henke on 15/8/2019 at 16:53
This year's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany kicks off on Tuesday. But this year's edition will not be the same as previous years! You see, this year's edition is getting a little extra dose... of henke.
That's right I'm heading down to good ol' Köln on Monday. Got my trade pass, got my airline tickets, got a cheap AirBnB to stay at, got a bunch of fellow indie devs from Finland and Sweden for travel companions, and I got no idea what to do when I get down there. I'm not looking for publishers or collaborators or anything like that, so I haven't booked any meetings. The only plan I have is to go to parties, play games, get hyped, and try to enjoy myself.
I bet we got some folks with experience of expos here. Any tips for a first timer?
twisty on 16/8/2019 at 05:10
Tips for Germany? Drink beer
WingedKagouti on 16/8/2019 at 08:26
Get a schnitzel in a good restaurant. It will be worth it unless you don't like meat.
And note that while they're more famous for their beer, they also make and are proud of wines. If you want a bit of variety.
As far as the expo experience goes, expect a lot of noise along with queue times for the things you want to try.
henke on 16/8/2019 at 09:53
Beer and schnitzel? Don't mind if I do!
About the expo, I've been told I gotta make the most out of it on Tuesday and Wednesday, which are the trade-only days, before the commoners get let in on Thursday and the whole place goes nuts.
Dunno what games are gonna have demos tho but I'm hoping for Mudrunner 2, and/or Cyberpunk 2077.
henke on 20/8/2019 at 20:16
Day 0: Monday
I’m going to gamescom as part of a bigger group of Finnish and Swedish indie devs. 3 of us left from Vaasa in the afternoon. We were supposed to touch down in Dusseldorf at 18:00, but it was past 23:00 when we finally got there. Nothing but trouble with these planes. 2 flights turned to 3, all delayed. While we were stuck on the Warzawa runway waiting for the weather to clear up I ordered and ate the most disgusting sandwitch I’d had in my life, simply cause I hadn’t had anything else since breakfast. Luckily my Airbnb host’s roommates were still awake to let me in when I showed up at midnight. My ears hurt like hell. Off to a bad start.
Day 1: Gamescom!
We’d been told that today is the best day to play demos since there’ll be less people, but the place was still quite crowded and the lines for the popular games were insane. No thanks. The thing about the masses of people queuing in these lines however, is that they are truly the masses. While the lines for Fifa 2020, the new Avengers game, and Ghost Recon: The Next One stretched on for hours, plenty of demo booths for wonderful smaller titles (like Trine 4!) stood empty and unloved.
Quick impressions of stuff I played:
Trine 4 (on Switch) - GOOD.
Ecco the Dolphin and Mickey Castle of Illusion on the Sega Genesis Mini - I got nostalgic. Didn’t get any of the Nintendo minis but I might get this.
Lonely Mountains Downhill - looks better than it plays honestly.
Forza Horizon 4 Lego - what you’d expect.
Desperados 3 - I am very hyped for this.
Concrete Genie - some kinda cross between Infamous First Light and Marc Eccos Getting Up. Ok.
Also some other stuff I can’t remember at the moment!
The only party l’d booked myself into tonight was China’s Top Publishers. I wasn’t really looking for one, so I hoped none of these publishers would approach me at the event while I was just trying to enjoy my free beer. If one did I might have to give them the Stilt Fella Mobile publishing rights just to get out of the conversation.
Glad to say I managed to keep my cool when a couple Tencent guys came up and started asking about my game. I showed them the trailer, they laughed and seemed to dig it, business cards were exchanged, but I’m not expecting anything to come of it.
Early night tonight. Tomorrow night is the Nordic Party, which is supposed to be good.
WingedKagouti on 20/8/2019 at 20:46
Quote Posted by henke
We'd been told that today is the best day to play demos since there'll be less people, but the place was still quite crowded and the lines for the popular games were insane.
Now imagine being one of the people manning those booths on the busy days.
Yakoob on 21/8/2019 at 00:10
Oo thanks for the update :) Looking forward to reading more! Post some photos too, huh?
I've never been to GamesCom, but if there's any general con tips I'd give is:
* Go to all the afterparties. It's fun, usually free drinks, and good chance for networking
* Go to the Polish events. The US versions were among the best. We know how to cater and party ;)
* Pace yourself. I've gotten horribly sick halfway through GDC cause I was running around everywhere and drinking too much at night
Anyway, looking forward to hearing more impressions! Hope you get some interesting publishing/funding/collab/wutever deals :D
Quote Posted by WingedKagouti
Now imagine being one of the people manning those booths on the busy days.
I talked to several devs and they said GamesCom is a nightmare. Way too crowded, too hot, and too long. The longest cons I've done were 3 days, and by the end of that I didn't even care if people played my game, I just wanted to go home xD
Renzatic on 21/8/2019 at 00:25
Just get drunk.
henke on 21/8/2019 at 21:55
Can't believe I forgot to tell you about my CELEBRITY SIGHTING! I saw Matthew Castle from RPS! He was wearing SHORTS!!
Also saw John Romero.
Full recap of day 2 once I've sobered up.
Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
henke on 22/8/2019 at 06:12
Day 2: The madness beginsInline Image:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7mcwujyng0xxus/20190821_125808.jpg?raw=1(Sorry about huge image, on iPad, too much hassle to figure out how to resize it)
Yeah so things got pretty packed, I still drifted around the entertainment areas most of the day, played a few great indie games, but I especially wanna highlight:
Heavenly Bodies[video=youtube;z8DglXiy5kQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8DglXiy5kQ[/video]
Obviously my kinda thing. Devs are a 2 man team from Australia, had a nice chat with one of em about physics driven games and showed him my game as well.
Dead Static DriveGTA1 but isometric but State of Decay but Lovecraft, basically. There’s a lot going on here. Vehicle physics are wonderful.
Broken LinesSimultaneous turn-based WW2 story. Cribs a lot of good ideas from both Frozen Synapse and Valkyria Chronicles.
In the evening I went to a Korean thing and then the Nordic Party. Met more Finnish game devs and German art students. Drank lots of Kölsch!