IGDA Twin Cities

International Game Developers Association

The Twin Cities IGDA chapter is currently reorganizing after ten months of inactivity. The IGDATC Google Group is the central place for this chapter's discussion, but the wiki is being revamped too.

[edit] Sponsors

Thanks go to Puny Entertainment for food and the Minnesota School of Business for space!

[edit] About

Twin Cities Chapter IGDA Meetings are held the first Thursday of every month at 6:00pm. These meetings are free and open to all interested game developers, practicing or aspiring. Each meeting is focused around a particular game development topic via an informal presentation and/or guided discussion. These meetings are a terrific place to network and connect with like-minded locals. They are all about building relationships, sharing experiences, bouncing ideas, and learning to have more fun.

Join the IGDA TC Google group to receive updates (there is an option for a 1 per day email digest.)

[edit] Next meeting - May 1st, Big John Games

Big John Games will cover commercial indie game development, with a focus on their two recent DS games: Spitfire Heroes and Plushees.

Who is Big John Games, living under the industry radar so long?

Studio model: In the past, work for hire deals. New model, self funded game development, IP ownership, co-publishing.

Information about Spitfire and Plushees product design, development. Why these markets with these games?

DS as a Toy vs. Portable Game Console, design and tech tradeoffs. Toys are different that video games, how does that effect design?

Build for DS and compete at same level as large publishers, creating next-gen production values on other platforms.

Some of the DS development environment (w/o breaking Nintendo NDA.)

Reviews and their impact.

Hints about the next two games, and hands-on with Spitfire Heroes and Plushees.

Presented by:

Ken Patterson - CEO Big John Games

Matt Heinzen - Development Lead on Spitfire Heroes

Don Patterson - Game Design, Author of Tales of The RAF

Location: MSB room 452, 6-8pm. Pizza and drinks provided.

[edit] Locations

[edit] Actual meetings

Minnesota School of Business, Richfield
1401 West 76th Street
Richfield, MN 55423
(at the intersection of 76th St South and I-35W)
map
NOTE: the 76th street bridge that goes over I-35W right in front of the school will be closed as of 4/28.
If you're coming south on I-35W and usually get off at 76th street, you will not be able to just hop over to MSB. Instead, go east on 494, get off on Lyndale, then head north over 494 and turn left at 76th St.

[edit] Virtual convergence

IGDATC Google Group

[edit] Upcoming meetings

June 5th - TBD

Sat July 19th Cookout (with Twin Cities XNA)

[edit] Past events

[edit] 2008

April 3rd: IMGDC Recap - roundtable session.

March 6th: Commercial Flash Games - Seth Walker and Alexis Mason

February 7th: Camera-Controlled Motion Games - Yuichiro Tanabe, Cory Petosky, and Pete Border

January 3rd: Video and Traditional Board Games - Martin Grider and Darrell Hardy

[edit] 2007

December 6th: Holiday Social at Puny

November 1st: Microsoft XNA Introduction and Hands-On - Zach Wendt

[edit] 2006

December 13th: Wii Demo Spotlighting ExciteTruck - Chad Jasper

October 11th: Organizational Meeting - Gary

August: No August Meeting

June 14th: The Fun Factor, Machine Learning, and Gameplay Metrics - Ben Geisler

April 12th: GDC 2006 Wrap & TikiWiki Introduction - GDC2006 Attendees

February 8th: Education and Games Panel http://igda.org/twincities/images/igdarss.gif RSS - http://igda.org/twincities/images/igdam3u.gif Stream - http://igda.org/twincities/images/igdazip.gif Mp3 Zip

[edit] 2005

December 14th: Digital Game Distribution - Wes Pederson

October 12th: Tablet Development, and MN Game Jam 1 Games - Gary Dahl

August 10th: Sound Effect Basics for Games - Damian Kastbauer http://www.waste.org/lostchocolatelab/IGDA/LCLPDF.gif Summary - http://www.waste.org/lostchocolatelab/IGDA/LCLPDF.gif Slides

June 15th: Flash Game Development - Andreas Heim

April 13th: GDC and MN Game Jam 0 Wrap-Up - Group

March 9th: Teaching Journalism with Never Winter Nights - Matt Taylor

February 9th: Dynamic Simulation at Pixar Animation Studios - David Baraff

[edit] 2004

November 11th: Game Maker - Gary Dahl

October 12th: The Video Game Revolution - PBS

September 14th: Scrolling Game Development Kit - Benjamin Marty

August 10th: Blender - Kent Mein, Joshua Seaver

July 13th: Pen&Paper vs Computer Game Design - Christopher Weiss

[edit] Call for Topics

Is there a topic you'd like to see featured at an upcoming meeting? We're always looking for new ideas. So whether it's something you'd like to speak about, or hear another professional present, send your suggestions to [1].