I can’t speak for the dozens of lonely exhibitors who spent days gazing across vast plains of empty carpet in the exhibit hall, desperate for a retailer to talk to, but for me, Games Expo was a rousing success.
The panel on game design and prototypting was well-attended: probably 30, maybe 40 folks showed up. Since we were figuring a dozen would be a good turn-out, it was a pleasant surprise.
Thanks to the low publisher:buyer ratio, I was able to chat up pretty much everyone there. Depending on the publisher, I switched hats between Inner Workings Production Manager (“I’d like to quote a game for you”) and independent writer/game designer (“I’d like to make a game for you.”) It’s the trade show equivalent of door-to-door sales, but it worked. And it was cool to see a whole new batch of publishers in whose circles I don’t normally move.
