What is DemoNights?

DemoNights is GamePlay Space's biggest event of the year. It offers the chance for Quebec studios to show off their work-in-progress games to the development community and beyond.

Each year, 15 selected studios get 5 minutes to show live gameplay of their unreleased game.  Some of these come from well-known AAA studios, and others are indie projects of passion that we’ve never heard of before! As these are pre-release games, we get a mixture of polished, ready-to-ship games, and some that are still a work-in-progress (and prone to not working properly!) which always makes for a fun and eventful event.

History

According to our records, the first edition of DemoNights took place in 2006. Originally, it was run by the Montreal chapter of the International Game Developers Association, before GamePlay Space took it under its wing in 2017. Loto-Québec became an official partner in 2018. 

More than 175 games have been shown at DemoNights, including some notable games, such as:

DemoNight is a very exciting and friendly way to know games, network and gather feedback from peers of the industry. It provides valuable insight for any project moving forward.
- Paulo Luis Santos, Flux Games
DemoNight is important to me because it's a great way for all local developers to know "who is working on what" and bring inspiration to the community!
- Salim Larochelle, Flying Carpets Games
DemoNight, it's that feeling when you're catching up with a friend over coffee, but for the whole industry.
- Mohannad Al-Khatib, Artifact 5
DemoNight is the one time of the year we can gather and collectively cheer for gamedevs from all kinds of backgrounds. It's the great equalizer, giving a platform for solo devs all the way to AAA studios.
- Germain Couet, Sauropod Studio
DemoNight is like a family reunion among Montreal gamedevs where everyone has a chance to shine and share the cool things they're working on.
- Stephen Wark, Ludia
DemoNight is a fantastic chance to show an in-progress version of your game to a large crowd in order to get important feedback that can help guide the rest of the game's development.
- Richard Atlas, Clever Endeavour Games
DemoNight is the most exciting community event of the year, in my opinion. It's wonderful to see so many devs "putting themselves out there". It's a rare occasion to feel the type of passion that made us once want to become game developers!
- Ruben Farrus, Casa Rara

Eligibility

Game submissions typically open in the fall and close at the beginning of December. Calls for submissions are announced in the GamePlay Space newsletter, on our Discord, and on the GamePlay Space social media channels. 

If you are considering submitting your game for a future DemoNights, you’ll want to take these eligibility rules into account:

  • ⚜️  Studio/developers must be based in Quebec
  • 🎮 Your game must be unreleased up until the day after DemoNights (closed betas, Early Access, or geolock softlaunched games are acceptable)
  • 📽️  Your game must be developed enough to record 5 minutes of gameplay
  • 🕹️  Your game can be shippable on any platform, but you need to be able to record gameplay for the stream
  • 🛑  Your game must not be under NDA or restricted from public viewing
  • 🎙️ You must be available for the whole of DemoNights and the tech rehearsals. Dates will be shared when the submission form is available for the upcoming edition.

You can find out whether the call for submissions is open or whether the games have already been announced by heading to the upcoming edition page.

GamePlay Space is a community-driven organization in downtown Montreal. We aim to nurture the success of video game studios and independent developers by providing a multitude of relevant services, giving them access to knowledge sharing, business opportunities, and a vibrant community.

We provide many services, including regular and annual events, networking opportunities, desk rental, and more!

To find out more about GamePlay Space's services and to become a member, head here