I did my first Indie Game Dev Exhibition!

Recently, I did my very FIRST exhibition for a game conference, and I had such a great time! ๐Ÿ™‚

It was at Southampton Game Fest 2018, which is right on my doorstep – unfortunately, I only learned about the event a few days before it was happening. At first, I figured I would just rock-up as an attendee (seeing as all I had were a few PICO-8/Jam games) and check out the local Indie Dev scene, of which I was previously unaware even EXISTED! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

However, after announcing my guest ticket purchase, I was very kindly “encouraged” by a fellow Indie Developer (Mike Tucker of Bitmap Bureau) to exhibit my PICO-8 games anyway. I’m so glad he did, as this was one of the best “last-minute” decisions I’ve made all year – as I got to meet some great people (and hopefully made some new friends in the process!) ๐Ÿ™‚

My setup was VERY basic (I had 2 days people, TWO DAYS… to prepare!), so I went with a very portable setup – most of which I was able to fit into my backpack!

My “booth” setup:

Luckily, quite a few people were attracted to my “Retro/Pixel” style enough to come up and ask about my work. I have to say, it was great to watch complete strangers playing and, more importantly, enjoying my games! A few people even got quite competitive (read: addicted) to getting the highest score – something I’ll definitely be trying to incorporate more in future events ๐Ÿ™‚

During quiet periods, I found time to mooch around and check out everyone else’s stands and play some games, including…

This was one of the most valuable take-aways from the event, as I got to chat to some incredibly talented Indie Developers, share stories, and learn lots of useful tips.

After the show, a bunch of us headed over to a local pub and had drinks, dinner, and lots of laughs…

All in all, a VERY good day – hope to do another one soon! ๐Ÿ™‚

(Skip to: 40secs, and also 2min 50secs, to catch a brief glimpse of my “stall” and games being played!)

2 thoughts on “I did my first Indie Game Dev Exhibition!

  1. Great! I imagine having so little time make the nerves to the skin. And of course if the people will understand and like that style. How much people goes there to that events?

    1. Thanks Juan.
      Well, this was a local (and relatively new) event, so itโ€™s not a busy as the major events โ€“ but then again, you can have more discussions with people. So, itโ€™s all good!

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