{"id":354,"date":"2015-02-20T18:51:01","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T18:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/?p=354"},"modified":"2015-02-20T20:12:51","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T20:12:51","slug":"the-gametrepreneur-ten-reasons-chicago-is-a-great-place-to-build-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/?p=354","title":{"rendered":"The Gametrepreneur Ten: Reasons Chicago is a great place to build games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the first episode\u00a0of the Gametrepreneur Ten! This is a companion piece to the Chicago Gametrepreneur Show<\/a> – we’re going to try make this semi-regular feature where we dig deeper into into a topic we discussed on a recent\u00a0podcast.<\/p>\n

On our last pod<\/a>, we talked with Rob Zubek about why Chicago is a great place to bootstrap your game studio. Here’s\u00a0our inaugural list of ‘Reasons Chicago is a great place to build games<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n

10. Low cost of housing<\/strong> –\u00a0means you can live in a real apartment for a reasonable price, or a tiny apartment for almost nothing.<\/p>\n

9. Great sources of inspiration<\/strong> –\u00a0Chicago has fantastic architecture, great museums and a thriving music & theater scene. Whatever your preference is,\u00a0it’s easy to find something to inspire your creative endeavors.<\/p>\n

8. Extensive\u00a0public transportation<\/strong> – means you can get around without a car, saving you on car payments, insurance, gas and car repairs.<\/p>\n

7. Lots of talented people<\/strong>\u00a0– access to graduates\u00a0from local schools (Northwestern, University of Chicago, DePaul, Illinois, Purdue, etc.)<\/p>\n

6. An extremely friendly and open community!<\/strong>\u00a0Get connected through\u00a0IGDA Chicago<\/a>\u00a0&\u00a0Indie City Games<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Affordable and fun shared working spaces<\/strong>\u00a0– programs include\u00a0the Indie Co-op<\/a>, 1871<\/a>\u00a0and SpaceLab1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. Easier and cheaper access to local conventions<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0BitBash<\/a>, Chicago Ideas Week<\/a> & C2E2<\/a><\/p>\n

3. A good freelance economy<\/strong>\u00a0– means you can make ends meet while you work on your Indie Masterpiece<\/p>\n

2. Community\u00a0that supports building studios organically and sustainably<\/strong> – most members of the community want to build companies so they can make\u00a0games for rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

1. Free to do your own thing\u00a0<\/strong>–\u00a0with fewer huge studios, there is more incentive and support for talented individuals to strike out on their own and make their unique impact on the gaming world.<\/p>\n

\n

Thanks for reading! If you want more stories and insight, please subscribe\u00a0to the Chicago Gametrepreneur Show (iTunes<\/a>, Feedburner<\/a>) like us on Facebook<\/a> or\u00a0follow us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many thanks to @BobbyLox<\/a> and @rzubek<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for contributing to this piece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the first episode\u00a0of the Gametrepreneur Ten! This is a companion piece to the Chicago Gametrepreneur Show – we’re going to try make this semi-regular feature where we dig deeper into into a topic we discussed on a recent\u00a0podcast. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-bootstrapping","category-gametrepreneur10","post_format-post-format-quote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions\/368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterativegames.com\/reiterated\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}