Exhibition Showcases
After the 2019 EGX event the team had come to the decision, over a couple drinks, that we would like to continue working on this project in our spare time. One of our tutors had told me about an upcoming event in Manchester called The Sharp Project, so as a way of motivation we all decided that we’d update the game and add polish in anticipation for showing the game off at the event.
Tightening up the gameplay feel of the game was the number 1 priority for us, the mobility scooters needed to feel like you were driving them and hits from the weaponry needed to give feedback that something was being hit.
I also worked on implementing damage variation onto the character models. They were alright for a 48 prototype game but nowhere near the quality of some of the environmental assets that we’d made and plugged with VFX. I started sculpting higher quality models to match the style of the game but knew this would be a longer process and was too much work to be included for the upcoming showcase, so side-lined it a little for more time concerning work.
North West Playtesters 2019 - The Sharp Project
The event was larger than I expected it was going to be, we had groups of students come to look at everything on display and this event served somewhat as a recruitment drive for our university course to college students. Nan Turismo benefits hugely from groups of friends being able to play together as their fun tends to build off of eachother.
I had a great time attending this event and got to chat with others that were hosting their games there too. This ended up being accidental networking as one of the guys I spoke to recommended us to another venue who reached out shortly after this one had ended.
One of the aspects I noticed with this showcase is that our computer monitor that we brought along was nowhere near big enough for groups of people to stand around and play our game so I’d have to see what solution I could come up with for next time.
Manchester Gamers Unite 2019 - Simran Whitman
After our last showcase at The Sharp Project, Simran, the organiser of Gamers Unite reached out after talking to one of his friends that I had accidentally networked with. He wanted us to come to a bar in Manchester to showcase our game alongside other indie games being made.
This event also served as more motivation for us to do work on the game, further tightening how the game played out and adding a scoreboard at the end of the game to declare a winner with a bunch of effects getting visually updated.
To combat the issue I had with the smaller monitor at the last venue I reached out to one of our tutors that works at White Paper Games nearby and they allowed us to stop by their studio to pick up a larger TV to set our game up with at the venue.
Business cards were handed to me all night at this event and it was all a little overwhelming. I’d networked with some more people in the industry and the following day I had received an email offering an invite to Play Expo in Manchester with our own booth provided. Giving us our next step to updating the game to something that resembles polish. We’d had a lot of good feedback on our game at this event and I was looking forward to helping implement it.
Play Expo Manchester 2020 - Cancelled Due To COVID
Disaster, not long after the Gamers Unite event in Manchester, COVID hit the world placing everyone in lockdown. Of course this meant that Play Expo was now cancelled. Unfortunately for us this was the death knell for Nan Turismo and the team never regathered to continue work on it.