COMMUNITY STATEMENT

As a game designer, I participate in a lot of open indie developer events and getting to know other developers. I attend local IGDA meetings which include playtest nights, mixers, and other events. I’ve done personal playtest sessions for small developers and gave them feedback on their current projects. I’ve also attended networking event with local developers outside of the IGDA group. Game jams are another way that I’ve participated in the game development community.

    IGDA holds events for developers about once a month. I’ve been to a couple events that they've held at Snakes and Lattes and Claim Jumpers. I’ve played games and networked with other developers, play tested people's projects, and participated in events where we split into groups and made a small card game using all the same materials. These events are good for getting to know people, and finding out what people are working on.

    While at IGDA, I met a group working on a board game called Boss Battle and ending up getting roped into helping them out with consistent scheduled playtests for more than half a year. I got a group of friends together to meet up every Thursday or Wednesday to get to know the game really well and give feedback on the more advanced meta and mechanics of the game. Overall it was a lot of fun, and it sparked an interest in wanting to pursue games outside of the digital fields, such as card and board games. The group definitely got a lot of help from us because it’s difficult to playtest more advanced mechanics without consistent players who are very familiar with the game. I also did playtests for a game called Wave Break for the good end of 3 months. I would join a group call on Discord and play online for about an hour once a week, and then give feedback on the new things that they had added.

    Outside of IGDA, there's a group called Death By Audio Arcade who own a “barcade” in New York called Wonderville. I’ve attended a playtest night there and introduce myself to the developers there and started making connections outside of the Arizona area, and also helped give feedback on a lot of peoples projects. I heard about them at GDC from the alt.ctrl.Party. This was a collection of games with innovative control systems. Death By Audio Arcade work on making arcade cabinets for modern indie games. I checked out all of the games at the Wondervilled arcade, and definitely gained a better appreciation for arcade cabinets. I would like to get to know this group better, and eventually work on a project with them or just an arcade game in general.

    Lastly, game jams are one of the biggest ways I participate in the game development community. I’ve done the global game jam and other ones hosted locally at UAT. These are a great way to start a new project, as well as get to work with people you normally don’t get a chance to. I also usually use these events to teach myself and others new tech and skills related to game development. In the last two game jams I worked with VR in the Unreal Engine, and AR on the Magic Leap HMD. I was able to help my team learn how to use different new technology as well as get introduced to working on different platforms and engines.