Game Creation Club Forums

I think we should look and see what locations would be available at The Ohio State University. There are certainly enough lecture halls to put on presentations, and areas where exhibits could be setup. For example, the OUAB often uses Hitchcock hall's auditorium for movies, and makes use of the lobby areas to put up displays and have people hang out. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to talk to some of the folks at the Union who coordinate events, or even members of the OUAB to learn about throwing larger scale events.

As far as contacting people, I think we could definitely target universities in this region. Faculty who teach game design/programming/art courses may have interest in such an event. Being as there are no large game studios in this area, it would still be worthwhile to contact them to get some big names and draw attention to our event.

Here are some links to some possible smaller studios that are listed in the Columbus/Cincinatti area, though they seem to be aimed at casual gamers more so.
http://www.gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=Columbus

However, there are lots of game studios in surrounding areas, like Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Chicago that may draw some professionals into Columbus, Ohio.

Here is our latest info that is being posted on various forums, please feel free to post this message with some modifications on the forums you frequent if there are interested parties there. We have already contacted various Ohio studios and parties that may help with the event including the mayor's office, the governor's office, and posted to linkedin group boards of igda, techColumbus, and GDC, among other contacts...

I'm posting this to inform you of an event we are planning and holding this October, a 2009 Ohio Game Developer's Summit. As it is now, there are countless unknown and/or disconnected developers in Ohio. A large portion of these developers move out of state to the other major development hubs (such as California, Florida, Washington, Texas) and take all of their business with them. Why not keep developers here in Ohio and bring great, fun business here to give a boost to our economy? These are the issues we are actively pursuing by putting this event on.

The event will be the 2009 Ohio Game Developer's Summit and we are shooting for a Saturday this October. We are still very early in the planning stages and are in need of any help anyone can give. We are looking for any suggestions for a location, times, dates, or other ideas for the event. I would love to discuss transitioning this to a Columbus/Ohio/midwest GDC rather than a separate event. Additionally we are hoping to spread the word to as many related parties/organizations as possible within and outside of Ohio. We are hoping to get an expected attendance list and speak directly with the various organizations so please let them know to contact us (gamecreationclub@yahoo.com). While we are trying to plan as big as possible, we also are aware of the fact that this is the first event of its kind for Ohio and that we are only giving ourselves two months to plan. We are also a non-profit student organization at Ohio State with very little funding. We know there will be difficulties but that is the reason we are asking for such a more collective help.

Here is a very early look at what we are looking into:

- Saturday October 17th, 2009
- A "show floor" with booths/tables/stations from various organizations and companies
- Various presentation sessions for topics such as internships, development, indie/student development, etc.
-Networking opportunities/station for keeping a central network for Ohio developers (email lists, business cards, linkedIn, etc)
-playable demos and more
-possible mini collective game jam
-possible game tournaments
-possible branches for closely related development such as various other digital media/film/etc
-possibly showing the Ohio State football game on a large projected screen somewhere if held during the event

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additionally we are thinking about Knowlton Hall for a location (the entire first floor).

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What we need:
Sponsors:

* Sponsors to provide/donate resources, merchandise, advertising, snacks/refreshments, facilities, volunteers/staff, tables/equipment, etc

Volunteers:

* Managers - It would be great to have several managers who would each have several contacts with various organizations to better manage who is attending and in what capacity (general audience, sponsor, presenter, etc)
* Event Attendants - Volunteers to help during the event (empty/replace trash cans, assist guests, sell t-shirts/merchandise, etc)
* Event setup/tear-down - Volunteers to help with setup/tear-down

Comments/Suggestions/support:

* It always helps to have comments, suggestions, and other support for these events so we can provide the things that will make the event a huge success and do so in the easiest, most efficient, and most cost effective way.
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I'd like to first talk with more of the people I've already been talking with about the event before making a final decision, but here is one option I am leaning towards doing: I think it may serve best to have two events. One on October 17th as I've been advertising that would actually be a smaller sort of precursor or preliminary event to build support, have a few presentations, etc. Then have the main/official and larger event in winter or spring to give us more time to prepare for it. What are your thoughts on this?

I'll be back in the area around Sept. 20 (right before classes start), and can help out starting then. Similar to the EA presentation last year, I think the main catalyst for bringing people in will be speakers/presentations. However, giving only 2 months to organize such an ambitious event is going to be a real problem. I honestly think that maybe the topic/issue should be refined, at least for a first event to test overall interest.

Also, if there's a game jam, count me in.

also to reply to Daniel's comments...
I completely agree with the timeline and have been wary of it ever since I began planning. At the beginning it was looking to be doable (and still may be), but the momentum we had has quickly fallen off and new factors have come into play.
This is why I have had this idea mentioned in my previous post that we are seriously contemplating and will most likely go with (one smaller precursor event Oct. 17th, and one larger official summit for winter or spring).