June Meeting - 2nd Triangle Game Jam Recap 6/12/08

We look forward to seeing all of you who were able to register for the June IGDA event before we reached our attendance cap. The program will be a postmortem on the second annual Triangle Game Jam. For a sneak peak, check out this blog post.

Thanks again to CED's TECH 2008 for sponsoring the event. Given the conference's special focus on game development and game technology, CED has been kind enough to offer a discount to Triangle IGDA members. Simply enter promo code 7561 with your registration.

Also, be sure to stop by the Better Moves booth on Thursday, and say hello to Allison Harris. Real estate firm HPW is providing some great relocation benefits to help with the Triangle game industry's recruitment efforts. Click here to visit the program that has been customized for our IGDA chapter.

Registration for June Event Now Open6/5/08

When: Thursday, June 19, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Where: Council for Entrepreneurial Development
Host & Sponsor: CED's TECH 2008 (18th Annual Tech Conference)
Who: Game developers and anyone interested in making games
Age: 21 and up
Cost: Free

We are now taking registrations for the next Triangle IGDA meeting, which will be held at CED's headquarters in RTP. Space is limited for this event, so RSVPs are required for entry. Program details are on the way!

CED Entrepreneurship Center
Alexandria Technology Center
100 Capitola Dr., Suite 101
Durham, NC 27713

Click the map symbol for location:

June Meeting5/17/08

The Triangle IGDA is still alive and kicking. Several developments are taking shape behind the scenes: 1) The international organization is formalizing chapters (we'll explain what this means at the next get together), 2) this web site is getting a facelift, 3) we are making progress with the Triangle Game Initiative, and 4) the next meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, June 19th. We will start taking RSVPs for this event soon. Stay tuned for details.

January Meeting 1/8/08

January 2008 IGDA Meeting
When: Thursday, January 24, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Where: Emergent Game Technologies
Who: Game developers and anyone interested in making games
Cost: FREE

TRACK A: Going Online with Emergent's Shared Entity and Simulator Framework
Darrin West, Chief Engineer, Emergent Game Technologies
Emergent's local engineering group is well known for its Gamebryo product, and Emergent's server team has been developing distributed systems technology for future products.  Darrin West, Emergent's server architect, will talk about a few interesting aspects of Emergent's shared entity and simulator framework.

West is Chief Engineer and Server Lead with Emergent Game Technologies, building a multi-genre, ala carte, online game server system.  He received his M.Sc. degree from the University of Calgary, Canada. After 10 years of research in parallel simulation and distributed systems (including significant contributions to the DoD’s HLA, and RTI), Darrin jumped into massive scale online games. He then had a 5 year stint at EA mainly on The Sims Online before joining Emergent. Darrin is passionate about making it possible to build high quality games more rapidly, less expensively, and without the pain.

TRACK B: Next-Gen Narrative Design
Rafael Chandler, Creative Director, Media Sunshine
This lecture, originally presented at the 2007 Russian Game Developers Conference in Moscow, presents the process of writing a video game. Subjects covered include story creation, character development, writing dialogue, team interaction, scheduling, documentation, asset integration, and testing.

Chandler is currently writing a number of unannounced games for Zipper Interactive and Slant Six Games. Prior to that, he worked as a writer/designer on the Tom Clancy games at Red Storm. His most recent titles include SOCOM: Confrontation, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Rainbow Six: Lockdown, and Ghost Recon 2. He's also the author of The Game Writing Handbook, which is a finalist for the 2007 Game Developer Front Line Awards.

Sessions will run concurrently, and we'll have a door prize raffle at the end of the meeting.

Location:
Emergent Game Technologies
6320 Quadrangle Drive, Suite 210
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Directions via Google Map

November Meeting 11/19/07

"Leadership Lab" & "Character Development"
When: Thursday, November 29, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Where: Destineer Studios
Who: Game developers and anyone interested in making games
Cost: FREE

Track A. "Leadership Lab" by John Farnsworth (Destineer) - The Triangle IGDA is honored to have John present his talk that was created for the inaugural IGDA Leadership Forum held earlier this month in San Francisco.

Track B. "Character Development" by Chris Wells (Epic) - Yet another first-rate presentation, the chapter is very pleased for Chris to share this lecture that has been making the rounds worldwide via Autodesk's Games Super User Tour. Chris will discuss real-world processes for next-gen character creation and time-saving tricks used by Epic.

About John Farnsworth
John’s military career led into the game industry. While stationed in California, John had a chance to give a tour of the base to Tom Clancy & Doug Littlejohns. They were building Red Storm Entertainment, and the meeting led to his joining the company. After that, he worked for IBM on product development. John now serves as Studio Director at Destineer Studios, leading varied projects including game development, military simulation and training.

About Chris Wells
Chris has been a character artist at Epic Games for two years, working most recently on Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War. He has more than eight years experience in the games industry, starting at Ubisoft's Red Storm Entertainment working on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and the Rainbow Six series, and also at Ubisoft Paris.

Location:
Destineer Studios
4000 Westchase Blvd., Suite 400
Raleigh, NC 27607
Directions with Google Maps

Career Fair! 11/9/07

Video Game Technology Showcase & Career Fair
When: Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007
Where: One Eleven Place, 111 Realtors Way, Cary
Time: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.  (social hour from 3-5 p.m.)
Cost: FREE

Please join us for the first-ever Video Game Technology Showcase and Career Fair.  The region’s top video game companies are coming together to offer a first-hand look at the technologies that are driving the future of digital entertainment worldwide.  These studios are also recruiting to fill more than 100 positions in technical, marketing and sales departments.  The Triangle’s video game community is experiencing robust growth, in part due to the unprecedented collaboration between private sector companies and the region’s internationally-acclaimed universities.  Also driving its growth is the Triangle’s central location between the West Coast’s entertainment industry and Europe’s thriving digital media enterprises. 

Visit the Triangle Game Initiative web site.

June IGDA Event 7/15/07

The results show for the inaugural Triangle Game Jam was a huge success with over 200 in attendance. Thanks to event sponsors Altruent Systems and Gamepal.com. Door prize sponsors were Course Technology PTR/Charles River Media and New Riders/Peachpit Press.

April IGDA Event 5/6/07

The April IGDA event was a huge success with over 150 people in attendance for the second meeting in a row. Big thanks to the School of Communication Arts and CDV Software Entertainment USA for hosting and sponsoring the "Breaking into the Game Industry" panel. Also, thanks to our speakers Mike Capps, Eric Peterson and Chris Roby, moderator Rafael Chandler, photographer Kert Henderson and door prize sponsors Course Technology PTR/Charles River Media and New Riders/Peachpit Press.

February Meeting2/22/07

The February IGDA meeting was a smashing success. Thanks to Vicious Cycle, Inc. and Kings Barcade for sponsoring the event.

Goldsboro Gaming Expo1/27/07

The G2 Expo raised the bar for local game expos. There were class throughout the afternoon for game develpers, game tournaments upstairs for the local hardcore gamers, and any of the regional colleges with computer game curriculae had a spot on the main expo floor. To read people's comments regarding the show, you can navigate to their forum.

Goldsboro Gaming Expo Announcement12/08/06

Mark your calendars: On January 27, 2007, Wayne Community College will be hosting a gaming expo. Fully funded and organized by the Gamma Chi chapter of Phi Beta Lambda, it will feature companies and colleges from around the central and east North Carolina Region. For more information, please navigate on over to g2expo.com

"space renegades: the series" released 12/08/06

Space Renegades: The Series combines ‘Space Renegades 1’ and ‘Space Renegades 2: Ulitmatum’.   By packaging these games together United Minds Games offers players hours of gameplay at an amazing low cost! But don’t expect this game to be easy, it offers players 4 levels of difficulty along with tons of upgradable weapons, shields, and much more! more...

november 2006 website rebirth 11/22/06

We have finally launched the new website today. We hope you like it and invite discussion and critique regarding its design and organization. See you on the forums!

new kid on the block 11/22/06

Please welcome a new company to our community: Durham-based United Minds Games. United Minds Games is headed up by owner and lead programmer Kevin Epps and specializes in 2D games. Their first game, Space Renegades, is due out in early December. Their goal is to move into the serious games industry within a few years. Welcome, Kevin & crew.

october 2006 igda meeting 11/22/06

The October 2006 IGDA meeting took place at EVOO, a restaurant in Raleigh whose name is an acronym for "extra virgin olive oil," and whose menu can only be described as "eclectic." more...

august 2006 igda meeting

Thanks to ClearImage and Emergent Game Technologies for sponsoring our August meeting at the Hiberian Pub in downtown Raleigh. more...