Tech Valley Game Space a hit with game-making community
TROY, N.Y. » The game-making community is alive and well in the Collar City, and Tech Valley Game Space is inviting both amateurs and experts to join in on the fun.
Tech Valley Game Space is an active group of enthusiastic game makers that gathers on a weekly basis in Troy.
This diversity- focused nonprofit organization was founded in 2014 in downtown Troy on the principle that games and game making are for everyone. The Tech Valley Game Space community and co-working space, co-located with Tech Valley Center of Gravity at 30 Third St., is meant to serve as a welcoming, accessible environment where both aspiring and experienced game developers are encouraged to mentor, educate, and support one another.
Participants of all backgrounds and skill levels are welcome and encouraged to attend the events and programs that Tech Valley Game Space offers. The group includes professional game developers and those who do it as a hobby as well as those who are interested in learning how to make games.
Members socialize, work together on group projects, and to coordinate hosting of monthly events such as presentations, classes, workshops, exhibitions of locally created games and playtesting sessions of work in progress.
Cofounders Taro Omiya and Jamey Stevenson, both from the Capital Region, started Tech Valley Game Space initiative after each personally discovering that independent game development can be an isolating endeavor.
“Working by ourselves is a very lonely prospect,” said Omiya, explaining how at the time they were seeking a place to share resources and knowledge and well as have an opportunity to interact and motivate each other.
Another reason for starting Tech Valley Game Space was to create a more diverse development environment within the area by offering a safe space where anyone can create games.
People who have fun playing games can discover the fun of making them at Tech Valley Game Space.
“Were often here to demystify the process of game development,” said Omiya, the group’s executive director. “It’s actually pretty straightforward once you break it down to its smaller parts.”
A large portion of Tech Valley Game Space membership are people who came to the organization having never made a game before, like Frederika Edgington-Giordano, who joined about two years ago as a novice and now serves as the group’s educational administrator.
“We have a lot of mentorship programs and free educational events,” Edgington- Giordano said, noting that it adds up to about 20 hours a month.
The best place to start, she continued, is at Tech Valley Game Space Orbit mentorship program’s Beginner/2D Game Design nights, which starts at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at the downtown headquarters.
“We just try to get people to the point where they can explore this really fun space and this fun hobby, profession - whatever they want to make of it,” Edgington--
Giordano, adding that the services are all free and volunteer-based.
The only aspect of Tech Valley Game Space that costs money is to become a member of the co-working space.
Edgington- Giordano believes Tech Valley Game Space is a good outlet for anyone to receive services that can help them “find their voice in game development,” she said.
For a grassroots volunteer- driven effort, “The response and the amount of engagement that we have locally has exceeded my expectations, and it’s been really encouraging to see,” said Stevenson, who serves as Tech Valley Game Space’s outreach coordinator.
Furthermore, some of the game created out of Tech Valley Game Space have gone on to receive national and international attention, in both media and competitions.
Looking ahead Stevenson’s goal is for everyone in the Capital Region to try their hand at making a game. “We want to keep expanding the amount of accessible opportunities for aspiring game-makers,” he said, “and to just connect people on all different parts of the journey - whether they’re beginner, amateur or professional.”
Aside from being home to Tech Valley Game Space, Omiya sees the Troy area as a “low cost, high tech” place that’s ripe for a game devel- opment industry to grow, he said, mentioning some companies that are already on the scene. “Not that many people know that Skylanders, or Guitar Hero III were developed around here,” he said. “Or for that matter, the most recent one, the Crash Bandicoot remake.”
Tech Valley Game Space has a full calendar of regular and special events scheduled for this spring and beyond. Every Troy Night Out, a district-wide event held on the last Friday of each month, Tech Valley Game Space hosts an interactive showcase that supports lo- cal game developers.
A highlight for many Tech Valley Game Space members are the Game Jams, at which participants are challenged to develop a game over the course of a weekend. The group is hosting a LudumDare jam, with special guests Geek Musica, from April 20 to 23 at its downtown locations.
More information about Tech Valley Game Space, including its programs and upcoming events, is available online at techvalleygamespace.com or www.facebook.com/ TechValleyGameSpace.