Events

It's the 6th annual Halloween Studio Crawl- the biggest social event for developers & students in the video game industry here in Pittsburgh!
Come in costume, mingle and network with other industry members, and hear about what's going on with local companies and organizations. 
This is a moving party- we start out at AlphaLab at 6:30 and move to Schell Games at 7:30ish.
Food & drinks provided. Bring your ID if you want to partake of the beer.

Sponsored by: Pittsburgh IGDA, Schell Games, AlphaLab

Map: http://g.co/maps/xkgyx

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:

LEEF is a professional development event where game designers and developers and learning professionals explore the evolving use of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning and performance.  In its third year, the forum is unique because it is small, experiential, social and affordable. If you are new to serious gaming, or looking for new environments where gaming is taking hold, LEEF convenes a diverse crowd and will present ideas and opportunities to help you break into this rapidly growing gaming genre.

LEEF has nationally recognized speakers and is refreshingly cutting edge, while still being practical and applied.  This year’s focus includes an introduction to the concept of gamification and how it will change the nature of learning and work.

In Talking Trash about Toy Story 3, RenderMan Technical Artist, Dylan Sisson, will reveal strategies he used to shade and light vast piles of technically challenging trash for the climactic scenes of Toy Story 3.

 IGDA LA Spring Fling

Thursday, April 14
7pm – 10pm

Thanks to everyone who attended this year's 4th Annual Gamers Give Back charity event, which was held in combination with the ETC's 2010 BVW Show. We were able to raise over $1570 in cash and in-kind donations for Genre's Kids with Cancer Fund, a great local charity that provides free gaming systems and other support services at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Highlights from the meeting:

Global Game Jam is approaching (Jan 28-30)

Please vote on our new Chapter Logo!

Presentation by Ben Walsh (now of Pure Bang Games) on casual and social game markets

Takeaways:  

Facebook is a large and convenient place to try out indie game ideas

These games can easily be monetized by allowing players to buy perks they would otherwise have to grind for

My Pet Rock = adorable

Don't forget out December meeting has been pushed to 12/11/10

Please see attached file for details.  If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at philly @ igda (dot) org

This year's Final Burn was at the  newly revamped Green Street.  The upstairs was sporting a couple new cabinets, but less TV's.  We had 4 studios demo and members from nearly every major studio (Disney/Avalanche, EA Salt Lake, Eat Sleep Play, Smart Bomb, Wahoo, and React) attend!  Most seemed to agree Disney's Toy Story 3 took home Utah Game Dev Choice award this year.  

Big thanks to Wahoo Studios and NinjaBee for sponsoring!  Please check out their Keflings games on XBLA and show your support for their high quality games!  

The following is a letter from Grant Shonkwiler, Chair, IGDA Philadelphia

It is with great difficulty and sadness that we must announce the postponement of the Philly Game Jam.  After discussion, the Chapter Leadership has decided not to hold it this year. We will be hosting the IGDA lead Global Game Jam in January and because that is right around the corner, we want to focus on that for now. The plan is to return the Philly Game Jam next year in either late spring (May) or early fall (September).

There are several reasons as to why we have made the decision to postpone:

1. Location -- Having looked at several spots and discussed it with a various people, the type of location we need isn't surfacing. Not having the location pushes off everything.

IGDA Philadelphia is pleased to announce that it will be holding its first Student Workshop on October 20th from 7-9pm in room 315 of Levine Hall at UPenn. The focus of this workshop will be preparing students for beginning their job hunt and working at their first jobs in the game industry.

Some of the things that this student workshop will include are:
-Industry professional accounts of breaking in
-Resume and Portfolio reviews.
-Discussions on Student Projects, Mod Teams, and other things to help find a job
-In depth Q&A Session with Industry professionals

This does not replacing any normal IGDA functions so we ask that you be a current student in order to attend this workshop. Any questions or suggestions can be sent to philly(at)igda(d0t)org.

Where:
Levine Hall: Room 315
UPenn Campus
3300 Walnut St.
Philadelphia, PA

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

 Ottawa's IGDA Chapter and Dirty Rectangles game collective proudly present the Ottawa Game Developers Social and BBQ.

On Saturday August 21st, IGDA and Dirty Rectangles welcome you to join us at Vincent Macy Park for an evening of hamburgers, sausages, and fine company. The barbecue will begin at 6pm with the social extending into the evening.

There are outdoor outlets available at Vincent Macy Park and we welcome anyone to bring laptop to show anything you might be working on. This event marks the 6 month anniversary of the Dirty Rectangles collective, as such they will be displaying some of the games created for there past events and competitions.

We hope to see you at this informal Ottawa Game Developers get together!

On Wednesday July 5th, 2010, the Philadelphia Chapter Leadership met for its monthly meeting.  Attached below are the full meeting notes. 

The next chapter meeting will be Saturday, August 7th (08/07/10).  Join us for a post-mortem from Cipher Prime on their latest project!

If you are interested in speaking at or sponsoring future events, please contact the leadership team at philly(at)igda(dot)org.

The September chapter meeting will be pushed to Saturday,  Sept 11th (09/11/10) to give everybody a chance to celebrate Labor Day (09/04/10) as they choose.  Please let us know if this is a problem by emailing the leadership team at philly(at)igda(dot)org.

And now, a note from our special guests, the IGDA NJ Chapter:

 Join the Pittsburgh IGDA this Saturday for miniature golf on Neville Island!

Some people have had trouble viewing the map of the park in the post below. Here is another link to the image: http://www.gamedesignkit.net/links/chillfest

Still having trouble? Head to the West end of Washington Park. From there, just walk directly east from E. Ohio Ave and follow the scent of burgers and hot dogs!

4 Days of Non-Stop Games and Concerts in Alexandria, VA (near DC)
Jan 1 - 4, 2010 (Fri - Mon)

Details at: magfest.org

Date: November 10th
Location: Bitheads Studio Theater - 1309 Carling Avenue
Time: Talk will begin at 7pm, people can gather at 6pm
This event is FREE admission.

Please RSVP to Jean-Sylvain [dot] Sormany [AT SIGN] polymtl [dot] ca

A2Central.com has a post about the Vintage Computer Festival East 5.0 - taking place on Saturday, September 13th, and Sunday the 14th at the InfoAge Science Center of Wall Township, New Jersey. Bill Loguidice also recommends the event, even though he can't make it.

Gamesniped notes that The Classic Console & Arcade Game Show, for collectors and game enthusiasts, is on in October in Ohio. If anyone happens to get some shots or wants to tell us about it if they go, please contact us, sounds interesting

The 2010 annual IGDA summer picnic is fast approaching. On June 26th hundreds of game developers and their families flock to Richard Garriott's lakeside property for a day of fun and sun. We'd like to thank the following sponsors: Following is a list of sponsorship levels. Our annual picnic is a rare opportunity for vendors to reach hundreds of game developers in a relaxed, social setting. Below is our current roster of sponsors and sponsorship levels:

From their page, they describe it thusly:

Retro Fusion has a little history.

Back in December 2005, The Retro Ball event was held in The Wardens cricket club in Kenilworth. Check out some pics in the Gallery area of the site. The event boasted over 15 pinball tables, 20 arcade cabinets and 30 Pachinkos. The event was graced by the likes of Archer Maclean, Philip and Andrew Oliver, David Whittaker and Jon Hare. Nearly 200 guests attended and £1k was raised for Cancer Research.

In September 2006, Retro Fusion::Weekend of Gaming hit the same venue again - allbeit in "Lite" version. Archer Maclean and Philip Oliver attended over the weekend along with 80 or so guests.

Fusion '08 has a new venue - Leamington Rugby footbal club. The capacity of the venue is 130 and tickets are now on sale ( All ticket sale money, bar venue costs, will go to the Everyman charity).

The weekend promises to be a gaming bonanza with arcade cabinets, networked XBOX 360's, pinball machines, a plethora of 'old' systems and games and a few retro celebrities to boot.

And when is this gonna happen - the 19th and 20th July 2008, that's when.

Via. IGDA Midlands chapter email.

Our first real presentation of 2008 will be a zinger! This next developer-only IGDA-Austin gathering will take place at the JJ Pickle Center.

April 30th, 6pm to 10pm
J.J. Pickle Center*
*J. Neils Thompson Commons Building*
10100 Burnet Road, Bldg 137, Austin, TX 78758
*Lil' Tex Auditorium and the Atrium
http://www.utexas.edu/commons/rooms/commonslayout.html

How to Run Your Company Into the Ground
*Perspectives in Synergistic Paradigms*
Running your company into the ground can be a difficult and daunting process for many, but there is hope in a few success stories that we can all learn from. Whether you are a budding entrepreneur or a grizzled veteran, there will be at least a few takeaways from this presentation to get you well on your way to running your own game development studio beyond the trenches and firmly into the ground with ten times the synergy of your average development paradigm. It's magically scrumalicious!

DISCLAIMER: The material in this presentation is a collection of input from various sources which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the messengers of this presentation, who like their jobs and appreciate being employed by their current bosses.

IGDA - October 23rd Meeting; Texas State Capitol, Room E2.012

By: Tracie Cook

It was a cold and stormy evening; too stormy for a SCRUM panel discussion some would have said…but they didn't, because it wasn't. It was actually a crisp, cool fall evening; perfect for a SCRUM panel.

Agenda for tonight's event:
6pm - Informal Discussion
7pm - SCRUM Best Practices

NOTE: This event is for professionals' only.

Driving directions after the cut.

Mike McShaffry's presentation slides from the February 28th meeting and GDC are available from his website:
http://www.mcshaffry.com/GameCode/attachment.php?attachmentid=137