Post-Assembly disassembly

False advertising, we admit. The pizza was a lie.

Hello people of the Internet! We are sorry to have sneaked on vacation without announcing it properly, but we now are back, refreshed and running. This is Niklas, bringing you a few words on the process on Interplanetary and some more on my trip to the Assembly Summer '13 with the rest of the KAMK crew.

Before the well earned holiday we worked Interplanetary to the point where we could start working on in-team alpha testing. Some bugs and gameplay issues popped up immediately as usually happens with tests like this, so we will now focus on making things better. After that, it's time to start dragging in test users outside the team. If you're interested in being one of them, drop us a line and there's a good chance we will include you! Notice that unless you have a friend to play hotseat with, you may need a VPN client and end up playing against one of us.

This is what it's all about to many of us.

Now then, Assembly Summer '13. I will take the liberty to write from more personal perspective as I was the only member of TJR to travel this time. We originally intended to bring a two-man strike team, but Jukka succumbed to a nasty stomach bug prior the trip. But I still had a chance to take part, thanks to the very generous people at KAMK. The event itself was of course awesome as always, but this time I didn't quite manage to get the best out of it.

Here's what lacked, so you can do better!

We did not enter the game compo. This was a decision we made pretty early on. Interplanetary is not the sort of game that fits very well in a compo like this. It takes at least half an hour to really get into the game, and that's simply too long, we thought. However, games are presented to the audience in a game trailer form, which would have been doable for us and the compo is really good publicity. M.A.D, a KAMK game we had running at the stand got a lot of attention, and many people mentioned they had found it through the compo.

We did not bring a game demo with us. This is something we actually planned on doing. The demo wouldn't have been exactly Interplanetary, but instead a modified version of the early proof-of-concept version you can download from right there on the right hand side. We planned on having the game run on a touch screen we had on the stand and have people compete for small prizes. The modifications didn't make it in time though, as we prioritized finishing the alpha. In hindsight, the demo version would've been a better choice.

We did not direct our marketing to the players. I was seeking out professional contacts as usual, even though there weren't many around. This is something we should have considered earlier: Assembly might be one of the best places to reach the target audience directly when you are making a game for fairly hard core PC audience.

We didn't prepare well enough. The event was too fast upon us, and we had decided some time ago to have our vacation right before the trip. Because of simple mistakes like this, we didn't have enough time to think through what would be our goals, prepare marketing material etc.

I neglected social media. Like mentioned in the guide I made earlier, events like these provide excellent content for social media, and it's also a good chance to communicate with people who are either present or just interested in what's going on on site. Unlike Nordic Game Conference and Free Your Play, this time there really wasn't  a good reason behind as we had both working wifi and native 3G to work with.

I brought those awful shoes I had at NGC again. Ouch.

Nevertheless I still consider the Assembly trip well worth the time. I met new people and got to spend good time with some fellow nerdy people. Next year TJR will be there again in one form or another, and we will make the best out of it. See you there!

No matter what the locals say, Pasila can be quite pretty. Next year again!

The second most popular gaming conference in the north

Networking ®, the Trading Card Game

Hello! Now that our bearded scout squadron (with glasses) is back from Sweden and recharged, it's time to write a couple of lines about our trip to Nordic Game Conference, Unite Nordic and some related events.

For us the trip went very well. People seemed to like the idea behind Interplanetary a lot, and Hedgehop, one of the games we still very much hope to finish at some point, was very well received by the few people I had a chance to show it.

We thought about writing a longer post mortem and a more detailed description of the events, but there are plenty of those around at this point, and you can always watch some of the presentations online. So, instead, here are some things you should keep in mind when it's your time to travel to NGC. (Majority of these points apply for most games industry events.)


Nordic Game Conference tips for the newcomers:

Plan ahead.
Make it clear to yourself what you require from the trip and plan your actions accordingly. Is there someone you want to talk with? A company you want to connect to? Are you looking for a training place? Do you want to find a publisher for your game, or are you there for advice?

If you travel with a group, discuss your goals beforehand. This way you can keep on the lookout for your friends as well: If someone spots a person you want to talk with, they can give you a call.

Cutting out your 150 fliers manually is very indie.

Prepare some material for your game or team.
Think of the message you wish to deliver to your target audience, and what that target audience will be. Prepare the materials early. You may also want to prepare an elevator pitch for your company, team and/or your game.

Make reservations as early as possible.
This allows you to find cheaper flights and accommodations. Comfort Hotel Malmö is a good choice, it's located right next to the Slagthuset where the conference is held.

Pack light.
You'll end up needing only 1/3 of what you have in most cases. Linens and a towel are usually not needed, even if you stay in the cheapest possible hostel.

Wear good shoes.
Your trip is likely to involve lots of walking and standing, and it'll be a lot harder to focus on important things when you have blistered feet.

Be aware that the price level in Sweden is very high.
This is true even from a Finnish perspective. You can expect a McDonalds meal to be around 10€, a beer in a bar around 8€ and drinks around 12€. There's a good China Box at Gustav Adolfs torg which is not exactly cheap, but it's a good alternative to the other fast food places.

Data roaming is around 0,8€ / MB and wifi access in the conference area is pretty unreliable, so you might want to consider Swedish prepaid for the event.

Conferences offer lots of quality content for social media.
You can post interesting things often, and if you tag the people or companies you meet, there's a chance you will get retweets/shares etc.

Travelling in good company is optional but recommended.

You don't need to attend every talk.
Though the talks may appear to be the main thing, most of the information you will get is something you can find by googling. The real value lies in stuff that you can learn when discussing face to face with the professionals. Attending their talk may be a good way to earn a chance to speak with the person later, though.

Have some business cards with you.
It's so much easier for the people to remember you afterwards if you give them one. Offering yours is also a less awkward way to get one.

It may be a good idea to wear clothing with your team/studio/game logo.
This makes you more recognizable and memorable. It also makes it easier for people that know your game to recognize you and start a conversation.

Make use of your previous contacts.
Game industry people are usually friendly and eager to help- it's usually ok to ask them to introduce you to someone they already know.

Go to the afterparties every day, even if you don't drink.
There is a good chance you will get your most important contacts there. And if you do drink...

Don't drink too much.
Most of the evening parties offer free drinks, but you'll get more out of them if you stay reasonable.

Most importantly, talk to people.
This is the core of everything. Only by socializing you'll end up getting new contacts and strengthening the existing bonds.


So there you have a couple of points to keep in mind, some of which we have learned the hard way. Hopefully now you can avoid them and have even more fun and productive conference experience!

All in all, the trip to Malmö, Sweden, was very, very worthwhile. Thanks to Neogames, Wooga and Kavio Cluster for making it possible!

What news from the south?

This week was an interesting one! We traveled to Helsinki with some fellow Kavio game developers in the beginning of the week and got a change to present the very early prototype of Interplanetary to some game industry professionals. Thanks again Frozenbyte for having us!

Needless to say, we got some very good feedback. While there are still some problems with the proto, we we're happy to notice we are moving to the right direction and the main parts of the game work as intended. It's also very encouraging to notice that nearly all of the issues that came up were something we had already acknowledged.

The Interplanetary proto is now officially finished. Though we didn't have enough time to try out all the features we wanted, we now have a good idea of the final game design and we are ready to start working on the final version.

This week's blog post was delayed a bit by busy busy business and a thunderstorm, sorry about that.

Kajaani Pelaa!

Coming to the most awesome bookstores soon!

This week's blog post has a little less to do with Interplanetary, but it's great news nonetheless! 

”Art Unknown: Raw Diamonds from the Frozen Wastelands” is finally released. Created by Marita Paldanius, Marko Keronen and Aki Savolainen with support from Kavio Cluster, the book contains game art of the young and talented game developers of Kainuu region. (That includes us, yay!)

From our part in “Art Unknown” you can find art from some of our earlier projects, such as Spiritual and Ouroboring Life, as well as some the earlier concept art from the upcoming Interplanetary. (There’s plenty of more to come as well.) Though Interplanetary has developed dramatically both as a concept and in practice since the material for the book was gathered, Jukka Kivijärvi's illustrations have stood the test of time very well. There are even a couple of never before released concept images from our adorable mobile game concept Hedge Hop,  by Tarita Tammela. 

The release and the press conference with the books authors took place last Wednesday, April 24th, at the Kajaani Pelaa!- event in Kajaani. The event also included presentations of some of the games created by the Kainuu developers, BeaverKarts tournament (which was a lot of fun, thanks Rust0) and the screening of short movie The North, which is to be shown at the upcoming Cannes Festival. 

By the way, there will be some fresh graphics from Interplanetary tomorrow at the Screenshot Saturday. Don't miss it.