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Dark Pixel at Winnipeg Comic Con 2024
Winnipeg Comic Con 2024 took place from Oct. 25th – Oct. 27th. As part of this year’s event, the Winnipeg Game Collective was provided with some table space to showcase the local game dev community. I was lucky enough to get to demo my work, and I got to spend Friday and Saturday at the con showing off an alpha of Dark Pixel.
It was my first time getting to be a part of a showcase event like this, and it was an AMAZING experience!!! I had massive amounts of fun hanging out with the other developers who were showing off their work, and I got a bunch of great feedback on the game from people who played it.
I also learned a ton of things about being part of a showcase event like this, and I wanted to collect some of the things I learned so that next time I can take even better advantage of this kind of opportunity.
About the Winnipeg Game Collective Showcase
Winnipeg Comic Con is the city’s biggest nerd culture convention. More than 35,000 fans attended this year’s event over the convention’s 3 days. The main attraction is the exhibition hall where all the vendors, celebrity interaction areas, and food stalls are set up. In addition to the exhibition hall, the convention also has all the things you’d expect from a major convention like discussion panels, celebrity Q&A’s, cosplay competitions, and gaming rooms set up throughout the Winnipeg Convention Centre.
The WGC showcase that I was involved with took place in the eSports room that was set up on the 2nd floor. The entrance to our room was right next to the line to get into the exhibition hall, which helped our visibility and peaked some people’s interest as they waited to get in.
Not being in the main exhibition hall had both positives and negatives. Obviously there’s less people to expose to your game. But it also meant less stress, and that we weren’t swamped with people the entire weekend. Overall I liked the location we had, although I wouldn’t have minded being in the busier exhibition hall.
Tip One: Be Physically Prepared
I did a good job of being technically prepared to demo my game:
- Made lists of what I needed to take with me.
- Tested my demo build with the laptop and monitor I was planning on using at the event.
- Arranged and organized how I was going to get all my gear to and from the venue.
- Brought back up power bars and controllers in case anything decided to stop working at an inconvenient time.
All that preparation paid off, because technically the demo went very smoothly. Where my preparations failed was in anticipating the physical toll that the event was going to take on my body.
For the demo we had a couple of 4′ x 8′ tables set up in a conference room, with some chairs for players to sit on while they played. I spent most of my time on my feet, chatting up people as they came by, introducing them to the games, and explaining what the game collective was doing at the event.
The Friday hours for the showcase were from 2:00pm – 7:30pm and after that, my feet and joints were killing me. I was definitely not ready to be on my feet and standing around that much. Day two was even longer, from 9:00 am – 7:00 pm. Fortunately all the suffering I did on Friday made me prepare myself a little better for Saturday. I threw some insoles into my shoes, and that made a big difference. It sounds minor but anything that helps keep your energy up is an advantage. I was still very tired and sore after the event, but to a much lesser degree than on the Friday.
Showcase events can be more physically demanding than you expect them to be, so it’s not just the game that needs to be in shape to handle it. As part of my preparations next time I’ll definitely make a point of getting myself into physically ready by doing some daily yoga and walking prior to the event.
Tip Two: Be Mentally Prepared to Interact With Lots of People
This showcase was a big opportunity to expose people to my game. My goal is to release on Steam early next year, and I want to start getting word out about the game. When I pictured the con going well, I imagined a bunch of people coming up to my table, trying out my game, and getting excited about it.
What I didn’t realize is that in order to get people engaged, you have to actively sell people on your game. Most people don’t jump into playing the games on display right away. They would approach the area and look around, but would be unsure if they could or should play the games.
That would be my cue to introduce myself and give them the rundown on what the showcase was about. I’d tell them that we were local indie developers showcasing our games, and invite them to play anything they thought looked interesting. Once I gave them the go ahead, most of the people would jump in and try at least one of the games.
Actively encouraging people to get involved makes a huge difference in how many people interact with your game. You don’t need to be aggressive about it, but you do need to be proactive. On the Friday I was a little timid about approaching people, but by Saturday I was feeling more comfortable and engaging with everyone. As a result I had a lot more players trying the game on the second day. Getting to watch people play the game, and getting their feedback is one of the most valuable things I got out of this experience, so it is really worth putting in the effort to get people engaged. Next time I’ll be ready to hit the ground running from the start.
Tip Three: Prepare Your Exit Interview
This is something that I completely failed to do during the convention, and only realized the opportunity I missed after the fact. After anyone played my game, I’d try to engage with them and ask them for feedback. This is a good idea, and I got some great feedback that I’ve already incorporated into my game.
My mistake, is that I didn’t plan ahead and think of what specific feedback I wanted to get. I’d ask everyone the same general “What did you think of the game?” type of questions, and most people gave me similar versions of “It was good” as an answer. Which is of course what they’re going to say! It’s the polite, easy answer. I don’t blame anyone for choosing it.
In hindsight I could have had better questions prepared. I could have asked more pointed questions like “What did you think of the art style?” or “What did you think of the color changing mechanic?” Or I could ask questions that can’t be answered with a simple response. A great question Q Yoneda was using that I plan to steal in the future is “If you were me, what would you change about this game?”
Better questions lead to less generic answers, and will unearth more interesting opinions and feedback. I’m super grateful to the people gave me helpful feedback despite the basic questions I was asking, and I know I will get a lot more useful feedback if I prepare questions in advance.
Tip Four: Make Your Demo Con Ready
The opportunity to participate in the showcase was announced a month before the actual event. Once I decided to apply, I started working on getting my game into a good, solid state to demo.
The last time I had been working on Dark Pixel was to put together an alpha version of the game which I gave out to some close developer friends to get some feedback. I could have just used that alpha for this demo, but I had already received a bunch of feedback on that version of the game. For this showcase I decided to do an updated alpha build so that I could get fresh perspectives on an improved version of the game.
My goals for my new alpha were to:
- Incorporate the feedback I received on the first alpha
- Change the way power ups are accessed and function in the game
- Add another level to the game to bring the total levels to 3
- Create level specific enemies for levels 2 and 3
- Have an initial version of the story elements for my game with an opening and closing cutscene
The mistake I made with my demo was not recognizing the context in which it was going to be played. Comic con is a huge, busy, overly stimulating event. People who are stopping to play the demo don’t have the time or desire to sit down and devote the attention they would give the game under normal circumstances. They’re just looking for a taste of what the game is, and my demo could have catered more to that.
I felt adding the story elements was important to make the game feel like a more complete, polished experience. But I was wrong. The opening cutscene was completely unnecessary. Dark Pixel is a platformer, and people understand what to do in the game without any story context. It’s more important to get people into the gameplay as quickly as possible.
Fortunately I was able to fix this issue on Friday night and had an updated version of the alpha ready for Saturday with the cutscene removed. What I couldn’t get back is the time I lost putting the opening into the Alpha in the first place. That lost time would have been better spent polishing other elements of the demo. Next time I’ll keep the context in mind, so that I can focus only on the features that add value in that showcase context.
Tip Five: Have Your Call To Action Ready
If your game is good (and you’re lucky), some of the people who try out your game are going to want to be your customer, and you should be ready to provide them with an easy path to your product. My goal was to have a Steam page live for my game. I think wishlisting a game on Steam is an easy, and reliable way to engage people.
Dark Pixel is the first game I’m going to release on Steam, so this was my first time creating a Steam page for a game. I underestimated how much work and time was required to get that set up. As a result, I didn’t get the page done in time. What I did have up and ready to go was the original itch.io page for the game, as well as a Steam group. I got some business cards with QR codes of those links printed on them so that I’d have something to hand out to anyone who was interested.
In the end I didn’t get a ton of engagement with the sites I provided. I got 6 views on my itch.io page, and no one joined the Steam group. I don’t know if having the Steam page for the game up would have done anything to boost those numbers, but I would definitely have felt more comfortable about pushing people towards engagement with a Steam page. For the next showcase I’ll be sure to start planning my call to action earlier, so that I can make sure it’s strong and in place before the event starts.
Tip Six: Work the Networking
One of the best things I got out of the showcase was networking with my fellow developers. During the downtime we’d chat about our games and our development processes. I’m a super big gamer nerd, so I absolutely loved getting to peek behind the curtains of the games in development, discuss game engines, and talk shop.
In addition to networking with my fellow game collective members, I had a great conversation with New Media Manitoba who also had a booth at the event. As I’m trying to grow lvl_0, New Media Manitoba is going to be an invaluable resource for training and support. I had a really good conversation with their Senior Manager of Business Development, and she pointed me towards some awesome resources that I’m already putting to good use. I also had some good conversations with some people about teaching opportunities and potential future indie showcase events. All those opportunities I wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t been at the event.
Networking opportunities aren’t unique to a showcase type event. There are plenty of events that provide great opportunities for networking. The important thing is be aware and ready to take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves. Just like Tip Two, the value you’ll get out of this depends on the effort you put into it.
Final Thoughts on Comic Con 2024
When I first heard about this opportunity, I let my imagination run a little wild with potential outcomes. I pictured a booth in the exhibition hall, surrounded by people clamoring to try out my game. I pictured hundreds, maybe thousands of wish-lists on Steam. This convention showcase was going to propel my little game to instant stardom!!!
The actual convention was nothing like that, but it was even more valuable!
- I got great feedback on my game that I can use to develop it further.
- I felt the joy of watching people have fun (and sometimes struggle) with the levels I had designed.
- I hung out with awesome devs and got to geek out about our games.
- I made some invaluable connections with resources that are going to help me grow and develop my game and studio.
I’ve been to comic con many times, but this was a completely new way of experiencing it for me. I really enjoyed my first showcase event. Now that I’m armed with this experience and these tips, I’m looking forward to taking full advantage of the next opportunity to promote my games and build my brand.