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GAMA Trade Show, Day 1

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LAS VEGAS -- GAMA Trade Show 2016 kicked off Monday, March 14, with a varied series of events geared toward bringing publishers, retailers, and game developers together and giving them a better understanding of their industry. 

LAS VEGAS -- GAMA Trade Show 2016 kicked off Monday, March 14, with a varied series of events geared toward bringing publishers, retailers, and game developers together and giving them a better understanding of their industry. 

Elisa Teague of Lone Shark Games gave one of the first presentations of the day, on guidance for game developers pitching projects to publishers. 

"Having a sell sheet is very important," said Teague (below left). While some art can make these more appealing, however, she said developers should not invest in too much for their sell sheets, because most publishers will not use it anyway and will commission their own illustrations for any projects they acquire. 

 

Jason Buhlman (above right), lead designer for Paizo and founder of Minotaur Games, gave a presentation on running crowdfunding campaigns for game projects, particularly using Kickstarter. 

"Maybe you've heard of a little game called Pathfinder," Buhlman said during his introduction, eliciting titters from eager game designers in the audience. He then went on to give many useful tips for running Kickstarter campaigns, with special emphasis on his own current project for it. 

"I love it already," one enchanted fan crooned from the front row. 

GAMA Executive Director John Ward gave a freeform talk on how the organizations members can get involved with its boards and play a role in determining what their priorities should be. 

Other activities on the first day of the show included a launch party that transitioned into a game demo session, followed by additional presentations that ran until until 9 p.m. Attendees lingered on even after seminars ended, networking and getting the most they could out of the opportunities presented by the event.