The Showkeeper's Handbook

A detailed guide to the organization of the showcase. How to effectively show your game and not forget anything, – says Yaroslav Kravtsov.

The White Nights conference will take place in two weeks, and officially the acceptance of applications for the developers’ exhibition is closed. According to the organizers, more than 160 teams announced their desire to show the game on a free mini-stand. In total, 147 stands will be built for the Developer Exhibition, some of which will be divided into two projects.

“If you have a game in beta and above that you would like to demonstrate at White Nights, you can still fill out the form – we will definitely consider your application, and if possible, we will allocate a stand for at least one day.Just please be sure to write to us at wnconf@nevosoft.com because all deadlines are already behind us,” commented Yulia Lebedeva, Chief coordinator of the conference and Director of Business Development at Nevosoft.

Recall that the organizers of White Nights provide a stand for developers absolutely free of charge.

Yaroslav Kravtsov, head of the Rising Wave Initiative indie studio, curator of short-term Scream School courses, coordinator of the DevGAMM conference showcase, told in detail about why you need to participate in showcases and how to get the most out of them.

Yaroslav Kravtsov

I first showed my game in 2009 at the Game Developers Conference (KRI). It was my first showcase, and it cost me a pretty penny then. In those years, a place on the showcase cost a lot of money, and there were very few places themselves. Fortunately, nowadays participation in showcases at many conferences has become free and there are quite a lot of places.

Then I returned to the showcases in May 2014, when I decided to show a prototype of my game at the DevGAMM conference showcase in Moscow. Since then, I have tried not to miss a single opportunity to show my game at industrial events. He showed the game on DevGAMM, White Nights, StarCon, DevsGo and even GDC, where he got thanks to King and the Defold engine. And every showcase helped to make my game even better.

After three years of participating in various showcases, I wanted more, and I headed the organization of the showcase at the DevGAMM conference. That’s how I got to know the back of conferences, and my knowledge of how to effectively demonstrate my game has expanded significantly. I want to share my observations to help other developers. After all, the more good games appear on the market, the better it will be for everyone. Some of these tips have already been found in other articles about showcases, but there will also be my personal observations, which I have not met before in other articles.

In case someone reading this article does not know what the word “showcase” is, he is also an exhibition of games, I will explain: this is a standard practice of gaming industry events, when a part of the space is allocated for developers so that they can put their laptops-tablets and show the game to the visitors of the event on them. Usually it is a small table or a place on a large table and 1-2 chairs. At White Nights, for example, a table and two chairs are placed on a small stand measuring 1.5 by 1 meter. For VR games, more space is allocated, since their gameplay requires the player to move. Details of the size of the showcase stand can always be clarified with the organizers.

Stand for a showcase at White Nights

Although participation in the showcase will be useful to the developer in any case, it is better to have an idea in advance of what tasks you want to solve by publicly demonstrating your game. And the option of “finding a publisher who will give money” is just one of many, and not the most productive.

In my opinion, participation in the showcase is, first of all, mass testing of the game and marketing materials. Just imagine how much effort it costs to negotiate with 50 strangers so that they come to one place and take turns playing your game. At the same time, so that they are still professionals and can give a detailed feedback. To organize such a focus test, you will have to spend a huge amount of time, nerves and certainly money. You can contact one of the companies that conduct playtests to save effort on finding respondents, but it will cost a lot of money all the more. And at the conference, all these people come to your table for free and in large numbers.

For such testing of the game, you need to understand what exactly you want to test in order to show it on your stand. Just do not confuse playtests with the work of QA. Your task is not to check the game for bugs, but to look at the conceptual moments. Is the mechanics of the game clear? Does the visual attract attention? What reaction does the description of the game cause? Does the tutorial fulfill its task? How is the game perceived by the picture? Is the game able to gather a crowd of spectators? Some of these questions should be kept in mind when preparing for the showcase.

I especially like testing marketing materials. Many wise people teach how to prepare a pitch in advance so that the teeth fly off at the showcase. But practice shows that the pitch is also being tested and evolves significantly during the showcase. After all, when you work on a pitch yourself, there is no way to test it on the audience. And here, one after another, situations when you tell a visitor “my game has an exciting plot”, catch an indifferent look, and change the description to “the story of my game about the battle of soldiers of the First World War with giant diesel-tank robots”. You can immediately see from the listener’s face that this option works better than an “exciting plot”!

By drawing attention to your unusual image, you draw attention to your game

Of course, an attentive reader has long begun to resent that the target audience of the game does not coincide with the audience of conferences. Of course, the discrepancy is inevitable. It is not necessary to take every review to heart and send every advice to development. But even with such a difference in audiences, you will immediately identify the strengths and weaknesses of your game and its positioning. If professional developers have problems with passing the tutorial in your game, then you should not expect that the target audience will not have such problems. In addition, there is so much going on at conferences that people approaching your booth are usually scattered and have a bunch of thoughts in the background about where else to go. This is a great audience where you can check how much your game is able to attract attention.

Human psychology is irrational by nature. When we see two identical products in a store, one from a well-known brand, and we haven’t heard anything about the second one, then we prefer to choose the product we’ve heard something about, although this has no direct connection with its characteristics. It’s the same with the promotion of the game. It is much easier to promote a game when its name is already familiar to the consumer. If you have been making a game for two years without getting out of the basement, and then decided to inform the whole world about its release, then with a high degree of probability you will be ignored – you are the brand that no one has heard of before, and therefore you lose in the competition for attention. Another thing is when the name of your game is heard. It’s easier to start communicating with a publisher, journalist, YouTuber, and other developers. A showcase is the easiest way to inform the gaming industry about the existence of your game and be heard.

You can also increase your chances by submitting a game to a competition that usually accompanies conferences. In this case, your game is guaranteed to be watched by the experts who are part of the jury. It’s just important to remember simple math: the game will win the nomination only if, according to the jury, it turns out to be better than all other games. It is impossible to win the “Best Game Design” with a game with a mediocre secondary design, you can’t take the “Best Art” with just good art. Moreover, if you submit a mediocre game to the competition, then in the eyes of the judges you lose respect, because you waste their time on something that obviously won’t win anything.

I’ll give you a hint. Not so long ago, the nomination “Best Narrative” began to appear at competitions. In it, the competition is still noticeably weaker than in the classical nominations. There is also not much competition among VR games, but this is a completely different story.

Indie showcase on Casual Connect

One of the basic goals of attending conferences is networking. When hundreds and thousands of specialists gather in one place, it is a great opportunity to expand the network of professional contacts. And the showcase is the best tool for networking. Even better than beer. Because when you are standing near a table with your game, people come up to you to communicate, and the topic of conversation is very close to you – your game. This is much more convenient than approaching strangers yourself and trying to start a conversation on a lengthy topic.

So, you decided to participate in the showcase with your game. Submit your application as early as possible so that it does not turn out that all the seats have already been dismantled. To do this, you must have all the necessary materials on hand: logos, screenshots, a game trailer or at least a video with gameplay. After submitting the application, you need to prepare a minimum set of participants:

1. First of all, you will need a playable build, which you will show to the visitors of the event. No gameplay – no game. Most likely, the build will be asked from you at the stage of registration for the showcase to make sure that you will have something to show, but more than a month usually passes between registration and the showcase itself, so try not to let the fresh build fall apart on the go. Fixing the build right on the stand is not the best practice, but you should also be prepared for this.

2. The game must be shown on something. I advise you to take your laptop and tablet with you right away. Even if you have a desktop-only or mobile-only game. On one device you can show the game, and on the second you can turn the trailer. But this way you will attract more attention. Since some participants of the conference are interested only in mobile games, and other participants may be interested only in desktop games. So you will attract both audiences. Plus, you increase the number of screens on which your game is displayed. After all, if you have one screen, then the first visitor will block it. Don’t forget about the extension cord, in case you have only one outlet in an inconvenient place. But it is better to clarify this point with the organizers.

Independent Games Festival Exhibition Area at the Game Developer Conference

3. Not everyone can afford the luxury of coming to the conference without business cards. Be sure to make yourself 100-200 business cards at least. It’s inexpensive, but it allows those with whom you talked not to forget about you. If possible, pay attention to the material from which the business card is made. Business cards made of pleasant to the touch material are especially memorable.
A business card is your personal contact. The business card of the game is a leaflet. A small piece of paper on which you can remember about your game (there are screenshots of the game) and there is the address of the site / page in the social network where you can find additional information. You can also provide the leaflet with additional information about the game: a brief description, platforms, release dates, search for a publisher / investor / partner. The cost of printing leaflets is a penny, so there is no reason not to do them. In my practice, 200 pieces are enough in excess, maybe even for several events. The smaller the size of the leaflet, the more people will take it, but they will take it indiscriminately, unlike large leaflets, the size of which requires a person to be sure that he needs it.

4. How many words have been said about the importance of fresh breath and the absence of the smell of sweat when communicating, but still there are regular people with whom you want to stop communicating as soon as possible for these reasons. At the same time, conferences are noisy, everyone is talking around, so these people try to talk closer so that they can be heard better. I think this is due to the fact that in a normal situation we have no problems with bad breath and we get used to it and do not strain ourselves. But the showcase is stress, and during stress, the body’s work changes.

These items are mandatory. Without them, the showcase noticeably loses in efficiency and can go to harm, creating a negative reputation. Fortunately, there is nothing difficult to comply with them. Now let’s talk about how else we can improve our display of the game, after the minimum program is completed.

1. If possible, take another gaming device with you. A laptop is better – it has a bigger screen than a tablet. This way visitors have more opportunities to see your game and play it. Just check with the organizers in advance the size of the place for the showcase to be sure that all your equipment will fit.

Showcase at StarCon 2015

2. Good headphones will not only allow you to hear your game, but also shield the player from external noise. This helps to focus on the game, which is especially important for games about immersion and reading text. Although showing text games on showcases is still a challenge.

3. If your game can be played with a gamepad, then be sure to take it to the stand. The gamepad lying on the table tells others that you can play here. Two or more gamepads say that you can play with friends here.

4. If possible, it would be good to make a special showcase build. After all, the people who approach your stand have a very limited amount of attention. Try to make it so that the first minute of gameplay is catching, and all the most delicious things are shown in 3-5 minutes. Be sure to show your USP to stand out from the rest of the games. If the showcase build can still notice the absence of input for 30 seconds and switch to the automatic game mode, then it will be super in general. Also think about how to make your game possible to play without hints. This will be pleasant for the player, and it will free you from routine instructions.

5. In addition to leaflets, you can prepare additional handouts. There are stickers and magnets in the leaderboard here. Both options are relatively cheap in price and allow you to keep a mention of your game for a long time, fitting into the life of the one who took them (a sticker on a laptop, a magnet on the refrigerator). Stickers also help to distinguish your equipment from the event equipment on the showcase.

An example of using two laptops on the same stand

6. You can make a more expensive souvenir that will decorate the showcase stand and can serve as a prize in some competition. Holding contests on the stand is a good idea if you want to involve players in such a way.

7. Think about how you can increase the visibility of your brand (game name, logo). So that it can be seen from any angle on the stand that this is your game. At least simple A4 sheets with a logo that are glued to everything you can stick to. Just do not spoil the stand at the same time, leaving traces of glue on it. To do this, you can use a special silicone adhesive tape. If you don’t have one, then ask the organizers, don’t try to solve the problem with an uncoordinated act of vandalism.

8. If finances allow, then the visibility of the stand can be significantly increased with the help of a roll-up and a TV. About the roll-up, you need to check with the organizers the opportunity to put it. There are not always places for this on the showcase. A TV can often be rented and this is a great way to demonstrate the game, but prices often bite.
A great way to attract attention to your stand is cosplay. Wait for a sea of photos with your stand, if there is a cosplay next to it on the theme of your game.

Two gamepads immediately make it clear that you can play with a friend here

9. I strongly recommend taking a few photos with your stand, so that later there will be something to make a report about the showcase and please the fans. I recommend the following set of frames:

• photo of the stand when there is no one else. You can see the entire stand and how you filled it with your equipment and handouts. A close-up of the table and a general photo;
• the same thing, but when there are already players. Catch the moment when you have especially many visitors. Let such a crowd come to you only once, but from the photo it will seem that you had crowds of spectators all the time;
• good shots will be the faces of your players with joyful emotions. Only you need to shoot so that you can see not only the players, but also your game. By the way, to fill your stand with logos of the game;
• be sure to take pictures of famous people who came to your stand. So a piece of their reputation is added to your game. In addition, if you can mark them on Facebook, then this photo may appear in their feed and their large audience will know about you. Such is the cheat.

Satisfied players are the best memory from the showcase

For hours, and sometimes for days, showing your game and talking about it is quite difficult. There are a few basic rules that will help you survive the showcase and stay cheerful until the end of the event:

• be sure to get someone to help you. This not only allows you to talk twice as much about the game, but also to leave the stand in shifts;
• a bottle of water, which is always at hand, will save you;
• cough drops will save your throat;
• there is such an element of clothing – buff. It helps to keep the voice. Thanks to Oleg Pridyuk for such a hint.

This is where I want to finish my material. If you have your own tricks and techniques that you use when showcasing games, then I will be glad to see them in the comments. I myself will go to prepare to showcase my game at White Nights in St. Petersburg on June 14-15, and then meet everyone at my showcase at DevGAMM in Minsk on November 16-17.