Chicago Indie Game Showcase (CIGS)
On September 13th, I participated in CIGS (Chicago Indie Game Showcase), run by the local nonprofit Indie City Games. I love ICG, and CIGS was amazing! I showcased Divinuet there, and I also gave a talk about how Divinuet’s music system works with the inherent randomness of tarot.
Here are some takeaways, in no particular order:
- Divinuet happens to be particularly well-suited for something like CIGS, because there’s no actual skill required to play, and a reading takes about 5-10 minutes, then it’s over. So there a very clear stopping point.
- People seemed to like the game! People seemed very engrossed during readings, gave lots of compliments and asked good questions, and some took pictures of their card definitions. I even noticed a few people getting choked up. No negative feedback really. There were a couple people that stopped early, but the vast majority did the full reading.
- However, I’m sure people who weren’t interested in Divinuet’s whole deal simply skipped my table. My signage very clearly said “musical tarot readings.”
- I got some wishlists, but not as many as I had hoped. It probably would have been better if I had been less shy about asking people to scan the QR code to wishlist the game, instead of just hoping they would do it on their own. My friend Emily helped out with the table at times (more about this in a bit!), and she so was much better at this than me.
- I’m glad I didn’t do it alone. My husband Alex and my friend Emily Mumfie helped me out at the table at various times, which I appreciated so much. Being able to take breaks (and do my talk!) without leaving my table unattended was great, and it was also just really nice having company behind the table.
- I should have brought a second laptop. The game got more interest than I thought it would. Thankfully Emily very kindly offered her laptop for the table, so we did get a second one eventually, but I should have planned for it from the start. I never really had a line more than one or two people deep, but I often would see people walk past, see that both computers were occupied, and come back later.
- Table decorations made a huge difference! I decided very last minute to get some fake candles and an altar cloth, and I spread a few tarot cards on the table. I think it really added a nice ambience for people playing. And once it got dark toward the end of the showcase the candles looked especially cool! I’m really glad I did that.
- I should not do a talk and showcase a game at the same event again. I enjoyed both a lot, but the week leading up to CIGS was pretty stressful as I tried to get both my talk and everything for my table ready, and I was very, very tired by the end of CIGS.
- Speaking of my talk, at past conferences, I’ve noticed that non-audio people never want to come to audio talks. But since CIGS was one speaker at a time, I got some non-audio dev attendees this time. Maybe that’s the secret. Non-audio people will come to audio talks if there are literally no other options. Understandable tbh. But yeah, they said nice things about it and said they learned a lot!
- CIGS was just a particularly good event. It was really well-run and organized, the venue was great, the attendees and other devs were all super duper sweet and supportive, and the volunteers were all so helpful. The venue was cool as well. Just really great vibes all around. It felt very Chicago— a LOT of different awesome weird unique stuff going on, like way too much to possibly experience it all, but also a very chill, down-to-earth, friendly vibe. Not a hint of schmooziness, at least that I experienced. I loved it. Oh, and they pay their speakers! Unlike some other, much more expensive conferences, just saying.
So yeah, huge thanks to Indie City Games for putting together such an amazing showcase and for letting me be a part of it!
PS: If you haven't wishlisted Divinuet yet, please consider doing so! The more wishlists I get, the more people's eyeballs the Steam algorithm will put it in front of.
