April’s monthly meet-up has come and gone, and it proved to be one of our most successful events to date. A large portion of the thanks goes to our fantastic speakers.

First up, we heard from Simon Joslin of The Voxel Agents, creators of Train Conductor. In what was an extremely informative and interesting thirty minute presentation. Voxel walked us through the debut year of one of Melbourne’s up and coming independent studios. Many thanks to Simon, Matt and Tom (aka The Voxel Agents) for sharing their experiences with the IGDA.

Following The Voxel Agents was news from a magical event held on distant shores; the 2010 Game Developers’ Conference (GDC), occurring annually in San Francisco.

Jenn Sandercock gave us insight into the mayhem, mischief and magic of volunteering for GDC as she recounted her unique perspective of the bohemoth conference.

Mark Flanagan brought back some knowledge from the various presentations he made it to at the conference. His talk touched on some peculiar and brilliant ideologies shared by Naughty Dog, the team behind Uncharted 2. Mark has copies of the GDC presentations he covered for anyone who may be interested.

Then last up to give us their GDC perspective was Alexander Bruce, creator of award winning PC title, Hazard. Bruce spoke of his successes and experiences travelling to GDC as an indie and (along with some interesting stories) had some great tips for travelling indie developers. Most memorable were some exceptionally good examples on the importance of capitalising on your successes.

Then, of course, the ever-impassioned Stephan Schutze was up to tell us all about his new endeavour – an online free-to-download sound library. Definitely something all developers should be checking out. You can find out more at www.stephanschutze.com

Until our next meeting (4th of May), keep up the great work guys.

Thanks to all our speakers and those who came along on the night and made it the fantastic event it was.

When: Tuesday 13 April 7pm
Where: The Embassy, 1 Queensbridge St, Southbank

What: 8pm The Voxel Agents: One year into indie

The creators of iPhone App ‘Train Conductor’ give a rundown of the highs and lows, challenges and successes of life as an Indie Developer Start-up.

8.30 GDC Goss

A selection of people who went to GDC – including Jenn Sandercock – who was there as a volunteer and Mark Flanagan – who went to look from an education and IGDA perspective, will spend a few minutes sharing their experiences and answering questions…. details of other speakers will be listed once they are confirmed.

9.00 Big Ant sound guy, Stephan Schutze

Stephan will give you a quick rundown on his awesome FREE sound library.

If you’re a FBer please RSVP here so we can make sure staffing is alright on the night

Any questions, feel free to email info@igdamelbourne.org, and we hope to see you there