About us
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
1
July CGDA Meetup - Alfredo Barros, Jeremy Bond, Justin Boyd, and Clancy Duncan
EPIC Innovation Center, 78-100 Manchester St, Christchurch, NZWelcome to the July 2026 Christchurch Game Developers' Meetup!
Location:
EPIC Innovation, 106 Manchester St, Christchurch 8011The meetup will also be streamed online at:
[Link to be added on the night!]Don't forget to check us out at:
Website: chch.gamedev.co.nz
Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/chchgamedev.bsky.social
Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/christchurch-game-developers-new-zealand
Discord: discord.gg/68YqqFZ
If you like our meetups, consider supporting us on Patreon:
patreon.com/CHCHGameDev
***Alfredo Barros
Alfredo is a Software Engineer and Frontend Architect with over a decade of experience building systems. While his day job involves engineering design systems, his heart is in game development as the Co-Founder of Acceptable Risk Studios. As a Unity specialist, he balances high fidelity UX/UI precision with the “imperfect” chaos that indie game development comes with. He enjoys game jams and has participated in over 20+ over the last 3 years.Jeremy Bond
Jeremy Gibson Bond is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Studies for Game Design and Development in the School of Product Design at the University of Canterbury, where he works in collaboration with the Directors of Study of Animation and Game Arts to oversee curriculum across three majors of the Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honours program ( https://tinyurl.com/BDigiScreen ). He is passionate about teaching and guiding students to make great work.Justin Boyd
Justin is a Christchurch-based creative professional and production leader with over 20 years of experience across real-time 3D, animation, architectural visualisation, interactive media, sound production and game development. Co-founder of Acceptable Risk Studio, he combines creative direction, project management, visual design and hands-on technical production. Experienced in leading multidisciplinary teams, Justin is passionate about thoughtful storytelling, polished execution, emerging technology and building engaging visual experiences across games, architecture and digital media.Clancy Duncan
Clancy is a part-time Game Design and IT Technician for the School of Product Design at University of Canterbury. He brings a strong generalist skillset in all aspects of game development, with a focus on Unreal Engine and Technical Art. He was critical for the design and implementation of the Virtual Production studio at UC. He is a one-man indie studio forever working on unreleased games.6:10 PM - KICK OFF
Welcome to the Christchurch Game Developers Meetup, with news from around New Zealand!6:15 PM - Game Jams Don't Have to be Chaotic: the Repeatable Process that Helped Us Win the 2025 EPIC MegaJam
In October, 2025, a small team of kiwis from all over the world worked together over a week to develop These Four Walls, which won both the Unreal Engine 1st Prize and best audio awards at the 2025 Epic MegaJam. We faced several challenges and setbacks, but through several good process and production decisions, we were able to create something together that the judges loved. Of course, luck will always be random. But over many game jams, we’ve found several repeatable processes that have greatly increased our chances of successful jams. This talk will focus on sharing the approaches that have worked well for us.7:20 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!
***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/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
Leigh Beattie
Leith Caldwell
Samantha Cook
Robert Oram
Nik Scarr
Ian Shephard
Alexander Swords
Carl de Visser20 attendees
Past events
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