By far, the biggest concentration of iOS developers at PAX East will be found at the Indie MEGABOOTH.
Comprised of 92 developers and 104 games (not all mobile titles), the Indie MEGABOOTH seems to get bigger and bigger each year and takes up the equivalent of 12 mid-sized booths, subdivided into 55 individual booths, forming the MEGA Indie Showcase and one mid-sized booth dedicated to the Mini Booth.
I spent a huge amount of time in this section last year and plan to do the same again this year. It is a fun place to get lost for hours and (instead of just waiting endlessly in line) you actually get to do some hands-on gaming with the individuals who made the games you are playing. The developers are always friendly and eager to show you their creations and excited to answer questions. The Indie MEGABOOTH is your one-stop shop if you want to see a huge number of games that will be hitting your iPhone and iPad in the coming months.
As I mentioned, this veritable city block of exhibition space is broken into two sections, the MEGA Indie Showcase and the Mini Booth. The MEGA Indie Showcase booths remain static throughout the 3-day weekend, while the Mini Booth features a rotating group of presenters throughout the weekend. So make sure to grab a schedule/map when you enter the Indie MEGABOOTH or visit the official site for details on which developers will be showcasing their games on which days.
The MEGA Indie Showcase
This year, the Mega Indie Showcase features some repeats from last year in terms of both developers and games, with some devs (like Disco Pixel, Pixelscopic and The Men Who Wear Many Hats) finally getting close to bringing their games, many of which were just in the early stages last year, to released product very soon. We also have other developers like Boston-based Proletariat, The Tap Lab ready to reveal entirely new projects as well.
Tin Man Games will be on hand to show off three titles, including yesterday’s brand-new Gamebook, Fighting Fantasy: Starship Traveller and Bit.Trip Runner series creators Gaijin Games will also be demoing two upcoming mobile games for the first time.
Some of the other highlights include the spooky, puzzle adventure game The Phantom P.I. Mission Apparition from Rocket 5 Studios and Tiger Style’s upcoming sequel, Spider : Rite of The Shrouded Moon.
Below is the complete list of iOS-related projects available at this year’s MEGA Indie Showcase
- Jungle Rumble – Disco Pixel
- World Zombination – Proletariat
- The Phantom P.I. Mission Apparition – Rocket 5 Studios
- The Forgotten Spell – Tin Man Games
- Curse of The Assassin – Tin Man Games
- Appointment With F.E.A.R. – Tin Man Games
- ReignMaker – FrogDice
- Spider : Rite of The Shrouded Moon – Tiger Style
- Mushroom 11 – Untame
- Max Gentlemen – The Men Who Wear Many Hats
- Let’s Quip! – Fire Hose Games
- Interstellar Selfie Station – Love Conquers All Games
- Gates of Osiris – Fenix Fire
- Eets Munchies – Klei Entertainment
- Woah Dave! – Gaijin Games
- Destructamundo – Gaijin Games
- Duet – Kumobius
- Codename Cygnus – Reactive Studios
- Delver’s Drop – Pixelscopic
- Bigfoot Hunter – The Tap Lab
- Aaru’s Awakening – Lumenox Games
- Alteil Horizons – Apocoplay LLC
The Mini Booth
As for the rolling cast of developers populating the Mini Booth, there are some interesting looking titles here as well.
First is Game Oven’s rather unique 2-person mobile dancing game Bounden, as well as The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild’s competitive multiplayer matching game Tumblestone which looks like some real-time fun and there is also Brain&Brain’s charming little canine adventure game Doggins.
Here’s a full list of iOS-related Mini Booth presenters and the tentative schedule of which days they will be at the show:
- BIK – Zotnip (Saturday)
- Bounden – Game Oven (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Buddy & Me – Sunbreak Games (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Dog Sled Saga – Trichotomy (Friday)
- Doggins – Brain&Brain (Friday, Sunday)
- FRAMED – LoveShack (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Particle Mace – Andy Wallace (Saturday)
- Penguemic – Word Domination – Learn District (Sunday)
- Rex Rocket – Castle Pixel (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Tumblestone – The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild (Sunday)
And if all that wasn’t enough, there will also be some indie PC, console and tabletop games to see there as well. So make sure you budget at least a half to full day to visit this area alone.
