Personally, I have been dealing with treatment for Major Depression Disorder and ADD. After many years of denial. Meds and therapy are helping. A lot. Please don't be dumb like me - go get help if you even think you need it.
Hobby-wise, I have been into Gaslands and KillTeam lately. Lots of terrain painted, and some more cars. Painted up the starter box for KillTeam for my sons, so a few Primaris Reaver Space Marines and some Tau Fire Warriors. Working on my own team of Genestealer Cultists because I have wanted to play them since they first appeared in White Dwarf in 1989 or so. Played some Team Yankee, and some Flames of War v.4. Have almost completed a Starfinder campaign (Against the Aeon Throne AP) that I am GMing. I play in an online Starfinder game, too. Played a big OGRE game in November. Finished up a couple of airships, but need to build stands for them. Though that has been designed.
So, after my massive movie breakdown a few days ago, we finally get to the games. I actually got to sample a larger number of releases this year compared to previous years, though I can't say I've completed a great many of them. Read on to find out my thoughts.
Last January, I was travelling in the European east. The main purpose of this trip was to finish my post-doctorate research about "Advergames: games as marketing tools" that I developed with Paneurópska vysoká škola at Bratislava (Slovakia). I presented the results and it was great (one more trophy achieved on the academic game).
After some days in Bratislava, I travelled to Kiev (Ukraine) and then to Krakow (Poland). In the last part of this trip, in Poland, I visited one awesome gaming studio named Moonlit. Knowing that the Polish land is a great market for games, I sent some e-mails trying to contact people from the local industry to share some ideas and discover new points of view. I talked to Mateusz Wanatowicz, PR and marketing specialist in Moonlit Games. Below, I surmised our conversation, sharing highlights of the polish gaming industry, Moonlit projects and an overview of polish gaming market.
1.Why do we need to pay attention to the Polish gaming market?
Well, it's one very important market in the central Europe. According to the last Newzoo gaming research, the country (with a population of 34 million people) has profited around 500 million dollars with gaming products. In comparison to Brazil - a country with 210 million people and a profit of 1.3 billion dollars in the gaming market - it's a very interesting emergent market to pay attention to.
2. About Moonlit Games studio
Moonlit is a gaming studio and a software house. In 2018, the company started to produce two authorial projects: Playerless - an arcade game where you need to fix bugs and the NPCs to run it correctly (PC); and Ignis - a battle arena game with wizards, sorcery and combats (PC and Xbox). Below, you can check some trailers and contents from both games.
3. Some aspects of the Polish gaming industry
It is a promising industry as we saw in the first topic. According to Wanatowicz, the government of Poland sees this industry as a profitable area to invest money in and an entry door for many startups and small initiatives for new business. Wanatowicz highlighted that big events, games jams and young talents are receiving support from the government; and, another important point: careers in gaming area (coding, game designing, 3D art etc.) are also prominent in the academic area.
Another important thing to mention is the fact that the games from the series "The Witcher" were a way to present the Polish gaming industry to the whole world.
It is important to say that board games and card games have a main role in this context too. Local production of analogic games is growing year by year.
4.Polish gamers
Wanatowicz also said that Polish gamers, in a general way, support the local industry and they are proud of the national industry and gaming production.
5.A final message to the Gaming Conceptz audience
Mateusz Wanatowicz emphasizes that part of the success of a gaming industry is about how government, gamer community, studios/companies and universities can join powers to create a fertile ecosystem for different kinds of projects. Big initiatives as "The Witcher" series are fundamental, but supporting indie studios, small startups, events and clear marketing rules are also a key for a good gaming market.
