On September 23rd, I was invited to showcase Star Vikings Forever at the Google Play Indie Games Festival in downtown San Francisco. Star Vikings Forever was one of 20 finalists selected from over 500 submissions, and we were given the opportunity to demo the game for guests, industry professionals, and judges. Developers, members of the Google Play team, game bloggers, and influential streamers were all in attendance.

After arriving early, and setting up our game on their hardware, the festival was opened to guests and judges to walk around and play each game. Our booth was equipped with Google Pixels, to allow three people at a time to play, so my hook of “Do you want to be a viking in space?” was a great ice breaker and enticing enough to bring wanderers to our table.

Setting up the booth

After the demo period, guests voted for their favorite games and 10 were selected to present to the judges. While Star Vikings Forever was not one of the 10 selected, we had many other positive takeaways from the event. The games that did particularly well had fun gameplay mechanics, and were easy to demo and pick up in under five minutes. A few of them even had powerful backstories as to why they were developed, which pitched well to the judges and guests.

One of the biggest reasons that I enjoy attending festivals conventions is the networking opportunities. Even with previously established contacts, it is important to attend their events to refresh the connection with facetime. Also at conventions, I have met some of our games’ biggest fans, as well as professionals that I later bring on to projects to work alongside.

Another takeaway from the Indie Games Festival was seeing what was successful in the mobile gaming world. In particular at conventions, games need to have short play sessions and contain interesting mechanics. Many of the games represented were puzzle games, but where Star Vikings Forever stood out was the creative and witty dialogue, simple and intuitive controls, and unique mechanics. Guests were surprised at how much strategy was involved in each of our levels, and they loved the charm of the characters and story.

Akupara Games and I were honored to be invited to the Indie Games Festival this year, and we look forward to attending and showcasing in the future.

David Logan
CEO