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Hi, I’m Luigi. I share my notes, observations, analyses, and what I learned from the masters.

Intro

From the 19th to the 21st of December 2025, the city of Novi Sad hosted for the first time the GAMES.CON: Games and pop culture festival.

The festival has been usually held in the capital, Belgrade, but this year, for organisational reasons, the location was shifted.

Entering the festival gave me exactly the feeling described by Keith Burgun in an old episode of The Clockwork Game Design Podcast; while the event is far smaller than international conventions such as GDC or PAX, this reduced scale creates a familiar atmosphere that makes people genuinely feel like an active part of a living community.

The festival contains all the ingredients that make it worth a visit:

• Multiple booths selling gadgets related to video games, tabletop games, old and new pieces of tech

• Tournaments of tabletop and video games (from classics like D&D, Magic the Gathering, LoL and DOTA, to less popular one)

• A stage hosting several shows and live events

• A corner featuring vintage arcade cabinets from the late ’80s and ’90s

• A large area dedicated to the local Indie scene

Inside the Serbian Indie Game Scene

The coolest part of the conference, at least for us was the Indie Corner X Games.con 2025. We spent most of the time hanging around with the indie developers at the show, they were very friendly, open to discuss about their games and let us try their prototypes.

Plantlike by Jack Volopas

The first game we tried was Plantlike by JackVolopas, the development of the game took around 10 years and one interesting thing is that, as the developer said, he didn’t use any game engine, rather the whole game was done from scratch using only C and C++.

The game is a Tower defense, roguelike where you are a weird creature with tentacles that grows on a floating island.

Your survival is linked to 3 key elements: air, water and organics that you are consuming at a faster pace as you grow among hostile creatures.

The game contains a lot of details and specific mechanics to learn along the way: every tentacle extremity can be transformed in a different appendix that provides specific advantages to your creature; the transformation must be planned based on your needs and the specific tile where the tentacle is located since it affects the types of transformations allowed. The game allows also for stopping the time from flowing and plan your next steps.

Another surprise of this game is the presence of a skill tree on the line of games like Civilization that you can use to “evolve” your available transformations.

The game is also equipped with a nice initial walkthrough that is clearly and slowly introducing the player to all the mechanics of the games.

A part of the definitions provided by the developer, I would add the game contains also element of classic strategy games and city builders. Overall an interesting playing experience that is available for free on itch.io.

The game is already fully released and runs on Windows.

Animal Times by Fusion 29

Animal Times is a turn-based strategy game, openly inspired to the classic board game Risk but with a twist related to the rules, since in Animal Times the combat outcome is calculated subtracting the values of the resulting dices.

The aim is to conquer territories in a fictional world map leading an army of animals.

The visuals of the game are quite appealing, and the medieval chill-out music in the background fits perfectly.

Most of the rules are the same of the classic Risk game and they are well described in the game options; the only things I was find missing, but maybe it’s due to the fact that the game is not still officially released, are the chain attacks and the possibility to run more of two attacks in the same turn as it is possible in Risk. Overall a good game for the lovers of the original Risk.

The game is currently in play testing phase and should be released in April 2026; you can join it and play it for free.

It’s worth noting that the game is developed with the Godot game engine, a free and open source game engine; Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems will be supported.

Fusion 29 is also present on itch.io at the fusion29dev page. Here you can find the first prototype of Animal Times as well as an interesting game idea created for a game jam called Akikaze where you need to help a monk to remain in his meditation state (you can play this one as well for free on itch.io).

Dwarf simulator by Ascalon Games

Another game we tried is Dwarf simulator. The game is still in development and soon it should be available in Early Access on Stem, the release date hasn’t been announced yet.

In this first person 3D game, you play the role of a dwarf living in an underground cave. The game develops through a sequence of missions (or task) to accomplish and includes a craft system that will allow to build and sell weapons.

The demo we tried was quite limited but the concept looks promising.

The game will be running on Windows systems.

Ghost Mansion by Lumi Gaming

Lumi Gaming is a small studio that has already a few games on their records, all developed for Android and available on Google Play.

In this game the Ghost Mansion is just a suggestive background to partecipate to a set of fast paced mini games together with a other few little ghosts.

From the Lobby (the Mansion) we can access at the moment 4 different funny mini-games where we compete with other players. The type of games proposed have quick-to- get mechanics and are perfect to keep us entertained when we have a bit of free time or while waiting in a queue or commuting by bus; the multiplayer supports adds even more fun to the mix (I am not sure how big is currently the community counting that it was just released two months ago).

The only thing that is a bit frustrating at time, are the controls, with a virtual joystick on the bottom left of the screen and interaction buttons on the right that are at time not quite responsive, making some games (i.e. Lava run) difficult to enjoy.

The game is free to play with in-app purchases.

Bad Week by Nitročelik Games

This is the game with the most unusual concept I saw at the Games.Con, the best way to describe it is to quote the description on their Steam page; Bad Week is a retro-style first-person narrative-driven immersive life simulator set in early 2000s Belgrade.

You play as Zoran, a middle-aged alcoholic trying to survive the challenges of daily life while managing his health, relationships and addiction. Your goal is to keep it together for a week and make choices that affect your life and family.

In the demo we tried, you are wondering around the Belgrade’s blocks after the NATO bombing of 1999. You doctor reaches out to you to communicate you the results of your latest blood analysis that revealed severe health issues and additional your social life is falling apart.

The atmosphere and the time setting is defined quite well with several sweet details as the Zastava cars parked around the streets.

Unfortunately the developers have no estimated any release date so it’s hard to say when this game will see the light. The game is completely developed with the Godot game engine and will support Windows operative systems.

Fragments by Lazar Varagic, Alex X, Vidan Tomic

Fragments is a first-person psychological horror developed using the Unity game engine for Windows operating systems. You need to find clues (fragments) that will help you investigate your past and your traumas.

The atmosphere is very nicely built, with unsettling music, a scary dark forest where we are wondering and a mysterious masked man (or a ghost) that is chasing us.

Honestly neither when we tried the game at the Games.con nor when we tried the demo alter home we succeeded to get much far. The forrest looks more or less all the same with little or no clue on which way to take and the masked ghost ended up to got us all the time.

If you want to try out the game there is a demo available on the related steam page (link in the title of this section).

Water, Me & You by Shosha Games

This game looks promising but unfortunately is still under development and no release date has been announced.

The game follows the great success of recent co-op titles as “It takes two“ and “Split Fiction“ using similar concepts and mechanics. The stars of the game are little creatures called Woodlings that are now populating the world. We guide one of those creatures through different adventures while gathering resources, solving quests and developing several skills as crafting, farming, fishing, cooking or building to help the community to flourish.

Hexalith by Artemi studios

The last game we had the pleasure to examine and try out was Hexalith. This is a sci-fi city builder with a very catchy soundtrack.

I must say this game looked the most “complete” among the ones we tried and probably needs just a little bit of tuning. The visuals, mechanics, and soundtrack are all very well curated.

The game takes inspiration from pioneers of the genre like SimCity, but here the development of your futuristic city is driven by the missions and objectives you complete. There are main missions, which must be completed in order to progress, and secondary missions that are optional; you collect resources, buy blueprints for new buildings, and grow your city.

Failing to complete the target mission defines the game’s loss condition, but there is no clearly defined win condition—so you can, in principle, keep expanding your city forever.

Of course, as the genre requires, there are resources generated from the tiles you choose for your city, as well as natural disasters such as meteor showers.

In the game there are references to actual buildings that are part of the current Belgrade cityscape like the Avala tower or the VMA building.

For sure a title to follow and that you can try for free since the demo version is currently available on Steam.

And there is more…

There were multiple other games present at the conference but unfortunately we couldn’t try them all. Here is a short description of some of them if you want to take a look.

Skyborne Chronicles by Ivan Gvozdanovic, Luka Beatovic: a city-building, resource management survival game set in an alternate post World War I timeline. Your mission: manage a flying city, keep it airborne, and ensure humanity’s survival for 100 years. This game will be soon available in early access.

Otpisani by Pr0py: this FPS is based on an old Yugoslav drama tv-series called Otpisani, you can play the current version for free on itch.io.

Sova by Entropic Island: narrative-driven action roguelike set in a sci-fantasy world. The release is planned by 2026 and you can currently join the playtesting.

Oprost by Thunderpunch Studio: story-driver action 2D platformer. The release is planned by 2026.

The last Slava by Dibidus games: an interesting take on one of the most famous Serbian family’s traditions, the Slava. Unfortunately there is no Steam page related to this game, I could just find a short gameplay video. The game is clearly still under development.

Driving Rogue by Gravity Works: a 3D arcade racing game with car customizations, drifts and crashes. The release is planned by 2026 but no demo is currently available.

Swords and Hexes by Studio Bedem: a top-down strategy-RPG. No release date available.

Conclusions

It was great to partecipate to this conference and realize how the Indie Game Dev scene is Serbia is currently active and vibrant. We will keep an eye on the titles under development presented this year and looking forward for the next one!

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Hi, I’m Luigi. I share my notes, observations, analyses, and what I learned from the masters.

Intro

Following the hype around the recently released series of Fallout and the related flashbacks from my old days as a young player, I decided to exhume an old copy of Fallout 1 (1997) and get right into it.

Traveling so far back in time reminded me of the big differences between approaching a new game in the ‘90s and the gaming experience of a nowadays player.

I am sure a dissertation can be written on the topic, but I want here to focus on a few crucial points and provide some food for thought about the evolution of this aspect of the game space (and our society) in the last 27 years.

Why Fallout 1 and Baldur’s Gate 3

I wanted to pick up Fallout 1 as the ‘90s candidate for this article, so I thought the best would be to compare it to something modern that shares a common ground.

Let’s see the similarities between those two great titles, the former released in 1997 and the latter in 2024.

Both games belong to the RPG genre and use turn-based combat mechanics

Fallout rule set is loosely based on the GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System) even if, in the end, Interplay opted for a custom SPECIAL (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) rule set. BG3, on the other hand, adopts the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) 5th Edition rule set.

Experience points collected during the gameplay allow the player to develop the character

We have a small difference here since Fallout uses a skill-based system (character progression is based on skill and attributes) whereas BG3 uses a class and level system typical of D&D (abilities and spells come into play).

Dialogues evolve through a set of choices

Both games, when interacting with NPCs (Non-Player Characters) offer multiple choices that can influence, outcomes, quests, and narrative.

A completely different player on-boarding experience

Despite the similarities, there are a lot of differences between those two great games, among those, is the completely different on-boarding experience for the new players.

DIY: find out what is what, or get the Manual

A quick research will show a huge amount of messages of frustration like:

I just installed Fallout 1 and I have not idea how to play this…

The thing is that you need to find it out by yourself.

In Fallout 1 you are dropped out of your vault with a mission that states “Find the Water Chip”.

The vaults were nothing more than a hole in the ground for rich folks to hide in while the rest of the world burned. - Ma June

You have no idea how the game works, and while you’re trying to find it out a bunch of rats try to rip your skin off.

There were two ways to solve this in the ‘90s:

• Arm yourself with patience and keep on going with a trial-and-error process. This was my favorite option back in the days

• Go get the manual and read it

The game manuals, at the time, were not the typical manuals you can expect to get with your vacuum cleaner, rather were part of the game experience itself. They could be very elaborate and a pleasure to read.

One perfect example is the “Vault Dweller’s survival guide“ manual, provided with Fallout 1.

In the older games, the manual was also used as an anti-piracy tool (and to save computational memory for the narration within the game). The player needed data from the manual to get passed specific points of the game.

In BG3 you wake up in a dimension-crossing flying ship belonging to monstrous humanoid creatures (I won’t go into the details). A narrator's voice gives you details about every clickable thing around you and shares tips and tricks about the command interface and the interaction with the game world. You are up to speed in no time.

You start, you lose! And then you lose again

In my first hour of playing Fallout 1, my Vault Dweller (the character in the game) passed about 3 or 4 times.

I relate this to 3 main factors:

• The player is still trying to figure out the basic mechanics of the game (see section above)

• The large number of threats to the player since the beginning (the rats mentioned above)

• Very few starting items and loot available

In Fallout 1 you are initially provided with a couple of stimpaks (medications) a gun with a bunch of bullets, a knife, and a flare. As a beginner with no knowledge of the game, you will run out of those items pretty quickly. You must slowly and carefully start exploring the world to get to some approachable quests and earn additional items.

In BG3, on the other hand, new items and resources are almost coming at you as soon as you start playing in the initial shipwreck.

Look for the NPCs and talk to them

In the initial part of BG3, once you come out from the pod that is trapping you, the first NPC comes right at you and tries to convince you to take her along as a party member.

In contrast in Fallout 1, you need to go around and search for eligible party members, talking to every NPC along the way. Once you find the first one (I won’t mention who or where) you must either pay him (assuming you had a chance to earn something) or hope to pass an intelligence check that will allow you to recruit him in your party.

Conclusions

The way games approach new players has changed, evolved (?) in the last years.

Certainly, some of the choices were conditioned by technology limitations, but, in my opinion, this evolution is also linked to the different kinds of societies those games are dealing with.

Nowadays we are used to a much higher throughput, information flows much quicker and people are used to get results and get them quickly.

Leading the player to a trial-and-error approach could be a way to motivate and push the player through the game twenty years ago; today there is a big chance that they will throw the controller and switch to the next game.