Industry Night is put on monthly by the wonderful folks over at Chicago Game Developer Industry and is a fantastic social gathering for game developers of all disciplines. Enjoy!

Originally posted at Industry Night is May 28th on IGDA Chicago

Presently, High Voltage is working with Champaign-based Volition on Saints Row 4.

Originally posted at Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte on iOS on IGDA Chicago

The game currently has eight days left to raise funding and is presently approaching its $11,000 Stretch Goal of “Embarrassing Instrumental Demo Bonus Tracks on Soundtrack.”

Originally posted at Dog Sled Saga on IGDA Chicago

If you haven’t gotten to try it yet, the game is available for free on iTunes, Google Play, and the web. Don’t delay. You, too, could be challenging your friends to a strategic duel of words!

Originally posted at Word Off! on IGDA Chicago

They held a unique event at C2E2 in late April, called Drawing Dreams. For Drawing Dreams, they paired five local comic book and game artists with five children receiving treatment at Comer to create unique interpretations of the children’s visions of themselves as super heroes. Head here to see the children and artist’s submissions.

And just last weekend, they partnered with local comedians The Nerdologues for Cinco de Bilbo, combining Lord of the Rings-inspired sketch comedy with a sing-a-long style screening of the 1977 Rankin-Bass animated classic, The Hobbit. It was truly epic, and philanthropic to boot.

If any of this sounds interesting, and it should, you should consider checking out the Dweebutante Ball next weekend, on Sunday, May 12. The ball is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Chicago Game Lovers, a 1300+ gaggle of gamers and gaming enthusiasts. As you’d imagine, the all-afternoon+evening event features plenty of open (tabletop) gaming tables, along with a Costume Ball and the must-see Nerds Against Humanity, a unique improvisational comedy event co-created by Cards Against Humanity and The Nerdologues. Truly hilarious stuff. Tickets are $25, benefiting Chicago Loot Drop and Comer Children’s Hospital.

Originally posted at Chicago Loot Drop Helps Gamers do Good on IGDA Chicago

• Jared Steffes
• Shannon Steffes
• Eric Shofe
• Kevin Casper
• Nicholas Cassleman

Thank you Jared, Shannon, Eric, Kevin, and Nicholas for making the booth a friendly place to visit throughout the show.

Thank you, Jay Margalus, for obtaining and organizing the space we shared with a fantastic host of indies!

We appreciate everyone who stopped by to say hello and we hope to see you again soon!

Originally posted at Thank You, C2E2 Booth Volunteers! on IGDA Chicago

Starting today, any one should be able to go to their local Starbucks and pick up a card for a free download of the app on iTunes.

Crosswords Is Starbucks Free App Of The Week

Head to your favorite shop and support a local dev today!

Originally posted at Chicago Made Game, Crosswords, Is Free Starbucks App Of The Week! on IGDA Chicago

Indie City Games

Indie City Games is having their bimonthly meeting on Saturday the 20th of April from 1pm-4:30pm at Depaul.

C2E2

IGDA Chicago will be at C2E2, which takes place April 26-28th. Look for us at booth 810, among the booths of our fantastic local indies. Additionally, there will be three panels featuring local Chicago developers.

Industry Night

Industry Night is on Tuesday, April 30th from 7pm-11:30pm at Haymarket Pub & Brewery. It’s put on by our friends at Chicago Game Developer Industry.

Originally posted at Upcoming Events in April on IGDA Chicago

Here’s a preview of some of the panels we’ll be doing:

1. Building Your First Video Game: Have you ever wanted to build your own video game? Have you ever wanted to leanr what the first steps are? C2E2 is happy to get together some of the top game designers in Chicago to talk about what it takes to build a game from the ground up. Whether you are looking an independent or major game developer this panel will give you the tools to really know where to begin. We will be taking questions from the audience on game design, concept, and developing for the mobile market.
   
2. How do I get my Comic Book Character into a Video Game: Bringing together the best in Comic Books and Video Games this year at C2E2 we wanted to host a panel about getting your comic book characters into a video game. From design ideas, to buidlign games, to ways to talk with developers and publisher, this panel hopes to offer some guidance for game designers and comic book developers alike. The panelists are proven veterans from the game market who have worked on titles about superheores. We hope you walk away with some great ideas for games as well as new directions for your comic book characters!
3. Future of Gaming from Consoles to Online: C2E2 is bringing some of the top professionals in games to talk about the ever changing game market. From the switch to new consoles, to the rise in mobile gaming, these experts will outline what we will all be playing in the next decade. Also, the panel will focus on buying game vs. free to play and other changes coming to the market.

Get tickets to see video games at C2E2 here.

Originally posted at Chicago Video Games Hits C2E2 on IGDA Chicago

20 January 2013

Called to order at 10:21am and adjourned at 1:39pm.

Board Members in Attendance

Attended by Jay, Sheri, Neal, Jared and Heather in-person.
Absent board members: none

Old Business

Game Jam Panel

30-40 people, room packed.

Was really beneficial to students. Tons of great feedback.

Power Dinners

Wednesday the 23^rd, at Wideload, 9-10 game company execs, likely 2 of our board members to be present.

Discuss sponsorships, get ideas about who we can bring in for sponsors.

Get events ideas from studios, ask for support.

New Business

Budget Overview

2012 Final

We ended the year positive

Caution: more expenses next year as we transition to the chapter formally paying for Meetup and web hosting

We were off budget this year but it was the first year.

Board members should be sure to collect receipts for all expenses.

2013 Forecast

Planned for four sponsors throughout the year (Jared)

Planned for workshops

Charity mixer at the end of the year

Conference, Chicago Game Jam expenses, etc. based off last year.

Budgeted in board meetings, power dinners, etc.

To achieve this: get the workshops going, paid event every other month.

Motion to approve the budget made by Jay, seconded by Heather, unanimous.

2013 Events, first six months

January

Global Game Jam

Mentors: two types

• Scheduled mentors Saturday (come talk to these audio guys from 12-2) get help, etc.
• Friday Night mentors who go around and advise

Support GGJ

February

GGJ Play Party

Structure it so teams can demo their games, then open it up for people to play them after the presentations.

Educational content – Judges from GGJ, producers of studioheads give feedback

Ask execs at power dinner to come give critiques, offer to support a top game (space, mentorship, monthly progress meetings, etc)

Location: DePaul

Date: Thursday February 21

March

Avengers Alliance/OUYA

Avengers Alliance postmortem, OUYA gets 30 minutes of speaking

Location: 1871

Also in March: Game tourney for people not at GDC

April

C2E2 (Tech Week replacement)

Inc IGDA Chicago logo in brochures, website.

Event is shifting towards games. They would like to do panels with us, offered us an expo space for showing games (30 x 20)

Either C2E2 brings down costs or we look at sponsors to offset the costs.

Perhaps partner with similar groups/retailers/etc

Perhaps run a suburban event in April, as well, for those not going downtown for the conference.

May

Microsoft/Xbox

Would like to talk about devs bringing their games to the platform (Bizspark)

Sponsored event (30 minute presentation, possibly pair with a postmortem)

June

Taste of Chicago Games – Games Showcase

Picnic/showcase

Location: suburbs?

2013 second half:

• Late September / October – Chicago Game Jam
• December – Charity Mixer

More Ideas:

• Arcade event where past and present industry leaders in Chicago talk arcade biz
• Jared will talk to the Temple Run folks about possibly coming out for an event.
• Student event with classes for resumes, etc.

Working Group Status

Use Basecamp!

We should seek someone to be in charge of suburban events and take ownership of it (High Voltage.) We should address this at the next power dinner.

Originally posted at 1/20/13 Meeting Minutes on IGDA Chicago