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To get some insight into the world of games development, I made the trip into London to see the WASD Expo and play some up-and-coming indie games currently on the market. This gives me a break from our own development and a chance to meet some like-minded artists and get inspired. It also allows us to talk about our own Graduation Show, which we are organising as a chance for families, friends and the public to see our hard work.
The venue is packed full of gamers, developers, teachers, and hobbyists all together playing new games. As this was my very first expo, I was excited to see what was being promoted.
A few familiar developers were at the event, such as Devolver games who designed popular rouge-like ‘Cult Of The Lamb’ and Yogcast Games with ‘The Holy Gosh Darn’.
I am heavily inspired by games like ‘Cult Of The Lamb’ which uses bright and colourful visuals with darker themes. The art-style is something I am particularly drawn to as the environments are full of natural storytelling and implications that reflect well with the over-arching narrative.
This is something I aim to do with Keepers Veil; although there is not a lot of game-play (being a visual novel), there is a heavy reliance on the world-building and setting. When everything comes together, the player can accurately role-play as a character in the world and feel impacted by the choices to be made.
As I wandered around the expo, a few new games stood out to be at the event.
A common theme amongst these is that they are heavily narrative based and combines stories with puzzles to create engaging worlds. Not only this, but the use of colours and promotional art stood out most to me in a room full of busy people.