MFF (Midwest Furfest Report)!

Howdy! So we just got back from MFF, and happy to report it was an amazing success. To take a step back, we got some intel from fellow indies AIM (Animal Insurgent Mercenaries), an advance wars style title that these cons might be worth attending. We put together a plan months ago to pitch the idea to the MFF staff to have indies, and we had zero clue if they'd go for it. The main issue a lot of indies are having atm is that costs to exhibit at PAX continue to rise, which is making them nearly unaffordable (Talking nearly 2.5k+ for a tiny booth, up from 1600 pre-covid).

Animal Insurgent Mercenaries (AIM) Booth

So we'd been keeping an eye out for other cons that might offer us a chance to attend and spread the word on Fighters. Thankfully the MFF staff went for it and accommodated us, and the cost was a fraction of other cons we've attended. With zero idea what to expect- The team got to work to get Kiera ready for the con with just a few months. We'll have a separate post but she is now playable and our plan was to lab her at the con- And we ended up getting a ton of good feedback. There was a surprising amount of FGC peeps present.

We packed up as much as we could with a compact setup and had no idea what to expect, and about 5 of us headed out to Chicago. Honestly, we were not sure how we'd be received or if indies would fit in so our expectations were tempered. But we weren't prepared. Within the first day we'd sold out of a good chunk of our merch, which kind of blew our mind.

After years of attending mostly videogame cons we had wondered how things would go, but overall the vibes even before the dealers area opened were very upbeat. It's hard to describe but the feel around the event was very wholesome and goofy overall. People were just there to express themselves, and it was a very tight knit community. It felt different from all these videogame related events-Where at times you wouldn't know what to expect from attendees.

In general people just seemed happy to be there, and despite having smaller numbers than a PAX style event it was PACKED. Everyone was incredibly friendly (I can't stress this enough) and made us feel welcome. It was the best case outcome.

 There were quite a few devs in both official and unofficial capacities, including SirBilyon from a Breeze In the Clouds, a great beat em up with fighting game DNA featuring weather control and pollution busting mechanics. We talked shop plenty during the con, including war stories about being indie devs in 2024. WirelessShibe of AIM on the right, Rigman doing his thing in the green sweater in the back.

Throughout the weekend we had a ton of people lab both Volley and Kiera (Despite her limited moveset), including DJ Echo (pictured right)- A former competitive Street Fighter player who gave us some great feedback. We had a limited setup which had a laptop feed with which we could observe what kind of combos were cooking up and got a ton of good data and spotted bugs to fix.

In general Kiera was really well received, with some people pulling off mega combos despite her only being about 30% complete. We would make changes every night and deploy new builds and our accessible combo system was really well received and easy to pick up and play. We chatted about our roguelike mode and people seemed really enthusiastic as well about the concept.

On a funnier note- Suiter Zoldon was SHOOK at seeing a character that resembled his OC and was in utter shock viewing the standee we'd brought in. Eye patch crew unite, and we've got no shortage of them.

 Ash (our programmer) hanging out with Quartz- Who ended up being the winner of the standee auction we mentioned in the Discord. We all had a chance to chat with her and she was one of the many friendly suiters we met throughout the weekend.

We all literally dropped everything we were doing and ran over to Sura to hit the BOOF together, and drama ensued later when she lost her boof prop during the con. Hoping it was recovered and returned safe and sound!

The Ela Novabay/Kiera Standee War

 Having the AIM team next to us, we messed with each other all weekend - So we returned the favor by doing a few things. Of course, we had to get a shitty art commission (literally what they were called) from Chupakaibra of one of their mouse CO's, Ela Novabay.

We also 'adopted' one of the standees and declared Ela our wife, taking her out to every restaurant the entire weekend and kept informing their dev team. This all started due to them taking pictures with our Kiera standee. Here she was keeping us company at German restaurant where we lost our minds over the course of a few hours.

THIS ALL COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. BUT THEY FIRED THE FIRST SHOT IN THIS WAR. It all culminated with SB dancing with the Ela Novabay standee in front of a live band during a dinner with the AIM devs, causing everyone to pretty much lose it. The Kiera standee thankfuly avoided much fondling and went home with Quartz, the highest bidder!

GALLOPING GHOST ARCADE

One of our sidequests during the after hours of MFF was to go hit up Galloping Ghost, a proper legendary arcade and one of the biggest collections in the entire United States. Having heard they had one of kind fighting game prototypes and super rare cabs, we set out to go check it out during one of the evenings.

We actually got to meet up with RebelTaxi/Pan Pizza which was an insanely cool experience. If you remember, he'd recently covered us in his 'Gaming's Not Dead' video just recently which was a huge honor. To say this place was labyrinthine is an understatement, they proper have over ONE THOUSAND arcade cabinets, which we realized was insane. We spent hours there and barely scratched the surface- But were able to try some amazingly rare cabinets like Primal Rage 2 and Resident Evil: Gun Survivor.

SB Note: Plus they had just about every fighting game cab ever made under one roof which was a dream come true. It was mind boggling how many cabinets they had in that building, we kept getting lost and finding each other while wandering around. This collection was proper hardcore in terms of rarities. The Code Veronica cabinet was a proper wtf, one of many that evening.

Chicago Food Report

Sidequest 2 in the off hours was to try the trifecta of Chicago food staples: Deep dish pizza, Chicago hot dogs and the famous 'Italian Beef' sandwich. Happy to say we were barely able to hit all three between a few team members getting sick (con crud, travel crud, etc).

Chicago pizza? We hit up Giordano's, a staple in the area and basically described it as 'pizza lasagna'. It's dummy thicc and stuffed to the gills with cheese, basically 2 slices of this and you'll be ready to blow. Not for the lactose intolerant! Was surprisingly good eaten cold though, which we all agreed upon. Cook time of 40 minutes was something though, although it was packed to the gills.

For hotdogs we hit up a place called Gene and Jude's- Which was recommended by a local at the con. They offered 'hotdogs with fries' so we incorrectly assumed they were separate. Our jaws collectively dropped when we saw them smashing fries on top of the hotdogs. The order above was what we got to feed the entire team, needless to say there were some leftovers. I don't know about you all but fries inside/on top of sandwiches like this are absolutely amazing. This was a religious experience.

Last but not least:

The Italian beef/sausage spot, Johnnie's. On our last day we headed over to try out the Italian beef, which is basically a sandwich with peppers and sliced beef dipped in a savory gravy. It's sloppy, not too complex but it was DELICIOUS. We also tried the fire grilled sausage and it slapped. Don't have any pictures as we were forced to eat outside as this joint was tiny, so we ate outside in the dark while standing.

So overall verdict on Chicago? Delicious, stick to your ribs type food- Which was perfect for the cold weather. We were all impressed.

In Conclusion

We all agreed this convention was amazing, reasonably priced and everyone was incredibly friendly. We went in not knowing what to expect but were blown away by how welcoming it was- From the attendees to the staff. Made a bunch of new friends and we will definitely be coming back! This ranked as one of the best cons we've ever attended, nearly beating out PAX East (The superior one). Over and out!