Exhibiting at PAX with F/OSS
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Who am I?
My name is Cheese, and I wear many hats. The ones that are relevant today are:
- Game developer
- Graphic designer
- PAX 2017 ANZ Indie Pavillion exhibitor
You can find me on Twitter as @ValiantCheese or on irc.freenode.net as Cheeseness.
Last month, I took my game Winter's Wake
(and its engine) to Melbourne for PAX Aus 2017
What worked well
The game!
What worked well
The game!
- Turns out that people will queue for a text adventure at PAX
- People love the music
- People love the soundscapes
- People love the writing
- People were intrigued by the mechanics
- I presented the game's rough edges in a positive way
What worked well
The stand!
What worked well
The stand!
- People loved the signage
- People loved the t-shirt
- People loved the business cards
- Position allowed my stand to be eye-catching
What worked well
The Tech!
What worked well
The Tech!
- Borrowed a 2014 HP Netbook running Debian
- Bought two pair of Bosse QuietComfort 25 noise cancelling headphones
- Re-purposed a couple of old Logitech keyboards
What worked well
Traveling light!
What worked well
Traveling light!
- All gear except for keyboards and monitors fit in one backpack
- Bought monitors in Melbourne (and sold them before coming home)
- Stayed walking distance to the venue
What worked not-so-well
The game!
What worked not-so-well
The game!
- Didn't have VR ready
- Didn't have content ready
- Ended up doing development overnight/bugfixing on the floor
- Had a recurring crash
- Didn't do enough testing
What worked not-so-well
The stand!
What worked not-so-well
The stand!
- Ran out of badges late day 2
- Ran out of business cards early day 2
- Didn't have URL on signage
- Queuing was awkward
What worked not-so-well
The tech!
What worked not-so-well
The tech!
- Lost a bunch of time to fiddling with monitor settings
- Had a whole bunch of gear that didn't end up being used
- Bought wrong audio cables
- Haemorrhaged money on unplanned expenses
- Lost a day's worth of logs
Free/Open Source Software
Free/Open Source Software
I used F/OSS in the following roles:
- Development (coding, debugging, optimisation)
- Graphic design (promotional materials, game assets)
- Running the game (testing, demonstration machine)
Development
My primary development workstation runs Fedora 26
Development
My primary development workstation runs Fedora 26
- Geany (programming)
- gdb, valgrind (debugging)
- perf (performance analysis/optimisation)
- Inkscape (conceptualisation, icons, key art)
Graphic Design
All my signage and design was done with F/OSS
Graphic Design
All my signage and design was done with F/OSS
- Inkscape (shirt, Signage, Controls sign, Badges, Business cards, Sticker design, stuff-I've-been-up-to-lanyard-thing)
- Krita (CMYK export of raster art)
- Scribus (CMYK/spot colour conversion of vector art)
Things to improve on
There are a number of things I'd give extra attention to if I exhibited again:
- Put URL on signage
- Get press kit/builds ready ahead of time
- Have a spare machine for press/organise press appointments
- Coordinate volunteers better
- Work out a queuing system
- Get a table cloth
More images
Evolution of my signage
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T-shirt designs
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Halftoning on my t-shirt
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Iteration on the new splash screen/key art
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Controls reference sheet
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Before unpacking on setup day
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After unpacking on setup day
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Business cards
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Business cards close up
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Someone drew a map
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Compiling at the beginning of day 2
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MVP stand helper
Winter's Wake and more of my games can be found on my Itch.io page
A write-up of my hopes and plans ahead of PAX can be found on my Patreon page
More of my writing about games, jams and other topics can be found at CheeseTalks.net
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