So you Want to Exhibit Your Game?
In the past year I’ve been taking my game AsterVoid (in alpha) and showing it at various exhibitions. It can be intimidating to present your game to the public but I really think there is no better way to get immediate feedback to help improve your game. Here are all the shows I’ve been to:
GDX Edmonton (Edmonton, AB)
Bit Bazaar Spring 2015 Tournament Arcade (Toronto, ON)
KDays TechLife (Edmonton, AB)
Facebook Seattle Pre-PAX Party (Seattle, WA)
Seattle Indies Expo (Seattle, WA)
Mini Maker’s Faire (Calgary, AB)
Calgary doesn’t have much of an indie game scene in terms of a place/event that allows local developers to showcase their games (I’ll get into that with a future post.) So if I wanted to get eyes on my games I had to put it in front of people and that involved travelling to other places. Here are my top lessons from showcasing.
Have them. Don’t ever not have them (wha?). Seriously. Don’t run out and always bring more than you think you need. Don’t skimp on them either. I just got a new batch of 400 cards from Moo.com (10% off with this link) I love the quality!
*Pffft I’m not giving you my digits that easily ;)*
Make sure you have some basic info on your cards:
Dual Monitor Mirrored Setup
I like to bring a second monitor and mirror the displays so I can watch people play from the other side of the table. People are focused on your game and don’t even realize their play session is being scrutinized. It really helps me identify bugs and also view exactly what’s going on when a player runs into trouble.
*Activate Creep Mode* (Look at the beautiful Surface Pro 3…)
When you hear comments like “What button do I press?” or “What do I do?” it’s a clear indicator that you aren’t communicating something well in your game. Don’t be offended by the player, use it as research to help you figure out what parts of the game require more clarity.
Ahh yes. The demo mode. I didn’t really figure this out until a couple of exhibits in but have your game start into some kind of attract/demo mode if it sits idle for a minute or two. It will show how your games play and gather more interest from passersby than just having a menu screen sitting there asking players to “Press Start”. My current “Poor Man’s” implementation of this is: I play a prerecorded video of game play that loops until someone presses a button in the game. I plan on implementing a proper demo scene using AI controlled players at some point.
Don’t Allow the User to Quit
If there is an option in your game menu that lets users quit the game, then you can be sure that they will. Picture this: You take a break from your exhibition table to go grab a coffee, only to return to see that your desktop is exposed to everyone because the last player quit the game and left! (What an embarrassing kitten desktop background…)
Create a special build of your game for the exhibition and remove the quit option.
People just finished playing your game and had a great time. Now what? Have a way to contact people if they’d like to receive more information about your game. Grab this mailing list template from the awesome folks from Ultimate Chicken Horse.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/37qpgl/designing_a_better_paper_email_signup_form_ux_in/
My time in Seattle exhibiting at the SIX was really valuable and I met some really great contacts. Most of them were super unassuming however. Be nice to everyone that takes the time to play your game. I managed to meet people from Microsoft, Amazon, and Dropleaf Gaming all of which I never would have guessed without actually chatting with them.
Don’t feel like you always need to ‘get something’ out of every person that tries your game.
Bring enough business cards, setup a dual monitor to watch people secretly, attract people with a demo mode, don’t let people quit the game to desktop, have a mailing list, and be a nice person to everyone that plays your game, ????, PROFIT.
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