One of the reasons
TTDILA, Things To Do In LA exists is because of the amazing art shows that happen in LA. And, one of the first we ever covered and continue to cover is iam8bit. They're having a 20th Anniversary art show this weekend and we were lucky enough to ask questions of its co-founders.
● Jon Gibson (iam8bit, co-owner and co-creative director)
● Amanda White (iam8bit, co-owner and co-creative director)
Jonathan Bilski (TTDILA):
Jon and Amanda, congratulations on twenty years of iam8bit. Its been terrible having to
write that name over the years as it's constantly trying to be autocorrected. But, always a
pleasure with the undeniable amazing events, art shows, collabs or whatever you come
up with.That's a good starting question, what is iam8bit? It's like a swiss army knife of all
things cool related to video games. And, you've done so much over the last twenty
years.
We’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last two decades. Those who
have supported us since the beginning will know that the name iam8bit is an
important reflection of our debut art show that gave a platform to so many art
pieces inspired by gaming icons of the 80s and 90s. Since then, we’ve infused
that vision into everything we do. Our 20th anniversary art show celebrates both
our origin story and how we continue to work with artists, illustrators, designers
and creatives across industries to shape art and games.
iam8bit started as an art show and over the years we've added many layers on
top of that foundation. The vision to elevate video games in culture has remained
clear as we’ve expanded the realms in which we operate and create. We’ve gone
on to do music and vinyl which then led us to physical game releases and special
one-off projects like our Legacy Cartridge Collection.
At iam8bit, we explore a lot of projects but our main goal is to have a profound
effect on the ways in which people interact with games and culture.
Interacting in person is so important, now more than ever, and is incredibly
impactful. With this in mind, we purposefully designed our annual games event,
Summer Game Fest: Play Days to have a festival-like feel. It has become a
significant in-person event for the whole games industry to unite and celebrate
our love for games. Our partners at Double Fine also help us in bringing our indie gaming event and showcase, Day of the Devs, to a variety of cities every year! Through these in-person events and virtual showcases we’ve brought so many indie creators into the spotlight.
Our publishing arm, iam8bit Presents, has taken off with award winning puzzle
game, Escape Academy, cozy core game Simpler Times and a retro fave
Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum.
We will launch two more games in 2026 with the sequel to Escape Academy
from Coin Crew Games, Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, and Petal Runner,
which is an incredible homage to the pixel era and the Game Boy Color
aesthetic, from developer Nano Park Studios.
How's it been working with each other over such a long period?
We’ve been doing this now for 20 years and we have a pretty seamless
relationship. We have an established shorthand for everything, from collaboration
to ideation to our division of labor both day to day and moment to moment. We
deeply appreciate both our differences and our fundamental similarities. We have
a profound respect for one another. We both got pretty lucky in the business
partner department!
Amanda and I both share a deep love of the games industry. We really have
loved building on the notion of fans having a significant and tactile relationship
with the products we create. Whether that’s a Collector’s Editions that fans will be
proud to display, or a vinyl that invokes awe and joy from its art to its music,
Amanda and I are proud that we get to work together, and with artists, to create
items that speak to fans and deliver for our partners.
We also help to keep one another in check and to know when it’s right to push
hard on something we want to achieve as a company. It’s equally important to
have this level of honesty with one another when we need to rein it in a bit more.
Since the beginning, our minds have always hummed with an imagination of the
things iam8bit does to directly influence the consumers who buy things from us.
That has definitely been a big point for us. We’ve worked so closely together for
so long and now it’s just our everyday and we only see ourselves getting better
and better at it. We like to think the quality of our business has really stepped up
year over year. It’s also not just “us” but the many many amazing and diverse
people who have contributed to the success of our company. Whether someone
worked with us 20 years ago or for just a few month, they have both big and
small impacts on the ways that Amanda and I work together.
What are some of your favorite events or experiences you've done as iam8bit? Please,
go into detail. The Super iam8bit Art Show, the remastered DuckTales game promoted
with a money bin photo-op, GDC quiz show and yearbook photos with laser
backgrounds, are just a few of my favs.
We’re certainly most proud of how Summer Game Fest Play Days has become a
mosaic for the games industry every June. With our partners at Double Fine, Day
of the Devs has also evolved into a really great springboard for visibility across
so many indie games. We want to keep doing things like this. Of course, we’ve
done plenty of other events over the years and one of my favorites is…the
Fortnite World Cup. This was a gigantic event at the USTA Center back in 2019
where we got to work on a huge canvas and bring heavily experiential elements
like a live game show to fans. It was a total blast!
Agree with everything Amanda said. We believe so strongly in supporting indie
games (and indie game fans!) through Day of the Devs and our iam8bit Presents
branch. One of my favorite one-off events has to be this really crazy Elder Scrolls
event we produced at PAX East years ago. We created an entire economy for
the event; every attendee received a satchel of 15 septims, the in-game currency
in the Elder Scrolls universe, when they entered. They could spend it however
they wanted. They could buy food or go to the beer garden. They could purchase
exclusive swag. But some of the swag was more expensive than anyone could
afford by themselves, so that meant you had to earn more coins. But how?
Maybe you pooled with your friends. But that still might not be enough. That’s when it got
really interesting. A cast of hired, thematic actors, representing avatars and
creatures from around the Elder Scrolls universe, could help. Some would even
encourage you to gamble illegally with them. And if you won, those out of reach,
high-priced items could be earned. It was so fun to observe the social dynamics
at that event. Amanda and I had a blast just watching it unfold, because for all
the planning we did, it was still unpredictable.
Now, what about your favorite merch you've created? And, next, I would ask about a
video game published. I know it's hard, so you can go through a few. People really loved
that Thermos from Alan Wake.
We love the Thermos from Alan Wake and really it was such a joy to work with
Remedy on that. We’re all thrilled it has been such a hit. The iam8bit team also
launched a larger Remedy collection earlier this year around the studio’s 30th
Anniversary with a ton of other great products from Max Payne, Control and Alan
Wake.
For our publishing side, iam8bit Presents, we wouldn’t say there’s any one
favorite. As a publisher, it’s important to our whole team that we’re looking for
titles that get us excited, do things that stand out and bring players joy. Whether
it’s Escape Academy from Coin Crew Games, Simpler Times from stoneskip. or
Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum, we think all of them
stand out in their own ways. We also have a great lineup in 2026, maybe our
most exciting yet, with Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School as well as Petal
Runner from Nano Park Studios. Our goal is to stay consistent and always outdo
ourselves. The fact we get to work with Coin Crew Games again to continue
building the Escape Academy series is really exciting for us.
I’d say similarly too, with all of our merch, each product brings new opportunities
and challenges for us as a team. We really want to capture the creativity of each
IP in the products we get to produce and to push the limit of what we, and others
in the space, have done. I’d say we’ve achieved that goal with everything on our
storefront.
What's this latest show mean to you? You haven't had an official iam8bit art show for
some time. To me, it's showing off all the work you put in, friends over the years coming
back, an amazing amount of new art on display.
It means so much to us to bring back an event like this that echoes everything
we’ve done and shines a light on where we want to continue to go. Our goal as a
company has always been to break new ground in ways fans can engage with
the art they love, and this show gives us another opportunity to do it. We were
the first people to create a pop culture based art show 20 years ago and we’ve
come so far since then. It’s been incredible to have so many great friends and
former colleagues reach out to us for this 20-year celebration.
I think Amanda hit the nail on the head. We have over 70 artists who are still
excited to be a part of an iam8bit art show. An event like this helps us give back
to all of those who have helped the company get to where it is today and who will
lend a hand in it continuing to grow into the future.
And Jon, I hope you confront artist Gabe Swarr finally over what he's done to you...we all
know what he's done...unspeakable. I saw on Insta he's bringing his Mario Game to play
too at the latest show. The top-score wins a special art piece he's done.
Gabe’s great! His Mario design is such an impactful part of iam8bit history. I’m
looking forward to seeing who comes out on top during the event. We hope
everyone will come and check out the playable art. Fun fact: Gabe was the very
first friend I made when I moved to LA when I was 18.
614 East 12th Street Los Angeles, CA 90015
Free
Woah,
didn't expect this, but our favorite...art collective...production
studio...video game merch store? Whatever iam8bit is, is having its 20th
anniversary art show this November. And, at a new location...in the
Fashion District.
