Focus

This exhibit explores reinventions in storytelling that have emerged from the independent "indie" video game scene, ranging from non-diegetic experiences like Thomas Was Alone and Braid to games imbued with player-choice like The Stanley Parable and Life is Strange.

Audience

K-12, college level students, digital tech-centered businesses (IPZ and beyond), and art-lovers who support the Vancouver Arts District.
 

Press Release

Influential video games displayed at Nouspace Gallery in March 

A variety of independent video games that redefine narrative game play will be showcased beginning March 4 through March 26. The 2016 exhibit, titled “Game Changers: Reinventing Storytelling through Video Games” features a diverse array of indie games and explores various genres, aesthetics, perspectives, platforms, and developmental methods. 

This year, Game Changers includes over 30 games including Undertale, Journey, and Limbo. The exhibit will even feature newly released games such as Unravel, an adventure game following a character made of yarn who unravels throughout the journey, That Dragon, Cancer, an immersive narrative game following a battle with cancer, and Adr1ft, an adventure game set amid wreckage in outer space. 

Independent game developers have impacted the assumptions of traditional storytelling and reinvented the ways that narrative games may be played and interacted with. The various approaches used by the developers of these video games can be observed and appreciated in this year’s exhibit. 

Game Changers will open at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 4 at the Terminal One building in downtown Vancouver, located at 100 Columbia St., Vancouver 98660. Related events include a Hack-A-Thon, a panel discussion, and video game competitions featuring the independent games: Castle Crashers, Runbow, andRocket League. 

Game Changers is made possible by the collaboration between student and faculty members of the Creative Media and Digital Culture Program at Washington State University Vancouver. This event is supported by a grant from WSU’s CougParents and hosted by Washington State University Vancouver’s Creative Media & Digital Culture Program. Sponsors include the Columbia River Economic Development Council, the Portland Indie Game Squad, and the Innovation Partnership Zone. 

Please feel free to visit the website for Game Changers 2015 to get a sense of the exhibit’s scope. This site will soon be updated with current information regarding the new exhibit:  http://dtc-wsuv.org/gamechangers 

For more information contact us at:gamechangersexhibit@gmail.com 

MEDIA CONTACT(S) 

Dene Grigar, Digital Technology and Culture program, 360-546-9487, dgrigar@vancouver.wsu.edu 

Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@vancouver.wsu.edu