It wasn’t all fun and games at the Victoria Conference Centre last Wednesday, although it often seemed that way.
“Oh, no … I’m dying!” exclaimed Lochside Elementary student Christian Siu, as his action-packed turn playing Don’t Starve, Klei Entertainment’s popular action-adventure game, finally ended.
“I was running away because I was being chased by a monster,” said the 11-year-old gamer during Made in B.C., a one-day provincial gaming industry event.
“It’s a survival game similar to Minecraft,” explained his brother Justin, 13. “Developing games like this looks like it would be an interesting choice.”
The Royal Oak Middle School student’s observation was what gaming studio and virtual-reality company executives, directors and developers at DigiBC’s showcase event were hoping to hear.
The fun factor was obvious as guests tried out products such as Qualicum Beach-based Cloudhead Games’s fantasy exploration virtual reality game Call of the Starseed; and Vancouver-based Roadhouse Interactive’s Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast.
The umbrella organization for B.C.’s digital media and wireless companies also wanted to inspire students and other tech workers to explore career opportunities, however.
“For us it’s all about youths,” said Andrew Wynn-Williams, COO of Victoria’s Code Name Entertainment, which demonstrated Crusaders of the Lost Idols.
“It’s important that [potential employees] love to play games, and the average student will have played 10,000 hours by the time they leave high school.”
While Made in B.C. showcased the industry’s fun side, he said it also demonstrates there are more exciting reasons a student might want to learn programming.
“If you think of a sawmill that has equipment that needs programming, or a giant industrial freezing system, there is no student sitting in school saying, ‘I want to learn this so I can program a giant freezer.’”
Iron Maiden fans flocked to the station where the video game featuring multiple worlds and combat scenarios inspired by the band’s 30 years of mythology beckoned.
“We were the 39th game developer in the world that approached Iron Maiden and they picked us, which was a nice validation for a B.C. company,” said Roadhouse CSO Mark Devereux.
Klei Entertainment spokesman Corey Rollins echoed Devereux’s enthusiasm while extolling the virtues of Don’t Starve.
The game, first released in 2013 through the discounted Early Access program for testers on Steam, which he describes as “like the iTunes store of PC games” has become a substantial franchise, Rollins said.
“It’s an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic,” he said, adding a multi-player version was just released.
Keith Wells, the former CHEK sportscaster and entrepreneur, attended with his son Alex, a Grade 9 Glenlyon Norfolk School student who donned VR goggles to try out Call of the Starseed.
“I’m trying to expose him to ideas like programming. You never know what might take,” said Wells, whose son described his VR experience as a “mystical, do-your-own-thing” journey.
“It’s crazy,” said Alex. “It’s like real-life. You can see your hands and move them, and there’s a cereal box you can grab and dump out the cereal.”
His father is something of a technology titan himself, having founded SendtoNews.com, the top-rated digital news agency that syndicates premium sports video highlights, and ArmchairTourist.com, the experiental HD travel video footage provider.
“It still boggles some people’s minds when we say our company is based out of Victoria,” says Wells, 52.
The achievements of 12 participating B.C. companies seemed all the more amazing since Wells is old enough to remember playing Pong, the first arcade sports video game.
“I remember getting a Lloyds Pong game for Christmas in 1979,” said Wells, recalling how he covertly unwrapped it, hooked it up to the TV, played it and re-wrapped it and put it under the tree before his parents came home.
