User Stories: Unidentified Entity - 7 Tips for a "good showcase"

Svilupparty, an Italian showcase about indie games, is been an enriching experience.
I received a lot of feedbacks from developers but also by simple gamers.

The idea of finally going face-to-face with other developers amazed me, especially as I was used to another kind of professional reality.
The first day I stopped to try some videogame of which I've heard about before, and I was amazed to meeet little teams of guys which started a project from scratch as I did.

Naemo by Hyperchild

By the way, an amazing thing was the big amount of people who offered to cooperate on my project, including Claudio Peli, which is actually the coder of Naemo.
The mood was really friendly and enjoyable, even though it was a bit small to hold so many people. However it's been a wonderful experience that I reccomend to all those who want to get closer to this reality. I'll be back next year with a more detailed version of Naemo.

For those who might be in the situation to expose a videogame, in my brief experience I would reccomend:

1. First of all, keep it real, phisically. 
2. Don't go away from your workstation no matter what. 
3.  Be ready to repeat over and over the same speech for all the time of the event. 
4. Needless to say, patience is everything. 
5.  If you are smokers, well.. good luck. 
6. Be prepared to the criticism, because they'll come. And it's good thing. 
7.  Last but not least, always smile. :)

- Hyperchild (Unidentified Entity)

User Stories: LifeLit Games - My first "showcase-experience"

Our experience at Svilupparty, huh? 

Well, the event was awesome, many people came to our stand to play Houdini: The Grand Magus, some of them, after have left came back with more friends to play the game with. 

The most positive thing about presenting a game at Svilupparty was the possibility to get feedbacks and first of all.. who doesn't like compliments? 

Houdini: The Grand Magus

There are many plus in presenting games at events like Svilupparty, first of all the possibility to talk with colleagues and enthusiasts. 

At the start, when the organizers told us where we should had to stage our booth we were already super hyped. 

When the people started to come at our stand we became yet more excited and of course started talking and making friend with everyone. 

In the end we got many useful feedbacks and some calling cards from other developers. In these days we'll apply many changes suggested by the players, like adjusting difficulty and make some aspect of the game more clear. Our "pro tip" for the ones who want to partecipate to this kind of fair is to always be kind with players even though they may say terrible things at your product and always have calling cards!

- LifeLit Games

What's Svilupparty ?

Svilupparty is an event born to celebrate Italian video game development.
Held annually in Bologna, the three days of Svilupparty offer an occasion for video game companies, business partners, media, indipendent and amateur developers to meet each other, exhibit their work, engage in new partnerships and discuss new projects.

indiexpo is partner of this amazing eventi, so this year you can visit Bologna the 19-20-21 and play several indie games and meet the developers! 

In the video posted, there was only few games!

You will find also...

Oh! I'm Gettin Taller!, developed by Elf Games Studio

Oh! I'm Gettin Taller!

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Naemo, developed by Unidentified Entity

Naemo

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Houdini, develped by LifeLit Games

Houdini

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Terrorbane, developed by BitNine Studio

Terrorbane

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Fleshforward, developed by Ally

Fleshforward

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Detective Gallo, developed by Footprints Games

Detective Gallo

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Our Hero! Hyper Sword, developed by Ste

Our Hero! Hyper Sword

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Xydonia, developed by Breaking Bytes

Xydonia

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Abstract Arena, developed by Credici

Abstract Arena

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Hard Times, developed by RadicalFiction

Hard Times

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Laika 2.0, developed by Studio Albatros

Laika 2.0

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Rogue Quest - Episode 2, developed by Expera Game Studio

Rogue Quest - Episode 2

The 3 features that should have a game to be downloaded (or sold)

Do you never ask yourself if the game that you're developing will be downloaded ?

We have a website to discover, watch and share originally-created games.
And we too did ourself the same question (changing the word "downloads" with "visits").

But there's an answer. A very right answer.
So, we can start to see the 3 features that should have a game to be downloaded !

1. Marketability

Are there gamers interested about this kind of game ?

You can start to see the last downloaded games in the stores and see what is their gameplay, platform, features, etc.
If you're doing a game for SNES is very hard to share and spread it. The games made NOW for SNES haven't marketability. ( Warning : to do a game with the style like an old game of SNES is different to do a game for SNES, because a game with a retro style has marketability). There are games more "marketable" than others... and if is better to do a game for a big group or a little group is a topic that we will analyze in the future.

n.b. About the "marketability" you can also read Paul Grant.

2. To do what the gamers want.

Oh, yes... i listened, at Svilupparty 2016, a speech of Are Sundnes (Hyper Games) and at the end he said : "Do what you love and love what you do". Ok. it's right. Because if you hate your work you can never do something of good. But if you love to do a very boring game... it's a problem. If your goal is to develop a game to download and play...   there are situations where one has to come to an understanding.
Let's introduce, in the game, several features that the gamers love.

Or, the best of the best, introduce in the game, features that the gamers want in the games but they can't find.

3. Originality

It's very hard to find a new idea for a video game. An original idea.
There are billions of games in the stores. But if you find a new gameplay, a new style, a new feature... you're on the right way.
Also because if you have a game with a good marketability, with the features that the gamers want... but your game is like the other games... it's very hard "to shock the users" and reach several download.

It's easy to write this things... but it's hard to find (and put) all of them in a videogame.

This features are suggested by Mark H. McCormack, an American lawyer, sports agent and writer. He was the founder and chairman of International Management Group, now IMG, an international management organization serving sports figures and celebrities.

This is Svilupparty

Indiexpo loves Svilupparty. It'is an event born to celebrate the work of indipendent developers.

Find several free indie games that joined at this event on our website.
Like Little Briar Rose, Oh! I'm Gettin Taller!, Insane Decay of Mind, FFX Runner HD and A Tale of Caos. 

The three days of Svilupparty offer an occasion for video game companies, business partners, media, indipendent and amateur developers to meet each other, exhibit their work, engage in new partnerships and discuss new projects.