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Game Industry Meetups in Vancouver

Vancouver 1
Photo by Jake Birkett

Someone just asked me what Game Industry meetups there are in Vancouver and here’s what I could think of, please add to it if you can!

– A recruiter called Jared (http://www.myservco.com/31337/) used to hold regular Game industry meetups in Yaletown in 2009, but sadly no longer.

– In January 2010 there was a Vancouver Interactive Night Out in downtown, but I’ve not seen another one since, so not sure if it’s regular.

– There was an EXP Gaming event at VFS a week ago. Although I gather there were lots of gamers there rather than game industry types. Not sure if this is going to be regular or not.

– We held one at our Big Fish Games studio in Yaletown back in 2009, and before that (over a year ago) I held one just for Indies and Casual Game devs.

Shall I Start a New Meetup?

I’d like to start up a Game Industry meetup that is regular and very useful for Game Devs to learn stuff and network at. I’ve attended quite a few VanDev meetups and I like the format:

– 30 minute presentation from an industry expert then Q&A.
– Door prize (like a raffle where attendees can win prizes). This could be optional, but it is fun.
– Introductions (every one has 30 seconds to introduce themselves to the crowd in preparation for network)
– Networking until close.

Sounds formal, but I think it could work really well because it’s both educational and great for networking if you can find a suitable non-noisy venue where people can talk at. Vandev was held in a UBC classroom on Robson Street, and I can enquire as to how I could do the same.

An alternative type of meetup is the “all meet in a pub and informally network”. This is certainly fun but I find that pubs are noisy and so talking about anything meaningful becomes difficult. Although I have certainly enjoyed some good meals with other devs in the past. Perhaps there is room for both types of meetups, formal and informal. Vandev did that as they had a separate social meetup group in a cafe.

Anyone want to help? Any further thoughts or recommendations? Thanks.

3 Responses to “Game Industry Meetups in Vancouver”

  1. Alex Vostrov Says:

    I think that this is a great idea. We should think about what everyone wants to get out of this, though. I fired off an email to you about this.

  2. Grey Alien Games Says:

    Alex and I have got the ball rolling on this. Will post more news when then first meetup is confirmed!

  3. Grey Alien Games Says:

    Woo! We setup a meetup.com group and have scheduled our first meeting. Already there are quite a few people coming along. Check it out: http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Indie-Game-Developers/