eGames Lab on tour: Gamescom, DICE Europe and Tokyo Games show!
As always, summer is one of the busiest periods in the global games industry calendar...
Welcome back to Games From Portugal, your monthly update on Portugal’s thriving video game development sector. As always, this newsletter is brought to you by eGames Lab, Portugal’s unique e-games development and creative industries cluster.
It’s been a busy end to the summer, with big industry events in Germany, Scotland and Japan. In this issue, we look back at one of the success stories from Gamescom, plus how eGamesLab is supporting companies at DICE Europe and Tokyo Games Show.
NCGaming’s Norberto Cruz on what it’s like to demo a game that’s been 30 years in the making at GamesCom
The Ezekiel trailer on show at the eGamesLab booth at GamesCom
The starting point for every video game is a story. But it’s fair to say that very few video games begin with a story that’s been percolating for thirty years in the head of its creator - but that’s exactly what happened in the case of Noberto Cruz and his game Ezekiel – Noa and the Automaton Urbis.
“The core of Ezekiel began as a story I wrote as a teenager, and over the decades, it evolved through ideas I had to create music, theatre, and eventually into a universe rich enough to sustain a game franchise. In many ways, it’s the culmination of a lifetime of creative exploration now taking form in interactive storytelling,” says Cruz.
Creating a game that is built around emotions
The game draws its inspiration from classic works of Steampunk and fantasy, with a visual style that has elements of classic games such as Final Fantasy and the animation Arcane. Gameplay-wise, the game is a third-person action game which takes cues from Mass Effect, Gears of War and stealth titles like Dishonored. Cruz very much wants the game to be, on the one hand, accessible and familiar to gamers of these kinds of games, and on the other, far deeper, with gameplay that evolves and reacts to the way players interact and progress through the story.
“Philosophically, Ezekiel is inspired by the tension between light and shadow, between connection or disconnection, rather than a simpler choice between right and wrong,” explained Cruz.
“Ezekiel is set in a divided world where machines may have souls, and men are pushed to their spiritual limits. As the story unfolds, it asks the question: can we be tolerant of a living machine that is at once different to us, but also similar? My background in music and theatre also shaped the tone — I see the game as much as a stage for human emotions as a battlefield, and I want players to question their own ideas and feelings as part of the experience of playing the game.”
The game has a strong visual style
In order to deliver this kind of dynamic and emotive storytelling in a medium that’s all about interactivity, Cruz and his team at NCGaming have created a ‘morality system’ that is designed to reflect the player’s own values, and not just binary choices, as they progress through the game. It does this by using AI to adjust how both the in-game characters and the game environments respond to the player based on their interactions. It’s a hugely ambitious idea, but if it works, it will make the game responsive not only to a player’s choices but also to their emotional state as well.
“What excites me most is that Ezekiel isn’t just a single game - it’s the beginning of a saga designed to connect emotionally with players for years to come. What makes me proud is that our team brings not only technical skill, but also deep experience in music, theatre, and culture, which gives the game a unique emotional and artistic identity. It’s also visually unique, mixing steampunk and cyberpunk aesthetics into something that feels familiar yet fresh,” said Cruz.
Gamescom and the eGamesLab booth
NCGaming is based in Funchal, Madeira, and has been working on the game with the support of eGamesLab since . Through this relationship with eGamesLab, Cruz and his team were able to travel to GamesCom in Germany in August and demonstrate Ezekiel to gamers and potential publishers for the very first time.
For anyone who’s not been to GamesCom, it claims to be the biggest video games event in the world, attracting over 350,000 business people and consumers to the city of Cologne. It’s an unusual event in that the first two days are dedicated to the business of making and marketing video games, with companies and suppliers from all over the world represented and there to do deals. For the second year running, eGamesLab’s booth has acted as a showcase for many of the companies benefiting from its support.
Gamescom is the biggest games show in the world (credit: Koelnmesse Image database)
“Their support gave us the confidence to present Ezekiel’s first trailer at Gamescom, and to connect with publishers at an international level. Without them, it would have been far harder for a new Portuguese studio to step onto the global stage this quickly,” explained Cruz.
“The trailer we showed off was an introduction to the first chapter in the story of Ezekiel. This first game focuses on Noa and his daughter Tris. But it’s only the opening to a saga of five further games that will expand across different characters, timelines, and even worlds — from the origins of Ezekiel himself, to the rise and fall of the Nexus Umbra, to Tris’s own journey as a leader of the New Aurora.”
“Gamescom was incredible. It was so exciting - and nerve-wracking - to finally show off an idea that I had been working on for literally three decades! People initially stopped at the booth because the visuals stood out, but what surprised us was how many told us they felt emotionally hooked by the trailer. Publishers we met with asked to have follow-up conversations as the work on the game progresses, which validated not only the art but also the long-term vision. For a first showing, it exceeded our expectations and confirmed that the cultural depth we are trying to bring to the whole project is resonating with an international audience.”
Norberto Cruz, Founder of NCGaming with the demo of Ezekiel
From Funchal to Cologne… and back again
Now that the team are back in Funchal, the work on the game is continuing at pace. Cruz is working to build the first vertical slice, which is a playable demo designed to give potential publishers a flavour of not just how the game looks, but what it feels like to play. If all goes well, one of the publishers that Cruz met at GamesCom will fund the team to build the full game and help them scale up production for a worldwide release on console and PC sometime in 2027.
Even as Cruz continues to work on his game, his imagination continues to buzz with ideas of how to take the story of Ezekiel further and further.
“When I brought together our team to build the game, they could not believe that I had already written hours of music, and had plans for books, movies, plays - to me, this is a story that is so big, I want it to keep growing, I want it to be bigger than me - I want other people to take this creation and build their own stories,” said Cruz.
And does he have any advice for others out there, who may have a story they want to tell - even if it’s not been fermenting for thirty years?
“Don’t hesitate and stay genuine to your game vision. Having a structure like eGamesLab is a plus, meaning you’re not alone — you can focus on creativity while also gaining access to networks, funding, and knowledge. It’s a bridge between Portugal’s talent and the global gaming industry, and it’s making it possible for me to share my story with the world.”
eGamesLab showcases Portuguese talent at the biggest GamesCom to date!
With more than 350,000 attendees at this years event, Gamescom in Cologne has become the largest video games showcase in the world - and eGamesLab was there, showcasing the fantastic games being developed by Portuguese companies.
Networking time on the eGamesLab booth!
With the help of the ACIF-CCIM, we were able to expand our presence from previous years and have the biggest and best looking booth so far!
We were delighted to have so many different Portuguese companies and partners come together at our Games From Portugal booth, including Redcatpig, Yacooba, Infinity Games, WalkMe Mobile Games, FootAR - A New Dimension 🚀, WOWSystems :: One Way Eleven, Fapptory, APVP, Universidade Lusófona - Centro Universitário Lisboa, Startup Madeira and Unicorn Factory Lisboa.
It was great to welcome so many visitors to our Gamescom booth
Over the three days that the B2B side of Gamescom ran, we had hundreds of people come past our booth, with so many positive comments from the games and technologies on show.
We loved spreading the word about our consortium members, our Gaming Hubs, and the forthcoming Madeira Games Summit. This was helped with some delicious pastel de nata that were the star of the happy hour we hosted in partnership with ACIF and DevGAMM. What could be better at a German games show than some Portuguese hospitality?
eGamesLab and DevGAMM evening of networking and bonhomie at DICE Edinburgh
DICE Europe is an event that’s known for its focus on collaboration and knowledge-sharing from its line-up of industry insiders and games industry innovators.
This year, DICE visited the Scottish capital, Edinburgh from September 15-17. As part of our partnership with DevGAMM, eGamesLab was in Edinburgh promote the forthcoming Madeira Games Summit in November.
On the Monday night we hosted a Sunset Dinner, which turned out to be a lovely evening of fine dining and relaxed networking, featuring a guided whisky tasting and a three-course Scottish menu. The lucky guests had the pleasure of dining with Cláudio Telo Pestana, the eGames Lab project Manager, Marco Vieira from Madeira’s Chamber of Commerce, plus members of the DevGAMM team.
From the photos, it looks like an evening of Scottish hospitality went down a treat!
September ends with a trip to Japan
As if travelling to Edinburgh isn’t enough, the end of September sees another opportunity to show off the amazing creativity of eGamesLab members to a fresh audience - in Tokyo!
Did you know that Portugal and Japan have shared a connection for almost 500 years? The first Portuguese navigators arrived on Japanese shores in 1543, and since then both nations have shared a bond which these days includes video games!
For the 2025 Tokyo Games Show eGamesLab will again have a booth where we’ll be hosting many of our consortium members. OneWayEleven, WOWSystems, Fapptory, Yacooba Labs and RedCatPig will be on the booth, plus NCGames will be showing its first ever game, Ezekiel (see our main story above for more info about the game) at the show.
And finally… there’s limited time left to book Your Place at the Madeira Games Summit
Yet to secure your place at Madeira Island’s first-ever B2B gaming event? Then what are you waiting for! The Madeira Games Summit, held in partnership with DevGaMM, is the perfect opportunity to see everything Portugal’s thriving games industry offers with roundtable discussions, expert-led talks, and networking events.
The first line-up of speakers has been announced, including representatives from triple-A powerhouses to innovative indies:
Chris Petrovic, Chairman & Chief Business Officer, FunPlus
Juney Dijkstra, Strategy & Business Innovation Director, XDI, Electronic Arts (EA)
Nathaniel Wattenmaker, Director of Brand Marketing, 2K Games
Adam Boyes, CEO, Vivrato
Stefan Kreutzer, Head of Business Development, Behaviour Interactive
It takes place from 3 to 4 November at the Savoy Palace in Funchal, Madeira. Tickets are limited, with a Super Early Bird discount available if you book now.
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