Meet The Game Makers

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Andrew Crawshaw from Ga-Ma-Yo (Game Makers Yorkshire) invites everyone to come along next Sunday at 2pm to The Travelling Man comic store to meet some of your friendly local games developers and find out more about making games …

You’re probably aware that the games industry is multi-billion dollar industry, but it might surprise you to know that there’s a great deal of game making going on here in Yorkshire. Our studios are involved in the creation of globally renowned games that many of you will have heard about – like Sonic the Hedgehog, Grand Theft Auto and LittleBigPlanet – but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Local developers are making games for everything from PlayStation 4, to smart phones, to the new ‘microconsoles’.

Ga-Ma-Yo (“Game Makers Yorkshire”) was started in 2012 with the aim of bringing together developers regardless of size, stature or experience – the only rule was that you must have shown the commitment required to make a game. Now we have over 350 members, from over 100 different companies. Our close-knit group meets for occasional networking events, and can often be found sharing information, knowledge and even work. We’ve all realised that a strong community benefits us all.

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Most of our events are closed to the public, but for this week’s hannah Festival we’ll be actively encouraging people to come along and meet some of us for an informal, one-to-one chat about anything to do with games in a session called ‘Meet the Game Makers’ from 2pm on Sunday 16th June. A handful of developers will be there to answer any questions, and give you an insight into how they make games. Some of them will even be giving you a private preview of games that haven’t even been released yet!

Like many digital crafts, the barrier to entry is getting lower by the day, and is within reach of most people . Our youngest member is only 14 years old, but is already well on the way to making his first game.

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So come along and meet some of your friendly neighbourhood game developers and find out more.

“Meet the Game Makers” starts at 2pm, Sunday 16th June, at The Travelling Man comic store, 32 Central Road, Leeds, LS1 6DE (at the back of House of Fraser).

You can ‘meet’ all of Yorkshire’s games companies here or follow us on Twitter @Ga_Ma_Yo