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!

2018 Board Election Candidates

Nominations for the 2018 IGDA Chicago Board Elections have closed and elections are about to begin.

We have four nominees running for three available seats on the Board of Directors. We have provided their candidate statements below so you may review who has stepped up to run.

If you are a paid IGDA member, please watch your inbox for voting instructions.

2018 Candidates

Sam Bond

As with many of us in the games industry, I don’t see myself as having one role anywhere. I’m a Certified Medical Illustrator and 2D artist; I’m an educational games theory researcher, a teacher, a learner, a programmer, a designer, a builder, and a gameplayer. In an organization with such a wide range of skills, the IGDA allows its members to display and embrace their roles without labeling, integrate and understand fellow members, and discover more about their own interests through exploration and opportunity. As a 2017 Women in Games Ambassador for the IGDAF (now the Viscosity program), I was so apprehensive about my future in games. I asked constantly if I was really good enough to be involved, if a medical illustrator belonged in games, if I would be accepted as a young woman with little job experience. Then I was given the opportunity to explore my own paths and carve out new friendships; I was able to see that through my membership in the IGDA, I was, all at once, all of my roles without sacrifice.

I’ve been teaching medical game development at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Biomedical Visualization program for almost three years, building freelance games and playtesting for friends when I can. This spring, I’ll be starting as the director of our new undergraduate program in Life Science Visualization. When I see a good opportunity, it doesn’t take me too long to assess things, put in the work, and give it my all. My experience with the IGDA has been groundbreaking for the ways and the content that I teach. If I’m able to serve on the board, I feel I could bring a genuinely unique perspective, along with a drive and a commitment for an organization that has given so much to its members. The IGDA has done so much for me. I’m very eager to start giving back.

Thank you kindly for your consideration, and have a wonderful holiday!

Josh Delson

I’m pretty integrated with all the major game development schools in Illinois (DePaul, Columbia, COD, Bradley, Elmhurst) and mentors a ton of undergraduates in helping break into the game industry. The most recognized work I’ve done in Chicago was starting the Junior Development Experience to accommodate student developers. There is so much potential Chicago’s industry has to offer and my goal would be bringing the communities together. I’m pretty known for organizing events and loves hosting/promoting events targeted towards game developers. Due to my community management success, Alex Seropian (CEO/Creator of Halo/Bungie & Chicago native) hired me specifically as an Events Specialist at Electronic Arts (EA). I hope this gives a tiny glimpse of what I can offer as a Board Member (Also the IGDA site states 3 Board positions, but not the actual titles).

Something random I believe in, is that the largest room in the world is the ‘room for improvement’. It would be an honor to continue the legacy and improve Chicago’s IGDA Chapter with upcoming events in 2019. Feel free to let me know if there are any questions, comments, or concerns.

Ryan Sizemore

The game industry has always been a major driver in my life as I’m sure it has been with many of you. I knew from an early age that I wanted to be part of it, to create these things that bring so much joy and wonder to those that play them. And as I further pursued a career in games, I found the community of game devs to be one of the best that I’d been a part of and I knew that I wanted to contribute to its growth.

I am already an active member and volunteer of the IGDA Chicago chapter, attending as many events as possible, going to volunteer meetings, and helping whenever possible. Outside of that, I have also given intro 3D modeling talks to encourage others who may find interest in it as I did. As a game artist, I feel there could be more representation and activities for art within the chapter. If elected as a board member, I will push to move the chapter forward and to include more focused events, discussions, and resources that will help the members and hopefully the video game development scene as a whole in Chicago.

Chris Weiss

I’ve been working as a professional in games since 2011, taking on a multitude of roles from QA to design to production. Paired with my work running an independent studio, I have vast insight into the struggles and boons of our industry. My goal is simple: I wish to improve the issues we face daily as game developers as well as boost our local devs in Chicago to give them the appreciation they deserve.

I sat in a temporary seat on the IGDA Chicago board in 2018, and have been volunteering for the organization during previous years for events such as GDC. I hold skills outside of game development that may also prove useful for the association, such as film and photography, digital marketing, business development, and community management.

I look forward to seeing the continued growth of the IGDA as well as the Chicago game developer’s culture.

2018 Elections: Nominations are Open

The 2018 IGDA Chicago Board Elections are just around the corner in December and our local IGDA members will be voting on three available Board seats. These newly elected Board members will join the two standing Board members in volunteering their time and energy to move the chapter forward in the direction they feel most represents the will of the membership and the good of the chapter.

At this time we would like to open the floor to nominations for these three openings on the Board. Please consider your recommendations carefully, as the Directors of the organization are representative of you as the membership.

If you are nominating yourself, please send us a short candidate statement. If you are nominating someone else, please be sure to include complete contact information for your nomination. All nominations must be emailed to info@igdachicago.com.

There are only two requirements to be on the Board: you must be a paid member of the IGDA and you must be able to commit to attending the board meetings and IGDA Chicago meetings with some regularity. Specifics will be discussed with board members following the election.

Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 PM CST on November 22nd, 2018. After nominations close, we will be sending our local IGDA members additional information about the candidates and voting process.

If you are interested in getting involved but not necessarily running for the Board, please consider joining us as a volunteer. Building a strong chapter hinges on the efforts of passionate individuals in the game development community, so please don’t hesitate to email us at info@igdachicago.com to let us know how you’re interesting in helping out!

Best Regards,

Your IGDA Chicago Chapter Board of Directors

2018 IGDA Chicago Board Election

The 2018 IGDA Chicago Board Elections will be kicking off shortly with nominations.

Three Chapter Board seats are up for election this year.

Key dates:

November 1 – Nominations Open

November 22 – Nominations Close

November 26 – Polls Open

December 17 – Polls Close

There are only two requirements to serve on the IGDA Chicago Board:

must be a paid member of the IGDA in good standing

must be able to commit to attending regular Board meetings

Please email info@igdachicago.com if you have any questions about the upcoming election or are interested in joining our awesome team of volunteers!

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!

2017 IGDA Chicago Board Election Results

The 2017 IGDA Chicago Board of Directors elections have drawn to a close after the call for nominations.

Two nominations were cast for three open seats on the Board:

Ross Hersemann

I am an attorney, writer, and gamer.

I am the Founder of Loading Law, a Chicago-based law practice, and provide legal counsel to video game developers and entrepreneurs in the tech sector. I am also the Organizer of the Chicago Video Game Law Summit and an Adjunct Professor of Video Game Law at DePaul University. I speak frequently on hot topics in law and technology and my book on Video Game Law will be published in 2018. I also serve as Co-Chair of the CBA YLS Creative Arts Committee, Board President of the VGA Gallery, and for the last two years, as a Board Member of IGDA-Chicago.

I began my term with IGDA-Chicago when I was elected Secretary in 2015. Since that time, I have contributed my devoted service and leadership in support of our Chapter’s goals. I am extremely proud of the Chapter’s accomplishments during my time on the Board, particularly our charitable works and fundraising efforts. By offering educational programming, coordinating business networking opportunities, supporting charitable causes, and advocating social issues and justice, IGDA-Chicago is part of the bedrock of Chicago’s video game community. If re-elected as Vice-Chair, I would remain dedicated to supporting these endeavors and increasing IGDA-Chicago’s role in making the Chicago video game community to incredible reality that it is.

Tom Caprel

When I was young, games were my novels. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been captivated by the stories and lives of my characters. For me, working in games is my deepest passion. I started my term on the IGDA board in early 2017 to fill in for the outgoing Treasurer, and I would like to continue as Treasurer in this dedicated and driven organization. My goal is to bring my experience as a gamer, entrepreneur, and team leader to help IGDA Chicago grow into new projects, new events, and add new members. In the past year alone, we’ve created a fantastic series of events, panels, and lectures designed strengthen connections between Chicago developers with topics ranging from game audio, to game IP law, and social justice. Let’s continue that momentum into 2018!

My background: I received my degree in Vocal Performance from Millikin University in 2011 as an opera singer. Out of college, I began working at a mobile app company where after 5 years I lead the 4 person marketing team. Currently, I work a big data company as their Marketing Manager. My first project in games was a big-data website to analyze in-game markets with the goal helping players get the most out of their playing time. In 2015, I started a dedicated marketing company, Hyperion Marketing, to help small game/software developers share their success to the world. As for other non-for-profit organizations, I have had multiple roles at the Video Game Art (VGA) Gallery including Communications Director & Exhibit Manager since February 2016.

Congratulations to Ross and Tom, who will be appointed to the Board and will officially take office alongside Ali Cedroni and Heather Decker on January 1st, 2018. Following the first Board meeting of the new year, one additional Board seat will be appointed.

We greatly appreciate Brian Eddy’s contributions to the Board these past two years and he will continue to serve on the board until the close of the year on December 31st, 2017.

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!

2017 Elections: Nominations are Open

The 2017 IGDA Chicago Board Elections are just around the corner in December and our local IGDA members will be voting on three available Board seats. These newly elected Board members will join the two standing Board members in volunteering their time and energy to move the chapter forward in the direction they feel most represents the will of the membership and the good of the chapter.

At this time we would like to open the floor to nominations for these three openings on the Board. Please consider your recommendations carefully, as the Directors of the organization are representative of you as the membership.

If you are nominating yourself, please send us a short candidate statement. If you are nominating someone else, please be sure to include complete contact information for your nomination.

There are only two requirements to be on the Board: you must be a paid member of the IGDA and you must be able to commit to attending the board meetings and IGDA Chicago meetings with some regularity. Specifics will be discussed with board members following the election.

Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 PM CST on November 22nd, 2017. After nominations close, we will be sending our local IGDA members additional information about the candidates and voting process.

If you are interested in getting involved but don’t feel a Board position is necessarily for you, please consider joining us as a volunteer. Building a strong chapter hinges on the efforts of passionate individuals in the game development community. Please don’t hesitate to email us (info@www.igdachicago.com) to let us know you’re interesting in helping out!

Best Regards,

Your IGDA Chicago Chapter Board of Directors

2017 IGDA Chicago Board Elections

The 2017 IGDA Chicago Board Elections will be kicking off shortly with nominations. Three Chapter Board seats are up for election this year.

Key dates:

November 1 – Nominations Open
November 22 – Nominations Close
November 27 – Polls Open
December 11 – Polls Close

There are only two requirements to serve on the IGDA Chicago Board:

• Paid member of the IGDA in good standing

• Able to commit to attending regular Board meetings

Please email info@www.igdachicago.com if you have any questions about the upcoming election or are interested in joining our awesome team of volunteers!

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!

2016 IGDA Chicago Board Election Results

The 2016 IGDA Chicago Board of Directors elections have drawn to a close after the call for nominations.

Two nominations were cast for three open seats on the Board:

Shekhar Dhupelia

Shekhar Dhupelia is the Studio Head for Wargaming.net, for both their Chicago and Baltimore offices. Originally an engineer, Shekhar has worked in games for 15 years, getting his start at Sony back in the PlayStation 2 days, and has worked at several local companies in Engineering and Production roles including Midway, High Voltage, Studio Gigante, WMS / Scientific Games and now Wargaming for the past 3 years working with the World of Tanks team. He has previous experience volunteering for the IGDA Chicago Chapter, and is focused on both growing the Chicago game dev scene while always pushing to improve quality of life for our current and future developers.

Heather M Decker

Chicago has an amazing game development community and my goal is for our local IGDA chapter to continue organizing a variety of monthly events for students and professionals alike so we can continue to connect, learn, and grow together. In the coming term, I will ensure that our chapter embraces opportunities to collaborate with other local groups because with our powers combined we can do even more awesome things! Additionally, I’ll be encouraging more individuals from within our fantastic community to get involved through volunteering to support and drive IGDA Chicago activities. Our community is powered by the efforts of many outstanding folks who donate their time to make great things happen in and around Chicago. Since I first became involved with IGDA Chicago in 2011, we’ve done some pretty awesome things. I’m excited to see what we come up with next!

Congratulations to Shekhar and Heather, who will be appointed to the Board and will officially take office alongside Brian Eddy and Ross Hersemann on January 1st, 2017. Following the first Board meeting of the new year, one additional Board seat will be appointed.

We greatly appreciate Eric Shofe and Patrick McCarron’s contributions to the Board these past two years. Eric and Patrick will continue to serve on the board until the close of the year on December 31st, 2016.

2016 Elections: Nominations are Open

The 2016 IGDA Chicago Board Elections are just around the corner in December and our local IGDA members will be voting on three available Board seats. These newly elected Board members will join the two standing Board members in volunteering their time and energy to move the chapter forward in the direction they feel most represents the will of the membership and the good of the chapter.

At this time we would like to open the floor to nominations for these three openings on the Board. Please consider your recommendations carefully, as the Directors of the organization are representative of you as the membership.

If you are nominating yourself, please send us a short candidate statement. If you are nominating someone else, please be sure to include complete contact information for your nomination.

There are only two requirements to be on the Board: you must be a paid member of the IGDA in good standing and you must be able to commit to attending meetings with some regularity. Specifics will be discussed with board members following the election.

Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 PM CST on November 22th, 2016. After nominations close, we will be sending our local IGDA members additional information about the candidates and voting process.

If you are interested in getting involved but don’t feel a Board position is necessarily for you, please consider joining us as a volunteer. Building a strong chapter hinges on the efforts of passionate individuals in the game development community. Please don’t hesitate to email us (info at igdachicago dot com) to let us know you’re interesting in helping out!

Best Regards,

Your IGDA Chicago Chapter Board of Directors

2016 IGDA Chicago Elections

The 2016 IGDA Chicago Board Elections will be kicking off next month with nominations. Three Chapter Board seats are up for election this year.

Key dates:

November 1st – Nominations Open

November 22 – Nominations Close

November 25 – Polls Open

December 9th – Polls Close

There are only two requirements to serve on the IGDA Chicago Board: you must be a paid member of the IGDA in good standing and be able to commit to attending regular meetings.

Please email info@www.igdachicago.com if you have any questions about the upcoming election or are interested in joining our awesome crew of volunteers.

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 IGDA Chicago Board Election Results

The 2015 IGDA Chicago Board of Directors elections have drawn to a close. A special thanks goes out to this year’s candidates who stepped up to run: Brian Eddy, Ross Hersemann, and Kevin Treski.

We appreciate the local IGDA members who took time to review the candidates and cast their votes.

Voting concluded on December 14th, 2015, and the newly elected Directors will officially take office on January 1st, 2016.

The elected directors are (listed alphabetically by last name):

Brian Eddy

Ross Hersemann

Congratulations to Ross and Brian, who will be joining Heather M Decker, Patrick McCarron, and Eric Shofe on the chapter Board.

We greatly appreciate Neal Sales-Griffin and Sheri Rubin’s contributions to the Board these past two years. Neal and Sheri will continue to serve on the board until the close of the year on December 31st, 2015.

Thank you to Tristin Hightower, Global Director of Operations for the IGDA, who assisted us with election correspondence and tallied the voting results.

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!

IGDA Chicago Board of Director Elections – 2015 Candidates

Nominations for the 2015 IGDA Chicago Board Elections have closed and elections are about to begin.

We have 3 nominees running for 2 available seats on the Board of Directors. We have provided their candidate statements below so you may review who has stepped up to run.

If you are a paid IGDA member, please watch your inbox for voting instructions.

2015 Candidates

Brian Eddy

I have been making games professionally for over 30 years from Commodore Vic-20 and C-64, to programming and designing pinball machines, redemption machines, arcade video machine, console games from the PS2 to Xbox360 era, PCs and most recently free to play games on Facebook and mobile/tablet devices.  I have held most major rolls on a game development team from lead designer, programmer, art director, audio direction and production along with deep involvement in marketing and business side. All this gives me a wide range of knowledge and experience to share on how to make a wide variety of games.

Why IGDA Board?

1. I have years of experience in making video games and now want to help others do the same thing. I have lots of lessons learned along the way and I would like to share that knowledge with others in the gaming world to help them achieve their goals.

2. I enjoy working with all types of people and backgrounds who share a common interest and passion in making games. I love the variety and creativity that comes from a diverse group of people with a passion to create!

3. I’ve been making games specifically in Chicago for over 25 years. I want the gaming community to not only survive in Chicago but continue to grow! The IGDA has the ability to support existing developers but also to inspire and bring in new developers coming from school or hobbyist with a passion to make their own game.

4. I believe in the IGDA and its ability to help those in the gaming industry. I like that they are advocates for quality of life. That they are supporters of diversity because anyone can make a great game. They are an advocate for games as an art form which I very much believe in. The IGDA help people who are unfamiliar with the business and legal matter associated with games by having seminar to help people. And finally they help students in many way through helping set curriculums to awarding scholarships to grow our next generation of game developers.

5. As a youth looking to make games I would have LOVED to have had a group dedicated to the creation of games. This would have been invaluable to be as someone just starting out trying to makes games. Now that this organization exists I would like to help it thrive and continue to provide that outlet and the ability to meet up with other likeminded people to hone their craft in a fun environment.

Thank you for your consideration.

Ross A. Hersemann

My name is Ross A. Hersemann and I would like to submit myself for consideration for the open Board position with the Chicago Chapter of the IGDA. I would like to take this opportunity to share both my reasons for pursuing this position, and my relevant experience. I want to thank you in advance for your consideration.

I am an attorney currently practicing in Chicago. I am a solo practitioner, and I limit my law practice to developing technology and business matters, specifically video games. I have helped several local indie game developers incorporate their studios as businesses, filed their copyrights and trademarks, and reviewed and drafted their business contracts. I typically offer special rates for indie game developers, because I am a diehard gamer myself and I want to support their unique development.

While still in law school I founded the Video Game Law Society and organized the Chicago Video Game Law Summit. The Summit offered 5 academic panels on all aspects of video game law, including independent game development. Our speakers were lawyers, industry professionals, and game developers. I organized the entire event from start to finish and would bring that same level of organization to my work with the IGDA.

In addition to CVGLS, I am committed to industry education in other ways. I run a video game law blawg at www.loadinglaw.com, where I write articles devoted to legal developments in the video game industry. My work with Loading Law has led to many speaking events at conventions where I give presentations to developers and artists. I have spoken at IndyPopCon, Wizard World, the Ohio Game Dev Expo, EPXCon, and most recently ValorCon. I also gave a talk for the IGDA at DePaul several months ago.

I also currently serve as the President of the Board of the Video Game Art Gallery here in Chicago. I have presided over every board meeting since my induction, and I was the co-organizer of the HARDCORE/Casual event at Emporium this summer. We raised funds for local video game artists, and bestowed an award to one who had made great strides in legitimizing video games as an art form.

On the whole, I am dedicated to the Chicago indie video game community. I have attended nearly every Industry Night, Indie City Games Meetup, and event organized by the IGDA, Chicago Gaming Union, the Voxelles, and of course, innumerable legal seminars on technology. I want to bring my experience, organizational skills, and leadership to the IGDA. I want to facilitate collaboration with other Chicago game groups, promote educational programming, and provide networking opportunities for everyone in Chicago involved in games.

I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for your consideration.

Kevin Treski

Last year I moved back to Chicago after working at Sony Electronics for the last eight years. Most recently I was the Strategy Manager for Corporate Business Development utilizing research and analysis to build business and product plans and roadmaps. Since I’ve been back in Chicago I’ve created two organizations around gaming. Chicago Gaming Union is a monthly outreach group which shows off indie games (many made in Chicago) at a bar to get people excited about new games and advocate for the developers. Play On Chicago is a 501(c)(3) organization that advocates for the revenue and job growth of local video game developers through research and co-marketing. I have also build the most complete map of Chicago’s video game development landscape as well as was selected as a volunteer for Bit Bash. No matter if I am selected as a board member or not, you can always count on me to act as a signal boost to any actives you need help promoting.

You can see more at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevintreski

https://twitter.com/Khathis

http://www.playonchicago.org/

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.treski

http://digiture.tumblr.com/

Thank you for your time and best of luck!

2015 IGDA Chicago Board Elections

The 2015 IGDA Chicago Board Elections are just around the corner in December and our local IGDA members will be voting on two available Board seats. These newly elected Board members will join the three standing Board members in volunteering their time and energy to move the chapter forward in the direction they feel most represents the will of the membership and the good of the chapter.

At this time we would like to open the floor to nominations for these two openings on the Board.  Please consider your recommendations carefully, as the Directors of the organization are representative of you as the membership.

If you are nominating yourself, please send us a short candidate statement. If you are nominating someone else, please be sure to include complete contact information for your nomination.

There are only two requirements to be on the Board: you must be a paid member of the IGDA and you must be able to commit to attending the board meetings and IGDA Chicago meetings with some regularity. Specifics will be discussed with board members following the election.

Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 PM CST on November 23th, 2015. After nominations close, we will be sending our local IGDA members additional information about the candidates and voting process.

If you are interested in getting involved but don’t feel a Board position is necessarily for you, please consider joining us as a volunteer. Building a strong chapter hinges on the efforts of passionate individuals in the game development community. Please don’t hesitate to email us to let us know you’re interesting in helping out!

Best Regards,

Your IGDA Chicago Chapter Board of Directors

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.