Gotland Game Conference 2014 – Day Three

Well, this one is kinda late. I guess it’s a good thing I’m still the same old me despite all of my experience (or maybe not). So… the GGC awards ceremony was the other day and it was rather dramatic. We didn’t win, but we weren’t expecting it either so that’s about it I guess. I was at least hoping that we would be nominated but I’d still be happy with not being that either.

I wasn’t expecting them to forget who made our game. When they presented the games with the groups responsible for them the groupname that was written under our game, Potbellied King was Outrageous Office. I find that quite outrageous if I do say so myself, not on OO, its got nothing to do with them, but rather the sloppy work some of the event holders did. We even had things such as the indicator for which year the group was attending was written as 1th, 2th and 3th rather than 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

I mean, I don’t mind not winning, but I do want to get recognized that I’ve done something at the very least…

Having said that: the on-stage performance was nerve-wrecking and really well done. Ernest looked really good in a top-hat and even if I wasn’t nominated I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Anyway, I didn’t really try any new games yesterday as I’ve pretty much managed to play most of them (though, the second days reviews of those games are rather lacking I guess…) so I guess I’ll just go over what I thought about the winning projects. This is not gonna go over in detail just how many awards they won or why as I’m not entierly sure I remember all of them.

Defunct (Freshly Squeezed)
The game that I personally voted on for the students choice award. That Defunct would win awards with it’s clean graphics, awesome mechanics,  tight controls and promising concept shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.

Undercover Agency (The Tiny Office Studio)
I never actually played UA, mainly because I’m not overly keen on that sort of card game (though, I don’t hate them) but rather because there always seemed to be someone else at the table. I honestly expected them to get more awards but I guess I was wrong. I can’t really say much more about the game since I haven’t played it but I’ll look forward to doing so someday.

Tower Offensive (Deconstructed Development)
Another entry I was sort of expecting. TO was seemingly very simple on the surface but deceptingly hard and entertaining beneath. Another entry I’ll probably get for myself someday.

Veer (Some Fish)
This game was made by two guys. No, really. I personally really enjoyed the clever puzzles, mechanics and enviroment that this game provided. I know for a fact that puzzle design is one of the harder fields in game design overall, so I was impressed by the idea of alternate solutions and the mechanics felt free and in my control.

Crocodile Chow-Down (Dentophobia)
Back when these guys presented their concept I found it interesting if a little bit weird, some of the teachers went further and outright called the idea stupid and said that it wouldn’t work. While I find the original concept odd, I wouldn’t call it stupid under any circumstance (heck, I made a fat king simulator) and this proves that you shouldn’t always do as those people tell you to, sometimes you just gotta do what you believe is right. When I reviewed this game I said that there should be an award for most elaborate input. Had there been such a prize CCD would’ve won FIVE awards in a single show. Yeah, this game won four awards, including the Pwnage award (basically best game on the floor), won the most awards of all projects that year and was the only first-year project to win an award at all. Now. That. Is. A. Good. Portfolio.

…and that’s basically it. Despite some trouble with hardware, trouble with software, trouble with certain teammates (no names given) and the fact that we were forgotten during the opening slides of the award ceremony (seriously, why?) I’ve enjoyed this GGC a lot and I loock forward to participating next year as well.

Martin~