Dev ➤ Test ➤ Repeat | March 2025

If you just wanna see the games showcased at this event, click here.

I live in Denmark in the Copenhagen Area. In Copenhagen we have this volunteer run bi-monthly event going called Dev ➤ Test ➤ Repeat (click the link to hear more about the event!) which more or less is what it sounds like on the tin. You develop some kind of game (usually), you come to this event, you test it with people and then you take that feedback with you home to do some more Development, rinse and repeat.

For those of you who don't know what this is it's primarily run by two fine people named Alexander Birke and Kristian Hedeholm and has been going for a while now, only getting bigger every time it's held. The event is completely free of charge, but tickets are limited to be sure we are not overcrowding the spaces they can get access to. So far I've participated in a few of these and while Unity have often been the ones hosting this event this time we were actually at Ghost Ship Games (creators of Deep Rock Galactic)! Very nice of them to host the event on the top floor of their three story office space in the heart of Copenhagen.

We also had pizza and drinks!

The Showcase

While I didn't have a game to show this time around (even though I am working on a game!) I tried to get to as many of the games as I could. I sadly didn't get around to trying all of them, but below are listed those I did get to as well as a bit of information about each of them. Links where applicable!

Bumperpires

Bumper cars and Vampires. A strange mix! Step into a whacky world where everyone is a bumper car. You are playing as various popular monsters like a Vampire, a Werewolf and a Mummy. So what do you do? Well it's simple really; You and three other monster mates have to ram your bumper cars into as many unsuspecting human bumper cars as you can within the allotted time to score that delicious blood! Step into the light however and you become a bat and need to fly to a human bumper car to recover.

You can also push your friends into the light to get an advantage! Talking to the developers about this idea, it seems they are thinking about taking it in a "party game" direction. No deep Bram Stoker lore here folks. I wish them good luck and keep an eye out for this studio in future.

• Company: Propeller Caps Studio
• Platforms: PC, Switch

ABSTRACTICA

A strange and surreal third person shooter rogue like game where you run around in a white void and shoot at art and abstract shapes with other abstract shapes. What's not to abstractly like? Developed by a single developer, Marc Von Glahn, with plans to perhaps take the abstractness to even more abstract places. Keep your eyes out for this one if that sounds like your thing.

In the abstract, I wish you all the best.

• Company: Marciman Game Creations
• Platforms: PC

Duster Buster

We've all been there. Having to clean is quite the chore for many, both literally and figuratively. However, what if the house you were cleaning was haunted? And you didn't just have a boring old vacuum but a whole arsenal of tools to deal with these haunted objects, appliances and furniture? Well that's a question that the people from FireDog decided to answer with this game. A cartoony rogue lite game about cleaning a haunted house. It's action packed and full of smooth animation with an art-style that, at least to me, is reminiscent of Enter the Gungeon which I'm all for! Look out for these (under) FireDogs!

• Company: FireDogs
• Platforms: PC, Switch
• Check Them Out: itch.io

Scourge

An epic war has taken place and a lot of lives were lost on both sides. You however are not done. You come back as an entity hellbent on ending the war that you feel is not over yet and start killing people in their sleep, by haunting their nightmares. The developers told me that it's a rogue-lite action game where your weapon and you are separated from each other, being different actors. You have to weave in and out of people's nightmares and finish them off as you avoid enemies trying to stop your hellish crusade. The game was made as part of a semester project at the IT University of Copenhagen and they plan to spend another semester refining it before releasing it on itch.io. Keep your eyes peeled for Enrico and Shubhendra.

• Platforms: PC

Xibalba

I was dropped into an underground reservoir and saw visions of death and heard prophecies of great adversity. I step into the foot coverings of a an ancient Mayan warrior who finds himself in a cave that seems eerie and is covered in bodies and bones of people who came before. The gods of death are testing me as I seek for my loved one and is required to make a lot sacrifices. Either by offering myself or those I find in the temple. The game has a PS1 aesthetic with heavy ambience, dark corridors, magical powers and lots of blood rituals. The producer told me that he painstakingly has been looking up how Mayans spoke and the voicelines we hear in the game are as genuine Mayan as it gets. A super cool game that I'm definitely gonna be keeping my eyes on going forward. This game was also made as a semester project at the IT University as part of the Games course. Very impressive for a student game I must say. I wish them all the best.

• Platforms: PC
• Check Them Out: Website

Sea of Rifts

In this Naval rogue-like RPG you are dropped into a procedural world that has been torn apart by eldritch energies. You are the captain of a ship and you must keep your crew safe and sane as you sail the vast seas. The game has been in development for quite a while now and has great stories, captures the little moments of what makes us human, deep and interesting mechanics as well as beautifully rendered graphics. The atmosphere is eerie, yet exciting as you traverse this treacherous ocean full of monsters, pirates, treasures, shipwrecks and island towns. Definitely a game I'm eagerly awaiting to come out! They have fairly regular playtests of the game that you can likely find more information about on their Discord. Follow the link below to their website where you can find trailer, information and the links to their social media channels.

• Company: Out of Bounds Games
• Platforms: PC, Steamdeck
• Check Them Out: Website

Pengu: Lost and Wanted

Near the end of the event I started talking to Jack who I didn't recall having seen much at the event. Then I learned that he came in a bit late and then didn't get a proper seat at a free table to show off the game, but now that people had mostly cleared out I was given a great opportunity to play the game on his Steamdeck. It's a cute little 2D side-scrolling game inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog in the 2D Sega era even down to gaining high speeds and running through impossible loops, down completely vertical slopes, as you fight off robots by jumping on them, collect various gold pieces and traverse colorful and cute landscapes. The game is developed by Jack and a friend of his from Russia going by the handle Chocoholicmonkey. He has great plans for the game going through a futuristic world full of adventure and robots to smack.

• Company: Stann.CO
• Platforms: PC, Steamdeck

Antdromeda

Here at the end I'm gonna mention a boardgame. Yes that's right, a boardgame. Because you don't only have to test videogames here, you can also test your boardgame ideas and designs! This particular one is an interesting case as it's made specifically for an event called Fastaval one of the biggest roleplay and boardgame conventions around. In this game you play in real-time over several hours a day. You are ants in space producing materials and managing it all, but in real-time. So you come by, you do your moves and then you leave and do something else before coming back to perhaps get the resources you started making or some other task you were working on. Super fascinating world that I don't know much about, but this sounds like a type of boardgame I haven't quite heard about before!

As this was specific to an event and done as a hobby project there isn't much info to go on however if you happen to go to Fastaval this year, then be sure to catch Antdromeda! You don't wanna miss it!

This game is made by Johannes Følsgaard and Mads Emil Christensen.

Join in

If you are in Denmark and around the Copenhagen Area you should definitely come by! Just go to this page and look out for the next event announcement: Dev ➤ Test ➤ Repeat. Even if you don't have a game to show, come be a tester. Someone's gotta do it right? It's not just a testing event, it's also an amazing opportunity to network with other fellow developers. All people who showed up today are indie developers part of a growing and close knit community. Even if what you have isn't much, still bring it and have some people test it! That's how you can figure out if you are going in the right direction with your idea, if you need to tweak and redesign some things.

Test a lot, and test often. Especially with strangers who will give you the honest truth!

Hope to see you there. If you see me, please don't hesitate to come and say hello! You are also welcome to hit me up on BlueSky any time!

(psst! The event is free, there's free drinks and pizza and some times even industry people show up!)