INSOMNIA 53

On April 22^nd I had the chance to go to INSOMNIA 53 in Coventry. INSOMIA is a games festival where Indie companies showcase their new games. Youtube gaming channels put on shows and also games are set up everywhere for people to play and enjoy. Thanks to a friend I got a free guest pass and was able to access the VIP area and to wander round freely. My main purpose of going was to meet some indie developers and just get some advice and contacts on how to make it in the industry. I also saw this as an opportunity to job hunt and I made a few connections.

There were a couple things that struck me first, the variety of games and different platforms. The Indie boom is strong and there is so much noise when it comes to modern gaming. Festivals like this need to exist for people to get that feedback and get their games out there. I spoke to several people and they all said the same that things. The game industry moves so fast you have to keep up. You’ll get knocked down and there’ll be a lot of failures but this shouldn’t stop you and you should always strive to improve and learn from the things that didn’t quite go to plan.

Another thing I noticed was just how young some of these gamers were. Maybe I’m just getting on in years, (cries) but the amount of a very young gamers blew my mind. It really did put things into perspective for me. My friend who got me the guest pass is part of a youtube channel that hosts Minecraft tournaments for kids to take part and compete in assault courses they built. The idea was to replicate those old kids TV shows like ‘50/50’, ‘Get your own Back’ etc. It was then I realised that Sonic the Hedgehog won’t be their nostalgia, Minecraft will. A game I know very little about to be honest and kind of ‘Don’t get’ the appeal, really proved to me, that again, the industry really does move fast. Which is exciting yet means the need to adapt is crucial to survive. This is something I hope to work on, to really increase my chances of employment.

Below are business cards of some of the people I spoke to.

It was such a fun experience and I hope to go to more festivals/conventions like this.