Derek Kwan (Indie Dev & GDX Organizer)

if you're not saying free palestine by now because you're worried about your career or whatever you're gonna have a lot to attone for the coming years. you are more complicit in your silence than you think, and your silence is like a shout in our oceans of privilege and safety.

"A culture of intimidation, retaliation and oppression": How Microsoft’s Gaza stance fuelled an industry-spanning boycott RPS meets a few of the developers participating in the BDS campaign against Microsoft's Israeli military ties, including an Xbox worker fired for his views.

Proud of @daff.space for cancelling their STREET UNI X Xbox port in solidarity with Palestinians, even though it could've been crucial for their livelihood as an indie dev. 🇵🇸

www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-culture-of...

bsky.app/profile/iaal...

It’s official! Welcome everyone to the 2025 Game Discovery Exhibition 🎉 We’re excited for folks to be a part of this educational 2 day conference! Our volunteers are ready to check attendees in at registration 🙌 Join us for networking at 9 am, then our keynote with Kim Belair kicks off at 9:45 am!

“GDX has become Canada’s largest independent celebration of games and game culture. We’re so glad GDX has continued to grow year after year to provide more opportunities to Edmontonians.” — Andrew Knack.

A huge thank you to Madison Côté & Councillor Andrew Knack for kicking off #GDX2025!

Kim Belair’s “What Happens When You Get Harassed” keynote was an incredibly insightful look into the darker side of game development.

A huge thank you for her courage and wisdom in shining a light on serious issues plaguing the games industry.

#GameDevelopment #GameDevelopers #GamesIndustry

“As a spoiler: it sucks. We lost our voice, not just as a collective, but individually. We were no longer allowed to be a part of a conversation without being harassed; it doesn’t matter what you believe, it matters what others believe. You lose your power, but they call you powerful.” — Kim Belair

“We ask ourselves, ‘Why is it in VR? What are we doing that cannot be done easily in the real world?’ For example, an escape room where water goes above your head; you can’t drown people in an escape room in the real world, but you can in VR...

“You’re supposed to compare her body to the Sega Saturn, an object; this advertisement reinforces that video games aren’t made for women… It’s true this advertisement wouldn’t be acceptable by today’s standards, but we have to look back to go forward.” — Hope Docking

A big thank you to Hope for her brilliant analysis of the objectification of women using female video game characters as specific case studies!

•The “abili-tease” provides players with firsthand experience on the future

•Larger than life NPCs doing what the player cannot yet, but may soon

•Show the scope of what excitement awaits players even before they are ready

#GameDevelopment #GameDevelopers #IndieGames #IndieDevs

Wondering how to quickly captivate the players of your games? Jon Renish of Half Mermaid has you covered in his “Finding the Fun in 15 Minutes” talk!

One way to engage the player is by using aspirational examples to guide them:

Thank you to Hedy and Justine for their phenomenal case studies on cultural representation in Black Myth Wukong and Venba!

“It’s a reminder that their stories matter and it doesn’t need to be dumbed down for players to understand.” — Justine Magbitang

“We learn through play, and video games are no exception: creating cultural games teaches the audience something new and provides opportunities for developers to learn something new… Holistic representation leads to stronger emotional impact and resonance with the audience.” — DoomScroll Studio

2. Treat the culture as the default; some creators worry players may not understand so they overexplain which can cause the culture to come across exotic.

3. Aim to tell a story, not to educate; what is your intention for the design? Convey a specific experience.

#GDX2025 #GameDevelopment

Good representation is a side effect of good storytelling:

1. Start with inspiration, then do your research; personal experience is a great starting point, but research is needed to back it up.

Natalie Gan enjoys starting from a place of constraints; Alyx Bui begins with character motivation.

How do you begin writing your stories? Share your thoughts with us below!

#GameDevelopment #GameDevelopers #GameDevs #IndieDevs #IndieGames #IndieStudio

Did you catch the “From Lore to Launch: Narrative Design” panel at #GDX2025?! 🤩

There are many ways to get a narrative started: Kaelin Lavallee mentioned he writes from a place of fear; Kim Belair begins with mechanics…

We must embrace diversity not because it’s the right thing to do, but because the audience is already diverse. It’s not just a marketing trend, it’s good design, it’s good business.” — Carina Kom from Inclusive at the Core: How to Leverage an Unfair Advantage presentation at #GDX2025

#GameDev

“When you design for belonging — starting with the processes inside your team culture — you create a world that feels good to return to. It’s about creating a culture where people can show up fully, safely...

A big thank you to @thirtythreegames.bsky.social for their incredible presentation, “Artistic Style from a Technical and Creative Lens!” 🤩

Their session explored how artistic style is developed, chosen, and implemented from both creative and technical angles.

Day 2 of #GDX2025 has been a blast 🥳

IAA is committed to creating positive change within the games industry; to all attendees and those who followed the event online, thank you for being a part of this experience. Let’s keep the conversation going.

“Carelessness in representation of a people often means carelessness to the material conditions of the people themselves. Empires thrive on uninformed populace; stated otherwise, complicity thrives on tolerance.” — Ahmer Rana

Canada’s largest indie games exhibition runs all 10 days of KDays with new studios joining throughout the week; visit us multiple times to support the developers & experience the exhibition in full!

#GameDevelopment #GameDevelopers #IndieDevelopers #GameDev #IndieGameDev #IndieDevs #GamesIndustry

The Alberta & Beyond GDX 2025 Steam Sale is now live! Check out these incredible games made in Alberta, featuring Albertans, or showcasing at GDX from July 17-28! Join us in person at KDays every day!

Head to store.steampowered.com/curator/4550... for some of the games you can buy or wishlist now!

Our booth is ready for GDX2025 in Hall F, Booth 46, surrounded by some other great devs and activities!
See you soon!

IT'S HERE! Come check out #gdx2025 at Hall F at the Edmonton Expo, we will be around for all 10 days! 🥳

#yeggamedev #kdays2025 #kdays #yeg

KDays has officially kicked off and the developers are eager to share their passion projects publicly!

Come say hi to our indies in Hall F! The talented team of We Need Weevils is ready for you to scribble your way to the very end in their upcoming game, The Drawnjuring!

Alberta & Beyond 2025 Welcome to Alberta & BeyondAT THE GAME DISCOVERY EXHIBITION (GDX 2025) 🤠 Howdy pardner! We’re back with an updated selection of standout indie titles from Alberta and games featured during the Game…

🎮 The Alberta and Beyond Sale is live on Steam!
Support indie developers from Alberta and our guests at GDX with a curated selection of unique, local-made games.

Check it out here: store.steampowered.com/curator/4550...
These are the games worth discovering!

Have you played Headway by @meanhyenagames.bsky.social at #GDX2025?

Defend your skeleton’s mojo from being absorbed by strategically placing cards with unique abilities to both protect and attack your opponent in this 2-player game! Find them in Hall F at #KDays!

#GameDevelopment #GameDev