Monthly Archives

December 2011

Dec 22
0

GameHouse Canada Steps Up Its Hiring Game

By | Careers, General, Local News, News | No Comments

Alex Mendelev, general manager of GameHouse Canada, takes a moment to reflect on one of his games. Photograph by: Darren Stone, timescolonist.com

You may have already seen the article in the Victoria Time Colonist or read their press release, but in a follow-up to the story I posted earlier in the month, it appears that GameHouse Canada is looking to hire even more people than originally mentioned. Now they’re talking about doubling their workforce by adding at least 20-25 employees. Along with Microsoft Studio Victoria’s goal of bringing on 50-60 people, we’re now looking at potentially over 80 new jobs for game creators in Victoria. Wow. Things are definitely looking up for the local game development community. At this rate, we may have to start holding IGDA Victoria meetings at the Memorial Arena.

Dec 16
0

Gaslamp Game Makes Top 10 on Gamasutra

By | General, Local News, News | No Comments

The secret of their success? It's all in the eyebrows, kids!

As an early Christmas gift for local indie developer Gaslamp Games, Gamasutra ranked their funny and entertaining dungeon crawler Dungeons of Dredmor #6 in Gamasutra’s Best Of 2011: Top 10 Indie Games. They’re in good company. The list includes many excellent indie games such as Atom Zombie Smasher and Frozen Synapse as well as fellow Canadian developers Capybara Games with their stylish release Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. Congratulations Gaslamp!

If you haven’t already, give Dungeons of Dredmor a try – it’s a blast. And don’t forget their just released expansion: Realm of the Diggle Gods.

Dec 15
0

Mid-Month Non-Denominational Holiday Brewpub Social!

By | Events, General, Meetings | No Comments

It might be easier to play that game without gloves on, Santa. Just sayin...

I thought a reminder might be in order for the IGDA Victoria Mid-Month Brewpub Social coming this Saturday. This month it transforms into the Mid-Month Non-Denominational Holiday Brewpub Social (or MMNDHBPS for short). Come on out and share some holiday cheer with the rest of the Victoria Game development community and dream about all the new games you might be getting. Hope to see you there, if not have a happy holiday of whatever variety you subscribe to!

When:

Saturday, December 17, 2011, 2:30 PM

Where:

350-B Bay Street

Victoria, BC

Phone: 250 380 0706

Website: http://www.moonunderwater.ca

RSVP:

Level Up meetup event

Dec 12
0

GameHouse Canada Looking for a Few Good Geeks

By | Careers, General, Local News | No Comments

And maybe someday you'll rock as much as this guy!

I just got the word that GameHouse Canada is hiring. GameHouse is one of our largest local game companies and a Platinum Sponsor of the Level Up/IGDA Victoria group, so if anyone in Victoria is looking for a good place to move forward with your game career, or if anyone outside of Victoria is looking for a reason to move here, you should definitely check them out. The job postings are located here on their Facebook Page. Myke Allen, who works as a Game Artist at GameHouse and is an all around good guy, was kind enough to pass on this information, so if you decide to apply, please mention his name.

Dec 03
0

December Monthly Meeting featuring Chris Tihor's ICIDS 2011 Highlights

By | General, Meetings, Presentations | No Comments

The frog kissing is finished for another year...

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for December taking place on this coming Monday evening. Continuing our Awesome Talks series, this month’s meeting features yours truly giving a presentation on the recently concluded International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS) 2011 in Vancouver. Specifically, I’ll be talking about the workshop I ran called Rummaging in the Geek Culture Toolbox, but I’ll also be open to any questions regarding the rest of the conference, and I’ll bring a printed copy of the proceedings for all to peruse. As always, everyone is welcome to bring any projects along that they’ve been working on to share with the rest of the group, and I’m sure that there will be lots of discussion about Microsoft’s recent announcement about Microsoft Studios Victoria.

See you there!

Details:

Monday, December 5th

The Collard Room – Swans Hotel and Brewpub

506 Pandora Avenue, Victoria, BC

Doors open at 4:30pm

RSVP via the Meetup event: Show & Tell @ Swans

Dec 02
0

Microsoft Brings the Game to Victoria

By | General, Local News, News | No Comments

The new home of Microsoft Studios Victoria. Nothing important was going on in there anyways.

As you may have already heard from various news sources, Microsoft is planning on opening a new game studio here in Victoria. Microsoft Studios Victoria will be opening in the new year and will be located in offices in the Dogwood building on the downtown waterfront. While some local game companies are wary of the new competition for local talent (Microsoft’s looking to hire 50-60 people), industry observers and post-secondary institutions are cheering the move, saying that it will mark Victoria as a viable location for other game companies to set up shop and lure new employees to the area from around the world. Regardless of which camp you belong, everyone has to agree that the Victoria game development industry is about to get a lot more interesting in the next year.