MonRiverGames is back with our second annual Regional Indie Spring Showcase on March 23, 2023! The event will last from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the Media Innovation Center. Its address is Evansdale Crossing, 4th floor, 62 Morrill Way, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA.
Here's an event overview for those that are attending this year! Like last year, we will be hosting several talented game designers and wonderful vendors from the West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania area. We will also be holding a raffle, with it being pulled at 4 pm, for a number of prizes. Attendees can earn "Easter egg tickets" for by playing games or making a purchase from our attending designers. Games shown may be finalized or works in progress that are collecting feedback from players. Each booth is limited on how many tickets they get, but the tickets are also available for purchase. This event is perfect for anyone wanting to meet and network with local game designers, shop from local vendors, play fun games, or win some nice prizes!
RSVP as an attendee here.
Host
MonRiverGames
That's us! Our table will feature updates to WV Quest, PurpleHouse, and LightRush.
West Virginia University's Game Developers Club
Thank you to West Virginia University's Game Developers club for helping organize, host, and plan the event. The Game Developers Club will be featuring a a multiplayer game they are currently working on and/or their VR shooting gallery game. A number of students in the club will also have their own personal projects. If you're a student attending WVU interested in joining the club or a gamer interested in the club's work, you can find more information about WVU's Game Developer's Club here. This semester they usually meet on Monday nights at 6 pm in the Media Innovation Center, which is the same location as our event.
Sponsors
We would like to thank our sponsors for this event. To host an event like this requires plenty of help and it is with these kind organizations' assistance that we were able to host our showcase another year!
Schell Games
Thank you to Schell Games for providing us with start up funds to support our event again! Founded in 2002, Schell Games is a game development studio based out of Pittsburgh. PA. Although they are best known for their recent Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality work, Schell has also developed a variety of educational games and theme park attractions in a number of genres. They have a number of successful titles created in house and also as developers on commissioned projects including Among US VR, I Expect You to Die, and Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire. Sadly, they are unable to make it in person this year due to conflicting events. To learn more about Schell Games click here. Follow Schell on Facebook, and X.
MSI
Thank you to MSI for providing several raffle items and vendor prizes for our event! From their website: "MSI is a world leader in AI PC, gaming, content creation, business & productivity and AIoT solutions. Bolstered by its cutting-edge R&D capabilities and customer-driven innovation, MSI has a wide-ranging global presence spanning over 120 countries. Its comprehensive lineup of laptops, graphics cards, monitors, motherboards, desktops, peripherals, servers, IPCs, robotic appliances, vehicle infotainment and telematics systems, and EV charger are globally acclaimed. Committed to advancing user experiences through the finest product quality, intuitive user interface and design aesthetics, MSI is a leading brand that shapes the future of technology." To learn more about MSI and their products click here. Follow MSI on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Vertex Herder
Special thanks to Vertex Herder for helping fund our event! Vertex Herder will be attending the showcase demoing their new squad-based open world survival game Arms in Tartarus. Sign up to follow the game's development progress here. Visit their website here.
Game Design and Interactive Media at West Virginia University
Thank you to West Virginia University's Game Design and Interactive Media program for assisting with catering. Students enrolled in the Game Design and Interactive Media (GDIM) program learn a variety of skills to work on a number of projects from interactive website narrative experiences to video games. If you're interested in the GDIM program at WVU, you can find more information here.
Double Z Studios
A recent addition to our Sponsor List, Double Z Studios will be demonstrating their new game Zombiology at the showcase. We'll provide link updates to them as they become available.
Vendors and Designers
We have a number of wonderful vendors and designers attending this year's showcase! Many of these guests have also graciously provided us with items for our raffle. We would like to thank them for their contributions to our raffle and their attendance.
Lonely Hero Games will be attending our showcase for a second time as a vendor selling both of their games Bank Heist and Hungry for Humans. Lonely Hero Games is a board game publisher from West Virginia with an eye for brilliant party game design and a love of all things West Virginia. Here's a link to their website. You can follow them on their Facebook or Instagram.
Kevin a.k.a. TongueSurgery is an independent game designer and artist. He will be demoing his 2D action, shoot-em-up game Tempest Inc. The game plays and feels like a 90s action cartoon with slick side-scrolling action and a cast of rotating colorful ship pilots each with their own cruiser. Tempest Inc. has a demo available on both Steam and on Itch. Here's a link for Tempest Inc.'s trailer. Click here for all of Kevin's socials and import links. This is his second time attending our showcase and we thank him for returning.
Double Z Studios is an independent game designer demoing their game (Zombiology/Inner Shapes), a cartoony and colorful physics-based puzzle game about building proteins with different amino acids. Here's a link to a demo of the game on Itch.
Conner Rush/FYRE Games will be attending our showcase for a second time. He is an independent designer based out of Morgantown and has been developing games independently for over a decade. He is demoing his special new unannounced project, a psychological survival horror game similar in gameplay to both Resident Evil 7 and PT with the cinematic flair of an A24 picture like Hereditary. Here's a link to his website. Follow FYRE Games on X, or Instagram. Rumors have it he'll be dropping more information before the showcase!
Vertex Herder will be demoing their new squad-based open world survival game Arms in Tartarus. Sign up to follow the game's development progress here. Visit their website here.
Lasso Games will be joining us this year. Check their games out here! http://lassogames.com/lasso/games You can also find them on X and Facebook.
The Theater Game, led by Gabriel Markum and Dylan Panazzi, will also demo their project. You can find out more about The Theater Game on their website.
Jimmie/Mikie Lane will be showing off a custom-made Counter Strike 2 map. Here's a link to the map if you wish to try it out for yourself.
Still others include Luke Howell and Maggie Jones with The Far Reach Project, Eric Saunders with an unnamed project, and Ryan Hicks with his game Spirits of Rage.
New for this year: we'll be hosting a private networking dinner/mixer after the showcase that is exclusive to our sponsors, vendors, and designers.
We hope to see everyone at the showcase!