Road to PAX AUS: Day -20
Marketing emails have been coming hard and fast over the last week, with PAX right around the corner. As someone who has a full time job seperate from all this, I just don’t have time to even look at it all.
Something that I think we don’t really reflect on enough is this massive role reversal in how attention is driven in our modern era. Take an example of any regular person on any regular day. Said person would go about their life activities, whether it be work or play or rest, as a normal function of living. As more and more time has passed, consumer led capital has expanded, meaning more and more things are vying for the same pie that is your mind - if even just the tiniest slice.
Advertising through TV, newspapers, billboards, even the internet generally has encroached further and further into our lives as time has progressed. More and more, the onus has been put on us to place barriers between us and it. Pay for TV to get rid of the ads. Buy a subscription to view these news stories ad free. Turn off the computer and walk away.
The iPhone broke us. That little red icon, the ping and the vibration. Forcing its way into every nook and cranny of your existence, no time for respite. Take a break from the stress of dealing with your task list of a job by picking up your phone and scrolling through your task list of notifications.
No wonder we’re always so tired.
"SEA What I Made” (or SWIM) presented by Ukiyo Studios is easily one of the more interest piquing personally. The idea is to bring together a bunch of cool games from across the south-east Asia Pacific region to highlight just how cool and diverse talent exists in our geo-located chunk of the world. We often think in big chunks when it comes to games - the US, Japan, Europe and of course Australia - but amazing people live everywhere. I only recognize a handful of the games on this list - the obvious standout being Ghostlore - but all the amazing work coming out of our side of the planet deserves a stage.
The PR email had a bunch of quotes, but these stand out to me as pretty informative:
“When people think of the Asia-Pacific games industry, what usually comes to mind is just Australia and New Zealand. Our goal with developing this booth is to highlight our neighbours in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines as well,” says Ukiyo Studios co-founder, David Cardenas
"The Southeast Asian region is one that is not just geographically close to Australia, but culturally close as well. It simply makes sense for us to be building this bridge to connect Australia with Asia. We’re excited to be making video game history in a big way through 'SEA What I Made.'"
The SWIM Booth will be #1050, which is definitely going to be one of my major stops for the show.
I’m not going to include everything I received emails about in this here piece - the big dogs especially don’t need any extra coverage - but there’s a few individual highlights so far that are worthy of a gander.
There’s a dozen dozen cute farm/town/building simulator games these days, but something about Go-Go Town has me curious. The expressiveness emphasized by the art and animation of this one is really eye catching.
Adaptory on the other hand isn’t as visually striking, however mechanically it looks like a solid Fallout Shelter style “look after your little guys” game with a lot more control and hi-jinks to have. I haven’t played Starbound or Rimworld so comparisons aren’t my strong suit here, but my gut feeling is it’s playing in this area.
Finally, damn there’s a lot of exhibitors!
See you in the next one.