The Big Trip
It became evident quickly that this game ( Albert & Otto ) is what we both wanted to do in our lives. It took a little nudge to push us over the edge in order to be fully committed, this came in the form of a local success story from Free Lives studio and their mega successful indie game Bro Force. The feeling was mutual between Nik and myself, it has always been this way. If someone could do it so could we!
The long term goal to make and sell a game was set, the game prototype was ready. The road to success and ultimate happiness was mapped. What was left was to dive right into the dragons layer and attend GDC in San Francisco followed by an immediate trip to PAX in Boston, many developers do this trip to earn their stripes and enter the Game dev world ( at least i like to think so ) .
GDC was confusing, everything was new to us and honestly speaking it was probably a pointless trip. We did not make or have any connections, we attended no parties, everything was expensive, it was super intimidating and not what we pictured at all. We learnt a valuable lesson, we needed to learn mote about what we were getting ourselves into. A promises was made that the following year we would do better.
The next trip was what ultimately fueled us in the years to come, every gamers dream and the ultimate test for all indie devs PAX East. First time walking in was intimidating, our booth felt bare and empty. We showed Albert and Otto on our laptops and had to scramble last minute to print a sign, business cards and a poster. We were not ready for this in any way shape or form. We had over 300 people play the game that weekend. The feedback was amazing, there were articles written, fans were made and the idea became a reality. Most of all though, on the last day as we were packing up a boy probably 9 or 10 walked up to me and handed me $10 he said "Please make this game happen" . That meant a lot, it still influences what we do today.
Tomorow...Big City, Big Dreams
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