SGDA ready for return of Zurich Pop Con & Game Show – Members present their brand new games

The SGDA offers its members the opportunity to present their games to a broad audience at the Zurich Pop Con & Game Show. Thirteen studios took the chance to showcase their game and get in touch with the players of their games.

Zurich Pop Con & Game Show is one of the biggest pop culture, gaming, and cosplay events in the country. This two-day event is open to visitors of all ages and has a wide offering of activities, games, and events at Messe Zürich.

The SGDA is a proud exhibitor and provides members with booths to present their games to the public. With more than 10 participating members as well as Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), we look forward to sharing our members’ projects and exploring the 7 festival halls!

Preparations are well underway for us at SGDA as well as for our participating members. Dreamhunt Studio, a game studio based in Berne, had a chat with us about their upcoming game “Unpetrified” and their preparations for the upcoming Zurich Pop Con &Game Show—one of their first big events ever. Read on to learn more.

Interview with Dominik Gygax, Dreamhunt Studios

SGDA: How did Dreamhunt Studio start?

Dominik Gygax: Dreamhunt Studio was founded in Berne 2 years ago by Matthias and me. We realized quite quickly that while we have a strong technical background, we needed someone with a strong creative mind. So, we looked for people who not only share the passion for a new way of developing games but also allow us to produce everything in-house. As of today, our team is composed of 10 people with a broad range of specialities such as Sound Design, Game Design, 3D Artist or 2D Artist.

“Unpetrified” is the first game we’ve created. It’s an exploration game that is non-violent and serves as an escape from the “real world” in a unique way.

Unpetrified by Dreamhunt will be present at Swiss Game Developers Association stand
at Zurich Pop Con & Game Show 2022

SGDA: Can you tell us more about “Unpetrified”? How was the game development process?

Dominik Gygax: In “Unpetrified”, the world changes according to the character’s emotions, the highlight of the game. At the same time, players solve puzzles and get to know more about the backstory.

Making an emotion-driven game is challenging. We asked ourselves how we can make emotions, an abstract concept, tangible in-game. We started with a list of 10 emotions and realized that we needed to reduce the number for now. Unlike other games, “Unpetrified” tells a story without any text or voice-overs, so players are immersed in the game solely through visual and audio elements. Developing “Unpetrified” was challenging and we’re excited to hear what people think.

SGDA: How have you been spreading the word about “Unpetrified” so far?

Dominik Gygax: We try to be as active as possible on social media, so you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and many more. We also offered a public playtest of our game over G.Round just recently. This was available for 4 weeks and we received a lot of feedback. We’re also dipping our toes into different conventions. Now we’re getting ready for Zurich Pop Con &Game Show as well as Steam Next Fest.

SGDA: You’ll have a premium booth at the upcoming Zurich Pop Con &Game Show, right?

Dominik Gygax: Yes. We have been members ever since we founded the studio, and this is the first time we’ll be having a booth. It was clear that we will be getting a premium booth for several reasons. We want to use this opportunity to increase our visibility both in the industry and with the audience. We’ll have a very colorful booth and we’re preparing banners and flyers already. This and a large TV are our eyecatchers that will grab the attention of visitors. It is also the perfect way to experience “Unpetrified”.

SGDA: What are you looking forward to at Zurich Pop Con & Game Show?

Dominik Gygax: ZPC is one of our first big events as a studio and it’s great that we can reach out to more people over the weekend. We hope to see how players react to our game and get more feedback about it.

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