There is construction at the CIMFest building, but you can still get into the parking lot via Clearview Circle.

The Columbus Interactive Media Festival returns to CSU for another great year of game and sim dev sessions, featuring keynote speaker Michelle Menard, Chief Creative Officer of Dragon Snacks Games. Other fesitvities include a Fantasy/Renaissance costume review with Tygarlily, game tournaments, and free lunch included with your registration.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

9 am Technology's Effect on the Human Experience w/Wesley Phelps and Anthony Obando

10 am Quality Assurance in Games w/Andrew Greenberg (m), Mike Stumhofer, Tim Ryan

11 am Keynote: A Recipe for Success: Being Resourceful and Not Prescriptive w/Michelle Menard

Noon Lunch and gaming tournaments run by Holo Haven

1 pm A Solopreneur’s Journey in Successful Game Development w/Joe Cassavaugh

2 pm Starting a Game Studio w/Thor (m), Kirk Heriot, Michelle Menard, Mike Stumhofer, Clara Vargas

3 pm Making Game Audio Great with Darius Gourdine and Matthew McCabe

4 pm Secrets of Game Design w/ Thor, Michelle Menard, Tim Ryan

When: 9 am - 5 pm Saturday, March 7, 2026

Where: Columbus State University Center of Commerce and Technology, 4225 University Ave, Columbus, GA

How Much: $5 for GGDA members and CSU students; $10 all others, FREE in costume!

Members can register HERE

Nonmembers can register HERE

Michelle Menard keynote: A Recipe for Success: Being Resourceful and Not Prescriptive

Description: Regardless of what anyone might have said previously, there has never been an easy, full-proof, follow-this-for-guaranteed-results recipe for success in the games industry (if there were we’d all be retired millionaires. Hint: We’re Not.).

However, while there used to be some general guiding principles and touchstones you could base your production schedules and financial projections on, in this post-pandemic landscape fueled by viral video shorts, AI-slop wars, and tech-bro whims, everything we used to take for granted is being being thrown out and reimagined.

Let’s boomer shake some fists at clouds, take a meandering trip down history lane, and look to what success means and can mean in the future of gaming, while also learning some wisdom from pre-19th century cookbooks.

Technology and Humanity

This will be an overview of a Reflctive Project on how technology impacts the human experience. Wesley Phelps and Anthony Obando will discuss what his essay covered and his conclusion about technology's impact on the human experience.

Other Presenters

Darius Gourdine is an interactive audio designer specializing in implementation for Unity and Unreal Engine. With experience spanning technical sound design, middleware integration, field recording, and immersive audio systems, Darius bridges the gap between creative vision and technical execution in game development. He has contributed to projects across games and film, including his work as a Sound Designer at House of How and as a field recordist and mixer for the feature film Bruiser. Passionate about interactive audio workflows, Darius has also spoken at GameSoundCon and AirCon, sharing insights from his journey into game audio and his approach to building immersive player experiences.

Dr. Kirk C. Heriot

Dr. Kirk C. Heriot is a Professor of Management at Columbus State University and holds the Ray and Evelyn Endowed Crowley Chair in Entrepreneurship. He has previously taught at universities in SC, GA, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.  Kirk completed a Ph.D. in Industrial Management with a concentration in Strategic Management at Clemson University in 1996. He teaches Introduction to Entrepreneurship, New Venture Creation, and Entrepreneurial Small Business at the undergraduate level and Entrepreneurship in the Web MBA program.  His research interests include strategic planning in small firms, determinants of firm births, and entrepreneurship education. His research has led to publication of over 40 papers in academic journals such as the Journal of Private Enterprise, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Small Business Institute Journal, Small Business Economics, Journal of Small Business Management, American Business Review, and the Journal of Small Business Strategy, to name a few.

Prior to becoming a university professor, Kirk worked as a consultant with the Clemson University Small Business Development Center assisting over 400 clients.  As a college professor, he has assisted students that have started new companies.  In addition to his consulting experience, Kirk served as an officer in the US Army on active duty and the reserves.  He was also a manager for a privately owned textile company prior to completing his doctorate.

Dr. Matthew McCabe 

Dr. Matthew McCabe is currently Associate Professor of Audio Technology at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University.  He holds degrees in music from the University of Richmond, Bowling Green, and the University of Florida, where he primarily studied music composition and technology.  Since arriving at CSU in 2009, Dr. McCabe has overseen the recording of more than 5000 live concert events and worked as an engineer on more than 30 commercially released Classical albums with CSU faculty and guest artists who come to Columbus to record with him.  He was the primary audio engineer for Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero in the Columbus unit and also appears in the film as an additional voice.  Off campus, he spends time working in the Loft Recording Studio, serves as the technologist for Chicago-based, multi-Grammy winning chamber ensemble eighth blackbird, and loves to be with his wife and two dogs.  Dr. McCabe is also an advocate and fluent speaker of the Irish language and spends time in the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland whenever possible. 

Tim Ryan

Tim Ryan is the Founder and CTO of Upswing Games in Columbus. He has published games on nearly every video game platform since 1992 before entering the casino gaming space in 2010. He produced FREQUENCY for Sony Playstation 2 which won a BAFTA in 2002. He designed and produced REMISSION for HopeLab which was recognized as a successful video game treatment for childhood cancers. He has invented and patented dozens of slot and skill game mechanics, and is a published author of science fiction and fantasy.

Tim Ryan

Anthony Obando is a computer science teacher at Hardaway High School. Starting in 2021, he has worked in 2 schools teaching students from grades 6 through 12 topics of computer science, and game design. His preferred class to teach is AP Computer Science A. He is engaged to Caroline Murphy and co-coaches robotics with her! Outside of school, he can be found spending time with his fiancée, playing Dungeons and Dragons (Sorcerer or DM!), playing Guitar Hero, attending conventions, and increasing his collection of autographs for his classroom!

Wesley Phelps graduated from the Hardaway Highschool IB program in 2025 with a focus in computer science, and he is now a student at Columbus Tech focusing on Mechanical engineering