July 28, 2021 – Today, Game Devs of Color Expo announced the starting lineup of speakers and panel discussions for its sixth annual event. The 2021 Game Devs of Color Expo will take place entirely online from Thursday, September 23 to Monday, September 27.
This year’s event features an exciting array of talks from the developers behind Button City, GNOG, LIONKILLER, She Dreams Elsewhere, Sephonie, Validate, and more. As with last year’s expo, virtual attendees will be able to access a private online conference space that’s designed to encourage conversation and collaboration.
The 2021 Game Devs of Color Expo will also feature interviews hosted by DaPurpleSharpie with developers from indie studios Subliminal (Button City), Soft Not Weak (Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 to), Aerial_Knight, DragonBear Studios (Innchanted), Plethora Project (Common’hood), insertdisc5 (START AGAIN START AGAIN START AGAIN: a prologue), Fishean Studio (Our America VR), Somber Pixel (Night Reverie), Analgesic Productions (Sephonie), Team Midautumn, Studio Zevere (She Dreams Elsewhere), and Danny Fisher.
The expo is also hosting several panels, touching on a variety of relevant industry topics. “Cooperating as Game Worker Cooperatives,” will provide an overview on the history of worker cooperatives, with panelists Alex A.K. (Soft Not Weak), Eva-Léa Longue Ngambi (Lucid Tales), and Francesca Esquenazi (Future Club) sharing their experiences with this little-known business model. Tabletop-game developers can learn more about picking and refining projects in the “Finding Your Voice: Developing Your Brand (in Tabletop)” panel, with Yeonsoo Julian Kim (Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game), Jeeyon Shim (Sea of Legends: Expansion), Victoria Caña (Cat Quartet Games), Ella Ampongan (The Dice Tower), and Banana Chan (Game and a Curry).
The full lineup of speakers and participating games will be revealed at a later date.
Game Devs of Color Expo was first envisioned by founders Catt Small and Chris Algoo in 2016, who sought to construct a safe space where people of color from any and all intersections of identity could connect to discuss their passions and projects.
“From the very beginning, we’ve worked to create a space and an industry that we can all enjoy,” said Chris Algoo. “The excitement we receive every year from attendees, sponsors, and devs is pushing us forward to create the biggest and best Game Devs of Color Expo in 2021.”
For additional information about the Expo, including ticket sales, visit gamedevsofcolorexpo.com. Passes for the event are priced on a sliding scale between $20-100, depending on the needs of attendees. Working members of the press can apply for a media pass here https://bit.ly/gdoc21press.
The Mobile Growth Association (MGA) has announced that they’re adding the live format as an option for attendance to their upcoming September 30 event, MGS Games. The MGA is an organization built around the mobile marketing and development community. MGS Games will be physically hosted in San Francisco, California at the SF Jazz Center venue, and it will also be hosted online as well.
From the MGS official blog post, this is how the MGA looks at this upcoming event:
“We at Mobile Growth Association are looking forward to bringing the mobile gaming community back together after over a year apart,” says Jen Laloup – Co-Founder, Chairwoman & CEO. “We will explore the gaming community’s challenges, triumphs, and everything in between at our first hybrid event — MGS GAMES We will gather — safely, of course — in a physical space in San Francisco, as well as online. By hosting these progressive events, we offer the Mobile Games Community a chance to share knowledge and network globally. MGS GAMES attendees from around the world will be able to learn from the best industry professionals in the game and share in a way like never before.”
So far speakers include leaders from Glu Mobile, GamesBeat, 5×5 Gaming, Fandom, with more industry veterans certain to be announced soon. Virtual and live attendees can expect plenty of discussions around the tricky, rapidly evolving spaces of mobile gaming engagement and monetization of audiences. On-site attendees can likely expect certain perks — like face-to-face networking, breakfast and lunch and happy hours — that many folks may have missed over the last year
The MGA joins a growing list of event planners opening their doors to live and online attendees to offer a virtual or physical attendance option. For $99, a virtual pass option with on-demand access of content will be available on August 2. Otherwise, a range of attendee passes are available from $199 to $3,000.
Stop on by on the official MGS Games website if you’re interested in more info.
Cologne/Stockholm/New York — ESL Gaming, the world’s biggest esports company, has today announced a programming collaboration with North American broadcaster G4 that will extend ESL’s already-unrivaled presence in esports by enabling the gaming and esports community in the U.S. and Canada to access linear TV content from select ESL Pro Tour events for the first time.
G4, part of NBCUniversal, will produce programs containing action and cut downs from eight ESL Pro Tour competitions. The programs will give viewers an entertaining and action-packed insight into ESL tournaments.
The programs will be aired in prime time slots to provide a new audience with access to esports and gaming entertainment, with G4 holding exclusivity to produce and air the programs in the region. G4’s esports shows will now also feature highlights from ESL events and the channel will also partake in one-off takeovers of ESL’s Twitch channel.
“We know there is a growing number of esports fans in North America and G4 is the perfect partner for us as we continue on our mission to reach new audiences,“ said Frank Uddo, Senior Vice President Media Rights at ESL Gaming. “We have hosted many successful events in North America already, and with this exciting partnership we will finally be able to provide all US and Canadian esports fans with access to ESL events via linear TV broadcasts as well.”
Following successful exclusive partnerships, G4 now covers a key market for ESL, which results in providing world-class esports content in up to 30 channels worldwide.
“G4 is thrilled to partner with ESL and deliver their premier esports events to North American audiences,” said Kevin Sabbe, Chief Content Officer of G4. “Our approach to esports coverage will be focused on entertaining fans, providing in-depth analysis, and most importantly, offering casual gamers a comedic entry point into the world of esports and competitive gaming.”
Further updates will be made as to which ESL events will feature in the programs.
SAN FRANCISCO – July 21, 2021 – Supergiant Games’ stylish roguelike Hades was honored by the game development community as the recipient of the Game of the Year award at tonight’s 21st annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) ceremony. The ceremony, which honored some of the biggest and most innovative games of the past year, took place as part of the 2021 Game Developers Conference (GDC). An archive of the award ceremony, as well as the full presentation of the Independent Games Festival Awards (IGF Awards), can be viewed at http://twitch.tv/gdc.
Supergiant Games’ Hades wins Game of the Year at the 21st Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (Image: Supergiant Games)
In addition to Game of the Year, Hades was the recipient of the Best Audio and Best Design Awards. The roguelike action dungeon crawler won praise and accolades for combining the best aspects of Supergiant’s critically acclaimed titles, including the fast-paced action of Bastion, the rich atmosphere and depth of Transistor, and the character-driven storytelling of Pyre.
Developer Sucker Punch Productions took home two awards for Ghost of Tsushima, for Best Visual Art and the Audience Award. Ghost of Tsushima is a beautiful open world, action-adventure game where players control a samurai that must use the shadows and other less-than-noble techniques to save his home from Mongol invaders.
The full slate of winners of the 2021 GDCAs also includes Best Debut winner Phasmophobia by Kinetic Games, an indie horror game where players must enter dangerous haunted locations in order to gather evidence of the paranormal. Genshin Impact by miHoYo won Best Mobile Game, for the impressive open-world game full of slick combat and countless mysteries.
The Innovation Award went to Dreams by Media Molecule for its game creation system, which allows players to create anything from games to gadgets, music to movies, puzzles to paintings and everything in-between and beyond. The Award for Best Narrative went to The Last of Us Part II developed by Naughty Dog, which continues the story of the critically acclaimed The Last of Us in a gritty revenge story set in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Asobo Studio’s Microsoft Flight Simulator won the Best Technology Award; in the game players can create their flight plan and fly anywhere on the planet, while navigating challenging weather conditions. Lastly, the Best VR/AR Game Award went to Half-Life: Alyx by Valve, the immersive, genre-bending virtual reality game set in the legendary Half-Life series.
The Game Developers Choice Awards honor the very best games of the year, and were created for and voted on by developers. Winners in all categories except the Audience Award and Special Awards are selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, comprised of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.
In addition to the best games of the last year, the GDCAs also honor the dedicated individuals who have helped further the art, science and craft of video games with special awards. This year’s Pioneer Award, which recognizes breakthrough tech and game design milestones, went to Tom Fulp, creator of Newgrounds and trailblazer of the Macromedia Flash games that helped define a generation of indie developers. The advent of Newgrounds brought about an explosion of creations and gave a platform for independent developers’ Flash games.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to influential game designer Laralyn McWilliams, who holds 28 years of experience working across all genres, particularly on ground-breaking MMO games. The award recognizes Laralyn McWilliams’ video game career, in which she has led the design for award-winning adventure, social, strategy, simulation, platform, brawler, FPS and massively multiplayer online games. She was Creative Director for the ground-breaking MMO Free Realms at Sony Online Entertainment and was lead designer for the critically acclaimed Full Spectrum Warrior, the most nominated game of E3 2003.
“We’re wowed to see so many creative and excellent titles released during the past year, which has been a difficult one for many, and we are proud to be able to honor them tonight,” said Katie Stern, who oversees the GDC as VP of Entertainment Media at Informa Tech. “GDC is about bringing the game development community together to celebrate the craft of video games, and there is no better way than to recognize the hard work and talent that made these games possible.”
The Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:
Best Audio Hades (Supergiant Games)
Best Debut
Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)
Best Design
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Best Mobile Game
Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
Innovation Award
Dreams (Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Narrative
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Technology
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio / Xbox Game Studios)
Best Visual Art
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best VR/AR Game
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Audience Award
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Game of the Year
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Pioneer Award
Tom Fulp
Lifetime Achievement Award
Laralyn McWilliams
The awards were livestreamed on the official Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at Twitch.tv/GDC and are archived both on Twitch and on the official GDC YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/c/gdconf.
SAN FRANCISCO – July 21, 2021 – Origame Digital’s Umurangi Generation won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 23rd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards tonight. The ceremony, which honored some of the most innovative and excellent independent games of the past year, took place as part of the 2021 Game Developers Conference (GDC) virtual event.
In addition to the Grand Prize, Umurangi Generation also won the Excellence in Narrative Award. Umurangi Generation is a first-person photography game set in a bleak future by Origame Digital. Following an impending crisis, players act as a courier for the Tauranga Express where they unlock a variety of photography lenses and equipment throughout the game.
The full slate of 2021 IGF Award winners feature many notable and fan-favorite titles, including the Excellence in Audio award and Excellence in Visual Art award winner Genesis Noir by Feral Cat Den, a stylish noir adventure game where players explore the mysteries of the Big Bang and seek a way to destroy it before it kills their love.
The Excellence in Design winner, Teardown by Tuxedo Labs, is a game in which players prepare the perfect heist in a simulated and fully destructible voxel world, using the environment to their advantage in the most creative way they can think of. The Nuovo Award, which honors the title that makes jurors ‘think differently about games as a medium,’ went to developer The Game Band for Blaseball, a baseball horror simulation game. In Blaseball, a full season and championship series of “Internet League Blaseball” is simulated.
The Best Student Game winner, Local Space Survey Corps, LLC’s Vessels, is a character-driven story game where players experience atmospheric, environmental storytelling as they piece together clues on a ship reeling from a grisly death and spreading paranoia. Additionally, Arrog by Hermanos Magia and Leap Game Studios won the community-driven Audience Award, which is chosen by fans through a public voting process.
The winners of the 23rd annual IGF Awards are:
Best Student Game ($2,000)
Vessels (Local Space Survey Corps, LLC)
Excellence in Audio ($2,000)
Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den)
Excellence in Narrative ($2,000)
Umurangi Generation (Origame Digital)
Audience Award ($2,000)
Arrog (Hermanos Magia and Leap Game Studios)
Excellence in Design ($2,000)
Teardown (Tuxedo Labs)
Excellence in Visual Art ($2,000)
Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den)
Nuovo Award ($2,000)
Blaseball (The Game Band)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($10,000)
Umurangi Generation (Origame Digital)
The IGF was established in 1998 to recognize the best independent game developers and encourage creativity and excellence in independent games.
The awards were livestreamed on the official Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at Twitch.tv/GDC and are archived both on Twitch and on the official GDC YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/c/gdconf.
For more information on the Independent Games Festival, please visit the official IGF website at www.igf.com. For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
SAN FRANCISCO – July 19, 2021 – Informa Tech today launched the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2021, the 35th edition of the world’s largest and longest-running event for professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games. GDC 2021 is the most accessible GDC yet and is designed from top to bottom to take advantage of the virtual platform, offering a week of lectures, tutorials, roundtable discussions and more. The virtual conference offers a bevy of live sessions including fireside chats, Q&As and podcasts, featuring top names in the video game industry.
In addition to kicking off GDC 2021, a conference built from the ground up to take advantage of being a virtual conference, Informa Tech announced that GDC 2022 will return as a physical conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from March 21 – 25, 2022. Submissions to present lectures, roundtables and panels for the Core Concepts section of GDC 2022, spanning Wednesday through Friday of GDC week, will be accepted August 3 – 31, 2021. Those interested in GDC 2022 can join the GDC newsletter to be kept up to date on the latest developments.
Beginning today, GDC 2021 will feature expert talks in diverse tracks of game development topics, such as design, business and marketing, visual arts and game narrative, classic games postmortems led by the developers of the classics, Quake and Star Wars Galaxy, opportunities for game career development and much more. The conference will host the multipart presentation “The Developer’s Impact” delivered by esteemed game creators Lyndsay Pearson (Executive Producer & GM, ‘The Sims’, Maxis), Ziba Scott (Optimist, Popcannibal) and Osama Dorias (Lead Game Designer, Warner Brothers Games Montreal).
GDC 2021 will host the 21st annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs), the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry’s top games and developers, and the 23rd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards, which honor the most promising developers and projects from the world of independent video games. Both will take place back-to-back on Wednesday, July 21 beginning at 4:30pm PT. The GDCA ceremony will also present the special honors of the Pioneer Award to Tom Fulp, creator of Newgrounds and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Laralyn McWilliams for her influence as a game designer during the past 28 years.
The conference will also introduce the inaugural Game Maker’s Sketchbook Gallery, a new annual arts showcase to promote and honor a broad spectrum of art by specific artists in video games cofounded by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS), creative production company iam8bit, and communications firm, fortyseven (47).
“We are thrilled to be launching the most robust virtual GDC event to date, which offers a huge amount of unique content from across the industry and benefits from our learnings from the past more than a year of digital GDC events,” said Katie Stern who oversees the GDC as VP of Entertainment Media at Informa Tech. “We also absolutely look forward to the return of GDC 2022 to San Francisco next year and for the opportunity to see this vibrant community together again in person.”
Those that are interested in experiencing GDC 2021 can still register to attend now from home, throughout the end of the conference at the official GDC website. More information about GDC 2022 will be made available as the conference approaches.
For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/.
July was chock-full of all sorts of great events to attend, and it’s looking like August is going to be the same! We’ve seen an interesting mix of online, on-site, and now hybrid events that combine the best of both worlds. What will stick long-term? We bet on virtual staying for many events, but hybrid has a lot of potential too. On-site will of course eventually make a strong comeback, but not this year.
To help you discover upcoming game industry events calendar that includes conferences, conventions, festivals and many other types of events, we post a consolidated list here on Events for Gamers each month.
View this month’s event list below. You can also click here for the main calendar view that includes events into 2022 and beyond.
Please note that due to world circumstances, some events that are listed as having a location are, at least for the meantime, online in some form. We expect the accuracy here to resolve soon as we reach into 2022.
This game industry events calendar list is obtained from the main calendar. Did we miss an event? Let us know! Also check out the Google version of the calendar.
We love checking out new games and are a fan of the popular game development platform, Unity. So we were excited to get a look at all the products on the Unity GDC Showcase, hosted by Kat Strafford, which has been part of the overall GDC extravaganza for the past few years. She presented a series of amazing-looking games already released to those awaiting hordes of players to check out.
While games are certainly a highlight of the show, Unity is a massive game development platform that has its own buzz around it. Game developers were involved to present how they created their games and why the platform is so powerful, convenient, and perhaps most importantly, that it is widely accessible to smaller studios. The Unity team themselves also spent some time talking about what’s coming up in 2021 and beyond for the platform to open up the next level of gaming.
Dozens of other games and announcements were made through the hour-long show. It’s from a few months ago, but it’s worth the watch. Normally we try to talk about a video that is of the current month, but with GDC coming up next week, it’s a good time to share this video!
Check out the Unity GDC Showcase 2021 livestream recording below!
Enjoyed the video? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos!
Whether you are an event coordinator, press, or general attendee, if you have an event video to share with us, please let us know and we’ll be happy to feature it!
Bethesda has confirmed the FPS-games-focused QuakeCon won’t be a live or hybrid event this year. Like last year’s QuakeCon, the publisher will streamed this event online as “QuakeCon at Home 2021”. It’s the second year in a row this event will be presented as online-only, and it’ll be the first year it’s hosted after Microsoft purchased ZeniMax Media (parent company of Bethesda Games).
Join us online August 19-21 for #QuakeCon 2021! We’re celebrating with global livestreams for all your favorite games; plus events, giveaways, charity fundraisers, and MORE! Details: https://t.co/lbN4XysbTFpic.twitter.com/QJitT4hGj5
QuakeCon is scheduled to roll out as a livestream starting on August 19.Attendees can expect opportunities to play games in a communal online environment on Twitch (sort of a virtual BYOC gaming digital space), engage with the community on Discord, and raise money in different ways for selected charities. Charities on deck at QuakeCon for donations include Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Trevor Project, and UNICEF. Expect a wide range of panels covering big name Bethesda Games properties that may include Doom Eternal, Elder Scrolls Online, among other games. Partners for the event so far include: Alienware, BAWLS, Fractal Design, Pecos Pete, Razer, and SteelSeries.
More details about the speakers, panels, and specific events within the QuakeCon at Home experience are certain to come up as the kick-off day arrives. In the meantime, check out the original post from Bethesda for more details about QuakeCon at Home.
As we get deeper into summer, one of the event staples in gamer culture is Gen Con Indy 2021. Gen Con is a game convention with over 50 years of history and deep roots in the tabletop and card gaming scenes. As we approach its late-summer timeframe, more and more news and updates are helping this event take shape.
Gen Con Indy 2021 will take place in September 16-19 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Side-by-side with Gen Con Indy are its sister events: Gen Con Online, which brings a lot of the Gen Con experience online and Pop-Up Gen Con, which brings a taste of the experience to local game stores. So, there’s options for everyone who may be interested in participating through different avenues.
Gen Con Indy event catalog online
First of all, Gen Con Indy’s event catalog is now online. There are currently about 5,800 events lined up for this massive convention, so there is a lot to look through and maybe register for. To sign up for any of the numerous individual events, you’ll need to register for Gen Con Indy itself first.
If you want to figure out how the event catalog system works at Gen Con Indy, you may want to check out this informative official tutorial on YouTube.
Gen Con Indy event tickets on sale on July 11
Tickets for most of the thousands of events in the Gen Con Indy 2021 mix go on sale on Sunday, July 11. If you’ve registered and have used the “wish list” feature, you’ll be able to automatically register for the events when tickets are released. Trade day events will go on sale on Monday, July 26.
To get more info about (or register for) Gen Con Indy 2021 or the online or store-based events, visit their site at: https://www.gencon.com.
AALBORG, Denmark — July 7, 2021 —Realms Deep, 3D Realms’s shooter-focused digital event, returns for a second year filled with world premieres and special guests, from Friday, August 13 through Sunday August 15, with a live show airing at 10:00AM PDT on August 14, on the 3D Realms’ Twitch channel.
A Realms Deep Steam Sale will also take place from Aug. 13-15. This year, Realms Deep also includes “The Vault”, filled with talks, interviews, lessons and great discussions with some of the brightest minds in the first-person shooter industry. The Vault content will unlock throughout the weekend!
Prepare for three days dedicated to all the latest old-school shooters, newer shooters and everything in-between. Some non-shooters might even sneak in! Realms Deep 2020 featured 40+ games including the Hexen-inspired GRAVEN, Ion Fury’s Aftershock expansion, and Postal: Brain Damaged.
Realms Deep returns with deep-dives, lessons, keynotes and discussions, with classic industry icons and legends as part of The Vault, throughout the weekend. These names will be revealed leading up to the show! Tune in to hear from a new generation of developers, like MK Schmidt (Star Explorers, Paradox Vector), Damjan Mozetič (Call of Saregnar), Scumhead (Vomitoreum), and many more.
In addition to some super secret debuts, expect updates on GRAVEN, dark-fantasy action adventure WRATH, and Ion FuryAftershock. Ivar Hill continues to work with 3DR and prepares to provide exciting news on Core Decay, an immersive sim inspired by classics like System Shock and Deus Ex revealed at last year’s Realms Deep.
Just like last year, proceeds generated by exclusive Realms Deep merchandise available during the show all go directly to Child’s Play.
“We had an amazing time at last year’s Realms Deep sharing not only what we’ve been working on all year, but our friends’ projects too,” said Frederik Schreiber, co-owner of 3D Realms. “We hope to see Realms Deep grow each year, and we hope shooter fans swing by and hang out!”
The 2021 edition of the Sweden Games Conference now has a date, a venue, and theme. Sweden Game Arena, the organizers, announced the return of this annual game developer- and startups-centered event, scheduled to appear both online and on-site at Skövde, Sweden, from October 13-15.
The announced theme is “Crossing Borders: Moving Forward Together.” The conference will cover a broad theme, probably as a jumping-off point from a year of COVID-19 — diving into the disruptions and transformations, what’s worked and what’s not, while discussing how to work better together and diversify practices and develop new partnerships and alliances. Quite a spectrum of topics!
From Magnus Ling, Project Manager at Sweden Game Arena:
“In our conference, we invite you to share your methods, stories, games and concerns for current and future game development as we transition and adjust to changing world conditions and find new possibilities for connection.”
While the Sweden Game Conference is returning to a physical site later this year, because the event drew more than 1,200 attendees online, the event will be livestreamed this year too. One of the learnings for event organizers after a pandemic year is that broadening reach and improving accessibility through online events can be a plus. It’s likely that many events will include that option as part of their programs even as events start returning to physical locations.
Tickets for the Sweden Game Conference will be available starting on August 18. For more info about the conference, stop by the official site: www.swedengameconference.se.
