by Dev Jana, Martin Grider, Nicolaas VanMeerten, Evva Kraikul, Zachary Johnson, Stephen McGregor, Kris Szafranski, Ari Carrillo, and Sami Sati | at MinneBar 13 | 9:25 – 10:15 in Theater | View Schedule
A parade of all star local Game Developers will each take the reigns for 6 minutes to present their experiences and learnings as Independent Game Developers in the Twin Cities.
Presenters:
By day, Dev is a Director of Instruction: Full Stack Development at Prime Digital Academy, Adjunct Game Professor at Augsburg University, Treasurer for International Game Developers Association, Twin Cities, and President of Code and Noises at DevNAri LLC whose first release Newt One is available on XBox One, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, and Steam.
Favorite Games: Arkanoid, Rocket League, Mario Series (specifically SMB & 64), Journey, X Wing, The Legend of Zelda, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, Doom II, Red Dead Redemption, Tetris, The Last of Us
Martin Grider is a game designer and developer who also does contract software development (mostly native iOS). He releases games periodically at Abstract Puzzle, and writes about game development on his blog at chesstris.com. Find him on mastodon at @grid@mastodon.gamedev.place.
Nicolaas VanMeerten (@nicolaasvm) is the Co-founder and Research Director at GLITCH, where he uses a combination of analytics, research methods, and psychological principles to improve video games. He is also a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Educational Psychology program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities where he is studying the impact of puzzle games on spatial reasoning.
GLITCH FACEBOOK | GLITCH TWITTER
Evva Kraikul (she/her/hers) is a systems designer, gameUX champion, and founder of GLITCH. GLITCH is an independent video game publishing label home to bold new voices and big ideas. With 10+ years of experience, Evva has worked alongside over 50 major technology and gaming industry partners such as Microsoft, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, and PBS to develop games, design programming, and launch international initiatives.
Recent Releases
Optica, a mind-bending puzzle game of logic and illusion | Available on the Apple App Store & Google Play
Riddle Mia This, an award-winning augmented reality puzzle room experience at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts | Free download on Apple & Google Stores
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Zachary Johnson is a weird, web-obsessed artist and programmer from the midwest. He started his software consulting business Zachstronaut in 2011 and co-founded the game studio Space Mace in 2016.
He's worked on a Nintendo game called Joggernauts, a pixel art comedy RPG called The Legend of Equip Pants, a delicious indie arcade cabinet called The Donutron, and a haunted 8-bit NES.
Zach has spoken at events in Berlin, New York, Chicago, and many times at Minnebar and Minnedemo. He's also been on the committees for MinneWebCon and IGDA-TC.
He's great at remembering fish facts and only slightly obsessed with taking selfies with other people's cats.
This person hasn't yet added a bio.
Kris Szafranski is an indie game developer and software mentor in Minneapolis, MN. Kris released A Druid's Duel to little fanfare on the Steam platform in 2015. He loves the thrill and challenge of designing games and has completed way more in his head than in reality. He is currently a Director of Instruction at Minneapolis-based software engineering school Prime Digital Academy.
Originally from Mexico, Ari has lived in the States for 17 years. He has screened his 3D animated shorts at film festivals all over the world. His passion for design, illustration, and color theory is equalled by his love for music, vinyl toy creations, and game design. Currently he works as a 3D modeler at Axonom in Eden Prairie, MN.
Sami Sati is a programmer and musician at Sati Bros. Along with his brother who does art for their team they are developing Astral Gunners, which a fast-paced and brutally challenging bullet-hell shoot 'em up. In addition, Sami has done work as an applications analyst, sound design in film, retail in gaming stores, and playing music in some local band you've probably never heard of.
