Hi folks,

I would like to tell you all of a chat room I set up some months ago related to indie game development and the general indie gaming scene. So far we have a handful of dedicated regulars and many more occasional / weekend visitors. Its a great place to talk about your projects, meet new people, meet up with your team members or simply talk about what your playing right now. When folks are not talking indie the conversation leads to pretty much anything else, its an ideal place to chat about indie related things but also think of it as a general casual chat room too (within reason). Sometimes there is no substitute for a "real time" chat about your project, or getting help on something.

The chat room is on freenode a popular IRC server. There are a few ways of getting to us. If you use an IRC client you can connect with settings I have listed below. I have also created a web client page so people who don't have an IRC client can connect easily though any web browser.
Along with the regular chat, the room also has some interesting features, for example we currently have an RSS indie news feeds messaging into the chat room any time there is any news . The room has many other features like a way to see when a person was last in the room, some amusing text based games, translator system, personal and global statistics and much more that make your stay in the room that little bit more interesting. If you wish you can register with the chat server (freenode) so for example your nick name is protected and cant be used by anyone else.. and other features.

How to find us?

An IRC Client
The ideal way would be to use an IRC client, there are many free ones and payed ones out there, I guess its just a matter of preference I personally use one called mIRC, easy to use. The settings you would put into your IRC client are:

Server: chat.freenode.net
Valid Ports: 6665, 6666, 6667, 8000, 8001, 8002 (SSL ports: 6697, 7000, 7070 )
Room: ##indie-games

More specific regional servers listed here: Freenode.net

Web Browser Connect
I have set up two pages to connect into the chat room with a web browser, the first one is the regular page, but the chat box might be a little too small or even big on some screens. The 2nd link is to a "Full screen Browser" version. If you find the fonts are too small remember you can zoom in on webpages by holding down on "Ctrl" and using your mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Simply type in a nick name you want to use and press connect., if it dose not connect first time try again, it should eventually work.

Regular Chat Page:
http://www.fractalscapes.net/IndieGames/webchat.html

Full Screen Browser Page:
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=##Indie-Games

Well if you have any questions regarding this don't hesitate to ask me in the room itself or here. My name there is Pangaea.. and although my nick is always there (I just leave my PC on 24\7) it dose not mean I am at my PC.. so if your not getting a response from me you know why. I'm sure one of the others will welcome you if its a case I'm not around at the time. Anyway if you do come in, please be polite and friendly to others, but above all have fun.

Seasons greetings
Pan