Spooky Game Jam Midwest Post Mortem

Last week was the inaugural Spooky Game Jam Midwest!

Game developers of all abilities across the entire Midwest gathered online via Twitch, Discord, & itch.io to produce their own original games according to the jam's theme: NIGHTMARES.

The event began with a brief video introduction on Friday from IGDA Chicago Chair Ross A. Hersemann. Participants were given a run down of the jam rules and encouraged to make terrifying games that explored the unknown, the unexpected, and the unnerving. The task was simple: complete a spooky game entry by Sunday afternoon and submit it for evaluation and feedback from the jam organizers.

Inspired by folktales, superstitions, and their own haunting dreams, five teams of Midwest collaborators shared their gamified visions of what scares them the most. Five games were submitted” Thalassophobia, La Llorona, Maze of Music, Nightmare Mirror, & Silence Speaks.

Thalassophobia

This spooky entry takes its name from a Greek word meaning “fear of the sea.” Descend through the darkness of the ocean depths in this platformer that features evocative pixel art and darkness mechanics.

Kyle Lueptow: Coding and Design
Nasr Bin Safwan: Art King
Neil Quillen: Design, Music, and Sound
Andrea Moon: Music and audio
Boomer Scripps: Design

La Llorona

This spooky platformer was inspired by the Hispanic folktale of La Llorona, a ghost who wanders waterfront areas mourning her drowned children. The greyscale landscape is foreboding and you take control of a lost child.

Original art and music by Werner Mendizabal
Programming by Douglas Mendizabal and Werner Mendizabal

Maze of Music

The only 3D submission to Spooky Game Jam Midwest, this game’s creepy music is haunting and lingers even after the game is over!

Music and Sound Effects by Rene M Paccha & Austin Lim
Game Story by Rene M Paccha, Austin Lim, Keenan Morales, and Tim Corpus
Game Testing & Game Design by Keenan Morales
Game Design by Tim Corpus

Nightmare Mirror

This is a game featuring a mirror world where nightmares are REAL! Whatever happens in the mirror world happens in reality too!

Silence Speaks

The narrative of this game is truly terrifying! Play as a mute confined to a “Recovery Home” after witnessing her parents’ murder. Stay alive and avoid nightmare creatures, if you can!

Game Designer/Programmer/Project Director - Kenneth Montgomery
Music composed by Tim Corpus
SFX - ulascanaydin (from simulacrumsoun)
Art - Cynthia Williams and Randall Stephens
Additional Programming - Logan Richter
Project Management - Nicholas Knight

A panel of IGDA Midwest leaders provided some feedback and constructive criticism on the game submissions Sunday. Branden Middendorf, Ross A. Hersemann, Mars Ashton, Clover Ross, and Ashlyn Sparrow were in attendance and praised the participants for their originality, skill, and collaborative efforts.

IGDAChicago went live on Twitch. Catch up on their Talk Shows & Podcasts VOD now.

Overall, the inaugural Spooky Game Jam Midwest was a fantastic success and a shining example of what dedicated and determined individuals can accomplish when they set their minds to it. The jam participants collaborated virtually and shared code, art, sound, and their cohesive visions of creativity during a worldwide pandemic.

Their collaboration helped bring the Midwest chapters of the IGDA closer together together and laid a groundwork for future projects.

Happy Halloween and stay spooky!

IGDA Chicago Launches New Website, Chapter Updates

Hello world!

If you’re reading this then you already know…

WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE!!!

It’s taken the collective efforts of the entire board and many months of hard work, but today we’re thrilled to share our new website with you. You’ll notice updates in style and accessibility for all of the great content we’ve been working so hard to produce at IGDA Chicago.

Videos from prior events are now directly accessible from our media page, our jobs page has received a facelift, and we’ve include a Chicago Community section to highlight everything that makes Chicago and the Midwest a hub of video game development. Additionally, we’ve included easy to find links to our Discord, Twitch, and all our other social media channels on our contact page and on every page footer.

Of course, this is by no means the end! We intend to update the site regularly with updated content and features to always increase value to our members and the local community.

We value your feedback and we want our site to be as accurate and comprehensive as possible. Please use the website contact page to let us know how we can make the site even better.

Since it’s been so long since we’ve written, we have lots of other updates to share too.

Here are some quick wrap ups of the events we’ve hosted so far this year:

• Global Game Jam

  • This year we provided support and judges for DePaul University’s Global Game Jam Site. Ross A. Hersemann, Kyle Bailey, and Ashlyn Sparrow weighed in on the student projects and provided constructive feedback to over 100 participants.

• Pre-GDC Workshop

  • Our Pre-GDC Workshop made a comeback this year at Columbia College. Ross A. Hersemann, Ryan Sizemore, and Sam Bond gave a talk on the do’s and don’ts of GDC. Industry veteran Josh Tsui also gave a presentation on his GDC experiences and offered some helpful advice to Columbia College students. After the panels, the Board provided resume and pitch feedback for attendees.

• GDC Midwest Mingle

  • Our Midwest Mingle also made a comeback this year. During GDC we had an open meetup with other Midwestern IGDA Chapters and developers to touch base and reconnect.

• Post GDC Roundtable

  • Following GDC and after some well-deserved rest, the IGDA Board led a round table discussion at DePaul University to go over everyone’s GDC experiences. There were success stories and many lessons learned.

• An Evening with Jeff Spoonhower

  • Industry veteran Jeff Spoonhower joined IGDA Chicago to give a talk on his upcoming work and his experiences in the industry. Attendees at Columbia College were treated to some inside knowledge about what it’s really like working in AAA studio environments and the realities of transitioning to indie game development.

• Midwest Gaming Classic

  • IGDA board members Ross A. Hersemann, Tom Caprel, and Sam Bond took a trip up to Milwaukee to staff an IGDA booth at this year’s Midwest Gaming Classic. They discussed community and IGDA initiatives with attendees and showcases some game jam games from previous IGDA events. Lots of great connections were made and old friendships renewed.

• Principles in Game Coding in Unity with IGDA Chicago

  • This Summer IGDA board member Sam Bond led a coding workshop in Unity at the Microsoft Store in Schaumburg. She instructed a group of enthusiastic young people through making their first platformer and the basics of coding.

• Retro Game Jam

  • In collaboration with DePaul University’s student group JDE and Columbia College’s AlphaLab, IGDA Chicago hosted a Retro Game Jam at DePaul two weeks ago. Students were challenged to make games inspired by the Atari-era of gaming, using only period accurate color palettes, resolutions, and controller configurations. They delivered in style!

That about brings us up to date!

We hope to see all of you at BIT BASH this weekend. The IGDA Board will be there in style to discuss IGDA’s role in the community and showcase the amazing games from our recent Retro Game Jam. Drop by our table and say hi!

It’s been a very busy Summer, but the year’s not over yet, so stay tuned for news of our upcoming events so that you can mark your calendars!

Game on!

Ross A. Hersemann 
Chair, IGDA Chicago

Game Dev Holiday Mixer 2018 Recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us at Emporium Arcade Bar in Wicker Park on December 11. It’s become a wonderful holiday tradition for IGDA Chicago and Industry Night to join forces for an evening of good times for a good cause!

We’re super proud of the Chicago game development community for coming together to raise a grand total of $2,448.41 in donations for the Child Life program at Comer Children’s Hospital, which will make this holiday season a bit brighter for hospitalized children and their families.

Kyle Bailey curated another amazing showcase of games this year, including Dribble by WojWorks, Bomb Dolls by girlsoft, and Slamdoku by Sam Farmer.

Additionally, we greatly appreciate the outpour of support from our local studio sponsors!
Level Ex provided a delicious taco bar from Antique Taco, Iron Galaxy and Raw Thrills donated directly to the cause in addition to providing raffle prizes, and Jackbox Games, NetherRealm, and Sinister Design contributed tons of games to the charity raffle.

Overall, it’s truly inspiring to see the good we can accomplish in our local community together.
Thank you all so much and Happy Holidays!

Chicago Perspectives on Game Industry Unionization

On April 25, 2018, IGDA Chicago facilitated a roundtable discussion on the topic of unionization in our local game development industry, with the goal of sharing key points and perspectives from the community. Roughly 35-40 attendees with a variety of backgrounds and experience levels participated in this open forum. The three discussion questions presented and attendee responses are noted below.

Based on your experiences in the Chicago game industry, what are the primary issues that need to be solved?

• Crunch

• Exploitation of Recent Grads and Contract Workers

  • very low wages or unpaid internships

• Lack of Severance Assistance

  • assistance post-layoff via compensation (including unused PTO and extended healthcare benefits,) placement services, referrals, resume services

• Exploitative Labor Practices

  • offering a lower wage or position upon layoff, or otherwise attempting to skirt labor laws

  • wage theft, including delayed or unreceived payments

• Non-competes and inability to work on personal work/projects or game jams outside of work

• Hiring practices

  • including diversity at studios, promotional ability within the company, mobility within the company

• HR that does not actually protect employees

• Respect for non-production team roles (community, quality assurance, etc.)

• Proper credit on titles

What are the potential benefits of unionization in the Chicago game industry?
For small studios (20-25)? Large studios (100+)? Freelancers?

Attendees from IATSE Local 476 shared that film unions have scale levels for different project sizes and budgets, and offer multiple layers of protection.

• Benefits to Employees of Small Studios, Large Studios, and Freelancers

  • Standardization of wages

    • knowing how much your time is worth

    • some attendees were discouraged from sharing wage info among peers

  • Knowing your rights

  • Having advocates

  • Potential layoff unemployment funds

  • Game credit tracking

  • Retirement funds

• Benefits to Employees of Mid and Large Studios

  • Unions could negotiate the percentage of outsourced work

• Benefits to Small Studio Leadership

  • Giving more structure to startups

  • Knowing how much the work costs for the purpose of budget planning and publisher approval

• Benefits to Freelancers

  • Individual freelancers could be protected by the bylaws of unions, including health insurance options

  • More predictable project cycles

What are the potential challenges of unionization in the Chicago game industry?
For small studios (20-25)? Large studios (100+)? Freelancers?

The perspective was shared that union leadership and term limits are important to ensuring unions are effective.

• Challenges for Employees of Small Studios, Large Studios, and Freelancers

  • Ensuring companies are educated on proper processes when considering unionization or working with unions

  • Ensuring workers are educated on their rights when considering unionization

  • The presence of unions could discourage businesses from considering Chicago

  • Potentially a larger barrier for entry for those breaking into the field

  • Potential for retaliation

• Challenges for Employees of Large Studios

  • Companies may choose not to work with people who are associating with unions or talking about them

  • Companies may send work elsewhere

• Challenges for Small Studio Leadership

  • May be concerned about starting up in Chicago

• Challenges for Freelancers

  • Concerns about adopting discipline-specific unions in game development

    • flexibility to accept work from different discipline categories without joining multiple unions

    • flexability to accept work that is not specifically in games, such as opportunities in film and related media

  • adopting the local union model when many opportunities may involve remote work across multiple states or countries

IGDA Chicago would like to thank all of the attendees who offered their perspectives on the topics presented. It is our goal to facilitate the sharing of information that supports the future of our local game development industry.

Game Dev Holiday Mixer 2017 Recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Emporium Arcade Bar in Wicker Park on December 12th for an evening of good times for a good cause! Our amazing Chicago game development community came together and raised a grand total of $972 in donations for Comer Children’s Hospital. Your efforts made this holiday season all that much brighter for patients and their families. Well done!

It’s become an annual tradition for IGDA Chicago and Industry Night to join forces and this year Kyle Bailey hosted another amazing showcase of games including:

Codemancer by Important Little Games

Cosmo’s Quickstop by Big Sir Games

Ruby & Majesty: Treasure Team by TheWzzard

Additionally, we all enjoyed delicious food from Antique Taco courtesy of Level Ex and a group of lucky charity raffle participants went home with fantastic prizes from NetherRealm, including Injustice 2 and Mortal Kombat X games and swag.

Overall, everyone had a great time while helping kids and families at Comer Children’s Hospital this season. Thank you, everyone, and Happy Holidays!

IGDA Chicago Presents: Extra Life 2017 Recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us on November 4th & 5th for Extra Life 2017!

This event was definitely one for the record books. Through the inspiring enthusiasm of our attendees, and the invaluable support of the Chicago video game community, we raised over $2,289 in donations for Extra Life! On an even larger scale, we were part of more than 700 participants in Chicago and northwest Indiana that raised over $133,295.89 for the kids treated at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

Highlights of our event included: live streams of dozens of games, a stirring speech from Aaron Conn about Extra Life and the children it helps, and a race to raise the most funds amongst our top participants which culminated in an epic raffle prize award ceremony!

We couldn’t have done it alone. With games, food, and prizes generously donated by Chicago’s top game studios, the entire Chicago video game community participated in supporting this worthy cause. Our generous sponsors made this a truly memorable event, and we’d like to recognize and thank each of them for their support:

2112

Raw Thrills

Phosphor Studios

Jackbox Games

Netherrealm Studios

Wargaming

Iron Galaxy Studios

I Play Games

Additionally, we’d like to recognize and thank Eugene J. for attending the event personally, generously donating to our raffle and fundraising efforts, and most of all, turning the level of enthusiasm up to 11. Our gratitude also goes out to Chris W. and Tony L. of Affinity Archives for their tireless efforts streaming and fundraising throughout the night. Likewise, Kevin F., thank you for keeping all our hardware running without a hitch or glitch. And Jacob M., thank you for showcasing Jackbox Games so expertly. Finally, our sincerest thanks to all our attendees. You rock. We hope to see you all again next year!

Game Dev Holiday Mixer 2016 Recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Emporium Arcade Bar in Wicker Park on December 12th for an evening of good times for a good cause! Our amazing Chicago game development community came together and raised a grand total of $1,567 in donations for Comer Children’s Hospital. Your efforts have no doubt made this holiday season all that much brighter for patients and their families. Well done!

It’s become an annual tradition for IGDA Chicago and Industry Night to join forces and this year Kyle Bailey hosted another amazing showcase of games including:

• Real Winners

• Battle Chef Brigade

• Aerobat

Additionally, our fantastic sponsors made this a truly memorable event. Attendees feasted upon bountiful pizza courtesy of Young Horses and competed to win autographed copies of their hit game, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, alongside exciting raffle prizes such as a PS4 Pro system from Wargaming  and Telepath Tactics shirts from Sinister Design.

Eric Shofe and Ross Hersemann of the IGDA Chicago Board also brought a couple of surprise raffle items to the table such as a N64 console with Star Fox and Pokemon Sun and Moon for 3DS.

Overall, everyone had a great time while helping kids and families at Comer Children’s Hospital this season. Thank you, everyone, and Happy Holidays!

Game Dev Holiday Mixer 2015 Recap

This year marks our fourth rendition of the Game Dev Holiday Mixer and I’m pleased to share that it was a tremendous success thanks to everyone who joined us at the Emporium on December 15th and lit up the bar with glorious holiday cheer. IGDA Chicago and  Industry Night once again joined forces, supported by a cast of outstanding sponsors, for an evening of joyous gathering and good will. Our amazing Chicago game development community came together and raised a grand total of $1,779.56 in donations for Comer Children’s Hospital, complemented by a large box of toys. Your efforts have no doubt made this holiday season all that much brighter for the patients and their families. Well done, everyone!

Thank you Kyle Bailey of Industry Night for collaborating with us on this event, including organizing and hosting the amazing showcase of games. We also greatly appreciate all of the talented developers who took to the stage and shared their games with us on the big screen:
We Are Chicago
Dog Sled Saga
Omni Bus
Sausage Soccer

Many thanks to Emporium Arcade Bar for opening their space to us and offering drink and token vouchers that contributed to the cause. The staff also donated a nice raffle package of Emporium swag this year, which was a wonderful holiday surprise.

Waves of delightful food, exciting raffle prizes, and a direct donation were generously sponsored by our local studio presence, who made this event the biggest and best we’ve hosted so far. We are grateful for your continued support:
NetherRealm
Wargaming
Zynga
EA
Robomodo
Sinister Design
Jackbox Games

This was an evening filled with an exciting level of merriment: old friends catching up, new friendships blossoming, a variety of games being enjoyed by all, delicious food and tasty beverages being shared… all under the banner of charity.

Chicago has a truly amazing community of game developers and it’s wonderful to witness the volume of good we can accomplish together!

Thank you, everyone, and Happy Holidays!

2015 Game Dev Holiday Mixer Preview

Things are starting to get festive out there, which means it’s time for IGDA Chicago and Industry Night‘s annual Game Dev Holiday Mixer! Get ready for an evening of socializing, games, and merriment for game developers of all disciplines at the Emporium Arcade Bar, complete with tons of delicious food from NetherRealm, Wargaming, and Zynga.

Best of all, we’ll be raising donations for The University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital — good times for a good cause!

The event starts at 7pm. NetherRealm and Wargaming will be kicking us off with tasty thin crust pizzas and savory Italian beef from Lou Malnati’s, so arrive hungry!

Shortly thereafter, developers will take to the stage to showcase a selection of amazing local games:

7:15-8:00 – We Are Chicago
8:00-8:45 – Dog Sled Saga
8:45-9:30 – Omni Bus
9:30-10:15 – Sausage Soccer

Around 9pm, Zynga will refresh the crowd’s pizza needs with a selection of outstanding pies from Dimo’s.

At 10:15pm, the charity raffle commences, with incredible prizes, including collector’s editions of Mortal Kombat X, studio swag, local game codes, and an iPad.
Raffle tickets are just $5 and all proceeds go to the cause, so don’t hesitate to try your luck.

In all, we’re looking at quite an amazing evening and we all hope to see you there!

Diversity and Inclusivity at Volition – a User Research Perspective Recap

Backed by research papers and first-hand experience as a User Experience Researcher for Volition, Elizabeth Zelle’s talk on diversity and inclusivity at the studio known for the Saints Row series kept attendees engaged throughout the 2 hour session. With her extensive experience in user research, Zelle also shed light on the current state of inclusivity in games, the pros and cons of the different ways to include underrpresented groups, and the benefits to increasing the representation of minorities.

While the presentation had a light-hearted tone to it, it was kept at a well-balanced pace, and was grounded in easy to digest facts and statistics. Using recent fan art of player-made characters in Saints Row throughout her slides, Zelle closed the talk with the point that giving players from all walks of life the ability to represent themselves can indeed have a powerful impact on them. During the Q&A section that followed, Zelle gave further insight into the topic by providing tips and advice on dealing with issues of diversity both in the workplace and in the games we develop.

The talk was hosted by Columbia College Chicago, who was gracious enough to record and upload the entire talk. If you missed the event, worry not – the recording may be viewed here: https://youtu.be/VyK88RTnfX8

In closing, we’d like to give a huge thank you to Elizabeth Zelle for traveling all the way from Champaign just to give the talk. We’d also like to thank Columbia College Chicago for hosting and recording the event.

Reboot Indie Game Awards and Young Game Developer Challenge

The Reboot Indie Game Awards are just around the corner at Indy PopCon in Indianapolis. When an independent video game developer registers for a booth at Indy PopCon by June 19th, they are automatically entered in the Reboot Awards. The top three developers will leave with longboard trophies and the grand champion gets $10,000 in funding to put towards their game development.

Check out the longboard trophies below!

Additionally, young developers ages 6-17 can register for the Young Video Game Developer Challenge by June 22nd for a chance at top prizes like a scholarship to IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing or eBash Summer Camp, as well as exciting game and toy prizes! All participants will receive a certificate and Meccano model set.

GGJ Play Party 2015

A diverse lineup of games was shown at the Global Game Jam Play Party this year, hosted once again by DePaul CDM. Dozens of people had fun scrambling for supplies in space stations, exploring a sequence of surreal vignettes, and wearing different hats. Six out of the twenty six games developed in Chicago were presented at the event, including:

• Alone with Hats – A quirky 2D platforming game where players gain different abilities from wearing different hats

• Cosmic Equalizer – A surreal 3D game that is “a space symphony about the inevitability of death” (play it here)

• Project 2201 – Players memorization and hand coordination skills are put to the test in this top-down action game, where the input keys are randomized each playthrough (play it here)

• Space Scavengers – In this 2D co-op game, players race to collect enough supplies from abandoned space stations before its imminent destruction

• Two Rats, One Cage – A 2D puzzle game where players simultaneously navigate two rats out of a series of dangerous experiments (play it here)

• Vision Quest – Players guide a fox, an eagle, and a fish in search of the sacred totems in this 3D adventure game (play it here)

Thank you to everyone who came by or presented their game, and to Allen Turner for helping to co-organise and photograph the event! Check out the photos for the party on IGDA Chicago’s Flickr page!

Game Dev Holiday Mixer 2014: Success!

We’d like to extend our utmost appreciation to those of you who gathered together at the Emporium on December 16th for our third rendition of the Game Dev Holiday Mixer, a time-honored tradition between IGDA Chicago and Industry Night. Thanks to our amazing community, we raised $1004.91 for the Comer Children’s Hospital and collected a box full of great toys for the kids! This will no doubt make the holidays a bit brighter for patients and their families.

Thank you Kyle Bailey (Industry Night) for collaborating with the IGDA Chicago board to make this happen.

Extra special thanks to Emporium Arcade Bar for giving us a great space in Wicker Park and the opportunity to offer drink and token vouchers that contributed to the cause.

We’d like to extend a huge thanks to our generous sponsors:

• Phosphor Games Studio for making it possible for guests to enjoy a delightful taco bar from Antique Taco

• Code Beast for enhancing said taco bar beyond our imagination

• Walter Aldro Day, Jr. and Brian Eddy for contributing a huge set of Video Game Trading Cards to the raffle

• NetherRealm Studios for donating great prizes both this year and last

Over the course of the night, we had an exciting selection of local developers demoing games on stage. If you weren’t able to see them in action, definitely look out for:

• Octodad by Young Horses, presented by Phil Tibitoski

• Telepath Tactics by Sinister Design, presented by Craig Stern

• Tango in Paradise created and presented by Andy Saia

• Relativity created and presented by Willy Chyr

• Divekick, Gunsport, and Capsule Force by Iron Galaxy, presented by Isaac Torres and Jordan Petersen

We had some competition in the Killer Instinct: Fight for the Kids arcade tournament, and then later on, fourteen fantastic prize packages were raffled off for the cause.

There was much merriment in the air: old friends catching up, new friends in the making, spirited networking, arcade and pinball enjoyment, tasty food and beverages… all under the common banner of a good cause.

Thank you, everyone! We have an excellent game development community here in Chicago and it’s amazing to see the good we can accomplish together!

Game Dev Holiday Mixer 2014

After having a blast last year, IGDA Chicago and Industry Night are collaborating on our third Game Dev Holiday Mixer on December 16th at the Emporium Arcade Bar, with the goal of raising donations for the Comer Children’s Hospital. We hope to see you there, so please save the date!

This year we’ll have a showcase of local games, a raffle and arcade cabinet tournament for the cause, as well as all around good times. You can order Drink + Token Vouchers and/or Fight for the Kids Tournament spots in advance on Eventbrite. 

Video of An Afternoon with Brenda and John Romero

Last summer we were lucky to have both John and Brenda Romero to visit Chicago to talk to our community for a special event. We now present the video of the event for those who could not make it. Also don’t forget, if you don’t have time to watch the whole event, here is our great event recap by Nicholas Cassleman

As far as future events go, on July 30th we are hosting a panel discussion about entrepreneurship and starting your own game company. This event has already sold out, but we did just opened up a small amount of extra tickets, so get them while you can!

Then on August 6th we’re having Mike Geig of Unity come to do an instructional training session focused on lighting and baking in Unity 3D.

Stay tuned for other future events, as well as some videos from our previous events.

Post-GDC Meetup Pictures

Pictures from the Post-GDC Meetup are now available, courtesy of Serge from Wargaming. Special thanks to Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore for hosting the event and providing refreshments!

GGJ Play Party 2014

There was a fantastic line-up of games at the Global Game Jam Play Party last Thursday. Some were artistic, others experimental, while still some others were quirky and innovative in their own right. Most, if not all of them, gave their own take on this year’s GGJ theme: “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

Hosted by DePaul CDM, the Play Party featured 11 games, which were developed at both DePaul University and PETAL et al. during the Global Game Jam. From surreal Jean Giraud-inspired environments, to procedurally generated mazes, there was a wide range of games that kept people entertained throughout the night.

You could communicate with characters using a physical microphone in games such as A Night on the Town, frantically prepare for a party through a multi-perspective layout reminiscent of graphic novels in You Call This a Party?, and go on an auditory journey through 1980s America in the Choose Your Own Adventure-inspired game Precinct Midnight.

All in all, the Play Party was a huge success, just as the Global Game Jam was at DePaul University and PETAL et al. A huge thank you to everyone who came by and to Allen Turner for helping to co-organise the event!

Recap of “Kickstarting Your Dream Game” A Panel Discussion

Several dozen people showed up at IADT (International Academy of Design & Technology) Chicago last Thursday for the “Kickstarting Your Dream Game” panel. Hosted by IGDA Chicago, the event brought together several of Chicago’s game developers to share and discuss the challenges, successes, and failures they faced in trying to fund their games through Kickstarter.

Panelists included Michael Mendheim (Mutant League Football), Dan Nikolaides (Project AWAKENED), Peter Sheff (Tetrapulse), Eric Shofe (The Curse of Shadow House), Craig Stern (Telepath Tactics), and Ryan Wiemyer (Organ Trail, Max Gentlemen). The editor-in-chief and co-founder of Chicago’s Sugar Gamers, Rebecca Rothschild, moderated the panel, asking several insightful questions that helped move the discussion along.

From left to right: Rebecca Rothschild, Eric Shofe, Peter Sheff, Craig Stern, Ryan Wiemyer, Dan Nikolaides, and Michael Mendheim.

From indie to large budget, industry newcomers to seasoned veterans, the panelists’ diverse backgrounds and experiences kept things engaging throughout the event. Of the numerous excellent advice given, it was unanimously agreed upon that a lot of planning and preparation is needed before starting a Kickstarter project, as it is a tremendous undertaking akin to a full-time job. Sacrifices are inevitable, but regardless of the hardships that may occur, perhaps the most important thing to remember is to be yourself.

Global Game Jam 2014

Global Game Jam 2014 takes place January 24-26th and IGDA Chicago is proud to help support the local DePaul GGJ site. We’re looking for both eager participants and seasoned mentors so we can make this year’s edition of GGJ in Chicago even more amazing than last year!

How to Participate in GGJ 2014

To participate in the DePaul GGJ, please email Allen Turner (aturner8@cdm.depaul.edu) with the subject line [GGJ 2014], your name, and discipline focus (engineering, design, sound, UI, animation, production, etc.) There is a $50 fee for non-DePaul students. You will need to be cleared for participation by January 22nd, so don’t delay!

Mentor at GGJ 2014

We’re seeking mentors for all of Saturday the 25th. Simply email info@www.igdachicago.com by January 22nd with your preferred time, name, and discipline focus. As teams are scrambling to complete their games, you could be an invaluable troubleshooting resource, sounding board, or inspiration that helps move them forward!

The DePaul GGJ site will be located at the College of Computing and Digital Media Center at 243 S. Wabash Ave.

Best of luck to all participants and thank you for your support!

Game Dev Holiday Mixer: Success!

We’d like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who braved the cold Chicago weather to join us for the Game Dev Holiday Mixer on December 17th. Thanks to all of your support, we were able to raise $2,300 and collect a heaping box of toys for the Comer Children’s Hospital. Needless to say, the Chicago game development community is pretty awesome!

Thank you Kyle Bailey of Industry Night for collaborating with the IGDA Chicago Board on this fantastic event. Special thanks to The Emporium Arcade Bar for hosting the event, as well as offering the exclusive Drink+Token package, which gave our guests an opportunity to contribute to the cause while enjoying the drinks and games they love. Huge thanks to Wargaming West for buying each and every person who donated a Drink+Token Voucher, and for contributing to our donation total in tremendous ways. Special thanks to Jerk for providing hospitality and delicious food to everyone who came. Thank you, NetherRealm Studios, for donating prizes for the Mortal Kombat 2: Fight for the Kids arcade tournament. Last but not least, we’d like to thank Phosphor Games for making a donation directly to the cause.

Over the course of that night, we saw a great crowd of cheerful game developers. Many competed in the Mortal Kombat 2: Fight for the Kids tournament, but only one walked away with a signed Collector’s Edition of Injustice: Gods Among Us. There was plenty of merriment, catching up, networking, arcade antics, tasty food and cold drinks, all under the umbrella of working together to support a good cause. Thank you, everyone! I’m excited to see how we’ll do next year!

Thank you Stan Miskiewicz and Brett Rubin for the great photos!