Tag Archives: pax

Game Conventions In Ontario & Beyond! A Helpful Guide For Local Indie Game Developers

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One of the best parts about indie development is the ability to participate with the community. There are many conventions and events every year throughout the world that celebrate video games, anime, comics, television, and geek culture in general, perfect opportunities to promote yourself. However, I noticed that most major game events in North America are on the West, East and South sides of the United States, central North America (specifically Ontario, Canada) has very little for indie games. Comics and tabletop games, sure, but indie games don’t really have much to be at. Its also really difficult to find any reviews or information outside the events’ homepages, so its hard to know what to expect.

If I Want To See Indie Games in this "Dead Zone," Where Do I Go?

If I Want To See Indie Games in this “Dead Zone,” Where Do I Go?

The following is a list of events I’ve been to, with my impressions of what type of atmosphere they provide. I hope the following information will be useful to developers in the Ontario area. This comes from me being in Windsor, Ontario, depending on your location you might have other better options.

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PAX PRIME 2014: A review and afterthought from a indie developer

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I went to PAX PRIME 2014 in Seattle, Washington about two weeks ago to show off my small indie game “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth.”

About “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth:”

“Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” is a hand-drawn 3D puzzle platformer. The fact that it IS hand-drawn, not using cel-shading or any other fancy renderer, but still in a 3D game, makes it unique, and is one of it’s highest selling points. It follows Drew in a mysterious, barren and simplistic environment, made up of invisible levels that require you to look for clues of safety before you simply walk or jump. Therefore, the gameplay mechanics are very different to typical platformers and also a point of interest. Throw in great music and voice acting (not provided by me, and hence why I can confidently say they actually ARE good), and you have my first complete independent game that I am actually proud of (past attempts were barely fit to be called student projects). And I wanted the world to see it, not to sell well, but to show that traditional animation still had a place in media by putting it somewhere they wouldn’t expect for something new.

Have you seen a hand-drawn character in a 3d game before?

Have you seen a hand-drawn character in a 3D game before?

Wait… how did YOU of all people get a booth at PAX PRIME?

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Hand-Drawn 3D Puzzle Platformer “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” Available Now!

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Days after PAX PRIME, I can finally say that “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” is available for purchase on Desura.com!

This game features traditional animation, unique platforming, and a story with an emotional conclusion.

The game is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and I’ve confirmed it should be able to run on all these systems (let me know if you have any issues).

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Wait… Did You Say You’re Going To PAX?

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This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.

I put “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” to several indie game competitions, letting it be reviewed by several committees and panels and judges. These all met with loss to other games. Which is to be expected, although I still think the uniqueness of my game stands out a bit more (easy, don’t get jealous…).

One of the many things I submitted to was “Indie Megabooth,” which technically wasn’t a contest: they try to book space at large events and rent off their spaces to indie developers, ultimately being cheaper for indies and profitable to the organization. The developer still pays for the space, but the Indie Megabooth has to pick which games to show. They were the most encouraging of all the feedback I’ve received, but still passed on “Drew.”

But “Indie Megabooth” has connections, which is why I highly recommend all serious indie developers to submit to them. I got emails from other agents and groups that support indie development, some charity, some businesses. One such opportunity was to show my game at PAX anyway, by booking my own booth, at roughly the same cost as what Indie Megabooth offered. I didn’t have time to be hesitant, so I took it.

This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.

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Press for “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth”

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So “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” will finish it’s Kickstarter campaign in about a week. It only received a few backers in the last couple of weeks, one of which was especially generous. Overall, it still looks unlikely that it will lead to a successful funding.

It’s strange… my previous Kickstarter campaign got three times as many backers, despite even less press and an obvious lack of quality and polish. Many of those original backers were the sort of people to back hundreds of projects… maybe this is a sign that Kickstarter fans are finally starting to get wary about giving money to people after not receiving their dues from past projects. Or maybe they were hesitant that I made an entirely new game when the first Kickstarter failed, even though the two are ultimately very similar. Most likely, I’ll say that August is one of the worst times to run a campaign, perhaps because people are still reeling or gone from those expensive, time-consuming vacations. I won’t say it’s all entirely because of the game’s quality to keep myself sane, and also because it actually received more praise than anything I’ve shown before. Anyway, I’ll let it finish, but it’s disappointing that it’ll leave yet another black mark on my game, my studio, and my name. And it helps me feel better if it doesn’t support additional languages or features, since no one would care (maybe I’m being cynical here, but unless I ever sell more than a dozen copies, I’ll assume it true).

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