State of Play Seminar Review

I attended first State of Play indie game seminar last Friday in DIT Aungier St. The event saw a range of companies and small developers describe their journeys of success or not into the independent games industry.

Some of the companies who attended included Weeman Studios, BitSmith Games, SuperFunPlay, Open Emotion, Redwind Software and Digital Arrow. For a full list check out the State of Play link. There was also a demo section where some people got to showcase and demonstrate their games. I was very lucky to have had the chance to showcase Mamga Surge and it was a valuable experience. While the demo segment was a little shorter than I would have liked, several people were able to test out Magma Surge for the very first time. I was greatly boosted by the positive feedback and return with renewed vigour for getting the game completed.

The main seminar itself was also a very interesting and entertaining experience. The different presenters all had unique and inspiring stories of success and failure. There was a lot of valuable and important insights into the world of indie game development in Ireland today. Notable speakers included Paddy Murphy from Open Emotion, a truly inspiring story of how an obvious messer can achieve great things. Open Emotion is a great example of how through trial and error, they have managed to build a successful game company recently winning £250,000 contract with someone we shall call their 'Benefactors'.

Owen Harris from Bitsmith Games was another interesting and ongoing tale of a very recently formed company going through the ropes. Bitsmith was formed by 3 members from my masters course who are working on a game called Ku. This is an action RPG for the iPad which is based on traditional Irish mythology.

Liam McGarry from WeeMan Studios provided and educational look into the inner workings of a company responsible for the highly anticipated Galactic Racer. Liam really demonstrated the importance of being a cheeky bastard and not to be afraid of chancing your arm.

One thing that the seminar really illustrated is what can be achieved with a limited budget. There is a huge amount of resources available to Irish game developers. One thing that can be said by our current government is their commitment to the development of this sector of the economy. The seminar finished with a panel discussion made up of an esteemed and notable people from the Irish games industry. This was a fun and informative look at the some of the people currently championing the gaming cause in Ireland today. One of the most memorable moments was the knowledge that Enda Kenny mentioned the fact that he had 'killed zombies in Dublin!'

Afterwards there was a shindig in the Solas Bar around the corner at which numerous pints were consumed over tales of conquering galaxies, starting companies and general banter.

Overall I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to taking part in similar events in the future!