I went with Victoria, and outside of being excited to see Darren Korb (composed for Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre) live, I had no idea what to expect. When we arrived at the opening time for regular free tickets at 1, we were first already taken aback by the size of the line, though it passed into the venue surprisingly quickly. We were greeted by free tote bags, with tiny pins/badges and free Red Bull to hoard everywhere. I still haven’t finished my stash of the latter. Though this was likely bc the majority of people would end up arriving later in the day, we were both still instantly surprised by just how many people there were at each and every stall, and in general. The event was spread out through 4 or so rooms filled with stalls, including one larger central warehouse with a large screen where most of the games were. Most of the stalls were just a monitor and controller with a sign showing the game’s name on top, but a couple had gimmicks (and actual devs present) such as ringing a bell and giving winners a foam wrestler’s belt, as Gang Beasts did.
Eventually, near the end of the event, all of those who owned winning wrestling belts went to the large screen in the front of the room in a tournament of champions. It was pretty hype.
The quality of games present was wildly varied. Some felt almost like flash games from Newgrounds, while others felt like future indie hits with amazing production value, polish, and art direction. Some of the most notable games that come to mind (none of which I was actually able to play due to long wait times) are Anamorphine, Bernband, Floor is Lava, and Mineko’s Market.
Lastly, being able to watch Darren Korb and Ashley Barret perform familiar songs live was amazing. They played mainly songs from Transistor, likely because it was the most reliant on singing, whereas the other soundtracks used heavy bass and beats and Darren had opted to only bring his acoustic guitar.
(I think this is a download link for some reason, might be too large for built in browser player.)
Overall, Day of the Devs was enormously fun and inspiring, and I see absolutely no reason to not continue going every year from now on.
I have watched many streamers play Gang Beasts and it’s a funny game to watch. It is surely an accomplishment for a rather simple game to bring such level of entertainment to a group of friends.