Games Ground 25: The cool kids on the block

Some of the best events take place right on our Berlin home turf, the recent Games Ground being one of them.

Since supporting local indie initiatives is one of our core values as a company, this is the fourth time in a row we participated in the festival: and with more floorspace than ever before. Repurposing parts of our Berlin-themed gamescom booth, like a rare seating arrangement not tied to currently playtesting a game, we made for a neon-lit eye catcher at the end of the main corridor.

Visitors of all ages hopped on the bus to explore the different game worlds we had to offer. While the clear popularity winner was the pre-release The Berlin Apartment, with an NPC quest leading curious adventurers our way, the youngest players barely wanted to let go of their controllers steering Constance. Supervising parents came to us for advice and introductions to the magic of indie games in general. On the preceding B2B days, our programmer-friendly Net.Attack() had dominated the charts.

The complete list of games we brought along:

• JUST RELEASED: The Berlin Apartment (Blue Backpack Games) – A narrative exploration game taking place across decades in a singular apartment

• JUST RELEASED: Constance (Blue Backpack Games) – A hand-drawn metroidvania set in a crumbling world shaped by creativity and mental health

• Net.Attack() – A hacking-inspired bullet hell where the algorithms you build need to ensure survival

• OKU (Irox Games) – A meditative game where you glide through nature and write haiku-like poems to progress

• Exovia – A peaceful asteroid mining and logistics simulator that encourages exploration and inventiveness

• Let Them Trade (Spaceflower) – A medieval city builder on your virtual tabletop that requires careful planning and resource management

Do you want to see your game featured here? Reach out to us: https://www.byterockers.games/publishing

Our resident bizdev became a judge at not only one, but both pitching competitions organized onsite. Feedbacking new projects is not only a creative joy, but hopefully also helpful to those just starting out in the business. (For secrecy reasons, no pictures were taken.)

Sponsoring the B2B party was another essential way for us to give back to the Berlin game development community that we are such a proud and long-standing part of. Nintendo-themed electronic music got even our more serious Project Owners onto the dance floor, but please, nobody can tell them that they were spotted, okay?

Crowd dancing to Dubtendo

Thank you, Games Ground, for organizing one of the most Berlin-feeling events every year, bringing players and developers together in such a vibe-packed environment. See you next time!