Game School

Taking center stage at the Spillexpo

The Games School has once again returned to Spillexpo with their own booth, bigger than ever and showing off everything we have to offer from both students’ work and creating futures within game development. As per usual, we like to bring in some of our best talent to show off, this time around having students from Lakeborn Studio, Dollipop, Silly Beast Studio and of course Rocket Couch.

Spillexpo Oslo is the biggest game and pop culture expo in Norway, and is hosted every year at the NOVA Spektrum in Lillestrøm. It is jam-packed with activities, events and booths that celebrate all things related to gaming, from video games and eSports to tabletop games and technology. The expo typically features various elements such as:

Gaming Exhibitions: Companies showcase their latest games, hardware, and innovations in the gaming industry. Attendees get hands-on experiences with new releases and cutting-edge technology.

eSports Tournaments: Spillexpo often hosts eSports competitions where professional gamers or teams compete against each other in popular games for prizes and recognition.

Panels and Talks: Experts, game developers, and industry insiders often hold panels, discussions, and presentations about the gaming world, sharing insights and knowledge about game development, trends, and the future of gaming.

Cosplay: Cosplayers dress up as their favorite game characters, adding a colorful and creative dimension to the event.

Networking and Community: It’s a great platform for gamers, developers, and enthusiasts to network, share ideas, and connect with others who share their passion for gaming.

The event typically attracts people of all ages, from casual players to hardcore enthusiasts, offering something for everyone within the gaming community. The specific experiences and content can vary from year to year, but the overarching focus remains on celebrating gaming culture and technology.

This year we have upgraded our booth. It is bigger and can hold multiple game testing stations at once. We had a lot of activity with many people showing interest in both testing our students’ games, as well as the things we do at the Games School. We also had the great opportunity to have Ron from 8z_Cosplay stay with us for a good duration of the expo, cosplaying both as Buster from Oh No! Kobolds!, by Rocket Couch, and also the character Twitch from League of Legends by Riot Games, which the ladder secured them first place in the cosplay competition on the last day.

Ron was super helpful with attracting people to our stand and also helping us promote the Game School in general. Make sure to follow them on their socials!

Amongst the thousands of people attending Spillexpo 2023, we also had the honor of getting a visit from the Mayor of Lillestrøm, Kjartan Berland, who was elected earlier this fall. Kjartan was amazed and impressed with the atmosphere and the environment that Spillexpo had to offer. Kjartal was previously elected as deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Akershus for the terms 2013–2017 and 2017–2021 before taking up the position as Mayor this year.

Over the three day event, we had many great conversations and people over at our booth testing the students’ projects. Twitch streamer Knut Spildrejorde, simply known as Knut online, is a video game content creator and IRL streamer with almost 400.000 subscribers on Twitch.tv. We got to spend some time with him as he was trying out two of the student projects and streaming it to his audience.

We are grateful for everyone who came to our stand throughout the weekend, and we are looking forward to next year as we are ambitious to expand what we have to offer when it comes to new games and showcases.

Article written by Jørgen Nilsen
Published November 28, 2023

The amazing Ron over at 8z_Cosplay, dressing up as Buster from Oh No! Kobolds! by Rocket Couch.

Lillestrøm Mayor Kjartan Berland, getting their photo taken with 8z_Cosplay, dressed up as Buster

Twitch streamer Knut testing one of the student projects

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