rAge 2015

GeometriX

Hi everyone!

I'm no longer working at NAG, but I'm still helping them put together the home_coded booth at rAge.

This year's showcase of local game developers at rAge will be a little different to how it's been done in the past. NAG is now the sole sponsor, and is once-again sponsoring the floor space entirely and offering hugely discounted shell scheme structures. If you'd like to exhibit, the fee is R2,200 ex VAT (R2,508 incl). This gets you the following:

- 2x2 floor space
- 4 1m wall panels
- 2x vinyl text names
- shared (per pod) single-phase DB
- 1x 15A plug point
- 1x 150W spotlight
- grey carpet tiles

Stands will come unfurnished (the illustration is just a guide). You're welcome to bring your own furniture or hire from the organisers. I'm not sure of the furniture hire prices so that will have to be something you deal with NAG directly on.

Banners, posters and marketing collateral may only be displayed and/or erected within your own section. Retail practices (any direct exchange of goods for money) are prohibited - pre-orders without an exchange of money is fine. "Guerrilla marketing" (the practice of marketing for non-exhibitors) is prohibited, although you are of course allowed to wear any branded clothing you wish.

If you'd like to exhibit, please email homecoded @ rageexpo . co . za to confirm your spot. That's my email address; we can tackle any questions/concerns/etc. you may have, and then I'll hand you over to NAG to sort out the paperwork.

Please feel free to ask any publicly pertinent questions here. Otherwise, please send me an email to book your spot or ask anything else.

Here is the stand layout:


The following spots are currently booked:
1: Axon Games
2: Red Dot Lab
3: Celestial Games
4: Don't Believe the Tales
5: Zero Degrees Games
6: STASIS
7: Every.Single.Soldier
8: Celestial Games
9: Celestial Games
10: RetroEpic Software
11:
12:
13: Rogue Raid
14: Celestial Games
15: SAM (What if Studios)
16: Twoplus & Clutchfighter

dislekcia

Sweet :) SA gets it's own megabooth!

I was going to point out that the stand arrangement made it a bit tricky for the devs in the center area (3, 14, 8, 9) to get traffic and maybe rotate the islands 45 degrees to make stuff more visible from outside. But if that's all MGSA space as a central exhibit, that totally makes sense the way it is now.

So, exhibition questions:

• Will the stand have volunteers to cover for devs if they need to nip out for food/bathroom breaks?
  
• Will there be a centralised press list to drive visits and help devs reach out before the event?
  
• Will there be any directional signage to help people find the stand?
  
• Are there any tech hire (screens/TVs) contacts that we could arrange a group rate with? (Same goes for common furniture as well)
  
• Internet access?
  

GeometriX

Yeah, the design isn't perfect, but with MGSA taking the centre bunch I think it'll actually work out very well. You wouldn't believe the number of iterations the stand design went through, eventually we settled on this as a way to keep the costs down.

Volunteers on the stands will be entirely up to the exhibitors. I'm not sure how many exhibitor badges each spot will get, but I think it's likely to be 2. More can be purchased as required.

Marketing and press will be up to the exhibitors. However, NAG will do its usual pre-rAge hype train, and the "home_coded indie village" will be part of that, including all of the confirmed exhibitors.

As for signage, there will be labelled maps around the Dome, much like what we had last year, and the individual exhibitors will be listed in the exhibitor list and on the map. There won't be anything directional though, like "home_coded stand this way".

We can put you in touch with tech hire people. If there's sufficient demand for common furniture (trestle tables, chairs, etc.), then we can order those along with the LAN furniture, which should keep the price down. Oh, and on the topic of cost: I personally recommend against hiring TVs, unless you're coming up from CPT or somewhere, or it's a huge hassle to bring your own. The cost is usually not worth it: I remember seeing quotes of around R3,000 to hire a 32" TV for the weekend, which is the price of a whole new TV.

There's no Internet access by default. If anyone needs it, I suggest that you club together to make it happen. You'll need to apply for a line rental (you pay for installation plus a full month's rental (Telkom's requirements)) and bring your own ISP details and router. Details for this will be available in the exhibitor's manual, which is handed to all confirmed exhibitors.

SkobbejakGames

Hi, Geometrix

We would like to book a stand please, we released our 1st commercially released game recently, Vapour: Part 1, and we would love to boost awareness for the local audience. We really like the features included in the package and the pricing sounds very reasonable. Please contact us at info@skobbejakgames.com as we would love to discuss this in more detail.

EDIT: Just saw the email included in the post will email you directly soon, apologies for the confusion.

GeometriX

Email sent!

SkobbejakGames

Thanks for the quick reply GeometriX

ChristopherM

When/how can we apply to be part of the central Make Games SA booth?

GeometriX

I'm not sure, but I imagine @LexAquillia could steer you in the right direction.

Kobusvdwalt9

@ChristopherM Usually someone creates a submission thread and then you post your game in there. I think this is as good a thread as any so does anyone object to us using this as a submission thread ?

I unfortunately wont be able to make rAge this year so I am not submitting anything.

dammit

I, for one, am really excited about this opportunity. Going to have some really awesome things on display this year :D

dislekcia

Kobusvdwalt9 said:

@ChristopherM Usually someone creates a submission thread and then you post your game in there. I think this is as good a thread as any so does anyone object to us using this as a submission thread ?

I unfortunately wont be able to make rAge this year so I am not submitting anything.

I would wait until MGSA's rAge plans are made public. Assuming that there will be a submission process when there might not be could lead to people feeling cheated if they feel they've been solicited for submissions. At the very least this thread should be for dealing directly with @Geometrix and Home Coded stuff.

I'll ask @LexAquillia what the plans are.

LexAquillia

Hi Guys, update on this.
Sorry it's taken so long, been juggling a lot lately between my day-job/makegames and father hood.

Currently if Make Games wants to have a stand at rAge we will need, at a bare minimum R12000 (Though in truth something closer R20k is actually needed if we want tables and chairs etc) to cover the costs of the floor space. To date I have been unable to secure a sponsor for us.

Sp, if anyone has a bright idea on who we can ask for the funds, I'm game. Otherwise we are going to need to pull out, and let the stands just fall back to the community at large

Nick

GeometriX

Hi folks, an update: there are four booths left (7, 11, 12, 16)! The central booths are probably taken, but I still need to confirm the details. If the central booths don't get taken, we'll have to change the layout of the area, likely by one full pod (and then shift things around a little).

For anyone who was holding out, hoping to get a spot with MGSA, you'll need to book your own booth now. Feel free to chat to me if you have any questions or concerns. If the cost is too much for individuals, I suggest pairing up: there's space for a LAN-size trestle table in each booth, which means you can fit two PCs with ease. How you handle the details is up to you (like exhibitor name), but hey, it's something to consider.

And, a wild floor plan appears! home_coded is down towards the bottom-right. We'll be between Sony on the left, Intel on right, LAN above, and stage below. There's also a food court just to the right of Intel, so I expect a good amount of foot traffic during the weekend. Heck, you all know how busy the show gets, so we could be anywhere and there'd be a mass of people around us.

Please bear in mind that the show gets loud, especially the stage. Make sure that you have headphones for your stations! I recommend that you either schedule interviews around the stage schedule (which is still pending), or do them in the press office (anyone with an exhibitor badge can get upstairs), or the nearby food court.

PS: I'm exhibiting as Zero Degrees Games, so I'll be available for the whole weekend should there be any issues or concerns during the show.

LexAquillia

Hi Guys,

As alluded to in the post above, I was unable to secure any sponship, so I've had to pull MGSA from the event. Our slots where opened up and are generally available to devs wanting to participate.

Nick

dammit

@GeometriX Will a press contact list - or a list at least of the press that will be attending the event - be available at some point? Naturally, we'll do our own marketing up to the event and keep in touch with local press, but I would like to be aware of which international press might be worth getting in touch with prior to the event :)

GeometriX

@dammit Press contacts aren't given out to any exhibitors. rAge runs through a third-party PR company (The Lime Envelope), that will issue press releases on their behalf, and they keep their press list close. rAge itself doesn't even have access to it.

With that said, I'll try to get my hands on the list of accredited members of the press who will be attending. As far as I know, that's handled internally by rAge.

dammit

Thanks, I really appreciate that :)

SkobbejakGames

What is the Corporate interaction with the home_coded booth like? We are looking to connect with Sony and Microsoft as we have interest in moving into console development and we would also like to interact with some publishers if possible.

dammit

Just booked flights #excite!

GeometriX

SkobbejakGames said:

What is the Corporate interaction with the home_coded booth like? We are looking to connect with Sony and Microsoft as we have interest in moving into console development and we would also like to interact with some publishers if possible.

There's nothing official or organised along these lines, but local and international distributors and publishers do tend to take notice of local game developers at rAge.

dammit

2x vinyl text names

Quick question - Is this organised already without any thing from us? So, presumably, I can expect 2 RetroEpic vinyl signs?

- 4 1m wall panels

We're bringing posters for our booth. What will be the best to stick them to the panels? Presstick? Tacks?

GeometriX

@dammit, yeah that's provided; it'll be whatever is on your exhibitor listing - maybe confirm with Cheryl what name they have, like they might not have the full name "RetroEpic Software".

Presstick is best. Anything that can be easily removed at the end of the weekend and won't leave a mark. The panels are on hire and get reused, so they can't be damaged in any way.