Wow. When I set up my table at the London Anime and Gaming Con over the weekend, I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know how many people would be attending the event, how many of them would want to play my demo, or how many people would like the demo. In the end, the results were better than anything I could have hoped for.
I’d always thought that The Last Time would serve to satisfy a rather niche market. Not a tiny market – there are lots of people out there who like point-and-clicks, and even more who enjoy the modern adventures created by the likes of Telltale. But I thought that perhaps it was only people who fell into the overlapping part of that Venn diagram – i.e, people who had the nostalgia for LucasArts and were also modern cinematic adventure fans – who would enjoy the game. Not so. The game consistently had an impact on people who played it; not just people who expressed an interest in the genre, but even people who were initially skeptical. The laughter, the anguish, the shock; this is a game that I’ve designed to take people on an emotional roller coaster, and it was the most satisfying feeling that I could have as a creator to see how many different people had these reactions to the game.
I took some sneaky photos of people playing the demo to capture their reactions; I’m including some of these below. If you’d like to play the game for yourself, there are links to download the demo on my Kickstarter preview page. Oh, and about the Kickstarter; the reception that the demo had at the convention has given me courage. It’s shown me that the game appeals to a wide variety of people; it’s just a case of me getting word of the game out there. Between now and the Kickstarter launch, scheduled for Monday the 13th July, I’ve got a lot of work to do preparing my media campaign.
As always, thank you for your support, friend.
Big Cow out.
