What we’re about
The Christchurch Game Developers Association frequently offers events in person or digitally to create conversations and share stories, encourage community growth, connection-building and the sharing of knowledge and expertise.
A typical meetup includes:
- A Guest Speaker or Panel presenting on a core topic
- An opportunity for Q&A with our Guest Speakers
- Games Industry News and Events from around New Zealand
- Screen & Games Industry Job Opportunities
- Casual networking over pizza
Originally founded in 2015, the Christchurch Game Developers Association (CGDA) is an organisation dedicated to supporting the local Ōtautahi Christchurch Game Development Community.
CGDA works with local sponsors and tertiary institutes to provide monthly Meetup Events, featuring a wide variety of Talks from local and international guest speakers. We also facilitate Canterbury sites for Game Jams (weekend-long collaborative game creation events) and Playtest Exhibitions, with the goal of showcasing local talent and illuminating pathways into the Game Development Industry.
Check us out on:
Web: https://chch.gamedev.co.nz
Discord: https://discord.gg/68YqqFZ
Facebook: fb.me/CHCHGameDev
Twitter: @CHCHGameDev
Help us grow on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CHCHGameDev
Upcoming events (2)
See all- [Bonus!] May CGDA Meetup - Chris MurphyEPIC Innovation, Christchurch
Welcome to the Bonus May 2025 Christchurch Game Developers Meetup!
Location:
EPIC Innovation, 106 Manchester St, Christchurch 8011The meetup will also be streamed online:
[To be added on the day]Don't forget to check us out at:
Website: https://chch.gamedev.co.nz
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/CHCHGameDev
Facebook: https://fb.me/CHCHGameDev
Discord: https://discord.gg/68YqqFZ
If you like our meetups, consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/CHCHGameDev
***Speaker - Chris Murphy
Chris Murphy is a Senior Technical Artist at Epic Games with game development credits on multiple platforms. Chris has over a decade of experience with Unreal Engine, over 8 years at Epic, a Bachelor of Computer Science, and a Bachelor of Multimedia, culminating in a broad skillset across a range of game development disciplines. Chris’ role in the Developer Relations team at Epic Games is to help Unreal Engine developers build successful projects with Unreal Engine support and advice.6:00 PM - KICK OFF
Welcome to the Christchurch Game Developers Meetup, with news from around New Zealand!6:15 PM - An Introduction to World Building with Procedural Content Generation
So your grand idea is seeming like maybe it has an equally grand scope. Sometimes clever tooling and procedural functionality can ease that burden and bring a project into the realms of achievability! Join Chris Murphy for a whistle stop tour of Procedural Content Generation: A fun method of quickly whipping up and iterating environments to manage large scopes while maintaining an artist driven workflow7:00 PM - PIZZA
Enjoy some refreshments (AKA pizza) and catch up with/meet other game dev enthusiasts.7:15 PM - Annual General Meeting
Join us for the annual Chairperson's report, Treasurer's report, and the announcement of the new Committee for 2025-26. Afterwards we will be taking suggestions for the new Committee's agenda.Event Photography Notice: The CGDA occasionally takes photos and/or videos at our events for promotional purposes. If you would prefer not to have your image recorded for marketing purposes, please make your wishes known to the photographer, and/or reach out to a committee member, and we will accommodate your request. Thank you!
***Massive thanks to all our supporters for making our meetups possible!
Our Corporate Supporters:
Yoobee College of Creative Innovation - a tertiary institute committed to developing creative and technical talent across New Zealand.
https://www.yoobee.ac.nz/courses/HIT Lab NZ - a multidisciplinary, Human-Centred Research environment that collaborates with industry.
https://www.hitlabnz.org/CerebralFix - a Christchurch-based game development studio specializing in work for hire from some amazing companies.
https://cerebralfix.com/Screen Canterbury NZ - a Canterbury-based film office helping creatives get their projects delivered to the screens of their choice, providing fantastic resource-sharing & advocacy for our screen production industry.
https://www.christchurchnz.com/screen-canterburynzAnd our awesome Patreon Supporters:
Matt Barton
Leith Caldwell
Samantha Cook
Nik Scarr
Carl de Visser - May CGDA Meetup - Hamish Oliver and AGM!EPIC Innovation, Christchurch
Welcome to the May 2025 Christchurch Game Developers Meetup!
Location:
EPIC Innovation, 106 Manchester St, Christchurch 8011The meetup will also be streamed online:
[To be added on the day]Don't forget to check us out at:
Website: https://chch.gamedev.co.nz
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/CHCHGameDev
Facebook: https://fb.me/CHCHGameDev
Discord: https://discord.gg/68YqqFZ
If you like our meetups, consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/CHCHGameDev
***Speaker - Hamish Oliver
Hamish has enjoyed a 25-year-long career as a composer, sound designer, musical director, arranger and performer for television, film, video games and theatre, and has a Master's degree in composition. He is a Screen Sound lecturer at Canterbury University, working in areas like sound design, music composition, implementation of interactive audio, production, mixing etc. In 2015 Hamish was the recipient of an $10,000 APRA Professional Development Award to further his career in music composition for video games.Hamish has toured internationally with Elaine Paige, Aled Jones and Hayley Westenra and has performed with Serj Tankian, Shapeshifter, Tiki Taane, Bic Runga, Julia Deans, Anika Moa, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra among many other artists. He plays piano and celeste for the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and has had several composition commissions from them.
His arrangements have been performed by The Phoenix Foundation, Alien Weaponry, Shapeshifter, Tiki Taane, Julia Deans, Anika Moa, and most of the major orchestras in New Zealand.
6:15 PM - KICK OFF
Welcome to the Christchurch Game Developers Meetup, with news from around New Zealand!6:30 PM - Elegant Audio Easily
Game audio no longer needs to be primitive or rudimentary! Simple is good, but simple and effective is even better. Chances are, you want your game's audio to support and enhance the gameplay as much as possible—and the good news is, there are many surprisingly accessible ways to achieve this. In this session, Hamish will showcase a variety of techniques to help you work with sound design and music that genuinely enrich the player's experience, in ways that are sometimes subtle but always elegant and effective.7:00 PM - PIZZA
Enjoy some refreshments (AKA pizza) and catch up with/meet other game dev enthusiasts.7:15 PM - Annual General Meeting
Join us for the annual Chairperson's report, Treasurer's report, and the announcement of the new Committee for 2025-26. Afterwards we will be taking suggestions for the new Committee's agenda.Event Photography Notice: The CGDA occasionally takes photos and/or videos at our events for promotional purposes. If you would prefer not to have your image recorded for marketing purposes, please make your wishes known to the photographer, and/or reach out to a committee member, and we will accommodate your request. Thank you!
***Massive thanks to all our supporters for making our meetups possible!
Our Corporate Supporters:
Yoobee College of Creative Innovation - a tertiary institute committed to developing creative and technical talent across New Zealand.
https://www.yoobee.ac.nz/courses/HIT Lab NZ - a multidisciplinary, Human-Centred Research environment that collaborates with industry.
https://www.hitlabnz.org/CerebralFix - a Christchurch-based game development studio specializing in work for hire from some amazing companies.
https://cerebralfix.com/Screen Canterbury NZ - a Canterbury-based film office helping creatives get their projects delivered to the screens of their choice, providing fantastic resource-sharing & advocacy for our screen production industry.
https://www.christchurchnz.com/screen-canterburynzAnd our awesome Patreon Supporters:
Matt Barton
Leith Caldwell
Samantha Cook
Nik Scarr
Carl de Visser
![[Bonus!] May CGDA Meetup - Chris Murphy cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/3/3/6/a/event_527773162.webp "[Bonus!] May CGDA Meetup - Chris Murphy")
