ALBANY, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – Empire State Development, a government department intended to bring businesses to New York State, announced on Tuesday, March 21 that the state has opened its first ever pavilion at the Game Developer’s Conference in California, and one Mohawk Valley College is going along with it.

SUNY Polytechnic in Marcy is one of the partners heading to the conference. The college offers a degree program in Interactive Media and Game Design, which gives students opportunities to design and produce games. Alumni have gone on to jobs at such companies as Letter 10 Productions, a documentary and reality-based television company, Apple, and Vicarious Visions, a game studio.

New York State is the first state in the country to lead a statewide pavilion at the conference, which started in San Francisco on Monday, March 20.

The announcement on the pavilion comes after New York State recently launched the New York State Digital Game Development Tax Credit. The program is intended to attract game developers to New York State by offsetting some production costs.

Other Upstate New York partners include Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Rochester Institute of Technology and 1^st Playable Productions of Troy.

The Conference is scheduled from now until Friday, March 24.