Last week, I went to Busan (South Korea) to show Akuto: Mad World at BIC Fest. It was a very good experience, but also a very surreal one.
First, Akuto got Greenlit on the day I arrived (September 7). This was great news, but also a kind-of bad news. Because it got Greenlit on the day I arrived at Busan, it meant that I could not change the text or videos, which were all telling gamers to go vote for Akuto on Steam Greenlight. I also didn’t have time to create a store page either where I could send people who played and liked the game.
That was the worst thing that happened at the trip, and it wasn’t that bad considering the bigger picture. Now the positive news. On the first day, it was the developers and press day only. It was quite a quiet day so I did not get much people playing it as everyone was still tweaking with their booths. It was a nice warmup before the actual BIC Fest started. In the evening, there was an Arena Gods competition. I never played the game before but I still decided to sign up. At the end of the tournament, I was somehow the winner. I think all the time I spent playing Akuto had paid off. It was a nice end to the first day.
The next two days were the public days. Gamers of all ages came and played all the games. When people came to my booth, they really liked how the game looked and played. This definitely put me in a good mood. It is always nice to see someone play and enjoy your game. I also uncovered one or two new bugs in the game, which was quite good since it means it was quite a stable build of the game.
In the evening of the last day, all the BIC Fest awards were being given out. To my surprise, Akuto was nominated for the Excellence in Multiplayer award. I did not win the award as it went to the well-deserved winner Enter the Gungeon.
Overall, BIC Fest was probably my best festival so far in my short game career. I hope that the next event I go to will be a bigger success.