April 18, 2005

Following the Annual Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Game Symposium and Game Fest (where we had a table for the chapter), we had a meeting at the Java++ Cafe on the RPI campus. The topic of the meeting was discussing and planning future activities for the chapter.

May 19, 2004

At the final meeting of 2004 the Beta version of Toxic Space Chase was presented.

April 21, 2004

There was a discussion about impressions from GDC and the status of the Albany IGDA chapter and how to get members more involved. Next the Alpha version of Toxic Space Chase was shown.

March 17, 2004

Tim Stellmach and Rob Caminos presented their GDC talk on Cross Platform User Interface Development. Their presentation is available at Gamasutra here (you will need a free account to view it). The protoype of the chapter game project Toxic Space Chase was also presented.

February 18, 2004

The design document for the chapter game project was presented by Fredd Brewer. Discussion ensued about the design and tasks that need to be completed for next meeting.

January 21, 2004

The first meeting about the chapter game project. After an hour of discussion it was decided to make a simple action game reminiscent of 80s arcade games (particularly top down shooters). The May meeting is the planned completion date for this project.

November 19, 2003

The first anniversary of the Albany IGDA Chapter! Jez Sherlock and Tim Stellmach of Vicarious Visions faced off against two RPI students in a Video Game Trivia match. Tim and Jez also had a Q&A session about their beginnings in the game industry and other questions like the worst games they've worked on, their favorite games, and which game characters they see themselves as.

October 15, 2003

There was a presentation and discussion about summer internships in the game industry. Jonathan Mintz and Drew Marlowe spoke about working at Vicarious Visions, Brad Smith spoke about working at Maxis and Matt Richenburg spoke about working for Microsoft's XBox Games division.

April 9, 2003

Jez Sherlock, Console Engineering Manager for Vicarious Visions was the guest speaker at this meeting. His presentation was about how to become a game engineer and how he got into the business.

January 29, 2003

Lead Artist, Steve Derrick from Vicarious Visions was the guest speaker for the evening. Steve discussed the role of Art in game development; gave some insight into his own background, tips on portfolio preparation, and how to manage your career as an artist in the game industry.

November 14, 2002

The first meeting of the Albany Chapter. Game Designer Tim Stellmach (Lead Designer of Ultima Underworld, Thief and Thief II) from Vicarious Visions discussed philosophies on game design, his perspectives on the industry, and what it takes to be a succesful designer.