”

For more information on the James Connolly Visitor Centre follow the link: www.arasuichonghaile.com

Theatre and Cultural Hub Accidental Theatre Complete Monetising Digital Performance Report

Theatre and cultural hub Accidental Theatre recently completed a report on small arts business best practice during the pandemic and beyond. Addressing pressing concerns for artists and practitioners in a time of isolation and the loss of potential revenue from live events, Accidental Theatre, with Tickle Productions and Aisling Productions with financial support from Future Screens NI sought in their research to find best practice techniques to monetise digital performance. Looking at a range of options including but not limited to streaming live shows, Accidental Theatre and their partners sought methods of engagement with audiences through a broadcast programme of live events, therefore distancing the practice from standard streaming platforms. 

The project sought alternative and more direct audience engagement than the passive viewing experiences of leading streaming platforms. Working with artists, festivals and other partners over a period across 2020/21 the project focused on three main case studies of One-off sales, Memberships, and Donations as potential revenue streams. The report addresses three issues of particular interests to small businesses and sole traders including a lack of monetisation options, streaming market competition and the devaluation of artistic content. The conclusions drawn from the case studies were that a mix of subscription and one-off sales will likely be the most accessible option for companies and sole artists. 

For more information on Accidental Theatre follow the link: https://accidentaltheatre.co.uk

KEY PERSONNEL

Accidental Theatre was founded in 2012 to develop an exciting brand of modern Northern Irish theatre. The group embraces new technologies, conventions, styles and techniques. Their inaugural play in 2014 The Kitchen, the Bedroom and the Grave won the BBC NI Drama Award and have since gained further recognition for their ambitious and greatly varied live productions.

Tickle Productions work in advanced media production work since 2009 and have been Accidental’s main partner in streaming live productions since 2016. Recently, they have been working with Dr Elizabeth Meehan a Service Designer with Accidental Theatre to develop, test and refine virtual interactive design. 

Aisling Productions is an TV and documentary production company based in Belfast. Associated TV producer Declan McGrath has 20-year experience in the field and assisted Accidental Theatre with traditional media distribution models.

The project was funded in-part by Future Screens NI’s Rewriting the Narrative Award.

Indie game developers Out of Tune Games seek to streamline multi-platform real-time audience interaction with new R&D.

Out of Tune Games have begun Research & Development to address a technical challenge faced by game platform Unity concerning streamer viewer interaction in live games across multiple streaming platforms including Twitch and YouTube Live.  The project will look to providing a unified “wrapper” that will draw on shared features between the platforms resulting in more games utilising streaming audience interaction as a key feature. Acknowledging the popularity of streaming games as entertainment and its burgeoning economic platform Out of Tune Games draws out one of the unique features of the new media potential, audience interaction with the gamers. Out of Tune Games seeks to streamline the interactive potential to capitalise and facilitate this unique aspect. By providing developers with a ready-made solution to latency issues for streamer integration Out of Tune Games will deliver a solution to valuable development hours spent addressing integration for game producers thus providing further commercial options within the world of competitive gaming. 

Out Of Tune Games is an Indie game developing company comprising of Matt McCrum and Mal Duffin, two programmers brought together by their love of games and backgrounds as musicians. Matt has independently released 8 games for mobile platforms under the moniker of Chunky Games with his most recent creation, Rugby World Championship 2, breaching the top 25 sports games on the App Store. He plays keys, guitar and some phat brass. Mal has a wealth of experience working on games and VR projects for big guns like Sony, IBM and advertising agencies worldwide and has shipped products ranging from Facebook puzzle games to official tie-in racers for The Lego Movie. He saws a mean fiddle. 

For more information on Out of Tune Games visit https://www.outoftunegames.com

Co-Investigator: Brian Coyle, Senior Lecturer in Game Design, Ulster University

This project is funded by a Future Screens NI Research & Development award.

Games developer BillyGoat Entertainment start R&D of tools to facilitate and create believable, reactive, open world citys in Unity 3D.

Belfast-based BillyGoat Entertainment Ltd have recently received a Research & Development award for a project to facilitate real-time game aspects to streamline ongoing advances in games consoles and realistic depictions. In response to the increasing sophistication and detail fidelity of game creation corresponding to the release of more powerful hardware in the likes of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, BillyGoat Entertainment acknowledge the complexity and demand of new software to compete in the game development market. Focusing on an aspect of game world creation, the project will seek to research and develop a procedural, city network system, drawing on the power of AI to work in real-time to create an interactive road network that develops as the player engages with the programme. The intended result will be a programme with an aim for a largely “plug and play” system enabling very minimal setup required by a developer. This would largely automate what would otherwise be a very time intensive, laborious task. The project’s intended outcome would significantly speed up the development process of game-creation freeing skilled individuals to work on other more demanding tasks. 

BillyGoat Entertainment Ltd is a video game developer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Established in 2010 ‘The Goat’ specialises in crafting jovial, light-hearted, comedic experiences, currently developing for consoles and PC. Beginning its life as a 3D animation studio, producing a variety of animated TV adverts broadcast in Ireland, in 2011 BillyGoat shifted focus to video game development, producing several mobile games for commercial clients.

In 2016 The Goat released its first console title, a satirical intergalactic adventure game called Her Majesty’s SPIFFING, tasking players with establishing a new, Galactic British Empire! The game was a recipient of TIGA’s 2017 Creativity and Heritage Award. Recently, they produced Supermarket Shriek, a light-hearted shopping (kart) racer available on Xbox One, PS4, Switch and PC featured by Xbox during their 2019 E3 stage show and was available on Xbox Game Pass until the end of 2020, when it was then released through distributer PQube on other platforms.

TEAM

William Barr, Project Lead

Paul Kelly, Programmer

Mark Skelton, Programmer 

For more information on BillyGoat Entertainment visit: https://billygoat.tv/index.html

This project is funded by Future Screens NI Research & Development Award.