Today was the home stretch. My feet were used to the abuse. The Frontier guys and girls were taking really good care of us with lots of water, vitamin C tablets, food and breaks through the whole event. Nobody got burned out. Poor Alex was starting to suffer with cold though.
One visitor kept coming back (third or fourth time) and chatting with him for at least the second time, it transpired that it was a member of Dead Men Walking gaming community. Small world!
On the way in on Sunday morning I met a Dad with two young sons (9 & 11) and they were chatting with me about Elite on the tube to Earls Court. They came straight to our stand when the doors opened and the elder boy got to knock “Play with Oculus Rift DK2” off his show bucket list first thing. He kept telling his Dad “This is awesome Dad, we have to get this!” the whole time he was playing.
So many people were coming in saying “my friend dragged me here to see this, he wouldn’t shut up about the game!” and left saying “I’m going to pre-order now!”.
Doors closed at 7pm and I managed a go on one of the new tutorial missions where you attack a guarded convoy, then it was time to do battle with tube closures and make my way back home to Kent.
The Elite: Dangerous stand won "Best Booth" and "Best PC Game" awards.
Today was the first “Schools out” day and was insanely busy. Many, many Dads with young children, where the dad had fond memories of the original Elite and were eager to see the new game. By this point we were starting to see people coming back for multiple plays on the game.
The BETA 2 looks so good and with the X52’s, even without the DK2, the game is very immersive.
David Braben popped by in the afternoon (having made a flying visit on Friday) and I got a chance to chat with him (and get a photo) – he was a really nice guy, down to earth and enthusiastic.
On Thursday most of the players had been male; not stereotype gamers, but only a handful of ladies. By late Saturday I was seeing a much larger number of female players, of all ages. Many were there with their boyfriends, but were as interested in the game (not just tagging along), quite a few were in cosplay getup. Some really funny characters.
Today I was getting into the swing of things. Word was getting around the show that Elite was the game to see and we were getting a lot of “Elite Newbies” who’d never heard of the game or the series but were blown away by the gameplay and graphics. Also more than a few stand staff from around the show came around early on, who were keen to see the game and have a play.
As each person came in we would chat to them find out what they knew about Elite: Dangerous and the series and then explain the concepts of the game, the history of the series and the Kickstarter and the imminent release of the game (Q4). Most people would play the basic combat tutorial and a few struggled to complete the mission, but most passed with ease and really enjoyed the game.
It was a pleasure to be demonstrating software that other people got excited about.
Today was a much earlier start. We had to be there by 8.30am. By this point the centre of the ring of desks was covered with a giant circular post of the “Azeban City” Coriolis space station. We had four of the twelve workstations set up with Oculus Rift DK2, one had a 4K screen and they all had X52Pro flight joysticks and top-end Turtle Beach headsets.
Our stand filled up pretty rapidly and by managing the post-chat flight time for each commander, we kept the queue to less than an hour the whole day. The highlight of the day was Jason Bradbury from The Gadget Show sat down at the Occulus station next to mine while Kerash (John) talked him through the game. He had a go and loved it. When Jason took the headset off, he was so excited he high-fived me! He was so taken when I pointed out the BBC Micro keyboard in the cockpit, he had to snap a photo with his phone.
After the 7pm close, we went for a much deserved beer. I only had a half because of the long train journey with no loo!
Spent the afternoon at Earls Court today. They were setting up the stand and PCs for playing the game. New builds hot off the compiler!
Frontier has twelve PC rigs with 32" screens, X52 joysticks and headsets all set up in a circle running Elite: Dangerous. Four of the rigs are running Occulus Rift DK2, so come see me and I will make sure you get a go!
The other Elite Ambassadors are a nice crowd. One even mentioned he'd visited dMw forums searching Google for info on Elite (I knew Google was good for something!).
The stand was really impressive - I will post a photo or two tomorrow.
We didn’t need to arrive until 2pm, so most of the guys who were acting as Elite: Dangerous ambassadors met up at a restaurant near to Earls Court for lunch beforehand. Terry who was clearly very quick, brought a box of Ferrero Roche for the “Ambassador’s Party” – he shouldn’t have, he spoiled us! LOL
We then went over to the exhibition halls and met the Frontier staff Mike and Ed the sales/PR guys and Ali & Jess the marketing/events management girls who had been our contacts via email up to that point – they were a really nice bunch.
The stand was in an unfinished stage at that point, but they had put a lot of thought into the setup. Wandering around it was clear most of the game stands were dark, windowless and boxed in with queuing outside. The Elite stand was an open circle with twelve workstations with recessed 32” screens and the queue had been set up around the perimeter with a “selfie” photo booth at the end of the queue. This meant people waiting could see the game being played the whole time.
Well instead of going as a vistor this year. I will now be going on all five days.
Got the time off work and I will be on the Frontier stand as an ambassador for Elite: Dangerous.
I will do my best to promote the Dead Men Walking gaming community while I'm there.
Any details of Elite I come away with I will forward to you all (provided there's no NDA - although I can't see that likely with a game already in open BETA).
Hello Commander!
Congratulations! You have been chosen to be one of our Elite: Dangerous Brand Ambassadors for EGX 2014 in London!
EGX 2014: Earls Court
Time: Wednesday 24th September - Sunday 28th September
The show will be open to the public from Thursday to Sunday. You will be needed on the Wednesday from 1pm at the event for a run through of the demo and stand – and also to meet us!
Before the event we will be sending you an Ambassador Briefing document along with contact information.
You will be given Ambassador t-shirts for the event, if you could please specify your size by the end of today. If we don’t get the t-shirt size we shall order XL T-shirts for you.
Travel and Accommodation
You will need to book your own travel to and from the event, please notify us of the cost prior to booking, keep all your receipts or note your mileage as we will reimburse these to you. If you are coming from outside London and require accommodation over the four days please let us know by Friday afternoon.
If you have any further questions do not hesitate to email us.
We are really looking forward to meeting you all and growing our Ambassador team!
The Frontier Team
Regards
Alison Chapman
Events Manager
Frontier Developments Plc