You have heard of the Wisconsin goodbye, but have you ever received a Wisconsin hello? It definitely is present when you visit or even live in this diverse state. If you don’t know what a Wisconsin goodbye is, it is best described as a long and drawn-out ordeal in which two parties are trying to go their separate ways but takes a significant amount of time. This is mainly due to the politeness of both parties. So, what is the Wisconsin hello then? Well, it is a genuine experience which I felt when I went to MDEV in Madison WI in early November of 2025.

Hi, I’m Shane and I have lived in Wisconsin my entire life. I enjoy the short warm summers and have survived the long cold winters. I have eaten too many types of cheeses, got lost in plenty of corn mazes, and remembered drinking most of those state brewed beers. I have had the typical Wisconsin experience for the most part. But I can tell you something is brewing within our borders that can make us stand out even more and I’m glad I can be a part of it.

In 2006 to 2010, I went to college and got two degrees. I have an Associate’s in Multimedia and a Bachelor’s in Digital Entertainment and Game Design. I have always wanted to pursue something in this realm and for the most part I have been lucky to do so in various forms. My journey from early Twitter use gained me opportunities and friends. From writing for places like Nintendo Enthusiast and Boss Rush Network to Podcasting for Another Zelda Podcast and attending E3 in 2016, I have really enjoyed my path thus far. What does this all have to do with the Midwest being a game hub?

Currently I write and podcast with Boss Rush Network and a fellow writer on the team Lev, wanted to go to MDEV which is a Midwest Developers conference held in Madison Wisconsin each year. This year it was going to be longer than its traditional one-day event. David our Editor-in-Chief wanted to know if I would also like to attend the event and of course, I said yes.

I left early Friday morning and reached my destination. I went in to receive my badge and got ready for the first Keynote talk.  The message I received from this talk was that the Midwest is the future of game developers. It has plenty of talent such as big names like Ravensoft and Respawn are already present. The Midwest is an affordable place to live with a focus on family and values. Hard work is in our veins, and we strive for excellence. These were the messages I heard and could relate to.

Throughout the show these messages rang true and being able to attend the various talks and workshop sessions further solidified this message for myself. The ability to have conversations and make connections in a low stressed environment was a welcome bonus. This is where I felt most at home.

The connections started even before I went to MDEV. A coworker of mine told me he was starting to develop his own indie title and since I have some experience with games as well as my own series where I interview people who have used Kickstarter to fund their projects, I had some insight into how he could generate revenue for his passion project. Even more insane was he had told me of a company and its owner who was helping him reach his goals and to my surprise it was a former teacher of mine who taught me how to make levels in Unreal Engine almost 20 years prior. This of course led to a reunion at MDEV and many wonderful conversations of the past.

As I walked through the hall where the indie developers lurked, I discovered so much love and talent for the games they were working on. I stumbled upon a hand-drawn game and started to have a conversation only to soon find out that this person, Andrew, graduated from the same High School as me just with my younger siblings. Of all the high schools in the world, Andrew came from the same roots I did. What a fantastically weird connection that binds us just like video games do.

I stopped at booth after booth and met some fantastic people who shared with me their game that meant so much to them.  You could see on their faces, the mannerisms of their body language of how excited they were to showcase their hard work and talent, they were genuine. It is that passion that is inside all of those who are creative and want to share our work with others. One such booth showed this type of energy about their game Ghoulong Tea, a game about serving donuts and boba tea in a correct and timely manner to the ghoulish entities showing up to your shop. After seeing the excitement of the 3 talented game developers Asha, Kiki, and Wen and their willingness to teach me how to play and even more impressive to me was that they wanted my feedback about the game and improvements in which they could make. This highly impressed me and they have my utmost respect. We have much to learn from each other.

Another interaction I had was with a team from UW Madison who were working with VR and AR in various ways. Two important ways that they were trying to convey and implement were through safety and education. I was most impressed with Bryce, a virtual and augmented reality applications developer. He talked about working with the firefighters in Neenah WI. They were trying to come up with a map of a location that is a virtual display to indicate where all exits are within a building, fire extinguishers, electrical and gas hookups, all of which would be useful information if you were inside a smoke filled area in which you could not physically see, but would have a virtual map to utilize that could still guide you to all important areas of a site. All quite impressive and even more so lifesaving.

Lastly the Wisconsin Game Alliance, which is run by volunteers, is taking steps to help create legislation that could provide tax breaks to game studios with employees. SB 204 would be a refundable tax credit of up to 30 percent back on wages and expenditure for those who have a physical location located in the state of Wisconsin. Of course, some definition around who qualifies is up for debate, but the purpose of this endeavor is to try and attract outside companies or the support of new ones and create more jobs for people. Hopefully this will pass and become some positive incentive for Wisconsin gaming developers. While sitting in on a discussion I joined the WGA for free, but there is also a paid version of 25 dollars that offers different perks.

I only could have imagined what MDEV was before I stepped into the Alliant Energy Center on November 7th, 2025, but it truly made me see the potential that the Midwest states offer. With time hopefully we will see new laws pass, new companies emerge, and as always incredible games surface, showing the heart and hard work behind Midwest made experiences. Now I don’t want to linger so I will give you a normal farewell, Goodbye!

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Shane Kelley is a Senior writer for Boss Rush Network, as well as a writer for Another Zelda Podcast. His favorite game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You can find him on X or Bluesky to talk video games, Marvel, cribbage, and axe throwing.

Featured Image: Taken By Author