Seattle Indies Update – January 2023
Welcome to 2023 Indies!
Hope the festive season has treated you well. New year is starting yet again, and hopefully new goals and achievements. Here’s a bit of a recap of our holiday party, before we jump into upcoming stuff….
We wrapped our Annual Holiday Party last month, our biggest yet today (with over 300 attendees!) and at a brand new location at GameWorks. If you were there, thank you for coming and making this event great. If you missed it, we hope to see you next time!
We have all the Photos Available Here, so check them out if you haven’t had a chance to yet!
And BIG THANK YOU to all our Volunteers and Sponsors who helped make this happen 🥳
Upcoming Events
Global Game Jam 2023 Kickoff Party is taking place on Feb 3, 5-9pm at Pacific Science Center. We will Kick off the event with a mixer for discussing the theme, pitching our ideas, and forming our teams oh.. and also PIZZA !
This is our biggest annual game jam. Devs across the globe will have 48 hours to make a game! If you are interested in our Global Game Jam, be sure to Sign Up Right Here! We usually hit our maximum capacity far too quickly!
Dice 2023 Summit is taking place Feb 21 – 23 in Las Vegas, here’s the website with all the info. If you want to kick off the year with some talk panels, awards, networking and travel, this is an event for you.
PocketGamer Connects London will be taking place in Jan 23-24 as well. Bit of a longer trek for Seattle devs, but if you’re feeling adventures, here’s the official website! There’s also the Big Indie Awards as part of the show, so you can submit your game too. (FYI PocketGamer has been previously hosted in Seattle twice.)
Disclaimer: PGC is promoting talks about Blockchain/NFT gaming that we will not be taking part in nor endorsing. Seattle Indies is not receiving compensation for our involvement in PGC nor are we paying for the privilege of being involved.
And if you’re feeling even more adventurous, Taipei Game Show will take place Feb 2-5 in Taiwan. Here’s the official info page.
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 Eastside Beer Works on Feb 2, at 7pm (note no January event)! 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!
Discord Social is happening Feb 4 at 7pm right on our (surprise surprise) discord! Can’t make the in-person socials or just want to hang out? Come join us every first Weds for the Discord social!
Seattle Indies Social IRL will take place on Jan 17, 7-10:30pm at Optimism as always! Join us in Capitol Hill 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.
The Game Club this month will take place on Jan. 18, 7 PM – 9 PM and the game is Neon White. 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.
The Writer’s Room is coming up on Jan 26, 6:30pm to 9:30pm online. 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 Jan 7), from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM PST, at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment. Masks will be enforced and vax cards will be checked at the door. Seattle Center Wi-Fi 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.
Indie Coffee Break – Once a week, take a Coffee Break with our Discord community, and chat with your local game devs! Meet new folks. Talk about games. Share your work. Ask for help / feedback. Commiserate over problems. Collaborate on solutions. Give high-fives. We’re a weekly social work group for game devs of all levels and disciplines. Join us on Discord every Saturday from 1pm to 7pm! Drop by anytime; folks usually drop in and out throughout the day. Coffee Break also happens on an impromptu basis throughout the month so if you see folks hanging out in the channel feel free to drop in and join the conversation.
Local Dev News
crawfdc47 shared a new major content update for their word game called Shuzzler, now available on Steam! Check out the new levels and mechanics!
William shared a new promo for the game he’s working on, Pigeon Simulator. Watch it here.
Stephan released a new version of Worms-type game, Asteroidians! Game is free to download and this latest release now features multiplayer matchmaking so take a look!
Maximus started e documenting their game development journey on YouTube channel. If you want to get inspired, check it out and consider subscribing!
BJ launched Pine Tar Poker ♠️ Pine Tar Poker is a yahtzee-inspired poker game with just a touch of cosmic horror for iOS and Android. Check it out!
Max streams themselves playing games over at their Twitch Channel. They talk about videogames and other things over at YouTube as well. Come say hi sometime or drop a sub/follow!
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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