Utah Indie Games Night - March 2014

Wow we had another awesome indie games night last night. We had a little over 40 people in attendance so that was a good turnout. Thanks again to Neumont University for hosting the event, and a big thanks to Goo Technologies for sponsoring pizza for the evening. Thanks also to our Kickstarter panelists, those showing demos, and everyone else for coming and making the event awesome!

We started the evening off with a discussion panel on "Running a Successful Kickstarter". Lyle Cox was our moderator and Paige Ashlynn and Jaron Frost were our panelists. Paige is from Tripleslash Studios and their game is Magnetic by Nature. Jaron is from Fridgecrisis Games and his game is Villages. The guys did an awesome job of dishing out some great info. Here's some of my take-aways (tips) from the panel:

- When converting viewers into backers, show that you are capable and show yourself in the video to humanize the project.
- Use social media to get hype going, and start months before the actual kickstarter kick-off.
- Try to get some cross promotion going with other Kickstarter projects.
- Make sure to add extra float to budgets to account for unknowns
- Keep physical rewards small and manageable
- Be conservative on stretch goal
- Don't over promise and under deliver; Do under promise and over deliver instead
- Ask for more money than you might think to at first (don't sell yourself short)
- Kickstarters are LOTS of work, so be prepared for it

And if you missed the panel, you can watch it here, thanks to Jaron and his wife. (There's a few minutes missing from the end, but nothing big). You guys are awesome for doing that!

After the panel, Brett Unzaga of Goo Technologies gave us a short demo of their HTML5/WebGL engine that is now out in open beta. They're looking for people to give the beta a try, so if you'd like to do that head on over to their site, create an account, and start creating something awesome with it.

I didn't get to see many of the projects; just a handful as I got involved in some really great conversations. I say a couple of new projects and a couple of older projects that are making progress. I don't think I can do them justice, so I'm not going to even try to enumerate them this time. There were definitely a bunch of awesome ones there however.

I talked a bit with the Raptor Circus guys and I love their concept. They are focused on those indies that want to turn their games into a profitable business. It's an area where our Indie Nights have fallen short, so it's nice to see them fill in this gap. This is certainly a group I want to be involved with, as I've been spinning my wheels on my MonkeyTime Software business for way too long.

We also talked about dealing with the motivation drain as an indie. It's something I'm well acquainted with and have had some success in overcoming here and there, but far from every time. It's something I still struggle with, and it's something that every indie faces at some point. Josh S. mentioned this is like the "dirty little indie secret that no one talks about", and I'd have to agree with that. The indie community doesn't say much about that. They tend to focus on the upsides of being indie and not so much on the downsides. Yes folks, it does take more than just uploading your tiny game to the iOS appstore. The riches don't magically come flowing after that.

Anyway it was definitely another incredible indie night. Thanks everyone for making it awesome!

Viva la Indie!

Comments

Eksarahn said…
Yeah, it was a pretty good turnout. I counted about 9, maybe 10 games on demo. All ranging from an avoiding game, a tilting math game, a side-scrolling RTS, Lyle's "Together" to a variety of Shoot-em Ups and other interesting games. And I certainly enjoyed our little chat while playing boulder dash. Maybe I'll have a demo for the next time.
Greg Squire said…
Nope don't mind. For future reference you can always hashtag these on twitter. The more exposure the better.

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