So last week I exhibited Bleed 2 at Bit Bazaar as part of the Canadian Videogame Awards! They converted an entire hockey arena into a show floor (how Canadian) and it made for an impressive venue. I was a lot more prepared to exhibit this time, coming armed with merch, food/water, a better build and even a better tablecloth! Clearly all the stops were pulled out.

I had a lot of fun showing off the game and meeting awesome folks (special shout out to the dude who told me he came for Bleed 2, reads the blog regularly, and even bought a poster! That was so touching, you rock!!) Most of the changes I implemented were for the better — the tutorials still aren’t getting through to everyone, but they make sense to more people, at least! The game was well-received in general, and I had a blast.

For reference, some random stats from the exhibition (better than they should be, thanks to the Shutshimi guys doing speedruns, haha):

• Games started: 109
• Demo cleared: 79 times
• Average clear time: 5min30sec
• Average deaths per run: 2.5

 

On the less-exciting side of things however, exhibiting is a lot of work (the preparation and execution totalled about 120 hours in 2 weeks.) Last time I showed the game I took a week off to recover — a move I would’ve liked to repeat, but the timing wasn’t right. I’ve kept working so far, but I can feel myself starting to crash.

Part of me wants to push through one more week to get to the “legit” holidays along with the rest of the world, but… I’ll probably take a break. Working for myself I often have to push through and stay disciplined, but I think it’s important to recognize when I’m pushing myself too hard and ease back. Down-time is valuable.

Blah blah blah, everyone deals with burnout, or the threat of it, in their own way. This is just my friendly reminder that it does exist, there is such a thing as working too much and too hard, and at some point your work and your sanity will suffer! Please, take a breather, be good to yourself, and enjoy the holidays!!