EGaDS News

Hey all,

Let me take this time to welcome everyone back to school and back to EGaDS. I hope every one had a great summer and is ready to get back into the swing of things.

We are going to kick things off Thursday August 25th (that’s tomorrow!) with our first general meeting of the year! It will be held in UTC 1.104 at 8pm. If you are new to EGaDS please come join us as this meeting is all about showing you guys what exactly EGaDS has to offer you!

I hope to see you all there!

-Jimmy Sparks, EGaDS Information

Hey EGaDS!

It’s summer time now! So work on some projects and have lots of BBQ.

Hey EGaDS!

Our past meeting held our annual officer elections. Without further ado, I bring you news of the new face of EGaDS for next year:

President: Matt Groot

Academics: Leo Schnee

Events: Chris Rose & Remi Kutowy

Industry: Vegas (Will Hubbell)

Information: Jimmy Sparks

Treasurer: Ian Willbanks

Congratulations to the winners, we’re glad to have active members who want to push this organization to greater heights.

To all our members, thanks for a great year! We’ll be having our closing party meeting in two weeks, and heading out to see Thor afterwards, don’t miss out!

- Matt Groot, EGaDS Information

Hey EGaDS, hopefully your winter break is going great!

Global Game Jam is just around the corner (Jan 28-30), so make sure you’ve got it marked on your calendars. Last year’s jam was a huge success, with over 40 developers from across Texas. This is a great opportunity to gain experience and learn from talented, driven people across the state. There are no fees, and no required level of expertise, all you need is a burning desire to succeed!

New to Global Game Jam? No worries! Every year is the best year to get involved. Global Game Jam is an exciting weekend (full 48 hours) filled with ridiculous ideas, frantic typing, and seas of caffeinated beverages. You’ll go from concept to realization of a game of your design with a team of motivated individuals using the tools of your choice. Teams can be planned before, or put together at the event. Starting this year, non-digital games (board games) are allowed as submission material as well. I have no idea how the submission works, but I’m sure it’s great!

Make sure to register on the main GGJ page, which can be found here: http://globalgamejam.org/

The specific jam page for our gracious hosts, D7 Studios with address, logistics, and contact info can be found here: http://globalgamejam.org/sites/2011/d7-studios

Don’t forget to sign up on D7’s page to help them gauge the scope of the jam: http://d7.com/games/?page_id=409

Also, the more publicity the better, GGJ Austin’s facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177085862321235&index=1

Hey there EGaDS!

Coming up this weekend is our first EGaDS Game Jam!

Starting at 12 noon this Saturday, September 18th in UTC 1.130, we’ll begin breaking into teams. Teams will be broken down into skill sets, so that each team has the necessary experience to be successful with their chosen tool. If you don’t already have a concept to work on, don’t worry, we’ll make use of patented  spontaneous-sticky-note-brain-dump-idea-generation to get you started in style.

We’ll provide refreshment during the course of the jam, but feel free to grab a meal at a food place near campus and some fresh air. Be sure to bring any equipment you might need to use during the jam (computer, power strip, recording devices, software tools, etc). We’ll go until about 12 midnight, at which point we’ll show off what we’ve created.

We look forward to seeing you at this semester’s game jam! Work hard, party hard, and may the development vibes be with you!

-Matt (D-Day) G, EGaDS Information

Hey everyone!

We’re all excited to begin the new semester here at EGaDS, as well as unveil awesome new plans to further stimulate your game developement cravings.

Make sure you stop by our first meeting, Thursday, September 2nd, to meet this year’s new officers, and hear about the exciting new features we’re implementing to EGaDS!

- EGaDS Information, Matt G

Hey EGaDS, I was recently made aware of an amazing deal currently going on.

Introducing the Humble Indie Bundle, put together by Wolfire Games, in cooperation with Child’s Play charity.

http://www.wolfire.com/humble

This bundle currently features 6 awesome indie titles, including:

1. World of Goo

2. Aquaria

3. Gish

4. LugaruHD

5. Penumbra Overture

6. Samorost 2

You choose what you pay for the bundle, and how much of it will be split to the charity and to the developers.

Then enjoy your DRM free games on Mac, Linux, or PC, it’s as simple as that.

The project has already pulled in more than a million dollars for Child’s Play, and is still going strong, don’t miss the opportunity!

We’ve got a great new group of officers who are going to keep EGaDS at the top, give it up for our new leadership!

President – Andrew Pish

Treasurer – Ian Wilbanks

Events – Brian Bonnett, Ashley Solano

Information – Matt Groot

Academics – Doc Walker

Industry – William Hubbell

Note: You may have noticed that we now have two events officers. EGaDS voted as a whole the night of the election to try having two event officers in an effort to have more events!

Ready to lead EGaDS into a bright new dawn of prosperity? Run for an officer position!

Becoming an officer with EGaDS sets you up to experience leading a team and bringing ideas into fruition. It’s excellent experience for those of you looking to become a video games producer or anyone who wants experience in management.

At this week’s meeting we’ll be looking for members to fill the following positions:

President

Note: You must have served as an officer already before you can run for President.

Treasurer

Events Officer

Academics Officer

Industry Officer

Information Officer

EGaDS.exe is off and running, and we’re looking for game project leaders and contributors to start making those games! If you’re looking for a project, or have a project in mind, be sure to make an announcement during our General Meetings and show up to Game Nights (now occurring more regularly than scheduled, due to ferocious demand) to get working on your game.

Currently we have games being developed in Flash (Actionscript), XNA, and Java. All the teams are need of artists, programmers, and sound designers. Get your name on a game!