Unveiling Indie Game Highlights at IFA 2023: A Dive into *Goya* and Creative Innovation

## Discovering Indie Gems Amidst Tech Giants Each year at the IFA in Berlin, I find unexpected treasures, often showcasing unique talent that stands apart from established giants like TCL. The event skillfully balances between the flashy displays of large corporations and the earnest offerings from emerging game creators eager to share their innovative projects. This year's theme, "Innovation For All," rings true, especially in the indie game arena. In this creative space, I couldn't help but recall Ashe Foltin, who wowed us last year with his impressive title, *Dung Slinger*, likened to a German version of *Hollow Knight*. This year, Nicolas Mitry from Panama made his mark with *Goya*, an impossible-to-ignore offering that caught my attention after a couple of days lost in *currywurst*. With a distinctive artistic vision, Mitry, alongside his partner Emily Kühn, draws inspiration from Goya’s darker "Pinturas Negras." Within a sea of generic titles, *Goya* introduces a fresh and haunting experience. “We aimed to create a game that immerses players in the essence of a nightmare,” Mitry explained, emphasizing their ambition to deliver an emotionally charged gameplay. The game’s aesthetic is striking. Choosing a muted color palette enhances the oppressive atmosphere, and as the player's character sustains damage, visual deterioration amplifies the tension. “The more damage you take, the more the character's sanity unraveling—a disorienting descent into madness,” he candidly noted. The game's narrative and mechanics weave tightly, telling a deep story as players navigate a world surreal and familiar. The protagonist, an artist, is trapped within the confines of his sketches, with visual elements representing his chaotic thoughts. The white bubble appearing on-screen symbolizes these musings, plunging the player directly into a whirlwind of creativity-fueled frustration, a poignant metaphor that Mitry sought to capture. You might think, though, that *Goya* is just another indie title banking on its striking visuals to carry it through. However, dismissing it would be a mistake. The gameplay mechanics diverge significantly from the norm. Drawing influences from games like *Vampire Survivors*, where players survive against overwhelming odds while accumulating power-ups, *Goya* flips the script. Here, the character remains stationary, resembling a 360-degree tower defense game. To survive, players must actively draw. It’s an inventive twist; executing a simple shape unleashes attacks—fireballs, shockwaves, and even ability to attract experience orbs, making every stroke critical to gameplay. Mitry acknowledges that they designed the early levels to be challenging, allowing players to progressively master both the drawing mechanics and the gameplay itself. “We wanted it to be tough at first, so players could adapt and eventually feel more powerful as they progress,” he explained. Interestingly, this project began under humble circumstances. *Goya* marks the first game developed by Mitry and Kühn, who balanced their studies in Germany with this six-month project—essentially their semester's worth of work. “Programming a game for the first time was incredibly frustrating,” he admits. This was a steep learning curve; they had to grasp Unity, programming principles, and team collaboration all at once. Working closely with a partner presented its own challenges. “In the beginning, we weren’t just coding together; we were learning the fundamentals from scratch,” he reflected. Hailing from Panama, Mitry finds it hard to believe that such specialized video game design programs exist. In Germany, he’s been lucky to pursue a degree that focuses wholly on game design, from which they could choose to specialize in either art or programming—he and Kühn chose the latter. Their education hasn’t overlooked one of indie development's biggest hurdles: visibility post-launch. While they haven’t received formal marketing courses, they prepped trailers and presentations, receiving feedback from industry professionals who critiqued their game's balance of narrative and gameplay. Currently in beta, *Goya* is poised for a Steam launch, and the team maintains an active Discord server for updates. As Mitry shares his experiences, a mix of exhaustion and pride shines through—sentiments familiar to anyone who’s tackled the chaos of creating something from scratch. In a tech landscape brimming with immediacy and polish, encountering something still evolving—like *Goya*—offers a refreshing allure. After all, it’s about navigating the trials of creativity, which often resembles drawing spirals and lightning bolts in the face of uncertainty.