Over 370000 visitors from 114 countries and 1037 companies from 56 countries – this was GamesCom 2018. And we are so lucky and proud to report we were one of those companies, celebrating games last week in Cologne and showing off Pendula Swing. This was Valiant’s first GamesCom but not our first show as game developers – in fact, Anna and I went to GamesCom almost every year since about 2012. It’s an honour to attend, but it is also a tiresome and costly endeavour.
Attending GamesCom as a games reveller is a very different activity than attending it as an exhibitor. So it is always wise to make a cost/ benefit analysis and have a very clear reason to attend a show such as GamesCom, especially considering that time spent in Cologne is not time spent developing.
So first and foremost, we would like to thank you all so much for your patience. We have been watching your feedback and reports and have been fixing bugs, but the speed was determined by our GamesCom activities. For most days, we were at our booth under the Sweden Game Arena pavilion, showcasing Pendula Swing to a lot of amazing people, watching them experience our game and gathering feedback.
We had the fantastic opportunity to attend Adventure Treff as well, a large gathering outside the venue dedicated exclusively to adventure games. We felt so welcome there and made many friends! A big thank you to Adventure Corner for telling us about this gathering and inviting us!
We also hanged out with other fellow developers at the Nordic Party and on the stairs of the impressive Cologne Cathedral. When attending this kind of events, it is rare that we ever get the time to visit the actual city so we really enjoyed the opportunity to spend an evening in the heart of Cologne!
We reserved Friday and Saturday to turn into evangelists slash game revellers ourselves. Walking through the huge and impressive GamesCom booths, we handed out Pendula Swing flyers, and almost* turned into 1920s elves. Of course, that was part an excuse to geek out at our favorite booths, especially Bethesda, to admire fantastic cosplayers, to enjoy the always awesome indie area, and to overall bask into celebrating the amazing culture that video games create.
We were also able to spare a few hours to visit Cologne again. For the first time in many years attending GamesCom, we finally managed to visit the Cathedrals’ interior and were not disappointed! They even have pixel art windows, how cool is that?
***
It’s good to be back though. We are preparing a fresh new patch, this time with more new shiny stuffs than bug fixes! May your adventures bring you serenity, friend!
~ Laura the Valiant Dragon ^^
