Doubt we'll be showing since we got our learning experience out of rage JHB. I'm keen to try and get some local boardgames shown on the floor via the boardgame companies though.
We will be having a home_coded stand at Cape Town rAge for local game developers to showcase their games. Each booth will cost R2,200.00 excluding vat and includes the following: vinyl text name 1 x trestle table 1 x chair 1 x 15amp plug point 1 x 150 watt spotlight
For more information or to book a booth on this stand you may contact me by email: cheryl@nag.co.za
We're probably not gonna be at this one, well at least not exhibiting. The timing is a bit off and we don't think we'd have things ready in time. We're thinking of showing off some new stuff at EGE or rAge Joburg later this year. We might still have some people at rAge CT, but only to help out (if needed) or to check it out.
I'll be at GDC. Someone from Free Lives might be there to check it out to see what it's like.
We'll be exhibiting at EGE in July if this year is like last year. The middle of March is a bit awkward for us, I don't think we'll want to exhibit anything by then, but by July I hope we do, and our experience with EGE has been a bit more positive. (Though maybe rAge Cape Town will be a step up from Joburg)
It seems to be saying that the costs for exhibiting as a developer are going away? (or at least, going down drastically) Is anyone exhibiting able to update on this?
Based on a forwarded email from a while ago, the cost per a booth is R2 200. I think the "rAge always offers the floor space for the home_coded booth to developers free of charge" is kind of misleading, really. The 2nd sentence after that is "There are some small charges that apply to electricity and lighting", which is clearly not free.
Of course the space is provided at heavily discounted rates, but that's still a significant amount to indies. Calling it free is quite misleading - just trying to make NAG look good.
So I had a twitter discussion with Geoff & Tarryn, and the gist is this: The costs are the same as last time, we never paid for the floor space last time, we paid for (copy paste) "walls, power, lights, carpets, cleaning, and security." which still amounted to about R2200. Without paying for the floor space. If you want to rent trestle table and cabinet and chairs it's still more cost on top of that.
And yeah it did feel misleading, I was wondering "wtf it wasn't free, did something change now?". But big business is just simply so much bigger than indie.
Yeah, I also was a bit confused about the "totally free", "pay for a bit" and then "R2200 ex VAT" numbers. I guess floor space is expensive, but unfortunately, that amount just isn't small for someone on their own.
The tweet I saw said "totally free" https://twitter.com/nxtrms/status/699597789098024960 - I don't think hiding behind a misleading term like "free floor space" is a good thing for NAG to do on this. If there's a price, they should be saying it up front, not pretending one doesn't exist (or is marginal).
Hi All, Here is the official press release that was sent out via our PR company yesterday. We have no control over how media outlets interpret and write the information contained in the press release.
Hi All, Here is the official press release that was sent out via our PR company yesterday. We have no control over how media outlets interpret and write the information contained in the press release.
Thanks for responding @Cheryl. I believe the core of the confusion comes from the wording in the press release. It might have been better to say something to the effect of "To help local developers attend the show, rAge heavily subsidises the home_coded booth to keep costs down for developers, allowing them to focus on what matters: Their games!"
And that could be much less confusing as well if actual stand prices were mentioned. Although I can understand why you might not want to do that in a press release. It's just that as soon as you mention "free" it'll be the major perception, even if it's heavily qualified later in the same paragraph.
I'll leave the bit about game courses being a good way to enter the industry alone for now, but suffice to say that the evidence supporting that conclusion is a bit lacking at the moment...
P.S. Aren't rAge and IGN part of the same company group?
R2200 for a stand at a major expo is extremely cheap. Well done to NAG for keeping the costs that low! It is unfortunate that the entire cost isn't covered by other very generous parties like it has been in the past - but even at R2200 you are still getting a HUGE deal!
For those that are considering going to ANY future expo, Id recommend rAge as a really good 'taster' to see how it would go in the future. Rather spend this smaller amount now and know what you're getting into with expos than play thousands later to go to a bigger international one and realize that its either a waste of money for your particular game - or that there is a better way to exhibit your particular game. :)
Perhaps people can also share costs? R1100 will get you enough space to put up 2 computers.
I think for those that want a taster, and are only going to choose one, a better choice might be the EGE expo happening at the end of July, which last year was about this price.
I guess we'll see what rAge Cape Town is like. Maybe it's really rad, and there's not necessarily a reason to only choose one, though I'm not at all fond of the rAge venue (as it's located inside the GrandWest casino).
@Denzil it is my understanding that in order to sell at rAge it requires a different kind of stand/license than that which goes with what we get with home_coded.
Maybe try aiming to get 25 people on a mailing list if you want to do something smallish?
---
General points:
While showing at rAge may be substantially cheaper than say PAX, this is definitely a case of you get what you pay for: rAge provides minimal exposure to the South African scene, which is rather small and has a limited interaction with smaller games. Also the stand at rAge aren't really comparable to running a stand at a larger show, at best you could view it closer to something like the Indie Minibooth at PAX, but even then your outreach opportunities are much smaller.
I'd like to go and see what it's like, but being right after GDC kinda makes that impossible. I mean I did redeye out from GDC to PAX last year, but that wasn't a trans-Atlantic flight between hemispheres...
That said, I'm really looking forward to making it down for EGE this year. It had a really cool vibe in the stand which was really cool. Hopefully I'll get to check out rAge CT next year if it isn't conflicting with something bigger.
Thanks for the feedback, I will pass your comments on to our PR company who prepares our press releases.
IGN and rAge are separate companies, IGN is based in Cape Town and is run by Tarryn van der Byl. rAge which is based in Johannesburg and is owned by NAG.
Comments
Look good and very funny tbh but ye :D
Each booth will cost R2,200.00 excluding vat and includes the following:
vinyl text name
1 x trestle table
1 x chair
1 x 15amp plug point
1 x 150 watt spotlight
For more information or to book a booth on this stand you may contact me by email: cheryl@nag.co.za
We'll be exhibiting at EGE in July if this year is like last year. The middle of March is a bit awkward for us, I don't think we'll want to exhibit anything by then, but by July I hope we do, and our experience with EGE has been a bit more positive. (Though maybe rAge Cape Town will be a step up from Joburg)
It seems to be saying that the costs for exhibiting as a developer are going away? (or at least, going down drastically) Is anyone exhibiting able to update on this?
Based on a forwarded email from a while ago, the cost per a booth is R2 200. I think the "rAge always offers the floor space for the home_coded booth to developers free of charge" is kind of misleading, really. The 2nd sentence after that is "There are some small charges that apply to electricity and lighting", which is clearly not free.
Of course the space is provided at heavily discounted rates, but that's still a significant amount to indies. Calling it free is quite misleading - just trying to make NAG look good.
And yeah it did feel misleading, I was wondering "wtf it wasn't free, did something change now?". But big business is just simply so much bigger than indie.
The tweet I saw said "totally free" https://twitter.com/nxtrms/status/699597789098024960 - I don't think hiding behind a misleading term like "free floor space" is a good thing for NAG to do on this. If there's a price, they should be saying it up front, not pretending one doesn't exist (or is marginal).
Are expos going F2P now too?
And that could be much less confusing as well if actual stand prices were mentioned. Although I can understand why you might not want to do that in a press release. It's just that as soon as you mention "free" it'll be the major perception, even if it's heavily qualified later in the same paragraph.
I'll leave the bit about game courses being a good way to enter the industry alone for now, but suffice to say that the evidence supporting that conclusion is a bit lacking at the moment...
P.S. Aren't rAge and IGN part of the same company group?
For those that are considering going to ANY future expo, Id recommend rAge as a really good 'taster' to see how it would go in the future. Rather spend this smaller amount now and know what you're getting into with expos than play thousands later to go to a bigger international one and realize that its either a waste of money for your particular game - or that there is a better way to exhibit your particular game. :)
Perhaps people can also share costs? R1100 will get you enough space to put up 2 computers.
I guess we'll see what rAge Cape Town is like. Maybe it's really rad, and there's not necessarily a reason to only choose one, though I'm not at all fond of the rAge venue (as it's located inside the GrandWest casino).
Maybe try aiming to get 25 people on a mailing list if you want to do something smallish?
---
General points:
While showing at rAge may be substantially cheaper than say PAX, this is definitely a case of you get what you pay for: rAge provides minimal exposure to the South African scene, which is rather small and has a limited interaction with smaller games. Also the stand at rAge aren't really comparable to running a stand at a larger show, at best you could view it closer to something like the Indie Minibooth at PAX, but even then your outreach opportunities are much smaller.
I'd like to go and see what it's like, but being right after GDC kinda makes that impossible. I mean I did redeye out from GDC to PAX last year, but that wasn't a trans-Atlantic flight between hemispheres...
That said, I'm really looking forward to making it down for EGE this year. It had a really cool vibe in the stand which was really cool. Hopefully I'll get to check out rAge CT next year if it isn't conflicting with something bigger.
Thanks for the feedback, I will pass your comments on to our PR company who prepares our press releases.
IGN and rAge are separate companies, IGN is based in Cape Town and is run by Tarryn van der Byl. rAge which is based in Johannesburg and is owned by NAG.