Amazingly, I had not been to Toronto in over 10 years (despite it being a major/close city to Montreal). Anyway, was happy to head back to speak at the GameOn:Finance conference, organized by the provincial digital media trade body Interactive Ontario.

Luckily, I was also able to coordinate a visit to IGDA-Toronto for their January meeting. I gave a presentation on positive trends in the industry, followed by brief sessions on One Laptop Per Child and TO Jam. (Check out Jason MacIsaac’s report for a more detailed summary.) I was impressed by the ~70 person turn-out and happy to experience the good developer community vibe in Toronto.

Overall, the GameOn:Finance conference was a well done niche event that did well to keep things focused on the dollars and cents of the game industry. Appropriately held in a refurbished bank, there were plenty of moneymen in the room, along with start up studios looking for advice.

Eric Zimmerman gave the opening keynote on the first night, and was engaging as always. Most of the sessions were good, though the overemphasis on the panel format did become exhausting after a while. The case study format was also a nice inclusion - sadly, not everyone prepared a classic “case”, instead opting to give their corporate biography. Anyway, was a good start and with a little tighter control over content/format things should be even better next year.

In terms of tourist fun, I was able to hit “The Spirit of Budo: The History of Japan’s Martial Arts” exhibition at the Japan Foundation before the conference action got started. Ya know, those in-room local highlights tourist magazines do come in handy every now and again…

Some photos from the quick trip:


The 70+ participants for the IGDA-Toronto meeting.

 


TO Jam produced game in action.

 


Trevor Fencott (Bedlam Games), Paul Forest (Ganz) and Alan Van Arden (Bedlam Games) at the bar.

 


Mike Fletcher shows off his prototype OLPC by running…

 


…a ported version of Doom. Just what kids in developing countries need…

 


A suite of samurai armor at the Budo exhibit.

 


A stylishly adorned katana.

 


Crazy samurai warlord helmet with stag antlers.

 


Interactive Ontario bossman, Ian Kelso, kicks off the conference.

 


Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab) delivers the opening keynote.

 


The five trends that Eric explored…

 


…and then had participants vote on for probability, goodness, desirability, etc.

 


Nathon Gunn provides a case study on Bitcasters’ financing.

 


Best slide bullet ever: Nathon reveals his secret to success…

 


Warren Currell (Sherpa Games) leads the informative “Right Money” panel, made up of Margaret Wallace (Rebel Monkey), Tom Frencel (Capybara Games), Trevor Fencott (Bedlam Games) and Randy Thompson (Argon Venture Partners).

 


Josh Druckman (Dark Matter) questions Asi Burak (ImpactGames) on “dark horse” strategies.

 


Asi with a boat load (literally) of sushi during post conference dinner.