Astrobot, crowned as Game of the Year in the Titanium Awards
December 6, 2024
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
Bilbao International Games Conference :
The third edition of the Bilbao International Games Conference has kicked off today with Debbie Bestwick receiving the honorary award, the Titanium Awards gala (that crowned Astrobot as Game of the Year), and a series of talks among which those dedicated to Chants of Senaar and The Stone of Madness, the upcoming game by The Game Kitchen, stood out.
Debbie Bestwick, 2024 BIG Conference's honorary award.
Team17 is one of the most recognised names in European game development. Not only from the days of the Commodore Amiga, but also from the perspective of a studio that has acted as publisher over the last few decades, bringing to life classics like Worms and supporting Spanish indie classics like Blasphemous. The BIG Conference awarded one of its 2024 honorary prizes to Debbie Bestwick, CEO of Team17 until 2023, who shared some of her most memorable experiences on the stage.
Worms was one of the central topics of her talk. Bestwick recalled that the game didn’t have the best visual appeal, but it fascinated the entire team from the very beginning: “In that game, what really mattered was how funny the gameplay was.” The success of Worms surprised the studio so much that Bestwick admitted, “I could write a whole book about all the decisions you don’t have to make when you have a lot of money”.
Ana Trujillo, producer at The Game Kitchen.
Maikel Ortega and Ana Trujillo took the stage to present the latest insights of The Stone of Madness development, a co-production between The Game Kitchen and Teku Studios, which TripWire Presents will release on January 25. The game combines infiltration mechanics with real-time strategy and character management. It’s set in a convent, blending elements from different games such as the atmosphere of Darkest Dungeon, the problem-solving of Dishonored, and the management of characters with unique skills of Commandos or Shadow Tactics.
The talk aimed to demonstrate the obstacles a development faces during production. The game was announced in 2020, with Teku leading the project but the studio soon encountered difficulties in bringing its original vision to life. That’s when The Game Kitchen stepped in, taking over the IP and leading the development, which, after overcoming several setbacks and cuts, will be released in just a few weeks.
Julien Moya and Thomas Panuel, from Rundisc.
Chants of Sennaar was one of the standout titles in the indie gaming scene of 2023. The puzzle game from the French studio Rundisc is set in a virtual Tower of Babel, where players must decipher different languages to progress through each of the five levels that make up the game’s map.
Julien Moya and Thomas Panuel from Rundisc started the development during the Covid-19 lockdown as a project to work on during their free time. “In fact, it’s a puzzle game where each of the glyphs that make up the different languages is a piece of that puzzle,” they explained. Chants of Sennaar was initially planned as a title for PC and Nintendo Switch, but a fortunate accident allowed the game to be released on multiple platforms: the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in May 2023 gave the team several months to work on the console versions, and they were able to launch on all platforms in September 2023, receiving widespread critical acclaim.
V Buckenham, Downpour's creator.
Creating videogames doesn’t have to be a multi-million-dollar endeavour with hundreds of people. V Buckenham didn’t just want to make a videogame, but to create a tool that would help others to bring their own ideas to life. “I want to make an impact by helping others to create many awesome games, rather than just creating my own awesome game. This is the philosophy that led me to develop Downpour,” she explained.
Making videogames requires having the right tools for the job and Emilio Coppola, executive director of the Godot Foundation, revealed the secrets behind the growing success of the game’s engine: “More than 3,000 people have contributed to Godot’s code, which has increased its popularity within the indie development segment.”
Manuel Kerssemakers, from Abbey Games.
The BIG Conference’s talk sessions started on a high note with the presentation of Reus 2, winner of the BIG Indie Contest’s Most Innovative Game award. “Reus 2 is the result of four people working full-time and eight freelancers. We opted for a sequel because it involves less risk, and we had many ideas that we couldn’t implement in the original title,” explained Manuel Kerssemakers from Abbey Games during his talk.
Attendees at the event will have a second chance to meet tomorrow, Saturday, when the conference will award an honorary prize to María Jesús López for her contribution to the video game industry in Spain.
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Picture Gallery (2024 edition)
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ABOUT THE BILBAO INTERNATIONAL GAMES CONFERENCE
The BIG Conference picks up the baton from the Fun&Serious Game Festival, which started in 2011 in Bilbao. With the slogan of "celebrating video game culture and video games as culture," for years, it attracted tens of thousands of people and the most prominent names in the international video game industry with a proposal that mixed professional presentations with activities aimed at the general public: from the fun for the whole family of the Fun Zone to the congress for indies Games Industry Forum, passing through the Titanium Awards or esports competitions. After the pandemic hiatus, with a purely virtual edition and another semi-presential one, the festival became an exclusive event for industry professionals and it changed its skin with a brand that reflected this new strategic direction.
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