What do you want at rAge?
Apologies for not making an intro post. Some of you know me or know of me one way or the other (some of those ways with a bit of bad blood, which I hope is in the past). For those who don't, I'm Geoff Burrows, assistant editor at NAG and a small part of the rAge organisers team. I've dabbbled in game development and it will always hold a place in my heart. But the reason why I'm here right now: next year I've got some plans for the show, and that's where this community comes in.
I've been following a few discussion threads here, and there seem to be a lot of good ideas about what rAge means or doesn't mean for local game devs, so I'd like to ask the question: what would you like to get out of rAge in the future? Or, what would you want to do at rAge in the future? Offer workshops/lectures, demo your products, sell your products, bring in guest speakers, interview international developers, get some time on the main stage? What would you like to have provided for you, and what would you want to bring yourself? We're in the process of starting something which we hope will be big for local developers, and we'll invite you to join in once we've figured out a few things. But for now, with rAge still fresh in the minds of those people who attended (and those who didn't, I'd like to know why), I want to find out from you guys what it is you want as game developers.
I've been following a few discussion threads here, and there seem to be a lot of good ideas about what rAge means or doesn't mean for local game devs, so I'd like to ask the question: what would you like to get out of rAge in the future? Or, what would you want to do at rAge in the future? Offer workshops/lectures, demo your products, sell your products, bring in guest speakers, interview international developers, get some time on the main stage? What would you like to have provided for you, and what would you want to bring yourself? We're in the process of starting something which we hope will be big for local developers, and we'll invite you to join in once we've figured out a few things. But for now, with rAge still fresh in the minds of those people who attended (and those who didn't, I'd like to know why), I want to find out from you guys what it is you want as game developers.
Comments
Personally one thing I think that is lacking is a local "promo" section. I know that guys can rent the local artist space but that does not fit into the same category as developers.
Maybe a good route to go would be to have a seperate section thats contains a cluster of local game devs. I think it could be really rad if developers could rent a stand where they can demo their game. Maybe the stand rental includes a controller, a place to stand the pc/console and a monitor. Developers would just need to set it up themselves?
Although I have yet to experience it, but watching videos from expo's like PAX allow the local guys to set up their own stands. Perhaps these stands could be customizable where developers could easily insert printed media into the stand (example, a title, a controls breakdown, and an info section).
AMAZE had a really cool setup as part of showing off local games, and I think it would be a great way to meet other developers as well as share ideas.
Why QCF didn't attend rAge
From a business perspective - it doesn't move units of Desktop Dungeons. There are a number of reasons for this, mostly down to DD being a strange game and doing better in international markets with strong player understanding of roguelikes, etc. So locally some players enjoy it, but we don't see movement from local news coverage (not that we don't want it, we love being in local magazines and stuff, it's great for the feedback, not great for sales) - players that are going to go to rAge and be wowed by DD are already going to be wowed by DD via numerous other channels because of the kind of gamer they are.
Why I didn't attend rAge
I'd have loved to. But the choice between AMAZE and rAge was a tricky one that AMAZE eventually won out on. Mainly because rAge didn't really care if I attended or not - it was still going to be a big success :) If I wasn't working like crazy on DD, I'd have flown to JHB just to see the expo.
Cool stuff that I'd like to see at rAge
Local games in a nice section of their own
Unfortunately, there are very few local companies that can afford stand space at rAge (everyone else here other than Geo, you totally can rent stand space at rAge, ask him for contact details if you're keen). Local games tend to pale in comparison to the latest bells and whistles in the newest AAA titles that dominate rAge. A good way to deal with that problem is to set up a curated area of the expo specifically for indie games, there could easily be a selection of local games in there as well, much like how the PAX10 works. Basically, you don't want a lonely area with like 3 local games in it, you want a vibrant section with a bunch of PCs and consoles that people can just walk up to and play cool shit on, that's why having international indie games can round that out really nicely. Plus it mediates the comparison problem a little as well: These are local games being compared to indie titles in an expressly indie area. (Because that's who we compete with for attention anyway, logically) The indie space doesn't have to be big, it just needs to exist so that people can be pulled through it. Any local devs selected to be in that space can be there hawking shirts or throwing cards at people, etc ;)
Help with press
The IndieCade team have this down pat: At E3 and IndieCade last year, they sat down with all the devs whose games they were showing and had their stand staff go through our games with us. They helped us refine our schpiels and made sure we stayed interesting, then they echoed everything back to us so that they could take over our spaces and demo if we needed to get food or hit the bathroom. On top of that, they had a dedicated press schedule and would make sure that everyone got interviews and showed off their games to the best publications and sites they could find. On top of all of that, they would glom onto floaters in the stand and take them through the games in a set pattern, if any of those floaters were press they'd slot them into the press schedule then and there and make sure that we got to talk to them too. They were fucking amazing. Totally changed the stress patterns for me compared to the comparative chaos at GDC where you had to grab people out of the crowds yourself.
Competitions on the stage again
We did some awesome stuff together at rAge before. I'd love to have MakeGames step up and have big prize handouts for game development competitions again. That would be possibly the best way to popularise local games and MakeGames at rAge, TBH.
Stuff I'm not sure about
Talks and presentations
The Game.Dev stuff we did at rAges past was awesome and I loved it. But we were always competing for people's attention with the noise and pomp of the expo itself. The talks at AMAZE went a lot better (I felt) because we knew that people there were there expressly FOR the talks. I mean we also failed seriously hard at PR every year, nobody really knew that we were going to do things and the press that did find us was always "OMG, you exist?!" and then ran off never to appear again. So maybe that's something we can do much better and change the whole feel of that for me... But I feel like the major thing that comes out of talks at rAge is devs hanging out. I've since learned that the best way to hang out with devs and get the juices flowing, is to do that all AFTER a show closes. So that means that the indie area with local devs in it would act as a nucleus that people would organise around, including the international devs tha wandered through there to look at stuff, and everyone would then Katamari off somewhere after the show and bother the fuck out of the waiters in Northgate ;)
Individual dev stands
There's a chance we should simply band together and do like the PAX Indie Megabooth did, but as I said above, I'm not convinced of the positive business outcomes to exhibiting locally that way. I'm a little tired of people not giving a shit about my game, but wanting loads of my time to talk about developing apps to promote financial intelligence in school kids, simply because they see we can produce stuff. None of those hobos ever pay you anyway... I guess I'm just trying to figure out what the right exposure is.
P.S. Maps! We need neat maps of the dome and surrounds. Here be treasure, here be games, here be watering holes that don't close at 9pm...
P.P.S. I would love to have AMAZE and rAge closer together so that it would be easier to go to both :) Maybe even do AMAZE after rAge so that all the people who got inspired by seeing rad local stuff at rAge could come and be even more inspired.
Reasons are much like Dislekcia said. Trying to compete for attention, and being compared to, triple A games is a sure path to disappointment and discouragement. I'm not interested in showing off my games next to the new Call of Duty, and I'm not interested in seeing the new Call of Duty, or meeting people who want to talk about the new Call of Duty, so it's hard for me to justify the expense of going to Joburg.
Last year I did go to rAge, but being stuck in that weird little room and feeling pretty vestigial to the whole show wasn't exactly a positive experience. I had way more fun and felt vastly more included in the show, at Amaze this year. Just the fact that Amaze wanted us there (they even paid for my flight which was weird) changes the whole vibe for me.
Last year at rAge I didn't really feel like I met people. There were people there, but they weren't connected to anything and a lot of them were off doing the rAge experience. At Amaze it felt like the devs that were there were there to meet and chat to other devs. I didn't get as much of a chance as I'd liked to have chatted (due to personal commitments), but the Katamari dev ball worked so much better at Amaze than it did at rAge.
That's some pretty harsh criticism I know. TBH if Amaze happens again next year rAge doesn't really stand a chance with me (unless we go to both).
I'd just like to add one more possible objective to this - being in touch with international devs and personalities and whatever. I know that various distributors here bring in devs of other places to show off games at rAge - their job is to provide a cool name/title for show-goers to grab onto, play some games and talk about it on stage.
Then? Do they just take a nap and fly on back?
I was just wondering, if at all possible, we could have a closer knit with the show organisers who obviously know who're coming, and possibly aligning makegamessa with them, for a dev-centric panel, some Q&A, or just a good ol' friendly chat over a beer (or 10). It certainly would be an incentive for our devs to attend to meet up with international personalities and to learn from them.
Hanging out with these devs is something that I've been able to do in the past due to working behind the scenes at rAge, I reckon that dev Katamari is probably the best way to do things with them. Of course, having MakeGames introduced to them from day 1 would be great. That said, typical AAA devs do live in a different world to indies. It's really strange how AAA and indie devs rarely hang out together at things like GDC.
I do want to point out that I'm glad the general consensus so far is that a combined indie dev area is the way to go. That's exactly what we've been chatting about at the office.
The suggestion to interface with international devs is interesting, and it's definitely something we can set up, but the best business networking at rAge happens on an informal level: beers after the show, quick chats at the booths, a brief "hello, I exist" and the exchange of business cards. But if you guys are there, and they're there, it's the perfect opportunity for that to happen.
I do understand that there's a perception that indie games are less appealing to the masses than the AAA stuff that's on show, but bear in mind that we have tens of thousands of people who attend rAge, from all walks of life, as well as the hundreds of thousands who read web coverage and watch TV coverage of the show. You won't be able to pull in the same crowds as Assassin's Creed or God of War, but there will always be an audience for you there; it's up to us to package that presence in a way that's appealing to that audience to get them to come over. No more stashing you guys away in a strange place, or if we have to, then yes, plenty of signage.
The few arbitrary stands we have at the show (cheese, pillows, software development, education, music download services, for example) almost always do better than they expected if they're presented in an appealing way. I see no reason why we couldn't get the local devs to get all the attention you deserve. It's just a matter of figuring out the best way, so it's a good thing we're starting this early :P
Then I heard a rumour going around of organisers having less stands than previous years, and deciding to block off space so that the show "seemed" fuller.
Which I obviously was a bit peeved to hear as my girlfriend was at one stage denied access back into the venue after they went out for a bit of cosplay photos, security citing "overcrowding venue", needing "control lest people get out of hand".
I'm not claiming that I know how rAge is run, I'm just mentioning this as something I heard, and would like to know what you guys thought of it.
We had to close the doors because the space was too crowded, but doing so cost us money - some people who were turned away simply didn't come back, and there were a few people who should've been allowed inside who were turned away. It was far from something that we wanted to do, but it was essential that we did it.
Not sure what you mean about the warehouses? The storerooms we set up look very-much like storerooms, and the boarded off areas are where things like extra branding and some larger tools are stored for quick access should we need them over the weekend. There were some very obvious dead zones, nothing quite as sinister as you've heard, but that comes down to the planning and management of space which is a science that I have little knowledge of.
Security didn't lie about the overcrowding, and we certainly didn't pretend to overcrowd the Dome to make it seem more full. It really was that packed - that's what 28,930 people over three days look like :P