I’ve been running an unconference called GameLoop with my friend Scott Macmillan every summer for the last two years. If you’re reading this, you should totally come to this year’s GameLoop on August 28, 2010 in Cambridge, MA, USA.
GameLoop is a day-long unconference. If you’re not familiar with the term, it means that it’s a conference where there’s no set agenda until the day of the event. It’s self-organizing: we show up and spend a couple of hours figuring out what the topics of the day are going to be. It generally goes like this:
- 9am-10am: We gather up in a big room, introducing ourselves by name and listing three game dev topics we’re interested in.
- 10am-11am: We informally vote on proposed sessions and put those up on the big board.
- 11am: The conference begins!
We had some amazing sessions last year. Some of my favorites were Designer/Player Trust Building, Illusionary Gameplay (audio), Meaning in Games & Interactive Metaphor (audio), and Procedural Story & Emergent Narrative (audio). We cover topics besides game design, though: I led a session on the future of the Boston game industry, and a session on the IGDA. There were sessions in marketing and business models for indies (video), diversity in games, hardcore iPhone programming (shaders, 3D), music, subscription models, project management, hiring, and more!
Not only do you get a chance to learn, but you’re encouraged to participate as well! Most sessions end up being about 10 minutes of setup by a moderator, and then 30 minutes of discussion. It’s a really great way to dig into a meaty topic.
At GameLoop you’re likely to meet any number of AAA devs, indies, bloggers, journalists, and so on. It’s not even limited to people from the Boston area; last year only 60 of our 90 attendees came from Boston. The rest came from NYC, Albany, DC, Philadelphia, and even Los Angeles!
The $40 to register gets you breakfast, lunch, and a T-shirt. (It also helps me and Scott support ourselves as broke-ass indie freelancers.) Trust me when I say it’s completely worth it. You can register here. I hope to see you at GameLoop in August!
{ 5 comments }
Aww. I really wish I could go, but I’m stuck on the west coast.
This sounds like a great idea! I’m glad I am in Medford, MA! I would love to attend this!
Well, you should come!!
Wish I could make it again this year, but it falls on the day of my sister’s wedding, so I won’t be able to go.
I believe a few other 1st Playable folk are planning on making the trip out there again, though!
Aww! I’m moving to the cambridge area on September 1st… Missing this by 3 days. >_>
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