Gamescom is in full swing this week. A showcase of upcoming titles, Gamescom is one of the worlds largest gaming conventions. With a mix of entertainment areas backed with brand new titles, the event is full of retro, indie, traders, and cosplayers all celebrating gaming.
There is plenty of business that goes on at Gamescom, as many of the actually development and publishing teams are on hand to give live demos, chat to fans or maybe do some business themselves. We have a number of friends from both north and south of this little island. Here are nine developers who are attending Gamescom in association with Northern Ireland Screen.
Showcasing At Indie Arena Booth
Blackstaff Games
Blackstaff Games is a Belfast based Studio working across animation, interactive and games content. Having developed both Children’s Bafta and Develop nominated projects, the studio focuses on creating exciting new experiences through relatable characters and vibrant worlds. Established in 2014, the team specialises in multiplatform IP creation, development and release alongside helping others realise their own projects.
Travel Pack is a charming coming of age story of a young traveller venturing out into the world for the first time. Heavily influenced by tabletop games, players wobble around a world of tiles and vinyl figurines, meeting characters who share their travelling stories. The demo we played had a forest aesthetic where we had to gather a number of marked tiles to complete a task. The encounter ended with a dice game, where a number of point valued tiles needed to be collected. Roll the dice and determine how many spaces you get to move. Land on an objective tile and add the score to your tally.
I love the look of the game and the idea of every changing board game style levels. Different themes, such as a fisherman character, will change the levels appearance and goals. Travel Pack is only in early development at the moment, but it can be wishlisted on Steam.
Outlier Games
You may have heard of Outlier at last year’s Gamescom. They announced their space themed park building sim, Mars Attracts, where you play as Martians who abduct and experiment on humans for the entertainment of your Martian guests! Build a quirky theme park filled with madcap antics, staff, and themed enclosures, as your abducted humans try to escape their confines and cause havoc in your park. The team have been listening closely to feedback and their constant updates and tweaking of features is setting this game up to be a tight and fun experience.
Outlier is an independent video game development studio focused on premium simulation titles for PC and consoles. The company’s first game, This Means Warp, released in 2022. Mars Attracts has had a demo and Alpha test in recent months on Steam. It is heading to Early Access in 2025, very soon in 2025. Wishlist today.
Slap-Bang! Digital
SLAP-BANG! Digital is a Belfast-based independent game studio founded in 2024 by Mark Skelton. They focus is on building simple, intuitive core mechanics and exploring them to their fullest potential. While favouring shorter, more focused experiences, they are crafted to deliver a thrilling, memorable ride from start to finish.
Smash ‘N Grab is an adrenaline-fuelled, destructive beat ’em up that puts you in control of Smash and Grab, a chaotic duo pulling off heists to devastating effect. Smash is a hulking robot out for justice. Grab is a cunning raccoon chasing wealth. Tethered by a rope, Smash can launch Grab to reel enemies in, seize valuables, and grapple through the environment. Together, they team up to loot everything in sight!
Busting through a museum at night, the pair of protagonists have to take high value art pieces, find hidden gems, and avoid security and armed guards. Crushing breakable objects gives you time bonuses, as you turn off laser traps, dash over dangerous gaps and avoid one-hit takedowns. The brief vertical slice demo has the energy of the chaotic nature from Moving Out meets the “one more go” nature of Hotline Miami to get a faster completion time. The Saturday morning cartoon stylisation has a great look and while the demo only has basic mechanics currently implemented, I’m looking forward to the game being fleshed out with over the top antics and move sets.
While it’s early days for this title, you can wishlist the title on Steam today.
Others Attending Gamescom
While not necessarily showcasing games directly, you may spot six other NI Screen funded developers on the Gamescom floor.
Can You Eat It?
Can You Eat It? is an independent game studio based in Belfast, crafting narrative-driven games that celebrate creative subcultures. Our focus is on storytelling where gameplay and narrative are deeply intertwined, creating experiences that feel as meaningful as they play.
DeTails follows a teenage punk band on their first chaotic tour. Dive into a vibrant world where themes of rebellion, freedom, friendship, and coming of age collide.
Sling colour to reshape the world, rock underground gigs, blaze through makeshift raceways, and connect with the eclectic characters of Long Den.
You can wishlist DeTails today.
Cupboard Games
Formed in 2015 with a focus on collaborations and experimentation with play. Over the past ten years, we have worked with everybody, literally from Astronauts to Zebrafish researchers, mixed with a heavy sprinkle of indie development!
We explore unique themes, ideas and playstyles to push the possibilities of games.
Fancy running around as the undead on holiday, competing against each other for the most prizes while trying not to die… again?
Rushport is a competitive free-form platformer with up to twelve contestants competing in a city-wide deathrun tournament with the simple goal of collecting prizes that equal points – the player with the most points at the end wins! The catch is ethat verything is out to stop you from tricky platforms, hidden traps and obstacles to the local flora and fauna! Oh, and of course, other players.
Iron Gecko
Iron Gecko is a small indie studio made up of 3 core members. Our goal as a studio is to produce games focused primarily on our players having fun and making memories. We aim to make quality slapstick titles that aren’t meant to be taken too seriously for player enjoyment.
Operation ADESSA is a first-person horror/extraction game played in the role of a criminal who’s been given a chance at freedom by going into anomalous spaces in order to retrieve samples for research. You will be put up against liminal creatures, randomly generated levels and a quota deadline.
For more information please contact IronGecko.Games@gmail.com
Lucky Ghost Games
Lucky Ghost is a small, independent game studio developing Skygate Zero – a hoverboard-powered open world adventure set in a flooded future Earth. Players explore ruined islands, master momentum-based traversal, and uncover the secrets of a vanished civilisation – all wrapped in a bold junkpunk aesthetic.
Founded by former Rockstar Games UI/UX design director James Whitcroft, Lucky Ghost is focused on building games with strong creative identity and a player-first ethos. We’re currently developing a vertical slice for Skygate Zero and are seeking the right partners to take the project into full production.
Skygate Zero is an open world action-adventure game featuring a customisable hoverboard, set on a flooded, goo infested post-apocalyptic earth. Experience intense courses and chilled exploration as you forge your path to the mysterious Skygate Zero.
For more information please contact james@luckyghost.studio
Mad Moon Studios
Mad Moon Studios, are a passionate team of designers from Belfast with a shared vision: to reignite the free-flowing fun of the games that inspired us. They pride ourselves on creating the games we always wanted to play, but that never existed.
SOL DRIFT redefines aerial combat by fusing the fantasy of a flight game with the expressive mobility of a modern arena shooter. Players must master a high-skill moveset to perform an aggressive dance of evasion and attack, surviving against overwhelming odds in relentless combat arenas. Descend ever-deeper into a mysterious colossal object, upgrading your ship between runs to survive increasingly difficult challenges and reach the core.
Head over to Mad Moon Studios for more information.
Outsider Games
Outsider Games is a crew of comic book creators and programmers who ,over 13 years ago, assembled with the goal of combining the narrative heft and design language of comic books with the immersion of games.
The studio has developed and published, Wailing Heights and Jennifer Wilde: Unlikely Revolutionaries on PC and Console.
Their next title is Tax Force. Hunt down tax-avoiding mutant billionaires, as you navigate capitalist/socialist economic policies and moral dilemmas. Use the Economy System to spend taxes; fixing hazards, providing healthcare (healing) subsidies and upgrading security. The comic book visuals are inspired by the likes of Jim Lee and 90’s X-men comics. Tax Force is set to hit Early Access in 2025. You can wishlist or play the demo now on Steam.
About Northern Ireland Screen
Northern Ireland Screen is developing the interactive sector through the support of indigenous talent working in video games, immersive and web. They also provide prototype funding for projects, advise on skills development opportunities and help find complementary partners.
Northern Ireland Screen offers production funding in the form of a recoupable award. The fund is intended to assist in completing budgets on productions which are almost fully financed. All the companies in the cohort have received development(prototype) funding in the current strategy. Alongside funding, developers get robust pitch training to support and crystalise their key messaging.
For more information head over to Northern Ireland Screen or contact Rebekah Farmer on rebekah.farmer@northernirelandscreen.co.uk
