February 2024 Update
Hello Indies!
The year is moving fast, and things are happening! Look below for all the exciting updates…
Global Game Jam
Over the weekend of Jan 26-28 over 250 of us gathered at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond and AIE Seattle to participate in Global Game Jam 2024! Together we created over 70 games based on this year’s theme of “Make Me Laugh”
Want to see games made by Seattle Indies and DigiPen students? Take a Peek Here and here!
Watch the final presentations of over 50 games.
Huge thanks to our friends at DigiPen Institute of Technology for taking us in at the last minute and welcoming us to their campus for an amazing jam weekend. We hope it will be the first of many such collaborations between Seattle Indies and DIT going forward.
Want to check out ALL the games submitted across the whole world? Just go here!
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 Feb 6, 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 Feb 8, 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!
Feedback Circle is taking place Feb 14 at 7pm right on our discord. 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.
We’ll be having a Show and Tell on Feb 15 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 Feb 18, 3pm at Phoenix Comics and Games. Come play board games with Indie Game Developers!
Seattle Indies Social is happening on Feb 20 at 7pm at 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 Writer’s Room is taking place on Feb 29, 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. Seattle Center wifi will be available for use. Please bring everything you need to be productive. We will be meeting every 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 Game Club is meeting this and happens every third Wednesday each month at 7pm. We will be looking at Terra Nil. 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!
The Diversity Collective+ social 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!
Local Dev News
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!
Toby M. shared that RAM: Random Access Mayhem has been selected as a finalist for Best Student Game at Indie Game Festival 2024! They are also in the running for the Audience Award, please consider voting for them here.
Rawb is launching social media channels for their game, Tennis Academy! It’s a tennis RPG + Dating Sim currently in development. 🎾 It’s @tennisdatingrpg on all the platforms if you want to follow, here’s the Twitter Link!
Jon spent the last 2 months of my spare time making a little VR game called Crane Pop. Check it out here!
final (Sarah R.) published the steam store page for Grimshire! Check it out, share, and wishlist right here!
Sam Atlas released Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity. It’s their 4th game and sorta the spiritual sequel to Space Hole 2018, which was at SIX. Check it out here!
Oguz published their first Unity Assets Store asset, Stylized Slash VFX – URP. Check it out here!
Muhammad.Ahmad made a game demo for Pepper in just two weeks, built from scratch, every single aspect of the game is done by them alone. Go check the demo on itch.io and show some support.
DC launched their game called Seqitaire on Steam. Seqitaire is a number and pattern-matching puzzle game inspired by Solitaire. Check it out here!
RedVonix announced yet another new console port! Cerulean Games has ported CANNIBAL ABDUCTION to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Switch, and it’s releasing next month! Learn more here.
anurag shared Tenjin’s latest industry report “From Hyper to Hybrid in 2024” – grab it here!
ZW Buckley dropped a single and music video this morning! Check it out here.
Renee has been nominated for the GameHers 2024 Awards for iFOLIO Leader of The Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award, and their game Potions has been nominated for Best Game of The Year! Check it out and vote here!
Renee also launched the release date trailer for Potions: a Curious Tale! Go watch it and share it 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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