The objective

2Awesome studio is a new Dutch independent game development studio and we are working on our first commercial game, Dimension Drive. If we wanted to get the word out we knew that going to GDC Europe and Gamescom was something we had to do. In May we attended Indie Gameleon where Rami Ismail concluded his talk with two very good questions to the audience. He first asked people to raise their hands if they consider themselves game developers or wanted to be one at some point. He got a room full of raised hands in response. He then asked people to raise their hands if they were planning to go to GDC Europe and Gamescom. Almost nobody raised a hand! He made a very good point on the necessity to attend both events. Everybody who is somebody in the industry will be there! So, we needed to be there! We want to be somebody in the industry at some point.

The plan

After that Alejandro and I started to talk about our possibilities to attend and what we wanted to achieve from such event. We were not in a position to pay for a full pass, and having a booth was totally out of our possibilities, so we decided to explore other routes:

Unfortunately, we were not selected for a place in the Dutch Pavilion. The ten games that were selected where in most cases at a development stage much further than us, they had a publisher, some sort of funding or came from big names. It was clear that it was probably to soon for us to be selected but it was worth a shot nevertheless. Then, the selection for the Innovative Games Showcase came around and to our dismay we were again not amongst the selected ones. "But our game is very innovative!", we thought. What could have happened? We were sure that Dimension Drive was going to make it. I mean, a shoot'em up where you play two games at once set in space and done by 2 guys that work in the Space Agency, how's that for innovative? After checking the selection it was very clear why we were not selected. Those games were more than innovative, many were so incredible and rare that can be considered a totally new genre. Look at Bounden for example, or a Light in the Chorus (a game made out only of particles). So, we had to resort to our last option go to GDC Europe and Gamescom on a budget and make the most of it.

Execution

One of the most important things of attending GDC Europe and Gamescom for us was what we wanted to get out if it. It was clear that we would not be able to showcase in a booth or give a speaker talk that would help spread the word on us and our game. But we were not going to give up. We bought IGS tickets (180€) , a cheap hotel for 2 nights (80€) and return train tickets from The Netherlands to Cologne (80€). Total cost was around 350€ -400€ once you factor in the meals over there. Not bad, the problem now was how to get exposure on our game and ourselves. The last of our issues came when Alejandro told me that unfortunately he was not able to join me due to family issues. So, there I was, alone, no booth and almost no budget against the mother of all game conferences. Still, I was determined to make the most out of it. This is what I did:

The results

I would say that our first attendance to GDC Europe and Gamescom was a success, even if some things could have been better.

The good:

The bad:

Conclusion and advice

Are you a game developer or want to be part of the game industry at some point? Are you in Europe? Then, you must go to GDC Europe and Gamescom. We learned that it is possible to attend with less than 400€. And not only that, if you play your cards right, you can showcase your game almost non-stop even without a booth, get a lot of valuable contacts and make new friends. Are we planning to attend next year? Absolutely. Will we do it in the same way? Probably, if I could change something would be to schedule more meetings in advance next time. As much as I tried sometimes it was impossible to talk to people without having an appointment. Finally, the best piece of advice we can give on what to do when attending would be to talk to everyone. What do you think? Will you be attending next time? Did you attend and have a different take on how to make the most of it on a budget?

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This is a repost from our own blog at http://www.2awesomestudio.com/gdc-europe-and-gamescom-on-a-budget/