The burgeoning sector of video game development in Costa Rica is picking up speed and attracting international attention. Thanks to an initiative by PROCOMER, which is a government agency in charge of marketing trade and exports, six video game development firms from Costa Rica will exhibit their work and expertise at one of the most important business expos in this field. This initiative is also being marketed under the Essential Costa Rica country branding project.

Over the last three years, The Costa Rica Star has been reporting on the growth of this sector, which recently saw a small studio based in San Jose earned a significant award. The following press release is provided by GamaSutra, a major publication in the video games industry:

San Francisco, CA, USA – February 18, 2015 – The large B2B gaming conference Game Connection America will host over 200 exhibitors at their upcoming event in San Francisco. From March 2 nd to 5 th, 2015, companies from all over the world are ready to showcase their new and upcoming game projects.

The Brazilian Game Developers Project has a particular large presence on the show floor, highlighting a number of companies from their home country, from established industry veterans to fresh developing studios.

Reload Games, an indie studio founded by game designers, combines the magic of classic games with technological advances while always putting fun playing first. This will become apparent for all visitors who get a chance to check out their new games, Get Over Here, a multiplayer for PC, Ouya and Console where players become a contestant in an extremely bloody Reality Show, or the colorful and charming action-adventure Cheesecake Cool Conrad, available for PS and PS Vita.

Carioca indie Pandora Game Studio demonstrates their mission to captivate gamers of all walks of life by providing intelligent and breathtaking games with two new projects. The mobile action-adventure Bushido Saga: Nightmare of the Samurai, based on the famous Japanese legend of the 47 Ronin, relies heavily on quality gameplay and powerful storytelling, while their second title Perfidious will take players to Victorian London, in a horror-adventure inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”.

Online development company Prosperity Games presents their cross-platform online game Full Metal Wars, which has an e-sport based strategy. It will be released on consoles, PC and mobile, and let’s players fight battles online, collect cards and control giant robots in this game based on Norse mythology. The Brazilian Game Developers also have a special treat in store: the first 300 people meeting with one of their companies will get a pair of Havaianas and a T-shirts; on top of that, they developed an App that can only be played during GCA 2015, with the best player winning an all expenses paid trip to Brazil!

Also present on the showfloor is Essential Costa Rica developed by PROCOMER, showcasing six young studios from the Central American country.

Among those is indie developer Canu Arts, who will present Lithium, a 3-D puzzle adventure game in the horror genre. The game, developed for PS Vita, PlayStation 4 and PC, is open to interpretation and lets the player figure out the sense of the story, making it almost unique to every player.

Also part of the Costa Rican delegation are Fair Play Labs, who are focused on developing casual and engaging game for kids aged 8 to 80, such as their upcoming title Color Guardians for PS Vita and PS 4.

Games from Spain features more than fifteen companies from the Iberian Peninsula, such as Development Award Nominee A Crowd of Monsters. Their episodic noir story Blues & Bullets, which puts the player in the position of a detective struggling to overcome his own demons, is up for the title of “Excellence in Story & StoryTelling”. The game is available for for PC, Xbox ONE, PS 4, Wii U, PS VITA, iOS and Android.

Drakhar Studio will not only present their game for children under twelve, Beyond the Crystal, but also their edutainment service Knowly World, which – using assets from Beyond the Crystal – lets schools teach skills and competence such as collaboration and attention in a virtual world.

U-Play Online, a top developer on Google Play, has two new titles for mobile and tablet devices with online sports manager games Swipe Basketball 2 and Striker Manager 2.

An overview of all participants to date can be found at:

http://www.game-connection.com/participants

For more information on Game Connection America, please visit: http://www.game-connection.com/