Editor’s Note: David Gordon currently writes the You Should Be Playing column regarding tabletop RPG recommendations. This is great for articles about specific games, but sometimes topics come up that fall outside this normal purview or require more in-depth analysis than YSBP allows. To that end, David will be rolling out two new segments. The first of the two is called Up On A Soapbox, where he’ll opine on gaming-related topics. This is the first of those.

What are you doing on Saturday, September 14, 2013?
 
If you are in the greater Boston area, and it is not going to the Boston Festival of Indie Games, you should highly consider changing your plans. In its second year, the BostonFIG is a free to attend gathering of independent game developers from all over New England. At BostonFIG, games of all sorts will be on display to both the public and the industry, with gamers across all walks of life welcome in its halls. While it started as a way of showcasing Boston’s prodigious independent video game studios, it has expanded its scope to include local developers of traditional tabletop games as well. Best of all, it is free to attend.

Founded in 2012, BostonFIG was brought to fruition under the non-profit patronage of Be Epic, a Boston-area live action roleplaying game producer. Taking advantage of the vibrant and active community of game designers in the greater Boston area, it drew in well over a thousand visitors in its founding year, including world renowned game designer Peter Molyneux (Theme Park, Black & White, Fable). It featured dozens of unique game development organizations, as well as several featured speakers and activities. BostonFIG’s goal was to create an intersection between the industrial, consumer, and academic communities of game design. It was a widely celebrated success, and even received official recognition from Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, making September 22, 2012 officially Independent Game Development Day.

This year promises to be even bigger, with pre-registrations already surpassing last years total registrations, and it having a substantially increased budget. Still being held in MIT’s Stratton Student Center and Johnson Athletics Center, it is only a short distance from Kendall Square in Cambridge. BostonFIG’s goal was to always expand beyond simply video games, and this year’s new features include an art exhibit, a concert series (there is a charge for that), and a traditional games showcase. As with the video game showcase, the BostonFIG indie tabletop game showcase features 27 games picked from a field of over a hundred. Each game was independently developed by Boston-area game producers and will be demoed at the festival.

Boston is a city which celebrates a culture of creativity and innovation. Boston’s game design community is unabashedly passionate about its creations, and BostonFIG serves to give this community its day in the spotlight. If you are a gamer in the greater Boston area, you owe it to yourself to take a visit down to MIT, and check out the BostonFIG. You will not regret it.

Did we mention that it was free?

We’ll be in attendance. See you there!