Hello, future tavern keepers! Earlier this month - through some incredible last minute organization and a fair bit of luck - we managed to get a booth at the gaming convention “PAX Australia” and showcased, for the first time ever, a demo of Tavern Keeper to the public. We used this opportunity to road test a demo that we plan to improve for a private Steam test later, as well as for a public Steam demo a little further down the line (more on that later). [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44541225/cb1a3c6e5bcd7455fc93e936d344afce58e061f4.png[/img][i]Above: A shot of our Tavern Keeper booth at PAX Australia - October 2023. [/i] Imagine working for nine years on a game without ever really play-testing the game outside the small dev team (we can talk more about why in the future) and then heading to an expo floor to show a demo. Our PAX team of four flew in from four different countries: Austria, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia. For some of us it was the first time meeting each other! To say that we were nervous at PAX is an understatement. We were terrified but we were also excited as the demo was the first time that our full vision of the game was playable. We even managed to get professional (but still placeholder) voice acting implemented just days before the show! [h3][b]How did it go?[/b][/h3] I’m happy to say that [b]our first time showing Tavern Keeper was a phenomenal success![/b] We truly didn’t expect to receive such overwhelmingly positive feedback from players. Players of all different backgrounds and age groups seemed to really enjoy the demo. We did observe several little pain points that we aim to improve on but none of them stood in the way of players finishing the demo and telling us that they were excited for more! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44541225/ee23b19c5d86fcd78e1d4f33f21fc2f86e6b490c.png[/img][i]Above: Teaser build ready to go in 4K goodness! [/i] [h3][b]Our favorite moments[/b][/h3] Our favorite moments were observing players enjoying all the little details and finding creative ways to play the teaser. Tavern Keeper is really three games in one so let’s look at the three core parts separately: the interactive storybook, the core management game and the decoration sandbox. [b]The story[/b] elicited audible laughs from players as well as incredulous gasps at the sass of the narrator: it was a huge boost of confidence to see players breeze through the narrated tutorial and storybook with such joy! [b]The management/sim[/b] part worked without a hitch and we observed what we were hoping for: players picked their own level of engagement with some players caring about every detail and managing every aspect while others making high-level decisions and sitting back to watch it all happen. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44541225/2ebf0e5bf9760146ea7787bf20d5b31ff35d0776.png[/img][i]Above: The “Name your Tavern” screen. Some players read through all the fine print and we were not disappointed to see many creative tavern names![/i] [b]The design mode[/b] was a hit and even though players only had little time to play with it, we saw so much creative potential and lots of players had fun placing oversized items around the place. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44541225/0a8d74bf945afb1fc0c0056d3973f24ccdd7abb6.png[/img][i]Above: How about placing a small teapot on a table? Why not a large one! [/i] [h3][b]Limits were tested! [/b][/h3]Then of course there were some players that pushed things to the extreme. We had a toddler smash the keyboard as his father was playing and accidentally set off some development shortcuts - promising little hacker! We had one person click on the same plant dozens of times to see what the narrator would do! We had the obligatory naughty tavern names: one of which made it through our social media by accident 😆. We had “creative” furniture placements. We had someone test how big decorations can really go and nearly broke the UI in the process. A player found a creative way to bypass a limited selection of design items that we never even thought of! We had someone deleting every single furniture piece and kicking out the last customers before the demo was over… [b]In summary: It was a lot of fun![/b] [h3][b]Meeting the players![/b] [/h3]Beyond the relief that our vision of the game worked and watching all the creative ways players engaged with the game, meeting the players was a definite highlight for us. Game development can be a very lonely endeavor - especially in an international-remote-working team where everyone works from home for a literal decade. We hardly even get to see our team, let alone our players. It was truly a delight to chat with so many and on the off-chance you were there and are reading this: thank you for stopping by and connecting with us. I know we will not have the chance to meet most of you but events like these are a great reminder that behind every Steam user, behind every Discord alias, and behind every developer account is a person. [b]We are not taking any of you for granted![/b] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44541225/43320b888a2294efb7de28473eb94ccd5d858764.png[/img] [i]Above: It's such a joy to see players engage with your game![/i] [h3][b]Onwards[/b][/h3] PAX Australia gave us a boost of energy, a renewed confidence about the game we’re making and how it (hopefully) resonates with lots of different people, from cozy gamers to fantasy and sim fans. Our next goal is to bring a Tavern Keeper teaser to more players. We are currently improving the demo based on player observation and feedback and our aim is to start private Steam tests in the coming months with the larger goal of having a public demo in early 2024! We’ll share more about how that will work and how to participate soon, so keep your eyes open for updates. Until next time, Patrick (and the Greenheart Games 💚 Team)