This is an autotranslated interview from the Croatian version. We talked with Mato and Josip Vincetić from Downtown Game Studio, winners of GGJ’24 who are one of the many winners of free Reboot Develop tickets.
How did you get tickets for Reboot?
Josip: We got the tickets by winning the Global Game Jam competition in Novska (recommendations to everyone to register and participate next year!). As part of the competition, we received other prizes (money, PlayStation 5, subscription to Vidi magazin), but this definitely turned out to be the most valuable. The other members of the team (Aleksandar Baranji and Ivan Štrok) are also responsible for that victory, who unfortunately did not come with us because we won only two tickets
How was it for you? What are the main things you would tell others?
Mato: We had a great time, we met a lot of interesting people and made new connections, we had the honor of watching and listening live to some of the “celebrities” of the industry whose games we played as kids, and that feeling is indescribable. We proved to ourselves that even though you are a small team and it seems that you are “cut off” from the industry, there are many people and teams who are in the same position and think the same as you, and that by supporting each other at events like this, we make each other stronger.
What was your best lecture? Which part of Reboot impressed you the most?
We would single out 2 Keynote lectures from industry legends: Christopher Sundberg – “How a success mindset will change your life” and Brian Fargo – “Building Worlds: Managing the Creative Process”. Both of those lectures were ultra motivating and showed us how far you can go if you believe in what you do, do it with love and don’t give up. In addition to these lectures, as indie developers we were most impressed by the pitching sessions where we had the opportunity to see what pitching to big publishers looks like and what things to pay attention to when presenting your game.
Would you recommend others to sign up and come? If yes, at what stage?
Mato: Absolutely! Indie developers would benefit the most when they have a demo (or at least a gameplay video) of their game that they could show to other members of the industry, but anyone who has a chance to come before that should do so because you can really learn a lot and make a lot of new contacts. Although we did not present our game at this edition of Reboot, we have a much clearer vision of how we will do it, hopefully, next year.
