Day One 

  My first day was probably my favorite day, and arguably one of my favorite first days I’ve had at a con in a long time. As I stepped through the entrance of the south hall of the convention center, I was met by the sight and sounds of different fandoms having a wonderful time. Everyone –  including myself – was ready to see what day one had in store for us. As I still had a little more time to venture before I cleared the entire exhibit hall in one day like I planned, I decided to check out the west hall, which had all things gaming and anime, as well as a smaller artists alley. They even had a haunted carnival just in time for Halloween.  I spent a great amount of time there that Friday, going booth to booth, checking out and playing the demos. Each game has been developed with so much love and effort put into them. Two games caught my attention and were my favorite demos so far that I’ve played at the con. 

  The first game was awesome. It was called  “Swap Meat” by One More Games (https://playswapmeat.com/). The game is a third-person roguelike shooter. As a meat scientist, my objective in the game was to harvest all the meat on a planet infested with different species of aliens protecting their meat while trying to stop you from extracting it off their planet by killing you. It seemed like a challenge at first, but equipped with some beefy abilities, it was no problem for me, chopping fools up with my melee weapon (it was a spatula) was entertaining as much as blasting them with one of the weapons that was available to me during the demo, like at I had went from a sniper rifle, to a shotgun. The game definitely gives off an Adult Swim vibe, crossed with elements of many various rogue-like genres of games, like Risk Of Rain 2. From the different kinds of abilities,weapons, and Meat body parts, I was equipped to take out many enemies and complete quests. I enjoyed playing the game and speaking to the devs, and I’m looking forward to the direction this game is going in, and I’m all up for it.  

   The second Game Demo I played was called “Hyper Light Breaker”. It may sound familiar to some who have played Heart Machine’s previous masterpieces “Hyper Light Drifter”. Neither a direct prequel or sequel, Hyper Light Breaker (https://www.hyperlightbreaker.com/en/) is its own new story set within the same universe of the previous game. The art direction is what piqued my interest for both games, especially with how it takes things to the next level as this new game expands on the universe’s atmosphere, giving us a wonderfully stylized environment that I couldn’t help but fall in love with. You can tell the team really does put love into their work with each detail, even on each character. My character objective was to journey through a broad world that changes each time I step into it or die. I must venture around the map whilst leveling up and equipping myself with suitable weapons and skills that fits my playstyle as I’m supposed to use them to slay and thrash through the hordes of the  Abyss King. Aside from the art style and it just being a solid 10/10, I had really had a fun time talking to the team. Check out both games, which  are looking to release later next year! 

I had a good two hours left of the con, so I decided to make my way back to the south hall and set out and complete the last task of the day: clearing both sides of the Exhibit hall. I decided to start on the left side first as I walked right into the entrance, heading into the artists alley. As I scanned and cleared each row, I made a stop at a booth very familiar to me and my crew, Bordin ( a.k.a. Hyperbooster Studio). Bordin is this awesome artist who we’ve been commissioning art from for a few years now, and as always, you know I have to always grab a Hypersketch from him! It’s always a great time catching up with every time I’m at a con and want another masterpiece added onto my wall. As I finished up geeking out about my sketch of Eileen the Crow (a character from the video game, Bloodborne) , I gave my gratitude and farewells and I ventured off to complete the quest and clear the other side of the south hall, which honestly didn’t really take that long I had 30 minutes left to walk around, so all I did was pretty much check a few more booths out and buy merch before I called day one a complete success. Day Two was going to be even better, as I was looking forward to a few extra party members joining me.

Day Two

Day Three

  Sunday, the final day of the con, and also the day of the Average Joe’s interactive D&D experience panel, we had the opportunity to help out behind the scenes and get some great shots during the panel. The panel itself was great! The DM and the players on stage did an amazing job that I think the audience really enjoyed too. After the success of a panel we had, I went ahead and roamed the artists alley one last time before I left since it’s my favorite part of any con too.