January 2024 Update
Happy New Year!
We hope you had a fantastic December, full of various holiday activities and delicious treats! Now it’s time to begrudgingly get back to making games…
Upcoming Events
The annual Game Developer Conference is slowly sneaking up on us again. It will take place March 18-22 in San Francisco, and you can read all about it here.
PAX East is also coming up, taking place March 21-24 in Boston. Learn more about the show here.
FYI if you want to get a list of all upcoming game event shows and get ready early, The Indie House has published this fantastic list of upcoming festival that’s exactly that. Well worth a bookmark!
Monthly Events
The Eastside Meet & Drink is happening at Pint & Pie Public House on Jan 2, at 7pm! Keep in mind it happens on the first Tuesday of every month. It’s time to get together and swap stories. Put down your keyboards and brave the outdoors. Let’s meet for a drink, a bite to eat, and some good conversation!
Northside Social is taking place Jan 11, 6pm at Distant Worlds Coffeehouse this month! It’s time to get together and swap stories. Put down your keyboards and brave the outdoors. Let’s meet for a coffee/tea, a bite to eat, and some good conversation!
Seattle Indies Social is happening on Jan 16 at 7pm at Stoup Brewing(formerly Optimism) in Capitol Hill. Join us for some well-deserved mingling, drinks, and socialization! Make some new friends, catch up with old ones, and find out what the community’s up to. This month a delegation of developers from Australia will be joining us on a post-GDC visit to Seattle so come out and say hello to our Aussie friends.
The Game Club is happening every third Wednesday each month at 7pm – so Jan 17 this time! We will be looking at Techtonica. What a book club is to a discussion of literature, this event is to a discussion of game design. Every month, we agree to play a game, then meet to discuss and analyze its design and presentation. This month’s game is TBD!
We’ll be having a Show and Tell on Jan 18 at 7pm at Spaces in Belltown. Bring your laptop and show off what you’re working on at the Seattle Indies Demo Night. Use this event to get feedback on your game and to network with other game devs. Pizza will be provided. Please bring everything you will need to demo and record feedback for your game.
Seattle Indies Board Game Meetup is happening on Jan 21, 3pm at Phoenix Comics and Games. Come play board games with Indie Game Developers!
The Writer’s Room is taking place on Jan 25, 6:30pm right on our discord. Bring your scripts, flowcharts, character bibles or whatever you’re working on to share and get feedback on your storytelling.
Indie Co-working Support Group in-person will take place every Saturday, from 1:00 PM to 6:30 PM PST, at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment. Masks will be enforced and vax cards will be checked at the door. Seattle Center wifi will be available for use. Please bring everything you need to be productive. The online Coffee Break session will still be available to anyone who isn’t ready for in person events yet or doesn’t have the ability to attend the in person event. We will be meeting every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month at AIE going forward. We have also added a Co-working voice channel in Discord for people to use any time they want a quiet space to work alongside their peers.
The Diversity Collective+ is off this month, but normally takes place at Distant Worlds Coffee House on 6401 Roosevelt Way NE · Seattle, WA. Come to network, socialize, and discuss issues related to diversity and inclusion in game development! Folks that identify as an underrepresented minority in the game industry are welcome. Stop by to get a free coffee or tea from us for this month’s social!
Feedback Circle is OFF this month. Usually, it’s a time to stop coding, animating, making art or audio or adding that amazing new feature you thought of while you were falling asleep last night and come to Feedback Circle to get some real responses to what you have been working on from game creators in our community like yourself.
Local Dev News
Victor (Ghost Clown) announced a free visual novel coming out on Steam in late January called The Mask Game! Which is worse: a toxic friend or a literal demon? Check it out and wishlist here.
RedVonix shared some takeaways they had from running a booth at DakuCon to show off Runic and Santa’s Special Delivery. Read about it here.
RedVonix also shared latest interview with the Phat Games podcast. Come join as they discuss the Unity problem, future games, game engines in general, and… What even is Indie anymore?
Kyenel64 is working on an open-source, 2D/3D game engine and would like to share it with you all.
Locus is a general-purpose game engine that is ECS-based and has a C# scripting engine. The workflow is very similar to Unity and can be thought of as a lightweight and open-source alternative to it. Learn more about it here!
Caidence//Solfege shared a new project they did a bit of music for, Yurivania 3. Check it out here!
RedVonix got interviewed by Joy Nights Awards during DakuCon! They discussed Runic, Drunk Robot Games, and a certain infamous Santa game. Check it out here.
PinkLunaFae (Mio) shared a GoFundMe to help them stay off the streets. Find out more about it here.
RedVonix shared a new game on Steam called Runic: Eternal Sunrise. Travel alongside a cast of Celestials as you complete puzzles, defeat bosses, and unravel the mystery of the Eternal Sunrise in this Match-3 puzzle adventure. Check it out here!
Harassment Policy, AAPI, Black Lives Matter, and Resources
Seattle Indies stands with the AAPI community. We are here for our members who have been affected by the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes both locally and nationally. For further resources to educate yourself on the issue and how to take action, here is a useful link: https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/
Seattle Indies is having in person meetups again and we need everyone to get vaccinated and boosted against the COVID-19 virus as soon as you are able. The Washington State Department of Health has this website for information on where you can get vaccinated in your area.
Seattle Indies believes the stories of the victims of sexual harassment and assault in the games industry that have been shared. We strongly condemn the actions by people in power preying on the dreams of vulnerable people trying to make their way in the industry and strive to build an inclusive community that welcomes all minorities to provide a safe environment and a better vision for the game industry.
While our code of conduct states a zero-tolerance policy for harassment of any kind we are especially sensitive to the daily challenges faced by womxn due to the ingrained sexism that has existed in the structure of the games industry for far too long. We are actively working to build a better community of game developers and we all need to do better.
Additionally, Board Member August Belhumeur has offered to be a personal resource for anyone who needs help, someone to talk to or some guidance on next steps if you have experienced harassment in the industry either at our events or elsewhere. She can be reached at august@seattleindies.org.
Our friends at Take This Org have compiled valuable resources for anyone in immediate need of professional help for their situation.
Lastly, Seattle Indies and Diversity Collective+ support Black Lives Matter. Here are some resources compiled by Diversity Collective+ for how you can offer support, whether this is financial, contributing to petitions, preparing for protests, or getting informed. If you have additional resources, comment below and we will add them.
As always, keep an eye on our Discord for any last-minute news and discussion, and let us know about any projects you’re working on that you’d like shared on our Steam or Itch collections or tweeted about from @SeattleIndies!
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