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!
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/
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.
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
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
Every scientific experiment goes smoother with the addition of beer.
As an experiment, we’ve expanded our number of meetings for the month including having two pub socials a month instead of just the one. These “Fernwood Relaxathons”, as they’ve been dubbed, are scheduled for the second and fourth Saturdays of each month and take place at the Fernwood Inn. We’re also looking into having a second more formal meeting that will essentially be a repeat of our official monthly meeting on the first Monday of the month. This would fall on the third Monday of each month, however we currently don’t have a venue for this meeting, so feel free to send us any suggestions.
It all may seem a bit confusing, but if you subscribe to this blog (via the widget in the right hand menu) we’ll be posting email reminders for each meeting beforehand. Or you can sign up to the IGDA Victoria Chapter Mailing List. Or you can keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus accounts. There are some many options, it’s not funny. Okay, maybe it’s a little funny.
Anyway, this is a reminder of the second May Fernwood Relaxathon coming this Saturday. Come on out, be geeky, and talk games with the rest of the Victoria Game development community. Hope to see you there!
When:
Saturday, May 26th, 2012, 2:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Where:
1302 Gladstone Ave., Victoria, BC
On the patio, if the reservation sticks!
Phone: (250) 412-2001
Website: http://www.fernwoodinn.com/
RSVP:
Arrangements are being made to have a small cadre of cavemen and police officers come sing to us while playing a stone piano.
This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for May taking place on this coming Monday evening. This month’s meeting falls on our 2nd Anniversary: that’s two years of local game creators getting together, sharing projects, stories, and techniques, and having a blast while we do it. We’ve grown a lot over the last couple years, and there’s no sign to that ending anytime soon. Congratulations Victoria! Keep on rocking!
Speaking of rocking, last night’s showing of Indie Game: The Movie was a big success and the thought-provoking documentary will no doubt be a big topic of conversation at the meeting on Monday. Thanks to everyone who braved the wilds of Langford to attend.
As always, everyone is welcome to bring any projects that they’ve been working on to share with the rest of the group on Monday.
Details:
Monday, May 7th
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
Filmmakers Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky rocking the Atari old-school.
This week, a fascinating new documentary about independent game creators called Indie Game: The Movie comes to the Victoria area as part of the Hot Docs series. Created by two first-time filmmakers from Winnipeg, Indie Game won an award at Sundance and is the talk of game developers across the world. And! There will be a Q&A with the filmmakers afterwards. It is your duty as a gamer/game creator to go and see Indie Game: The Movie on Thursday night!
Movie description from the website:
“With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of struggling independent artist: the indie game designer. Refusing to toil for major developers, these innovators independently conceive, design, and program their distinctly personal games in the hope that they, too, may find success.
After two years of painstaking work, designer Edmund McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes await the release of their first major game for Xbox, Super Meat Boy—the adventures of a skinless boy in search of his girlfriend, who is made of bandages. At PAX, a major video-game expo, developer Phil Fish unveils his highly anticipated, four-years-in-the-making FEZ. Jonathan Blow considers beginning a new game after creating Braid, one of the highest-rated games of all time.
First-time filmmaking duo Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky capture the emotional journey of these meticulously obsessive artists who devote their lives to their interactive art. Four developers, three games, and one ultimate goal— to express oneself through a video game.
-Sundance Film Festival
Feature Documentary, 96 mins”
Remember: Tickets MUST BE PURCHASED ONLINE before the show, and are limited in quantity!
Purchase tickets here. More details available on the Meet-up event linked below.
When:
Thursday, May 3rd – 6:00 PM
Where:
Cineplex Odeon Westshore Cinemas
900 2945 Jacklin Rd
Langford BC, V9B 5E3
(250) 474-1007
Meet-up Event:
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