July CGDA Meetup - ISAGA Panel - Nic Barker, Michael Fallik, Richard Durham

Welcome to the July 2024 Christchurch Game Developers Meetup!

Location:
John Britten Foyer - University of Canterbury Ilam Campus

The meetup will also be streamed online:
https://youtube.com/live/ps7dBcH4BnQ?feature=share
Youtube link here!

6:15 PM - KICK OFF
6:30 PM - GUEST SPEAKER PANEL + Q&A
7:15 PM - PIZZA

Don't forget to check us out at:
Website: https://chch.gamedev.co.nz
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

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6:15 PM - KICK OFF
Welcome to the Christchurch Game Developers Meetup, with news from around New Zealand!

6:30 PM - ISAGA Panel

“Designers can do things with games. The aim is to improve the world, to make something a little more accessible, a little more meaningful, or a little more beautiful…” – Lindsay Grace, author of Doing Things with Games.

Games have the potential to profoundly impact or transform players in their awareness, skills, knowledge, understanding, beliefs, values, or behavior. Some games are designed to change their players while others may do so incidentally. For instance, games made primarily for entertainment can also be transformative, leaving lasting impacts on their players’ attitudes or understandings towards life. Therefore game designers of all kinds have great opportunity to think about how they can turn their games into enriching and transformative experiences. The question is how (and why)?

Please come and listen to our panel of video game industry professionals who will explore these questions. The panel will discuss design elements of real games that have been fun and impactful for its players, explain why these elements are transformative, and advise on how these elements could be applied to other kinds of games, simulations, or interactive experiences.

Speakers on the panel include:

Nic Barker
Nic Barker is a game developer at CerebralFix and also builds educational games through his personal project, Delphinium Games.

Michael Fallik
Michael Fallik is a games/VR producer, studio manager, and occasional amateur office therapist. His credits include BAFTA 2018 Game of the Year “What Remains of Edith Finch” by Giant Sparrow (published by Annapurna Interactive), 2020 Apple Design Award winner “Where Cards Fall” by The Game Band (published by Snowman), and Esquire’s Top 10 Games of 2023 So Far “Laya’s Horizon” by Snowman (published by Netflix). His games have been written up in The New York Times, The Washington Post, IGN, and Polygon, among many others. Michael’s love of interactive media stems from the belief that video games can and should be a positive force in our broader culture, deserving of aesthetic intention and conceptual rigor. An Israeli-American residing in Wellington, New Zealand, he is currently an Executive Producer at Snowman.

Richard Durham
Rich had designed 30+ games across various mediums. His diverse and award-nominated works include audio adventures, festivals, immersive theatre, tabletop, and transformational games for organizations. Rich is also in a teaching and learning leadership role for the Creative Arts and Industries faculty at the University of Auckland.

7:15 PM - PIZZA
Enjoy some refreshments (AKA pizza) and catch up with/meet other game dev enthusiasts.

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!
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Massive thanks to our Patreon supporters for making our meetups possible!

Our Corporate Supporters:

Yoobee
Yoobee College of Creative Innovation is a tertiary institute committed to developing creative and technical talent across New Zealand.
https://www.yoobee.ac.nz/courses/

HIT Lab NZ
HIT Lab NZ is a multidisciplinary, Human-Centred Research environment that collaborates with industry.
https://www.hitlabnz.org/

CerebralFix
CerebralFix is a Christchurch-based game development studio specializing in work for hire from some amazing companies.
https://cerebralfix.com/

Screen Canterbury NZ
Screen Canterbury NZ is 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-canterburynz

And our awesome Patreon Supporters:

Matt Barton
Leith Caldwell
Samantha Cook
Nik Scarr
Carl de Visser

Thank you for your generous support!