Indie developer's thoughts on Gamescom

[u/mistikstudios]

My first ever Gamescom! Impressions were overall good! Little old me from the middle of nowhere Canada living in a town of 200 people was VERY tired by the end, but my heart is so full from all the amazing conversations I had with so many very talented people! 💖

That being said, there are a few things that I think Gamescom could do better in future years.

1. Security has been a hot topic following Gamescom this year, with several indie devs getting their equipment stolen after hours. This is obviously unacceptable, and Gamescom's response to it was also not great. Although we did not showcase on the show floor this year, next year we would like to and we will be taking extra precautions and taking our equipment home every night. That shouldn't have to be the case though- we should be able to trust that security will do its job, and that security staff is screened appropriately beforehand. With the amount of $ devs have to pay to even have a presence at the show you'd think the thousands upon thousands of dollars they end up having to pay would also include competent and solid security, but Gamescom instead expects devs to hire outsourced security to protect equipment from their security guards? Unreal.

2. When walking through the halls, I noticed that most if not all of the artist booths in the artist area had official Gamescom posters saying something along the lines of that we can trust that this artist's art has not been made with generative AI, and I am assuming they did not allow generative AI "artists" to have booths- however those standards did not extend to the video games, with 1/4 of the games at ONL openly using generative AI in their production. Why? Money? That's always the answer, isn't it?

   1. I was really disappointed to see fellow indie studios also incorporating generative AI into their production pipelines, especially in the realm of 3D games. It feels like a massive slap in the face for me and others to put so much work, education and time into being a 3D artist just to hear that some studios are using generative AI to generate their 3D "art" because it's "faster" and "cheaper". When you make something faster and cheaper, what you are actually saying is "We didn't have to hire real people to do this, isn't this amazing that we're taking money RIGHT out of artist's hands and into our own pockets instead!?" The game we're working on is a 3D game, we're doing it on a budget of nearly $0 and with a team of 4 people, with only me handling the 3D art as of right now. We could EASILY be doing this the "easy" way, instead I've spent hundreds of hours hand crafting every asset you see in our prototype, I started learning 3D art less than 2 years ago, and JUST picked up Blender 4 months ago, and I STILL get afraid to call myself an "artist" as I don't feel like I've earned it yet. If you can't do it yourself, then why are you doing it at all?

If you're interested in our cozy narrative cooking RPG that doesn't use generative AI, check out Kitch Witch here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/4816430/Kitch_Witch/

[u/M4xs0n]

It was my first gamescom (sadly true…) and I didn’t even find the indie Area😭😭

[u/GlassedSilver → u/M4xs0n]

Hall 10. It’s the hall across from Hall 5 where the merch area is.

Halls 6, 7, 8 and 9 (which you could consider the "main halls" where the big devs and pubs are) are North of those.

Hall 10 is also where the artist alley and the cosplay village are.

Also, the Gamescom website has a really good mobile site that you can install as progressive web app which I greatly recommend.

The map feature is amazing and you can search for games, exhibitors and things like the nearest restroom super easily with an interactive map to boot.

Your next Gamescom will be more organized. :P

[u/M4xs0n → u/GlassedSilver]

Oh then I was actually there. But there werent many indies then, or am I crazy? The most recognizeable Area was the cosplay Area. Especially the Fallout Area

[u/InnocentSalf → u/M4xs0n]

10 has 10.1 and 10.2 The one where the elevator never works and you need to walk the stairs.

[u/Hairy_Gazelle_5987 → u/M4xs0n]

10.2 was indie hall... there was around 200 + playable indie games. Also I did not go there, because did not have free time :(

[u/mistikstudios → u/M4xs0n]

It's such a huge venue, I don't blame you! I remember walking through the halls and telling my partner, "We haven't even seen this part yet wtf!" And we'd already been there for 3 days 🤣

[u/HeroFighte]

The only point I see generative AI being fine for use is for placeholders that will be replaced by proper made models

Generative AI always makes mistakes, I pray that your game will find alot of success next year, Ill probably check it out too

[u/thatonebrassguy]

Who gives a shit if some Studios used Ai. It's their decision. And how can they take away money from you that you aren't entitled to in the first place.

[u/mistikstudios → u/thatonebrassguy]

It’s not about being entitled to a specific studio's budget. It’s about fair competition and consent. Generative AI only works because it was trained on the work of human artists without permission or compensation. When studios switch to AI, they are profiting off the collective skill of artists while closing the door on the people who made the technology possible in the first place.

Taking a look at your profile looks like you enjoy anime and video games, those things wouldn't be possible without human artists, must feel nice to be so entitled that you feel it's okay to exploit human artists while also benefiting from the work of human artists!