I have returned from PAX Aus! I will share my experience on the expo and some lessons I learned while attending.
Things I did rightCatching people's attention with a bare minimum setupIn terms of catching attention through visuals I think I did well despite my bare minimalist setup.
I had a rollup, a monitor for the game and one for the flashy trailer:
I couldn't make time or money for anything else, however most people walking by looked at either the banner or game screens for more than 5 seconds, essentially confirming that they noticed the game. A lot of people also stood and watched the game being played between 5-15 minutes before moving on to check out something else. Why a trailer on repeat's really important is because stimulating the non-playing audience is crucial for them to bother waiting so long. Talking with people in the crowd's also a good idea, as people are shy and prefer not to approach an abandoned booth with a jetlagged game dev staring at them.
During rigging hours, I got in touch with (almost) all the indie devs!The day before the Expo, every exhibitor's usually at the event in order to get everything set up for the event. This is an opportunity to say hi, get acquainted, try their games in a chill environment, and make them watch your trailer on a tablet you can bring anywhere. If the game's trailer is good they will remember you, and perhaps even namedrop you for a journalist that couldn't make time to visit the part of the expo your booth's located. I got in touch with both IGN, Sony and Microsoft thanks to this!
Made sure my game's tutorial is practically invisibleI saw developers at the event who didn't make a proper tutorial for their game. As a result they had to tell almost every player how to play. This gets extremely tiring when you're doing it for 10 hours a day for an entire weekend. Not only is it tiring, but you'll be getting inaccurate feedback on wether the game is intuitive to pick up and play.
I on the other hand could sit back and relax, since I've had the game playtested so much I know the tutorial works fine. The only thing I say to people asking how to play is "you'll learn".
Arrive up to two days ahead to compensate for jetlagI travelled for almost 2 straight days to get from Norway to Australia. Considering you'll be landing in a different timezone you will feel mad sleep deprived. Taking a day or two to recover before the event turned out to be a good idea.
Things I f*cked upYour business card belongs at GDC, not an ExpoThe first big game event I made any material for was GDC. For that event I had two sets of cards made. One for me personally, and one for the game. The GDC crowd eats these up. My mistake was figuring consumers will also take interest in these. They care for swag. T-shirts, buttons, free stuff. This was definately a lost opportunity, as one can even earn a good amount of money on this if done right.
Make sure to have proper audio equipmentAudio attracts attention like nothing else. I really regret not renting a proper sound system for showcasing. The max audio output from the computer without any sound system was low as well, resulting in less people noticing the game and enjoying it. It's especially a shame for Klang since it's rhythm based.
ConclusionI had a great time at PAX, and I hope my notes is of help to someone. If anyone got any questions, please let me know!
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