Anybody interested in a "Game Club" in the Los Angeles area?
by OtakuNoZoku · in General Discussion · 04/01/2004 (3:45 pm) · 10 replies
I've been thinking of starting a "Game Club" in the Los Angeles, CA area for some time now. Amongst my many pursuits I teach game development subjects regularly at a college in Hollywood, CA. My students are interested in pursuing this idea too so is there anybody else here that might want to come along, once a week, for about three hours in the evening? The idea behind the "Game Club" is to work on small games, either collaboratively or independently, to show off what you've done in the past week and learn from each other. Anybody interested?
About the author
#2
04/02/2004 (12:41 am)
Last I heard, and I have no direct evidence of this other than just mere hearsay, Australia itself consisted of quite a large geographic region.
#3
Most of the population live along the coast line
04/02/2004 (4:34 am)
Otaku, yes australia is quite a large land mass but 80% is inhospitable or desert ;)Most of the population live along the coast line
#4
;-)
04/02/2004 (7:57 am)
Much like the city of Los Angeles then. Once you get deep in to the interior you can go for miles without encountering a Starbucks or WiFi hotspot.;-)
#5
What's the status on the game club?
PS - I recently joined GG partly because of your article in GDM.
10/02/2004 (12:10 pm)
Hi OtakuNoZoku,What's the status on the game club?
PS - I recently joined GG partly because of your article in GDM.
#6
One of the discussion points amongst myself and the students was to make the club productive by requesting that members contribute something on a semi-regular basis. Non-active, disruptive, and non-contributing members would be politely requested to stop attending. This point isn't decided yet, it is still just an idea. The major reason was to make the club a worthwhile endeavour and learning experience for those attending instead of it devolving in to a LAN party/BS. The intent is to bring in industry professionals to offer advice, work through technical problems the club members are having and hopefully give insights in to how a professional development environment works.
The issue is whether we attempt to rent out a small facility each session that can offer already installed computers & desks (a college or cyber cafe), or just go for a coffee shop and everybody brings laptops. The first costs money, the latter poses the problem of not everybody having a capable laptop.
A number of people have stated that they joined GG because of the GDM article. Perhaps I should be asking GG for a commission or something ;-)
10/03/2004 (12:22 am)
As you are the only one to respond from the Garage Games forums this thread kind of died a death. Outside of the forums, the plans continue. I am planning on getting something going on the west side (Santa Monica/Venice Beach area) once this current deadline is out of the way (another week or so). My students have been badgering me for some time too so it's probably a good time to put a plan together.One of the discussion points amongst myself and the students was to make the club productive by requesting that members contribute something on a semi-regular basis. Non-active, disruptive, and non-contributing members would be politely requested to stop attending. This point isn't decided yet, it is still just an idea. The major reason was to make the club a worthwhile endeavour and learning experience for those attending instead of it devolving in to a LAN party/BS. The intent is to bring in industry professionals to offer advice, work through technical problems the club members are having and hopefully give insights in to how a professional development environment works.
The issue is whether we attempt to rent out a small facility each session that can offer already installed computers & desks (a college or cyber cafe), or just go for a coffee shop and everybody brings laptops. The first costs money, the latter poses the problem of not everybody having a capable laptop.
A number of people have stated that they joined GG because of the GDM article. Perhaps I should be asking GG for a commission or something ;-)
#7
I agree a club should be productive and unfortunately most clubs in general are probably not as productive as the members anticipated when joining. I would like the club to be flexible with members. Perhaps allowing a couple to several meetings (depending on the frequency of the meetings) to be missed while at the same time asking if that member could contribute research or a write-up that would benefit the group. Hopefully the member would not have to be asked and would volunteer.
I'm an IGDA member and the local chapters do well in bringing in industry people to the meetings. I read EA Games - LA has been involved with some local high schools. We'd have an easier time finding industry interest if the club was teamed with an institution. It could also provide a location to hold the meetings. The IGDA LA chapter meets at the Art Institute(AI) in Santa Monica. Sometime this year, some industry companies such as a game company and hardware company are suppose to provide resources to AI. They're planning a computer lab and resource center dedicated to learning video game development. A couple of proposed "on-going" resources from these companies will be stuff like the latest in graphic accelerator cards and access to in-house tools. The best part, not only will their students be able to use it but AI has extended an invitation to IGDA card-carrying members!
10/03/2004 (11:00 am)
Santa Monica / Venice Beach is fine with me.I agree a club should be productive and unfortunately most clubs in general are probably not as productive as the members anticipated when joining. I would like the club to be flexible with members. Perhaps allowing a couple to several meetings (depending on the frequency of the meetings) to be missed while at the same time asking if that member could contribute research or a write-up that would benefit the group. Hopefully the member would not have to be asked and would volunteer.
I'm an IGDA member and the local chapters do well in bringing in industry people to the meetings. I read EA Games - LA has been involved with some local high schools. We'd have an easier time finding industry interest if the club was teamed with an institution. It could also provide a location to hold the meetings. The IGDA LA chapter meets at the Art Institute(AI) in Santa Monica. Sometime this year, some industry companies such as a game company and hardware company are suppose to provide resources to AI. They're planning a computer lab and resource center dedicated to learning video game development. A couple of proposed "on-going" resources from these companies will be stuff like the latest in graphic accelerator cards and access to in-house tools. The best part, not only will their students be able to use it but AI has extended an invitation to IGDA card-carrying members!
#8
10/04/2004 (10:13 pm)
I'd like to find ways on in the GG community to help facilitate more local connections between indie developers. You might see if gamedev.meetup.com/groups/ helps make some connections. Networking at IGDA events for indies can be a way to find other like minded developers.
#9
Im down with meeting up in the Santa Monica area as well. I just moved out here from doing film/game work in the bay area. Also down the line I gotta find a local school to do some talks and such at since I can't do them at the Academy of Art in SF anymore. So any info would be cool.
10/05/2004 (3:20 pm)
Heyaz,Im down with meeting up in the Santa Monica area as well. I just moved out here from doing film/game work in the bay area. Also down the line I gotta find a local school to do some talks and such at since I can't do them at the Academy of Art in SF anymore. So any info would be cool.
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