Welcome to GameLoop Christchurch: a Game Developers Unconference!

Location:

Ōtākaro Building, UC Digital Screen Campus

This event is in-person only.

What is GameLoop?

GameLoop is a user-generated conference on game development. It is open to professional game devs, hobbyists, students, critics, and journalists. We especially encourage groups typically underrepresented in game development to please attend. GameLoop was created by the Boston Festival of Indie Games (BostonFIG).

What is a User-Generated Unconference?

An unconference is an event where, first thing that morning, people discuss what topics they want to cover. People then pitch those topics as sessions. Then everyone gets to vote on their favorite session! The moderators (the CGDA team & Sam Cook) then review all the votes, creating the schedule for the day.

The sessions are usually in a free-form roundtable discussion format. There’s a lot of back and forth. And if you want to keep talking about that topic after the session ends, you just move the conversation to the hallway.

A ticket to this event gets you a full day of great conversation and ideas, morning and afternoon tea, coffee and snacks, and a catered lunch!

Is GameLoop Worth It?

Boston GameLoop has run over 15 times, and its popularity helped to spin off Montreal GameLoop. Boston GameLoop (https://www.bostonfig.com/gameloop-2025) attracts over 125+ game devs/year, pulling them in from across North America. Sam Cook (former CGDA Chair) attended GameLoop Boston and Montreal before moving to Christchurch, and she's helping us get the ball rolling in New Zealand. We're excited to grow this grassroots unconference into a highlight of the Aotearoa game dev calendar!

What topics can I propose?

Anything you want! This is a game dev event, for developers - you can be as niche or technical as you please. Here are some examples of real and theoretical GameLoop talks:

UI and Accessibility
Pro-Social Games
Shader programming tricks
Growing Pains for Teams
Art pipelines
Neurodiversity in Game Dev
Cross Discipline Collaboration
Making editor tools
and more!

Event Outline

9:00am - Doors Open

9:15am - Welcome Keynote

9:30am - 11am - Opening meeting where we getting to know each other’s shared interests, propose and informally vote on sessions, and put those on the Big Board

11:20am - First session!

1:00pm - Lunch

5 - 5:30pm - (approximately) Last session ends. We have a wrap-up meeting, head out for any break out conversations. An after-unconference hangout location is in the works!

Don't forget to check us out at:

Website: https://chch.gamedev.co.nz

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chchgamedev.bsky.social

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/christchurch-game-developers-new-zealand/

Discord: https://discord.gg/68YqqFZ

If you enjoy our meetups, consider supporting us on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/CHCHGameDev

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Event Photography Notice: The CGDA occasionally takes photos and/or videos at our events for promotional purposes. If you would prefer not to have your image recorded for marketing purposes, please make your wishes known to the photographer, and/or reach out to a committee member, and we will accommodate your request. Thank you!

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Massive thanks to all our supporters for making our events possible!

Our Corporate Supporters:

Kōawa Studios - Kōawa Studios is the South Island’s premier commercial production facility, boasting sound recording studios, edit suites, motion capture and stop-motion animation studios, green screen and virtual production sound stages, computer labs, mill space, and a multipurpose 165 seat theatre, with a 1400sqm production and post-production facility set to open in 2026.

https://koawa.co.nz/

Yoobee College of Creative Innovation - a tertiary institute committed to developing creative and technical talent across New Zealand.

https://www.yoobee.ac.nz/courses/

HIT Lab NZ - a multidisciplinary, Human-Centred Research environment that collaborates with industry.

https://www.hitlabnz.org/

CerebralFix - a Christchurch-based game development studio specializing in work for hire from some amazing companies.

https://cerebralfix.com/

Screen Canterbury NZ - a Canterbury-based film office helping creatives get their projects delivered to the screens of their choice, providing fantastic resource-sharing & advocacy for our screen production industry.

https://www.christchurchnz.com/screen-canterburynz

And our awesome Patreon Supporters:

Matt Barton

Leith Caldwell

Samantha Cook

Nik Scarr

Carl de Visser

Alexander Swords