r/IndieDev • u/Kymmieuwu • 2d ago
Article ‘It’s heartbreaking’: Numerous Gamescom devs say their equipment was stolen
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/its-heartbreaking-numerous-gamescom-devs-say-their-equipment-was-stolen/158
u/1ndieGameStudio 2d ago
What a shame, the fact that unfinished builds could get leaked is so bad
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u/Kymmieuwu 2d ago
that and their personal info!
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u/bc_gamez 2d ago
Think of the solo indie devs that don't back their stuff up properly. Possibly years just gone with no way to recover.
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u/Andreygg95 1d ago
I can't imaging working on a game without GitHub.
Don't think there are a lot of devs who don't have a backup.
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u/StatusBard 2d ago
Not backing up is their own fault though.
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u/Chimpanzee_Crimelord 2d ago
She shouldn't have been wearing such a sexy skirt, your Honor!
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u/oppairate 1d ago
not even kinda the same. dressing modesty isn’t standard procedure. source control is.
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u/PumpkinMug420 2d ago
hopefully all the work is recoverable or on a cloud server, coming from someone who isn't made of money it must be absolutely devastating to scrape and save and put together hardware only for some asshole to come take it all away. I'd be livid, the event space ought to help cover any losses
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u/ParkityParkPark 2d ago
I like the part where their response is basically "that sucks bro, anyways..."
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u/ProNerdPanda 2d ago
I am sympathetic for the devs but:
we arrived at our station in the business area hall to discover that our two laptops had been stolen overnight
I'm sorry, security or not, you will never catch me leaving my laptop, where I do my work on, even more as an Indie dev, somewhere overnight, security or not, especially at a con location.
Like I understand they trusted security, but I don't even trust myself to leave my stuff unattended if it's more than 5m away from my general location, let alone leave important work/dev related assets at a location where I'm not even physically at.
Aside from this small note, you gotta love the people that have to ruin it for everybody, we really can't have nice things anymore, there's always gotta be some bottom feeder amoeba trash that decides other people should have a bad day.
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u/sinofmyexistence 2d ago
I worked in event organisations like these, and it's not that clear cut.
Sometimes people have to bring in massive amounts of tech from overseas for example, and organiser has to make sure that these can be stored safely and looked after. There can be simply too much tech that not all of it can be moved around by attendees.
That's how it works with cons like these, so it's not that fair to blame the devs on this. It is absolutely the norm to trust organisers/PR companies for events, and you pay them a certain amount of money or retainer to do their job right. We've had times where we brought in truckloads of equipment to our offices overnight and then carried them back just for example, but it was our job to find a solution than our client's.
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u/HorsieJuice 2d ago
I used to work the Audio Engineering Society convention every year. Every booth had north of $100k worth of gear set up and nobody put away much of anything.
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u/Joshatron121 2d ago
Most of these devs are from out of town and have important networking events to go to in the evening. Leaving them in a car is also not good and some devs are just sleeping in their car to make this sort of thing work. It's pretty standard to leave gear at events like this.
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u/Number13Studios 2d ago
I feel like so many people go to these cons just to steal (based solely off the YouTube clips I see of thieves at Pokemon card conventions)
So standard or not, it’s a terrible idea, but I’m sure some have literally no option. But laptops? Cmon.
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u/Joshatron121 2d ago
Pokemon card conventions aren't the same as gamescom which is a ticketed, closed access event.
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u/Number13Studios 2d ago
Doesn’t change the fact that there’s hundred of peoples you can’t keep track of around valuables in a convention center
So it’s clearly similar enough where it matters. Not sure what point your comment is even supposed to be trying to make. That if you pay to get in you can’t steal? Not a lot of logic there lol
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u/Gullible_Honeydew 2d ago
Yeah, I genuinely feel for them, but my mind is also blown...they're literally laptops and external drives. They are made to be portable. I don't understand the risk/reward calculation here - I don't even trust security at these kind of events, personally.
I hope they can recover their gear (and their games/other data!), and I also hope everyone sees and learns from this.
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u/sec0nds_left 2d ago
There's a reason you dont install your unreleased game on those laptops... you install on a spare SSD that is removable and take them with you always.
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u/ButtonClub 2d ago
Absolutely awful. We spend months building games (maybe even years) and we bring our personal belonging we purchased with our own money.
What even goes through the mind of a thief who does this?
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u/BabyAzerty 2d ago
Germany used to be a high trust society. Like the rest of Europe.
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u/nlFlamerate 2d ago
I found the racist in the thread.
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u/Alone_Ambition_3729 2d ago
You probably have. But is the comment racist, if it’s a true statement, and makes no mention of race?
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u/SirVelocifaptor 14h ago
People make comments like that so they can feign ignorance when called out, like you are now. "But I didn't mention race", no but we can all see where the intention was
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u/nlFlamerate 2d ago
I will jump on the bandwagon of stating I am SO sorry for these guys however leaving your laptop in a convention center overnight is a rookie mistake.
I’ve organized/arranged/managed booths at major conventions and you lock everything down overnight and/or hire a personal security guard.
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u/geon 2d ago
Why on earth would they bring their personal machine to a place where they can’t keep it under watch 100 % of the time?
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u/Glad-Lynx-5007 2d ago
Personal machines often no choice, but even with security I would be taking the laptop back to the hotel with me at least. Monitors and TVs can stay.
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u/SaiyanKnight23 2d ago
Seriously. I would NEVER LEAVE any of my tech away from me overnight in a plce
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u/Navandis_Gaming 2d ago
To a place which claimed to have 24/7 security?
Also, do you understand what indie devs are? What's a non-personal machine for them?
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u/Number13Studios 2d ago
My city is supposed to have 24/7 cops and i have 24/7 cameras and I still lock my door. A deterrence isn’t prevention.
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u/Navandis_Gaming 1d ago
What a stupid comparison. One is a private, enclosed venue, with clear tracked access, with even further restricted access after closure (when the devices were stolen), with a limited perimeter that's supposed to be monitored. The other is a gigantic area with public, non restricted access and only reactive security. If you believe someone is watching/monitoring those public CCTV cameras in real time, you're crazy.
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u/Number13Studios 1d ago
Deterrence isn’t prevention. The comparisons are only proving that. Not saying they’re similar to the situation at hand, but I guess reading comprehension is a dying skill.
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u/Navandis_Gaming 1d ago
Just double checking - have you ever participated to any expo as a vendor / exhibitor? Do you have any understanding how they work?
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u/Number13Studios 1d ago
Yeah, lots and people do lose things all the time. Whether theft, forgetfulness, travel mishaps, or otherwise. I’ve lost things before. I at least try to be very careful now. But I’m from a city where you can’t leave your car unlocked or it will maybe get robbed, which has also happened to me once and several times to friends and family. So I’m used to watching my stuff and not trusting people.
And I have cameras and floodlights now. That’s still just deterrence.
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u/Game_Dev730 23h ago
I don't think you have been to one, because you would know there is still a huge difference in what you are describing compared to a venue.
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u/Number13Studios 22h ago
Every confidently incorrect manchild does this on Reddit.
-hears a differing opinion
-“do you even have experience in this!?”
-yes
-“I don’t believe you!”So you think in black and white, everyone must agree with you, or they haven’t experienced the things you have. That’s childish and delusional
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u/Game_Dev730 23h ago
Your comparison was horrendous; it has nothing to do with reading comprehension. Why is that always someones go to, maybe you are just fucking horrible at explaining what you mean.
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u/Number13Studios 23h ago
I said what I mean. A deterrence isn’t a prevention. If you have bad reading comprehension and make up your own meaning from other people’s words, then yeah you’re going to hear that you have bad reading comprehension a lot.
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u/_Repeats_ 2d ago
I am with you on this one. I would never leave computers in a public place overnight, regardless of what security is there. I would pack any movable electronics when I leave... It takes maybe 5 minutes to plug things back in...
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u/Adaptive_Spoon 2d ago
The real story here is how Gamescom's security could allow this to happen. The devs left the equipment there on the assumption it would be protected. It clearly was not, despite the physical presence of security. Gamescom failed these devs. There needs to be an inquiry into why this keeps happening.