And now, for the events that transpired, in hopefully chronological order:

The Announcement

Roughly two weeks ago Seattle Indies posted an announcement saying that they got space to exhibit 10 games at the Washington State Gaming Expo. I thought to myself "hey, Conduit is playable, might as well apply even if I don't get accepted," so I filled out the form. After submitting my application I realized that the store page wasn't visually appealing, so I decided to update the screenshots and replace the How-To-Play video with a gameplay recording. The visuals for the game had been updated since the tutorial video was recorded, so I thought making a video with the recent graphics would give a better chance at being accepted. Even then, I felt that my game probably paled in comparison to the works that other people were sending in. GDC was happening not that long ago as well, so there wouldn't be a response for awhile until...

The Selection

March 25th, 2024. I was practicing drawing when I got an email from Seattle Indies regarding my application. Bracing myself for the worst, I opened up the message. When I read the first line, my jaw dropped:

Congratulations,, you have been selected to show your game at the upcoming WA State Gaming Expo.

Normally I don't exclaim very often; however, this is not a normal scenario. I screamed at the top of my lungs "I GOT ACCEPTED INTO THE GAMING EXPO!" which probably startled my family, but they were thrilled for me as well. It felt like a dream, it felt unreal, my heart was racing, and most importantly of all, I had four days to get ready for the event.

The Preparation

Four days. There were only four days to make all promotional materials, fix up the demo, and figure out everything necessary for the event. That's also including the fact that we had some events and appointments during the week that had to be done as well. I would like to give a major shoutout to my mom for helping set up the materials and plan things out as I couldn't do it all alone.

The store page also needed a bit more polishing. I added a nice banner graphic and rewrote the entire page to be more specific on what the game is about, how much it'll cost, and the planned features for the game.

Next came fixing up and getting ready for the demo itself. We needed a TV for the game and some controllers for people to play it with. We grabbed the TV from my parents' bedroom and bought an Xbox 360 controller online. I wanted the demo to feature something that made it unique compared to any other demo that would come out for it, so I added an arcade-style leaderboards for people to record their scores on. I made it so that initials could be entered with the controller and were confirmed with the "Accept" button (either space-bar or the A button on controller). Unfortunately, I found out shortly before the event starting that the initials entry screen behaved weird when inputting with the joystick.

I compiled the game, made sure the laptop worked with the TV, packed things up, and got ready for the big event.

The Expo (Day One)

Getting into the expo for set-up went surprisingly smooth. I got to meet other developers in the Seattle Indies group and checked out the projects they were working on. Once we got power connected to our booth, we hooked everything up together.

Watching someone play your game for the very first time is a wonderful and very enlightening experience. Many people trying out the game had never played other games in this genre, so I usually had to say "It's a bit like Tetris" if someone was confused (technically it's more like Tetris Attack, but whatever...). Seeing people figure things out also lead to some major discoveries:

1. Playing the game with eight colors was extremely difficult.
2. The warning indicators for the game were not easy to understand (people didn't seem to process a column was full or that matching blocks within it would prevent loss).

When I had a moment when no-one was around, I popped open the game in the editor and made a hotfix to lower the colors down to six. People began lasting for a lot longer with the reduced color count.

I also tragically discovered that the leaderboards were NOT intuitive to use. People would constantly press space bar or the A button before they knew what was going on and ended up submitting an empty name or single letter as their entry. I had to watch people do this for the entire day of the expo. While people were playing, I wrote down a to-do list of things to do with the demo once I got home that night. I also observed how the other indie developers set up their booth, and realized I should bring a device that plays the tutorial video for people to watch.

Returning Home

Standing on concrete for hours ended up making my feet hurt like hell. When I got back, I popped open my laptop and got to work on what needed to be fixed:

• Six colors was still a bit too difficult for first-time players, so I lowered it down to five.
• Changed the warning indicator to fill up from the bottom rather than fade in, so it was obvious how much time was left before losing.
• Made it so that the indicator would turn orange if a matching block was inside the column, indicating if the column doesn't need to be worried about.
• Removed the leading zeroes from the score display and leaderboards. Originally I thought they made the display look nicer, but the amount of leading zeroes made it feel like the scores people were getting were very low. The removal of the zeroes also just made the display a bit clearer and easier to read.
• The big change... fixing the leaderboard name entry. I decided to ditch the arcade-style name entry system and replace it with typing in the player's initials on the keyboard. It wasn't possible to input with the controller, but it worked for the time being. Confirming the name was done with pressing the enter key, which made it so that people wouldn't accidentally confirm their name.
• Since the gameplay was different this time around, I saved a copy of that day's leaderboards and reset it for Saturday.

I also grabbed my tablet, loaded up the tutorial video on it, and made sure it would play on loop. I stayed up until midnight getting everything set up...

The Expo (Day Two)

It was a new day. Set-up was faster since the TV and promo materials were already where they needed to be. This time the team was me, Rosemary, and my brother.

Many people showed up now that the weekend had officially began. People of all ages and skill levels tried out the game to see how far they got. Some people played once and then left, some played once to get a feel for it and again to aim for a high score, and some played multiple times while working their way up the leaderboards. There were some people who said they are fans of this genre and that the game was exactly what they were looking for, which was a very uplifting thing to hear! A few people said that they had never played a game like it but would love to get the full game on release.

A funny thing also happened while showing the game: a seven year-old boy decided to try out the game and quickly learned the "cheese strat" regarding hold rotation. Without even understanding the game's mechanics, he proceeded to get first place compared to all the people who were trying to figure out how to match blocks. While that did feel a bit... bad... it WAS funny.

The Expo (Day Three)

Last day of the expo. I woke up and spent the rest of the day with my lips feeling like they were coated in wax (and, honestly, they still feel that way). I had lost my voice a few times during the weekend and could feel it happening again. Bringing a water bottle definitely helped. The team was me, Rosemary, and my father.

That day also marked one of the most incredible moments of my entire time at the expo: someone stopped by the booth to try out the game and proceeded to win Marathon mode on their first try, AND got one of the highest scores of the whole weekend. They told me they were colorblind and that the symbols on the blocks were easy to distinguish, which made me really happy to hear since I want to make the game accessible.

I took a lot of time that day to talk to the other people with me at the Seattle Indies booth. Some of the other developers had more experience than me with game development, especially when it comes to marketing. I learned more about the process of getting a game on Steam and what to do to get a publisher. Doing this expo was my first ever time I advertised my game in a physical setting. I wrote down a list of things to do after the expo so that I can get my game out there to more people.

Loading out after the event was quick since we just had to haul everything out in a cart, no need to pull up to the showplex. We all went back home, tired but also very satisfied. Having so many people compliment the game and express interest in it has lit a fire in my heart, and I want Conduit to be released as soon as I can get it done.

What I Learned

• Watching people play your game for the very first time is a very educational experience, seeing how well your instructions and design communicate the mechanics of the game.
• Prepare promotional materials a bit earlier just in-case you get to feature at an event.
• Pack your own food and water.
• Standing around all day can be a bit boring, but seeing a lot of people is worth it.
• Networking with other developers and those interested in your game is fun and makes game development a whole lot less scary.

What To Do From Here

Talking to the other devs has lead to me writing down a list of what to do next, so I guess I'll start chiseling away at it this week:

• Write this devlog (done!).
• Work towards getting a Steam store page for the game.
• Find a publishing deal for the game (or, if push comes to shove, just self-publish).
• Make the current public demo on the itch page reflect the recent graphical improvements.

I want to take a moment to shout-out both Rosemary and my family for making all of this possible, and Utsiitak for making such incredible sounds and songs for the game. I could not make, publish, or market this game alone.

If you want to get updates on the game, please follow me here on itch, my tumblr blog, or my cohost account. Thank you for reading this devlog; I know it's a long one, but I had a very long weekend and wanted to share all the things I learned during it!