massDigiLogoWith PAX East being hosted in Boston, MA, the show is an ideal venue to showcase Massachusetts (my home state) talent and every year one of the notable presences at the show is always the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDiGI).

Established in 2011 and based at Becker College, MassDiGI is a collaborative effort between academic, government and industry professionals to “foster the growth of the innovation economy in Massachusetts”.

If you or your child is an aspiring game developer (of any age), then you are encouraged to drop by the MassDiGI Made in MA: The State of Play booth (#499) for some free mentoring and of course…game demos.

At the booth this year will be some great looking iOS games including this year’s Game Challenge ’14 Grand Prize winner Jenna Hoffstein, founder of Little Worlds Interactive, who will be showing off her educational mathemagical iOS adventure game for kids (aged 6-8) called The Counting Kingdom.

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Also on tap is one of last year’s Indie Showcase winners, the stealth Noir puzzle game Third Eye Crime from developer Moonshot Games. The game is finally nearing release this Spring with brand-new Boston-based publisher Gameblyr. Gamblyr will also be publishing Revolution 60, the upcoming cinematic iOS game from the all-female development team at Giant Spacekat.

There will be other non-iOS surprises at the booth as well including the Made in MA Quest where you can win a prize by visiting all of the MA exhibitors.

And if that wasn’t enough, you can kick of your PAX East experience at 10am in the Dragonfly Theatre attending the Game Devs: The Next Generation featuring five local college students recounting their experiences of making a game over the course of eleven weeks at MassDiGI’s Summer Innovation Program.