I went to the first day of IndieCade Europe today and it was pretty cool.
It started with a keynote by Matt Nava (Flower, Journey, Abzû) about games as art.
Then I missed a talk by Diane Landais and Elizabeth Maler from
Accidental Queens, which is the studio behind
A Normal Lost Phone (
Steam link). I am a bit mad about missing that talk since the echoes that I got is that it was interesting.
I have then attended a talk by Yoan Fanise (Valiant Hearts, Lost in Harmony) about tackling serious issues with gaming (respectively World War I and brain cancer).
In the afternoon, there was a talk by Alexis Moroz, a game designer of escape rooms, in real life and in VR. The talk was supposed to be in French but the guy, despite being French, uses a lot of English words. You could feel the creativity behind the chaos.
I had a choice between a talk by Santa Ragione and a talk by the guys behind Mother Russia Bleeds. Since I had already watched
the making of for MRB, I went with the talk by Pietro Righi Riva, director of Santa Ragione (FOTONICA, MirrorMoon EP, and Wheels of Aurelia), in which he advocated tabula rasa so that video games could appeal to a broader audience. It was pretty interesting in its radical aspect.
Then there was a live-play with Fakhra AlMansouri (
Who Lurks, which is a local party game with just one smartphone, a bit like
Werewolves), Philomena Schwab (
Niche - a genetics survival game), and Nicolae Berbece (
Move or Die). That last guy is full of energy, I understand why he is going to give a talk about
Creating a great experience for players on the show floor tomorrow.
Olivier Madiba gave a talk full of energy as well about
Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan, the first indie game 100% made in Africa, more precisely in Cameroun. I think I am going to buy it from Steam just to support that incredible guy.
Finally, Rami Ismail (Nuclear Throne, Ridiculous Fishing, LUFTRAUSERS, Super Crate Box) gave a talk about games as cultural artefacts. The idea is that games reflect the cultures of their creators, no matter what. I liked the fact there were several examples, the first of which is one of my favorite puzzle games,
Farsh by Mahdi Bahrami, who still has not released Engare by the way (6 months late...).