Madison Chapter

Welcome to the Madison Chapter of the IGDA. We started this chapter as a forum for professional game developers in Madison and its surrounding area to better our craft, share ideas, and to improve the quality of life in our industry.

April 1st Meeting, No Joke!

The next meeting of the IGDA Madison chapter will be April 1, 2008, at Herzing College (5218 East Terrace Drive), starting at 7 PM. Herzing College has kindly donated the meeting space, which holds up to 70 people, and Jeff Westra and Erik Pedersen of Herzing are providing free pizza for those who can fit into the room. Click on the image to the left to see the promotional poster.

We have three speakers scheduled for the event, each talking for about 30 minutes. The first speaker is Ben Geisler, who will talk about the story of Frozen Codebase: how they started, how they got together, and how they got to where they are now. Ben is titling his talk "The Camaro of Game Development," because he thinks Camaros are funny.

Tim Gerritsen of Big Rooster is the second speaker. His talk is called "They've come to Snuff The Rooster." It's about how Big Rooster got started, how it almost died, the trials and tribulations thereof, and how it's now back and better than ever.

Chris Rhinehart of Human Head Studios rounds out the night with "Heads Will Roll." In it, he discusses the formation and history of Human Head, including the company's challenges and triumphs.

Finally, we will close with a Q-and-A session with all three speakers. After that, we will walk over to Erins Snug Irish Pub (4601 American Parkway), just around the corner from the school, to continue the conversation.

We hope to see you there!

Posted by EricFrancksen on March 20, 2008 08:25 PM | Comments (0)

February Meeting Postponed

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the upcoming IGDA Madison chapter meeting scheduled for February 12 has been postponed. Please spread the word and stop back soon for more information about the rescheduled event. In the meantime, have a great time at the Game Developers Conference if you're going, and don't forget about the IGDA Members-Only Party at the show!

Posted by EricFrancksen on February 6, 2008 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

November Meeting Wrap-Up!

I'd like to extend a great thank you to last month's presenters: Norb Rozek of Frozen Codebase and Dan Norton and Dan White of Filament Games. Our November meeting was an excellent opportunity for many of us to get to know a few of the Filament founders (the newest studio affiliated with our group). Equally as exciting was the opportunity to share the thrill of frozen Codebase’s first released title, Screwjumper.

As I mentioned at the meeting, we've had a heavy influx of volunteers lately, and we’ve wasted no time putting them to work! Member Jason Compton wrote an excellent briefing of the November meeting that can be found on our new “Minutes” section.

Also, for those of you who couldn’t make it, we have a video of the meeting for you to watch at your leisure. At the moment, we only have the Filament talk posted. The Frozen Codebase portion of the evening will be posted soon.

Our next meeting will be held February 12, 2008, at 7 PM, at Rocky Rococo's Madison East Theater at 1753 Thierer Road. More information will be posted closer to the date. In the meantime, have a great New Year's Eve, everyone!

Posted by EricFrancksen on December 26, 2007 10:20 PM | Comments (0)

November Meeting Coming Soon

Our November meeting is coming up fast, and our newest studio member, Filament Games, has graciously offered to give our keynote talk. Developers Dan Norton, Dan White, and Alex Stone will share their experiences in the field of independent, educational game design.

The meeting will be held at the Rocky Rococo's Madison East Theater at 1753 Thierer Road. That's the Rocky's near I-90/94 and East Town Mall on East Washington. We'll be in the larger theater in the back, same as last time. This time, however, we'll start thirty minutes later than normal, at 7:30 PM.

Thank you, Filament! We’ll see you all soon.

Posted by EricFrancksen on October 22, 2007 12:52 AM | Comments (0)

November Meeting Plans

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, November 13th, 2007, starting at 7 PM. The meeting will be held at the Rocky Rococo's Madison East Theater at 1753 Thierer Road. That's the Rocky's near I-90/94 and East Town Mall on East Washington. We'll be in the larger theater in the back, same as last time. We hope to see you there!