Head First into the Conference Scene

Your demo has only just been deployed, your key art is unfinished, and it seems premature - and expensive! - to show up to game conferences before you're ready. But there's more going on at these events than just showcasing a new product, and plenty to get out of them before it's time to exhibit.

There are hundreds of conferences worldwide, so we took some time to read up on their aims, their audience and focused on the ones we thought were right for us. The two that stood out were Digital Dragons in Kraków, and Nordic Game in Malmö. Both events showcased around 50 and 100 games respectively, hosted around 170-190 speakers and had 2300-3000 attendees.

The conferences are well-run, with full and varied schedules, talks and workshops for all flavours of game development, and guests are well looked-after with breakout areas, coffee, food and social events. More importantly, both were described across various sources as being welcoming, open and friendly, with a good balance of small studios and well-known veterans. People come back year after year, and we can see why.

We set out with some clear goals in mind:

Get Eyes on the Product Early ​

There's one tip that comes up a lot in startup guides - get users in early. This is something we're keen to do for Tarinoi - we want our assumptions challenged, to hear new points of view and what unique challenges different users are facing. Narrative branching, voice-over management, data templating, localisation - these aren't solely a concern for role-playing games, and we're keen to hear how different studios tackle the same challenges. Not just which tools they reach for, but how they use them, how different teams weave the narrative through the game and how they structure, organise and export the data.

The developers exhibiting at Digital Dragons and Nordic Game were eager to introduce their projects, talk about what made their games special, and were happy to share how they managed their pipelines. They were also keen to discuss their approach to narrative, with some who'd started small but were already finding their ambition was outpacing their setup, and how others were bringing richer, choice-based narratives to new genres. Live Multiplayer with branching narratives? Bring it on!

We also heard from teams who'd already outgrown their tools, finding scale and design constraints to be an issue, and were pulling time from the main project in order to build custom tooling from scratch. These are exactly the kinds of problems we aim to solve with Tarinoi, and we're excited to have found developers with great ideas and insights to help us shape the app at this early stage.

Team Culture ​

If you work remotely, chances are 99% of your interactions are via video call. Sometimes it's casual, sometimes carefully planned, maybe with bulletpoints to address. Most teams work well together under these conditions. Work mode: activated.

If you're building something together long-term, though, we've found that it's worth knowing how you operate in-person. How do you get along when you're tired and overstimulated at the end of a long conference day? Who has a perfectionist streak that can lead to frustration? Are you comfortable confessing that your social batteries are low and you need to go look at some trees for a bit? Can you sit in comfortable silence, or is that still too awkward?

Get lunch. Go for a walk. Sketch out an idea. Just be. There's a version of the team that only exists in person, and we work best when we make the most of it.

Find where you fit within the community ​

We asked ourselves - what do we really know about the industry as a whole? Most of us experience it through a narrow lens. As players, we gravitate towards the genres we love and the art styles or mechanics that catch our eye. As creators, we draw upon our own experience, which could be limited to one or two studios. It's easy to end up in a bubble.

These events allowed us to hear not just from developers, but from other aspects of the industry - publishers, investors, co-developers, students and newcomers, veterans, tool builders, educators and more. We got to discuss what they were excited about, where they saw their corner of the industry heading, how different branches are pulling together to support one another, and gained valuable advice from many different people.

For us, attending these events isn't just about finding customers - it's finding colleagues, collaborators and our network. For a small, remote team, those connections are a real boost.

More than anything, it was a reminder of the positive, creative energy in this industry. Everyone was there to share what they're building, celebrate what others are doing, support where they can, and talk about the things they care about.

What we learned ​

• Start small and plan ahead - look for local events and smaller conferences. Keep an eye out for early-bird prices.
• Set some clear goals. Are you looking to make connections, find a collaborator, or meet a publisher or investor? Keep the goal in mind when deciding what to do next.
• Check the program. Which talks do you want to attend, which teams are you most interested in speaking to, and are there any specific people you'd like to meet? Starting a conversation is much easier when you've already checked out their site, blog or Steam page.
• If you haven't exhibited before, observe. Pay attention to who's doing it well - what catches your eye, whose stand draws a crowd, and what mistakes you'd rather avoid (eg: try not to completely abandon your booth!)
• Rest! The schedules are packed - and that's before you factor in the workshops, side-events, after-parties and coffee breaks you may get invited to. You won't be able to attend everything, so keep your goals in mind, go with the flow, and give yourself permission to switch off.