Are you a dame who would like to share a current or recent project at this event? E-mail cecily@damesmakinggames.com and let me know. We’d be looking for a 10 minute presentation (give or take 5 minutes), ideally with some kind of visual aid, about a project you’re currently working on or have recently completed. It’s a great opportunity to plug your project in a friendly environment and get some feedback from the audience. While you’re at it, put yourself on our speakers list.

The next DMG show-and-tell social will be the evening of Thursday, May 17 (details to follow in a separate post) and we’d like to encourage you to show what you’re working on! This is a chance to talk about your project, get feedback, and even meet possible collaborators in a friendly and supportive environment. Don’t be shy – sign up for our speakers list so we can get in touch with you.

Our current speaker slate is:

Hannah Epstein, THE IMMORAL MISS CONDUCT
Beth Maher, KREAYSHAWN GOES TO JAPAN
Maggie McLean, NEW COMPOSITIONS

If you just want to come and socialize, this is also fine. Speaking is encouraged but optional. Bring something to show off and talk about!

If you’re interested in participating in this or future DMG socials, you should probably get in touch with us. We’re contactable in the first person at cecily@damesmakinggames.com

See you there!

Bento Miso is unit 300 at 862 Richmond St. West, directly south of Trinity Bellwoods Park.

Talk to the group for 5-10 minutes about your work and how you’re approaching it (ideally with some kind of visual aid), get feedback, and feel like you’re on the best kind of showing-off to your peers deadline. Cecily is limiting this to six people for the moment, and several spaces are already taken, so please email cecily@damesmakinggames.com to confirm that you’d like to talk.

And if you’re just there to listen, great! We’d love to see you.

After the show and tell we’ll socialize with some snacks and booze – BYO for best effect. There will also be games on display.

Hope to see you there!

The social will begin at 7pm at Bento Miso (862 Richmond St. West, just south of Trinity Bellwoods Park).

The Facebook event is here.

Presenters So Far:

Alex Leitch – Light And Magic: Coloured Fire On Demand

Kyra Kendall – Shop or Die

Katie Foster – The Disappearance of Emily Butler

Alison Pattern – We Are Legion

- game design and development;

- game content;

- socio-cultural  constructions of “gameplayers”;

- player communities and online play; and

- the games industry

If you aren’t interested in presenting but want to soak up the discussion, the event will also welcome members of the public. It will be taking place at TIFF Bell Lightbox  in collaboration with York University, Simon Fraser University and OCAD University. RSVP by April 1. All the details are available here.

Co-founder Jennie Faber has culled a selection of readings around the theme of women game players, characters and creators. She is interested in exploring how female characters–playable and non-playable, enemies, villains, and heroes–and women game-makers–producers, writers, designers, et cetera–can shape a new player culture in which it is safe for women and girls to fully engage in and enjoy video games. These entities are as marginalized as players, yet may hold the key to re-programming player communities.

Excerpts from the following articles will be read aloud and discussed by participants at the salon: “Cheerleaders, booth babes, Halo hoes: pro-gaming, gender and jobs for the boys” by Nicholas Taylor, Jen Jenson and Suzanne de Castell; “Gender in play: Mapping a girls’ gaming club” by Nick Taylor; “‘Women are treated better than men online’, says NerdBoobLoot-man” by Hoyden and Shaker Lauredhel; and “What do we do about video games?” by Roy.

The free event will be held at Bento Miso (862 Richmond, just south of Trinity Bellwoods park) from 7pm to 9pm. We hope to see some of you there!

Hello there Dames and allies! It’s January 1st, which officially marks the kick-off of our first one month game making jam, JAMuary. We’re so thrilled at how many applicants and supporters came out of the woodwork to get involved, and we are so happy to be in a community full of talented, passionate people who want to get more women involved in making games. Response was overwhelming, and I really wish we could have accommodated everyone who applied. That just means we need to run another one sometime soon, right?

I’d especially like to thank our sponsors, Site3 Co-Laboratory and Bento Miso for offering us space to work and run our workshops. They’ve been amazing in offering their resources and support for Dames Making Games, and programs like this would not be possible without them.

Didn’t get a spot in this game jam but still want to make a game? Please do so! We will promote and support you as much as possible – both by providing hosting for your game on our site if you need it, and by offering you to our newly written “Getting Started with Gamemaking Guide” that Zoe has put together for anyone wanting to make a game who isn’t sure how or where to start.

We’ll still be holding our regular monthly social, and we will be posting blogs and updates as JAMuary progresses so stay tuned!

Happy Gamemaking in 2012!

What’s a game jam? What is THIS game jam?

Game jammers challenge themselves to complete a new, original game within a set amount of time and/or including a certain theme or motif. JAMuary will aim to get first-time female game-makers to make their own first games during the month of January. We’ll be providing them with weekly group work sessions and peer mentoring at Site3, an online support and resource package, and an opportunity to present their games in public at a reception held on January 31st. We will then either provide hosting for the finished games on this site, or link to your own personal site if you’d prefer to host it.

Who can participate in JAMuary?

We have space for 10 individuals (or small teams) to participate in the workshops and present their finished product at the end of the month. These spaces will be limited to female game-makers, with a preference for those making their first game, and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

What if I have no coding or game design experience?

You don’t need to have worked on games before to participate in JAMuary. We have a resource package for new game-makers to help you get started.

What if I’m an experienced female game developer?

Send us your info anyway if you’d like to participate and we’ll add you to a waiting list. In the event we don’t fill all 10 spaces with first-time game-makers your participation will be welcome.

One month doesn’t seem like a lot of time. What if my game isn’t very good?

Part of the fun of a game jam is the deadline! Don’t worry too much about making something resembling a mainstream, triple A game – tips and mentoring on how to develop a game in a short period of time will be available all month. If you want to see some examples of games made during a game jam, check out some games made during TOJam, an annual three day long game jam. TOJam is a really awesome example of a game jam, so we highly encourage you to click around their website, see what they’re all about, and think about entering that this year, too.

Is this a competition?

Nope! To make this competitive, we would have to try to balance skill levels, programming languages, and a ton of other things to ensure that all participants had a fair start. Instead, the spirit of this event is geared towards everyone cheering each other on and getting a (likely first) game done in a relatively short period of time. The only thing you’re competing against is the clock.

What platform can I make games for?

Any platform – just make sure that you have a portable device such as a laptop that you can exhibit your game on for the January 31st reception. If this is going to be a barrier for you to enter, please let us know and we’ll do the best we can to accommodate you.

I’m interested in helping out; who should I contact?

Are you interested in:

- giving mentorship and help to JAMuary participants?

- running a workshop?

- offering space for more group work sessions?

- volunteering at our final party/presentation?

Email info@damesmakinggames.com and let us know!

Tell me about the final event.

It will take place at 7PM, Jan. 31 at CSI Annex (just south of Bloor and Bathurst). Everyone is welcome! UPDATE: The event is being held at Bento Miso, 862 Richmond Street West.

What kind of game can I make?

We invite you to make games on whatever subject, in whatever form, is most appealing to you. Text adventures, action games, RPGs, visual novels, whist simulations – If it’s interactive and you can play it on a computer, you’re good.

I’m already working on a game; can it be my JAMuary project?

While you’re welcome to map out designs and outlines in advance of January 1 (or bring in whatever pre-existing idea you’ve been thinking of), actual development of your game should take place between January 1 and 31.

Who owns the games once they’re made?

The games remain property of their creators – we are only looking to support, encourage, and facilitate the creative process.

Is this the only game jam you’ll be running? What if I don’t get in to this one?

We plan on running more events like this in the future, and are looking at it as an iterative process. We’ll be looking to learn all we can from this first jam, and use everything we learn in future versions. If you apply, are eligible, and don’t get a spot this time around, feel free to make a game anyway! Although there is limited space for this jam, all of the online resources will be available for anyone to look at and utilize. Don’t let anything hold you back from making games if it’s what you want to do! If you’ve made a game following the limitations and rules of JAMuary, feel free to send us a link at info@damesmakinggames.com and we’ll display it on our games page anyway!

Want to apply to participate?

Apply online here. Applicants will be notified by December 26th if they have secured a spot or not.

Good luck and happy game making!