Good Game Edmonton

How do you build a game studio in Alberta? Founders, educators and ecosystem builders took that question to NAIT during Edmonton Startup Week 2026. Clinton Bowman of GHOAT LAB and NAIT organized the event, and Good Game Edmonton host Cory Sellar moderated.

On the panel: Kaelin Lavallée of Studio Reset, Jennifer LaFace of Only by Midnight, Caghan Bonnough of Embersail, Gaian Helmers of Genome Studios, and Ronnie Villanueva of Edmonton Screen.

Ronnie puts Edmonton at close to 70 active game studios, with indies making up 90 to 95 percent of them. The panel talks about the stall between startup and scale, and what it takes to survive the early years.

What you'll hear:

• Who actually reads your Canada Media Fund application (not game designers)
• What sets apart juniors with equal skills
• Where AI-assisted ends and AI-generated begins

• The Steam Next Fest question every publisher asked Clinton
• A northern Alberta view on doing business in the province

NHL 27 is out, and the EA NHL World Championship is suspended. Ben "Benny" Thomson of Edmonton Sports Talk joins Good Game Edmonton to talk through both.Ben first appeared on Episode 2 as a NAIT student repping the Oilers in EA NHL esports. Two years later he's producing and co-hosting at EST.He gives his verdict on NHL 27: the face scans, the team playbooks, the goal-song soundtrack and Connected Franchise. He explains why the World Championship held the competitive scene together, and what a local tournament could look like now that it's gone.Then the story behind a 499-game win streak in NHL 26 online versus, streamed on EST as Benny at Night. Game 500 was against the top-ranked player. He lost.We close with a CHEL edition of Benny's Blind Rankings.If you play EA NHL, follow Edmonton esports, or want to know if NHL 27 is worth your year, this one's for you.

Could a game fix the most awkward part of any event? Calgary startup JamSocial thinks so. Its Jam Bingo is a networking game for larger groups. Scan a QR code, get a conversation starter, and go meet someone.

Host Cory Sellar sits down with co-founder Melvin for Good Game Edmonton's first startup story. They talk Fortnite, a trip to the Netherlands that sparked the idea, and the case for event gamification. Melvin's first Calgary meetup drew 75 people. Many still hid in the corners. That's the problem Jam Bingo was built to solve.

He shares his first sale, a $100 e-transfer. A two-second pop-up that made every conversation awkward. Why a customer who quit sent the best feedback he's had. And who plays now, from a seniors' ESL class to corporate team days where the host comes out looking like a hero.

Listen now, and send it to the friend who hides by the snack table.

Lucid Rain Studios makes a return on Good Game Edmonton. Game director Rosche Rheeder and technical director Ricardo Rheeder join Cory Sellar to break down their second trip to Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, this past August, and how the Edmonton studio's booth turned into hour-long lineups for their first-person horror deck builder, INFERIUS.

The walk through the whole week: cancelled trains, 8am to 2am days, and surviving on energy drinks and grocery-store meal prep. Their trailer premiered on IGN's Awesome Indies showcase, and IGN gave the game a five-minute deep dive that Rosche says explained INFERIUS better than he has in a year of pitching it himself.

Rosche also sat on a Canada Pioneer Powerhouse panel about immigrant founders and Canada's game industry tax incentives, and the studio is now fielding conversations about console ports and localization ahead of a targeted 2027 release.

Wishlist INFERIUS on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2470790/INFERIUS

Learn more about Lucid Rain Studios: lucidrainstudios.com

Episodes and more: goodgameyeg.ca

It's the Q2 2026 GGE Alberta Quarterly Roundup, presented with Digital Alberta. Cory "Sellarcast" Sellar is joined by Brett Miller from Calgary Game Developers Association and Ronnie Villanueva from Edmonton Screen to break down the latest stories and events in Alberta's interactive digital media scene.

Highlights include:

• NAGIS wraps a sold-out first year with a 96 percent recommend rate, with studios already comparing its results to established events like PAX.
• Calgary's Indie Rodeo debuts this September, CGDA's new two-day event pairing business talks with hands-on craft sessions.
• The Canada Media Fund grows its interactive digital media budget to $57 million, with Alberta studios pulling in $4.8 million, third-best in the country.

CG Magazine called North American Games Industry Summit (NAGIS) "a strong first step towards something bigger," drawing comparisons to Montreal's MIGS and San Francisco's GDC.

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and watch on YouTube. For more episodes and community info, head over to goodgameyeg.ca

Alberta just got its own Games Industry Summit. NAGIS (the North American Games Industry Summit) is a new B2B event launching June 18–19 in Edmonton, attached to Game Con Canada. With Meibel Consulting locked in for five more years at the Edmonton Expo Centre, this is year one of something being built to last.

Cory sits down with Marc Belisle and Chris Meilleur from Meibel Consulting, Ronnie Villanueva from Edmonton Screen Industries Office, and John Nguyen from Xsolla to break down what NAGIS is and what it means for indie developers across Alberta.

Topics include why Xsolla chose Alberta, how Meet2Match powers the B2B side, a BioWare founders reunion, a Hollywood talent agent handing indie devs a playbook for working with celebrity talent on a budget, and a closing roundtable on what year one success looks like for everyone at the table.

NAGIS runs June 18–19. Game Con Canada picks up June 19–21. One badge covers both.

🔗 nagis.ca

🔗 gameconcanada.com⁠

🔗 goodgameyeg.ca⁠

Alberta's game industry had a busy Q1. Game launches, console ports, a new youth esports league, and a Team Alberta presence at GDC. Cory breaks it all down in the Q1 2026 quarterly update alongside guest Jennifer LaFace, co-founder and creative director at Only By Midnight and board director at Digital Alberta.

Edmonton: Sovereign Syndicate landed on Xbox and PlayStation. Caldera Interactive launched The Rabbit Haul demo on Steam. VR Cave unveiled a Meta Quest title under new sub-brand Basement Bunker Labs. Beamdog dropped a surprise update for the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions. NorQuest Esports launched Campus Clash 2026, a youth esports league for ages 13 to 18.

Calgary: Red Iron Labs secured $2 million in provincial investment for its stroke rehab gaming platform. DragonSpire Games released Boyfiend and Ghoulfriend. The CGDA launched a new masterclass series at Platform Calgary. Salt Flats 2026 drew over 150 competitors to Bow Valley College's Digital Entertainment Nexus — one of the largest esports events in Western Canada, running since 2013.

Alberta-wide: Game Con Canada returns this June alongside the inaugural North American Games Industry Summit. Nearly 200 jammers participated in Global Game Jam across the province.

Jen also covers Digital Alberta's upcoming community dialogue, the CMF 2026 intake timeline, a March 18th program announcement on talent development and organizational funding, and additional options through Creative Export Canada, AEP, and Edmonton Screen.

Subscribe wherever you listen. Catch all the latest episodes, local esports and game dev directory, and send story leads to goodgameyeg.ca.

​​Ethan Horkulak, co-founder of French Bread Gaming, joins Cory "Sellarcast" Sellar to tell the full story about the local esports organization and how it’s supporting the local competitive fighting game scene.

What started with nine-person brackets in a community hall has grown into Bread Basket, now drawing 207+ attendees and live viewership from Smash legends Hungrybox and Larry Lurr. The 2026 edition expands to eight titles and moves into NorQuest College's atrium.

In this episode, Ethan maps out the entire journey: the early grind, the pivotal partnership with Canadian Icehouse in Ice District that gave FBG a permanent weekly home, the catering miscalculation that cost him $1,000 out of pocket and nearly ended everything, and how Victory Road brought it all back.

One more thing… The BIG announcement. In 2026, French Bread Gaming launches an official esports team anchored by the Rising Star Program, a structured initiative to give minorities and underrepresented players the resources to compete professionally. Ethan also breaks down the broader Edmonton fighting game ecosystem, the Western Canada circuit FBG is building, and the long-term goal: a national-level event at Ford Hall in Rogers Place.

It’s the 2025 Q4 PartyChat from Good Game Edmonton and Digital Alberta!

In this quarterly update, we welcomed Rowan Sommerfeld (CGDA), Mike McCready (NAIT/Digital Alberta), and Rosche Rheeder (Lucid Rain Studios) to unpack another productive three months of the evolving game development landscape in Alberta.

From the impact of AI on workflows and the challenges of attracting investment to the growth of the Calgary and Edmonton games scenes. And somewhere between a Smash Bros tournament in Calgary and a literal fire alarm at a games conference in Edmonton the provincial scene is progressing.

What We Covered:

• Moving past the hype of AI into actual workflows and how new CRTC standards are reshaping Canadian content
• Miles "Soonsay" Foster's global Smash Bros run and the launch of Calgary Games Kiln
• Arcanaut Studios lands a Lucasfilm Games partnership for the spiritual successor to KOTOR, headed up by BioWare legend Casey Hudson
• How NAIT's new specialized Game Development streams are training next gen developers
• Real talk on the Alberta Game Series and practical advice for pitch competitions
• Edmonton-based Lucid Rain Studios getting IGN feature, plus full-time team

Listen now and catch up on everything that made Q4 the most exciting quarter for Alberta games yet.

Games & Studios Featured:

• Hunters Moon by Crimson Herring Studios → Wishlist on Steam
• INFERIUS by Lucid Rain Studios → Wishlist on Steam

Connect With Us:

• goodgameyeg.ca
• digitalalberta.com
• calgary.games

What happens when a Juilliard-trained playwright and award-winning comedian designs video game narratives?

Leif Olesen-Cormack (The Low Road, Tales Noir Preludes) discusses the biggest creative challenges in game development today. Plus, more on his multifaceted arts career.

Leif and Cory attempt to unpack their version of the heated debate around artificial intelligence, discussing why AI is fantastic for mundane tasks but can lack the crucial "soul" and human experience needed to craft truly meaningful art and comedy. This leads to a discussion on how Leif’s work in games forced him to reverse-engineer stories to align with existing game mechanics and complex conversation puzzles. Not to mention dealing with the unique difficulty of landing jokes in a game where traditional comedic timing is disrupted. In the final act, we learn why growing up in the Edmonton arts scene provides an unexpected advantage over major creative hubs like New York.

Plus, Leif offers a preview of his upcoming comedy album recording, Alone Ranger.

Important Links:

• thelowroad.com/
• store.steampowered.com/app/2020030/Tails_Noir_Preludes/ 
• leifoc.com/
• edmontonarts.ca/event/leif-oleson-cormack-alone-ranger-live-album-taping
• instagram.com/leifoc/
• store.steampowered.com/app/3001200/Tails_Noir_Rebel_Rush