Local studios showcased at Edmonton’s Game Discovery Exhibition

From virtual reality demonstrations to talks from leading developers, the Edmonton Game Discovery Exhibition (GDX) offered gamers a close look into Alberta’s gaming economy.

Over the May 7 weekend, GDX hosted tournaments, demonstrations, and speakers from Alberta’s video game sector. Game-makers of all experience levels shared their products and advice with more than 1,300 attendees. This year’s high attendance, along with the number of playable games doubling from last year, surpassed the expectations of organizers such as GDX Director Derek Kwan.

“Our greatest success was bringing together Alberta’s game community and having people use GDX as a milestone for developing their games and growing as game creators,” Kwan said.

Demonstrations of soon-to-be-released games such as RunGunJumpGun by ThirtyThree Games inspired some of the strongest reactions from attendees. One player demonstrating the indie automatic-runner cursed at his repeated, gruesome deaths while smiling and praising the game for its fast pace and hyper-neon art style.

Virtual reality games such as DAWT and vrNinja allowed visitors to step directly into the action. In the former, players battled through a colourful, Pac-Man-like maze while the latter had participants dodging shurikens, throwing knives, and bombs. Virtual reality technology is the future of the games industry, BioWare Studio General Manager Aaryn Flynn said during his keynote presentation.

Flynn drew on his 16 years of experience with Edmonton-founded studio BioWare to discuss sustainability and diversity in Alberta’s game economy. He focused on how Alberta could mirror the success of Canada’s largest gaming hubs—Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia—while emphasizing the importance of nurturing game-making talent to attract major game studios to the province. He singled out the U of A’s Computer Science Department as an institution that has consistently graduated industry-ready talent. Flynn concluded his presentation by sharing new screenshots from BioWare’s latest sequel, Mass Effect: Andromeda.

For Derek Kwan and his organizational team, the conclusion of GDX 2016 may mean “game over”, as they are actively looking to move into an advisory role for the next GDX event, he said.

“We want the community to own the event,” Kwan said. “It’s time we looked for other ways we can contribute to the gaming community and Alberta,” he said.

As a graduate of the University of Alberta, Kwan said he is proud of his primarily student team and their accomplishments in bringing together Alberta’s game development community.

“GDX has galvanized the community in a way that has not happened before,” Kwan said. “We’re on the cusp of having a thriving, bustling ecosystem and I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

For more on GDX 2016, read our preview article and check out the above Q and A with Aaryn Flynn