Game design students give back to community, attend developer conference
Media School game design students participated in a community service day during Indie Giving, an annual public service event held in San Francisco, California, on March 19. Due to their involvement, the student participants received access to the 2023 Game Developers Conference.
Organized by founder Chris Hughes, the charity event partnered with Compass Family Services, an organization dedicated to helping families facing homelessness in San Francisco. Students visited a downtown location and organized multiple storage areas for a more accessible space for teachers, contributing to Compass Family Services’ childcare and education programs.
Nathan Mishler, MS’08, a visiting faculty member at The Media School and member of local game development company Studio Cypher, attended Indie Giving alongside the students.
“I felt it was good for the students to get out of the mindset of, ‘must get in front of industry professionals, must get a job!’” he said. “I think it’s important for them to meet other industry professionals and hopefuls in a setting that’s not just about games.”
Through Indie Giving, students attended the 2023 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 20-24 for free. The full conference passes granted them access to numerous professionals in game development where they viewed and tested the works of other independent developers, exchanged ideas with people in their field, and attended lectures, discussions, and panels.
“This helped set the tone that they are also in the position to help people, even at the start of their careers,” Mishler said.