Louisiana Digital Gaming Initiative
  • Home
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Executive Director's Page
    • Consultants
    • LDGI Staff
  • Membership
  • Services
    • Service Summary
    • Region Highlights
    • Project LUIGI
    • Louisiana Incentives & Programs
  • IGDA Chapters
    • Baton Rouge IGDA
    • Lafayette IGDA
  • More Info
    • Links
    • Documents
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Contact Us

Bayou Buzz: Shreveport Louisiana Digital Media Studio, Moonbot, Doing More With Less

8/16/2011

158 Comments

 
Picture

Louisiana Digital Gaming Initiative (LDGI) would like to welcome Moonbot Studios to the Louisiana's fast growing digital gaming industry. We are excited to see another talented group of people become successful in Louisiana and cannot wait to see what they produce. 

One animation firm from Shreveport is quickly proving that there is no requirement that a digital media firm reside in California or New York to be successful. Moonbot, led by William Joyce, world-wide recognized author, illustrator and leader in the digital animation world  is demonstrating that Shreveport possesses great talent and promise. One of Joyce’s and Moonbot’s productions, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,  is a beautifully created children’s story that has become adapted to the new world of IPad’s 

In fact, according to MediaBistro.com, “Following a glowing review in Fast Company, author and ex-Pixar character designer William Joyce has rocketed to top of Apple’s Top Grossing Book Apps list with the $4.99 interactive storybook, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.”   Bayoubuzz has recently sent questions to Joyce to discuss the Lessmore story, the app and why Shreveport and Louisiana are great venues to tell a story obout digital creativities.  Below are those questions and his responses:
  
Tell us about Mr. Morris Lessmore, what is it?

“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” is an animated short film and children’s story that we’ve recently turned into an iPad application. The narrative tells the story of a man who loses everything in a terrible storm and must set out on a quest to find happiness again. The app takes the form of a children’s book, in which readers can interact with Morris Lessmore as he journeys through an enchanted library where books come to life, through touch screen technology.  Some of the features include playing songs like “Pop Goes the Weasel” on the piano, solving puzzles, drawing on the pages of a book, rearranging words and phrases in alphabet soup – the app fully relies on the participation of the reader to tell the narrative of Morris Lessmore.

Why did you do it?

We wanted to create an interactive experience for readers of all ages. When we heard that Apple was coming out with the iPad, we knew this would be the perfect platform that would allow us to share our story, and that this type of technology would enable us to really make Morris come to life.

What is Moonbot?

Moonbot is a multimedia animation and storytelling studio based in Shreveport, LA. We turn stories into experiences. Our stories are designed to be not only read, but also taken in through all the senses. We extract the sub-narrative within a story and then figure out how to develop it across multiple mediums.

Why did you choose Shreveport, Louisiana, to locate Moonbot?

I’m a Shreveport native and always dreamt of creating a footprint in my own hometown. Shreveport is a unique place for a studio—down here, we can really percolate fresh ideas and do great things and evolve our processes outside of the pressures and influences often found in industry saturated markets. In addition, the city of Shreveport and the state of Louisiana have greatly influenced the work we do. Much of Morris Lessmore was inspired by the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the notion of rebuilding after everything is lost.

Where is the next technological stop for the world of digital animation?

Every medium comes with its own set of limitations, and whether the experience is interactive or film based the technology sometimes puts a ceiling on the idea.  We are working towards storytelling that is bigger than one medium and one technology.  Right now it's a conscious effort, but eventually it will become simple and automatic.

What do you think Louisiana might need to move forward and to be more competitive?

For the State of Louisiana to continue to move forward and create a robust creative industries economy, we need to capitalize on the momentum of these past few years.  It is imperative that the State maintain the stability of the tax incentive programs which began the trend of growth.  Going forward, these programs should focus specifically on Louisiana-based content providers and creators with the end goal directed toward long-term sustainability.  Training and education are key to not only the growth of these industries but to the inclusion of Louisiana’s next generations.  Louisiana has immense resources in the creative fields -- it is going to be imperative that the State creates the business foundation to exploit these resources at home rather than send them elsewhere to make their living.

158 Comments

From LED's Business Wire: GAMELOFT ANNOUNCE MAJOR NEW ORLEANS STUDIO

8/16/2011

139 Comments

 
Picture
Louisiana Digital Gaming Initiative (LDGI) is proud of the folks of LED, GNO Inc., and other regional partners in successful recruiting Gameloft Game Studio to Louisiana. We are happy to have another big win for digital media in Louisiana, and we also welcome the Gameloft folks to our state.

Mobile game publisher will hire nearly 150 for Louisiana digital game studio

Today, Gov. Bobby Jindal joined Gameloft S.A. executive Samir El Agili to announce the establishment of a major new game development studio in New Orleans by Gameloft, one of the world's largest publishers of digital and social games. Based in Paris, Gameloft will create 146 jobs during the next decade with jobs over time averaging more than $60,000 a year, plus benefits.

Louisiana Economic Development began active negotiations with Gameloft officials in New York in 2010; and in less than a year, the company selected Louisiana over multiple other locations. Louisiana's digital media tax credits initially interested Gameloft, and an effective talent recruitment strategy led by Louisiana FastStart™ helped finalize the deal. Gameloft operates more than two dozen studios worldwide and employs about 4,000 people in game development. The company gained recognition as the 2011 Developer of the Year for mobile games from PocketGamer, a U.K. publisher that tracks trends in the industry.

In its first year, Gameloft will hire 20 employees and has set a goal of publishing at least one shipped title created entirely by its local team in New Orleans. The company has yet to determine where its permanent studio in New Orleans will be, but it will open Oct. 1 in temporary space. By the second year, it will employ 53 skilled professionals in game development, and that number will grow to more than 100 by the fourth year.

To apply for Gameloft positions, job seekers should visit http://www.jobsinnola.com.

Read more about Gameloft's studio in Louisiana.


139 Comments

LDGI Welcomes It's Newest Member: Clint Mock, CPA as a Silver Member

8/9/2011

162 Comments

 
Picture
8/9/2010 - LDGI welcomes Clint Mock, CPA, as a silver member, and recommends his efforts to anyone that is filing for Digital Media Interactive Tax Credits. Clint specializes in digital media and entertainment incentive's. 

Clint D. Mock ,CPA, LLC is an Entertainment CPA firm that services, exclusively, Louisiana’s entertainment industry. These facets of “entertainment” include: Film, Digital Interactive Media, Live Performance, and Sound Recording. Louisiana offers a myriad of very generous tax incentives to these industries and requires an attestation from an independent , Louisiana CPA prior to the distribution of these tax credits. Clint D. Mock, CPA, LLC is very experienced in this field and prides itself on combining efficiency with effectiveness.

We stay up-to-date with the ever changing laws surrounding Digital Media and have built strong relationships with the Directors of the incentive programs offered by Louisiana Economic Development.

“We believe that the Digital Interactive Media industry is the future of Louisiana. The DIM tax credit
program greatly increases this probability and puts Louisiana at the most competitive advantage out ofany other state in the US” – Clint D. Mock, CPA

Picture
162 Comments

Louisiana's Article in Gamasutra (Louisiana Enhances Tax Credits For Game Developers)

8/5/2011

229 Comments

 
Louisiana Enhances Tax Credits For Game Developers 
by Kyle Orland (Gamasutra Article can be found here)

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has signed a bill enhancing the state's existing tax credit for game developers, potentially resulting in significant savings for game companies in the state.

The state's Digital Media Tax Credit will now offer benefits as a refundable credit, rather than a transferable credit, allowing eligible companies to obtain a cash rebate if the credits amount to more than their outstanding tax liability for the year. The law still offers a 25 percent tax credit on software production in the state -- including entertainment software -- and a 35 percent credit for Louisiana payroll taxes devoted to software development.

Louisiana lawmakers say the Digital Media tax credits -- first established in 2005 and expanded in 2009 -- have been instrumental in attracting companies such as EA, which recently announced it would be expanding its game testing presence facility on the LSU campus. "Louisiana's Digital Media Tax Credit is a strong asset to growing the industry and making the state a global competitor in video game development," Craig Hagen, senior director of government affairs for Electronic Arts, told Louisiana's KATC. "We look forward to working with Louisianans in this exciting endeavor."

French mobile publisher Gameloft recently began hiring for a studio in New Orleans, which will also be impacted by the tax credit.
229 Comments

    RSS Feed

    News Archives

    February 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

    Categories

    All
    3d
    Aie
    Art Contest
    Baton Rouge
    Benefit
    Black Ops
    Blue Dog George Rodrigue Aie
    Board Of Directors
    Bob Miller
    Brac
    Bradic Member Baton Rouge
    Bylaws
    Confrence
    Cpa
    Dax Allen
    Digital Animation
    Digital Media
    Digital Media Interactive Tax Credit
    Dim
    Director Of Business
    Downloads
    Education
    Entrepreneur
    Esa
    Fgs
    Firebrand Games Baton Rouge
    Future Genius Solutions
    Game Design
    Gameloft
    Game Production
    George Rodrigue
    Grfa
    Igda
    Incentive
    Incubator
    Jobs
    Lafayette
    Ldgi
    Led
    Leda
    Lista
    Louisiana
    Louisiana Technology Council
    Louisiana Technology Park
    Lsu Digital Media Talent Contest
    Ltc
    Ltp
    Manager
    Member
    Members
    Membership
    Midnight
    Modeling
    Moonbot
    Movevantage
    New Orleans
    News
    Om
    Opportunity Machine
    Project
    R&D
    Relocation
    Royce
    Services
    Silver
    Silver Member
    Startup Lesson Learned
    Startup Weekend Kaufman
    Talent
    Trcg Advisors
    Vgl
    Video Games


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.