I’m back home from the first videogame expo of my life, and I thought I’d tell you a bit about the preparations, the excitement, and the lessons I learned.

PlayIT Show is Hungary’s largest gaming event. If you’ve never been to something like this, imagine huge halls filled with hundreds of exhibitors, each with smaller or larger booths where you can try games, buy all sorts of knick-knacks, attend competitions and tournaments, and often watch various stage performances.

I went to PlayIT as part of the GameDev Caravan organized by Havi Egy Játék (One Game a Month – HEJ). The goal of GameDev Caravan was to bring together and showcase Hungarian indie game developers and their games to the expo audience.
31 teams, 44 games, scattered across many small table islands.

I’ve never considered myself a big enough name to justify attending something like this as an exhibitor. This year I was a guest on several game development podcasts, and I kept hearing that people had just heard about Behind the Beyond there and loved it. I'd just been thinking about what I could do to get the game in front of more players who’d never heard of it when I saw that applications for the GameDev Caravan had opened.

I took it as a sign from the universe, I told myself: YOLO. I’ve worked at similar conventions before (SPIEL Essen), but never as a developer/publisher. At least I could try this too.

Many don’t know, but I live in England. I’m a broke game dev, so I bought the cheapest plane ticket and traveled with just a backpack. Which meant EVERYTHING that didn’t fit next to my laptop had to be acquired in Hungary. (Let me take a moment here to say: eternal gratitude and high-fives all around to my close family, because this would have been impossible without them. )

I had long planned to create a real, physical version of the Ulti playing card deck that appears in the game, so the graphics were already print-ready, only the box needed designing. Merch: check. (I have more of the card decks! If you want one, let me know!)

I also wanted something small and free to give away, so I chose a batch of stickers designed after the gingerbread hearts that plays a significant role in the game. Loot: check.

But I had no idea what kind of decoration to bring. I didn’t want to overshadow the other tables, but I also didn’t want to blend into the background. I asked on Discord what others were bringing. I got lots of good advice, and someone - jokingly, I think - said they hoped I’d bring something like this:

For a while I had fun the idea but laughed it off, because there’s no way I could stuff that into my bag. But it wouldn’t leave me alone.

After mad Googling and long email chains, everything finally came together…

I needed a roll-up banner. You know, one of those tall, retractable ones. Obviously, it would feature the usual key artwork: Jánoska, the fox, and the map behind them.

We knew the number, size, and arrangement of our tables ahead of time. I found a great adjustable decoration rod, attachable to tables. I wanted to hang my decor from it. The problem: the tables were 100 cm wide, and the decor frame’s minimum width was 117 cm. I ordered two frames and called my brother for help. You should know about my little bro that he can cut, weld, wire, or 3D-print absolutely anything. He’s basically a living WD40-duct-tape combo. He took the frames, modified them, and now they can shrink to as small as I want them!

I had two tables: one for Behind the Beyond, one for Ulti. For the former, I wanted to recreate the gingerbread salesman’s booth.

Fun fact: I originally wanted to hang REAL gingerbread on the rod, but my certified small-scale gingerbread producer contact was already preparing for Christmas and would only make lebkuchen this time of the year. Oh well, maybe next time. I could’ve looked for another certified small-scale gingerbread producer, but the “real deal” for me is what my contact makes. The gingerbreads in the game were modeled after theirs. There’s this tradition in my hometown that might seem strange to others. In Hungary, on the Day of the Dead, people visit their lost family members's graves and leave wreaths, fresh flowers and candles on their graves. In my hometown however, at the cemetery entrances you will usually find not just wreaths and candles but also fair-style sweets and candy. No, it’s not like Halloween. I don’t know how this came about, but that’s how I grew up. My parents still buy the usual coconut rolls, gummies, caramels, etc., on the Day of the Dead, and save me some until we meet. The Day of the Dead and gingerbread hearts are inseparable for me. (Come to think of it, this explains a few things in the story of Behind the Beyond, huh…)

Since I couldn’t get real gingerbread, I brought form cut foam board graphics instead. Foam board is kinda cheap but fragile, so picking it up became a side quest on its own. Fortunately, the print shop was in Budapest, and because of some massive chaos it took me an hour and a half just to get out of the airport. But no worries, by then HungExpo (the location of the shwo) had just opened, so I picked up the wristbands, and then my dad and I set off across the city to pick up the foam board stuff as well. (Thanks, Dad!) Foam board is light, so a few pieces of regular tape were enough to attach it to the frame. And this way I could sneak a little extra fun into the design.
I’m not sure how many people actually noticed…

It's not a bug, it's a feature.

For the other table I wanted something equally cool. Since the first table featured an in-game graphic element, I figured I should do the same here. Ulti takes place entirely in the tavern, and the frame looked very much like a window frame, so I decided this would be a tavern window. The top rod would be the curtain rod, and I’d tie the curtains to the two vertical bars.

Look at this photo knowing my mom sewed these cute curtains the night before at 10 PM! Isn’t that cute? Just like in the game!

We're ready. Let them come…

All kinds of people stopped by our tables: kids, adults, pros, noobs, influencers, and ordinary mortal souls. Journalists and content creators circled around with tiny cameras and microphones. I didn’t notice every creator, but at one point I heard someone commentating while filming around our table: “Here’s that folk-tale game, if you remember it.” I didn’t see who you were, but I heard you. :D

I was pleasantly surprised that kids around seven or eight years old sat down to play Ulti, listened through the tutorial, and actually played the game. Maximum respect. Of course, the TikTok generation also represented - they instantly skipped the intro, then didn’t understand what was going on or why WASD didn’t work. But lots of kids were drawn in by the game, and even those who didn’t speak English stuck around for a long time while we translated the dialogues on the spot. This was an important kind of feedback I wouldn’t have gotten online. I could see firsthand that younger players are open to point-and-click adventures, and that I really managed to create an atmosphere and a story they enjoy. I also got to see what parts caused the biggest confusion for them.

I brought the latest build of the full game. This was good because it has more content than the free demo, and the beginning is a tutorial where new players can learn the controls, plus some extra mechanics like dismantling objects and upgradeable skills. But it’s also bad because all the bugs are in it - and players usually manage to find them…

Most players made it through the tutorial up to the end of the first day in the game in about half an hour. Ahem, mostly because there was a bug that prevented them from continuing… But never mind that. There was one player, though, who was so absorbed in reading the useless funny content that she didn’t even finish the tutorial. I love it. It makes me feel that writing all those silly extra lines just in case someone really tries clicking on EVERYTHING, wasn’t pointless after all.

If you’re preparing for a similar event, here are some things I’d look out for next time:

Bring water!
You’ll be talking all day. Don’t forget to drink! And drinks will probably be expensive at the venue, so better to bring your own.

Spare your voice!
In the morning you’ll feel like you can shout over the crowd all day.
You can’t.
And if you’re not careful, you’ll have no voice left for the next day.

Links, QR codes
Most visitors won’t look your game up on Steam on the spot. Give them something they can photograph or take with them so they can find it later.

Be memorable!
Even if they don’t wishlist it now, it’s good if they remember you and your game. Next time they see it in an article or during a Steam Sale, they’ll think, “Oh, it's that game!”

More machines
Behind the Beyond is long and slow-paced, so people sit with it longer. If I have the chance, I’ll bring more machines next time. Or at least a better one. The second laptop, which was running Ulti, couldn’t handle BtB well, so switching between the two wasn’t an option.

Bigger monitor
A laptop-sized screen just isn’t enough to draw attention in a huge space like this. BtB has tons of detailed artwork, but only those who sit down get to see it on a laptop.

Moving images
Movement draws attention. Next time I’ll bring a second monitor showing the trailer on loop. It’s colorful, fast-paced, and eye-catching.

Localisation
In a non-English-speaking country, many people - especially kids - don’t speak English well enough to understand everything in the game. BtB is very dialogue-heavy. Even without voice acting, localised subtitles help a lot.

Cosplay
Next time someone will definitely be cosplaying Jánoska, I promise! :D

So far: 21 wishlists and 2 sales.

Is that good or bad? I don’t know, bth.
Compared to online events, that’s statistically low. But at online events, players have the wishlist button right at their fingertip, and clicking it takes no effort. Here, they had to write it down, photograph it, remember it… Someone might only add the game to their wishlist when they find the crumpled business card or QR-code sticker that went through the wash in their jacket pocket. Many visitors were parents accompanying their kids. They know nothing about video games or QR codes, but they’re the ones who will buy the game for their little ones.

“Did you understand what the lady said? Okay, good.”

So I think the results can’t be measured in Steam numbers right away.

Compared to board game expos: board games are bought on the spot. Visitors go there with the purpose of buying what they try and like. It’s a physical thing, and it can sell out. At a video-game expo as exhibitor, all you can do is make an impression, get people to remember you and wishlist the game or sign up. Then, when the game launches, or during the next Steam Sale, that’s when it matters if they come back to buy it.

An event like this is also great for observing players in their natural habitat. During testing, people usually only find functional bugs. Subtle issues, like missed hints or misleading clues, often only show up when you quietly watch someone play.

Overall, I had a fantastic time, but now I need a week of vacation to recover from these few days. :D

See you next time!