As I sit here in my hotel, which does not have hot water due to someone reporting smelling gas last night, shutting down the boilers, I have some time to reflect on what I learned from this year's Gen Con, my first time back since leaving WotC to take a job at Bungie. Thread!
First: I have never felt old until this convention. I was exhausted every day, both physically and mentally, my feet were killing me at the end of the day, and I felt every late dinner and drop of alcohol keenly the next day. 22-year-old freelancer me would be ashamed.
Second: There is no way I could have done this show without the generosity and assistance of the folks at @LoneSharkGames, particularly Shane, @chadpbrown and @The_Trevor_Kidd, who not only let me share their booth but also helped me load in my product and sell it.
If I had attempted to have my own booth, it would have looked like some kind of ramshackle flea market, and I wouldn't have had their support and backup. I owe all of these folks a great debt for their help making my one-man-show seem more like a real, professional outfit.
Third: If you work your booth all day, hawking your wares, you should plan meet-ups with old friends and colleagues before the show begins. I didn't, which meant that I never saw folks enough to make plans, which means I feel like I hardly saw anyone I was hoping to see.
Fourth: It doesn't matter how cool your product is, people need to have heard of it before the show begins. I don't feel like I really raised awareness of Dusk City Outlaws much at all this show; I sold copies to some individuals who'd never heard of it, but not many.
Fifth: I need to organize a few demoers for cons in the future. If I'm going to be in the booth shilling, I need folks running the game too. Lots of folks asked to play, and I foolishly didn't have anywhere to direct them.
As an aside, I really need to get in touch with the Games on Demand folks and get them copies of my game, for non-scheduled events.
Sixth: It was hilariously naive of me to think I'd have the energy to run playtests of my new game outside of core hours. I brought enough supplies to run the game twice, and it didn't hit the table even once.
Seventh: Hotel choice does matter! I thought "Eh, I am hardly going to be in my room, so it's no big deal." Wrong. Next year, I will be closer, and with more amenities. The hike from Monument Circle was just long enough that I couldn't just drop my bag off in my room.
Eighth: I think I am going to put a concerted effort into getting a regular stream going when I get back. I was on the official Gen Con streaming stage for one session, and it was a lot of fun. I also think I have a good hook for a show. More on that soon.
Ninth: As I suspected, word-of-mouth is critical to getting people aware of your game. I think there are two key obstacles Dusk City Outlaws needs to overcome that are slowing its word of mouth.
Since it is such a tactile game experience, just downloading the PDFs and reading them doesn't really convey the value of the product, and how easy it is to get on the table. Had lots of PDF backers come up, see the game, & decide to buy the box because then they "got" it.
Also, it's not currently very tinkerer-friendly. I need to get more tools in the hands of players so they can make the game their own, or make their own games with it. I think I also need to sell the dice separately.
Tenth, and lastly: People who have played it really love the game I've made. I had a lot of folks come by just to tell me about their sessions with the game, and it was really touching.
Several people said that the game has brought regular roleplaying back to their tables, where they would otherwise be playing board games, because of how easy DCO is to get onto the table. That's exactly what I was aiming for, and I'm so glad to know it works for so many people.
As challenging as self-publishing has been, this show really reinforced that I'm making the right decision to do so, and that folks like the game I've made. I'm going to keep making games. And that's all I have to say about that.
