Utah Digital Entertainment Meeting – June 2015

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 11, 2015

Last night I went to the fourth meeting of the newly-renamed Utah Digital Entertainment Network. It was the first one I attended, mainly because they’ve been doing better at getting the word out and because my friend Steve Taylor of Wahoo / NinjaBee Games was the guest speaker, talking about “Building a Game Studio in Utah – Lessons Learned, and What’s Needed.”

I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was really impressed. The meeting was on the top floor of the Zion’s Bank building in the heart (literally) of downtown Salt Lake City. While it remained a less formal meeting, it had a much, much different feel from Utah Indie Night. That’s actually a good thing for both. They serve different purposes.

The UDEN meeting was more professional and structured, and fit in with their goals: To be a point of connection between all these businesses, schools, organizations, government, and events happening in this combined field here in Utah, so that we can all stay coordinated and provide a more unified front to improving opportunities in our state for ourselves and others in our fields.

Or, in other words, to make Utah a mecca of digital entertainment – including filmmaking, animation, online publishing, and of course video games. The thing is – for years, it really has been pretty strong in this respect, it’s just that it’s sort of a well-hidden. That’s a big purpose for this group – to get the word out, both internally and externally, and help things grow. If we all know what resources are available, we don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel on our own.

The meeting was therefore a hodgepodge of information, announcements, and suggestions. They announced everything from the annual softball tournament between local game development companies to opportunities at the local universities to the big conventions coming up. A section of the time was devoted to helping introduce people involved in the community to encourage networking.

The networking was supposed to only be the last half-hour of the meeting. But… yeah. It kept going. In fact, I owe emails to a couple of people at this point (sorry!). Tons of talent, entrepreneurial skill, ideas, and stuff happening for one meeting. It was a great experience, and I’m excited to go to the next one!

For more info, you can check out the official UDEN website, or their facebook site.

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