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IGDA Victoria

Member Survey

By | Chapter News, General, News | No Comments

Survey says… more cowbell!

Hi everyone,

Recently, we created a survey about Level UpIGDA Victoria in order to better focus our group and adjust it to the needs and preferences of our members. If you have a spare few minutes, please fill out the survey as completely as you can and submit it back to us soon. We’ll be reviewing the results of the survey in the next few weeks and be looking into making changes accordingly. We’d love to get everyone’s input so that we can make this into the kind of group that we can all be excited about and that best serves its members.

Member Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XRT9VY8

Thanks for your feedback!

Regards,

Chris Tihor (on behalf of the Level UpIGDA Victoria organization team)

The Main Event for November featuring Jordan Reed

By | Meetings | No Comments

Warning: Risk of Being Completely Blown Away

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for November taking place this Monday evening. As you can see, we’re now calling our monthly meetings “The Main Event” to let you know that this is the meeting you don’t want to miss. It will be the gathering that will feature guest speakers, panels, and whatever else we can arrange for your entertainment and illumination. So let’s get together and discuss the latest events in the industry, tales of going Indie and/or studio life, and game-play design, challenges, and solutions!

This month, as part of our Awesome Talks series, we will be featuring a talk by Jordan Reed, Producer at Freq Wave Studios and one of the hosts of Level Up Radio – our group’s own podcast on independent game development in the Pacific Northwest. Jordan will be talking about all things audio and specifically on producing audio for games. Come on out and give Jordan a warm welcome.

See you there!

Details:

Monday, November 5th

The Collard Room – Swans Hotel and Brewpub

506 Pandora Avenue, Victoria, BC

Doors open at 4:30pm

RSVP via the Meetup event: The Main Event

By | General | No Comments

Congratulations to IGDA Finland! Hopefully, this is the beginning of a trend towards closer ties between IGDA HQ and chapters across the planet.

Last Monthly Meeting Before Hallowe'en Featuring Dan Jacobsen!

By | General, Meetings, Presentations | No Comments

Nothing says Hallowe’en like a post-apocalyptic RPG themed Jack O’Lantern.

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for October taking place this Monday evening. Let’s get together and discuss the latest events in the industry, tales of going Indie and/or studio life, and game-play design, challenges, and solutions!

This month, as part of our Awesome Talks series, we will be featuring a talk by Daniel Jacobsen, CEO of Gaslamp Games – the creators of the fun and hilarious Dungeons of Dredmor and the much anticipated Clockwork Empires. Dan will be holding court, swishing a snifter of brandy while extolling us with tales of working for Gaslamp, relaying his experience of bringing Dredmor to Steam, and whatever else catches his fancy for the evening. It’s guaranteed to be an enjoyable and informative evening for all.

See you there!

Details:

Monday, October 1st

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

Update via the internets from Dan Jacobsen: His talk will be focusing on getting funding for games, something that should be of interest to all game creators of various levels. Of special interest to amateur game makers will be tips on how to level up to become professional game makers. Don’t miss it!

August Monthly Meeting – BC Day Long Weekend Edition!

By | Meetings, Presentations | No Comments

Whew! That sun sure looks hot! I bet you could use a nice cool beverage and someone to talk about game design with, eh?

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for August taking place this evening. Let’s get together and discuss the latest events in the industry, tales of going Indie and/or studio life, and game-play design, challenges, and solutions! Additionally, this week there will be a short talk by Chris Tihor on the IGDA Summit recently held in Seattle.

This is also a call out to anyone who may be attending PAX Dev and/or PAX Prime at the end of the month. We’re looking at putting together a panel of attendees for next month’s meeting to discuss the PAX experience, what game creators get out of it, and why you might wish to attend sometime. If you’re interested, please send us a note at IGDA Victoria or talk to myself or Andy Moore at one of the meetings. We’d love to have you!

Details:

Monday, August 6th

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

OrcaJam III Early Bird Tickets Gone After August 1st!

By | Chapter News, Events, General, Local News, News | No Comments

I like to think Diane Arbus would be photographing Game Jams if she were still alive…

OrcaJam III (or eye eye eye as I like to call it) is coming up fast. Even faster is the due date for the early bird tickets. Organizer Andy Moore recently sent out this message:

“We need to settle on TShirts and get them printed – and we need to order the catering – by August 1st. That means any signups AFTER August 1st become a pain in the butt. So:

If you purchase after August 1st, the ticket price will be higher and there will not be a TShirt for you at the event.

Please spread the word to anyone you know that was *considering* going. Tweet it, post to facebook, anything you can 🙂 I want to make sure nobody comes out disappointed!”

So sign up for OrcaJam before Thursday to get the lower rate *and* a nifty T-shirt! That’s a heckava deal. Share the good word with your friends! OrcaJam is always a good time, so everyone wins!

For more info on OrcaJam, check out the homepage at www.orcajam.com

To register, go here: OrcaJam registration

To visit LEVEL UP, go here: http://www.meetup.com/levelup/

Video Games: Not Just For Men Anymore

By | General | No Comments

Anita Sarkeesian thanking her project supporters. Many supported her Kickstarter project in a reaction against those who harassed her. Trolls lose again.

I listened to an interesting segment on the CBC Radio program The Current this morning featuring an interview with Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency. If you haven’t already heard what happened recently with Ms Sarkeesian and the backlash against her project to analyze the ways women are stereotyped in video games, than you will definitely want to give a listen to this episode. It’s a real eye-opener to the kind of behaviour that some people find acceptable towards women, especially women who would speak up against the sexism inherent to the games industry. This is the sort of thing that is holding back game development from becoming a mature art form and really needs to be addressed by the industry as a whole if we want to evolve.

The second part of the segment features a talk with Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, one of the founders of Silicon Sisters Interactive. They’re a Vancouver based game developer and they happen to be the first female owned and run video game studio in Canada. And they’re doing their part to address the imbalance in the game industry by focusing on creating games for women and girls while being exclusively staffed by women and girls.

The entire recording of the episode can be found on the CBC website at the following link: Women and Gaming: Smashing Stereotypes.

Tonight only! July Monthly Meeting – Canada Day Long Weekend Edition!

By | General, Meetings, Presentations | No Comments

Logo stolen from the Canadian Entertainment Software Association on account of said logo being pretty cool.

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for July taking place this evening. Let’s discuss the latest events in the industry, tales of going Indie and/or studio life, and game-play design, challenges, and solutions!

This is also a continued call out to all you crazy game-makers out there to consider stepping up and speaking at one of our meetings. I’ve met so many talented people at these gatherings and I’d love to have more of you get involved and give a short presentation on some aspect of game development that gets you excited. One of the things that makes game development so interesting is all the different disciplines that go into creating a game: programming, producing, design, sound, music, art, writing, the list goes on. If you do any of these activities in the act of creating games, we want you to talk to the group about it. Or if you have an idea for a talk you’d like to see, let us know. We may just be able to get it together for you. Please send us a note at IGDA Victoria or talk to myself or Andy Moore at one of the meetings. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Details:

Monday, July 2nd

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

June Monthly Meeting Reminder & Call For Speakers

By | General | No Comments

I personally find Mr. T to be very inspirational.

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for June taking place on this coming Monday evening. Let’s discuss the latest events in the industry, tales of going Indie, and game-play design, challenges, and solutions!

This is also a call out to all you crazy game-makers out there to consider stepping up and speaking at one of our meetings. I’ve met so many talented people at these gatherings and I’d love to have more of you get involved and give a short presentation on some aspect of game development that gets you excited. One of the things that makes game development so interesting is all the different disciplines that go into creating a game: programming, producing, design, sound, music, art, writing, the list goes on. If you do any of these activities in the act of creating games, we want you to talk to the group about it. Or if you have an idea for a talk you’d like to see, let us know. We may just be able to get it together for you. Please send us a note at IGDA Victoria. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Details:

Monday, June 4th

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