In August 2013 I went to the first formal meeting for the Dallas Indie Games meetup group, the first such group in the area focusing on indie game developers. It was in a tiny back room of the old Dallas Makerspace, and it was packed with an eager and diverse group of indie game developers. All with different skill levels, disciplines, and backgrounds, some with game releases under their belts and some not, but all there with the same purpose: share what we know, learn from each other, and become better game creators because of it.
Soon after that I was brought on as an organizer, and the group was re-branded as the Dallas Society of Play, A Collective of Indie Game Developers in North Texas. We put effort into having a stronger social media presence, added even more organizers, set schedules, and planned our future.
At first we thought the group would just be a couple dozen local developers, it soon grew to 100 registered members, then 200. Indie game developers were coming out of the woodwork. While our physical meeting attendance numbers tend to stay under 45, we currently have over 400 registered members.
Today we have two meetings each month, the first being an informative session: postmortems, workshops, and training. The second is what we call a "Show & Play", an open mic-style show and tell where developers can present half-finished projects, get feedback, allow for playtesting, and find collaborators. We run a very active Slack channel for DFW-area indie devs where people can go 24/7 for technical help, creative feedback, brainstorming, or chat about gaming current events. In addition to regular meetings, we've thrown game jams, weekend work events, and rented out movie theaters for indie game tournaments. We built a full-size arcade cabinet stocked exclusively with locally-made arcade games. The Society of Play is a thriving group, and has become a local hub for sharing ideas and solving problems. By all accounts, it is a success. So what have we learned in the process that can help you build your own local community?
Opportunity
Obviously there were plenty of indie devs in our area that wanted to convene. I'm convinced that we are not unique in this respect and that the whole country, and a lot of the world, is the same. Indie devs are all around you. The first, simple step is to give them a way to find each other.
Inclusiveness
From day one, the Society of Play has been for everyone. From hobbyists and professionals to students and weekend developers. We even encourage people to come who have never even tried to make a game before. Regular meetings are free and always will be. We developed and published a Code of Conduct that strictly forbids discrimination based on race, gender, age, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Everyone is welcome and we've removed as many barriers as possible.
Ownership and Engagement
I always say that the Society of Play is only as enjoyable, as exciting, or as useful as what its constituents put into it. Any member is welcome to pitch a talk or event idea and organize it, and we have a dedicated Slack channel for these suggestions to be made and discussed. Members are also informed that they may privately message an organizer if they're nervous about posting their ideas or concerns publicly. We frequently have "Microtalks" where anyone can speak on a subject of their choosing for 20 minutes. Ultimately, this group belongs to us all and we extend that ownership to anyone who's willing to pitch in.
A Leadership Team
Having a team of co-organizers has been essential. This helps reduce fatigue by any single member, allows someone to step up when others are unavailable, and lets tasks be delegated to individuals so no one gets overloaded. It really helps keep a momentum going. It also allows individual strengths to shine though. We have one organizer who is very enthusiastic about game jams and always runs the jams. We have one that prefers to run the meetings. One that handles all the social media engagement. And having a team of leaders allows a debate when sensitive or troubling issues arise. Coming to a consensus on how to resolve a problem ensures that any decision made comes from an informed, rational place.
Consistency
We set a rigid schedule of two meetings per month, and with very few exceptions have stuck to it for over three years. Everyone knows that we will always be here next month, and that there will be an opportunity to show their work within a few weeks.
Visibility
We are always conscious of letting more people know about us. We frequently get booths at local gaming conventions where we set up the arcade cabinet for people to play with and we develop games on-site. This allows people to stop and ask what we're doing, and prompt a conversation about getting into game development. We're also very active on Facebook and Twitter, not only about promoting our own events, but sharing and retweeting posts by local developers.
Event Diversity
It has to stay interesting. While we always have the two very different monthly meetings, we try to keep the informative meeting fresh by rotating out postmortems, workshops, training sessions, microtalks, etc. And in addition to our monthly meetings, we join game jams, run social events at arcades and movie theaters, and so on. We are always looking for new types of events.
Fostering the Larger Local Scene
There are many other game dev groups in our area. Mobile development meetups, popup arcades, student groups, coffee clubs, graphic design meetups, and our local IGDA chapter. We collaborate with these groups as much as possible, and always repost any other group's big events. Promoting game development in our town in general is a core part of our mission, and helping similar organization is an effective and easy way to achieve that.
In the beginning, we weren't sure what we would become, or how long it would last. We just knew we wanted to create an opportunity for local indie devs to network, sympathize, and share information. Through trial and error we created something that was missing in our area. A vehicle that has created friendships, formed collaborations, and hopefully made everyone a little bit better at making games.