Every May, the games industry gathers for E3, the world computer games fair. This year it was in Atlanta. It’s an awesome sight; imagine a building 11 times the size of Old Trafford with 5,000 games and 40,000 people, all in sweltering 95-degree heat. Love it or loathe it, if you’re in the industry, you have to be there. If taken advantage of, E3 can be a very cost-effective way for a new developer to introduce themselves to a series of publishers, especially as most of the big players are based is the U.S.

With just two weeks to go, I had a crunch decision to make. I had been funding Elixir entirely with my savings and I was almost broke. My funds could just about stretch to a plane ticket to Atlanta (assuming it wasn’t already too late to book one) but certainly not far enough to be able to stay in a half-decent hotel. A more important consideration though, was the fact that we didn’t have anything to show yet – neither cool graphics nor a demo.

One solution was that Joe was going to be out in Atlanta with his company and that I could probably kip on his floor. I still had to sort a flight out though. The only one I could get was on Dodgy Unsafe Airlines and this turned out to be an indirect 16 hour flight that went via Mongolia (a popular destination. I’m told).

Before leaving, I contacted a number of publishers that I had come to know over the past 6 years in the industry and arranged as many meetings as I could. I got a press pack together with updated biographies on everyone and sent these out to them. All promised to give me at least a few minutes at the show. As I arrived at Heathrow for my flight I thought nervously about what lay ahead.

It was my first time at E3 and it was every bit as impressive as I had been told it would be. Most of the stands cost over a million dollars to build. It took me a while to realise that there were in fact two exhibition halls and that the second one was as vast as the first. Although it would have been impossible to see everything, I spent a long time trying to take everything in. The majority of games on show were incredibly beautiful to look at, but there seemed to be a distinct lack of original material. This thought gave me confidence for the meetings ahead.

The serious stuff began on the second day and my preparations had been far from ideal. Sleeping on the floor by Joe’s steaming feet is not a fate you would wish on your worst enemy. Worse still, he also talks in his sleep. The expression ‘Sleep-Talk’ barely does justice. I’ve never met someone who can spout utter rubbish eloquently, defend his position stubbornly, and not remember a word of it in the morning. Drunk, yes, but asleep?

My first meeting was with one of the biggest publishers in the business. I was apprehensive and managed to get lost twice en route. Although I knew their reputation, I didn’t have a significant contact and I didn’t know what to expect. The meeting was with their European Head of Development. He was initially very cagey and it crossed my mind that he must get about 100 people a day approaching him with crazy ideas.

I launched into a half an hour spiel about the backgrounds of the team and my vision for the company. I then went through the financials and gave a very brief overview of two of our game ideas. I was hoping that this would encourage him to give me a follow up meeting. As the meeting drew to a close I found myself trying to read his reaction. He was being very cool about it all; again I guess a trait that most of the guys at the top have, that ‘poker face’. When he invited me to another meeting with his US equivalent in two days time, I knew that I had got my foot in the door.

Over the course of the next few days I endured a gruelling round of meetings. I met a number of publishers, all of whom played me with a very straight bat. Overall, they were cautiously interested and most had agreed to follow-up meetings after the show.

During the evenings I went to a couple of the industry parties. Contrary to what they may seem, these are actually important places to do work and make contacts. It’s like going to a party with people in it that you don’t know and have to make friends with as quickly as possible. You have to be on top small-talking form and try to be impressive the whole time – not easy, considering the amount of alcohol at these things. At one of these I got to meet the great Shigeru Miyamoto, the Mario genius. This was ruined a little by the fact that Miyamoto can’t speak English and my Japanese isn’t too hot!

On the flight back I was sat next to some surprisingly interesting people, one of whom was the owner of Game Station, a chain of retailers based in the North. He told me his story, which was incredible. In just 5 years, he’d managed to build a chain of 20 stores from little more than a backroom operation. It proves that if you really want it enough, you can almost always get it. I then settled down to sleep, happy in the knowledge that the gamble of going to E3 had paid off. There was a huge amount of work ahead, but things were starting to gather momentum.

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