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Gen Con: It’s more than costumes

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – One of the city’s largest conventions is taking over downtown for the next four days.

Gen Con 2016 got underway Thursday morning.

While the convention is known for outlandish costumes, it’s real purpose is to play new games.

“The best part is getting to test the games out,” said Lydia Gruver while dressed as Poison Ivy.

The genesis of the convention is to learn how to play the game, and then buy it

“There’s nothing that can sell the fun of a game more than just telling someone, ‘hey, sit down take a look at this. isn’t this cool? Give it a try. Take a free demo,’” said Mark Seifter, a developer with Paizo, Inc., a game developer.

Walking Dead No Sanctuary,a game making its debut at Gen Con, was developed by Cryptozoic Entertainment. The game was developed with the help of a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter

“It was an investment opportunity of a three-week period, we had a funding goal of $250,000 and we hit that pretty quickly and we’re pretty happy with where we landed,” said Deken Wheeler, the marketing manager for Cryptozoic Entertainment.

Some 61,000 people are expected, with over 500 exhibitors, all of them with the same mission of having fun.

“A lot of these people don’t get to game that often, so this is like the one time of year they get to with all of their friends from all over the world and game,” said Brady Sadler, a game designer.

The exhibit hall closes at 6:30 each night, but this is a 24-hour convention, people either gaming at the convention center, or at their hotel rooms.