GDX 2023 Conference
July 19-20, 2023
The conference is returning in a big way to GDX 2023 with content for developers of all skill levels. We've listened to past attendee feedback, and are happy to announce that professional development time will be dedicated time for developers; conference attendees will no longer have to worry about showcasing their games or being on the exhibition floor. while the conference proceedings take place. For GDX 2023, the conference will be held ahead of the exhibition, at a post-secondary institution within Edmonton so that we get to focus on learning and development.
AI/ML + Games Summit
Alberta is home to some of the foremost AI research institutions on the planet: the University of Alberta, and amii, Canada's top centre of AI excellence. Ranked third in the world for AI, and second in the world for games + AI publications, the University of Alberta's experts in AI and games will provide you with unprecedented insight into the future of game development through AI and ML, while fellows from the world-renowned Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute will guide cutting-edge AI workshops for you to join.
Leadership Development
If we want to make the games industry better, let's start with leaders. How might leadership skills like coaching improve our capacity to work together? How do we ensure that the next generation of game dev leaders are equipped to handle the creative challenges within interdisciplinary game development? Explore your leadership journey as a game developer from a career and human-centred perspective.
IGDA Mentorship Café
Mentorship is a key component of career growth, but finding the right mentor for you can be a challenge, especially post-pandemic. We are partnering with the IGDA to provide a mentorship café to build connections across developers, find the right mentor for you, and strengthen our global networks.
Building a Better Games Industry Summit
Equity, diversity, and inclusion is an area of growth for the games industry. Let's move the conversation beyond representation, and more into the brass tacks of integrating EDI directly into your products, your teams, your policies and practices, and your studio culture. What constitutes authentic representation? How do we achieve belonging with uniqueness in our studios? It's time to dive deep and get broad with activating EDI in the games industry. Hear from a broad spectrum of skilled practitioners doing EDI work.
Indie Realities
We elevate lesser known indie developers who are innovating in ways that really push the industry forward. Indie developers who not only push the envelope in terms of game design, but also with their teams and their communities. What does it mean to be an indie, and how do we make the indie experience sustainable? How do we build solidarity amongst indies in order to build a strong indie ecosystem?
Community-Building & Networking
We're on a mission to connect our local developers to the global game development community. Alberta talent has a lot to offer the world, and Alberta has a lot to learn from the rest of the world. Let's cross-pollinate our indie and AAA developers to build a deeper, richer foundation of connectedness within and outside our region. Community is a key element to games industry sustainability, so join your fellow game devs in our networking sessions to build solidarity.
Schedule
This schedule is subject to change
9:00 AM
Breakfast, Networking, & Registration (PIC Atrium)
Food Pass Holders Receive Breakfast; All are Welcome to Network
If you have ordered food & beverage, breakfast will be available at this time. However, coffee, tea, and water will be available to all conference attendees.
10:00 AM
Greetings & Welcome (PIC 122)
The Honourable Minister Tanya Fir, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women
Councillor Andrew Knack, Edmonton City Council
Derek Kwan, President of Interactive Arts Alberta
Join us for the GDX 2023 conference kick-off with the Honourable Minister Tanya Fir, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women; and Coucillor Andrew Knack from the City of Edmonton.
11:00 AM
Keynote: How to Build Community within the Games Industry (PIC 122)
Cristina Amaya, Former Director of DreamHack Americas
Track: "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit
Audience: All
Cristina Amaya has spent her career creating inclusive communities around games culture and game development. Communities that are beset with gate-keeping, mono-cultures, and a lack of inclusivity prevent the participation of diverse and marginalized people. Listen to Cristina's keynote where she talks about why and how she has helped to build a better games industry for her communities.
12:00 PM
Lunch (PIC Atrium)
Food Pass Holders Receive Lunch; All are Welcome to Network
For those with a food pass, lunch will be available at this time. If you have not ordered food, the best place to access food is in the Kingsway Mall Food Court.
1:00 PM
Talk: PR & Community Strategies (PIC 120)
Sarah Dawson, Evolve PR
Amanda Tuckey, Evolve PR
Track: Indie Summit
Audience: Indies
No matter how amazing your game is, you will need some promotion, and community-building to ensure that your game has high engagement, and eventually business success. Join the Evolve PR team as they talk about earned PR and community - the impact of quality execution, and helpful tips that will increase the likelihood of a successful game and community development.
1:00 PM
Panel: Ethics of AI & Games (PIC 233)
Emily Halina, University of Alberta
Dagmar Loftsdóttir, University of Alberta
Athar Mahmoudi-Nejad, University of Alberta
Track: AI/ML + Games Summit
Audience: All
AI/ML have increasingly become a topic of note for game development. Conversations around the value of AI/ML for studios and game developers can be controversial, especially with the potential impact on jobs. In this panel discussion, we will discuss how generative AI is being used in game development, and its potential impact on people. How might advances in AI/ML disrupt (or create) certain jobs, and how AI might transform the industry for better or for worse? What does AI/ML mean for ownership and agency of IP and assets, and who are the ultimate beneficiaries of AI/ML technologies? How might training data be ethically used for generative models? Do the benefits afforded by AI/ML technologies through advances in health tech and serious games override the possibility of displaced workers, whose skills and work may no longer be as relevant? This panel brings together experts from across the field of AI/ML, in multiple fields, from game development, health tech, AR/VR, and gamification to discuss and explore how AI/Ml and games might benefit humanity, or conversely, enable hyper-capitalist exploitation of labour.
2:00 PM
Tour: NAIT Performance Capture Space (Meet in Atrium)
Skylar Zerr, NAIT
Track: Indie Summit
Audience: All
NAIT's mocap studio is a one-stop-shop for adding mocap to a video game on a budget. For those who are interested in elevating the quality of their games through exceptional animation, NAIT's mocap studio is an affordable option.
2:00 PM
Workshop: Using AI/ML in Game Development
(PIC 232, 2-hours)
Dr. Matthew Guzdial, University of Alberta, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII)
Track: AI/ML + Games Summit
Audience: Intermediate Developers
Special Note: If you would like to try some hands-on AI/ML, please bring a laptop.
For game developers who are looking to enhance their understanding of applied AI/ML in your games, this talk is for you. Given the depth and breadth of opportunities for using artificial intelligence and machine learning in game development, applications for these tools in game development may seem daunting. Dr. Matthew Guzdial is an expert in AI/ML applications in games, and will be presenting a two-hour workshop for game developers who are interested in improving their understanding of and use of these tools for game development. Topics include: Basics of Game AI Decision Making (Rule Systems, FSMs, and Btrees, all AI approaches used in 95% of games), compositional PCG systems, and Wave Function Collapse (most popular machine learning-based PCG approach).
3:00 PM
Panel: Beyond Representation - Empowering Women in Games (PIC 120)
Cristina Amaya, LatinXinGaming
Aryon Billings, Relic Entertainment, WIGJ Ambassador
Kara Brown, Beamdog, WIGJ Ambassador
Madison Côté, Alberta Esports Association, WIGJ Ambassador
Charlotte Hamilton, PTW, Rainbow Unicorn Games
Serena Moar, WIGJ Ambassador (Moderator)
Track: "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit
Audience: All
The games industry has been making strides in recent years to increase representation of women in games. However, it is important to go beyond representation and ensure that women hold genuine power within the studio environment. This panel will explore ways to create a more inclusive gaming industry where women are empowered, and that the next generation of women game developers are able to pursue careers in games with fewer barriers.
3:00 PM
Fostering Kind and Sustainable Online Communities (PIC 233)
Marina Banister, Areto Labs
Track: AI/ML + Games Summit, "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit
Audience: All
For indie studios, community management is a crucial tool in building a fan-base, and ensuring that a game has an audience. However, running an inclusive and safe community can be a challenge for indies who have limited resources. Marina Banister and the team at Areto Labs have been designing a product to reduce the toxicity of online communities through AI. If you need to build your community, and are interested in how Areto Labs has used AI to improve the online communities they support, this talk may be up your alley!
4:00 PM
Build it Like Montréal - A Story of a Thriving
Games Industry Ecosystem (PIC 122)
Christopher Chancey, Founder, ManaVoid Entertainment, Co-Founder, The Indie Asylum, Board Chair, La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec
Track: "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit, Indie Summit
Audience: All
Montréal is well-known for its thriving games industry ecosystem. In this keynote, listen to how a group of ragtag indies became the biggest video game studios cooperative in the world. Christopher Chancey shares the story of La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec, and provides proven facts about what they have achieved since its inception in 2015, with a particular emphasis on how they built solidarity with the AAA community in 2020. In addition, Christopher Chancey is one of the founders of Indie Asylum, and will be providing a case-study on achieving success through collaboration between indie studios. This keynote includes an in-depth explanation on how the Asylum came to be, the modes of cooperation between their internal studios and how they have operationalized their processes in order to function as a cohesive unit.
5:00 PM
Indie Town Hall
Free Attendance for Registered Indies
Track: Indie Summit
Audience: Indies
Are you an indie developer in Alberta? We'd like to invite you and your teams to come and express your opinions about the industry at the second-ever Indie Town Hall at a GDX event. Following up on the amazing conversations from GDX 2016, we felt a need to bring together the community during GDX 2023 to discuss what has changed (for better or for worse) and how we, as an indie community, can make Alberta be an ideal place to work, live, and play. The topics we will discuss are: What are our challenges as indies? What are our we need as indies? How do we differ from the needs of other businesses? What are things that our community needs to to continue doing to help indies thrive? What are things that our community needs to stop doing to prevent harm, and promote a culture of belonging, inclusivity, and kindness? Guest speakers will be present, including Christopher Chancey, Chairman of the Board of Directors for La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec, Founding Partner of Indie Asylum, and President and CEO of ManaVoid Entertainment - who will lead a conversation on the founding of La Guilde. This event is separate from the conference component of GDX 2023 and is free to attend. However, if you would like to attend the GDX 2023 conference as well, a discount code for conference tickets will be provided upon your registration to the Indie Town Hall. This discount is provided on behalf of the generosity of our sponsors and GDX 2023's Grow Together Program.
Wednesday,
July 19, 2023
Thursday,
July 20, 2023
9:00 AM
Breakfast, Networking, & Registration (PIC Atrium)
Food Pass Holders Receive Breakfast; All are Welcome to Network
If you have ordered food & beverage, breakfast will be available at this time. However, coffee, tea, and water will be available to all conference attendees.
10:00 AM
Keynote: Burnout in the Games Industry
Trent Oster, CEO of Beamdog
Track: "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit
Audience: All
Burnout is a very real problem in the games industry. Trent Oster discusses his experience with burnout, and how he has handled and worked to reduce the effects of burnout throughout his career. If you are interested in understanding more about burnout, whether you know you're experiencing it, and the possibility space recovery, this talk is for you.
11:00 AM
Talk: Developing Tools as an Indie Game Developer...All in One Draw Call! (PIC 233)
Porrith Suong, Decoy Games
Track: Game Design, Indie Summit
Audience: All
As indie game developers, we don’t have the time nor budget to think about optimization. We’ll add more tools and assets which will slow our game down. This can be detrimental when trying to get critical information about a bug/situation. This talk will go over the need to create in-game tools to efficiently debug information and the development of our in house tool, NimGui, an efficient 1 draw call UI system in Unity. Attendees will walk away with some of the understanding of how NimGui works under the hood.
11:00 AM
Talk: Lessons Learned from an Award-Winning Board Game Designer (PIC 120)
Roberta Taylor, Board Game Designer & Consultant
Track: Game Design
Audience: All
A well-designed game yields some universal lessons about design that can extend across multiple forms of games media. Join Edmonton's own Roberta Taylor as she talks about some of the lessons learned in developing the award winning "Creature Comforts" board game, released in 2022. Creature Comforts is a cozy family game where you must prepare your burrow for the winter.
12:00 PM
Lunch (PIC Atrium)
Food Pass Holders Receive Lunch; All are Welcome to Network
For those with a food pass, lunch will be available at this time. If you have not ordered food, the best place to access food is in the Kingsway Mall Food Court.
1:00 PM
Talk: Building Sustainable Organizational Culture for Startups and Scaleups (PIC 120)
Derek Kwan, Interactive Arts Alberta
Track: "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit
Audience: All
Studio culture is an important–but also nebulous–aspect of working in the games industry. Having a positive studio culture that enables game developers to have long, fulfilling careers seems to be an elusive--but desirable--goal. From the individual to the company, and from indie to AAA, how might we build sustainable studio cultures for organizations of any size?
1:00 PM
Workshop: Leveling Up Your Leadership and Teamwork Skills with Coaching (PIC 233)
Nicole McLeod, Effloresce Coaching
Shannon Price, aha Coaching and Consulting; Good Talk Collective
Track: "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit
Audience: All
Nicole McLeod and Shannon Price are expert coaches who equip leaders and managers with useful tools for helping them to become better leaders. Nicole and Shannon will be running a leadership workshop for aspiring, established, informal, and formal leaders to enhance team effectiveness. Nicole and Shannon will be running an interactive workshop to talk about having better conversations, using coaching on growing teams, what to do if you are brand new to a team to provide maximum benefit, and discuss how to grow leaders within an organization. This workshop will be immediately followed by an interactive panel.
2:00 PM
Tour: NAIT Performance Capture Space (Meet in Atrium)
Skylar Zerr, NAIT
Track: Indie Summit
Audience: All
NAIT's mocap studio is a one-stop-shop for adding mocap to a video game on a budget. For those who are interested in elevating the quality of their games through exceptional animation, NAIT's mocap studio is an affordable option.
2:00 PM
Panel: Inclusive Game Design (PIC 232)
Heather Buerfeind, Neil Squire Society
Dr. Victor Hernandez Cervantes, University of Alberta
Eric Lam, Western Canadian Centre for Deaf Studies
Atharv Vohra, Moderator
Track: Game Design, "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit
Audience: All
Inclusive game design is not just a tool for building accessible games; inclusive game design helps build great games for everyone. Join experienced panelists who specialize in game design for accessibility, and hear the lessons they have learned in making exceptional user experiences across a spectrum of needs.
3:00 PM
Talk: Exceptional Voice Acting for Indies (PIC 233)
Ali Gohar, VA Artist
Track: Indie Summit
Audience: Indies
Voice acting can dramatically increase the level of quality and immersion in an indie game. Is voice acting possible for indie devs on a small budget? If you are interested in finding ways to get quality voice acting into your indie game at a reasonable budget, exploring what your local community has to offer might be the answer.
3:00 PM
Talk: The Myth of the Solo Dev (PIC 120)
Jyro Blade, BattleFly DAO
Yiyi Zhang, Heart Machine
Track: Indie Summit
Audience: All
Dispel the romanticized notion of lone-wolf game developers and explore the realities of modern video game creation. Drawing from their extensive industry experience, join Jyro and Yiiyi as they dismantle the myth that one individual can single-handedly create a successful game.
4:00 PM
Panel: GUMBO NYC: From Coworking to Collective (PIC 122)
Sam Eng, Sam Eng
Valentina Stanislavskaia, Wirescribe Games
Jonah Wallerstein, WhaleFood Games
Yiyi Zhang, Heart Machine
Track: "Building a Better Games Industry" Summit, Indie Summit
Audience: All
The Gumbo Collective is a non-profit dedicated to fostering a community of independent game developers in New York City. GUMBO NYC's mission is to provide space for these creators to work and collaborate as well as connecting them with the resources to help them succeed in a highly competitive market. This talk discusses the community building aspects of GUMBO, how GUMBO's creators grow together, and how their solidarity builds sustainability.
4:00 PM
Talk: AI Directors and Quests (PIC 232, Remotely Presented)
Kristen Yu, University of Alberta
Track: AI/ML + Games Summit
Audience: Intermediate Developers
Players can sometimes engage with parts of a video game that they do not enjoy if the game does not try to adapt the experience to the player’s preference. AI directors have been used in the past to tailor player experience to different people. In industry, AI directors are relatively uncommon and are typically domain-specific and rules-based. In this paper, we present a reinforcement learning-based AI director developed for the industry game Nightingale with the help of Inflexion Games.
5:00 PM
Closing (PIC 122)
All GDX Conference Attendees
Thank you for coming to GDX 2023! We hope to see you again next year. We will close off with some hints about what is to come from Interactive Arts Alberta.
Special Networking Event
Conference attendees are invited to join us from 7-9 PM at K-Days on Friday, July 21, 2023 for a private networking event in The Golden Garter Speakeasy (Ballroom 106) in the heart of the GDX exhibition. Conference passes will be required for entry into K-Days and the Speakeasy.
Logistics
Flights
For a discount on your flights to Edmonton with Air Canada, use flight code:
NQQ78YN1
Accommodations Address
11834 Kingsway NW
Edmonton, AB
T5G 3J5
If the rate for $105 has expired, please contact the Edmonton Inn & Conference Centre's GM, Tina Tobin, directly, and ask for the K-Days promo.
Phone No.: 780-454-5454
Conference
Address
10210 Princess Elizabeth Ave NW
Edmonton, AB
T5G 0Y2
Conference
Hours
Wed, July 19
9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Thurs, July 20
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Speakers
Come join the best and brightest of the games industry at GDX 2023. From experts who are dedicated to making the industry a better place, to world-class AI and Machine Learning scientists, and local indie community activators.
GDX 2023 has something for everyone.
Stay tuned as more speakers are announced.