Hello there! I'm Safa, and aside from being a blogger, I was also the VP of Campus Relations at Ontario Tech University's Game Development Students' Association (GDSA) and I'm here to tell you all about it. 

The GDSA is a student association whose main purpose is to represent all Game Development students on campus. We want to enrich the student experience and help you be better prepared for your career in the gaming industry.

But don't worry—you can be a part of the GDSA even if you aren't a Game Dev student. Let me tell you a little bit about what we do!

Weekly sessions 

We schedule a time once per week when GDSA members can meet. These sessions can last anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. During the sessions, we cover the latest industry topics such as new tech and releases, special topics such as history and mental health in games, or anything relevant to what you are learning in class. It's a great way to learn something new and have meaningful discussions with peers.

Because the gaming industry grows larger every day, we luckily have a lot of new content to cover each week!

Game jams 

For those of you who don't know, a game jam is a 48-hour event where you are given a theme—it can be a word or a short phrase, and you have to create a game in only 48 hours. Game jams usually take place on the weekend, so you don't have to miss any class. Let your imagination go wild and make something great with your friends and new acquaintances!

We host our own Game Jam in the fall semester, where we provide a space for students to collaborate and work on their projects. We also host a site for the Global Game Jam (GGJ)—a Game Jam that happens all around the globe. Check out some of Ontario Tech's student submissions!

Participating in a Game Jam helps you learn something new and improves your skills—both technical and soft. There is no pressure on you to create something remarkable, as the quality of your final product will not be evaluated by us. If you want to gain valuable experience, make sure to sign up! 

Guest speakers

The Greater Toronto Area is home to hundreds of game development studios, and we do our best to have industry professionals and specialists come in to host workshops and sessions that can help prep you as a game developer. We have invited indie developers, Ubisoft Toronto and many more to come and chat! 

GameCon

GameCon is the end-of-year game showcase for all game development students and is open to the public! This exciting day-long event is where you can try out all of the games that have been made over the year. We also give awards to teams who gained the most votes in a certain category.

If you're interested in the Game Development Students' Association and the work we do, follow us on Instagram at @ot_gdsa and on Twitter at @OT_GDSA.

Curious about the Game Development program?