What does a chicken in a kitchen, people balancing on an exercise ball and a man wearing a shark hat have in common? You could find them all in the main hall at this year’s Winter Play Expo.

Winter Play Expo is one of three exposition events during the year organized by Playcrafting, one of the largest gaming networks in the country. The company started in 2009 as a meetup group and is now a full fledged company with 25,000 members. However, regardless of size, it remains a tight knit community of game developers.

On March 7, at the Microsoft building in Times Square, New York, Winter Play Expo featured over 45 different games for guests to demo and play. According to events manager, Evangeline Ignacio, the majority of people and groups featured are not big name developers like XBox or Nintendo.

“It’s a way for us to empower indie game developers, give them a resource and a space and opportunity to show their projects,” Ignacio said.

Children, students and adults alike filled the conference rooms to try the different games. In addition to video or computer games, Winter Play Expo allowed card and board games a chance to shine.

Gamers of all ages gather at the Winter Play Expo hosted by Play Crafting at Microsoft in New York, New York on Saturday afternoon, March 7, 2020. | | Photo by Callie Patteson

One developer, Andrew Thomas, took a step in a new direction, incorporating the use of an exercise ball in his game. Roll control allows players to explore a 3-D world while using their bodies and balance to control the motion in the game. In order to play, users must download the app, Roll Controller, to connect their phone to a desktop computer via wifi. All players have to do is put their phone on a balance board, exercise ball or anything similar of their choosing and they are ready to play.

“It’s an idea that I had years ago [that] I had talked to my dad about,” Thomas said. “He had an idea that there should be a balance board that controls a game as the controller and I was thinking about what kind of game would be fun for that.”

In addition to showcasing indie game developers, Playcrafting goes a step further to bring as many people as they can into the community by hosting eight-week programs called “unity courses” that people can sign up for to learn how to develop a game

According to Ignacio, some people who finish the program are actually able to show their games at the expo.

“While the game is not super polished, it’s a way for them to show off their work and get their foot in the door in the game developing world,” Ignacio said.

Winter Play Expo Empowers Indie Game Developers