meeting report

A record-breaking 450+ members of the Montreal game community came to see the parade of awesome that was the DemoNight.

Jammed into the SAT for over 2hrs of demos from 17 Montreal-based studios and teams. The biggest of big console games were on display, like BioWare's Mass Effect 3, all the way to the other end of the spectrum with a showcase of the best games from the past weekend's Montreal Game Jam.

View the event announcement for a listing of the games demo'd. Video and photos to be posted soon.

The video of the Randy Pitchford's Duke Nukem Forever presentation is now available via our Vimeo account.

The video of the "chat" with Patrice Desilets is now available via our Vimeo account.

By Salvador Garcia-Martinez

On November the 22nd, we had a very interesting presentation by Patrice Désilets. More than a presentation, it was an interactive discussion with the audience.  Patrice shared his background, his experience as a game maker, his experience while taking his year off, and also answered all types of questions from the audience.

This year we moved to a new venue because the old one shut down.  The new venue seemed to work out great for us and everyone seemed to have a great time.  The poster art was really impressive too!  Overall there were about four studios represented, and about 20 people.  It was really nice seeing what React and Wahoo and Smart Bomb were working on; their newest offerings were very impressive!  We'd like to thank the volunteers that helped bring equipment and set up, and Legends for hosting!  A big Thank You goes to Wahoo Studios for providing so much great food for everyone!  Be sure to check out their games and support them: http://www.wahoo.com/ or http://www.ninjabee.com/  

In October 2011, IGDA-Montreal hosted the first roundtable discussion night of the season, with topics focused on funding, production methods, online tech and play testing.

About 80 local developers showed up to share and learn with their peers. The notes from the discussions are now available for download (150kb RTF file).

by Stephen Wark

We had a great turnout for Game Night this past Wednesday! For more pictures, check out our Facebook page. Stay tuned for details on our next meeting, coming soon!

Setting up Ramses Pyramid

What's game night without Munchkin?

Rock Band also made an appearance... sans drum sticks!

This time we had the opportunity to hear from out-of-state speaker and IGDA supervolunteer Sheri Rubin as she began her trek across the west coast.  This meeting was super well attended- over 50 people came to EA Salt Lake's offices and enjoyed refreshments and the great meeting room and hospitality EA Salt Lake provides.  A huge thanks to them for hosting!  Below is the speech outline for those who missed it.  

The video of Warren Spector's presentation on the making of Disney's Epic Mickey is now available via our Vimeo account.

To close off IGDA-Montreal's 2010-2011 season, over a hundred developers from around town gathered for a few drinks at the snazzy Cafe des Eclusiers. Set against the beautiful Old Port, and with warm weather, it was a great way to kick off summer in Montreal.

For more photos, check out the IGDA-Montreal Flickr photostream.

 The IGDA Baltimore Chapter would like to invite you to our next Chapter meeting. The meeting will take place on  mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">June 23rd, 7pm at Firaxis. Joel Gonzales, Game Developer at normal"> Riot Games will be the guest speaker. Food and drinks will NOT be provided. We suggest you arrive early around 6:45. No guest will be allowed in until 7pm.

By David S. Gallant

On a Thursday evening in Toronto, a journalist told an assembled group to “kill your babies” and everyone seemed to agree with her. No, this wasn't some infanticide advocacy group; this was IGDA Toronto's “Straight Outta TOJam: Pint-Sized Postmortems” event held at Metro Hall on June 9th, 2011. The event was organized to showcase a few of the stories and lessons learned during the recent Toronto Indie Game Jam.

If you have any feedback, comments or questions regarding the May 14th, 2011 Chapter Meeting, do not hesitate to contact the Chapter Leadership via email @ philly(at)igda(dot)org

4:45 - 5:15 Socializing
5:15 - 5:35 Announcements

If you have any feedback, comments or questions regarding the February 5th, 2011 Chapter meeting, do not hesitate to contact the Chapter Leadership via email @ philly(at)igda(dot)org

4:45 - 5:15 Socializing

Attached are the leadership meeting notes for 2011. 

The video of Kim Daniel Arthur's presentation on games as a service is now available via our Vimeo account.

Did you miss the Gala? See a video of the whole show here!

The Bell TIFF Lightbox hosted another star-studded event tonight. This time, the stars of Toronto's game development scene—indie and big ticket alike—came out to discuss their games and their studios. All that was missing was the red carpet (Note: for the next Gala, obtain a red carpet. Or at least a red shower curtain). For attendees, it was a great introduction to the local players in the industry.

This meeting was a casual gathering at Gecko's.  Attendance was light but once again the content was great!  Thanks to Shane Smit for the excellent postmortem on Cars 2!  We were all enlightened and given much to ponder about.  

It was a great night of ranting at IGDA Toronto's Inaugural Open Mic Night. Many, many topics were discussed, often with a great deal of profanity, and always with passion. Here are the 24 things we learned from last night:

1. “Narrative Dissonance” occurs when the in-game actions contradict the game's fiction. E.g. When the player character moves merrily along despite being showered with bullets, but is disabled by a single gunshot to the shoulder during a cutscene.

- Craig D. Adams

2. Coconuts have yet to be peer reviewed. - Mathew Kumar

Back in March 2011, IGDA-Montreal hosted the second roundtable discussion night of the season, with topics focused on art, design, production and business.

About 75 local developers showed up to share and learn with their peers. The notes from the discussions are now available for download (150kb RTF file). Sorry, for the delay ins compiling/posting them.

The video of Heather Alekson's presentation on the collaborative development of Dead Space 2 is now available via our Vimeo account.

By Jason MacIsaac

Another successful GDC is behind us. We’re all back home in Toronto, ready to get back to the serious business of fun. For those of us who unfortunately could not attend, prominent members of the Toronto game development community spoke tonight and tortured us—excuse me—enchanted us with tales of their experiences at GDC. The sessions, the talks, the parties, the swag, the people.

First up was Jim McGinley of Big Pants Games. Jim commented on the session he liked… and a few he didn't. He was impressed with the dev kits he saw, such as one by Qualcomm, which is meant to make augmented reality game design easier. Jim’s advice for people deciding which of the many sessions to attend? “Go to the design ones.” Jim says that the technical ones are usually too advanced or short to be really useful, but the design ones can be inspirational.

By Jason MacIsaac

Another successful GDC is behind us. We’re all back home in Toronto, ready to get back to the serious business of fun. For those of us who unfortunately could not attend, prominent members of the Toronto game development community spoke tonight and tortured us—excuse me—enchanted us with tales of their experiences at GDC. The sessions, the talks, the parties, the swag, the people.

First up was Jim McGinley of Big Pants Games. Jim commented on the session he liked… and a few he didn't. He was impressed with the dev kits he saw, such as one by Qualcomm, which is meant to make augmented reality game design easier. Jim’s advice for people deciding which of the many sessions to attend? “Go to the design ones.” Jim says that the technical ones are usually too advanced or short to be really useful, but the design ones can be inspirational.

At the February 2011 chapter event, about 250 developers met at the SAT to hear the story of a successful long-distance relationship. We all know it’s common knowledge that this kind of relationship never works; but Heather Alekson from Visceral Montreal was there to explain us how (with a bit of willingness and good management strategies) it is indeed possible to create a success like Dead Space 2 between so many different teams scattered all over the world.

THE CHANGES AT EA MONTREAL

The video of IGDA-Montreal's 10 year anniversary retrospective and panel discussion is now available via our Vimeo account.

By Derek Maninang

Love was in the air (for games that is) as the IGDA Toronto hosted their first event of 2011.  It was a speed dating style networking event straight out of the pages of Cupid’s handbook and the IGDA Toronto was there to make it happen! This event packed the room with over one hundred registered participants all eager to engage in a night of passionate networking.