Tortured Earth

*Images were taken before the show opened for attendees. Sunday, like all other shows, was slow. It's not to say the day was bad, just slow. One of the things I've always been impressed is the community behind OzCon. The attendees are super nice. The organizers are both supportive and concerned about the performance of their show.  Factors that made this show rough were beyond the control of the organizers. Loadout was rough, mainly due to an unrelenting rain. At best, it was light when it was our turn to loadout. Vendors managing to leave early were basically assaulted by a driving rain. My massive display slowed me down enough to miss the worse of the downpour. In short, we'll definitely do the show again. Game developers are especially encouraged to do the show. The large gaming area and willingness to allow us to run game sessions is a huge draw. Personally, I'd like to see a convention dedicated to independent game developers. I think if properly promoted, we could...

  Today was not a bad day. We managed to break even and cross into the profit zone. After 2PM, the convention slowed down and we saw a slow down in sales. Despite the slowdown, the attendees were excited about the show. I know the vendor perspective is focused on the dollar sign. However, this show really does have a lot to offer for the attendee: it’s affordable, has a lot of activities, and remains true to its design. Given the fact we’re in the profit zone, I feel the show is definitely a show worth a return. I would be painting a misleading picture if I said all were doing spectacular. A few of my vendor friends have complained the show has not shaped out to what they hoped it would be. Their success could be a multifaceted issue. Some are using their booth to shield themselves from the customers, a couple are known for sitting on their phones and not engaging with potential buyers, and not a few have displays that are either lacking or missing all together. The crafters of...

Today was a good day. As mentioned of a three-day convention, the goal is to cover at least table costs. We not only covered table costs but managed to move forward. We’re actually halfway to our break-even point. Today’s outcome is better than it sounds. The weather was awful – storms most of the day. If you are comparing photos of our booth, you'll notice subtle differences from show to show. The reason is each convention setup is slightly different. This show, for instance, has booths that are deeper than 10 feet. Due to the increased depth, we were able to alter our display and allow small flags to be shown on both sides. The central display for our books is also absent. This is due to my stupid self forgetting the display at home and had to improvise on the fly. There are a few familiar faces among the vendor population. A sword dealer husband and wife team are here. Generation Gifts sells a wide variety of swords and has become good friends of ours. We often chat about the ...

Today we find ourselves in West Plains, Missouri. Tomorrow, we set up for OzCon in the morning and open the show at 2PM. Normally, I despise shows that require a setup on the opening day. The Tortured Earth display is rather expansive and requires several hours to set up and make presentable. Fortunately, we put out new jewelry and flags at the last show and haven’t gotten anything to elaborate on. I’m expecting a three-hour setup, another hour of fine-tuning with plenty of time for a normal lunch and a little breathing time. OzCon was a show we followed for our first four years. From what I understand, the show started off as a college project for an anime group. As it grew and developed, the young man who headed the project took it over and switched it from a charity show to a for-profit show which does donations. I’m anxious to see how the show has changed since our last visit. The reason for my abandoning it wasn’t malicious or due to low performance. Around 2018, I had a gentl...

  Sorry for the delay. As soon as YC3 ended, we loaded up the van and spent the next day driving home. A surprise visit from a friend, writing on the next module, and unloading the van occupied most of Tuesday. Today, we restocked the cabinets, reloaded the van, and now planning on leaving for the next show. The final verdict on YC3 is that it’s a pretty good show. It has all the features that allow for a positive attendee experience: game room, diverse vendors, cosplay competitions, and panels & workshops. After being absent from the show for five years, returning to it has been a pleasant surprise. We are definitely returning next year. Next up: OzCon, West Plains, MO. Thanks for reading! www.torturedearth.com for game information!

Today was a good day. We broke even at the show and actually moved forward. We were fortunate. A few of our friends around us didn't fare quite as well. The crowd was there but true of the current climate, spending was slow. A few of my vendor friends I've associated with for a few years now also commented on the slower spending at the show. I think a large part of the lower performance of some vendors fell mostly to their style of selling. As mentioned before, I'm a big proponent of presentation and performance. Those vendors simply sitting behind the booth didn't do well.  One vendor across from us was selling soaps. In all honesty, I was quite impressed with her operation. She was making the product herself, packaging looked good, and the product itself was of good quality. As far as a product went, she was spot on. However, she was at a comic con. Lavender bath bombs won’t appeal to a majority of the population. Now, Mystic’s Battle Salve or Bruce Banner Bombs would...

In an earlier post, I mentioned having an employee. I have to admit, I was kind of proud to be able to hire one of my convention workers as a full-time employee. He was pulling a salary, benefits, and all that good stuff. He was actually doing quite well when he decided he wanted to work closer to home and not be on the road as much. I was devastated. I tried replacing him with another worker, who as it turned out, was just as good. Things went well for a while and then Christmas rolled around. The problem with having a full-time worker is the inconsistency of the convention circuit. When we are in an active convention season, paying a full-time worker was no problem. The issue was when we rolled into our slow season. Of course, I made sure my worker was paid as promised. The issue was I wasn’t paid at all during that time. Looking back on the episode, I should have had a years payroll in the back before I hired a full-time employee. The convention scene definitely provided me enou...

We arrived early for the convention set up yesterday, unloaded, and managed to get the booth set up. The show doesn't open to the general public until tomorrow at 5 PM, so the finer details were left for today. Today, we pulled the doors from the jewelry cases, opened the stock cabinets for both jewelry and flags, organized the books, and placed the 3D printed dragons so they were visible.  As we were setting up, several vendors, a few convention staff, and the convention owner stopped by to visit the booth as it was being set up and admire the display. Several made the comment that this was possibly the largest display they've ever had at Yellow City Comic Con. This always makes me nervous.  When I first started selling flags, we took pictures of the flags, placed them in a binder, and made it available for the public. Most people either dismissed the book all together or gave it a token glance at best. It wasn't until we displayed the flags and placed them in plain sight ...

I guess I should begin with an explanation as to why I’ve been so silent lately. In short, we’ve been VERY busy. Tortured Earth moved from roughly 25 conventions per year to 38 per year. The past two years have been madness, to say the least.   In all of this, I was involved in a project to open a new school. Tortured Earth’s convention presence skyrocketed. I reached a threshold at which I was able to completely retire from education and move forward with the game’s development. We managed to pick up a new writer, started writing a whole lot more ourselves, and are releasing new modules this year.   I hired a full-time employee, had to let him go, and learned a lot in the process. (This will be discussed in a later blog post.)   So many things have changed in the industry. We’ve seen the emergence of AI for nearly all aspects of creation. (Again, discussed in a later post.) Fortunately, between Kevin and myself, we’ve got enough nightmares running around in o...