Hey guys, I’ve been without internet for over two weeks, but I’m back now. I guess I have to start off with a write-up of the Play Expo.
It went really well! Not a single thing went wrong!
Setting up was easy. I just brought in my computer, two monitors, a poster, an old pile of Kongregate stickers I got from Mochi London, some cute business cards to give out, and that was about it. The venue was conveniently 10 minutes away from my home. At first I didn’t have anywhere to put up my poster, but the guys next to us left very early so we essentially got a 2nd table just for that. Me and Ronja took turns manning the stall, so we didn’t tire ourselves out. (I also got to try some VR stuff on my break, woop!)
EBF5 never crashed. Both days it ran non-stop for 8 hours without any problems, which was pretty cool, but also what I would have hoped for since the demo was just the most basic parts of the battle system. On the second monitor I had my YouTube videos of EBF5 running on loop forever.
The audience was a bit different from what I expected. EGX in England was mostly for gaming enthusiasts, but while this event still had some of those, it was generally much more casual and family oriented. There were a lot of really young kids, but also a lot of parents and grandparents who weren’t even into video games at all. I ended up showing off EBF5 to a huge variety of people, and it was a very educational social experience for me. I learned how to talk to kids, disabled people, and a lot of very socially-awkward people.
I’m glad I had EBF5 configured in work-safe mode, and I’m happy I made that option available in the first place. Bouncing anime breasts were not out of place at the event, but I think it would have been a bit awkward with the game’s default settings, especially when young girls came to play.
A related point that surprised me was the lack of PC gamers! I think EBF5 was one of the only mouse-controlled games there, and a lot of kids were confused when they couldn’t find the controller or keyboard. Quite a few people had trouble using the mouse accurately, and double-clicking when single-clicks were fine. But besides that people picked up the game very easily. I just told them to pick commands and hit the baddies, and that was all they needed to know really. I only intervened to tell them how to heal when their health got low.
Besides all that we also got to know some of the other exhibitors, including Mega Cat Studios, who make modern NES games, Wrench Games who make card games, and Oi Oi Games who are a store for retro games (their Mario Maker stall dominated the area at first and sort of overshadowed us – not fair!). I don’t think there was anyone particularly famous there – there wasn’t even any official presence from the big gaming companies. It was all quite local and modest. A reporter from The Sun talked to me briefly, but in the end I don’t think he actually wrote anything about me.
I had around 5 people tell me they were fans of the EBF games, and another 5 or so who said they’ve probably played them at some point in the past. So that’s not bad – I’m not a total nobody!
Anyway, it was all a lot of fun and I’d love to do it again if I get more chances to do it so cheaply. (Grand total spent on the event: £89 and around 3 days of preparation)
Just have to say I love this photo of you and Ronja. You both look very happy 🙂 and thanks for continuing to share this kind of stuff with us! I love it.
So when EBF5 is out, will it be free? If not what will be the price and will it be on steam, because I am totally getting it ❗
$15 on Steam but there will be a free version too.
Yeah I will buy it,EBF3 and EBF 4 i didn’t support you in money for i am still a student with not too much money and also don’t konw how to buy it.But i am now in university and have learned a little English i will not miss it.And i will ask if you don’t mind my boring reapeat:Have you put the tshirt with some charater on it (for example,matt)?It must be very great to wear somthing about one of my favorite game !! :love2: :love2: :love2: :love2: :love: :love: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :stars: :stars:
I kind of wish I could have been a fly on the wall here! Seeing the reaction of a new generation of gamers (and their parents!) to a wonderful new installment of one of the best online games to ever grace the internet (take the praise, you deserve it) sounds like it was a blast!
Oof i love seeing people i support have a good time, i’m glad you had a positive experience, Matt!! :yay:
Hey Matt, how you doing, man?
I’ve been curious, what languages you intend to translate EBF5 to?
I’d be glad to help you in this amazing game!
I used to play it when I was a kid, also in love with Flash games, and EBF was in my opinion the best one out there!
:stars: :stars: :stars:
I’m gonna do a big blog about translations soon!
by the way, about translations. It’s obvious that Europe and USA is usually the mandatory when it comes to do translations but some 2nd world countries are more active in games. Brazil, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Russia. Macedonia for example. 2nd world countries have lower percentage when it comes to knowing English. I’d suggest you to look at those translations if you can. Or at least in future.
Awesome first panel, man! Seeing an adult playing EBF with a kid is actually pretty jarring. :ooo: But it’s great that you got some word out, and even people that didn’t play it will probably recognize it on Steam once it releases. You’re making some good progress, keep at it! :yay:
I just noticed that Matt has freakishly skinny legs. Good to see I’m not the only one. :yay:
damn if just playing mario bros in front of your parent wasn’t already shamefull, I can’t imagine how awkward it must be to play an anime-style indie game nobody know about in front of them even in SFW mode :scared:
What would have happened with the defaults settings enabled? Actually you know what I have no idea and i don’t want to know 😐
Well if we talk about languages, than I would be happy to help you make a german and/or greek translation for the games.
But Iam NOT the most reliable person when it comes to deadlines so it coud take a while to get finished ( espacialy because I would prefer to play EBF5 to 100% with out nowing anything before hand). Plus you probably aren’t considering it at the moment.
I’ve been a fan of the sieres since I found EBF3 way back at 2008 and I am eager to play EBF5, I hope it won’t take much longer to get finished.
93%! Only . . . well . . . still a few months to go probably.
hope by the end of the summer
Next time when there is such a cosy event, you should set up a second monitor where you can play Bullet Heaven, starting from World 6 and up. That would have been quite the magnet!
Yeah! I was invited to show an unreleased game, but Bullet Heaven 2 would have worked well and I don’t think anyone would have stopped me!
Hey Matt, Wassup I just wanted to tell you, Your amazing and I’m a huge fan Of your Games I actually Grew Up On your Games Back in the day, In my Elemntry school Years And I played them a lot, I wanted to ask you If I Could volunteer By Translating Your Game into Hebrew for the Israli Community Of Your Game If your Intrested Feel Free to hit me up, and contact me, (guycool5355@gmail.com) :shades:
Thanks, but I’m not considering Hebrew at the moment.
As soon as I read there were parents with their kids I thought: “Natalie’s limit break is gonna be something…” Nice planning on the safe for work mode.
Hey Matt!,
I am a huge fan of you, and I am really excited about EBF5.
If possible, I could make a Hungarian translation for the game.
I would be glad I’d be able to do that.
If you see this, please contact me (karvalics.szlava@gmail.com)
Greetings from Hungary!
Sorry, I don’t have any plans to do Hungarian, but will maybe consider it in future if a lot of people want it.
Okay, thank you anyway for replying!
Szia talán én is segíthetnék neked! Külföldön élek kb 12 éve szóval van néhány hiányosságom magyarból de szerintem tudnék segíteni a fordításban.