The Vancouver game industry packed into a theatre at VFS last week for Game Design‘s 17th edition of Pitch and Play, the industry presentation night that serves as the climax of a Game Design student’s year. It’s never been bigger than this – the standing-room-only audience represented companies like Ubisoft, Capcom Vancouver, Next Level Games, Radical, and many small studios.

Here’s how it worked: each team of graduating students introduced the audience to their game, covering every angle of the development process, and highlighting both their successes and challenges. Each team fielded a few tough questions from the crowd, then the action shifted to the production lab, where attendees met students in person and spent some quality time with the games.

For the industry, it was a chance to spot talent, network, give a little something back – and even learn a few things. According to Devon Blanchet, Lead Game Designer at Smoking Gun Interactive, ”This event continues to prove that you can still make small, compelling games in less than four months with small teams.”

The lead-up to Pitch and Play is an intense time for a student. Imagine it: you’ve been crunching on your final game for weeks, while also working at refining your presentation and trying to make the most out of the entire experiences. Nerves run high.

But students also form bonds inside this year-long pressure cooker. ”We high-fived other teams backstage as we were entering and exiting the auditorium and everyone in the games lab cheered and clapped as the teams that had finished their presentation entered,” says Sara Moore, whose team presented Somnia. ”There wasn’t a single person last night that didn’t have a huge grin on their face.”

“We had practiced and rehearsed for a solid two weeks leading up to the event, so everyone was well-rehearsed and prepared to pitch our game to the industry.”

Here’s what the audience saw:

• Faine’s Melody, a third-person puzzler… and the first-ever Game Design final project developed specifically for the iPad.
• Kinesis: Project Wolf, a stylish first-person action game visually inspired by Sin City that has the player using telekinesis to hurl objects around and create all manner of mayhem.
• Flyware, an arcade-style flight game that’s a bit like TRON with the psychedelics amped to 11.
• Aurora, the solar system god game we’ve written about before, already boasting nearly 300,000 plays online.
• Somnia, a third-person action game that has you controlling a lizard-like character charged with protecting a dreamworld by bouncing, gliding, and plummeting into enemies.
• Nimbus, a steampunky sidescrolling platformer set on an airship full of pistons and shooting flames.

Six games, six teams. And the audience came away buzzing.

“I was particularly impressed at how this class was able to take what the technology gave them and work within those parameters to create game demos that are visually engaging and designed well,” says Tim Lewinson, Massive Bear Founder and Studio Creative Director.

When the audience of designers, producers, and HR reps moved from the theatre to the production lab, that enthusiasm came with them.

“As soon as the first industry person came, it seemed as if the entire audience quickly poured into our room and we were quickly swarmed by people interested in seeing Somnia and asking about our roles on the team,” Sara says.

“Talking to the students after the presentations was effortless,” explains EA Writer/Assistant Producer Rees Savidis. “The enthusiasm and know-how each of them showed in presenting their projects to me on a one-on-one basis was extraordinary.”

What next? Will the connections be fruitful? That has yet to be seen – though it wouldn’t be the first time that industry night ultimately paid career dividends. All we know right now is this: this class of Game Design students distinguished itself, and the industry will remember.

“VFS creates not only talented game designers, but talented presenters who are ready to communicate their vision to a wider audience,” says Jim Preston, Senior Game Designer at Relic Entertainment.

“The students that emerge from VFS are not only talented individuals, but more importantly they are already talented collaborators.”