Does anyone have a method of meeting GMS devs in their area?

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TinyArcade

Guest
To give some definition to this post, we would be looking for some method of creating a group of locals also interested in learning or practicing Game Maker Studio. The difference to groups that meetup to jam, would be that this group would have an open availability to anyone looking to hone in on their skills, learn new elements, or even start from scratch.

We originally looked into using Meetup and even attended a few groups unrelated to Game Dev, and found that they never continued to meet on a regular basis, or it turned into a group focused on an incentive for you to join and pay them for a tuition or service. Just recently we figured out why Meetup might not have been working out for us, and/or why we weren't seeing the groups that committed to consistency, and turns out that Meetup isn't free, and isn't cheap if you span it out a year. To most $4.99/month is petty cash, but the fact that the price of $9.99 is crossed out to display this discounted price, seems as though eventually the price of keeping an organized local group will end up being $120/year instead of $60/year. So long story short, when we originally considered "when you want it done right, sometimes you gotta do it yourself", Meetup isn't free, and the price is pretty outrageous when most the work would be done by the organizer, not meetup.

We have looked into other event apps, and most are for night life, dating, or socially organizing a group or a few people to go out. We didn't look into Craigslist yet, but could only imagine that it would be lost and disregard, in the same way that the idea and service of Craigslist has been drowned out from this generation of competing apps.

Just to point out, this group wouldn't be opposed to jams, but would consider getting everyone on the same page, or would provide learning before hand, it would be more of a community either green or wanting to learn new things, not necessarily veterans or with experience interested in hanging out with newbies.
We've only been to two Game Jams, same group, and it might have just been their way of approaching a group, but we felt left out, and didn't see the room to grow or learn.

Does anyone have any suggestions or a positive way of organizing a group to learn and work on Game Maker Studio with people in the area? Any suggestions of a platform without a price tag that allows for outreach?
 
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willthetarget

Guest
Facebook! Say what you will about their business, but it's undeniable it's one of the best tools for outreach and promotion.

Most communities/towns/cities have multiple Facebook pages for various things. Maybe find one and mention you're looking for GMS devs, or maybe go more general and send a signal to Game Devs in general if you're looking for Jam buddies. Past that, start a group on Facebook or a Discord server for everyone to communicate at.
 
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TinyArcade

Guest
@willthetarget As unfortunate as this might be, we are pretty unfamiliar with facebook, or at least what facebook might be today and the services they might have available now. We can look into restoring one of our accounts and take a look. Thank you for the suggestion!
 
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TinyArcade

Guest
Well its up! For anyone in the Boston MA area, the Facebook group can be found under the name of: Game Maker Studio Developers - Brighton MA

Open to anyone interested! Suggestions definitely appreciated!

We'll update this post if we find this method successful, especially to help anyone else looking to meet Game Maker Studio devs in their area.
 
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Misu

Guest
I dont use facebook; it is terrible. Plus there are other social medias out there that helps promote local associations as well. It does not have to primarily be one and only focusing on one. What I meant is you can can use more than one social media source to promote such group that is not only facebook. YYG has also facebook but twitter as well. Other associations would have facebook/twitter/skype/discord and other sources. The more you add onto social media sites, the most likely youll achieve audience or contact.

PS: im not from Boston, sorry
 
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TinyArcade

Guest
@Misu - I think now we have an account for every social media platform under the sun, being everyone is trying to make the next facebook/twitter .

We'll try and promote our local group on more than one platform, hoping to increase the chances of reaching a local audience. - cast out more lines to catch more fish.

Thank you for the suggestion!

P.S No worries!
 
I have had some success in the past by getting booths at local conventions. We used Discord as a sort of hub with links to our site and social media.
 
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