Presenting at cons?

[Paul Franzen]

I gotta think there's some people here with some experience presenting at conventions--especially since, you know, AdventureX is a thing. There's one coming to the New England area this fall I was thinking about attending to show off The Beard in the Mirror, but before I dot any i's I was hoping I could hear of some of you guys.

Specifically--how does demoing a point-and-click adventure game work? With a side-scroller or a shooting game, it's pretty easy for someone to get a handle on the game right away; but adventure games are so much more story-driven than they are mechanic-driven, and I'm wondering how well that plays when you're just spending a few minutes with one at a noisy convention. Anyone with first-hand experience?

EDIT: Actually, it looks like there's at least someone here with experience at the exact con I'm looking at:

[Armageddon]

Just put in a section with a start cutscene and then a small puzzles, repeat demo.

Also that big Resonance box... *drool*

[amateurhour]

While I primarily exhibit art and comics at cons, I did have my little trouble ticket demo up to play just because I was giving away free copies of it during the last few shows I was at.

It really just depends on the convention and the table space. If you've got a standard six foot table you can set up a laptop or two (make sure to get mounting brackets for them, the kind that DO NOT bolt into the table as most conventions (in the US at least) give you a table to use so you obviously can't drill into theirs. Have headphones so people can hear the dialogue and music and like Armageddon said, have a small demo of your game that's just a cutscene and a few small puzzles for the person to play.

Don't have anything that will take a person longer than two minutes. Especially with an adventure game, with everything going on around them, they'll lose interest fast.

Another option is to pick up a couple of cheap android tablets and make a demo using the android port. Not only will this make it easier to set up your booth but people will be more interested if it's on a tablet (seriously, they will, but also don't you know, lie and tell them it's coming out on android : ) )

Even if you're selling the game in sleeves, go through the process of making up a couple of big display boxes to stand out at your table. Also give away demos if you can afford it, or at least have a mailing list sign up so you can send  the demos to the people.

If you've got any con specific questions I'm happy to answer, I've been selling at comic cons for the past two years.     

[Paul Franzen]

Hey, thanks for taking the time! I don't have any concrete questions in mind at the moment, but I might bug you later. Right now I'm mostly trying to assess whether it'd be worthwhile to try to showcase a point-and-click adventure game at a convention, and it sounds like...yes! It would! I'll keep mulling it over, but I think I'll give it a shot. Guess that means I'll actually need to get a laptop or a tablet at some point...

Chances are I'm not going to have a finalized version of the game ready in time for the con, but I bet I could still burn some demo discs to give away, so people can take the demo home and try it at their leisure. I like the sound of that.

[Igor Hardy]

Man, I didn't realize this forum is so full of con men! Cheers!

@Paul A couple of times I successfully presented a game at cons and coms without having absolutely anything to show, so a good con man will know how do that too.