an indie dev's notes about staple! austin

I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been working hard to show off a demo of the game at STAPLE! Austin, a two-day expo for independently created comics, zines, art, crafts, games, and more here in Austin, Texas. The event just happened last weekend. It was my first time at the event and it was the first time the event has been held since COVID-19.

A couple of other game devs were also tabling, though only two of us were selling video games that we made. Of the ones I know, there was:

• Table 24: Akula Games (G.M. Gray)
• Table 29: PIZZAPRANKS (Andrew Baille)
• Table 43: exodrifter (Ava Pek, that’s me!)
• Table 43: Ennui GO! (Doc Glasgow)
• Table 60: elefluff (Hanna Schroy)
• Table 67: Tropical Heat Games (AJ Smith and Angela Sprecher)

Only PIZZAPRANKS and I were selling video games at the event. Tables costed $160, but even though I split half of the cost with Doc I wasn’t expecting to make enough money to cover the cost of the table. Instead, I primarily wanted more people to know I exist, that I make games, and to wishlist my upcoming game no signal.

sales

This is what my (very scuff) table looked like:

Generally speaking, it seemed like people were surprised that video games were even at the event, and less prepared for the cassette packaging that Andrew and I were using to sell them. This isn’t too surprising, since the vendors at the event are almost entirely comics, ttrpgs, and other print media. When it came to selling them, I noted a few things:

• There were many people who bought the game without knowing much about it aside from my explanation that it is “a short 20-minute interactive fiction”
• I frequently forgot to mention that the game is fully voice acted or that the game is about the negative experiences I had after coming out
• One person commented that while walking by he assumed that the usb stick in the cassette would just be a mixtape.
• The people who liked the joke of “Give the gift of ⭐ GENDER DYSPHORIA ⭐” usually did not buy the game.
• Someone asked me if the game would help people with gender dysphoria get better, which was a bit tricky to… navigate. They did not buy the game.

All in all, though unfamiliar with it, people did generally seem to be very enthusiastic about the idea of buying a game in this kind of packaging. I made 16 sales total:

• 9 sales on the first day (4 card, 5 cash)
• 7 on the second day (3 card, 4 cash)

Not nearly enough to cover the cost of the table at $5 VAT per unit after production costs, shipping, and sales tax, but I’m hoping people will share the game with others and I’d like to return next year with higher margin products to sell.

plays

Unfortunately, the event is not really set up for showing off games and having people play them. First of all, the event doesn’t have power, so I am very thankful to my friends that allowed me to borrow their backup battery generators. I borrowed multiple batteries from friends, worried that the power would run out during the event, but a single 240Wh unit worked well for the entire event.

Secondly, the format of the event isn’t very conducive to having people play the game. As you might imagine, the table is essentially square in the middle of a bunch of a pop-up market. Generally, people seemed to feel awkward stopping in the middle of shopping to sit and play the game because, well, you’d be in the middle of foot traffic and you’d be sitting directly across from me (I’ve been told that my demeanor can be quite intimidating). When it came to playtests, I noted the following things:

• The shortest playtime was less than 1 minute and the longest was about an hour.
• The person who played it for an hour was the only person to complete the demo.
• Most people played for about 20 minutes, long enough to complete the tutorial which turned on the lights in the first level.
• Many people who played were not very familiar with video games
• Many people expressed that they found the controls and storytelling progression of finding all the items to make the lights turn on in the room to be interesting and novel.
• Some people either didn’t notice the chair or wanted to avoid sitting in it, but everyone would use the chair after I suggested it to them.
• Many people commented on being unable to focus on the game’s narrative because the event was too noisy.
• A softlock was discovered by the first person to play the game on the first day, and I was able to patch it after they left while on the show floor in about 10~20 minutes. No other bugs were discovered during the event.
• I need to buy a mouse that can be used by both left-handed and right-handed people.
• Quite a few people wanted to know what engine the game was made in despite not being game developers themselves.

In all, 10 people played the game on the first day and 9 people played on the second day. On the first day, I got 4 more wishlists on steam and on the second day I got 6 more. no signal now has a total of 86 wishlists as of this writing.

overall notes

Anyway, overall I think the event was a success for me. I made a lot of nice connections, a friend printed these wonderful bookmarks I made which I gave to each person that played the game, and I’m happy to know that there are more copies of Gender Dysphoria floating around out there. I’m hoping that my games will connect with more with people and that I can start building a reputation for making emotionally powerful games.

If you’d like to help me in my full-time indie dev journey, wishlisting the game on Steam does a lot because I’m terrible at marketing. It doesn’t cost you anything! And in any case, thank you for taking the time to read ❤️