Tag

local developers

May 04
0

May Monthly Meeting: Happy Anniversary!

By | General, Local News, Meetings | No Comments

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

Mar 28
0

April Monthly Meeting featuring Andy Moore on Rapid Game Prototyping

By | General, Meetings, Presentations | No Comments

Apparently it involves massive quantities of energy drinks... and a soul full of rage!

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for April taking place on this coming Monday evening. This month’s meeting features a talk by Andy Moore of Radial Games. From the Meetup description:

“Rapid prototyping, high-speed development, pivoting, and best of all… working examples of how I’ve executed a few dozen games since new years, experimented with new tech, and making some breakthrough design decisions. I’ll talk about the tools I use to deliver prototypes so quickly, from the IDE down to the project-management and collaboration tools. If you want to learn how to make things quicker, come on down and take a listen!”

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 there will be lots of discussion about local goings on in the Victoria game development community.

Details:

Monday, April 2nd

The Collard Room – Swans Hotel and Brewpub

506 Pandora Avenue, Victoria, BC

Doors open at 4:30pm. Talk should start at about 5:15.

RSVP via the Meetup event: Show & Tell @ Swans

Mar 15
0

Mid-March Pub Social This Saturday

By | General, Meetings | No Comments

I'm not sure it's such a good idea to lead the lion to that tasty, tasty lamb.

Mid-March: half lion, half lamb. Would that be a liomb or a laon?

Anyway, this is a reminder of the Mid-Month Brewpub Social 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!

Note: Don’t worry if the meetup event is full, there should still be room for you. If not, grab a table in another part of the pub and start your own satellite Game Dev meeting! We’ll send delegates over to discuss strategic alliances.

When:

Saturday, March 17, 2012, 2:30 PM

Where:

350-B Bay Street

Victoria, BC

Phone: 250 380 0706

Website: http://www.moonunderwater.ca

RSVP:

Level Up meetup event

Feb 29
0

March Monthly Meeting: Home Alone from GDC

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Fun Fact: This game was developed by none other than Bethesda Softworks - the folks who brought us Fallout 3 and the Elder Scrolls games. Everyone's gotta start somewhere!

This is a reminder of the monthly meeting for March taking place on this coming Monday evening. This month’s meeting features all of us unfortunates who aren’t off having a wonderful time at GDC this year. Hopefully we won’t be attacked by burglars as we drown our sorrows. 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 there will be lots of discussion about local goings on in the Victoria game development community.

Details:

Monday, March 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

Feb 28
0

The Medium is the Message

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

Or massage. Whatever you like. Although that doesn't look like much of a massage to be honest.

Here at IGDA Victoria headquarters, we do everything we can to help the local game development community grow and flourish. A large part of that is keeping up the lines of communication between the game creators and this organization. We do this primarily through this website/blog, and through various social media including Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

One of the new things that we’re starting is a mailing list through Google Groups. The IGDA Victoria Chapter Mailing List is your source for essential news and event announcements. It will consist only of meeting and event notices and other basic chapter related news emailed to you with the goal of not cluttering up your in-box.

One other thing that we’re working on is a member survey. We want to get everyone’s feedback on what they’re interested in seeing happen with the group so that we can try to accommodate people’s interests and goals. Sign up to the mailing list and stay tuned for an announcement about the survey in the near future. Let your voice be heard!

Jan 24
0

All You Ever Wanted To Know About Jam (But Were Afraid To Ask)

By | Events, Local News | No Comments

This is what happens to the human body when deprived of Jam. Frightening!

With the Global Game Jam rapidly approaching (this Friday, people!) I thought that I would share a couple things that you might find useful. First up is this slick trailer for the event itself:

 

Next we have a couple articles with useful tips from independent game studio Convict Interactive all the way from Wollongong, Australia:

Tips for a game jam pt 1 – Before you arrive.

Tips for a game jam pt 2 – The first day

And check out this game for an example of what cool stuff can come out of Game Jams: Justin Smith’s Realistic Summer Sports Simulator. It was initially developed during OrcaJam 2011 right here in Victoria not 4 months ago.

If you haven’t already, you can register at the official Victoria site page of the Global Game Jam website. And sign up on the Global Game Jam 2012 / UVic GameDev presents… Minecraft! Facebook event page for up to the minute news.

See you all there!

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.