The MacEwan Game Development Club (GADEC)’s goal is to help students and other individuals interested in game development with their professional development by providing opportunities to gain experience, grow their portfolios, and network.

Of course! We welcome anyone and everyone, whether they want to make games as a career, or if they have a more recreational interest.

That’s okay! GADEC is a pretty friendly place, and a great way to meet people who love the same things you do, just as much as you do. And if you’re shy, don’t worry! They’re more afraid of you than you are of them.

No prior experience required. We welcome anyone who is willing to learn and can play well with others, regardless of their level of experience.

No! Game development is incredibly interdisciplinary, and programmers are only one part of the whole. Game development teams are incredibly versatile—you need people who can code, who can write, create art, design systems, make SFX, manage a team, and a lot more! Game development is super interdisciplinary, and so are we. We welcome students from any background, from any program. Just come in with an open mind!

No! We welcome anyone and everyone interested in game development. You don’t need to be a MacEwan student or even a student to join GADEC.

Joining GADEC is as simple as subscribing to our newsletter or by coming to any of our meetings!

For Winter 2020, our club meets every Wednesday from 2 PM – 5 PM in Room 7-278. Member-led presentation slots are open for you to sign up for and present on Wednesdays. The meetings are drop-in / drop-out so feel free to come by as your schedule allows. Most of the meeting is a work period for each sprint group to work on their prototypes. However, most of the work on your sprints will most likely be done outside of these meetings.

Yes. All of our Thursday lessons will be posted on our website as they’re presented, and we have a Discord server for you to join. If you are interested in taking part in the workshop, we’ll do our best to group you up with other people who also cannot come to the meetings in person, and you’ll be able to participate in each sprint remotely over Discord.

It’s the term we use to refer to the projects within the semester. We’ve developed a semester-long workshop with three 2 week ‘sprints’. Each sprint has a different theme, and the goal is for each team to develop a rough prototype game based on that theme, similar to a Game Jam.

The prototype doesn’t have to be pretty. It doesn’t even need to work. But creating a rough prototype is the difference between having a cool idea that never amounts to anything and actually making something that will turn into something awesome the more work you commit to it. It’s the first step of many steps you need to take if you want to make games.

It’s not. But some of the valuable skills you’ll pick up from this sort of format (on top of some portfolio pieces, bragging rights, and improving your own discipline specific skills) are good communication, time and project management, realistic scoping, leadership and teamwork, and the ability to rapidly prototype—all skills that game development companies (or any company) are looking for nowadays, regardless of what discipline you’re in or what degree you have.

Most Game Jams are 48 hours (some are even shorter at 24 hours!). A lot of the people who go to Game Jams have no experience to start with either! If they can make a game in 48 hours, you can make one in two weeks.