XP Indie Biz Connect and Beta Lounge @ Signals

Two Events. Two Days. One Bold Industry Moment.

Signals Creative Tech Expo, Oct 3 - 12, 2025 | DigiBC Studio, Vancouver, BC

Welcome to XP Indie Biz Connect and Beta Lounge @ Signals, presented by DigiBC and VIFF.

This one-of-a-kind B2B experience brings together West Coast creative technology – game, XR, animation and VFX industry professionals for two days of bold ideas, strategic insights, and unmatched opportunities to spark collaboration and accelerate creative growth.

Designed with indie creators in mind, XP Indie Biz Connect (for indie video games) and Beta Lounge (XR, games, animation, VFX) deliver the knowledge, tools, and relationships you need to scale your studio, expand your network, and shape the future of creative technology.

What You’ll Walk Away With

✔ Strategies to fund, market, and grow your product 
✔ New connections with publishers, investors, and partners
✔ Visibility through curated showcase opportunities
✔ Clear next steps to build a stronger studio

Details

Dates: October 3–4, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (PDT)
Format: In-Person
Hashtag: #XPVAN25

Venues

DAY 1: Oct 3 – XP Indie Biz Connect

Coalition Xbox Studios
Microsoft Canada – Vancouver Campus, 858 Beatty St, Vancouver, BC

Day 2: Oct 4 – Beta Lounge 
DigiBC Creative Tech Studio, #160 – 577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, BC

Day 1 Schedule Oct 3
XP Indie Biz Connect @ Coalition Xbox Studios (Microsoft)

8:30 – 9:20 Coffee & Mingle
9:20 – 9:30 Opening Remarks
9:30 – 10:20 Funding Pathways from Grants to Publishers
10:30 – 11:20 Behind the Curtain: A Live Pitch Deck Review
11:30 – 12:00 Building an OP Cashflow Strategy for your Studio to Thrive
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:50 Less is More: A Writer/Narrative Designer’s Request for Fewer Words (Room A – Amphitheatre)
1:00 – 1:50 Ask Games Lawyers Anything Roundtable (Room B – Board Room)
1:00 – 5:00 MeetToMatch Networking (Main Room)
2:00 – 2:50 Building Studios That Last: Inclusive Leadership and Cultural Intelligence in Indie Games (Room A – Amphitheatre) 2:00 – 2:50 Pitch Deck Reviews with Omar Khalil (Room B – Board Room) 3:00 – 3:50 The Audience Imperative: How to Build Long-Term Value in Your Indie Games Company (Room A – Amphitheatre)

4:00 – 5:00 Happy Hour

Day 2 Schedule - Oct 4
XP Indie Biz Connect @ DigiBC Creative Tech Studios

9:30 AM — Coffee & Mingle

10:00 AM — Keynote Panel

International Multi-Platforms Co-Productions: Video Games, LBE, Film

  • Speakers: Myriam Achard (PHI), Navid Khonsari (Ink Stories, GTA), Toby Coffey (Royal Shakespeare Theatre)
  • Moderator: Janine Steele (CMF)

11:00 AM – 5:00 PM — B2B Meetings

Meet to Match
Focused networking and curated business-to-business meetings.


1:00 PM — Creative BC New Funds Explained

Speaker: Nicholas Klassen (Creative BC)


4:00 – 5:00 PM — Happy Hour

Wrap up the day with informal networking and refreshments.

Production Schedule for Studios

  • 8:00am Check-in
  • 8:30am Check-in closes (late studios are not guaranteed a table)
  • 10:00am – 4:00pm Showcase Open
  • 5pm Tear Down

Publishers, Funders, and Mentors

These publishers and Funders are brought to you through a  partnership between DigiBC, the Canadian Interactive Alliance/l’Alliance Interactive Canadienne (CIAIC), and the CanExport Associations Program.

Beta Lounge Showcasing Studios

Simply Sweet Games

Founded by Tina Merry and Carina Kom, “SSG” is a globally distributed, remote studio that specializes in creating mass-market, deeply polished casual games that prioritize accessibility and redefine the gaming experience across genres.

Buffalo Buffalo

Buffalo Buffalo, led by Experience Director Patrick Owens, creates story-rich, visually stunning games that blend generative AI, VR, and innovative gameplay, exemplified by their project Fresh Tracks.

Fableware

Arthur Protasio’s Fableware is an award-winning storytelling studio crafting original, narrative-driven IPs across games and transmedia, currently working on the musical adventure Heart & Harmony.

Coal Car Studio

Coal Car is an award-winning Vancouver based studio focused on immersive and social VR experiences.

Green Forest XR

Green Forest XR crafts immersive learning adventures, fostering 3D thinking and problem-solving skills through engaging, tech-infused storytelling.

Moonspire Games

Moonspire Games’ mission is to transform the way you learn languages – making it immersive, engaging, and above all, unforgettable.

Sonical.ly

Sonical.ly is a music-tech startup redefining how next-gen creators learn through play. Each of their mobile games tackles a core music-making skill by turning complex creative challenges into intuitive, gamified experiences. Their first release, Mix Master, makes learning to mix music as fun and accessible as using Duolingo.

Stellations

Milan Koerner-Safrate’s Stellations is a playable labyrinth that explores thought loops via game loops. Milan is a multimedia artist exploring the artistic affordances of game engines.

IMMERROCK

Have fun learning guitar and bass in mixed reality with IMMERROCK! Explore 300+ exercises to level up your skills in a gamified experience that makes learning feel like play.

Ludic Lemur Entertainment

Ludic Lemur is a queer women-led indie studio that makes radically playful and well-designed video games to joyously improve lives and society. Their games help people grow and expand play to a new level of inclusivity.

Fading Places

Edward Madojemu’s Fading Places is an interactive graphic novel that explores the joys and hardships of life in the city, asking how we shape the places we inhabit, and how they shape us.

Lost Cartridge Creations

Lost Cartridge Creation’s Astrolander is an action-packed optional local co-op game featuring dramatic cinematics, intense action, and lush levels.

Soft Rains

Soft Rains is a game studio focused on bringing world-class development experience to our work, from world building and memorable storytelling to immersive gameplay and art.

reGEN Impact Media

reGEN Impact Media is an Indigenous-owned and female-led organization that seeks to unlock the potential that lies at the intersection of media with vision, well-being, and human agency.

Binga Brands

Binga Brands is an American-style kawaii brand dedicated to bringing playful and interactive fun to their customers. The company focuses on creating products that resonate personally with each individual, allowing them to connect with their offerings on a deeper level.

Echoes of Me

Noah Miller’s Echoes of Me is an experience that invites participants into an intimate dialogue with themselves through an immersive XR journey inspired by research on self-compassion and perspective-taking in VR.

Rewind

Youhan Guan’s Rewind is a VR journaling experience designed to create a safe, private, and tactile space for users to express themselves through voice, sound or letters.

81monkeys

81monkeys, founded by Stephane Cotichini, focuses on blending entertainment with meaningful design, drawing from a rich background of industry experience.

Scry Quest Interactive Development

Scry Quest Interactive Development is a small studio that was founded in Vancouver during the pandemic. With a shoestring budget, a hodgepodge of experience, and a strong desire to make cool stuff while doing good, Scry Quest immediately set out to “empower creators and challenge players”. The studio aims to be a platform through which untold stories are told and unknown artists and creators shine.

BrainSwitch Labs

BrainSwitch Labs is a Vancouver-based startup at the intersection of art and technology. Founded in 2022, the company creates immersive VR experiences that bring therapeutic benefits to everyday life. Its flagship product, FloatVR, helps people achieve mindfulness through fascination rather than concentration, making mental wellness accessible to individuals who struggle with traditional meditation.

Interleave

Interleave is a collaborative team of award-winning music and audio professionals, all with extensive experience in both interactive and linear media across all genres and formats, and with a primary focus on interactive, immersive, and multi-platform.

A Thinking Ape

A Thinking Ape is a Vancouver-based studio that develops video games for mobile devices, focusing on integrating social features that facilitate communities.

LBN Media / RIFT

Step into the Kingdom of the Immortals in RIFT, an immersive interactive musical experience where you join the goddess Nüwa to save the world. When the God of Water tears a hole in the sky, five mystical beasts—Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal—lose their life force.

Emerald Activities

Emerald Activities is a husband and wife indie team with almost two decades of experience making creative and social games for virtual world platforms. Their latest release, Hatch & Craft: Prehistoric Paradise, is a Roblox game where you can gather materials, craft, build a jungle base, and find and hatch dinosaur eggs!

Maskwa Games / Games for Good

Michif RP is a free educational Roblox game made to share Métis culture. Discover traditional foods and dress, fiddle music, and learn the language through interaction. Michif RP is on a mission to get 1,000 new Indigenous creators in the interactive media space over the next two years.

Hyper Hippo Entertainment

Founded in 2012, Hyper Hippo is an award-winning mobile game studio that is a trailblazer in the idle game genre.

Hummingbird Interactive

Hummingbird Interactive develops digital and immersive experiences with a strong narrative heart. They are not bound to one platform of storytelling but explore XR, digital media, live and hybrid spaces in all shapes and sizes.

XP VIP COCKTAILS

VIP Welcome Cocktail at Acquafarina Michelin Guide–recommended and renowned for its old-world elegance with a modern edge, Enjoy an early start on meaningful conversations in a refined setting that blends timeless elegance with modern flair; the perfect atmosphere to set the tone for connections that will carry through the summit.

Date: Thursday, October 2, 2025
Time 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM PDT
Venue: Acquafarina, 425 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC

Xsolla Connect Vancouver

Thursday, October 2, 2025

4:00 – 7:00 PM

DigiBC Creative Tech Studio #160 – 577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, BC


Join us for an exclusive networking event in the heart of Vancouver!

Hosted by Xsolla, this is an excellent opportunity to connect, collaborate, and explore new possibilities with Xsolla and our key partners.

Submit your interest now to be part of the fun and start building meaningful connections!

👉 RSVP Here

Business Pass
$149 CAD

Build your studio. Grow your network. Learn what works.

Your pass gives you two full days of actionable insights and high-value connections:

  • Join talks focused on business growth
  • Build relationships with publishers, partners, and investors
  • Book meetings that move your project forward
  • Lunch and refreshments on Oct 3 at XP Indie Biz Connect
  • Refreshments only on Oct 4 at Beta Lounge
  • Forge more connections at Happy Hour

VIP Pass
$299 CAD

Start early. Move faster. Build stronger connections.

Enjoy everything in the Business Pass, plus:

  • Kickstart key conversations at the VIP Welcome Cocktail (Oct 2)
  • Enjoy lunch and refreshments both days
  • Plus other exclusive networking opportunities

Gold Sponsor (XP + Beta Lounge)

Silver Sponsor (XP)

Sponsors (XP)