Hello, guys! On December 4-5th our team went to one of the biggest annual Games Conferences in Eastern Europe, which was conveniently held in our hometown - Kyiv. We bought tickets for all team members who wanted to come - that means everyone really. Fortunately, we also got a few tickets for free as speakers and Indie Blast participants. It was a truly massive event for Game industry specialists with some 2800 people attending offline and extra 600 online. It was a great opportunity to talk to colleagues, discuss all the latest news, share experiences and just chill with like-minded people. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/e6daaea3e40a93abee163a18755edb272c68c374.jpg[/img] Large conference hall [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/eb6268f0867942038b7f315abd90825210ac982c.jpg[/img] Wargaming brought the real T-34-85 tank to their booth and made a lottery winning which granted a free ride in the T-34-85 tank. Quite thematic I would say. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/fd9b537b0fa32e940734d3e3c2209c848fef286c.jpg[/img] The insides of the T-34-58 tank. Although refitted with these fancy modern LEDs to increase combat capabilities, this new equipment provides +99 style and -50 spotting. [h1]Indie Blast[/h1] Now, closer to our team’s involvement in the event. It is our good tradition to present our Strategic Mind titles in the Indie Blast competition that allows us to have a small booth sponsored by Epic Games for developers working on Unreal Engine 4. So, this time was no different and we presented our upcoming title - Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/231aade8f29ade12633b933a0d0beacf66fe83ae.jpg[/img] Starni Games booth at the event [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/cfce3cb65fbfc2ec98fe2638e5f50b8b52d501f7.jpg[/img] Starni team - everyone hides from the camera (they seem to have a very high camouflage parameter and are shown as "?") [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/ffa90a7205be799872da2bf4effbdc107b25708e.jpg[/img] Visitors trying out the game. They obviously failed - one cannot just play our game at a conference successfully. It requires some more time to really get into it. :) [h1]Starni team at Games Gathering[/h1] This time we set a record of all 14-people-team attendance. Here are some photos that were taken by our team during the event: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/fcf31c2e96c20ef6e7412fcc8b0fb686ffff6c35.jpg[/img] Kate Bovkun - the one and only 2D artist in our team :) Now she has finally found herself a teammate ;) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/7f36552429132bcb825623f436e9c204fc58129a.jpg[/img] Alex Marchenko - our Lead Level Designer, ... at least that is what it says on the badge. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/0070da4fdd3fa9096bd1dd46f71f2c347cb93d7a.jpg[/img] Valentine Kolesnikov - our Level Design Guru (also known for the best memes), even the famous David Mullich himself has asked to take a photo with Valentine. ;) (not really) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/3195cf424383255ae022c32f0b2907ad504523db.jpg[/img] Kate Bovkun and Alexander Shevchuk are enjoying themselves at the luxurious booth of some big gaming company that makes Hidden Object games. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/5e5bbf8b3ee2ab082a865b25c75c30271d3fd076.jpg[/img] Valentine Kolesnikov and Alex Marchenko taking some photos together to strengthen team spirit. No, just kidding - they made those photos to get free lollipops. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/23530f18d9a48fbd0abfb0130f5b0d51be6338ae.jpg[/img] Our marketing and community manager Katya Globa is taking photos with her sister, oops it's not her sister, it is Lerika Mallayeva the CEO & Founder of DevGAMM events (big game dev conferences similar to this one). [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/87205c4df40465c252809cce0d646b7699d65dcd.jpg[/img] Aaaand finally, Alex Marchenko is taking photos with his new buddy David Mullich and talking about the development of Heroes of Might and Magic VIII. (not really) [h1]Publisher vs Developer talk[/h1] Our CEO Ihor Tymoshenko and COO Oleksandr Sienin had a 1-hour talk about Developer-Publisher relations: how to look for the right publisher, what things to have in mind during the negotiations, and other such things. The key takeaway would be that you have to look for a very specific publisher that fits your company and project the best and the one you can build a long-term relationship with mutual trust and respect. You should be partners, not “the boss and the subordinate”. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/807cc8cd44bac33139c4deae68a615a01b205029.jpg[/img] Left to right: Ihor Tymoshenko and Oleksandr Sienin just started with the talk. Must be really hard to give a talk with your mouth closed. ;) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/6a7170600ad8dacc2765fd99eadf149385b5a455.jpg[/img] The talk has not progressed much since the photo above, as could be seen from the slides. [h1]An unexpected guest[/h1] One of the most famous guests of the conference was undoubtedly David Mullich - the Producer of the Heroes of Might and Magic series (HoMM 3 and HoMM 4), Vampires the Masquerade Bloodlines, and many other famous titles. It was a pleasant surprise when David came to our small booth as he was visiting the Indie zone. We told him about the Strategic Mind series, and he said that really liked how the cinematic trailer for the Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom was directed (footage cut and overall visuals) - it was shown on the screen at our booth as we spoke. We could not miss the chance and took a couple of photos with David. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/864a0dc02864d862e81c0091a9eaf10b4c4e0449.jpg[/img] David Mullich and Oleksandr Sienin at Starni Games booth. Yay! The next day David Mullich taught a lecture about the development of the HoMM series and his path in game development. It was very interesting since the guys on the team could really sympathize and reflect on many things he spoke about - since we often face the same problems. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31809087/9324d646bdb63771659cbbe214080a20c7e87082.jpg[/img] One of the slides from the David Mullich talk at the event explains the UI visual style that the HoMM3 dev team has very fittingly dubbed "the fecal brush". Did not stop them from creating an immortal game though. :) [h1]Our new project[/h1] Interesting thing was that since the conference was before the 14th December - when Slitherine had officially announced our new joint project Headquarters: World War II - we could not really talk about it, and kept talking about “some unannounced project". Fortunately, now the announcement has come and we finally can talk about it more or less freely. We invite you to check out the store page for and wishlist + follow to keep an eye on the development. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840800/Headquarters_World_War_II/ Have a good day! Starni Games team