devcom serves up award winners ahead of a packed week in Cologne

If you’re fortunate enough to be in Cologne ahead of the main course that is gamescom, no doubt it is because the developer-focused starter, devcom, has just gotten underway.

Kicking off yesterday with the Speaker & VIP Networking Dinner, devcom’s first evening continued with the devcom Indie Awards. There were more than 270 games up for consideration across just four categories:

• Mobile Marvels Winner: Dungeons of Dreadrock, The Dead King’s Secret – Christoph Minnameier, Germany
• Creative Overkill Winner: SWAP/MEAT – One More Game, USA
• Graphics Galore Winner: Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree – Starvania, Saudi Arabia
• Blockbuster Winner: Zombie Rollerz: The Last Ship – Zing Games Inc., USA

Finally, devcom revealed the results of its Speaker Survey, which drew from the insights of 100 of the people who will be speaking over the next couple of days. Topics included AI, layoffs, first-party platforms, business models, AAA development and the challenges facing the industry. Chief takeaway: only one person was a fan of ad-based free-to-play games.