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| Stefania Pecòre, Ph.D. |
MEGAMIGS is the child of MIGS, THE NUMBER 1 VIDEO GAME EVENT IN CANADA! I covered a few events before the pandemic and it is so interesting. Through the years I listened to many conferences. They are the best! There are teachers informing us about every aspect of the creative and business aspect of producing video games. Many experts are involved, as you would expect.
I began this year's exploration by attending a conference entitled: AI & Community: Player's Insights given by Stefania Pecòre, Ph.D. of Behaviour Interactive. She described how her company uses AI to improve the gaming experience for players. Her conference raised many questions about the AI's ability to understand the nuances of human speech and the intentions of the words. To give you an example, there is the expression OK Brandon or Dark Brandon that are references to US President Joe Biden.
After the conference, I went to the exhibition hall and took in the many exhibitors who shared their work, projects and stories with me.
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| Maxime Cousineau-Pérusse |
SECRET MEADOWS by The Glowing Pond was developed by Maxime Cousineau-Pérusse, a Montreal based visual artist who is studying for his doctorate in child psychology. This is an enchanting game for children. If you click on the link, you will see how agreeable it is for a child's imagination to wonder in this mystical land of fairies and woods. Visual artists are key to game developing, without their work, nothing happens.
Another Montreal creation is from Manavoid entitled Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan. This is a "creature capture" story line where the cutest creatures become involved in the dramatic task of conquering a huge animal that threatens them. I truly appreciated the beautiful drawings for this game aimed at children. You can see more here. Manavoid is a Montreal based indie developper that was formed in 2014 by Christopher Chancey and financed by Kickstarter.*
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| Andrea Savard |
BKOM Studio is based in Quebec city with offices in Montreal. They have several games available. Here are their latest launch: Sunday Gold available on steam now. Other recent games include Run the court, Before your eyes and Zorro the chronicles. They are recruiting people for many different posts. See job opportunities here.
Sigil Game is about a magical quest to acquire power, magical power. Tony, the rep seen in the blue haze on the image left, explained that the player acquires magical items. To be sure, when I investigated the game I met a mystery! On their Twitter page they posted just how researched the game is by sharing this post : " #sigilgame team doing research at the #UofT Thomas Fisher Rare Book “De monstris” exhibition. "
You will have to sign in to read the secret features of this very beautiful game.
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| The Season Team! |
Season: A letter to the future a game developed by Scavengers Studio that you can play test! The team that explained the game to me was so adorable! Scavenger Studio was developed in Montreal in 2015 and beautifully reflects one of Montreal's best qualities of inclusion and openness to the cultures of the world. This is the reason the hero of the game is a woman of colour. Follow the links to discover a gorgeous video experience.
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| The Edgegap Team! |
Video games not only need great art they also need great technological support! EDGEGAP provides a platform that can:" What's the best way to speed up the connection between your users and your servers? You reduce the distance between them to be as short as possible, and that's what we've done. " More about the platform here.
I confess I am still not fluent enough in tech talk to get 100% of what the platform does, but if you are into making video games and bringing them to market, you must investigate.
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| Martin Roeck |
Participating at MEGAMIGS means you get to meet other participants in one on one meetings called MeetToMatch. Because I attended many press conferences while covering MEGAMIGS I got to enjoy just one of these options. I met Martin Roeck and discovered an interesting story of innovation and taking that creative leap in life. Martin told me about the project QUESTYARD. Here is how it is described on the opening page: "Quest Yard is a multidisciplinary and global community of creatives. We make games that foster empathy and human understanding." I was impressed that the philosophies of the Quest Yard community resonate with all my values. They have developed a game called Missing Pieces whose artistic qualities remind me of the 2003 Oscar winner for best animated feature Spirited Away.
You may send a poem to poems@questyard.org. Do investigate this soulful project!
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| Patricia Toledo |
Another fabulous person that enchanted my MEGAMIGS experience is Patricia Toledo from 4Players.io a platform that helps game developers share their games with the world. Patricia has an amazing resume. I was enchanted by her kindness and dazzling smile. It goes to show you that you can meet the most incredible people at this large convention of gaming aficionados.
Every creator has different needs. What is interesting about this company is that it is capable of accommodating beginners. They even offer assistance with the METAVERSE!
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| Stephanie Muteba & David Cheung of Virtuos |
Stephanie Muteba, HR coordinator, and Davis Cheung, General Manager of Virtuos Montreal, represented the impressive company Virtuos. They have worked on many high profile blockbuster projects like Captain Marvel, Aladdin, Terminator dark fate, 6 Underground, Mandalorian, Star Wars the rise of Skywalker. Here are some 2021 game highlights. They are recruiting talent in Montreal. If the gaming industry fascinates you check out the jobs available here.
These are just a few of the people I had so much fun meeting! Some companies you may wish to explore: Prolang, a company that deals with the intricacies of language: TIMI Montreal and Üman Recrutement, two companies that can help you find the perfect job for you: Images et Technologies, an enterprise that offers solutions at every level for creators.
ALL Photos © Lena Ghio , 2022
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WINNERS!
October 22, 2022 MEGAMIGS
The MEGAMIGS Awards ceremony , presented by WB Games Montreal and hosted by Phil Branch , made its big comeback in person for the 2022 edition! During the awards ceremony, several trophies were awarded to studios whose games stand out!
See the winners for each category:
🏆 Best Audio and Music presented by Motive
Ship of Fools – Fika Productions
🏆 Best actor performance presented by La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec
This bed we made — Lowbirth Games(Guilde)
🏆 Best Direction and Artistic Achievement presented by DEAD GOOD MEDIA
Ship of Fools — Fika Productions
🏆 Best Game Design presented by Dead Good Media
Ship of Fools – Fika Productions
🏆 Social Impact presented by REFLECTOR+bandai
Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina) – Unreliable Narrators
🏆 Technological Innovation (Disruptive) presented by The Sandbox
Sea Raiders – Watcha Games
🏆 Game of the Year Grand Prize presented by Beenox
Eyes in the dark: The Curious Case Of One Victoria Bloom – Under the Stairs
🏆 Audience Favorite Presented by Squido Studio
No more Rainbows – Squido Studio
🏆 Favorite of the next generation presented by SYNTHÈSE
This bed we made – Lowbirth Games
🏆 Media favorite presented by La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec:
Forward: Escape the Fold (Two Tiny Dice / Asylum Labs)
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