PAX 2007 - Review

PAX 2007 is over.

I'm exhausted.

Brittany unfortunately didn't make it out of the first round of the Omegathon. The Jenga tower proved to be too powerful a foe. She had the unfortunate luck of her turn taking place at the exact moment when it became clear that no more blocks were coming out of that tower. To Brittany's credit, she didn't give up. She took several minutes before finally coming to terms with her fate. She must have circled the tower at least five or six times before finally knocking it down. The early elimination may have been for the best, as she was an absolute mess after the game. She said it was the most intense experience of her life. I want to make it clear that we are talking about Jenga here. The Omegathon is certainly a unique event.

After being eliminated, she proceeded to enjoy the rest of PAX while retaining all of the VIP benefits afforded to the Omeganauts. She was also blogging for GameHelper.com, a site which she has frequently contributed to in the past. All of her blogs can be read in GameHelper's PAX section. Also, here's a video interview she did before she was knocked out:



Drawn to Life also went over really well at the show, although not in the way we originally expected. Rather than working out of THQ's booth, we instead decided to roam around the show with a bunch of DS units loaded up with the downloadable demo. For those who don't know, PAX is an event absolutely brimming with DS owners. Almost all of them at some point end up waiting in lines without much to do, so we decided to target these bored humans with a tiny slice of downloadable goodness. I think we ended up distributing about 1,200 copies of the demo by the end of the show, an extraordinary number when considering the fact that we had only 5 "servers" hosting it. The downside to taking this mobile approach was that nobody from the media knew we were there, as they likely do not have to wait in lines. So far I have seen only one story about the game over at GoNintendo. They rock by the way.

In addition to getting DtL directly into gamers' hands we were able to talk to many of them face-to-face as a result of our efforts. For me this was definitely the best part of the show. As a game developer, there is no better moment than when you see someone else playing your game and enjoying it. Also, I think many of them really appreciated the fact that we cared about our game enough to be out there in the trenches spreading the word. It was a blast, and I hope I get to do it again sometime.

PAX 2007

I am really excited about this year's Penny Arcade Expo. Having gone the previous two years, I know I'm in for a good time, especially when The Optimus takes the stage Friday night. This year, however, there is much more going on for me personally.


First, my fiance Brittany has been selected as a contestant in this year's Omegathon! She has been training whenever possible, although not as much as she would have liked. Regardless, I'm not sure how much one can really train for Jenga. Even if she loses, she still gets VIP treatment for all three days of the show. Good deal.


Second, I will be working at the THQ booth giving demos and talking about my game Drawn to Life. We will also have a downloadable demo, so people with a DS handy can get a small taste of our drawing tool and a tutorial platforming level. DtL is the first professional project I have worked on, and it feels a little surreal now that it is nearing release. In a few short weeks, I am going to walk into a store and buy my game. I pre-ordered it and everything.