Creative Bloq Awards - London

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Nice empty train :-)

 Laura was nice and got up early to get Nathan and me to the station in time for our train to London. We went on London Midland - a slower but cheaper train! I like being on a train and find this so much more relaxing than the business people-full speeding trains of Virgin. There was lots of room, we got a table and it was all very nice. I could savour my hot chocolate and had time to read all my newspaper and do the crossword!



Seems a bit harsh. I put 50p in!

We arrived in the Capital just before 12 noon. In time for lunch!! Nathan took me to a pub, The Phoenix that he had discovered with his friend Martin. He said the food was great - so we thought we wold give it a go. It is also the place where Mitch Benn  holds his Distraction Club nights (if you are a fan of his - he is regularly heard on The Now Show on Radio 4)

We could tell it was a place of comedy - by the many signs around the place. We ordered food and Nathan got out the laptop we'd brought because he was having a bit of a panic that Interference wasn't working properly just as the judges could be looking at it! There didn't seem to be much activity on the game - but he had a look and all seemed to be well.

So we could settle down to enjoy our meal. I had half a chicken with red wine gravy and chips - very tasty! Nathan had some of their famous barbecued "pulled pork". I tried a bit and it was delicious!

Something a bit different I suppose!



Nathan makes music at the Science Museum

We had the afternoon to ourselves as the Awards Ceremony didn't start until 6.30pm. We had decided to go and visit the Science Museum as we had seen on the news that they had a new exhibit of a Bionic Man. A robot that was made up of all the best and latest technology in replacement body parts. The place was pretty busy - lots of school parties with excited children. It was good to see them enjoying science. We enjoyed it ourselves. There was some kind of Google Lab - where you could had to get a tag from the machine as you went in and then you could try different experiments and record the results on your tag. Then, when you get home you can have a look at what you produced - video, sound or pictures just using a webcam and your PC. There were musical instruments played remotely from a screen - some were being played over the web from all over the world. There was constant music in the room. You could compose a sequence yourself and record it - and put it on your tag.

A good likeness do you think?

 

My favourite part was  where you could be drawn  by a robot! You had to have your photo taken, then the computer turned it into a line drawing then a robotic arm drew your portrait in the sand. I managed to get a photo of mine before it as wiped and it started to draw the next one.

We did find the bionic man eventually - but they would not allow us to take photos. It did look amazing - we decided we must watch the C4 documentary about it - so we can see it in action rather than just in a glass case.

This one is better :-)

Nathan in sand

By the time we'd seen all this it was going dark outside and I was ready for a sit down! We decided to get over to Shoreditch, where Modern Jago is situated, then find a nice pub to have a drink and a rest before the awards ceremony at 6.30pm.

Happily there was a Brew Dog bar just round the corner! Brew Dog are a Scottish brewery and I think they hold some kind of record for the strongest beer in the world! It was called The End of History and is 55% and comes served from a stuffed squirrel. Aaaaanyway - we didn't have that as we didn't want to turn up to this event already wasted!

N tried some Trashy Blond (no comments please!) and I was offered several tasters before I found one I could actually drink. The first taster was Pineapple Sour" which was way too sharp to drink without stripping off your stomach lining, then I tasted some raspberry beer - far too hoppy and bitter. I eventually settled on a light-coloured ale that tasted of apples and cinnamon. That's the only problem with this bar - it only served beer!


It was raining as we set off up the road to find Modern Jago. I think I mentioned in a previous blog that it is situated inside an old school. It is beautiful inside - you can tell designers work here!

Magical Modern Jago

 It was nice to see that we were on the list - so they let us in! We left our coats in the cloakroom and headed over to the bar as directed by the lovely Marsha who welcomed us in thee. She works for Future Publishing - the hosts of the awards.

N had a beer and I had a white wine - all free. Waitresses were circulating with canapés. The micro fish and chips and burgers were lovely - and so were the smoked salmon ones and the spicy hot crackers. Not sure what was on those!

We met Richard again. he was the really nice guy who made the Font Picker app. He was also on the shortlist! It was nice to see him and catch-up with what he'd been doing since we saw him back in October at the Windows 8 Launch.


They are projecting our tweets!

It wasn't long before the old school bell was rung and everyone's attention was focussed on the stage where representatives from Microsoft and Future Publishing were going to announce the 10 finalists.

We held our breath as three winners were announced - then we heard the word INTERFERENCE and Nathan was called up onto the stage to receive his prize! I can't remember what they said that they liked about the game - but I am sure that they had said they were recording the ceremony. When they send us the link I will post it on this blog. Also Richard won too - with his Font Picker! The judges said that it was "indispensable for every designer"

Although we didn't win the Grand Prize - we were very happy to be a Top 10 App as N has put so much time and work into this game. We have more than 13,000 players now and some amazing artists! Even if you don't want to play - have a look at some of the pictures being produced - in just 10 minutes!! We have a great community on there too - from all over the world.


 Nathan has won a Lumia 920 phone, an Ultrabook laptop and a Windows 8 Tablet. Not sure exactly which ones until they arrive!

They will all help him develop the game for other platforms. Very useful for the business :-)

Nathan won!!

 After that it was party time! Nathan was interviewed by Future - they are also going to put the interviews onto their website. Also a really nice, very enthusiastic guy called Andrew came to find us to ask us all about Interference

He works for Microsoft and said that he was so happy that a game had won. It was the only one! He wants to keep in contact with Nathan and do all he can to help with promotion of the game and getting out to a wider audience.

That was the best prize!

( I loved the way he was describing our spare bedroom as an "Indie Studio" )

So we enjoyed a little more /beer/wine and some tiny chocolate brownies covered in glitter and then got the bus through rainy London over to Stoke Newington where the lovely Heidi and Si live. They had offered to put us up for the night. We took beer and Maltesers and continued to celebrate! Well, N and Si celebrated by playing Call of Duty Black Ops.

It had been a very good day :-)

 

Waiting for the Announcement

Nathan interviewed by Future Publishing



The Prizes are in the post.... :-)