Video Game Development

We are a welcoming community of board game designers and playtesters, please join us and bring your games in development for feedback, to play upcoming games, or just to chat about the hobby and industry! We range from first-time designers, hobby designers, published designers, and publishing companies. We meet **every Tuesday** at The Ludoquist board game cafe in Croydon, from 6:30pm-10pm. We try to ensure that as many games can be played in an evening, and prioritise those that haven't been able to test their games recently, although we cannot guarantee that your game will be played in the first session you join. The **final meeting of each month is reserved for playing published games**. We use this time to catch up on games that we want to try or discuss. You can also join our Facebook Group community for feedback and discussion: https://www.facebook.com/groups/playtestuksouthlondon We look forward to seeing you!

Join our weekly Walthamstow Meetups and play some games with us! **💜Everybody Welcome:** We meet up every week to play a bunch of modern board games, card games and party games in pubs. If you would like to get involved, RSVP to the event. You can bring games with you if you like, although not a requirement. 🌱**Something For Everyone:** Whether you're a seasoned board game veteran or just starting out, you're welcome. No previous experience necessary, we go through the rules before playing. We play a range of games, from lighter card and party games to epic strategies. **📌Where:** We meet at the **The Village Club** in Walthamstow, which is a 10 minute walk from Walthamstow Central underground station.. When you arrive please press the buzzer to gain entry. Just say you are joining the board game group. Come say hello and the event hosts will get you settled in. The Village Club is a member's club but you can attend our board game evening without becoming a member. As the space will stay open for the use of our group the expectation is that you will buy a drink or two to cover the cost of the bar staff. If you so wish you have the option of joining the club in future for £10 a year. ⌚**When**: * **18:30** \- Arrival & Game Sign Up * **19:00** \- Games Begin * **23:00** \- Venue Closes If you arrive after games begin, you may have to wait until the next game starts. If you are running late on the night, please do let us know. **👥Community** **Hosted:** We'll always get folks involved, but you can join the community and sign up for games in advance! Many games played on the night get organised ahead of time. Come join the fun at **https://discord.gg/mHZSKq2** 📸**Photos:** Help us satiate the algorithm-beast, upload photos of your favorite games and consenting participants! When taking photos please do make sure that people in the photos are comfortable to appear in them. **💫Food** 🍴 Drinks are available and crisps. You can order food to be delivered if you wish.

A fun and hands on introduction to LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, ideal for those who have not experienced the method before. After being welcomed by our experienced facilitator Sean Blair, you will explore building models as an individual and as a group. You will become practiced at several methods of communication and learn to hear and understand others, all using LEGO! Following the workshop we will send you a free pdf copy of the book "SeriousWork" - a hands on guide to using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® yourself (5\*\*\*\*\* reviewed book that sells for £25 on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Facilitate-Meetings-Workshops-Serious-Method/dp/0995664706) Ideal for those who are interested in participatory leadership, better communication and creativity. If you have attended a taster workshop before, you are welcome to attend but please note this introductory workshop will be a similar experience.

Welcome to *My Kind of Meeples*! Feel free to RSVP and join us for an evening of board gaming fun. Arrive from **6:30pm** for a relaxed chat and a chance to get to know everyone. If you’re new, please introduce yourself to one of the hosts — they’ll be happy to welcome you and help you settle in. At **7:00pm**, we’ll begin with our first game, selecting games for the night. Anyone who has brought games with them is invited to offer them up with a brief overview and an indication of the difficulty level. You’re free to join any game that interests you, and we’ll make sure everyone has something to play. If a game is new to you, it will always be taught beforehand, with a quick refresher for returning players if needed. We play a wide range of games, typically lasting between **1 and 3 hours**. Multiple games run at the same time, and there’s usually at least one beginner-friendly option as well as a more advanced game available each evening. The night usually runs until closing time (around **11:00pm**), and depending on the games you choose, you may even fit in more than one game. If you’re able, we kindly ask that you support the venue by purchasing from the bar, as the pub generously hosts us. We look forward to welcoming you to the group!

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/48908 **Game Description:** Minimum experience required: 3–6 months of formal playing experience. This session is not suitable for complete beginners. For those new to volleyball, we recommend our Adult Coaching Practice. **Rules** By booking this session, you acknowledge and agree to comply with our terms and conditions, privacy policies, and cancellation policy, which can be found below. **Terms & Conditions at:** https://www.littlegiantsvc.com/terms-and-conditions **Privacy Policy at:** https://www.littlegiantsvc.com/privacy-policy

***\*Brand New Brixton Board Game Cafe\**** **Tuesday Social Mixer Games** There will be a £5 entry charge for the whole night. Come with friends or alone, and join in with one of the games we'll be fully teaching and running through. Turn up and we'll help you find a group and game from our extensive library of 500+ games. Beginners very welcome! New? Ask at front for Seamus or Kyle and we’ll help you find a game. A stone's throw from both Brixton mainline and underground stations, Otter Chaos has over **500 games** for you to play. See photos to preview our games. Bring your family, a couple of friends, or the whole gang for a wonderful time playing anything from the silliest of party games, to the most involved heavy strategy games. Whilst you're playing you can enjoy our wide range of soft and alcoholic drinks—including a wide range of cocktails. And feast on our delicious handmade sourdough pizzas—with vegan options and gluten-free bases available on request.

**On Tuesday 16th June, we're excited to be hosting our latest FREE Board Games Night, exclusively for 20s and 30s.** Yep that's right - to mark Loneliness Awareness Week, we'll be teaming up with Costa Coffee once again to transform a regular cafe into a Board Games Cafe for the evening. For this, we've booked out the whole venue near Southwark and bringing our usual fantastic collection of some of the most popular games that you’ll be able to choose from. From classics like **Exploding Kittens** and **Codenames**, social deduction games like **Werewolf** and **Chameleon**, to party games like **Dixit** and **Scrawl**, you’re sure to find something you’ll love. On top of this, you're also welcome to bring your own games that you love or have been excited to play with a group, providing they are short, easy to learn and accessible games. Best of all, over the course of the evening, you'll be able to mix around, meet lots of friendly 20s and 30s - whilst playing a range of different games. So if you're looking to play some games, meet new people, and have a laugh then we'd love to have you join us for this. **\- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \-** **WHERE/WHEN** Venue - Costa Coffee, 42-48 The Cut, London SE1 8LP Closest Tube stations: Southwark (5 min walk), Waterloo (10 mins walk) Start Time - 7:00pm Finish time: 10:00pm \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- **JOIN THE COMMUNITY** Set up in November 2021, the project was set up to help those in their 20s and 30s meet, connect and hopefully build life-long friendships. To help make this happen, we also host all kinds of events from free social walks, games evenings, day trips, social events, activity nights to picnics. To learn more about our community, follow us on social media or buy us a coffee, please follow one of the links below. **Website - [https://friendship-project.co.uk](https://friendship-project.co.uk/)** **Instagram - [https://www.instagram.com/great.friendship/](https://www.instagram.com/great.friendship/)F**

Welcome to London 2-player Playtests, a friendly meetup open to everyone interested in playing 2-player or solo games. You don't need to bring a game - we always love to have new playtesters! For designers: Whether your game is for TWO PLAYERS, a SOLO experience, or a larger game you’d like to test with fewer players, this event is for you! Please comment with the game length, whether you need 1 or 2 playtesters, and a brief description. The event is free and will take place at the National Theatre: https://maps.app.goo.gl/74QGHXWPs5KZH6MC9 We'll meet around 6:15 pm, and playtesting sessions will begin at 6:30 pm. If you'll be joining at a later time, please let us know in the comments! If you're a designer arriving late, please be aware that your game may not get playtested. Join us for an evening of engaging playtests and creative feedback!

I'll be bringing along a few consoles and games for everyone to enjoy. Looking forward to meeting fellow gamers, having some fun, and getting to know the group!

A focused Unreal Engine coworking meetup for developers, designers, and artists to build projects, solve problems, share feedback, and collaborate in person — no talks or panels, just real hands-on game development.

**Hit, laugh, reset your week.** Join us for a relaxed tennis session followed by a short, low-key park social. * 📍 Location: Park Hill Recreation Ground, Croydon (1-2 courts booked – details shared after approval) * 🕒 Schedule: 10:00am – 12:00pm → Tennis (doubles rotation) * 🎾 Tennis All levels welcome (yes, beginners too). We rotate regularly so everyone plays Focus is fun > competition If you can’t make it, please update early 👉 No-shows without notice may lose priority for future events 🎒 **What to bring** * Tennis racket (we may have 1–2 spares) * Water bottle * Comfortable clothes/trainers * Optional: small blanket or towel for the park Come for the tennis, stay for the people. 🎾 *Pictures and Videos may be taken for marketing purposes.* *All attendees consent to the use of their pictures by The* Second Serve Social 🎾

Okay! The Clapham monthly meetup is back to it's usual time and place. We now have TWO evening meetups each month in different areas of London. The monthly indie pub night is relaxing social with other indie game devs in London. Chat about all things game/tech related, make new friends and test out some demos from community members. Look out for the group with laptops and tablets out. Venue: https://www.fourthieves.pub/

***Enter the live meeting room here: [https://discord.gg/5wgxtr4c2u](https://discord.gg/5wgxtr4c2u)*** ***Download the engine here: [https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download](https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download)*** Welcome to the **Unreal Engine Workshop!** In each session we'll tackle essential game design discussions, then transition into hands-on project creation. Participants will build and expand their skills continuously as we explore every aspect of game development. From basic blueprints and interactive mechanics, to advanced rigging, animation, environment design, and lighting, we'll work our way up to creating small complete games. We encourage experimentation and peer teaching, so whether you're a beginner or experienced developer looking to deepen your expertise, our sessions provide a supportive environment to learn, create, and innovate together in Unreal Engine 5.

We playtest all sorts of tabletop games - strategic, silly, creative, or whatever (but not video games). Some games are almost done. Some are very early ideas. We test anything that will fit into 90 minutes. You don't need to bring a game - we always love to have new playtesters! Please let us know in the comments when you plan to arrive/leave and whether you are bringing a game or not. This helps us to plan the day better. The schedule is: 10am onwards - gathering, chatting 11am sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 1') 12:30ish - break for food/chat 1pm sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 2') 2:30ish - break for food/chat 3pm sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 3') 4:30ish - finish up Often, we might hang around afterwards, to play some already-published games. We are strict on timings, so please try to arrive a few minutes before the session to limit disruption. You can just come for part of the day if you wish. The reason we have fixed timings for the 3 'slots' is to make it easier for folk to do so. Designers of all levels of experience are welcome! But if it's your first time, we ask that you don't bring a game and just spend some time learning how the group works. The group works based on reciprocation. If you expect to test your own game, make sure stay for long enough to play other games. As a general rule of thumb, you can expect to play one of your own games every third 90-minute session. So if you stay a whole day (3 sessions), you can expect to have one session to play your game(s). A good rule of thumb is that if you come all day, you will have one 90 minute session with two other playtesters in which to test your own games. It is sometimes possible to test games with more players. If your game requires 4 or more, please note that as standard you will be allocated half of a session (45 minutes). Pre-covid, we were getting unmanageable. As a result, we may have to limit attendees. This is a free-to-use venue, and we have to be mindful that other folk want to use the same space. Please note: This is an adults only event. We look forward to seeing you!

We're going to GameArena! We'll be in-person at the GameArena Gateway for our monthly COGG Prototype and Play event. Come to play and showcase your games! We're back in the upper levels of the catwalk area. It'll be packed with lots of camaraderie playing your game(s) and other's games on the 2nd floor. Light snacks and water provided but you can buy food and drinks at the bar (alcoholic drink ID required). [www.game-arena.co](http://www.game-arena.co/) **Attendees:** Don't have a game to show? Not a problem! All are welcomed and invited from all ages and backgrounds. The more we can have to play test our games is all the better! **Developers:** Do you have a game that you would like to get critical feedback on? Would you like an excuse to work on a game with other talented artists, programmers, musicians, designers, and writers? Digital, table-top, non-experienced developers, and the like are welcomed! We'll provide signage for your game to help others learn more about your work. Wifi, outlets, tables, and seats (though standing tables also) are available. Come to the Prototype and Play workshop to collaborate and meet local game developers for an evening of epic and raw game play fun! Play works-in-progress, show off your own game, work with others to add polish to a game, or even lend your talents to other fellow developers. For this event, light snacks from the bar and water will be provided! Though you can purchase you own if you like at the bar: [https://www.game-arena.co/menu](https://www.game-arena.co/menu) Can use South Garage at the Gateway with a $5 voucher on your way out. 75 E 11th Ave, Columbus, OH 43201 [https://maps.app.goo.gl/UwgveUYG37Jy7RtS9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/UwgveUYG37Jy7RtS9) If you have any questions or comments, as always, feel free to reach out to us at [info@thecogg.com!](http://info@thecogg.com!/)

Let's get together and listen to **[Eric Rico](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericrico/)** from Unity3D (title TBD). Eric also runs the **[Columbus Unity User Group](https://www.meetup.com/columbus-unity-user-group/)**. Check it out! ***Bring your laptop and expect to write some (non-AI-generated) code!*** *(title subject to change)* Food and drinks will be available. **LOCATION:** 6515 Longshore Loop, Suite 300, Dublin, OH 43017 **FREE PARKING:** 6725 Longshore Street, Dublin, OH 43017

A session on using Claude Code, Anthropic's AI coding agent, in real Unity development. We'll cover what coding agents are, where Claude Code fits, and how to apply it to an actual game project. The format is presentation-style, with live demos and time for questions throughout. After brief scene-setting on coding agents and what makes Claude Code distinct, we'll go problem-driven: demoing it live on a released Unity game and introducing each feature as a solution to a problem we hit. What to Expect: * An intro to coding agents and where Claude Code fits * A live demo on a real Unity project * Key features as solutions to real problems: 𝖢𝖫𝖠𝖴𝖣𝖤.𝗆𝖽, context management, hooks, skills, subagents, and MCP * Unity-specific pain points, including Domain Reload and MCP caveats * Putting it together All experience levels welcome. Food and drinks provided. *Note: meetup topics may change — check back for the latest details.*

*We'll update this with the specific topic(s) once they're set for the month.* A relaxed, community-driven Unity GameDev meetup. No strict agenda — just developers getting together to talk shop, share projects, and exchange ideas. Some topics that may come up (based on attendee interest): * Frame Debugger & performance tooling * Addressables & additive scene workflows * Input System, localization, responsive UI * AI integration approaches * DevOps & LiveOps experiences * Full lifecycle: idea → cross-platform publishing * Favorite Asset Store tools and hidden gems * Weird Unity quirks we've all run into Nothing is locked in. Bring a project if you'd like, bring a question, bring a lesson learned — or just come hang out and meet other developers. All skill levels welcome. Food and drinks provided.

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** *Customize the IDE: Building Extensions for Visual Studio Code* Visual Studio Code is one of the most widely used development environments today, and much of its flexibility comes from its extension ecosystem. Extensions allow developers to customize the editor with new features, integrations, and workflow improvements tailored to their needs. In this session, we’ll cover what extensions are and the different types available, including full extensions written in TypeScript or JavaScript, along with lighter-weight extensions such as color themes, language packs, language support, code snippets, and keymaps. We’ll also look at practical reasons a developer might create an extension, from automating repetitive tasks to adding custom tooling. The session includes a hands-on walkthrough of creating a new extension, testing it locally, and understanding the basic project structure. We’ll close with a brief overview of how extensions are packaged and published to the Visual Studio Marketplace and other distribution options. **YouTube Link** TBD

The Forge does have a full bar and kitchen. There is no cover charge but they do request all attendees to purchase a minimum of ~20 per person. Soft drink refills are 1 each. Please support our hosts so we can continue to provide great events for the group! The Forge has a large library of games available for us to enjoy. Hosts and regulars will also provide numerous popular games but please bring any games you would like to teach and/or play. Doors open at 6, and we expect gaming to be rolling by around 630. Please promptly end your games and clear out the space at 10pm when the bar closes. We encourage socializing but do not permit disruptive behavior of any kind. Thank you for your continued commitment to providing a fun and welcoming space to veteran, newbie, and rookie gamers in the Columbus area. Parking can sometimes fill esrly. There is additional parking lot behind the neighboring Mexican restaurant that is free and easy to walk from but it's a bit hidden.

We are going to build together with all the CLIs! E will be doing it at Columbus Code and Coffee Agenda --- Hosted By James Power, Organizer Pete Gordon, Organizer Just a Software Guy in the age of the Internet. Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-columbus-presents-ai-improv-lets-build-a-game-together-with-claude-code-codex-and-gemini-and-be-the-judge/.