ATTENDING TOKYO GAME SHOW

I attended the Tokyo Game Show, a very large game festival. I saw many new releases and prototypes, talked with other developers, and my main goal was exactly that: to speak with like-minded people. I was very interested in hearing their perspectives and understanding how they think. It was really cool to walk around in an atmosphere full of players and developers; I had never felt anything like that before, since this was the first major game festival I had ever visited.

I tried to apply to this festival, but unfortunately I was not accepted. I will definitely try again next year, because it is an excellent festival with a huge number of players and opportunities.

Participating in festivals is a fairly important part of indie games. Indie developers are often not very well known, and festivals are a way to tell the world: “Look, I exist!” Of course, it is also a chance to get feedback from potential future players and to hear other developers’ opinions about your project.

This is just my personal opinion, but I believe festivals can sometimes get in the way of development. Imagine you sit and work on a game for, say, a year. You have already gotten good at creating art, writing code, and making music. Then you go to a festival for about five days. When you come back, problems start. You cannot do things that, five days before the festival, you could have done easily and quickly. It takes you a long time to get back on your feet; returning to your usual workflow is quite difficult.

I experienced something similar. I traveled to Japan for two weeks to relax and present my project, GUN RAT, at a festival. When I got home, guess what? Right now it is very hard for me to work and get back to my previous pace. But I have to pull myself together, because in the future I will face even bigger festivals and stronger competitors.

You might think: “If there are such problems, maybe it is better not to participate in festivals for now.” My answer is definitely no. You should participate in festivals if you want your project to become popular and successful. The problem I described is more like a side effect of attending a festival. Festivals are still very important for any project, whether the developer is well known or not. This once again proves that making games is not as simple as it may seem. If you get through this period, it will become even easier afterward.