EIGD 2014 – Post Eventum

That’s it, the EIGD (European Indie Game Days) 2014 are already over. Was it a good event? Indeed it was! I’m gonna tell you all about it, but first, why not put some music on, maybe some Sista M tunes :

A very dense event

EIGD’s third edition has been occuring in Montreuil (near Paris, France), on novembre 27th and 28th, and I was there, with about 200 other participants, most of them independant game developers, artists, game designers etc. Other trades were also present, from finance to marketing, and everything in between, like middleware and technical solutions…

It was quite a dense event: during the span of two days, something like fifteen talks and panels followed one another. The pace was thus pretty frantic. Sometimes, one has to make choices – not because two talks occur at the same time (it nevers happens), but because one has to decide between listening to a talk or show one’s game to a potential partner, another dev, etc.

Contrary to what I did for last year’s event, I came this year to the EIGD with a well advanced project and a playable demo, so I tried to make playtest sessions and opportunities for feedback and advices a priority, and I don’t really regret it.

Many meetings

I had the pleasure of presenting our game to various superstars from the industry, including Frédérick Raynal (Alone in the Dark, 2Dark…), Rami Ismail of Vlambeer (Super Crate Box, Ridiculous Fishing, Nuclear Throne…), Alex Houdent (Globz), Sos Sosowski (Mc Pixel…), Zuraïda Buter (Global Game Jam, and many other things), or Thierry Platon (EIGD’s organizer).

It’s clearly a big opportunity, being able to gather the opinions and advices from so many talented persons, even more so when their feedback has been positive and encouraging, and their critics relevant and useful. The concentration of Game Designers in the event was also significant. Same with game journalists. I thus made not only a nice loot of advices, but also harvested lots of contacts.

It all translated to many playtest notes that I still have to sort and implement, now that my sobriety is slowly coming back to me (the EIGD is also a very festive and convivial event, once the talks are over…)

Pitching QLRZ

The last part of the event was a Pitch My Game session, during wich I had to be brave and go onstage to present QLRZ with microphone, giant screen projection and all that jazz. I can’t say it was a pleasant moment for me, because of the panic I tend to experiment when being in front of an audience of more than one or two persons.

But I did survive, and hope I’ll do better next time, by talking louder, and pacing myself more. With that being said, the feedback on that part was also quite positive:

Panels

About the talks and panels, I particularly liked the “10 minutes for an engine” panel, that presented a few game development frameworks and solutions. Each participant had made a different choice, and it translated into a very instructive and lively discussion about the strength and weaknesses of each.

The “Design a game for Oculus Rift” was also very interesting, although the discussion seemed to materialize only towards the end ; there obviously was still a lot to be said about these new devices and the VR technology, even though it’s already an old pursuit of our industry, more than 20 years in the making, it’s still in the early stages of its development. I also liked the opportunity that was given between talks to test the devices, an experience I recommend.

Another recommendation, if you happen to make games, is that you come to next year’s EIGD!