Get more confident and natural at pitching your game to consumers, media and colleagues

Get more qualitative and quantitative feedback from consumers (beyond your friends and/or other game devs!)

Gain media coverage

Drive support for a new Kickstarter or crowdfunding campaign

Trying to find a suitable publisher for your title

Sell copies of your released game(s) and/or merchandise

Celebrate your progress, release, or just share your game baby with the public!

Newbie-friendly! PAX Aus an amazing show to get used to talking about (and demoing) your game with the public. The attendee numbers, the noise, and the intensity are easier for newcomers than the American PAX events. While it’s a huge consumer show by Australian standards, PAX East or similar shows are much larger and overwhelming.
 

Hometown advantage. As Aussie developers, we love having a big show local to us. It helps savings on renting equipment, transport fees, accommodation and more. You also start with your community already around you, so there are friends and colleagues to help support you (and go on coffee runs!).
 

Super indie-friendly show. Every year, PAX Aus seems to expand the area they put aside for their indie showcase and smaller developers. The general public are also really interested and positive about indie games. Australia has a reputation for quirky, colourful indie games - and it shows in the calibre of talent on display every year at PAX Aus.
 

Access to the public. PAX Aus and similar shows are all about connecting with the public for us. Being on a show floor like at PAX Aus constantly brings you into contact with new people who don’t know you, and don’t know your game. It’s daunting, but an amazing opportunity to see what clicks and what doesn’t. Take careful note of what the public are remembering or taking away from the experience of trying your game.

Not a huge opportunity for media coverage. Australia only has a small content creator community (thanks, terrible internet speeds!) and a small domestic media presence. PAX Aus also doesn’t attract a huge collection of international media, but that is slowly improving.
 

Australian consumers may only represent 5% of any internationally released game player population. Aussie consumers spend a lot and love games, but we’re still a small national population. We don’t recommend making huge design or content choices based only on Australian playtesters!
 

Pretty costly. The cost of living in Melbourne is high, the AUD is a robust currency, and booths at PAX Australia are quite expensive. Some local developers choose to fly their game and team to PAX East or a similar U.S. event as they see it as a better ROI in terms of financial cost and media presence.

Don't develop up to the last second
Its unlikely that any feature you put in the day before a show will substantially change the experience. Try and keep the most stable build ready for people to play and observe. If you break your build trying to add something at the last minute, you will be extreeeemely stressed.
 

Make a good tutorial/demo experience
Try and start the player somewhere that is not too bewildering. Or choose some area of the game that is simple and fun. Remember, mechanics and control schemes that are second nature to you may be very alien to some players. Playing on a show floor is also a bit different to sitting down for a 5 hour play session at home. Take careful note of your difficulty curve, and give players a real taste of how the overall game will feel to play.
 

Release something significant about your game before the show
We like to be celebrating a milestone on the show floor, not trying to get eyeballs before releasing something, or in the week following a show. There is no strong reason to release a trailer, demo or even an early access campaign right when PAX Australia starts - we always release before. This gives some people a chance to look at your game before they arrive, or even make the purchase or taking an action as soon as they have played the demo. Try to bring out important elements before PAX begins. You won’t have time to fix anything or deal with a crisis during a show like PAX Australia, so we don’t recommend trying anything too challenging while you’re also on a show floor.
 

Sleep and general wellbeing
Showing a title is stressful, exhilarating, and very deeply tiring. Try to make sure your team has been sleeping well, taking breaks from demo preparation, and taking time away from games altogether before you jump into the chaos of demoing at a show like PAX Australia. Make sure for at least a week before showing, you are looking after yourselves and eating a decent diet - and take a quiet, non-games-related day off after the show to try and recuperate.

Gameplay video
In our first year showing at PAX Aus, we had no pre-recorded video of people playing the game. As a consequence players would find the worst-looking, most unfinished, glitchy areas in the game and run at them continuously for hours. We were able to significantly improve this issue by putting up some footage up for people to watch. It helped some who were stuck if we weren’t able to speak with them, but it also educated members of the public who only wanted to watch, and didn’t want to physically play.
 

Make it easy to stay in touch!
Its cheap to make a business card with your information on it (Check out Moo cards!). Exhibitors and consumers see a huge number of games while they’re at a show, and many want a reminder to take away. Large fliers may seem great, but are often thrown out and become unwieldy and crumpled. But at the end of a convention, a small card is something to remind players of the game and hopefully direct them to a website, sign up to a mailing list or get more information. Offer them a small physical reminder to check out your game once they’re back home.
 

Be approachable
Don’t sit down. This is probably the hardest one (because shows are very tiring) but you want to look as approachable and friendly as possible. If in doubt, smile and tidy any sprawled cards or crooked devices on your show table to keep it looking inviting. Someone slouched over in a chair looking tired and grumpy (which, let’s be honest is perfectly fair for how you'll feel) doesn’t make us developers look inviting to approach. Some consumers are very confident and comfortable coming up to check out your demo, others will be shy and we want to make them feel as welcome as possible without being overbearing. Avoid checking your phone too much, as it can make us look bored or inattentive. Try to save phone checks for bathroom breaks, meal breaks etc, and if you are 100% in struggle town, ask a friend or colleague to cover you so you can get some fresh air and come back in a better mood.

HAND SANITIZER - Just trust me
Also, gentle cleaning wipes. While most people are lovely and clean, we have had trouble with people touching our equipment with gross hands. Including one controller we wanted to kill with fire. Such is the danger of letting the public touch your stuff.
 

Pack water
Pack more water than you think you’ll need. Convention halls are quite dry places, and you’ll be on your feet talking a lot. If you bring way too many bottles of water, you can show kindness to your booth neighbours by offering spare bottles if they run low.
 

Healthy snacks
You won’t always be able to take normal food breaks on a show floor, and it can be hard to get suitable healthy food on short notice. We recommend packing nuts, granola bars, and hardy fruit like apples, as well as mints, throat lozenges, and other small snacks and useful consumables. While some coffee can help perk you up, too much coffee will feel even worse in a hectic place like a PAX Australia show floor. Prioritise water drinking over coffee, with an occasional Berocca if you’re showing in Australia (legendary local hangover cure and elixir of life.)