Gamescom 2015 Wrap-up

We’re back!

And oh man, that was one intense week. So many meetings, so many people, so much talking, so much… standing! Still, it was amazing! We met a whole bunch of great people, had so many nice conversations with players and other indie developers and of course: lots of fun!

And of course we want to share our experience. So this is our wrap-up post for Gamescom 2015!

Impressions

indie-arena-constructionThe Indie Arena megabooth still under construction. Stefan and me (Felix) both arrived on Tuesday. Seeing how things were, we were a bit concerned if everything would be ready by Wednesday. Well, it did work out after all!

IMG_1662Our Deck13 booth was in a cool and calm business area. A constant stream of Press, Youtubers and others came into this closed space where they could play CrossCode and other great indie titles supported by Deck13.

2015-08-09 11.51.44Compared to the Deck13 Booth, the Indie Arena was intense, busy… and loud! With a huge crowd of gamers surrounding us, we constantly had people trying out CrossCode, leaving us almost no time for a break. Good thing we could take turns!

2015-08-09 11.52.14The Indie Arena booth came with a wooden surface free for everyone to scribble on. We couldn’t resist.

lachs-presentingIn some occasions we got the opportunity to present CrossCode on stage. Here you see me presenting CrossCode on the Social Media Stage.

IMG_1676…all those people were most definitely watching my presentation with utmost interest and not merely waiting for T-Shirts and other merch to be thrown from the stage afterwards. Yes.

fanboyThen we were surprised by an awesome fan that visited our booth bringing a custom-made CrossCode case for us to sign!

crosscode-caseIt even got a proper DVD and description on the back!

IMG_1683Some mysterious things happened, too! An unknown artist visited our booth and drew a cute Lea on the business card of our booth neighbor weirdbeardgames… We still don’t know who did it, but anyway – such a nice surprise!

IMG_1695Those two guys found a new approach to multiplayer for CrossCode!

sunglass-mustacheEventually we found a weird pair of Sunglasses with an attached mustache in the shopping area. It was immediately clear what had to be done.

starrmazerTowards the end we had Starrmazer invading our Indie Arena booth. Not sure how that happened! Well, it’s an awesome game we’re happy to spread the word of!

rfg-teamAnd that was Gamescom 2015!

 

Shoutouts

A great part about going to conventions is meeting so many other great indie game developers.

That’s why we want to give a shout out to all our awesome booth neighbors at Gamescom, like those at the Indie Arena Megabooth! In the following we will give out a few special mentions to some of those projects.

Sky Arena by Hammer Labs

We already knew this game from the RPC where we played quite a few rounds with the developer and it proved to be very popular once again. Rightly so, because it is a very enjoyable splitscreen multiplayer shoot ‘em up, kinda like if you mixed the Star Fox multiplayer with a fast-paced arena shooter like Quake 3.

An extra super-special-awesome shout-out goes to the developer Oliver who was also the very busy main organizer of the entire Indie Arena megabooth!

99 Bricks by weirdbeard

This direct neighbor of ours is a fast paced physics builder that seems like a reverse Tetris at first, because you have to raise a tower with blocks up to a certain height as fast as possible. In truth though you should forget everything you learned in Tetris because otherwise the physics will kick your ass blocks. Great for some wacky multiplayer sessions!

Fallman by Glad Game Studio

This direct neighbor of ours was one of the few exclusively mobile games at the booth which has a simple but fun concept using the touchscreen. In this “trampoline jumping action game” your objective is to, big surprise, jump on a trampoline and do all kinds of tricks mid-air. Careful though, because the different stages can have various obstacles that can put a painful stop to your athletic activities. It’s a very fun game that can become surprisingly challenging if you want to master it!

Hover Cubes Arena by Gametology

Another old RPC-neighbor we met at Gamescom (and the only one not at IndieArena but with Deck13) was the team of this competitive first person jump ‘n run, which combines normal platforming with manipulating the environment with different kinds of cubes (which can also be used to support teammates and hinder competitors). You should definitely keep an eye out for this game as an addition to the competitive gaming scene.

Jetpack Squad by vapgames

This fast-paced sidescrolling shoot ’em up might be one of the most fun games we’ve seen at the entire convention, at least from a purely arcade-y aspect. As a furry jetpack fighter you fight against hordes of enemies with your trusty blade, gun and grappling hand. The latter might be the most interesting aspect because it lets you catch enemies, use them as a shield or additional cannon and of course throw them for massive damage.

The level we played was very challenging but also extremely awesome. It’s also one of the best-looking games, especially with all those explosions, great use of physics and the masterfully created artstyle.

Jotun by Thunder Lotus Games

This action-exploration game might have been one of the most challenging and visually impressive projects of the entire Indie Arena booth. In the Gamescom demo we had to control a viking warrior in a fight against a huge storm giant that completely dwarved the player character and had some crazy attack patterns. Though some of us beat it eventually, it took us quite a few tries. I was a great gaming experience and the gorgeous hand-drawn graphics were truly something to behold!

Kingdom by Raw Fury Games

In this strategy adventure game with roguelike aspects you play as a queen or king on a trusty horse who has to recruit and guide her/his followers with gold to build a base and defend against mysterious creatures that come out at night. This might sound simple enough and the controls are indeed very streamlined (moving, sprinting, dropping gold) but the limited amount of people and gold you find and the ever increasing enemy strength make every decision count and force you to really keep track of the state of your kingdom (especially because you barely have an interface to help you).

It is very challenging and also very punishing but that exactly creates such a fun experience while learning how to rule in countless new tries. Also, the spriteart is fantastic, especially the water.

Mushroom 11 by untame

One of the simplest controls you could find in any game is just using a mouse with two buttons but Mushroom 11 manages to make the most of it in a game with an amazingly fluid gameplay (literally).

You indirectly control a slimy mushroom mold that quickly regrows to it’s original size by erasing parts of it with your mouse. That way you have to guide it through tricky levels and even defeat boss enemies by reaching and absorbing their weakpoints. It may sound like a simple concept but it creates a very satisfying mixture of fast-paced movement and tricky puzzle-areas.

Planetoid Pioneers by Data Realms

This is one for those who love tinkering and creating gaming stuff themselves. On the surface it’s a 2D action-adventure platformer with a focus on its physics engine, but it also includes some extensive editors that allow the player to create their own monsters, vehicles and planets and then also visit the planets created by other players. This is definitely a game that will profit a lot from community created content.

Shift Happens by Klonk Games

An old RPC-neighbor again, though with a bigger team this time. It’s a really cute and clever cooperative puzzle platformer which involves two humanoid slime creatures that can switch between a big and a small size with different abilities.

As you might expect, it is especially fun to play with another player so you can both help and prank each other while playing. For this purpose the team also had what might haven been the most comfortable booth of the entire Indie Arena which almost made us a bit jealous (our best seats were large piles of paper).

Speedrunners by tinybuild games

This competitive multiplayer running game has already become pretty popular so it was even part of the Twitch Livestream program at Gamescom. What is more, our very own Stefan was part that stream which was both an honor and a great deal of fun for him!

Starfallen by What Games

Starfallen is a rather dark and atmospheric action-adventure about an engineer stranded on a strange planet. It features procedurally created areas, a challenging combat system with different types of weapons, in-depth crafting and also looks pretty damn amazing. Especially the boss fight was really impressive. The artstyle is really unique and really makes you feel as if you’re stuck on a strange, alien planet. It’s definitely one of the most immersive experiences!

Super Snow Fight by Patrick God

A very fun multiplayer brawling game that was presented at the Deck13 booth in which you primarily throw snowballs at your enemies. Though it also includes a lot of power-ups that can turn the tide of battle and cause some destructive hijinks. Great for wacky multiplayer sessions, especially if you enjoy throwing balls (and if not, what are you even doing here!?).

And at last…

… but definitely not least, we wanna thank everyone responsible for organizing both the Deck13 booth and the Indie Arena megabooth in which we and other developers were able to present our games! Without all of your efforts, this great time and opportunity for exposure wouldn’t have been possible!

 

And with that we are finished. That sure was a lot of text, but undoubtedly the event and those games deserved it. Check them out if they spark your interest!

And hopefully see you at the next update again, if you still got the time.

5 Comments

  • Oh man, I can´t believe that I missed the opportunity to meet you during Gamescom. It seems I spent too much time with the Final Fantasy 14 booth.
    Anyways, it is amazing that you took the time to do this stuff, I bet you were pretty exhausted afterwards.

  • Where are the updates? I feel like you guys are posting somewhere else like facebook or twitter instead of on the website, so can you please clarify this for me and if you are posting elsewhere can you give me a link? Thanks in advance to any replies.

    • Are you guys posting on forum?

    • Hi ND! We plan to post another devlog early next week. Sorry for the long wait.
      We do watch the forum and post there pretty often.
      We’re currently most active on twitter. You can follow @RadicalFishGame to get almost daily updates with progress.

  • Ok, thanks for the reply and keep up the good work.

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