Unity meetings

I don't know if this is the right place to post this thread. I have heard that there are meetings held in your local area where people with Unity interests get together and discuss about programming and anything related to Unity. I live in London UK. Does anybody know how can I find and join such meetings?

 

I doubt advanced and professionals waste time on such meetings. Mostly would for and by new developers. Which is a bit counter productive.

What you want, is join game jams. Or at best discord. Other than that, you want do lots of reading and own research, on the problems related to your game.

 

What? Pro developers get together and shoot the S*** all the time. Sometimes it's nice to talk about work in a context where you're in a more casual environment because most people do actually like their jobs to some capacity. Even only a few months before John Wick Hex was announced it wasn't super rare for people like Mike Bithell to show up at some places.

The best bet for things like these are through sites like MeetUp, though some are still done through sites like LinkedIn and more local specific sites.

 

I'd second the suggestion to look at Meetup. There might even be a Facebook group for your area too.

 

Google your local IGDA chapter. Join their facebook group. Virtually every meetup related to games should be posted there.

 

meetup.com is a very good place to find such groups. Here is the London one: https://www.meetup.com/London-Unity-Usergroup/members/

 

Thank you all for your suggestions. Much appreciate it.

 

The local meetups here (sf unity offices) are mostly pros. There is even a bit at the end were people can announce jobs, positions.

 

I would say its the other way around. Small indies do not have the time to run around on meetings. Large studios with lots of people can offload some time for it. I get alot of invites to different VR events all around the world all the time. Dont have the time sadly.

 

Indies does not mean new developer.
I was strictly referring in my post to new developers. Weather they are indie, or not, that is irrelevant.

 

I dont think those get invited to events though?

 

You can start by taking a look at these Unity user-groups from all around the world:
https://unity3d.com/community/user-groups

I'm part of the Montreal chapter and we are over 1000+ members with a very active local community of devs.

 

Just looked up my local group. Hasn't been a post since 2015. And maybe 5-10 posts per year before that. It would probably make more sense to redirect the Melbourne link to the IGDA facebook page. The group is mostly Unity users anyway.

 

I belonged to and helped organize a large group of Unity users in Tampa. We had professionals and new developers and people just enjoying Unity as a hobby. In NJ, our group is less about Unity and more about game development. Again, we have a variety of people involved. I love getting together with other developers. We share information, give informal and formal presentations, socialize, go to events in NYC related to game development together....

The mixing of pro and not pro is valuable. It teaches the next generation of game developers and humbles the ones who think they are professional...because they pay for the license. lol And we get to see games made from all types of engines.

I highly recommend you find a group in your area. In both our locations, we had to drive an hour to the nearest meeting but definitely worth it. The friendships alone are worth the effort.

Btw, our team is known as the Unity Family here in NJ and we have spread the word to others who have tried and loved Unity.

 

Thanks! I'll let the team know!

 

I tried several times to contact Unity and ask about getting our group as an official Unity User group but I got no response at all. Does this even exist anymore? Our group is active and as we convert more to use Unity, it would be nice to have the designation.

 

+1 for this. IGDA gatherings are one of the best ways to meet other Unity developers at least here in Finland. It is not just for would-bes and newbies either (though they are most welcome as well!), you see people from companies of all sizes.

Although, people from the big companies often seem to be there in a more official capacity, wearing company hoodies, business cards at the ready, less intoxicated and on the hunt for some fresh talent

 

Our IGDA group seems to have merged with NYC's group so not at all convenient for most folks here. Good to hear some are still surviving.

 

Our meta has shifted a bit. Pretty much every tiny 2-3 man indie studio has realized that official company attire make them look much more significant. Its almost to the point where wearing a company logo and having a business card are a good sign you are small and struggling.

 

You'll often find indie game dev meetups not specifically about Unity, but are generally dominated by Unity users anyway.