YES,... SOUTH-EAST EUROPE IS PLAYING TOO
ONLY GAMES AND MUSIC CAN DO THAT
So, the show is over. I am certain the halls of Zagreb Fair are empty or probably already being prepared for another event. However, I am also sure if you close your eyes and concentrate you can still hear the sounds of explosions, laser guns and tires. If you focus you can hear zombies moaning, monkeys laughing and feel the sparks of excitement in the electrified air. It's really not that hard... you know the sounds and the feeling, because you are a gamer too, right?
Of course the Infogamer is no Gamescom or a PAX, same as the Gamescom is no Tokyo Game Show, but from my local perspective I have to admit that the Infogamer stands nowhere short next to Vienna's annual Gamecity - in fact it even felt bigger to me. And besides that, there were also a lot of big names represented on the event: Ubisoft, Oculus Rift, PS4, Advanced Warfare, Blizzard showing their newest World of Warcraft addon and many more. There was also a descent part dedicated to retro gaming as well as to tabletop games and... they even had a truly e-sport - by the way a word that in Austria almost nobody knows - worthy stage where for example Heartstone was played. Personally I missed Microsoft... Has nobody told them about this event, or is there no market for the Xbox One in Eastern Europe? - I mean, Sony was there with a lot of PS4s... Well, I don't know to be perfectly honest I could have also just missed it since my schedule did not work out quite as planned: My actual mission was not to play the new Call of Duty or the new Assassin's Creed but to check out the indie section of the show. I planned to be done with all the indie games by the middle of the second day, but to my surprise two hours before I had to leave on the third (and last day for me) I still hadn't checked out all the booths. - Talking about size... how many indie games were displayed on the last Gamecity?
VIRTUAL REALITY - JUST LIKE IN THE LATE 80s
Yes, I did try the Oculus Rift (finally) and on a short note: It was great! Admittedly the roller coaster ride was almost a bit too much for me - I also can’t stand roller coasters in real life - but the technology and the immersion, although only low resolution, is absolutely remarkable! I can’t wait to get this stuff in my living room. Are they still selling developer editions? ... I have to check that.
INDIE FOR PRESIDENT
While I was sitting and talking with the developers I witnessed countless kids passing the booths only focused on the screens with the big games. I still feel kind of sad that they didn’t seem to be interested in indie games, yet having their dreams probably all about making games for themselves when they are older. The saddest thing is that at such an event they actually have a chance to ask real developers about what it means to create games; what they’d need to do and to learn, how much of a struggle it is to be independent. At the beginning indie is all about dreaming and keeping up with a reality that unfortunately doesn’t allow for fantasy anymore. But the more you let this extraordinary philosophy of creation take a hold in your life, the more you realize that despite all the drawbacks, the things you need to pay with your own hard earned money and all the time you need to put into, you might actually already be part of the dream! There can be nothing but admiration for those pioneers of the true contemporary, cultural form of entertainment called videogames. And as I am sure that this is the case for the most part, support and awareness still has a lot of room to grow. For indie is already changing the face of videogames and there’s no end in sight, just remember: Indie is more than just chasing dreams, if you are indie, you’re living the dream! - Speaking in figures of my own project: After even the mightiest rivers lost ground and the sand has carved away also those faces of empires made for eternity, there will be nothing left but the realization that it is just one single corn of sand that makes the difference.
During my three days - mostly spent - at the indie corner of the show (btw. generously sponsored by Little Green Men Games), I've played about 14 indie games and had long talks with the developers. I am deeply sorry that I have still missed a few but given my time constraints it is anyway not possible to go into detail about each and every game anyway.
COMING UP NEXT:
Within the next couple of days I will put up (p)reviews about my personal Top 3 indie games of the show. Afterwards I will write one post dedicated and summarizing (hopefully) all the games showcased and give you all the available links and a short information about each. That way you can simply track the individual games and check them out for yourself, because trust me, it's really worth it. Since almost all of those games are scheduled to be released in 2015 anyway, I will naturally also keep track of them myself and certainly write something about one or the other at a later point.
For now let me end this post with some pictures of the show and by again thanking all of the people involved at this event and especially all the nice Eastern European indie developers. Thank you for being a great inspiration and motivation to all of us!
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