How to Expo, aka What I Learned at WGF
What a whirlwind of a weekend! I just spent three days standing by my little table in UCSD's Price Center as thousands of gamers ambled about and checked out my demos of Destination Ares.
Thanks to my friendly booth-neighbors, a steady supply of caffeine, and sheer willpower, I managed to survive the event. (I even had some friends and family swing by to help and hang out!)
Though I've shown the game publicly at IGDA-SD demo days before (and been an attendee at my share of cons and expos), this was in many ways a first for me. It was certainly the biggest event I've had an official table to demo at. I threw together a banner, some info sheets, 10 lbs of candy, and had two stations running the game all weekend.
What did I learn? A metric fuck-ton:
Do events like these in teams of at least two. I had to rely on other people watching my booth whenever I wanted to use the restroom or get food. There was no opportunity for naps or breaks or even proper meals
Candy is an effective attractor, especially for the cost and with an audience of primarily college students
Wireless mice are a bad move; I had to make sure they never got swiped, and at one point some batteries died
Laptops are ideal for space and portability, obviously. But they have an extra bonus: if you're using standalone monitors, mice, and keyboards (you should, if you can), you can watch the player's game from the laptop screen, behind the booth
Keep ports away from public access and set up guest user accounts with only what you need in them. I did this, and am glad I did; at least one guy wasn't shy about testing security vulnerabilities at multiple booths
Specific to my game: having one player building a ship while another was attempting a run created cool opportunities to talk about the depth of the game with the audience. Players seem to like seeing customization and users generating content
Static screensavers with info sheets, art, and various other game-related slides are great for when no one is playing on a station (which was awesomely rare!), but they have the disadvantage of needing you to close the game to turn on
Headphones were great for getting players isolated from the expo noise and engaged. Players that wore them tended to enjoy themselves more, even if they could already hear the speaker. The speaker is just about attraction (and, I suppose, hearing cues about where in the game the player is)
Like everything in life, turning up your personability to 11 makes it easier
The spontaneous inter-booth gift economy is the best thing ever. Candy, food, caffeine, hardware, swag, chairs, security, and helping hands were all exchanged constantly and made the experience smoother for everyone. The more neighbors I met and the more of that I did, the better I felt about the event
Next time bring sanitary wipes for the keyboards, mice, and headphones, rather than doing it at home. The players appreciate the care and attention to detail (if they ask), and you'll appreciate the peace of mind
Next time have some branded swag in addition to the cheaper attractors; I could have used something (even small) to remind players about the game when they checked their pockets at home after the event
Only a few players read any of the signs you post everywhere. They're good to establish presence and professionalism, but don't expect them to be engaging. I estimate <10% of players read anything about my recent update, my social media, or early access. I also had 0 sign-ups on my posted email list, even though the event spawned some direct sales. I hate email anyway, so part of me is kind of glad about that last one.
Relatedly, think about what your call to action is while players are at the booth. Mine was muddled for quite awhile: I was doing the IGDA's raffle stamp cards, pointing to my own raffle, asking to be followed on social media, soliciting feedback, building brand awareness, encouraging sales, and establishing industry connections. Some of that will happen organically from the people who want it.
As time went on, I chose to consciously focus on one thing: 'inspiring evangelists'. I'm at a stage where I need a community that is fervent about the game and the work I'm doing. After all, I can't handle all the outreach everywhere; I'm a poor solo dev. So, I honed my behaviors around various phases:
Attraction — cheer current players on, provide reasons to approach the booth (free candy, signs, screensavers, a big stupid shit-eating smile), encourage crowd formation, keep booth looking like there's constant activity and interest, and literally invite the shy people looking on to join in when space is available
Intro — elevator pitch game (AI of colony ship; keep crew alive; resource management colony simulator with a splash of minesweeper), set player expectations (”You're going to lose”) with good humor, reassure player that you'll help if they need it, let player choose to try the tutorial or jump right in
Early Game — interject key tips tied to fluff ("You're a computer, so you can slow time; hit spacebar to pause. Your crew is suffocating!"), get raffle card stamped before they were too engrossed, then pivot away to let the player explore (I found too much hand-holding here, even with people who needed it, was a big turn off. If I'd set player expectations well enough with a laugh and challenging grin, they were okay with getting their ass kicked)
Mid Game — be accessible for player questions, banter with anyone who is talkative
Late Game — assess player interest, transition uninterested players out, encourage interested players to dive deeper (try again, talk strategy, or build their own ship)
Departure — solicit feedback ("What could use improvement?"), then ask about what they liked, thank them, smile more than any other point, leave open the option of returning, let them go. Departure should be as short as possible (if a player has lots to say, great!), don't stress players out.
"But Pat, isn't all of this super exhausting?"
That's why I call it "surviving." That's also why it was so damn fun.
I will add that I didn’t pressure players to quit after they’d been playing for awhile. Surely there are benefits to giving the player a taste and then leaving them hungry. However, my ethos was that I’d rather let a player get super invested and have an air of exclusivity around the booth than churn more players. Some people stayed for a couple hours!
Anyway, I have a huge list of bugs and feedback to get to after all that chaos of a weekend. See ya next time.
