Alkanaur has technically been in development for over two
years. We tinkered with concepts and story ideas for a while. Then we slowly
learned how to build a game. As the project gained momentum we were forced to
think beyond making the game itself and start thinking about marketing,
publishing, and distribution.
Last summer, I attended the Salt Lake Gaming Con and had a
blast. I saw great cosplays, watched some competitive League and Hearthstone,
and attended a couple informative panel discussions. But my favorite part of
the event was visiting with local indie developers for both board games and
video games.
At the beginning of this year, Robby and I decided to set a goal
to attend SLGC in 2016 even though our game was still early in development.
We narrowed our dev goals to completing a polished demo, so
that we could give players a good taste of what to expect with Alkanaur. Our
work became more focused. We met more often. And in the final 2-3 weeks before the
convention we exhausted ourselves until, with only a few days to spare, we
finished our demo. It took me plenty of caffeine, and my partner had to take a
couple days off from his day job, but we did it.
So was it worth it? Heading into the convention, we knew we
could expect some playtesting and hopefully a list of sales leads. We watched
for gameplay issues and kept an emailing list so we could contact interested
players when we go to Steam Greenlight. And while we did reap some of those
expected benefits, we also noticed several more. So here are five less obvious advantages
from our experience at a gaming convention.
1. We Gave Ourselves a Clear, Measurable Goal
Unless you work in game development, it’s hard to grasp just
how giant a video game project can be. And for a small indie team like
ourselves, part of the struggle is simply knowing what to do next. When we
decided to present a demo at SLGC, we set our first official development goal.
As I mentioned above, that goal helped us hone our work and develop our own
project management system. And after the convention, we both felt more comfortable
with setting future development goals.
2. We Learned from Other Devs
At the convention, we spoke to a lot of visitors as they
played our demo. But we spent even more time speaking to the other indie devs
near our booth. We talked about convention dos and don’ts with the developers
of Legacy of the Elder Star. We chatted with the devs behind Crashnauts about the
merits of Unity 2D and Unity 3. We discussed the Greenlight process with the
minds behind the fanciful We Need to Go Deeper. From these conversations and
others, we made important decisions about our own game.
3. We Found the Essence of Our Game
Probably our least favorite part of the event (aside from
the bugs) was pitching. But after making pitch after pitch, we started to get a
better read of the game we were trying to make. It sounds silly—after all, we’d
been working on the game for a couple years. How could we not know our game was
about? Yet when players or press invariably asked unexpected questions, we were
forced to find answers. Many of my personal design principles (which I’ll share
in a future post) were revealed as I justified design decisions and explained
gameplay goals.
4. We Received Emotional Feedback from Players
When we attended the convention, we were ready to receive
plenty of gameplay feedback. We only had time for some very limited playtesting
from friends and family members, and we knew that we’d find some bugs and
balance issues. As I watched player after player lose—the demo might have been
a little too tough for players new to tactics games—I found myself paying more
attention to the player than the actual game. I noted our visitors’ moments of
frustration as well as their moments of triumph. For example, we had a couple young kids try
out our demo. I noticed that they had a lot of fun even though they really didn’t
understand the game. Eventually I realized that they simply enjoyed moving
characters around the screen while the enemies gave chase, and I realized just
how important fluid animations and an adaptive AI can be.
5. We Remembered Why We’re Making a Game
Like point #3, this point might seem a little esoteric, but
I truly feel that this was by far the greatest benefit I personally received
from attending a gaming convention. As developers, it’s easy to get tunnel
vision on what the project needs to
continue. Perhaps it’s even necessary for a successful project. Watching people
play and enjoy our game reminded me on why
I needed the project, why I needed to make a game.
Out of hundreds of players, only a few people actually beat
our demo battle at the convention. I vividly remember one of those victories. A
group of young adults all came in a group. Two of them played our demo while
the others watched. One player lost fairly quickly, and soon all eyes were on
the remaining player. Two of the three characters on his team had already died,
but he had also eliminated two of the three enemy AIs. His remaining character—Clarion,
our principal protagonist—fled from the burly enemy with only a sliver of
health, kiting the enemy around the map and firing fireballs. The small crowd literally
gasped as the tactic finally worked and the tough enemy collapsed. High fives
were shared. The player stretched out his wrists and grinned. I looked over at
Robby and we exchanged a small nod of satisfaction.
In short, our trip to SLGC 2016 was definitely worth it. We
had to step out of our comfort zones, but we now feel revitalized and ready to
take the next step in our game’s development.
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