First of all, let's start with the city Kochi itself. The city was beautiful, the stretches of trees, the beaches, the islands and the weather. It was an amazing experience. On top of that, the food was amazing. The people were a mixed bag though, I met some cool people and some not so cool people. In short, people were like any other city.
It was a two-day event. I was one of the finalists of the hackathon. As a result, I was invited by Unity to present in the finals. I didn't win the competition but because I did not put a great amount of effort into it, I probably didn't deserve it. Here's a link to the game.
The event organization was pretty good. Some of the talks were excellent. The community itself is still in the earlier stages, but the enthusiasm in people was amazing. I saw a lot of young people with great potential. Many big companies in India were there too. Overall, it was a good experience.
One thing which changed for me was my perspective towards games. I always thought that games were science and engineering. But now I think that games are more art than science. I know that a lot of engineering goes into making games and games wouldn't be possible without it. But the basic underlying concept for most games is conveying human emotions.
If you take a look at all the winners of Game Awards, most of them are story-driven. There may be an argument that competitive games are not expressing any emotion but it is debatable at best. Wherever you may stand on that debate, there's no denying that even competitive games are a work of art.
If you think about it, Games are the culmination of all the different human art forms i.e. story, music and art along with a huge amount of engineering and science. The way games can express a feeling or emotion, no other form of art can on its own. Come to think about it my favorite game of all time, Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is just that. If you haven't played it, I strongly suggest that you do. I can go on and on about the Witcher 3 but you'll find all the praise on the internet.
And this has completely changed my view towards making games. It's all about conveying emotions.
I still absolutely love making games and enjoy the creative process. There's something magical about bringing a virtual world to life and crafting experiences that players can immerse themselves in. However, meeting so many fellow game developers at Unite Kochi gave me a sobering perspective on the industry itself. Many of the indie developers I spoke with had been struggling for years, pouring their hearts and savings into projects that barely broke even. The market is incredibly saturated, and even talented developers with great ideas often struggle to get noticed.
Several studios represented there had pivoted multiple times, trying different business models and game types just to stay afloat. The passion was evident in everyone's eyes, but so was the exhaustion. The reality is that game development, especially in India, doesn't seem like the most stable career path right now. The hours are long, the competition is fierce, and financial success is far from guaranteed. It's a labor of love that often doesn't love you back financially. I'll keep making games as a creative outlet, but I'm reconsidering whether I want to stake my entire livelihood on this industry.