Actions Panel
GameLoop 2014
Date and time
Location
Microsoft NERD Center
1 Memorial Dr Cambridge, MA 02142Refund Policy
Description
Please share this invite info with game devs that know how to listen and have good things to share.
Part of keeping GameLoop fresh and interesting is making sure that we have new voices with new points of view, every year. We rely on you folks to find those people and encourage them to come!
What is GameLoop?
The TL;DR is that GameLoop is an unconference where you will have great conversations with other knowledgeable game devs about topics you want to discuss. For a bit over $60 you get a full day of that, a light breakfast, lunch, and a kick-ass t-shirt.
What's an Unconference?
An unconference is an event where, first thing that morning, people discuss what topics they want to cover. People then pitch those topics as sessions. The moderators (Scott Macmillan and Darius Kazemi) then curate all the proposals, creating the schedule for the day.
The sessions are usually in a free-form roundtable discussion format. There's a lot of back and forth. And if you want to keep talking about that topic after the session ends, you just move the conversation to the hallway areas.
Is GameLoop any good?
This will be the 6th GameLoop that Scott and Darius have run; usually we have about 125+ participants. Many of those folks are repeat attendees. Devs from as far away as San Francisco attend, and we've had devs from big-name studios like Irrational (R.I.P.), Harmonix, BioWare Montreal, and Bethesda Game Studios; we've had devs from super-awesome indie studios like Dejobaan, Owlchemy Labs, and Moonshot.
We've usually gotten very high marks from our participants; the best compliment we've gotten is that GameLoop is like a day full of all the best hallway conversations you'd have at GDC, but without the giant price tag and hit-or-miss sessions.
If you'd like to know more about what it's like to attend GameLoop, check out David Evans' blog post from 2011 and Maddy Myers' article about 2012. There are also some great pictures out there from 2011.
What kind of sessions usually happen?
We’ve had sessions about:
- Ethics in rulesets
- Distributed version control
- Dealing with mental health issues as a game dev
- iPhone shaders
- Indie marketing
- Illusionary gameplay
- Prototyping
- Outsider games
- Asymmetric multiplayer
- ... and a lot more!
Logistics
- Date: August 9th, 2014
- Location: Microsoft NERD in Cambridge, MA
- Schedule
- 8:30am: Doors open! Breakfast is served! (Please show up as close to here as possible, we get cracking at 9am.)
- 9am-10am: Opening meeting where we spend an hour getting to know each other's shared interests.
- 10am-10:30am: Informally vote on proposed sessions and put those on the Big Board
- 10:30am: First session!
- ~6:30pm: Last session ends. We have a wrap-up meeting, head out for beers. Maybe even boardgames later that night.
If you're coming from outside Boston, we are more than happy to try and set you up with crash space while you’re here for GameLoop. Just let us know if you’d like that and we’ll see if we can arrange it. We can also recommend nearby hotels.
Harassment
PLEASE NOTE: By registering for GameLoop, you agree to our abide by our Anti-Harassment Policy.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Thank you to the Microsoft New England Research & Development Center for hosting us, five years in a row!
We are looking for more sponsors! If you're interested, please contact us using the form on the right.