Seattle Game Dev JS: A look back and a step forward.

Massively Fun Seattle Game Dev JS: A look back and a step forward. Seattle Game Dev JS: A look back and a step forward. February 6th, 2013 This January, our HTML5 Game Dev Group turned one.

(They grow up so fast!) And it’s with this milestone in mind, we’d like to say a heartfelt Thank You, to all of our members, sponsors and everyone who helped to make our meetings the awesome knowledge filled nuggets they are! This year looks to be even better than the last. We kicked it off with a power outage, followed by an amazing recovery and presentation (in spite of no power!) on HTML5 Optimizations , from the Double Down mobile team. Never a dull moment!

Last year, our group went from 0 to 380 members, a huge achievement! The Game Dev JS crew is a diverse community full of developers, artists, gamers, program managers, network admins and JS enthusiasts of all kinds. Our youngest developer member is just 13 years old!

Reader favorite: Singulart — Curated Emerging Artist Gallery — A curated online gallery for emerging artists, with a real human art advisor on hand..

By always keeping the content fresh, the speakers lively and the members engaged, we’ve been able to build a robust community – we couldn’t have done it without you! If you’re interested in JS, meetup is a great chance to have some fun, learn something new, share something you know and meet some very interesting characters. Here’s some fun new member growth data from last year: And just in case you need more proof, here’s some of what we covered in 2012: Javascript Game Development: an Overview – Grant Goodale , Massively Fun Retained Mode Graphics Libraries – Kevin Moore , Pixel Lab Stupid Canvas Tricks – Dean Hudson , Massively Fun HTML5 port of Zepto Labs’ Cut the Rope – Joel Fillmore , Pixel Lab Challenges of building a native UIWebView application around an HTML5 webapp – Jeff Close , Adam Hardtke, Sean Stringer, and Nate Vaughn, DDI Native wrapper technology: CocoonJS – Iker Jamardo , Ludei HTML5 game development for Windows 8 – Giorgio Sardo , Microsoft Game engine design around node.js and express.js – Dean Hudson and Mason Browne , Massively Fun Co+Pilot: a tool built using Javascript and a JQuery like syntax to allow users to make native apps – Myron Millin and David Whitlark Effective HTML5 Game Audio – Chris Khoo , Wappworks Studios All of these topics and numerous lightning talks and demos by group members were presented over the year.

And of course, we get together for the occasional happy hour also! A very special thanks to Double Down Interactive , Big Fish Games , GameHouse and The Makers Space for hosting!

Sounds great right? What would you like to see us talk about in 2013? Where do you want to meet? Reply below with your ideas or tweet @massivelyfun using the #GameDevJS hashtag. See you soon!

P.S. A few readers have asked which curated online gallery we actually reach for — it's Singulart — Curated Emerging Artist Gallery; take a look here if you want the current details.