Thoughts from a First Time Self Publisher Part 32: PAX Unplugged Part 2.
Hello! I hope everyone had a great Holiday filled with family, friends, and fun! I’m back to wrap up my PAX Unplugged retrospective.
Best Part of my week (so far): While there was definitely some stress, overall Christmas was fantastic. My youngest daughter is almost 4 and this was definitely the Christmas where she really got it and had a lot of fun.
Most stressful part: I received the news that Super Snipers production will not be able to complete before the factories close for the month of February. On the bright side, it gives me more time to make sure that everything is ready to make it a successful delivery and follow up.
PAX UNPLUGGED Continued:
Last week I talked about networking and meeting up with friends there. I forgot a couple of important ones:
Chuck White: Chuck was an early playtester of Super Snipers and helped me (as he has many others) with putting together my Discord community. He looks to have had a very successful time at UnPub with his Robot Boxing League game. It was awesome seeing him and his game in person!
Carl Matherly: Carl runs Pine Box Games and made a point of finding me and saying hello. Always awesome to meet folks in the flesh!
Okay, so my goals for PAX were:
Network
Meet up with friends
Playtest Dog Days
Playtest Mint Tin Series Games
Play Games
Let’s continue…
UnPub and testing Dog Days:
This was my first time at UnPub. I almost missed the opportunity to sign up but was able to grab a 4-hour spot on Sunday. In my assessment of UnPub, I will be making some comparisons to my experience at First Exposure in GenCon.
Positives of UnPub:
Super friendly and helpful staff
As a player and tester, I found it super easy to jump in at just about anytime and get involved in a game.
They have a fairly simple but effective signage system that indicates at a glance whether you are looking for players and what to expect from your game.
There were a wide variety of games in various stages of development.
There were a significant number of publishers and higher profile game designers hanging out and participating.
After the scheduled events, the room was open for people to continue playtesting and continued to be a magnet for playtesters and designers.
Cons of UnPub:
Unlike First Exposure, your testers are entirely self-selected. This is great for a wide variety of playtesting needs, but not if you are specifically looking to test with a specific audience or demographic.
The space was a bit tight and challenging to navigate. Having a sign in the walkways as opposed to being set up on the inside part of a table (where people have to walk past people in chairs on both sides to get to you) seemed to make a significant difference in which games got players and eyeballs.
Takeaways:
Pay attention to when sign-ups open up and sign up early! Here’s the UnPub FB Group, I recommend joining to get the reminder.
Bring your own signs and promotional materials. The big signs definitely helped folks stand out in the crowd and drew in players.
Sign up for the early slots and show up at least 30-45 minutes early to set up so you can hit the ground running. 4 hours sounds like a big chunk of time, but set-up, break-down, and getting a full table will eat into your time significantly.
Dog Days:
I used my UnPub time to Playtest Dog Days. I was able to play 1 full game of 4 players and another 1/2 game with 4 other players. My players were dog owners and gamers (my target audience!) and the game was very well loved. While I learned a lot from the feedback, I probably learned the most by watching how brand new players approached the game and what they naturally wanted to do on their turns and with the components. I was able to make adjustments between plays that were impactful.
Overall, I’m very happy with my UnPub experience and it helped advance my game design. I regret not signing up fr more time nor having signs. prepared. I also think it was great for in-person playtesting but - at least for me -not very impactful in terms of exposure.
Playtesting Mint Tin Series Games:
Unlike GenCon, I found it extremely difficult to find open play space and opportunities to get games going. Next year, I will be proactive about signing up for events (which was also simpler and easier to do “last minute” for GenCon). I managed to get one play of Verdant Arizona in, but we had to play on the floor.
Playing Games:
Besides UnPub, I found it surprisingly difficult to sit down and play games at Pax. Seating was at a premium (especially Saturday!). I managed to get a few games in.
Takeaways:
More than the other cons I’ve attended, it seems like PAX requires some pre-planning to really get the most out of it.
If you are a newer publisher with something to sell, the PAX floor is probably a better spot than most conventions in terms of bang for your buck and exposure. I’ll be asking some publishers who did run booths to chime in for the next blog.
When I do run a booth next year, I’m going to need a team! Let me know if you’re interested!
Networking is exhausting!
That’s it for this week. Have a wonderful New Years!
Galen.
