Gamescom 2015 experience

Short disorganisation disclaimer

I know I promised details of my latest short film project last time, but between then and now, Gamescom happened. It feels like getting this post out is more time-sensitive, so I'll push my originally planned post to next time. Look out for that!

Gamescom

Gamescom is a big, big gaming industry expo and trade fair. When I say big, I mean really massive. This year, according to their official website, there were 345,000 visitors which is a lot especially when you consider that the event is only 5 days long. This is all hosted in the Kölnmesse near the center of Cologne which is a huge place to match the visitor count. The whole place is then filled with an incredibly diverse array of games and game-related stuff, from indies promoting their latest game to the AAA titles running playable demos, and to me- a composer questing for cool new games and hardware, to meet developers, promoters or anyone doing something interesting, and to find out if they need or will ever need music as a bonus.

Was the event awesome? Was it a success for me? Who did I meet, what did I learn? Was the food good? So many questions, so many answers.

I also met someone special... read to the bottom to find out. And don't just scroll down there, I'll know.

Arriving to Gamescom

Arriving into Cologne one of the first things I noticed was the advertising. There were plenty of new titles being flashed around, but particularly Bethesda had gone full-on and there were posters for Fallout 4 absolutely everywhere. Bus stops, billboards, wherever you could legally stick a poster they'd stuck one. It immediately brought home to me the true size of this event and in turn of the modern games industry, that the city was going to be that full of people who had come for Gamescom.

It was incredibly easy to get to the Kölnmesse on the train, since there was a station right outside one of the main entrances. This entrance in fact-

This was actually taken as people were leaving, but you get the idea

So in I went, collected my tickets and trade visitor pass which was all very painless, and then I was free to roam. The trade visitor pass was awesome, and the success of the event for me really revolved around this, almost entirely.

Being a trade visitor

This was great for a couple of reasons. Firstly it gets you in on day one which is the whole event but for the trade visitors only. The event space is divided into the “Trade Area” and the “Entertainment Area”, so on the other days the entertainment area is full of those 345,000 people I mentioned earlier. You'd be hard pressed to get a go on anything at all without queuing for hours, which is impossible to justify when that's not the sole purpose of visiting.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise that on day 1 everything was trade visitor only. This was a big missed opportunity! If I had known I would have spent far more time on that day just going around trying the new games and technology in the entertainment area before it got completely flooded. I was even standing right in front of the huge Star Wars: Battlefront podium where they had 40 PCs set up and were hosting games with two full opposing teams at a time. It was 5PM or so and I was tired after having only 3 hours sleep, so instead of waiting 10 minutes I gave it a miss thinking I would have a go the next day instead. Not a chance... But I'll know for next time.

Secondly, the trade area itself.

This picture is of questionable quality as it's actually a screenshot from a short video, which I deemed not fit for purpose

This created the opportunity to talk to developers and various other professionals in a more relaxed environment, and it was far less busy. The people in the trade area were specifically there to talk to other people in the industry, which was great because it's almost impossible to have a casual conversation when there's a queue of potential customers lining up to play the demo.

This is where the event really was a success for me. So-called “networking” events have never been something I've been very comfortable with or very successful in. The ulterior nature of going into a room where people are standing around with some kind of drink (as if that makes anything better) to try to drum up work is something which I find awful. I can't really do it with a straight face, because the whole thing feels very disingenuous. This sucks because I love meeting like-minded people! Being able to go up to someone's stall and play their game or watch their promo material and have a chat about it was a far better and more genuine icebreaker than a glass of questionable wine.

Just through going around and meeting people in this way it was very easy to detach myself from the idea of being there as a composer looking for work, and to be interested in what they were showing. Essentially that's why I am there- because I think gaming is fascinating, exciting and fun and I often get on well with people who work in the business. Composing for games leads on from that passion. I met people making great games and hardware and offering great services, learnt more about the wide world of game development and got both work and potential future work on top of it. Making friends and getting the opportunity to write cool music is a win all round.

Here's me in just one such situation. The game is “Pirate's War: Dice Game” and I played it for 45 minutes or so without originally intending to stop for long at all. Fun times! (I'm in red on the right)

From a composer's perspective

There was one particularly interesting trend I noticed amongst the people who I spoke to. It seems that a lot of people “outsource” music, which is to say their music is handled by an external company rather than a specific composer with whom they collaborate or who works in-house. I can certainly see why you wouldn't want an in-house composer. After all, there would probably be a lot of downtime when he or she wasn't needed unless they held other responsibilities such as audio supervisor.

However, I think that they're missing out by not working directly with a composer to create the score collaboratively. Sure, revisions would be bundled into the package with any music house, with extras at additional cost, but it's still not the same as working very personally with somebody to craft a sound for your game. Consequently, the music is likely to be less original and misses out on the satisfaction and positivity which comes from a strong working relationship. They're also more at the mercy of the music producer.

Why this happens I'm not exactly sure. It could be that as with many things, outsourcing is cheaper and faster, which would definitely be a factor for smaller games companies. We're seeing this trend in many digital industries now where work can be outsourced to distant companies and completed at far less cost. Programming, modelling, all kinds of things. For me it seems similar to what happened in manufacturing throughout the 20th century. We can also see from manufacturing that quality does not necessarily follow, and often quite the opposite.

Some people also just didn't know where to find or how much to pay an independent composer. I can certainly see why somebody would opt to go with an all-in-one solution from a company rather than try and search from scratch. This is something I can counteract by getting out there and talking with them, being transparent about costs and time-scales, and then making sure my music is good enough to warrant any extra cost and the more involved process. I'm already working on all of this so it's not a trend which I find worrying, but it was interesting to observe.

Some cool games, hardware and people to check out

In the trade area people were grouped geographically and naturally as a StarCraft fan I gravitated towards the South Korean stands to see what they were up to. There I found Rail Gun; hardware that attaches to an airsoft gun which then becomes your game controller. Have a look at the picture below for an idea of the layout. You've got all the necessary controls given that aiming is now done by... well... aiming! They didn't need music, but whatever, that's fine.

I also found Idiocracy Games who are making “Pirates War”. They were really nice people in a company which seems dynamic and motivated and who are turning out a very enjoyable first game.

Over in the UK area I got talking to James from Robopixel Games, who are making a high octane side-scroller called “Gunnihilation”. It's co-op which I love since there's something great about hanging out with someone and playing together rather than against each other. It's also something which you could just pick up and play making it well suited for the purpose, and was really good fun to jump into.

In the Belgium area I found Andrea from Mode4 who are working on “Bombslinger”. I liked the look of the 3D pixel art which was well done, and the bomberman style mechanics which hearken back to classic arcade games. They had a cool arcade machine set up to demo on, which was stylish. They also seem like involved and active people in the indie scene, hosting the Brotaru monthly developers meetup in Belgium which seems to be gaining a really strong community. That kind of thing is always great to see!

At the Switzerland stands I spent a while with Frédéric Hein from Blindflug Studios who showed me the thought-provoking “Cloud Chasers”. It was very interesting talking to him about the state of game development in Switzerland, and how hard it is to get started there. The industry doesn't seem well supported at all by the government and game concepts often have to be governed by what is most likely to get support which is unfortunate. There's clearly talent there from what I saw at those stands.

Around and about I also met Bengt-Oliver from Garlic Games who are making an augmented reality card game (very cool) called “Aeria: Gods Inside”; Felix from Guns For Hire who's a really cool guy and the only other composer I met in the place; and Chris who I got talking to in a queue, who just happens to be starting up a new games studio and needs a composer. Anyone who has read my thoughts on the pitching process can imagine how much better it feels just to chat to people and have opportunities for collaboration arise naturally.

And since you've been so attentive, now for the special guest! Someone you may recognise if you're a StarCraft II fan is Team Liquid's very own TLO!

I happened to bump into him walking around and couldn't miss the opportunity to say hello, and get a picture of course. He really was a super nice guy and a pleasure to meet.

Final thoughts

This event really was hugely positive for me. I had a great time both as a gamer and a composer! It also reinforced everything which I've been thinking over the last few months about my approach for finding opportunities, and validated my exhaustion and disillusionment with pitching. Here I could be at ease, make friends and find opportunities to write the music which I love for projects which interest me. Approaching people face to face as equals was refreshing and the event was well structured to make that easy.

Next time I'll work on making some good videos from inside the event, and will be better prepared with music, clips and noise-blocking headphones so I can show off some music to people. I feel like being unprepared to do so was a bit of an oversight.

I made friends, found projects and widened my knowledge of the industry, and that's a definite success. I will be attending EGX in just 20 days, and I hope to make the best of it in just the same way.

The food was dreadful.

Some links to keep you up to date with all my thrilling activities and sounds-

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/motekeatinge
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MoteKeatinge
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mote-Keatinge-Composer-for-Film-Game
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcOF4f_FVJzmiiYz29nGjUg
Website for more music: www.motekeatinge.co.uk

Gamescom 2015 experience

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