IGDA

SketchClub Online
2021-08-20 11:30 - 14:30, 2021-08-06 11:30 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
The IGDA Game Art SIG warmly invites you to SketchClub Online—a FREE (roughly) bi-weekly event kindly sponsored by SAE Institute Zurich and hosted by author and designer Chris Solarski with the purpose of exploring traditional and contemporary approaches to figure sketching and character design. Attendees are encouraged to participate in artistic challenges prescribed for each each session, for which Chris is on hand to offer advice and support. Although the SketchClub can also be used as an informal online meet-up where participants are free to work on personal projects while discussing all character, art-design and career-related topics. All skill levels are welcome, from complete beginners to advanced, and there are no restrictions on which media is used (i.e. pencil/paper, Photoshop, Procreate, etc.). SketchClub has a “drop-in” format, so participants needn’t attend every session and can arrive late/leave early—ideally with minimum disturbance to the group.
The SketchClub occurs roughly every second Friday, and these are the confirmed dates so far (5:30 – 8:30 pm Central European Time). A Zoom link is published in the ‘upcoming_events’ channel of the IGDA Game Art SIG’s Discord server on the day of each event. We look forward to seeing you!

Women Game Jam
2021-08-20 - 2021-08-22
Women Game Jam (WGJ) reaches its 5th edition and, after the success of 2020, which had more than 1000 participants and 100 games published, from 14 countries, the 2021 edition will be the first step towards the future – hybrid events. There will be some in-person sites in Australian cities (Sydney, Melbourne and Western Australia), and it will continue online in other countries. The event will take place from the 20 – 22 August, 2021, and will have cycles of lectures, panels, workshops entirely online.
A “game jam” is a game development marathon where the participants are challenged to plan and create a digital or analog game using the theme proposed in the first day of the event. All in a certain amount of time!
The difference is that Women Game Jam focuses on women cis, trans and non-binary people and is a non-competitive event. This creates a more comfortable and encouraging environment to learn, create a portfolio, exchange of experiences between beginners and experienced in the field, and more important, to fortify the local female development community.
Registration is offered in English, Portuguese, and Spanish – for more info, visit the website!

IGDA Las Vegas Game Dev Meet Up
2021-08-03 18:00, 2021-07-06 18:00, 2021-06-01 18:00, 2021-05-04 18:00 (America/New_York)
Meet ups are the first Tuesday of the month.
Join the IGDA Las Vegas Discord community: https://discord.gg/igdalasvegas
For more information, visit: https://www.meetup.com/IGDA-Las-Vegas-Game-Development-Meetup/events/

Game Developer Conference
2021-07-19 - 2021-07-23
IGDA Members save 10% on tickets (get the code from the Discounts page) – register today!

Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #7
2021-07-12 - 2021-07-16
The Global Games Industry Conference ONLINE
Monday, July 12th – Friday, July 16th 2021
Following six fantastic digital events over the course of 2020 and the first half of 2021, Pocket Gamer Connects will return in July with another world-welcoming online conference.
A Pocket Gamer Connects online conference is the perfect way to meet, learn from, and do business with over 1,500 games industry professionals, and over 250 speakers. We’ve run 28 Connects events now since 2014, and we’re excited to continue connecting the global games industry.
As one of the expected 1,500 attendees, you will have access to an innovative online platform for five days in July 2021. You’ll be able to select from a programme of great live video content full of insight and practical advice across 20+ themed conference tracks. You can watch the tracks live or catch up on the recorded videos within your own time, and if you’re online while the speakers are performing you’ll be able to interact with them and the other viewers with questions and comments.
Business goes on, and people need to make new connections! So in addition to the talks, you’ll also be able to search and connect with other attendees. You can find people, connect, discuss, do deals and make plans using the MeetToMatch online meeting platform. It enables you to search by a range of professional criteria and automatically schedules one-to-one video meetings.
Additionally, we’re running online versions of these fringe events so you can connect through multiple avenues:

Investor Connector [https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/investor-connector/]
Publisher SpeedMatch [https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/publisher-speedmatch/]
The Big Indie Pitch (Mobile Edition) [https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/the-big-indie-pitch-mobile-edition/]
The Big Indie Pitch (PC + Console Edition) [https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/the-big-indie-pitch-pc-console-edition/]
Journalist Bar [https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/journalist-bar/]
Discord server [https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/discord-server/]
Games Jobs Live [https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/games-jobs-live/]

So book your tickets now and join us in July for Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #7.
We’re also allocating a limited amount of free passes solely for small indie developers, enabling them to meet with investors and publishers, and learn from the industry’s biggest names. If you think you qualify, sign up here.

Ally Skills Workshop 2 presented by the IGDA Allies SIG x IGDA Los Angeles
2021-07-10 12:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
Looking for practical, actionable diversity and inclusion training that people love? The Ally Skills Workshop teaches simple everyday techniques people can use to make their workplaces more inclusive. This highly interactive workshop helps people recognize when they have power and influence—when they can best act as an ally—and learn how to take effective action to make their workplace better.
Register here.

Hobbyist to Professional Game Dev Panel
2021-07-08 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eventbrite
For any game devs who are currently hobbyists or amateur this panel will be an opportunity to hear from people like you who have successfully transitioned into the professional space. Whether they’ve started a successful independent studio, a career at one of the big gaming companies, a successful freelance career—or a little of all the above—our panelists will be giving some insight into the steps they took to become professionals in gaming.
Register for free here.

GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards
2021-07-08
The GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards is the only event to celebrate employer excellence specifically for the video games industry.
The awards event has taken place in London for the UK market for the past four years, and on July 8th, 2021 will be coming to the US with an all-digital event featuring talks and sessions on major HR issues, such as challenges around COVID-19, inclusion and diversity.
Participation in the awards is strictly confidential ( they will only reveal the winners), and those that don’t make the final cut (and even those that do) can receive their employee scores in order to identify any areas of improvements. The awards are free to take part.

Inclusivity Game Jam by BackTrace
2021-06-25 - 2021-06-27
Backtrace is all about creating better game experiences. For this Game Jam, our goal is to celebrate inclusivity and encourage teams to create inspiring game projects in just 48 hours. The winner of the Game Jam will receive a Playstation 5 Console!

Join the Jam!

Serious Play Conference
2021-06-23 - 2021-06-25
The Serious Play Conference is a leadership conference for professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience and working together to shape the future of training and education. Speakers from all parts of the globe share their knowledge and experience creating or using games or simulations in the corporation, classroom, healthcare institution, government, military and many other industries, offering tips on how to move game-based education programs ahead. Attendees listen, share and participate actively in informal sessions and workshops. Those working on games get input from the community. Those going back to improve their own organizations take with them a network of professionals, allowing them to continue to discuss their own challenges and get input from peers.
Serious Play Conference has become the best place to learn about and then continue to keep current on the rapid changes and evolution of serious games, the industry that is shaping the future of training and education.

Join us June 23 – 25, 2021. IGDA Members save 25% on tickets to the main conference and DevCon – visit the Discount page for the code!

Webinar: Cheaters’ Secrets Unveiled
2021-06-22 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Cheaters’ Secrets Unveiled: How cheaters operate in video games and how to counteract them
No one likes playing against cheaters in competitive games. Unfortunately, more and more cheaters are targeting mobile games as they are the most popular platform lately. Studies show that 77% of gamers said that they would leave a competitive multiplayer game where there are cheaters.
Luckily there are ways to protect against many of cheats. Join Denuvo’s Mobile Protection product owner, Christian Koidl for this exclusive IGDA webinar session to find out more about:

Some of the threats Denuvo have encountered, how they work and affect the gamers’ experience
Why it’s important to implement countermeasures to protect your game against those threats
The security measures every mobile app game developer and publisher should take to protect their mobile game

Join us on Tuesday 22 June, 2021 at 12pm ET over at twitch.tv/igda!
RSVP

DeVry Webinar: Mapping Your Career Goals
2021-06-08 12:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
June 8th – 12 – 12:30pm EST
Mapping Your Career Goals: Guided Activity & Path Planning
Learn to drive your own professional development plan in this interactive workshop. Identify specific career goals to pursue an actual position at your company and discover your relevant interests, strengths and skills.

Register here.

Chinese in Games SIG Seminar
2021-06-05
Join us on Discord this Saturday (6/5) for Chinese in Games’ FIRST SEMINAR: We love playing games, so we ultimately get into the Gaming industry!!!
Register here

Webinar: Interaction Design & Prototyping for XR with Unity's Authorized Training Partner
2021-05-26 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Presented by Circuit Stream and ThinkEDU
Join us Wednesday May 26 at 1pm ET on twitch.tv/igda
RSVP here!

Hyper Games Conference
2021-05-26 - 2021-05-28
We are pleased to announce the Hyper Games Conference, Spring 2021!
The second conference dedicated to hyper casual games which will be held on May 26-28, 2021 in online format!
The purpose of the event is to unite game developers companies with publishers and advertising platforms.
The conference will be held for 3 days, with speaking slots and panel discussions with industry leaders on various specialized topics.
More detailed topics:
• Development. Hyper-casual game development basics and methods
• Games publishing
• Games marketing (ad networks)
• Success cases
• Panel discussions on game development and publishing
• Analysis of the most popular markets: Asia, Europe, CIS and Turkey

The main theme of the conference will be developers and their games, success stories, mistakes, and interesting cases. That’s why participation in the conference for development companies is absolutely free — tickets, speeches, activities. The conference plans to bring together about 2000 participants from more than 45+ countries, about 300+ gaming brands and about 150+ HC Game Studios.
The activities will be both in Russian and in English, so the format will be interesting. Everyone who is involved in hyper casual games: game studios, publishers, ad networks and platforms — hurry up to participate in the biggest event in a hyper casual niche!
IGDA Members save 20% on premium tickets – visit the Discounts page for details!

Nordic Game Conference
2021-05-26 - 2021-05-28
Nordic Game is the leading games conference in Europe, and 2021 marks its nineteenth and twentieth editions. Gathering thousands of industry professionals in Malmö annually, Nordic Game is the one and only “home turf” meeting place for the highly successful game developers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Nordic Game doubles up again with NG21 on 26-28 May and in November, following last year’s digital debut at NG20 and twice the knowledge, emotion and business at NG20+.

IGDA Members save on all Nordic Games events – visit the Discount Page for more information!

Game Design Challenge Closing Ceremony
2021-05-13 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
6pm ET
Twitch.tv/igda

Webinar: Determine your Game Development Hardware Needs
2021-05-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on May 12 at 3pm ET over on our Twitch Channel as our partners at Dell Technologies walk through determining your game development hardware needs – chance to win a workstation!
Presenter
Matthew D. Allard
Director of Strategic Alliances – Media & Entertainment
Matt joined the Dell Precision workstations team in July 2018 to lead strategic alliances for the Media and Entertainment industry, working closely with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), customers and technology partners. He has more than 20 years of experience within the tech sector, and prior to Dell, he held marketing and product management roles at Autodesk, Avid Technology, Schneider Electric, Microsoft Softimage, Media 100 and X-Rite. Matthew lives with his family in the greater Boston area and loves movies, seafood and checking out live bands.

Register For Your Chance to Win!
By RSVPing, you enter your chance to win a Dell Precision 5750 mobile workstation!
The world’s smallest and most intelligent 17″ workstation. The first thin and light 17-inch mobile workstation is also the smartest. Featuring Dell Optimizer for Precision with AI, the latest Intel® Core™ or Xeon® processors, and NVIDIA® graphics.
Configuration:
Intel Xeon W-10855M (6 Core, 12MB Cache, 2.80 GHz to 5.10 GHz)
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 GPU
17″ Ultrasharp UHD+ HDR400 screen, 3840×2400,Touch
64GB RAM
512GB NVMe SSD

DevGAMM
2021-05-12 - 2021-05-14
You missed the early bird date get your tickets to the DevGAMM Spring 2021 online conference, but we’ve got you covered. IGDA members can use promo code DG&IGDA_Finland15 when registering for a 15% discount.
The conference will be held from May 12-14 on the PINE Tool platform.
The program includes professional speakers, reviews on game design, art, and marketing, as well as, round tables and workshops.
Developers can take part in the Public Pitch game pitching and present their projects to potential publishers. Participating in the Virtual Showcase, developers can present their games to the conference audience at their personal booths and can get greater coverage in the Streaming Showcase, where streamers will review and playtest the games.
Submit your game by April 15!
Developers will be able to compete for nominations at the DevGAMM Awards. The prize fund, sponsored by tinyBuild and Xsolla, is $20,000!
Job offers from the leading gaming companies will be available on the Career Wall. Everyone can also enjoy chatting with colleagues during Random Networking and an online party.
For more information visit the conference website.

Beyond Games
2021-05-10 - 2021-05-14
Beyond Games is a week-long conference exploring the future of interactive entertainment

May 10-14, 2021

https://www.beyondgames.live/

This is where games meet music, film, sports, social media, culture, influencers, fashion, technology, lifestyle and loads more… As the lines blur between online experiences, social networking, games, and traditional entertainment formats, we’ll help connect the dots and plot a vision of the future. Welcome to a new five-day conference discussing emerging opportunities in the digital entertainment sector. There will be multiple tracks of talks, panels, round-tables and insights from 50+ experienced speakers representing multiple leading companies and disciplines and looking to explore the possibilities of tomorrow’s games – and beyond.

What is it?

A professional conference with talks, panels and meetings (May 10-14. 2021)
Dedicated to the intersection of games technology and other media: film, music, TV, comics, art, fashion, sport
A new knowledge- and contact-sharing event for people across the entertainment verticals
The theme is transmedia, convergence and the metaverse
Session topics include “The Power Of Immersive Reality In The Metaverse”, “The Art Of Storytelling In An Age Of AI And Interactivity”, “What Games Can Learn From Films And Comics” and “Beyond the Black Mirror: what are the ethical implications of the metaverse?”
Companies sending speakers include Archie Comics, Behaviour Interactive, Efimero Films, Graphite Music, Portobello, Institut for the Future, the SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival, Maze Theory, Roblox, Rovio, Recontact Games and more.

Who is it for?

People working in the creative, entertainment and lifestyle industries – and games
All welcome: from junior designers looking to educate themselves, to C-level execs looking for insight to help with decision making
Creatives from all disciplines are particularly welcome (we have subsidised tickets for them)
There will be plenty of strategic overview content for thought-leaders and decision-makers
If you work in film, TV, music, fashion, sport, comics or any of the lifestyle and creative industries, the conference will explain why everybody seems to be talking about games, game tech and gamification at the moment
If you work in the games sector, the conference will present you with case studies from companies that are working with the most exciting intellectual properties and breaking ground on new entertainment formats across other media types

Why attend?

Discover what’s next for interactive technologies
Meet new partners with distinct visions to bring to your business
Work on your business vision for the next 10 years
Be inspired

Who’s behind this?
Beyond Games is hosted by the makers of the world-famous Pocket Gamer Connects professional conference series. More than 30,000 industry professionals have attended the live Connects international conference series since 2014. Since October 2019, Steel Media Ltd has been part of the Enthusiast Gaming group. Enthusiast Gaming is the largest gaming network in North America and the United Kingdom.

Anything else I should know?
We will also be launching a brand new website BeyondGames.biz which will launch around the time of the first conference (early May) and continue the mission of exploring the frontiers and future of games on a daily basis. Selected content from the event will also be covered on this site.

How can I get involved?

Tickets for the event are available now, and we’re also open for final speaker submissions as well as suggestions for editorial content for the site.
If you’d like to associate your company more closely, there are also opportunities to sponsor both the event and the site (contact chris@steelmedia.co.uk)
More details at https://www.beyondgames.live/

LA Games Conference
2021-05-10 - 2021-05-12
LA Games Conference returns online this May 10-12, 2021! LAGC2021 covers the latest in NFTs, Gaming and the Metaverse, Diversity and Inclusion, Cloud Gaming, the State of the Games Business, Esports, Mobile Games, and more. Visit lagamesconference.com

DeVry Webinar: Maximizing the Value of Time
2021-05-06 14:30 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
May 6th – 2:30 – 3pm EST
Maximizing the Value of Time: Guided Exercise & Valuation Tool
Learn to schedule tasks according to the inherent value you assign them in this interactive workshop. Identify primary planning needs and action steps with a Time Value Management approach.

Register here.

2021 Earth Day Stream with IGDA Climate SIG
2021-04-22 15:00 (America/New_York)
Join us at 3pm EDT on twitch.tv/igda for the Earth Day Stream with the IGDA Climate SIG!
Participants
Paula Escuadra, she/her, @paulagize, Google, Senior Societal Topography Research Lead

Daniel Fernández Galeote, he/him, @danielfgaleote, Tampere University, PhD Candidate
Marina Psaros, she/her, Unity Technologies, Sustainability Lead

Jennifer Estaris, she/her, @aeiea, Game Director, ustwo games

Megan Carriker, she/her, @ecofriendlyish

Finland Games Job Fair
2021-04-21 - 2021-04-22
Leading Games studios from Finland are #hiring a wide range of positions this Spring and inviting talents from across the globe!
Sign up today https://apply.gamesjobfair.com for the #Finland #GamesJobFair in April to meet, greet and connect with recruiters and land your next career opportunity!
For more information about the event please visit GamesJobFair.com
#GamesJobFair #GamesFactoryTalents #recruitment #career #FinlandWorks #gamesindustry #gamedevtalents #gamedevelopment #gamedevelopers #career #gamesjobs #playfinland

Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6
2021-04-19 - 2021-04-23
The Global Games Industry Conference ONLINE
Monday, April 19th – Friday, April 23rd 2021

https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/

Following four fantastic digital events in 2020, and another amazing digital event in February 2021, Pocket Gamer Connects will return in April with another world-welcoming online conference.
A Pocket Gamer Connects online conference is the perfect way to meet, learn from, and do business with over 1,500 games industry professionals, and over 250 speakers. We’ve run 27 Connects events now since 2014, and we’re excited to announce our 2021 plans.
As one of an expected 1,500 attendees, you will have access to an innovative online platform for five days in April 2021. You’ll be able to select from a programme of great live video content full of insight and practical advice across 16 themed conference tracks. You can watch the tracks live or catch up on the recorded videos within your own time, and if you’re online while the speakers are performing you’ll be able to interact with them and the other viewers with questions and comments.
Business goes on, and people need to make new connections! So in addition to the talks, you’ll also be able to search and connect with other attendees. You can find people, connect, discuss, do deals and make plans using the MeetToMatch online meeting platform. It enables you to search by a range of professional criteria and automatically schedules one-to-one video meetings.
Additionally, we’re running online versions of these fringe events so you can connect through multiple avenues:

Careers Week
Investor Connector
Publisher SpeedMatch
The Big Indie Pitch (Mobile Edition)
The Big Indie Pitch (PC + Console Edition)
Journalist Bar
Discord server
Games Jobs Live
IGDA Mentor Café
Games Industry Gathering

So book your tickets now and join us in April for Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6. https://www.pgconnects.com/digital/
We’re also allocating a limited amount of free passes solely for small indie developers, enabling them to meet with investors and publishers, and learn from the industry’s biggest names. If you think you qualify, sign up here.

IGDA Member save 20% on tickets! Visit the Discounts page to get the code.

Webinar: Wanting Something Does Not Give You the Right to Have It - Protecting Your Brands and Copyrights
2021-04-15 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
April 15th @ 2pm ET
twitch.tv/igda
Congratulations! Your game is a huge success. Hundreds and thousands of downloads. Industry accolades. T-shirts, hoodies, and lunch boxes. And of course, knock offs. You have put your blood, sweat and tears into its development. Now, with its immense popularity come competitors looking to take advantage of your intellectual property. Did you take steps to protect your copyrights? Does your game have unlicensed third-party content that might come to haunt you? Do you have the rights to your trademarks? From copy-cat games to counterfeit apparel to protecting potential movie rights, rivals may try to profit from your hard work. What can you do to protect yourself? What protections can you seek? How early should you seek protection? What can you do with that protection? These are just some of the questions that we will address while we discuss protecting trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights in gaming.

Speakers:
Margaret Esquenet
Naresh Kilaru

Moderator:
Anthony Del Monaco
