Austin is next up in my series on local video game developer profiles, and it has more companies than any of the cities I’ve done so far.  I’ve actually tried to focus on less well-known hubs with previous profiles, but I figured it was time to hit one of the major cities.

As always, I’m using gamedevmap as a starting point.  I filter out anyone with a dead link,  and then dig around to see what other companies I can find that they don’t have.  Because the list is so long, I’m going to split this into 2 posts.  On to part 1…

Game Studios

• Arkane Studios – Arkane got its start in Lyon, France, and opened their Austin branch in 2006.  Their focus is “first-person immersive games with depth.”
• Armature Studios - Armature was founded by 3 Retro Studios veterans.
• Aspyr – Aspyr has worked on a large number of licensed and original titles over the years, and they’ve been involved with porting several titles to the Mac.
• Bioware Austin – The Austin division of Bioware has been hard at work on the upcoming Star Wars – The Old Republic title.
• Black Lantern Studios – Black Lantern is an independent developer with studios in both Austin and Springfield, MO.
• Blizzard Entertainment – The Austin office is a customer service center, and doesn’t actually handle any internal development.
• Certain Affinity – Founded by an ex-Bungie employee in 2006, Certain Affinity got their start working on new maps for Halo 2.  They’ve grown to 35 FT employees, according to their site.
• Challenge Games – Developers of Facebook titles, including a recently released 3D football game.
• Critical Mass Interactive – Contract developer who has worked on a variety of UE3 related projects.
• Edge of Reality – Looks like they recently wrapped up some work with Bioware on Dragon Age.  Nice!
• EA Pogo – One of the original casual game sites.
• Ghostfire Games – They’re working on an upcoming WiiWare title.
• Heatwave Interactive – New developer that received VC backing in 2008.  They’re working on an upcoming title called Platinum Life.
• Junction Point (Disney Interactive) – Warren Spector’s studio, and developers of the upcoming Epic Mickey title.  This Mickey Mouse reboot looks very cool.
• KingsIsle Entertainment – Creators of online titles, including their first release, Wizard 101.
• Semi Secret Software – I’m going out of order for now, but I found these guys while looking at Last Chance Media.  It looks like Last Chance is now part of Semi Secret – they released the awesome iPhone game Canabalt.
• Midnight Studios – not sure what they’re working on, but it looks like they moved into new office space in early 09.
• Mock Science – They’ve been helping out with some social network games lately.  A few of us at GJH used to work with one of the co-founders, so it’s great to see them achieving success.

That’s it for part 1 – I’ll get to work on part 2 some time in the very near future.  Stay tuned….

Usually, I like to do an individual welcome post to each new company that joins the site.  Last week was a busy one, and we saw two new companies and a new school start posting.  I didn’t want to fall too far behind, so I figured I’d welcome them all at once in the form of a great big group hug.

Disney Interactive Studios

Or as my two year old might call them, “Din-sey.”  They started by posting three jobs at two of their studios, Junction Point and Propaganda.  I’ve got a few friends who work at the studio in Burbank, and they’ve had nothing but positive things to say.  Follow them on Twitter (@DIMGrecruiting).

Gameloft

Gameloft has been a leader in the mobile and casual game spaces for years now.  They’ve got offices in New York City and throughout Europe, and it looks like they’re looking to grow the New York studio.  Check out their listings.  They are also on Twitter (@gameloft).

Flashpoint Academy

Flashpoint Academy is a school focusing on all aspects of digital entertainment, including game development.  They’re located in Chicago, which gives them a few extra bonus points in my book.  I’ve got a soft spot for the city – in the summer, anyways.  They’re looking for a Game Audio Instructor.

As always, make sure and check out all the new openings.  If you don’t see a fit for you, please pass them on to anyone that you know that might be interested!

As I’ve mentioned before, video game conferences are fantastic places to try and land a new job in the game industry.  Some conferences make a career pavilion a showcase element of the show – GDC is the obvious one.  Even if there’s not a dedicated career pavilion, conferences offer you an incredible chance to network with a high concentration of game company employees.  These are inherently social events, booze is usually flowing at evening mixers, and there’s plenty of opportunities to make new contacts.

• http://www.scad.edu/events/gdx/2009/ – GDX, Savannah, GA, April 16-17.  “Sponsored by the Savannah College of Art and Design and now in its fifth year, the Game Developers eXchange brings together game developers, educators and students with game development experts who share their behind-the-scenes knowledge of the game industry.”
• http://www.2009.loginconference.com/ – Login, Seattle, May 11-14.  From their site:  “LOGIN is the conference for leaders and innovators of the online game industry. This annual conference hosted in Seattle each May brings together industry leaders to discuss, collaborate, and share advancements about technology, design, business, community and legal areas of online game development.”  Login is on Twitter!
• http://www.gdc-canada.com/ – GDC Canada, Vancouver, May 12-13.  “The Game Developers Conference® Canada covers industry-leading methodologies in game design, production, programming, visual arts and writing for big-budget multiplatform games.”
• http://www.e3expo.com/ – E3, LA, June 2-4
• http://seattle.casualconnect.org/index.html – Casual Connect, Seattle, July 21-23
• http://www.pennyarcadeexpo.com/ – PAX, Seattle, September 4-6.  PAX has become one of the biggest fan-focused conferences in the industry.  “PAX is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers.”
• http://www.gdcaustin.com/ – GDC Austin, September 15-18

I’m sure I’m leaving out a few – I’ll post as I think/hear about more.

We’ve had a few new companies from Austin recently post their jobs – big welcome to both Junciton Point and Renegade Kid! For those not in the know, Junciton Point is Warren Spector’s new studio, and is part of the Disney Interactive family. They’re working on something top secret, which I’m sure will be very cool. As for Renegade Kid, they’re a relatively new dev house that’s recently released the survivial horror title “Dementium” for the DS. They’re also working on some Wii titles. Check out the available jobs here.