Dublin Comicon this year was a veritable sensory overload. The Dublin Convention Centre was thronged with people and this extended to the surrounding area with numerous people carrying tokens of their affection for various pop-culture properties. A carnival of cosplayers dressed up as everything imaginable from Mario to Marvel. It would be amiss of me not to give particular mention to, a man in Fallout power armour that must have stood at well over two metres as well as a Kratos (God of War) cosplayer in body paint with an appropriately styled beard to match the latest game. While I could continue to wax about the positive atmosphere created by people from all walks of life young and old or about the fascinating panel which I attended about the genre of horror across video games, literature and film, I feel most compelled to discuss the subject of the section.
On the first floor, down a hallway to the left was a room bustling with up and coming independent developers and each was bubbling with passion. In particular I was astounded by the number of one-person teams who had started as a passion project.
One person company Storm Force NW Game Development is preparing to release their first game. Programmer and designer, Dermot Sweeny helming the project and along with the help of a freelance writer, is attempting to make an ambitious RPG based around curse stones of Irish superstition. You play through the story of a woman returning to the west of Ireland under mysterious circumstances. Sweeney also promised an interesting play on time, but chose not to elaborate further. The scope of the project is truly impressive for what is predominantly a one-man team, though Sweeney is using clever short cuts, such as painting its terrain over Ordnance Survey maps.
Fadó is also an RPG made by one person. Fionn Keeley is developing a top down RPG with a more traditional flavour that sees the player taking the role of one of four characters from Irish mythology. In my session I took control of Fionn McCúl and caught and battled the Salmon of Knowledge. Yes, you heard correctly, this is a game in which the player fights the Salmon of Knowledge. If that is not a selling point I can scarcely imagine what is. The fishing reminded me of the Pokémon series and when I inquired Keeley cited it as an influence along with classic Final Fantasy games.
Mr. Grayscale is a game which I played at Gamers Expo Ireland (GXI) and I am happy to report that it has only become more polished since. Developer Erie Studios concocted the idea of phasing between a lighter inner level and darker outer level during a game jam and have since proceeded to twist that concept in every way imaginable. Imagine running along the tops of boxes only to leap onto one and then falling through it at the press of a button to reach the goal. They said that they are aiming for a release in January 2019 and I, for one cannot wait.
I did not have a chance to play any of the numerous other games which surrounded me in this exciting corner of Comicon. I did see developers such as Squid Monkey Studios, whose ambitious inter-galactic action game (which has been renamed from Final Horizon to Arc Survivor) is looking more impressive than ever. One thing is certain however, the future of the Irish independent game scene is bright.
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