Back again! (Day 1 PAX '24)
We’re back at PAX AUS again, this is our third time. The previous two times we went as Indie Showcase winners, this time we’re going as Indie Rising. This year, we did not have a new game ready to take to PAX, we’ve been consolidating our thoughts and figuring out which games to work on. We managed to finalise the game mechanics and prototype of Hot Pot about 2 weeks before PAX. I rushed to get the box art finished so that I could print out and cut it out to bring it with me to PAX. I literally printed it out Tuesday night and assembled it. The barcode on the Hot Pot box is from Yum Cha.
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As I mentioned in the previous blog, this time they’ve put all the indie developers, tabletop and video games together at the front of the exhibition centre. This is right next to the queue hall, right at entrance. Being at the front in the expo hall means there’s a lot more space for everyone. There’s more space for patrons to move about and it also means we no longer have to rub shoulders with our fellow exhibitors. Previously in the tabletop area, the indie showcase area was quite tight.
Just like usual on a Friday morning, most people would walk straight past. A few of our neighbours were concerned, but we knew from previous years, this is a common occurrence. Most people are heading straight to the merch shop, to booths they’re very keen on or doing a quick scout before they retrace their steps. A lot of our tabletop friends did mention that they accidentally walked past without realising that the indie developers were at the front this year. They eventually found us either Friday arvo or Saturday. Thank you to those who came straight to our table straight away, new and returning fans, it’s always a pleasure to talk to you see your smiles.
Hi Quokka Fans, I decided to blog again. I wrote about our first PAX experience 2 years ago because I couldn’t find much information about it online, so thought it was a good idea to document my thoughts for future winners and exhibitors. Now that I’ve heard firsthand that it has been very useful from new exhibitors, I’m here documenting my experience again. For any newcomers reading these blogs, welcome to our website and blog, feel free to reach out if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to answer them. The biggest advice I can give for holding your own table/booth is to make sure to load up on water, food and throat lozenges.
Back to the blog. Being our third time at PAX, Ando and I have worked out a system that works best for us. I would take care of manning the table and do the demoing of the game with people whilst Ando would be the one that would talk to most of the patrons that would visit us and keep them occupied while they waited their turn. Don’t worry if you’re a little bit rusty like I was, I messed up the demo a lot at the beginning of the day. Try to listen to the feedback that people give you and try and incorporate those in every subsequent teach. As the day went on, I manage to improve here and there, but not until the end of the day I finally found a grove. What I’m trying to say is, don’t be so hard on yourself, be prepared to stuff up, you can always do better next time. The biggest takeaway for me is people at PAX are very accepting and extremely friendly.
We have a tablecloth this year!
After a long first day, it soon became 6pm and the expo hall had a hard close. This meant that we didn’t have to secretly pack up, shoo people off or politely decline any more demos. It was good for us indie developers to shut-up-shop and lift that pressure off our shoulders, especially being a small team, I highly welcome the change. The next thing that happened was even better. There was a networking event with drinks and finger food right where our tables were. I heard from the event organiser that they brought back the networking drinks after a few years of hiatus. It was so good that we did not have to travel far or think too much about finding food. We could mingle with anyone and everyone, point to our banner as a form of introduction instead of explaining ourselves with words. I thought was extremely good that I managed to talk to a few video game developers that I normally wouldn’t have crossed paths with. Overall, it was an amazing day, we managed to make many new friends with many of our tabletop peers.