Miami Animation, VFX, and Gaming January Meetup Recap: Networking Night at Mia Market
- AVG Guild
- Jan 18
- 3 min read
Miami showed up for our January meetup in the best way: relaxed vibes, real conversations, and the kind of cross-discipline mix that makes you remember why community matters.
We met Thursday, January 15, 2026 at Mia Market (Design District) for our “Make Friends/Network” night— dedicated to doing the thing creatives rarely get enough time for: talking shop, swapping stories, and actually meeting the people behind the reels, builds, and breakdowns.
We had 20 people in attendance, and the room was a perfect snapshot of what makes AVG special: animation, VFX, gaming, and adjacent creative fields all overlapping in real time.
Professions in the Room
One of the best parts of any AVG gathering is the range of perspectives you get at a single table. This month’s crew included:
VFX artists
Animators
Writers
Illustrators
VR experts
MDC students
An FIU professor
A PlayStation character rigger
A Bungie VFX artist
A Technicolor camera tracker
Indie game developers
Sound engineers
A 3D modeler
3D animators
That mix always leads to the best kind of conversations—the ones where a single topic (like “breaking into the industry” or “how to level up your portfolio”) immediately turns into five different viewpoints, five different workflows, and five different sets of practical next steps.
Miami Animation VFX Gaming Meetup Recap:
The Energy in the Room
This Miami animation VFX gaming meetup recap really comes down to one word: momentum.
Some folks came in brand new—just looking for their first local creative circle. Others came in already deep in production life, sharing what they’ve learned from shipping, collaborating remotely, and staying sane while balancing craft with deadlines. What stood out wasn’t just the networking—it was how quickly the room shifted into “help mode.”
A few themes that naturally bubbled up throughout the night:
Career paths aren’t linear. People compared how they moved between animation, games, and VFX—sometimes intentionally, sometimes because a single opportunity opened a door.
Specialization vs. flexibility. We talked about when it helps to be laser-focused (like rigging, tracking, FX) and when being a generalist can land you work faster—especially in indie and small teams.
Community makes the hard parts easier. Whether you’re job hunting, building a portfolio, or trying to finish a personal project, it’s simply easier when you know other people doing the same thing.
And yes—Mia Market continues to be a great spot for this kind of meetup: easy to find food, easy to move around, and easy to settle into a long conversation without feeling rushed.
Spotlight: Carlos D Gonzalez and Faeland
A major highlight of the night was connecting with Carlos D Gonzalez, who shared the long journey behind his game Faeland—a project he’s been building for the past 10 years, and which is now available in Early Access.
And one of the coolest moments happened right in front of us: in the photo, Carlos is talking with Isai Oviedo, who was showing Carlos a card game he created. Watching them trade ideas was a perfect example of why these meetups work—two game creators from different worlds (Carlos building a video game, Isai building a real-world tabletop experience) finding common ground through shared design thinking. Even better, both projects carry a pixel art-inspired style, proving that strong visual language can travel across mediums—screen or table—when the vision is clear.
If you haven’t checked out Faeland yet, it’s an adventure RPG with a classic-inspired feel. On Steam, it’s listed as an Adventure / Indie / RPG title in Early Access.
Carlos, thank you for sharing the process with us—and Isai, thank you for bringing something tangible to the table. That exchange captured the spirit of the night: artists learning from artists, and ideas getting better in real time.
What’s Next
If you’ve been thinking about coming to an AVG meetup, this is your sign. You don’t need to be “fully established” to belong here. If you’re learning, building, pivoting, freelancing, studying, or just trying to find your people in Miami’s creative scene—pull up a chair.
Keep an eye on our events page for the next networking night, and come ready to talk about what you’re making (or what you’re trying to make).
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