A few months ago a rejuvenated Chicago Chapter of the International Game Developers Association kicked off its reboot with a party for its some 70 company members, and has been holding periodic meetings since.
Thursday’s meeting at NoiseFloor’s new River North audio studio is sure to attract a large crowd since the speaker is Josh Tsui, president of Rodomodo, Chicago’s biggest game studio and the makers of Mortal Kombat, Fight Night Round 3 and the Tony Hawk skateboarder franchise.
Chicago’s gaming star Tsui will talk about the story behind the creation of Robomodo and the obstacles he’s had to overcome to date.
Robomodo rose from the ashes of EA, which pulled out of Chicago in 2008 after two years, and where Tsui had been an art director and senior manager. He formerly co-owned Studio Gigante and overall has had 18 years of AAA game production experience, with the unique insight from a developer and publisher’s point-of-view.
NoiseFloor’s Cory Coken says he is delighted to host the meeting, since he’s been involved in providing audio services to the big gaming companies that once boomed in Chicago.
“I am pleased to see so many local companies popping up again,” says Coken of the growing renaissance in the city and a local IDGA to bring them all together.
The new IDGA chapter was started in April by five co-organizers: organized Jay Margalus, a marketing and game developer of Mokena; technical artist Heather Decker-Davis, of Clinton, Iowa; Chicago-based Neal Sales-Griffin, a teacher and programmer; game developer Rich Rutan of Hoffman Estates and Tom Dowd, a Columbia College game design professor who spent many years as a game designer.
Some of local IGDA companies are Robomodo, Jellyvision, Wideload, NetherRealm Studios, Raw Thrills, Red Vault, Transition 9 Games, Young Horses, Artistic Proof, Sinister Design and My Escape.
The June 23 meeting takes place at 308 W. Erie, at 6:30 p.m.
