Hi folks! Hooray! We have successfully survived Gamescom 2023! 🎉 For us, Gamescom is something very special every year. Since the founding of Paintbucket in 2018, we have been there with one of our games in every year the fair has taken place. 🎮 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42791427/f4fc6681397697b6376adc9e45a1e8434e4b0525.jpg[/img] It's incredibly stressful, hot, crowded and loud, but it's also a wonderful reunion of indies, gamers, people from the press etc. every time. - and it's just nice to meet once a year in this setting. On Tuesday, Jörg, Mona, Jona, and Hanna arrived and set up our stand in the Indie Arena - it turned out quite well, didn't it? 🤗 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42791427/0aeba0db3f8cbfcb301a89362ab92367b5059733.png[/img] The next day we already started - it's trade visitor day. The first interviews about our game are in the can and also Hanna, our newly appointed Community Manager, gave her first interview in her life. And with success! 🧡 We can't complain about the press response either, we were streamed on IGN, and got a few articles, including on Heise, and for SPIEGEL Online The Darkest Files was even one of the ten highlights of the fair, alongside heavyweights like Starfield! 😮 Here are a few examples (all in German, though): [url=https://www.heise.de/news/Bunt-kreativ-Indie-Games-auf-der-Gamescom-2023-9279745.html]Heise[/url] | [url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/ns-aufklarung-zerstorungswut-kontrollverlust-berliner-indie-entwickler-bei-der-gamescom-10363129.html]Tagesspiegel[/url] | [url=https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/games/gamescom-2023-das-sind-zehn-highlights-des-spieleherbsts-a-79055fd4-6140-42c0-83f0-d2fb18c422ff]Spiegel[/url] | [url=https://spielpunkt.net/das-wichtigste-spiel-der-gamescom-kommt-aus-deutschland/?expand_article=1]Spielpunkt[/url] The people from Game Two also came to our stand and played The Darkest Files and reported on it in one of their latest [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyB0HdDW__U&t=2023s]videos[/url]. The press and their opinion is of course important for us and one of the reasons why we show our games at Gamescom. But even more important is the community, the gamers, many of whom have seen The Darkest Files for the first time. ☝️ On Thursday, Gamescom was open to everyone. Our 4 game stations were manned throughout. People were often waiting and we didn't miss the chance to talk to them and tell them about The Darkest Files and the development! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42791427/998187803e9caf40786484fc590b1640f56e63e3.png[/img] Later, our Lead Artist Viv also arrived in Cologne to help out at the booth for the next few days. In the evening we went to the annual industry party right on the Rhine. We ate delicious food, met up with old friends and shook a leg. 💃🏼 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42791427/c1c6e93f5483d238d4bec320100c57fd7a622e07.png[/img] But not for too long, because we had to go back to Düsseldorf! There we stayed in a hotel for the Gamescom. The hotels in Cologne are usually booked up well in advance, so it's impossible to get a room in Cologne that's affordable for small indies like us. And hey, the train is a quick way to get from Düsseldorf to Cologne and back, right? RIGHT??? The trains were full. Very full. And regularly late. As I said at the beginning: Gamescom is stressful, hot, crowded and loud - and that's even more true for the Gamescom trains. It was ... terrible ... I won't lie. But somehow we always made it back. 🧡 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42791427/968cdf7854fb8fa2cd63031a4a121b4296488b90.jpg[/img] From Friday afternoon onwards, it was just Hanna and Viv at Gamescom, looking after the stand! From the Indie Arena there was coffee and tea, and at lunchtime there were always vegan hot dogs. That, and the fruit and fruit bars we brought with us, was all we ate. 😁 Fortunately, the temperatures were mild. Last year it was a good 30 degrees in Cologne, but this time it even rained and it was a pleasant 20 - 25 degrees. On Sunday evening, Hanna and Viv also went back to Berlin. The stand was dismantled, the equipment given out by the Indie Arena was returned, merch was packed up, and then it was off to Cologne main station. The train was on time, and there were free seats! Woohoo! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42791427/5935c2c52a79f758a3705c02ed0e6f9c336b771f.png[/img] If you want to see more of our time at Gamescom, check out our [url=https://www.tiktok.com/@paintbucketgames]Tiktok channel [/url]. There we uploaded a video every day during the fair. We also kept our [url=https://twitter.com/TheDarkestFiles]Twitter [/url] and [url=https://www.instagram.com/paintbucketgames/]Instagram [/url] account busy with pictures. 🕵️‍♀️ If you haven't played The Darkest Files demo yet, you should do so! A demo from the beginning of the year is available for you to play on our [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2058730/The_Darkest_Files/]shop page[/url]. Feel free to put the game on your wishlist if you haven't done so yet, and what helps us especially is if you also [u]follow[/u] us on Steam! If you do, you'll also get regular updates from the production and behind the scenes - like this one. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42791427/4cbcb0ce6721852d3d3c371def09cc40bed4fa34.png[/img] Thank you! 🧡 Have you ever been to a Gamescom? And if so, how did you like it? And if not, would you like to go there? What appeals to you about such an event? The games, the developers, the influencers? Let us know in the comments, in the forum or on our [url=https://discord.gg/U5zXuJqpz4/]Discord[/url]!