RPS@PAX 2023: What four PAX Rising devs learned after demoing their game for four days straight

At last year's PAX East, we spent a lot of our time poking around the PAX Rising Showcase booth, which is a collection of indie games curated by PAX itself. Not only did we find a bunch of cool games to play, but we were also able to chat to the games' creators, as all Rising finalists are invited to attend in person to show their work to the public.

This year, though, Rachel and I decided to go one step further. We interviewed the teams behind four of the eleven 2023 finalists, asking the developers behind Go-Go Town!, Paper Trail, Slay the Princess and Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action about their experience of bringing their games to PAX, what they learned along the way, and what it’s like to spend four days standing on your feet talking to thousands of attendees (spoilers: it’s really bloody tiring).

You can find out their answers to these questions and more in the video above. For some, PAX East marked the first time they were able to show their game in public. For others, it was a tried and tested method for gathering valuable player feedback. In all cases, though, they offered a fascinating glimpse into what it's like to exhibit a game at PAX and other big events like it.

If you're looking for more behind-the-scenes stories from this year's PAX East, why not watch our video about the Facebook community that meets once a year to take a group picture? Elsewhere, we also interviewed the developers of WrestleQuest about their upcoming wrestling RPG. Still not satisfied? You can find all of our PAX East posts organised neatly within the RPS@PAX tag. How lovely.