Emerson Game Developers Kicking Off 2016!
Friday, February 5, 2016
Emerson Game Developers Kicking Off 2016!
In November 2015, the Engagement Lab hosted a workshop called Girls Make Games to introduce mentors from the game industry and learn about game design and skills. You can read the recap here. Since its initial launch, Girls Make Games has evolved into Emerson Game Developers. While the club wants to acknowledge its roots and have a strong focus on diversity, both in games and the industry, it quickly became clear that a there was a large demand for a general game design club on campus. Once Emerson Game Developers becomes a more established organization on campus, it is a goal to help found a club specifically for women in games.
Workshop attendees expressed strong interests to keep learning, critiquing, and making games. Club leadership emerged with Sarah Spiers and Kat Knutsen stepping up to organize weekly meetings and Professor Sarah Zaidan as the faculty lead. The first meeting on January 16th was a great success with 24 people in attendance. The preliminary meeting aimed to share and source topics of interest as well as to gauge the interests for club structures and communications.
The majority of the first meeting’s attendees were more interested in digital than analog games and regularly reviewing academic resources on games. Some of the topics that will be explored this year include:
-Gamifying relationships
-Previewing games released in 2016
-Diversity in games
-Building analog games
Attendees also shared desires to explore visual novels, games as therapy, crowdsourcing in games and more.
To join, attend the Tuesday meetings, 7–8pm at the Engagement Lab at 160 Boylston Street, 4th floor. Share resources and meet fellow gamers via the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/168889850143377/
Originally published at engagementgamelab.org on January 22, 2016.