With a crazy but amazing PAX East now behind us, it’s time to look back and reflect on Towers of Thana‘s first public showing. Moreover, we’d like to take this occasion to share our plans for the future.
What Went Great at PAX
We had one clear objective in mind before attending PAX East: to gather as much feedback as possible on our core game loop. Since PAX East was our first live event, this objective was crucial and we prepared accordingly. And boy, did you guys not disappoint! We were incredibly pleased with the crowd’s reaction towards the game and we received tons of feedback! Ultimately, the goal is to improve the game to even higher standards of quality so all constructive criticism was welcomed.
On another topic, we were quite happy with the demo’s stability and (almost) bug-free experience. Showcasing a demo for the first time is always stressful. You never know what to expect… It seems that no matter how hard you playtest things internally, players always find new ways to break your game! But in this case, the build ran smoothly all event long and no major bug occured.
Finally, we had this new booth created before PAX with a branded back wall and frontal module. To our surprise, it was super easy to pack, set up and unpack. Also, we were very happy with the overall quality of the booth. We want to give a big shoutout to our partner Skyline Entourage, who worked with us to create the booth. This is not sponsored by the way, we’re just happy customers.
What to Improve
Overall, the event went smoothly and no major hiccups happened. Still, there were a few things that we could’ve done better.
First of all, we underestimated the amount of goodies (cards and pins) to hand out. Before PAX, we ordered 2000 Towers of Thana’s pins and 250 cards. We ran out by the end of Saturday! Thankfully, we could refer people towards the QR code printed on the booth that linked to our landing page. However, we still felt bad about running out of goodies for the Sunday attendees.
Secondly, while the onboarding of the demo was generally good, there were a few things that could’ve been explained better for a new player:
- Better onboarding for mission objectives;
- Accessible descriptions for player attacks and towers in-game;
- In-depth explanation of Super Towers and their behavior.
As you know, teaching a strategy game in such a short amount of time is no easy task. Generally speaking, this type of game requires more play time and investment to fully understand. However, we are now better equipped to teach the game’s systems in a simpler way for the future.
What’s Next for Towers of Thana
Now that we have passed our first test, the team is hungry for more! Our plan is to keep improving the game, with your feedback and suggestions, until the Early Access launch.
If you want to join us in this journey and provide feedback, consider subscribing to our newsletter to gain access to future builds of the game. Most importantly, wishlisting the game on Steam is the biggest help you can give us at the moment. Thank you and stay tuned for more updates!