from the ShapeVS team
There is going to be a lot to say here, it’s going to be a hefty breakdown. From all the people we have to thank for what we saw and the future of Smash Attack and ShapeVS. Gamescom 2022 was an experience that we will never forget, this debriefs will cover everything from thanks to our experience and what we got up to. So buckle in for this hell of a read!
“This is a very good-looking group of developers”
Firstly we want to thank Jens and the team over at the IGEA (click here to learn more) for sorting this all out in conjunction with all the states, Aus Trade, Gamescom and no doubt so many more people that were working very hard behind the scenes to get this opportunity for us. There truly aren’t enough words to thank everyone involved.
For us, we owe a huge thanks to Alex Sangston and the Screen Tas team and Tom Knight and the Trades Tas team for allowing us to come. Their support helped us conquer mountains and allowed us to thrive in this crazy event. Tom was on the ground with us and helped in various ways such as looking after the booth when doing meetings to providing advice and debriefings.
Thanks to everyone back home who supported us from friends and family to colleagues and so much more. The love from back home was amazing and really helped the team through the trip.
There are some developers we want to thank and we have a big section for that further down. Next up is our experience.
“Look at our little corner of the world”
Where do we even begin talking about our own experience, firstly for us it was the largest event we have ever taken part in. Definitely larger than our own AICon and huge in comparison to PAX Aus here at home. There were crazy numbers being thrown around from 350k to 450k to even 550k people coming through. Whilst we here personally don’t know the truth behind the stats it is crazy to think that, that many people were coming through those massive halls. (But seriously we have no idea how many people came).
Being in the business section of Gamescom was a huge opportunity for us as a team. Despite not having any clear goals and knowing our release plans it was an amazing chance to rub shoulders with some of the very best in the industry from amazing publishers to fantastic localisation teams. It definitely gave us a ton to think about.
Something we will cover later in this post is the plan moving forward, but the near-universal praise and support for ShapeVS were incredible. Being part of the Gamescom showcase on Steam blew us away and the wishlists that kept coming in were a huge boost for us. The presence and love we were shown helped us accomplish some great personal goals as well as crazy things like a Metacritic page.
Like seriously, we have one of these now.
“The validation and the reviews”
It’s crazy to think what has happened for us, from the media coverage on radio and print to speaking to so many different people it was such a crazy turn of events. From experiencing the business side to the consumer side and more Gamescom truly opened our eyes to what these tradeshows can truly be outside Supernova, AICon and PAX Aus.
Though speaking of people, we met a bunch!
From fellow Aussie developers to industry vets and so much more. Gamescom was truly a hub for all things gaming. We met people from Israel, Sweden, France, Germany (of course), America and so much more. Offering things from services to game houses and more.
It’s kind of mind-blowing how big the industry is outside of our little circle here and the offers available. But for us, three people really spring to mind and they are Liam Twose, Chris Wulf and Neil Rennison. These three individuals have done so much for ShapeVS and Smash Attack it is crazy and I can’t thank them enough. We will go over what Liam and Chris have done for us in another post but Neil was the one who helped us without funding and allowed us to start making ShapeVS.
From the bottom of our hearts thank you. And again thank you to everyone we met from those who came by to MeetToMatch and more. It was truly a great opportunity to meet you and I look forward to hopefully working with some of you in the near future.
“This isn’t even everyone”
Now despite everything that has happened and it all sounding very businessy, we did get to have some fun. On days four and five of Gamescom, we teamed up with some of the other Australian devs and had a go around Gamescom. We played games, watched some mad esports, bought a ton of cool things and overall had a blast. Here are some highlights:
Coming into Gamescom I had a singular focus outside the booth and work, PLAY STREET FIGHTER 6, and by golly did I. Teaming up with Josh from ULTIMATE Studios (see Hot Lap League below) we braved the masses and played some Street Fighter 6.
As you know Smash Attack has a big history in esports so to play the next iteration of an all-time classic fighting game series was amazing. Ryu and Luke were my options and Josh and I played to a 1 / 1 draw. We will have to catch up again to finish out Bo3.
Other games I played were some upcoming titles for Switch and consoles, honestly, so much of it was a blur but I do remember playing Sonic Frontier. That is definitely a game, not sure what Sonic Team is going for but this doesn’t feel like it chief.
“It ended 1 to 1, a stalemate”
Another surprising stand out for us was the Brawl Stars championship being held at Gamescom. On day 5 I teamed up with some of the LEET, Earthlingo and Hungry Sky teams to explore Gamescom and we came across this massive production stage for Brawl Stars.
Now I don’t know much about the game but the atmosphere was insane and electric, we couldn’t help but get pumped. I even installed the game to see what it was all about. It does give me plans for what I hope we can one day bring to Tasmania in the form of a fighting game major.
“From the huge stage to the crown and even the flying fox camera, the production value was crazy”
Some of the other really cool standouts came in the form of human claw machines, giant animatronic lego Bowsers, cool merch and so much more. But a massive highlight was learning about Headis and the RC Car Drifting events. Now Headis, is table tennis meets headers from Soccer/Football and it’s crazy. The world championship or such was on and it was some of the craziest back and forth I have ever seen. I have never wanted to know about something so much.
They were ducking, diving and whipping hair all over the place in some insane movement options. And from that to the other side opposite the cosplay village was the RC Drifting area. Mesmerising and crazy is all I can say. The precision these drivers had from the distance they were at was insane. The customisation options, decals and speed made for an extremely entertaining part of the day. Hidden from the masses but crowded nonetheless. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had considered purchasing one myself.
“Nothing beats an Italian man living in Germany making fantastic pizza”
Next up! Food, oh my oh my, what an insane trip for food. From Spaghetti Ice Cream on waffles to Five Guys burgers, from elevated McDonald’s and KFC to some absolutely phenomenal sausage and apple strudel. I don’t know how I came back the same weight I did.
Probably all the walking I did, but no matter, it was a crazy experience for Gamescom and the food alone. From the simple supermarkets to the amazing restaurants. The choices were out of this world and the customer service was always willing to help. Five Guys came out as the clear winner for me, we wait there a total of 5 different times with various groups and each time was awesome.
Ever had fries from Netherlands, Italy and Germany? No, I have and it’s awesome.
and finally a very important story about Currywurst, before our arrival we were told tales of this amazing dish. Curried sausage with a curry sauce served alongside chips and mayo. It sounded wonderful and we had already been treated to such amazing meals as talked about above. But behold, it was even more glorious than foretold and waiting til the last day of Gamescom made the wait so worthwhile.
“THE FAMOUS CURRYWURST”
There were also a lot of Pokemon cards, a few of us went to the German pre-release event of Lost Origin and got some amazing pulls with Josh’s Relaxo being a huge winner for us all. I came back with various pre-release packs, some German Fusion Strike and Astral Radiance. I got some great stuff to show off at the next TCG night at Optimal.
“All hail Relaxo!”
So yeah we got up to a lot but mainly we did some work, played some games and ate some great food I know we covered it above, but again a huge part of the experience was the teams we got to hang out with and meet. Truly Australia is an amazing place for development. Again I can’t thank Jens and the IGEA, Aus Trade and everyone else who was involved enough for the opportunity. Thanks to Screen Tas and Trades Tas again for allowing us to go. Here I wanna break down some of the teams we met and hung out with who helped shape our Gamescom experience.
CONSCRIPT - WISHLIST HERE
CONSCRIPT is a game that I have personally been following for years so to actually meet the developer was a huge fanboi moment (legit, not joking). Jordan was an absolute champion from being my tourist buddy to my walking pal to and from Gamescom it was good to team up with another solo dev and enjoy the show together. As for the game, CONSCRIPT continues to impress and the numerous people who came to play are a real testament to Jordan’s hard work. Follow here on Twitter to keep up to date on development.
Earthlingo - DOWNLOAD HERE
Earthlingo was my surprise hit of the convention, a truly awesome and unique learning experience wrapped in some common gameplay ideas tweaked around learning. When in Germany, learn German and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Earthlingo. Having now downloaded it on my PC and iPhone it has been great as a little time sync. Personally, I am finding I am getting more out of this than something like Duolingo and I can’t wait to see what else the team has to offer. Links and more are available here.
Nekograms - DOWNLOAD LINKS
The ever-amazing two-for-one, Nekograms and Earthlingo being side by side was an amazing personal find. This adorable mobile puzzle game not only has a fantastic art style, and sleek gameplay but also a fantastic team. Lauren and Minh were absolutely amazing people and I am very glad to have met them. Lauren is too kind and chased me down with a code for the game. I highly recommend dropping the cash for this fantastic title. Catch them at PAX Aus 2022 as well! Check out this cute video!
Hot Lap League - DOWNLOAD HERE
The baby sitter game, as Hot Lap League was jokingly called at our time at Gamescom. Whenever someone needed a break you could find them right behind this fast-paced Australian Trackmania. Recently, released on PC. Hot Lap League is all the fun without any of the rubbish. Fast, compelling and built on the one more try drive it is definitely one to pick up either in its premium form on PC or its mobile counterpart which can be found here (iPhone / Android).
Drop Bear Bytes - WISHLIST HERE
Another game I have been following for a long time has been Broken Roads, I had the immense pleasure of meeting his team in 2019 and to see how far they have come has truly been amazing. I have nothing but respect and adoration for this team and what they are doing with an Australian-themed RPG in the vein of Fallout 2, Pillars of Eternity and the like. Being a huge fan of the genre I am so excited to see where this game goes and with a new publisher on board I know that the future is very bright. Well done to Craig and the team. You can keep up to date on the game here.
Toast VR - AVAILABLE HERE
Now I am not usually a huge VR guy, but I must say I had a blast with Richie’s Plank Experience. From throwing cake at birds to falling towards the earth at like Mach 50 (not really). It was a great and unique experience for me. Even cooler is they had an actual plank at the booth. If you are into VR, I highly recommend picking this one up and the team were super awesome. You can learn more about the Toast team here.
TopplePOP - WISHLIST HERE
Unlike Conscript and Broken Roads, I have had the pleasure of knowing Dan through PAX and other ventures and Topple Pop is looking more and more fantastic as time goes by. Dan is just an absolutely fantastic guy always with a smile and support. To see him and his team’s hard work pay off in this awesome game is great. When run off my feet it was great to just watch the CPUs or Dan play. It’s gotta beauty about it and an air of easy to play, hard to master, which always draws me in. You can keep up to date with the game on Twitter.
Blowfish Studios - TWITTER LINK
A staple of Australian game development it was fantastic to meet some members of the team again and just talk industry, games and the future. It was fantastic to see what they are working on from new tech to traditional games and more. Always busy and with friendly faces, it was great to just catch up throughout the convention to have debriefs and chats. Thank you again to Ash and the team for dealing with me in my hyper-stressed state!
Massive Monster - CULT OF THE LAMB HERE!
You’ve heard about it, you may have played it and by golly does it live up to the hype. As a proud owner of Cult of the Lamb and supporter of Massive Monster since meeting the team with their game The Adventure Pals, which I also highly recommend, the success Julian and his team have had is well deserved. Seeing reactions to the game live was something that I can only dream ShapeVS gets like 1% of. The game is fantastic, the team awesome and I can’t wait to jump back into the game once home. You can keep up to date with the game here.
“Julian even put out a cool little shout-out for our streamer friend Jai2go”
Darkweb Streamer - LEARN MORE HERE
DO YOU LIKE SPOOP? DO YOU LIKE COOL-LOOKING GAMES? Well, do I have the game for you! Undoubtedly the most unique game I had the pleasure of checking out was Darkweb Streamer. Seriously, just go look at the itch page in the link above or check out the trailer below. This is 100% one to watch out for. Darkweb Streamer post-Gamescom had my curiosity, now it demands my attention and I can’t wait to see what Chantal and the team manage to accomplish. Follow the development of the game here.
SpaceDraft - LEARN MORE
Lucy Cooke is an absolute weapon, that’s all I have to say. From one overheard conversation she had me sold on SpaceDraft and I can’t wait to implement its design work in the planning of our next project. Interactive Game Design Documentation, that’s it, that’s the pitch and it’s awesome. The team were great and we had an amazing evening on Sunday catching up and eating some Five Guys. Look out for this tool on the horizon, especially if you are doing game development. I finally might get to stop using Canva. Click the learn more link to check it out!
LEET
Now sadly Kane and Nick don’t have many links for me to use but these two absolute legends were some of the best company anyone could ask for at a convention and as we explored Germany. They are working on some really cool VR tech with a custom engine and I can’t wait to see how they evolve.
Secret Lab - TWITTER LINK
And last but not least, our very own Tasmanian team, Secret Lab (not the chairs), came with the amazing Yarn Spinner tool. They are my pseudo-game dev dads who have helped me in so many ways. They continue to amaze with what they are working on and every amount of success they very much deserve. Thank you for the support and check out Yarn Spinner (by clicking here).
“Yarn Spinner is truly something special and so is the team” - Photo by Paris
So after a rousing Gamescom 2022, we are already planning to be on the road again. Myself and some of the team are gearing up for a trip to Melbourne to attend PAX Aus 2022 alongside various other Tasmanian developers. For us, this trip is about catching up with other devs and really engaging with fans, both old and new.
We can’t wait to showcase our “fingers crossed” launch version of ShapeVS as well as some other secrets. It’s going to be a huge event and if you are attending we hope to see you there. Come say hi, play some ShapeVS or just come talk shit.
And that about wraps it up, I did say it was going to be a big one! Thank you again to everyone involved in making this happen. Please click on the links above to see some of the amazing talents that is in our local scene. Til the next update.
“Flavour text!”
Don’t forget that you can wishlist ShapeVS on Steam as well as we count down the days.
For the betterment of society!
See ya!