FULL INDIE
Founded in 2010, Full Indie is a Vancouver-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting our local game dev community. We aim to provide independent game creators with opportunities to demo their games, network with other indies, and learn from their community.
HISTORY
In 2010, Jake Birkett and Alex Vostrov planned their first meetup for local game devs at a Yaletown bar. There were so many attendees that the venue couldn’t accommodate everyone, so people spilled out onto the sidewalk. Thus, the Vancouver Indie Game Developers group was born.
A few months into the group’s inception, they decided to create their logo and branding with the help of Su Skerl and Jason Elliot. “Vancouver Indie Game Developers” was renamed “Full Indie,” which is far more succinct.
In 2016, founder Vostrov handed over the presidency to Maurice Grela. On top of running regular monthly meetups and the annual summit, Full Indie collaborated with Hand Eye Society in 2017 to run the Game Curious initiative at the Richmond Public Library. Weekly drop-in arcades featured local games and their creators. This was followed by a six-week game-making program, where participants learned how to create their own video game.
Full Indie would go on to run game demo nights at the Vancouver Film School and game jams at the Centre for Digital Media. Even though founder Birkett left Vancouver in 2012, the nonprofit remained strong, and held its first annual Full Indie Summit in 2013.
In 2018, Full Indie joined forces with VanCAF to host the Comics <3 Games showcase. This allowed indies to share their games at the comic festival and reach a wider audience.
What will Full Indie do next? Check out our volunteer positions to join us on our next adventure.
After a five-year hiatus, originally starting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Grela passed on the presidency to Aryo Nazaradeh who continued the meetups in 2023. In 2024, the Full Indie Summit returned to Emily Carr University with a positive reception, and the team expanded to 5 members (Nikita Kotter, Amelia Wales, Chloe Ezra, and Demi Montes).
TEAM
ARYO NAZARADEH
President
Aryo spends most of his time as a sound designer, yet somehow still finds time to geek out in other ways. He speaks 6 languages, is relentless during board games, leads competitive raid groups in ESO, and always admires good bike infrastructure.
NIKITA KOTTER
Vice President
Nikita is a designer interested in all things gaming, climbing, skiing, and hiking. He started as a modded who has been relentlessly pursuing a career in games, seeking to make awesome games and helping others along the way.
AMELIA WALES
Treasurer
Formerly from Melbourne, Amelia moved to Vancouver and joined Full Indie in 2019. She now works as a producer, and fills her free hours with hockey, Magic the Gathering, and of course video games.
CHLOE EZRA
Secretary, Artist
Chloe started as an architect of hockey memes before evolving to a character/concept artist and merchandise wizard. She continues to spend most of her money on games, art books, and cat food.
DEMI MONTES
Community Manager
Demi is a community manager and marketing specialist in the indie game dev scene, currently at Mega Crit Games. When not managing communities she can be found making art, reading, writing, and--surprise--gaming.
MIRANDA
Project Manager
Miranda is a full time organizer of projects, PM tools, and drawers. Production is a full time experience for her as she tracks and logs all of the game night games she and her friends play on a biweekly basis (>350). She loves her black cat/goblin Panza, crafting, and the Yakuza series.