The first cohort of Bow Valley College’s Indie Ignition Accelerator Program participated in a video game pitch event at Platform Calgary on Wednesday, and they want more students in video game development programs.

The 12-week program is part of Bow Valley College’s Digital Entertainment Business Accelerator and is funded with support from the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF). It has three streams: esports, game development, and film and animation.

Each week, industry experts will share their knowledge in their areas of expertise. Participants will be able to ask questions and receive feedback about their pitches from the weekly speaker in practice sessions. Participants will also be paired with an industry expert as part of the program’s mentorship program, and Bow Valley College will help with the business registration process.

“The program is designed to develop and nurture more entrepreneurial talent in the city within those sectors. We want to be developing more game development studios, Have more esports companies developing here and potentially have more teams,” said Ryan Coutts, program lead for the Digital Entertainment Business Accelerator.

“Obviously, film and television is also a great industry here in Alberta, and in Calgary particular, so we’re supporting that as well.”

Coutts, who was also part of the Alberta Esports Association, said Bow Valley College was inspired by the Alberta Esports Strategy when developing the accelerator program. While the program isn’t targeted for students, the college’s game development and esports programs will prepare students and develop talent for Calgary’s gaming industry.

“If you think about someone who maybe grew up playing video games as a kid, and then they’re getting into digital technology in junior high or in high school, they would maybe want to play some esports titles or something like that, and then want to get into game development. They can go into a post-secondary program like Bow Valley’s game development diploma … Now you can start a company. This is how you do it,” he said.

“Calgary has a lot of potential to really sort of take off when it comes to the game development industry … We have some really strong indie development talent. IT’s very scrappy, which is great. So I’m really excited to see both studios really take off and hit the ground running and see some commercial success.”

Calgary game developers excited for opportunity

Several game developers at Wednesday’s pitch competition were hopeful that the Indie Ignition Accelerator Program will boost Calgary’s video game and esports industries.

Kyle Nissen, founder of Boxcutter Games, and Owen McManus, an artist at Boxcutter Games, said the competition is a great way to bring their game idea to life. The team is working on a game set hundreds of years into the future where the solar system has been colonized and run by corporations, and players are tasked to salvage parts to build an old spacecraft to progress through society.

“I think it’s fantastic. This has been the first run of the program, and I’ve been quite surprised with the quality of the speakers and kind of how it’s been organized and stuff,” Nissen told LWC.

“I found it pretty valuable as someone who’s starting a new studio in the city to help us get going and kind of open some doors for us. We’re enjoying the program a lot.”

Thomas Vu and Rowan Sommerfeld, co-founders of Earth MMO, will be talking about their game that uses augmented reality to engage users with local businesses in their area by adding content to make every day an adventure. The two developers are also developing a user-generated content platform called EarthMMO Studio where players can add quests to their own neighbourhood, which is part of the plan for worldwide expansion.

The two said the game brings what’s good from digital worlds and platforms to real-world scenarios so players can still have human connections.

“The accelerator has been fantastic. There’s been some really good talks. We’ve been through business accelerators before, but this one is focused on video game accelerating … A lot of this stuff is relevant to us,” Sommerfeld said. He is also part of the board of directors for the Calgary Game Developers Association.

“Video games as a whole are usually very much not something that people focus on.”

Vu said the accelerator is a good way to bring the video game community together because everyone is trying to get their business or game off the ground.

“Everyone’s kind of enthusiastic and kind of grinding towards this big pitch day that we’re doing. I think that’s just a great model for having more motivation to get things done in like a peer group,” he said.

More women needed in esports and game development

The accelerator also has the potential to encourage more women to pursue careers in esports, gaming and video game development.

Jessica Medeiros, chief executive officer and founder of Femme Gaming, said 45 per cent of women are gamers but most are only hobbyists. She wants more women to pursue professional careers in the gaming industry.

According to the 2024 State Of The Game Industry report published by Women In Games, nothing much has changed within the industry to address equity issues between men and women. Men still make up over two-thirds of game developers, the report said, while only 23 per cent of those surveyed were women. Around 11 per cent of those surveyed said they weren’t confident in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“Women in gaming have been gaining a lot of traction in the last four years. I think the pandemic kind of became a breakthrough for esports and gaming into reality, that [they are] actually a big deal. Ever since that push, we’ve been seeing a lot more women joining these programs, a lot more women like me saying we need to make a difference in making their own communities and their own organization trying to represent women,” she said.

Medeiros said men have often questioned her expertise in the industry. She hopes Bow Valley College will encourage more women interested in game development or learning about video games to make a leap into the industry.

“We would love to see our women competitors showcase their projects and their skills and what they have to offer … But we also would love to see the male students appreciate what they’re doing and support them in ways that they didn’t think,” she said.

“I expect to see a lot of innovation, a lot of research behind what they’re doing. I expect to see a lot of enthusiasm as well. They’ve been working on this for the past couple of weeks … And with the money that they can win from that, it can bring their idea to the next level and really help them achieve their goal and make a difference in the industry.”