What is GameLoop?

GameLoop is a user-generated conference on game development. It is open to professional game devs, hobbyists, students, critics, journalists, and anyone else interested. We strongly encourage groups typically underrepresented in game development to attend.

The best compliment we've gotten is that GameLoop is like a day full of all the best hallway conversations you'd have at GDC, but without the giant price tag and hit-or-miss sessions.

For $50 (plus the Eventbrite fee) you get:

• Great conversations with other knowledgeable game devs about topics you want to discuss
• The full day unconference
• A light breakfast
• A full lunch
• A great t-shirt

What's a User-Generated Unconference?

An unconference is an event where, first thing that morning, people discuss what topics they want to cover. People then pitch those topics as sessions. Then everyone gets to vote on their favorite session! The moderators (Oleg Brodskiy & team) then review all the votes, creating the schedule for the day.

The sessions are usually in a free-form roundtable discussion format. There's a lot of back and forth. And if you want to keep talking about that topic after the session ends, you just move the conversation to the hallway.

Is GameLoop worth it?

This will be the 11th in-person Boston GameLoop that we've run, and the 13th overall in Boston; usually we have about 125+ participants. Many of those folks are repeat attendees. Devs from as far away as San Francisco attend, and we've had devs from big-name studios like Harmonix, BioWare Montreal, and Bethesda Game Studios; we've also had devs from super-awesome indie studios like Dejobaan, Popcannibal, and Zapdot.

For the third year, GameLoop is setting aside passes exclusively for women, non-binary, genderqueer and/or trans people, indigenous, biracial and/or people of color, and neurodivergent people, and/or persons living with disabilities. We want to make space for traditionally marginalized, undervalued, and invisibilized identities in the games industry in order to create a safe, welcoming, diverse, and inclusive event. We want to hear your voices and this is a small way we can make that happen.

If you'd like to know more about what it's like to attend GameLoop, check out David Evans' blog post. There are also some great pictures out there.

What kind of sessions usually happen?

Last years sessions included talks about: 

• UI and Accessibility 
• Staying Motivated as an Indie Developer
• Pro-Social Games
• Neurodivergency in Game Dev
• Growing Pains for Teams
• Getting a Job in the Game Dev Industry 
• Game Production
• Cross Discipline Collaboration 
• Being LGBTQ+ at Work

Ticket Tiers

General Pass

• A one-day general pass to GameLoop! Open to all.

Inclusivity Pass

• A one-day pass set aside for women, non-binary, genderqueer and transgender people, indigenous, biracial and people of color, neurodivergent and/or person living with disabilities/impairments (non-visible included).

Sponsor A Pass!

• Buy a general pass for someone in financial need! The pass will be given out to an underprivileged person to attend GameLoop! By contributing, you directly help bring new voices to the event who could not otherwise attend.

• You can apply for a sponsored pass here.

Donate!

• Make a donation to help fund the upcoming and future GameLoop events!

Logistics

• Date: Saturday August 3rd, 2024
• Location:
• Schedule:
• 9:00am: Doors open! Breakfast is served! (Please show up as close to here as possible, we get cracking at 9:30am.)
• 9:30am-11am: Opening meeting where we getting to know each other's shared interests, propose and informally vote on sessions, and put those on the Big Board
• 11:20am: First session!
• 1:30pm: Lunch!
• 6:00pm: Last session ends. We have a wrap-up meeting, head out for dinner.

Harassment

PLEASE NOTE: By registering for GameLoop, you agree to our abide by our Anti-Harassment Policy.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Interested in sponsoring? Email gameloop@bostonfig.com!

And our hosts, the MIT Game Lab!