When being nominated for the Independent Games Festival, a developer is given the chance to demo their game on the show floor at Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. For DEVICE 6, this was the third year in a row that we were nominated, since Year Walk and Beat Sneak Bandit had been nominated the preceding years. We knew attending the booth took a lot of energy and time. So we decided to create an analog version of the game, which we didn’t need to attend.

We called the DEVICE 6 IGF TEST KIOSK. Visitors would have to find clues in printed text snippets, three-dimensional lenticular images, replica iPhones with printed text insert, a mysterious box with an audio device that would play a sound when a button was pushed, and loads of fake lenses and microphones which gave the impression that the booth was under surveillance.

Solving the entire kiosk involved following the hints and figuring out puzzles, which would end up with players finding out that they needed to look below the table, which in turn would eventually lead them to a secret webpage.

The Booth Violation Notice we got for covering up sponsor logos with our big print piece was stressful at the time, but funny in hindsight. We ended up having to redesign the kiosk in just a few hours.

All the component of the test kiosk is still in a box somewhere in Gordon’s garage.