Hi, Does anyone know of any graphics companies around Toronto, Canada? (doesn't have to be game related) I'm gonna be graduating from university soon, and I'd like to land a job somewhere close to home, but I cant find much... The only ones I've found so far are: - Rockstar in Oakville (heard from a friend, but isnt listed on Rockstar's website?? ) - Alias - Side Effects Software - Digital Extremes - Pseudo Interactive - Cedara - Okino - Epson Edge - Koei - Ati - MGI Anybody know of any other companies? or where I could find a list of them? The only other companies I can find seem like smaller ~5 person indie game companies... Thanks

Here's a list of game companies in Ontario that I found. Many of them are in Toronto. I don't know how good the list is, but it might help.. certainly lots of companies listed:

http://emceedeus.eliteforce.com/canadianProvinceOntarioCompanies.php

Montreal is not that far away from T-O...

EA Montreal (maybe a job transfer?)
Ubisoft Montreal
Discreet Logic
Softimage/Avid
Kaydara
AI-Implant / Biographic Technologies Inc
Gameloft
JAMDATA Canada
Digital Fiction
A2M (Artificial Mind & Movement)
Quazal
DC Studios
Microids
Strategy First
Immersion Canada (force feedback)
Reflex Systems (human morphology)
Matrox Graphics

... and those names are just from the top of my head.

-cb

PS: Post your email so that you can receive more personalized answers.

Silicon Knights is here in St. Catherines.

Also, try the IGDA chapter for TO. They are (or at least, were) usually OK with someone coming down one night just to check it out. Their monthly meetings are on the first Thursday of the month, usually downtown but I don't think they meet at Vinnie's anymore so that means this is the limit of my info on them.

Regardless, bring a portfolio and business cards, as well as a notepad for names. The meetings aren't usually business affairs, but they're awesome for networking.

ld

James: Yeah, thats a pretty big list, but seems like many of the links are broken? =(

cbenoi1: Yup the number of high tech software companies in Montreal is huge, in fact, I used to work at Discreet. Montreal would be nice to work in, but its a bit of a pain to whip out babelfish everytime someone fwds me a french email or comments their code in french...

liquiddark, Pxtl: Thanks, I hadn't heard of these before, I'll definately do some research on them.

So what goes on at an IDGA meeting?

It really depends. Sometimes they bring someone in from outside to discuss some subject, sometimes it's social, sometimes it's...something else. ALWAYS, it's a great place to meet folks inside the industry as well as just get together with folks with a similar set of interests. Chapter reports are available here, although I don't think they cover all of the meetings held so far. There's also a notice on that page asking for activity in the Visual Arts forum on IGDA.org, so maybe that's worth checking out. Note, however, that the VA forum is for discussion of art - there's already a "breaking in" forum available on IGDA.

do yourself a favour and move to Montreal..
There are more game companies and graphics companies than in all of Canada and most places in the USA. That and it is the most wonderful city in North America I feel

S/He's right, you know. Montreal is the greatest city ever.

indigox3: email me; info in my profile.

-cb