So now that EGX is over and I’m slightly less sick and bed bound, I’ve written a lil blog post about how EGX went for Supremely Excellent Goblins! (and me, Gracie, specifically).
For those that don’t know, EGX is the largest gaming convention in the UK. Held in the NEC in Birmingham, each year it attracts about 70,000 people over 4 days! Woo!
It was a simply incredible experience, over 250 people came in person and played our demo!
(above are some of the afformentioned kickass people)
We recieved an absolutely incredible response from people, including our industry peers such as the awesome Tommy Refenes from Team Meat, who gave us some valuable advice and feedback.
Having never gone to such a convention to exhibit work before, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. I worked with my team for such a long time, working late nights and early mornings to make sure this demo was as close to perfect as we could get it (even still requiring an emergency bug fix session after the first day. It is incredible what people will try and do to your game lol).
Heres what I would advise any other indie devs heading to their first public convention/public showing of their project:
Be prepared for fairly extreme negative feedback. Not everyone is gonna love your game, which is obvious! However, not everyone is gonna be polite about that. Honestly, we received about 98% positive feedback from people, but the first person that played the demo absolutely hated it and was not shy about that fact. That utterly crushed me and made the first day a lot harder than it needed to be. Have thick skin and have faith in what you’ve made, but don’t be blind to it. Honestly, the negative feedback is going to be what helps you the most in the end, so take it with a “Thank you!”, even if it leaves you feeling a little shitty.
Bring hand sanitiser and wet wipes. The filthy unwashed masses are, unsurprisingly, filthy and unwashed. Jokes aside though, not everyone at a convention understands basic hygiene (just being brutally honest) and you’ll probably need to degunk your kit at some point.
Bring stuff to give out to people! People LOVE stickers, badges, postcards etc - and it means free advertising for your game, and a lot of people will play just to walk away with a cute sticker or a cool badge. Dead Pixels 2 was displaying behind us and they were giving special shiny badges to people that played the whole demo and you bet your ass people were coming round multiple times.
Don’t be scared to invite people to play your game! If you see people umming and awwing around your stand, invite them over to play. Give em a hello and a quick introduction and they might just walk away as a newly converted fan.
Bring! Business! Cards! You will meet industry types there and you will need to give them some way to remember your details. I met over 70 different industry folks while I was there, and the only reason I can remember that is because I got business cards (and gave cards to) all of them!
Thank people that give you feedback or who talk about your game on social media! This is such a simple but easy thing to forget. Journalists, streamers, lets players and even the average joe are your best friend. They took the time to play your game and give you feedback, take a few seconds to thank em <3
Support your fellow devs! If you have time, visit their stands, play their games. Get numbers, twitters, badges, stickers. Make friends! These people are your peers and they love what you do as much as you do, and we all gotta stick together, y’know? I made some amazing friends while at EGX and meeting them was honestly my top highlight!
Lastly, expect the unexpected. Why? Cuz at this EGX, while displaying my first video game, I met the man who inspired me to take up game design to begin with: Lorne Lanning.
Yes, thats me, in the shirt (with our sound designer in the red hoodie). Standing mere feet away from my childhood hero and creator of my all time favourite game series. Did I cry like a fucking baby after he wished me luck and gave me a hug? Yes. Yes I did. A lot.
Thats all from me for now, I gotta go chug a bunch of cough medicine and nap, but I want to thank everyone that came to see us at EGX and to everyone that worked with me to make it possible to begin with. Love ya <3
Things are progressing really fast here at Gobbodev headquarters, despite the radio silence! Everything is well on track for EGX in september, how exciting!
Theres been so much added to the game (such as sound! music! adventure!) that I can’t share as screenshots, including a lot of stuff that isn’t quite ready to be shown yet :>
On Friday we will be holding a small play testing session, and once changes are made based on feedback recieved there, we will be sending out demos to some lucky duckies and hopefully showing off a video of all our progress!
This isn’t strictly related to Supremely Excellent Goblins but my team/game won a big student game jam with UKIE! It’s a pretty big deal for me, so I wanted to share! I think its also the first time my school have won the jam!
I’m so proud of the people I worked with and what we all achieved :’)
Aside from updating sprites, I’ve also been spending time updating tilesets and such for the game too! This is to help the game feel a little less cramped visually and to give a better sense of scale to the world.
The old tiles are on the left, and the new ones are on the right. Which ones do you prefer? They’re still heavily a WIP, but your feedback would be loved <3
So the first deadline for my grad project has passed, so I can talk more about my project now!
This is a demo of the prototype of the game. It is still massively a work in progress (incomplete/missing/broken animations and sprites) but it shows off the basic features of the game.
Supremely excellent goblins is a game about a young victorian lad exploring a secret and ancient dungeon beneath his house, looking for treasure and adventure!
The premise is that you can create goblin pals that aid you on your adventure. They act as a living shield and your healthbar. When your goblin friend dies, you must flee in order to return to your lab and revive them. If you die as well, it’s game over. You’ll return to the lab and all your items will be gone.
Each goblin you create will have a different playstyle.
Heres some of the goblins you’ll make and find:
Basil is the first goblin you find and has a simple 1-2-3 hit combo and a dash that allows him to avoid damage.
Mint (partially shown in the demo) has a charging explosive blast that rewards careful positioning. He cannot dodge but has slightly more health to compensate.
Parsley has a ranged attack and the ability to spit a puddle of snot that slows enemies and allows him to kite them backwards.
The machine to make goblins is called The Goblinator. By combining items you find on your adventures, you can create a goblin!
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