UMBC Game Developer’s Club Welcome!

About Us: We exist to give students a chance to work together and make games. We take students from any major with any level of experience in game development. We tend to make at least one 2-D game and one 3-D game per year. The GDC is a great learning experience for anyone, and an important resume-builder for anyone wanting to work in the games industry.

Officers: President – Alexander Grube Vice President – Andrew Battisti Treasurer – Paul Tschirgi Secretary –Alex Lacey Past-master – Eliot Carney - Seim Ad-master – Isaac Sohn Web-master(s) – Jeremy Rimpo

Project and Meeting Schedules: General meetings are held every Wednesday at 12 noon in the ENGR 005A. Fridays at 12 noon we have a lunch in the Commons Student Orgs Space that allows us to talk and get warmed up for the project meetings. Project meetings are held on Fridays after the club lunch, and they go on as long as people want them to.

Events: Tutorials Happy Fun Game Night – December 2012 MAG Fest – Early January 2013 Global Game Jam – Late January 2013 URCAD – April 2013 Digital Entertainment Conference – April 2013 Artscape/Gamescape – July 2013 More to come!

Last Year’s Games Black Fowl ▫3-D Action PC/Mac Game X-Zip-It! ▫2-D Zipper Mobile Game Cosmoknights ▫2-D Action PC Game

Game Idea Selection: If you have an idea you’d like to present, you must submit it to me via by Tuesday night at the latest. to Your should contain: ▫Name ▫Description ▫Proposed Game Engine ▫Open or Closed Source ▫2D or 3D Submitted ideas will be presented next meeting. After that, we have the Project Selection Jam!

What makes a good game idea? A good game idea is not just a story. ▫“It’s a game about a super soldier fighting alien zombies, but with a twist at the end.” A good game idea has a simple game mechanic. A good game idea has a reasonable scope. ▫It takes big teams (~100 people) several years of dedication to make a AAA game. ▫We have small teams (~4-8 people), with one year, who are going to school at the same time. ▫(no MMOs please) A good game idea is original. ▫Avoid descriptions like “half-life but with…”

Project Selection Jam: What: A 48 hour marathon of rapid game development. When: Friday, September 21st, 1 pm to Sunday, September 23nd, 1 pm. Where: ENGR 005A (here) Our projects for the year will be selected from the prototypes made at the jam.

Resources: Our website: umbcgdc.org We have a group on myUMBC for communication. Sign in on the attendance sheet and include your address so we can add you to the GDC Mailing List. The Mailing List – club wide announcements. We have a facebook group. If you have a laptop, you should bring it to meetings.

Questions? Don’t forget to sign in! Hope to see you on Friday!