April 2020 Update
Hello Indies!
It’s been a strange Month so far, and Seattle has been eerily quiet. Hope you are staying healthy and sane as we get through this. If there is a silver lining, the amount of cases in our state seems to be finally going down. It’s hard to say for sure just yet, but hopefully this means all our efforts staying in-doors and social-distancing are paying off! Now, onto game dev updates…
March Recap
I think the best way to sum up March is:
However, this also means a lot of events are moving online. So if you didn’t want to or couldn’t travel before, it might open some new opportunities for you!
Upcoming Events
PocketGamer Digital is right around the corner, and you can still get tickets here. It’s a new virtual conference for the games industry, from the makers of PG Connects! Talks, meetings and pitch events, accessible to all.
Furthermore, we are moving forward with our annual Games for Our Future Jam and partnering with IndieCade to present: CLIMATE JAM! We invite developers from across the globe to join, contribute, and virtually connect. It’s happening Apr 18 – Apr 21 so make sure you sign up early. Here’s more info, and like with other events, this is an entirely digital event as well.
And as you might already know, all in-person Seattle Indies events are cancelled at this time, so we invite you to join our Discord if you haven’t already. We always have a good base of active users sharing their experiences, offering critique, or just chatting about the newest games and dankest memes.
We have also moved a couple of our regular meetups to Discord including Indie Support Group and Game Club with voice chat channels for you to drop in and keep in touch with your friends and fellow game devs during this time of social isolation. We have also created a #covod-19 channel to keep you updated with resources and guidelines during the pandemic.
Local Dev News
Princess Castle Quest has released a free Demo for their creative adventure-puzzle game on Itch – grab it here.
Stay Safe & Game On
We’re still in the midst of dealing with the pandemic, so here’s some tips on how you can keep yourself safe:
- Keep your hands clean, and keep your distance from sick people
- Unless you are already infected, face masks won’t help you
- Stock up on home supplies, medicine and resources
- Prepare your family, and communicate your plan
- With your children, keep calm and carry on — and get the flu shot
- About to go on vacation? Consider your destination and how you feel about risk
- Take a deep breath when thinking about the stock market
Lastly, if you are feeling bored or wanting to share unused game codes – we created a game key sharing Google Sheet that we can use to post our keys from past Humble Bundles, gift copies, cards, codes, whatever you may have around that you don’t intend to use or want to share with your fellow game developers to help keep spirits up while we’re all stuck inside for a bit.
Our friends at Humble Bundle have launched the Humble Conquer COVID-19 Bundle full of amazing games and books to keep you busy while you are stuck inside and help support charities fighting the disease.
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!