FullIndie Meet in Vancouver (plus FerryJam!)

 AS3, Beer, Code, Events, Game Design, Photography, Travel  3 Responses »
May 242011
 

I run the local Victoria game developers group (LEVEL UP!), but our sister group in Vancouver (FullIndie) was having it’s one-year anniversary last week and I was invited over to give a nice short talk of some sort.

The Trip

I had a blast on the trip. FullIndie had probably over a hundred people show up for the birthday celebration, and we all went roving across three pubs after our talks. It was great to meet so many new people – but the size was a bit overwhelming! I couldn’t even meet everyone if I tried.

I took my FlashGamingSummit talk and slimmed it down to around 14 minutes (originally 60 minutes!). I basically cut out all the “facts” and just left the jokes and the summary “lessons learned” and tried to quickly barge through it all. Because of the size of the meetup, I actually had to give the talk twice to two seperate groups of people! They were both laughing most of the way through though, so I think I did a good job. :) It was a lot of fun for me anyway. A student was there filming one of my talks, maybe it’ll find it’s way online someday?

SteamWorks Brewpub let us into their secret cellar meeting room, which was pretty cool. Had some awesome pints and talked my throat raw. Good times!

The day after the event I hung out with some new friends, played some prototype video games, and even got a few board games in. Wonderful trip.

Since Victoria is on an island, seperated from Vancouver without a bridge – we have to take a 1.5 hour ferry ride between the two places. During the day, the view is beautiful and inspiring, as the ferry weaves between the Gulf Islands. At night, the wind and chill is usually so great that it’s best to huddle inside and do something productive…

I decided to do a GameJam!

The Jam

I was jamming on my own but I invited others along via Twitter. I did a screencap of me working at night spliced with the earlier trip during the day. Check out my rough editing skills here:

(Thanks to DVGMusic once again for his awesome tunes that accompany the video.)

In the end, I made an educational game that attempts to teach people fractions. I didn’t have a lot of time so a lot of elements are missing, and it could definitely use some work – but it might be a neat app to develop further in the future. My girlfriend teaches math, and she approves! Check it out the first prototype here:

AheadFull!

(You’re supposed to be at the speed controls of the ferry, being shouted orders by the Captain.)

Posted by Andy Moore at 11:15 am  

The VDevs Live!

 Beer, Events, VDev  1 Response »
Jul 192010
 

Picture by Navaboo

I’ve met up with a lot of game developers in the past few months, and seen awesome local-develpment-hangouts, gamejams, and general community cohesion. It seems every major city in Canada has a vibrant Indie Game Development community!

I’ve also lived in Victoria for 10 years, where we have the University of Victoria and it’s awesome Computer Science department. We have a few game studios in town, and even a branch of Disney up island a bit. I don’t know a single developer here. It feels like I’m a monitor with no computer to connect to (see image).

My friend Fieran and I discussed it over a pint, and we’ve decided we’re going to get things moving, instead of waiting for it to happen!

WELCOME TO VDEV. I founded a Meetup.com group, we’re using our University contacts to secure some computing space, and we’re going to have monthly beer-and-games meetups, and a GameJam in September. I’m really trying to get the local university folks involved, because so many students graduate and immediately move to Vancouver. Vancouver surely has more jobs than Victoria (it is a bigger city after all), but most are completely unaware of how fun Indie Game Making is, and I’m hoping to make a few converts!

VDev's current logo.

Don’t get me wrong; I miss all my international friends, and hope to attract a few to the larger events. I hope a bunch from Vancouver will come out. And most of all, I hope all those quiet Victoria devs finally come out of the woodwork and I get to meet you all!

So take a look at the Meetup group. It’s free to join and you’ll be notified (optionally) of any events we hold. I’d love it if you did!

We’re currently aiming to have our first big GameJam on September 17th-19th. Just waiting on space confirmation; already have a few big ticket guys on the line!

(And for those that might have to travel: Victoria is hosting the annual Great Canadian Beer Festival on September 10th and 11th. It might be a good month to visit!)

Posted by Andy Moore at 7:12 am  

Nirvana for the Content

 Beer  No Responses »
Apr 072009
 
At the pub tonight I had enough beers that would normally place me firmly in the grips of “drunk.” However, the quantity of food I devoured (well over average) counter-acted the results and placed me in the ultimate perspective of contentedness.
I did not feel dizzy or lightheaded; I did not feel any lack of judgement; I did not feel any dampening of my motor functions; I did not slur my speech. In fact, if I woke up feeling this way I would have no problem getting behind the wheel of a car. If it were for not one little side effect.
Everything we glance at, we analyze – we spot a painting, we note it’s size and shape. We spot a bottle and we note in our head that is it brown and contains beer. We glance at people and silently assign names or pointers in a split second of scanning recognition.
And I had lost all of these abilities.
I scanned the pub, the crowd, the things on my table, and I just saw shapes. The only things that concerned me where that who I was talking to and the pint in my hand. I had lost any ability to care for or note my surroundings.
The experience was in full force for around 10-15 minutes but quickly began tapering off to normality. I was really quite pleased with the experience and hope to have it again sometime!
Needless to say I did not touch the squids today. I am completely content with their progress from yesterday.
Posted by Andy Moore at 9:16 pm  Tagged with:
© 2012 Andy Moore Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha