Ain’t no rest for the indie – there is a new games jam coming and this time it’s going to be a proper jam, not a festival – GamesJamGAMM. Also, let’s talk a bit about Russian game developers events and DevGAMM in particular.
So, for years KRI was the most popular game developers conference in Russia. KRI literally means Game Developers Conference, but it is not in any way related to the original GDC. There was GDC Russia once though, I was there and I’ll probably tell its sad story later.
KRI usually happened in Spring, gradually moving from February to May. Nevertheless, KRI was almost always accompanied by snow, except for last couple of times. Before Igromir, a Russian version of Gamescom, KRI was not just a conference but also a press event, where journalists could learn about new games. Well, these days are all gone now, but journalists are still a plenty at KRI.
Maybe because KRI is always packed with half-naked and literally naked women. Here are some pictures I took personally and they’re NSFW:
Yes, that’s Mass Effect logo on her boobs. It was official game promotion in Russia back in 2009.
I took it last year. I have no idea what they are advertising.
This year is different. KRI has moved into Autumn and is going to be connected to Igromir. There is also going to be Russian Comic-Con packed Igromir. It’s obviously has no relation to real Comic-Con and is called World of Heroes (great name for Wargaming’s new MMO, right?).
So, Spring is free for grabs and DevGAMM is trying to take KRI’s place. DevGAMM (formerly FlashGAMM) was usually held in Kyiv, Ukraine in late Autumn and was dedicated to casual, social and mobile games. So it’s unusual to see DevGAMM in Moscow going for KRI audience, but it just might work – a lot of people I know are going to visit it. I guess old habits die hard.
BTW, GamesJamGAMM is supported by that all-girls gaming website Kitchen Riots. I guess we’ve come a really long way since KRI 2009. Or not.
Of course DevGAMM and KRI are not the only events for game developers in Russia and Ukraine. There is Sociality Rocks (another Ukrainian conference that expanded to Russia), there is Winter Nights and there is Casual Connect Kyiv among others. And if you’re not in the mood for spendings there were at least 13 free to attend Games Nights last year in various cities of Russia and Ukraine.
But if you’re in it for naked ladies, you should go to KRI.