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edg3
05-10-2008, 05:27 PM
This weekend kicked off quite interestingly for the Game.Dev stand, being given a hospitality suite we werent found as easily by people, but thanks to a successful advertisement campaign we managed to have good turnout for the talks.

The talks this year were very interesting and I can honestly say I gained a lot of interesting ideas for future endeavours. People who werent there definitely missed out on some really helpful content.

Thank you to all involved for making my experience this year more awesome then I expected.

As for the Game.Dev round table (we had no table, but we were imaginative so just bear with us) a few interesting main topics stood out, and I think I'll share them for people who werent there:
- As far as getting more steam (polish, etc) in competitions and games is concerned, we have been improving greatly, and as it turns out we do better in our game making in all aspects when we have limits (eg, no text).
- As far as getting into the whole "making money from games" plan goes, we have made progression! We now have a person (nick please? Didnt hear it) willing to help us decide on marketing and EVEN spend time doing some punting our games for us. There were a few ideas that came up that can help us start really moving towards our goals of making money from our games. I wont go into detail with that though, will leave that to dislekcia.
- We need to do an ad based distribution site for our games to make it easier for people to find it all AND earn money. I believe I have a solution for setting up the site and all that (even a donation system when we get to the point where its paying off) and I'll get back to everyone on that. As far as distribution for our games over the net goes, there are things that can be integrated into the websites purpose (VAS sms number from Vodacom, eg. 42637 (games)) to make it possible to sell games! For instance, a flat rate of R3 an sms, to get a single download key, the key can be used to download any single game from the site. The reason this would work is that we would require you to have a demo for each game thats free for download, and then people can decide what they want. One problem with selling your games nowadays online is people want to see what they have to pay for.
- We will possibly have a route to getting people into earning money from games with IP games (intellectual property).

What we will need:
- Suggestions for where to host (worst case I can ask Fuzzyspoon but would be nice to find affordable hosting somewhere that suits all needs, local is preffered but not essentail)
- A Joomla theme! Thats right, a joomla theme, we can have the site up VERY quickly, but the important bit is making it unique. Doesnt have to be spectacular, but if at all possible original and different (as in dont just remake the gamedotdev.co.za theme for joomla please :P )
- Suggestions for features for the site, as in do we want blogs? do we want RSS feeds from a bunch of sites (eg. aigamedev.com, xna blog, etc)? Feel free to go wild (if you can think of a good enough reason for it)
- As for uploading all the competition entries etc I can upload everything that dis has.
- After dream build play I need input as to what the file size upload limit would need to be? 10mb seems a bit small after the entries being fairly large.

Some news:
- I am planning on making the site so that you can actually submit things like sprite packs, sounds, etc that you dont mind people getting for free so that we can begin to expand.

Higushi
05-10-2008, 06:31 PM
Thanks for that run-down, sounds like you guys had a great time! Lots of ideas going around and new innovations and initiatives flowing out of it! Great stuff. Wish I was there, had a blast last time. Next year I'm definitely there, screw uni!

vii
05-10-2008, 06:48 PM
I enjoyed the talks.
-Nandrew's talk on Sound creation was really well done and gave me a good understanding on how to go about it.
-Aequitas' talk on shaders confused the living **** out of me, but it got the point across(well kind of)
-Spacehack looks damn awesome, as does Ultimate Quest. I really enjoyed trying out both.


But most of all, The developers DVD I got from Dislekcia is the most valuable thing I bought this weekend. The tutorials are a great help, thanks for that!

All in all a great weekend, Thanks to everyone!

Takiro
05-10-2008, 06:53 PM
I really enjoyed Nandrew's talk yesterday, Think I might try out a little game dev myself now. Loved the Ultimate Quest talk, I can't wait to get my hands on it now :)

Cyberninja
05-10-2008, 06:55 PM
MOR PICTURES!!! \0/

*Pretty plz with a cherry on top. :P

Insomniac
05-10-2008, 07:38 PM
Wow sounded really awesome, now I'm even more bleak I couldn't make it this year :(

Hopefully the lecture videos will be available soon ;)

I will definitely try my best to come along next year and get more involved again, maybe us Game.Dev Durbanites should make a plan to go up together next year???

edg3 you deserve some kudos for typing all that on your phone!

Gazza_N
05-10-2008, 07:44 PM
This really was an exceptionally cool weekend. Talks were informative (you can pick up a DVD set of ALL OF THEM for R200, courtesy of cairnswm, who deserves kudos for spending his entire weekend filming and editing video), and getting to meet everyone I hadn't already met was awesome. As edg3's post implies, we had a few breakthroughs in the round-table discussion too, which could mean very exciting things for the community in the future.

Necrolis
05-10-2008, 07:55 PM
The game.dev was very well done this year(aequitas talk has prompted me to Begin work on a cow based rts, with procedural meat and limbs!), so much so it kinda killed the rest of rage for me :P. The resource dvd is brillaint :). Thanks to all the guys who put effort into the talks and grunt work, still ****ed that i missed most of the code-off :/

edg3
05-10-2008, 08:05 PM
Well, all that happened was I took notes while we spoke on my phone like I did last year and copy pasted the notes I took today and re-wrote them so that its no longer shorthand notes, when I update the post tomorrow afternoon I'll update the notes on my phone so that I dont have to try re-remember what they mean for rAge next year.

SkinkLizzard
05-10-2008, 08:13 PM
Wow sounded really awesome, now I'm even more bleak I couldn't make it this year :(

Hopefully the lecture videos will be available soon ;)

I will definitely try my best to come along next year and get more involved again, maybe us Game.Dev Durbanites should make a plan to go up together next year???

edg3 you deserve some kudos for typing all that on your phone!

indeed us durbanian devites need to make more effort to be there.
hopefully I can make it next year. :)

NightTimeHornet
06-10-2008, 04:50 PM
Sorry I missed it all :/ I'll make up for it next year!

Tr00jg
06-10-2008, 06:48 PM
Awesome! Looks like it was quite fun!

As for this:



- We need to do an ad based distribution site for our games to make it easier for people to find it all AND earn money. I believe I have a solution for setting up the site and all that (even a donation system when we get to the point where its paying off) and I'll get back to everyone on that. As far as distribution for our games over the net goes, there are things that can be integrated into the websites purpose (VAS sms number from Vodacom, eg. 42637 (games)) to make it possible to sell games!

I know how to develop a CMS, and I would love to help on that!

(In fact, I think I'll probably start doing it myself for fun (and experience) anyway).

edg3
06-10-2008, 08:09 PM
Tr00jg: you are awesome :D good to see you can help out! I will try get hold of you tomorrow when I have completed a summary of the plan for this whole idea that I have.

I was going to post that this afternoon, but Im first going to contact some people I know that already make money from these sort of systems to get some tips, pointers, and suggestions. If the guy in advertising from the round table could contact me I also have some questions for him.

FuzzYspo0N
07-10-2008, 09:38 AM
lets hope we arent reinventing the cms :) theres tons, with 1000% portability to add our own components. Plus,they are constantly brute tested. where as ours will take a lot longer. Just a note :)

Zuljien
07-10-2008, 12:41 PM
Was a really good event, was great seeing all you guys again. And maybe this time around I'll be on here more often....
www.avonstorm.co.za

Tr00jg
07-10-2008, 01:14 PM
lets hope we arent reinventing the cms :) theres tons, with 1000% portability to add our own components. Plus,they are constantly brute tested. where as ours will take a lot longer. Just a note :)

True, yes. It will probably be best to use an existing CMS, edit it and add components.

I just want to sink my teeth into a new web project. :P

Kensei
07-10-2008, 07:21 PM
I know CMS' (But they are primarily the commercial ones)

If I remember correctly Drupal has a heap load of modules to add to a site, worth checking out methinks.

edg3
07-10-2008, 07:55 PM
I used Drupal here: http://realdev.co.za
Its nice and all, but its fiddly at best. I couldnt even get file uploads to work in it.

FuzzYspo0N
08-10-2008, 09:39 AM
Drupal sucks (imho)

I use joomla (as it is open source and made of pure ease), the components are easy to make... And they give you everything on a plate. So its really really simple. Plus its lightweight (if you know what you are doing).

There is also wordpress, which sounds like a blog but has cms ability, if you code the pages as pages, and not as the default page... seeing as the layouts are passed around LIKE components they are good, but its cool.

Iv been modding cms' for years as well, if you need any hints let me know id be glad to share the tons of components iv written, to simplify things such as calendars, uploads and other generic things.

edg3
09-10-2008, 03:23 PM
Some form of update (also changed the first post), mostly regarding a site dedicated to file uploads, handling, etc:


What we will need:
- Suggestions for where to host (worst case I can ask Fuzzyspoon but would be nice to find affordable hosting somewhere that suits all needs, local is preffered but not essentail)
- A Joomla theme! Thats right, a joomla theme, we can have the site up VERY quickly, but the important bit is making it unique. Doesnt have to be spectacular, but if at all possible original and different (as in dont just remake the gamedotdev.co.za theme for joomla please :P )
- Suggestions for features for the site, as in do we want blogs? do we want RSS feeds from a bunch of sites (eg. aigamedev.com, xna blog, etc)? Feel free to go wild (if you can think of a good enough reason for it)
- As for uploading all the competition entries etc I can upload everything that dis has.
- After dream build play I need input as to what the file size upload limit would need to be? 10mb seems a bit small after the entries being fairly large.

Some news:
- I am planning on making the site so that you can actually submit things like sprite packs, sounds, etc that you dont mind people getting for free so that we can begin to expand.

FuzzYspo0N
10-10-2008, 10:13 AM
Cool update. I would jump on the theme like children on a candy-pile. I love joomla theming and its very slick when its running full steam (plus i may or may not be able to make some sexy graphics now and again, somewhat like the ones i created for the ResourceDVD but better).

I have a suggestive host (pixofile.co.za is using it and it kicks ass so far) which ill find out the name and contact of soon.

bladesway
10-10-2008, 10:15 AM
Hi guys, just giving some feedback from my side. I am still Waiting to hear if paramount is interested in allowing us to make games for the based on their IP. I will make the list available as soon as it is possible. I have found a local distributor of cellphone game that is willing to help us. So we can have some j2me games or flash lite game competitions that would prove profitable to the winners.

I am presenting the idea of Ad games to a few clients soon that might be willing to start us off with this project.

As for the site, the SMS thing is a good idea, but as with everything else online people don't want to pay for things they download. An advertising based site would be the best approach since you can make your money with out having to charge players. Something like www.kongregate.com is a good example.

I will keep every one updated as far as I can. Have a Great one and make good games ;)

cairnswm
10-10-2008, 08:53 PM
Just realized, we had no Game.Dev idols this year!!!!

dislekcia
10-10-2008, 11:10 PM
Just realized, we had no Game.Dev idols this year!!!!

Nope. I didn't miss it either... It never felt like a really good idea to be honest. The Code-off Challenge has always worked a lot better in terms of empowering people to make stuff... In Idols we'd keep telling people what NOT to do :(

Avaron
11-10-2008, 02:27 PM
Hey the talks were awesome, I really enjoyed the cows. As talking to some of the people there and being shunned because as being a programmer and not on these forums was insulting to them. I decided to register here and get involved with game.dev and some people might know me as the guy with the black jumper saying ?-i pwn noobs-? or a young programmer who knows more than his classmates and surprised to find others.

dislekcia
11-10-2008, 03:42 PM
Hey the talks were awesome, I really enjoyed the cows. As talking to some of the people there and being shunned because as being a programmer and not on these forums was insulting to them. I decided to register here and get involved with game.dev and some people might know me as the guy with the black jumper saying ?-i pwn noobs-? or a young programmer who knows more than his classmates and surprised to find others.

Welcome! Maybe you'll be able to join the mythical in crowd someday... I wish I knew who those buggers were!

Kensei
11-10-2008, 03:43 PM
Awesome :D

Welcome to the forums Avaron :) Glad you could join us.