Today Team Denki took an extended lunch to have a quick peek at ProtoPlay, the festival for all games-like things as well as the exciting finale for the Dare to be Digital competition. From the outside, Caird Hall seemed much like business as usual (at least, if you ignored the small stage and its PA system blaring about the festival just on the other side of the square), but on the inside it was bustling with activity. The main hall had been transformed from its usual state to something more reminiscent of a LAN party or a disco in terms of lighting, temperature and floor space per person.
- Andy and Paul flyyyyyyiiiiing
Dominating the hall were of course the Dare to be Digital teams, all 15 of them scrunched up into little islands of gaming. We didn’t have time to give them all the thorough Denki scrutiny, but we did manage to squeeze in bit of playing as the pictures prove. And squeezing it did indeed require, because it seemed like lot of people had showed up for this, and this was only the Friday afternoon! If the weekend’s visitor numbers are going to be even bigger, I’ll finally get to test my very own ARG/LARP idea. It’s called Sardines…
In addition to all the fun and games, there’s also going to be some interesting talks this weekend, ranging from how to get started in making your own games to local developers sharing their success stories. The full schedule can be found here. Personally I find Crytek’s behind-the-scenes talk quite interesting.
- Paul jumping and slapping himself… as usual
I only got to test a couple of the Dare games (and most of them quite briefly as well in order to finish my round), so for more in-depth analysis I’ll have to brave the dark depths of Caird Hall again this weekend. Hope to bump into you there!
Eevi