#notGDCMI 2020 (CANCELED), and Other Michigan Game Dev meetups

UPDATE (2020-03-13): In the last 48 hours, Michigan confirmed cases of COVID-19 being present. Schools canceled classes. Events of over 100 people are generally canceled, or banned. We had updated “notGDC Michigan” to be online-inclusive, and then online-exclusive when the original location became uncertain. Finally, we regretfully canceled “notGDC Michigan” today. It won’t be held on Saturday, March 14, 2020, but will hopefully be held later this year. It’s frustrating to cancel an event only 24 hours in advance, but for the safety and interest of the local community, it was necessary. Original article remains below.

I have been making games publicly since this blog was active (over 6 years now). I had never gone to GDC, the fabled conference that developers travel to from around the world each year. I was planning to go this March in 2020, but sadly, the great migration has been canceled: epidemic fears had caused all major companies that don’t NEED to be there to back out, and on February 28, 2020, GDC was officially postponed, to some undetermined date in the summer when travel fears die down.

That was about 2 weeks before GDC was supposed to take place. In that time, developers in Michigan have rolled up their sleeves, and are running their own local mini-conference: “notGDC Michigan,” on Saturday, March 14, 2020 from 2pm – 5pm at Lawrence Technological University. You can register and find out more information here: https://notgdcmi.com/

A mini-conference on game development in Michigan (plus a couple other events that weekend).

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#canada150game – “The Great Canadian Game Jam” Post-Mortem

Happy Canada Day!

The last six months have been busy, but fun. It’s the first time I took a major role in co-organizing a local game jam, aiming to bring the country together in celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday. It finished on July 1, and while I’m proud of it, it’s also clear that some major things went wrong, and lessons were learned.

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Who Says We Don’t Have Game Developers in Windsor?

Windsor, Ontario is known for a few things. Mostly car manufacturing and gambling at our hotspot city casino. If you live in Windsor, you probably work in one of these sectors. Windsor also has a vibrant comic book community that I hope continues to further define the city. Chances are these things define you if you live in the area for long.

Windsor also has a growing technology sector (well, the entire world does). Game developers still gravitate around Vancouver, Montreal or Vancouver to work in Canada, and living in Windsor I only knew of a couple other like-minded creatives in the area. Thankfully, directory website WEIG (Windsor-Essex Indie Games) and its related weekly meetup at Hackforge is helping bring this secluded community together. I’ll be giving a talk this month in May as its featured developer, the second of many more speakers to come.

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Dust Scratch Games is coming to Windsor’s 2016 Comic Book Syndicon!

I went to too many events last year. And I’ll probably do so this year too.

To start, I’ll be at the Comic Book Syndicon on February 14, 2016! Come see us in the St. Clair Centre for the Arts in the heart of downtown Windsor from 11am to 5pm. Tickets are only $5! Organized by our local comic expert group Comic Book Syndicate, not only will you see local comic artists, merchants, crafts-people and cosplay, you’ll see tables for things not advertised on the site, like a game developer or two (me!), Windsor’s own Hackforge technology group, and St. Clair’s animation club!

Only a few minutes away from where I live, I couldn’t pass this up. I only have my two released games to show, but I’ll be working live on my computer on the animation for a new game to come, letting visitors see how the process happens! For more information, visit their official page: http://comicbooksyndicon.com/