The DIA Game Club is Back for 2024!
First: Congrats to the 2024 cohort
Hello, everyone! The DIA Game Club is proud to announce that it’s returning for 2024! Based on feedback we received last year we prepared some new updates to improve members’ experiences.
But before that, congratulations to the 2024 DIA apprentice program cohort! We’re all excited for them to join the DIA crew and look forward to having fun together in the Club.
An important update to the DIA Game Jam
The Club got together and revamped the DIA Game Jam to be more inclusive and flexible. Changes include:
- Focuses, which help members practice different skill sets. For this year they can receive support in reviewing or making games.
- Dropping scheduled co-working sessions in favor of an asynchronous schedule.
- A caveat on whether or not coding is required to participate (spoiler alert: not necessarily!)
- Brief lists of benefits one can get from reviewing or making games.
For more details, see the new and improved DIA Game Jam page:
(Also, the page now has screenshots of games we made last year 💖)
Introducing the DIA Game Club Curriculum! 🎉
A common piece of feedback we heard last year is that members wished there was more guidance on learning to make games. Say no more because the Club is proud to present The DIA Game Club Curriculum!
The Curriculum’s a reference guide for learning about the different ways to review and make games. It’s still in its early stages, so for now access to the Curriculum’s exclusive to Club members. We have lots of plans for improving it (and maybe even making it public 👀) so stay tuned for updates!
A new list of curated resources for making games
Ever felt that surge of inspiration to make a game but didn’t know how to get started? The DIA Game Club’s got you covered. We made a handy post about game making tools we recommend for folks to try out.
These are all tools our members tried out for the DIA Game Jam back in 2023. We give brief descriptions about what kind of games they’re best at making and example games for you to try and get inspired by. Tools are also grouped into categories based on one’s skill-level at making games along with qualities we feel make a tool fit for a particular category.
We hope you can get one step closer to beginning your game making journey!
Check out the list here:
A quick reminder on retrospectives
We know, we know, we haven’t kept up with the Jam retrospectives… But at least you can see them all in one convenient place! We hope this can help anyone interested in joining the Club get a sense of what our game jams are like.
And no promises but we’ll do our best to keep everyone updated on the Club’s activities again this year 🤞. Keep your eyes peeled for them!
Check out retrospectives on past DIA Game Jams here:
And that’s that!
Thanks so much for reading this far. We hope you all have a great 2024 and look forward to having more apprentices join us in our goal of geeking out over games!
For any questions, please reach out to Justin or Alex.
About the DIA Design Guild
DIA Design Guild is a volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to providing design education and career development opportunities to people from underrepresented backgrounds. We provide a space for people to learn from each other, collaborate on projects and share their work with the community. We offer a variety of programs, including apprenticeships, workshops, and mentorships. Our goal is to help people find their way through the UX and tech industry and to create a more diverse and inclusive design community.
Learn more about the apprenticeship program at DIA Design Guild Apprentice Program. You can also support and donate to our vision at https://opencollective.com/diadesign.