If you’ve attended ODGE in the past, then you need to head to GDEX this year. That’s because the previously titled Ohio Game Developers Expo is now known more simply as GDEX. Event organizer Chris Volpe explained that the name change was to help alleviate confusion and to be more welcoming outside of Ohio.
“We started seeing more and more people coming from out of state, and a big question they would ask is ‘I’m not from Ohio, can I come?’, said Volpe. “Last year we had people from 21 states, so we decided this year that we’ve grown big enough that we should rebrand and make it welcoming for anyone who wants to come.”
Volpe said that their goal is to attract 5,000 attendees at this year’s event, with an end goal of becoming even bigger.
“We want to have this become one of the large ‘tentpole’ conventions,” he said. “The Midwest is really wanting this kind of event and there isn’t anything happening outside of GDEX.”
Gamers attending this year can get their hands on a number of titles both newly released and some still in development from studios including Nevernull, Skookum Arts, Deckpoint Studio, Super88, GuessWorkVR, Multivarious and others.
Speakers at this year’s event include game culture personality Daemon Hatfield, developer Marcus Cenci, voice actor DB Cooper, youtuber Wade Barnes, writer William Evans, concept artist Katie Hamill and more.
“Personally, I’m really excited for our keynote Daemon Hatfield,” said Volpe. “He’s been at IGN for 10 years and has been involved in a lot of different initiatives there from streaming, to news podcast and other stuff. Overall, just helping to build the game development community in Columbus is the real highlight for me. ”
GDEX takes place on October 29th and 30th at COSI, with a kickoff party on October 28th.
For more information, visit www.thegdex.com.