Utah Games Guild

Utah Games Guild will have a booth at Salt Lake City Mini Maker Faire. If you are a game developer and would like to show your game we would love to have you. The cost will be $25. Please register by clicking the Add To Cart button below and filling out the form. 

The Utah Games Guild Database catalogs local game dev teams and projects.

New games added:

Counter Agents

Finals Week

Huck It: Freeride Skiing 3D

Surface 2040

Toad on Fire

Treasure Tomb

Wolf in the Fold

This year's Global Game Jam is coming up on January 20-22. The Salt Lake City site will be at Track36 on the fourth floor of Broadview Entertainment Arts University.

It is Election Day! Unlike the other vote, this one is full of great options!

So vote for the Audience Choice Award for your favorite game released by a Utah game developer in the last year!

Our fourth quarterly Game Night at The Leonardo is coming up next Friday, November 11. Different than usual, this is an age 21+ night, you can find further details here. Games made in Utah on display are as follows:

Hextrio – Hextrio is a beautiful remake of the classic falling block game Tetris. As the player you guide blocks of hexagons down the honeycomb playfield over a mysterious planet. As you progress, locking blocks and clearing lines, you learn powerful combos and techniques that become essential for survival.

Frayed Knights 2: The Khan of Wrath – Frayed Knights 2: The Khan of Wrath is the sequel to the award-winning 3D first-person fantasy RPG, "Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon." In this second adventure, our heroes are attempting to hide out after blowing the whistle on a conspiracy within the adventurer's guild. But in spite of their best attempts to lay low, they stumble over the truth about a dreadful prophecy and once again prove to be the wrong people at the wrong time, trying to set things right.

Momentum – Experience a new perspective with Momentum, a physics-based platformer. Choose one of many unlockable balls, and then skillfully maneuver it through 3D labyrinths. Race the clock as you rotate labyrinths and use gravity to your advantage. But be careful, because you could easily lose control. Momentum’s zen atmosphere contrasts with its challenging gameplay. The soothing soundtrack and detailed environments combine to create a truly unique, relaxing vibe.

Encircled – Encircled explores the concept of playable art. Taking inspiration from the century-old Russian Constructivist art movement, the game fosters fluid and engaging gameplay in a morphing abstract world of geometric shapes. Encircled blends mechanics inspired by classic stealth games, such as Metal Gear and Thief, with the casual interactivity demanded by the new mobile market. Encircled’s development first began at The Leonardo museum as part of the Colab-Or-Art event during the Utah Arts Festival.

The Utah Games Guild Database catalogs local game dev teams and projects.

New teams added since last month:

Hart Laboratories

New games added since last month:

Ancient Go

Clobsters

Synthesis

Waking Up

Salt Lake Gaming Con kicks off this Thursday, June 2, and with it comes our 2016 indie showcase. This is our highest-profile event of the year; today we're proud to announce the lineup of Utah-made indie games that'll be on the show floor!

Salt Lake Gaming Con kicks off this Thursday, June 2, and with it comes our 2016 indie showcase. This is our highest-profile event of the year; today we're proud to announce the lineup of Utah-made indie games that'll be on the show floor!

The Utah Games Guild Database catalogs local game dev teams and projects.

New teams added since last month:

Immortal Studios Entertainment

The Utah Film Commission is conducting an assessment of Utah's film and digital entertainment industries. They're trying to build a more accurate picture of who is working in digital entertainment in Utah; in their words, "including, but not limited to video game design & development, animation, VR, AR, VFX and post production".

null

We still have some exhibitor space available in our big indie showcase at Salt Lake Gaming Con, coming up in just four weeks! (June 2-4 at the South Towne Expo Center)

If you're a local game developer – indie, studio, or student – we invite you to join us! We offer very affordable booth pricing and we take care of most of the logistics; you just need to bring your equipment, artwork, game, and team, and we'll handle the rest. We may even attract some press... it wouldn't be the first time!

==> Game devs, register here

If you're involved in game dev education, outreach, or advocacy, we also have sponsorship packages available. Our events often attract lots of questions about education and career paths, and we'd love to help connect your organization with those parents and prospective students... and we know they'll be excited to meet you!

==> Sponsors, contact us here

We're proud to announce our second quarterly game night at The Leonardo, coming up on Friday, April 15 from 7-10pm!

We'll have four new indie games on display:

ETHOS, IT BEGINS AGAIN – An ambitious fantasy sandbox game with RTS and RPG elements in which the world is your canvas, and war your paintbrush.

A WHISPERER IN DARKNESS – A visual novel adaptation of a classic cosmic horror story by H.P. Lovecraft tale that's revealed through painted illustrations, ASCII art, atmospheric sound effects, an unsettling musical score, and frantic email correspondence with a conspiracy theorist who might be a little too close to the truth.

ANCIENT GO – The world's first Steam-based Go client! Learn and master this ancient strategy game with an interactive tutorial, AI, online quick-play, and a full server for advanced players.

SIPHON SPIRIT – A fast-paced fantasy game where you assume the role of a young woman fighting to save her kingdom using rare magic: a spirit orb capable of absorbing the life force of demonic adversaries.

Game night is included with general admission. Use the discount code UGG2OFF for $2 off at the door! (This discount code should be used at the door on the night of the event.)

If you'd like to come check out some indie games, as well as The Leonardo's many other awesome exhibits, please RSVP using this link:

CLICK HERE TO RSVP

The Utah Games Guild Database catalogs local game dev teams and projects.

New games added since last month:

A Legend of Luca

New teams added since last month:

Unept

In 2016 the Utah Games Guild is launching several new initiatives, including our biggest project yet: opening a community-oriented games user research lab!

"User Research is not only a role or a department, it's a focus on the player experience by all members of the team, it's a common language used to communicate how the game behaves and feels, and it's a process that makes sure the right features are being developed with the player in mind."  -- Graham McAllister, Player Research

The quote above comes from this article in which user researcher Graham McAllister gives a quick overview of what user research is and how it differs from simple playtesting. It's as good a place as any to start learning about this crucial new discipline in game development.

Many of the biggest studios have dedicated games user research teams and testing labs. We're looking to bring some of those tools and resources to our own community by opening the first user research lab available to Utah indies. The official opening is still several months off, but we will be rolling out bits and pieces of the project between now and then as we ramp up to a full launch.

Today we're tackling the first and biggest challenge: finding our players.

To that end, we're now inviting players of all types to join our playtesters database. The database is an ongoing collective effort to ensure we have access to a wide range of players of varying experience levels so we can pair developers with the most appropriate players for their games and their specific research goals.

Please feel free to share this new initiative to your friends, your schools and workplaces, and your social networks by linking to our playtesting initiative page. The more awareness we raise and the more players we can attract, the bigger and more diverse the playtester pool becomes, and that translates into better and more accurate results for devs and better indie games for everyone!

For developers

PlumYeti is a Utah-based Twitch streamer and he's interested in streaming as many local indie games as he can get his hands on!

This past Monday, March 7, he streamed Kickbomb Entertainment's Legacy of the Elder Star (you can watch the VOD here).

His planned schedule is to run indie dev spotlights on Monday evenings from 8-10pm MST.

Did you know there are currently zero Go games on Steam? O_o

That's about to change with Ancient Go, developed by Utah-based Hart Laboratories, which just hit Steam Greenlight. You can vote for it here!