Jawdat Toume and Daisy Chain Games: An Edmonton Indie Video Game Studio Built on Connection

Built on connection, driven by community, and heading to Gamescom this summer, Daisy Chain Games is building something real in Edmonton's video game community.

Jawdat Toume didn't set out to build a studio. She set out to make games that bring people together.

Growing up, she was making paper prototypes for her brother to play. By university, she was diving into computing science at the University of Alberta, teaching herself music composition and 3D modeling, and eventually completing a Master's degree in game AI. What drove all of it was a single consistent thread: the belief that games, at their best, are about connection.

"There are so many friends that I've made in my life that I would not have made if not for the games that I've played," she says. "Not because I played them with those people, but because we had that shared experience."

That belief became the foundation of Daisy Chain Games.

Finding the Right People

Daisy Chain Games was co-founded by Jawdat Toume, Alex Kumpula, Alex Salm, and Apple, four developers whose skills and personalities fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Alex K handles netcode, networking, and gameplay, and is great at driving projects to completion. Alex S handles UI, brings steady energy, and has a way of keeping the team motivated through consistent progress. Apple is the artist, delivering strong visuals and honest feedback. And Jawdat is, in her own words, the glue: connecting the studio to outside opportunities, managing the business side, handling sound design, and expanding ideas into a full vision.

The four of them came together at the 2025 Global Game Jam in Edmonton, built the first version of Slipstream, and never really stopped. Several days of conversation later, Daisy Chain Games was official.

The Philosophy Behind the Name

The studio's philosophy is simple: games that just connect.

For Daisy Chain, connection means multiplayer experiences that bring people together, games that reference each other across releases, and Easter eggs that nod to other Edmonton studios, weaving the local community into the work itself.

"Connection and interacting with other people is one of the coolest things about life," Jawdat says. "We want to create a positive impact for people as groups, not just as individuals."

That philosophy carries directly into how the studio has grown, and where it's headed next.

From Trailhead to the Global Stage

Before Daisy Chain existed, Jawdat participated in Edmonton Screen's Trailhead Program with a different project. At the time, Daisy Chain wasn’t even a thought. What Trailhead gave her was something that was built over time: dedicated mentorship from Alison Czarnietzki at Only by Midnight, an Edmonton-based indie studio, where she could bring her questions and get real guidance on what it actually takes to build a game business, hands-on exposure to the industry, and the chance to show her work at Game Con Canada alongside other studios.

"I don't know if Daisy Chain Games would be a thing without Trailhead," she says. "It sparked that conversation." It wasn’t an overnight moment, but looking back, Trailhead was part of the domino chain that led her there.

Now, as a 2026 Summit Push recipient, Daisy Chain Games is heading to Game Con Canada and NAGIS in Edmonton this June, and to Gamescom in Cologne, Germany in August.

For Jawdat, Gamescom carries a particular weight.

"I remember feeling so envious of the people who got to play the game demos. And now I get to showcase a game demo that I helped develop."

What's Next

Slipstream is set to launch in July with a free demo available now, and a prototype already in development for their next title. Before Gamescom, you can catch Daisy Chain Games at Game Con Canada this June at the Edmonton Screen booth [E02], alongside fellow Trailhead and Summit Push studios (see the recipient announcement here).

For any emerging developer wondering if there's a future in Edmonton's video game industry, Jawdat's advice is simple: show up, make games, and find your people.

"Make them fast, make them bad, make them good, make them whatever. The constant cycle of working on games and improving is where everything starts."

Daisy Chain Games found those people. Now they're building something worth watching.