Bayreuth alumni at Europe's largest games fair

The Bayreuth graduates (clockwise) Hannah Kümmel, Jan Milosch, Ilona Treml, Marius Mühleck. (c) Studio Windsocke  

"We're an indie studio making the multi-award-winning survival adventure #PassingBy" reads your bio on Instagram. What's the situation like for independent studios in the games industry?
We're getting more and more! According to the German Games Industry Association (game), in the past two years alone, the number of games companies developing and publishing in this country has increased by 26 percent to 786. The association published a start-up guide just last week, and funding opportunities at the federal level have also been expanding for years. It's also notable that the "Indie Arena Booth" at Gamescom is the exhibitor with the largest space this year. It's important to note, however, that several large companies canceled in the run-up to Gamescom for sustainability, Corona or similar reasons. Still, for the indie games scene in general, it's a great sign and testifies to their relevance and visibility!

We catch you in the middle of your trade show preparations: So you'll be there in Cologne? Why?
Yes, we're there in the Indie Arena I just mentioned, along with other "Bayreuthers", by the way: Emergo Entertainment, Besworn Games and NightinGames. All of them are companies that emerged from our studies at UBT. We from Studio Windsocke mainly want to promote our game in Cologne and make new contacts to other great development studios. Gamescom is ideal for this because, as the largest B2C trade fair for digital games, it attracts both potential customers and business partners. It's also the first event since Corona Pandemie that we've been able to exhibit our game at.

Does fierce competition or peaceful coexistence prevail at the trade show?

The answer probably depends on the perspective. There have been many large buyouts of companies by the big players in recent months. But indie games and AAA titles are very different, which is why co-existence is quite possible. We, that is Studio Windsocke, are supported by Ubisoft, a corporation with 21,000 employees and staff in studios and offices around the world. We receive mentoring and workshops from Ubisoft, and they also allow us to attend Gamescom. That's because we won the Ubisoft Newcomer Award in December 2021, which was awarded as part of the German Developer Award. So big companies can definitely act as sponsors.

How did you and your colleagues get into game development?

There are now many ways to get into the games industry: an apprenticeship, a degree or a career change. Since there is a lot of interest, the range of options is constantly growing. We chose to enter the industry via the master's program in "Computer Game Science" at UBT. This is where it all started, and where the creative, theoretical and practical foundations were laid. We started our game, "Passing By - A Tailwind Journey", as a project during our studies. We published a polished version of the project submission on the platform itch.io and used it to win the young talent awards of the German Computer Game Award ("Young Talent Award: Best Prototype") and the German Developer Award (Ubisoft Newcomer Award) last year.