Chapter Meeting

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

Today Southern California is one of the game industry's largest hubs. What about tomorrow, next year, or ten years from now? Local game industry developers outsource more and more work to other states and countries due to powerful incentive programs promoting those locations. Aggressive recruitment efforts are drawing our best and brightest elsewhere. All of which raises a basic question. Is there anything we can do about it?

Can we incentivize local companies to hire locally? Can we give out-of-state and foreign companies incentives to outsource their work here? Can local municipalities craft incentives that make financial sense to both industry and government? Can we create a California Game Industry Incentive Program?

Let’s find out. Join the discussion on May 26th in Glendale.

NOTE: This event is expected to draw a large crowd. Please RSVP to guarantee admission.

The Program

5:30pm: Cocktails & Conversation

6pm: Introducing the Game Industry

mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">IGDA Los Angeles & the City of Glendale invite you to a font-family:Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> conversation between business and government:

If you have any questions about our meeting on Saturday, April 2nd 2011, please contact the leadership at philly (at) igda (dot) org.

Meeting Notes 04/02/11

Summary:
4:45-5:15 :: Socializing

 IGDA LA Spring Fling

Thursday, April 14
7pm – 10pm

 If you have any questions or comments about the October 2010 Chapter Meeting, please do not hesitate to ask the Chapter Leadership at philly @ igda (dot) org

This time we had a less formal and more fun roundtable style meeting.  We discussed as a community the topic of Tools and Work Pipelines.  We got some great feedback and ideas on ways to improve productivity in your daily workflow.  I, Josh Jones, moderated the discussion and presented some of the various methodologies for discussion of pros and cons and we all enjoyed some time sharing our thoughts and experiences.

This meeting was graciously hosted by EA Salt Lake and their new studio downtown.  Thank you!!

If you have any feedback, comments or questions regarding the August 7, 2010 Chapter meeting, do not hesitate to contact the Chapter Leadership via email @ philly(at)igda(dot)org

4:45 - 5:15 Pizza and Soda

5:15 - 5:25 Chapter News and Announcements
* Grant goes over what Leadership has been up to
* We have scheduled meetings until the end of the year. Next meeting is 09/11/10

5:25-5:35 Around the World Introductions
* Everyone introduces themselves. We have an impressive student turnout, with students from Drexel, UPenn, Camden County, and Montgomery County, and several future Digipen students.

5:35 - 6:35 Post-Mortem by Cipher Prime!
Speakers: Will Stallwood, Dain Saint

* The time line of game creation
*Took two years, minus a 6 mo break where the concept was lost

* Initial concept idea vs end result
*Initial sound idea became a very interesting sound generation tool

Come join us at the IGDA-LA May chapter meeting on Thursday, May 13th from 6:30pm to 9:00pm in Santa Monica (see below for details)!

The Los Angeles chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA-LA) invites you to join the local game development community on the second Thursday of each month to explore current industry topics, connect with professional peers, and foster the advancement of the game industry.

This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP at: http://bit.ly/dpk8du

Panel Topic for May
*God of War III*: Developer Roundtable

Indie Night was a great success, hearing all the postmortems and seeing all the great demos was a blast!  Not to mention finally giving out all the t-shirts.  There are still some extras so we will plan on having those at GEEX to give out to the first N people that sign up for the Game-in-a-Day event there.

Reminder: SLGDRT meeting is Thursday this week.  Info should be in your email.  Email Ryan <ryanbutcherart@gmail.com> with any questions.

Last chapter meeting saw an excellent GDC-level quality presentation by Ben Bell.  Ben talked to us about producing the sequel Sims 3 and various stories such as team building, player types (listen to your players!), setting design pillars, firefighters, prototyping, and the need for all of us to sometimes, "have more fun" in what we do. 

The meeting was well attended, about 20 people again, graciously hosted by EA Salt Lake. 

Obsidian Entertainment hosted a capacity crowd at the February chapter meeting for the OC IGDA, with 140+ local developers and students  turning out for a highly entertaining panel discussion on the topic of "Creative Writing in Video Games."

I'm sorry to have to do this, but I'm going to cancel our meeting tonight because I don't want people risking life and limb to get to GB which itself might even be closed.  Since the roads are already pretty bad and we anticipate getting up to another 9 inches, let's hold off on this meeting.  The venue has served us well for the past 5 months but given the growth of our chapter and its forays into other activities (like the Global Game Jam), we are reconsidering our meeting strategy.  Look for another meeting to occur at GMU later this month, the date of which will likely set the course for the coming months' meeting schedules.

We invite you to join us for the IGDA Orange County February Chapter meeting with a fun evening hosted at Obsidian Entertainment to discuss creative writing in video games. 

With a distinguished panel, we'll engage in a moderated discussion looking at story formulas, analyzing storylines versus game-play and the challenges between linear and non-linear stories in games.

Panel:

* Chris Avellone, Creative Director, Obsidian Entertainment
* John Gonzalez, Lead Creative Designer, Obsidian Entertainment

Los Angeles activities for IGDA members got a reboot recently, kicking off 2010 with a panel that took a look at the future of casual game market, estimated to be worth over $13.5 billion in 2010.  More than 100 local members of the community turned out to network and find out!

Tonight was a well-attended lecture by Eric Brown, past GDC speaker and local programmer and physicist.  The presentation went smoothly and EA Salt Lake provided refreshments which were enjoyed by all.  Attendance was about 25 people representing about 5 studios.  Special thanks to EA for graciously hosting!

Join us for our November chapter meeting hosted at Ready at Dawn Studios.   The evening will focus on a round table discussion regarding Audio Design in Video Games Today and in the Future.  Our panel includes a great list of music composers and audio designers within the industry.

Join us in October for our monthly IGDA chapter meeting. During this meeting we will be discussing the next steps for formalizing and establishing our group as an official chapter with the IGDA.

We are also extremely excited to announce our topic and special guest speaker. This month we will welcome Obsidian Entertainment CEO, Feargus Urquhart as he discusses with us Contracts within the gaming industry.

Join us for a great topic and to support the continued growth and direction of IGDA Orange County.

DATE

When: Tuesday, April 28, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Where: Buckhead Saloon (map)
What: Triangle Game Conference Kickoff
Who: Conference partners, game industry professionals, anyone interested in making games
Host & Sponsor: Triangle Game Conference (and more TBA)
Age: 18 and up
Cost: Free