PDA

View Full Version : What is a devLAN



Fengol
05-03-2008, 12:20 PM
Hey peoples,

Wow, we have so many new people, and what's more, they're entering the competitions! Well done to everyone and I hope you all continue to grow with the community.

Since we have so many new people and the oldies are clamouring for another devLAN in Gauteng I thought I should just explain what a devLAN is.

A devLAN is not your normal gaming LAN. A devLAN is where we learn to make games!

At a devLAN you bring your PC, headphones, snacks and drink; we have a speaker giving a brief presentation on the theme of the day and then we all begin to code. The objective is to learn by writing code, incorporating what we've learnt from the speaker and based on the theme of the day.

In the middle of the day we break for lunch; and at the end of the day we review what each other has written, giving feedback, comments and suggestions. We then have a social braai, chat and generally hang out.

I have to stress at this point that it's a working day! While we're gonna have fun the point is to learn by writing code not by chatting away, playing games or fooling around. If you do just want to socialize come for the braai afterwards, otherwise you might be asked to leave.

devLANs are made of concentrated win and well worth the time regardless of your expertise level. Whether you're a beginner or advanced developers there's always something to get out of being around other game developers.

Hope you see you at the next devLAN!

FuzzYspo0N
05-03-2008, 12:34 PM
INEEDINFOZ on where and when. warning in advance is key :0

:)

Fengol
05-03-2008, 12:41 PM
Dislekcia organises the devLANs in Gauteng and will post all the relevant details once the venue and date has been confirmed. Normally there's a 2-3 week heads up before the event ;)

FuzzYspo0N
05-03-2008, 12:43 PM
Ok, cool. Ilike the idea of a devlan,

so i shall try come. good man

dislekcia
05-03-2008, 12:47 PM
I believe our next theme was multiplayer, wasn't it?

-D

dammit
05-03-2008, 01:16 PM
What a brilliant idea :) Kewlness points to you guys :)

Squid
05-03-2008, 02:24 PM
I believe our next theme was multiplayer, wasn't it?

-D

Yes, yes, yes. Also I have teh venue.

dislekcia
05-03-2008, 02:34 PM
What a brilliant idea :) Kewlness points to you guys :)

We've been having DevLANs for ages now ;)

Miktar and I even flew down for a big one in Durbs 2 years ago.

-D

edg3
05-03-2008, 03:06 PM
Cant wait for the DevLAN!
/me looks forward to it

dammit
05-03-2008, 03:42 PM
We've been having DevLANs for ages now ;)

Miktar and I even flew down for a big one in Durbs 2 years ago.

-D


Really? I had no ide :P Oh well, better to learn late than never to learn at all ;)

Fengol
05-03-2008, 06:38 PM
23 July 2006 - Digital Gaming Hot Lab
http://flickr.com/photos/mailowl/sets/72157594331337609/

rAge 2006
http://flickr.com/photos/mailowl/sets/72157594308682998/

10 February 2007 - devLAN
http://flickr.com/photos/mailowl/sets/72157594549651095/

20 May 2007 - devLAN
http://flickr.com/photos/mailowl/sets/72157600234604671/

dislekcia
05-03-2008, 11:58 PM
http://flickr.com/photos/mailowl/195968451/in/set-72157594331337609/

Here you can see the level of in depth knowledge showcased at DevLANs and HotLabs ;)

-D

P.S. WTF Fengol? Can you remember what I was doing?

Cyberninja
06-03-2008, 12:14 AM
It's obviously your concentrated Jedi Mind Blast combined with the your Hypnotic Ninja Kata? :P

Fengol
06-03-2008, 12:25 AM
Damn! Even my blog post (http://mailowl.co.za/2006/07/18/hot-lab-workshop-%e2%80%93-22nd-july-2006/) doesn't say what we did that day (pls note the weird characters in the blog post were from a bad database move a while ago)

Gazza_N
06-03-2008, 06:30 PM
DevLANs get the totally internationally renowned and not-fake-at-all Gazza_N Stamp of Approval. They'll set you on your way to game-making fitness and finding inner 1337, and help you lose up to five pounds of eyeball fat. Really. I swear by them. <.<

Seriously, they are great, and I can't wait for this next one. If I learn half as much about MP as I did about AI at the last one, it'll be fantastic.

SkinkLizzard
07-03-2008, 04:53 PM
liek gazza dont you want to film the entire dislekcic presentation
and stick it on filecloset for us kzn people ? (request goes out to everyone actually but firstly to the l773
androidy cyborg type ) :)

Gazza_N
07-03-2008, 06:13 PM
Why me? :(

Kidding. :D I don't know about filming it, but maybe scribbling down and posting some notes would be a good idea. I think that the more people who benefit from a DevLAN (attendee or no) the better. In fact, I wonder if I still have those AI notes I swiped...

FuzzYspo0N
07-03-2008, 11:26 PM
depending where we have it, (@whoever is organising..fengol) we can record audio and stuff too.

Afflict
15-03-2008, 06:27 AM
Kewlness I like this, though you should be warned, i haven't gotten to invest nearly as much time into coding games as i wanted :(

So game maker level = n00b :P

cairnswm
17-03-2008, 07:36 AM
Game Maker Noobs are still expected to attend Game Dev LANs! Thats where Game Maker Noobs advance to Game Maker (not) noob (anymore)s!

:)

I can also organise doing the video etc of the Dev Lan.

Gazza_N
17-03-2008, 08:14 AM
Game Maker Noobs are still expected to attend Game Dev LANs! Thats where Game Maker Noobs advance to Game Maker (not) noob (anymore)s!

Vaguely defined terms and conditions apply. :P

Afflict
17-03-2008, 02:26 PM
Whoop Whoop Im so in. :)

Yeah video might not be a bad idea we can you tube it so that "everyone" can sorta attend?

Krummelz
18-11-2008, 11:24 AM
Just a question: What IDE's / technologies are used, or can be used to create these games at a devLAN? Eg. Game Maker, XNA, etc?

dislekcia
18-11-2008, 12:57 PM
Just a question: What IDE's / technologies are used, or can be used to create these games at a devLAN? Eg. Game Maker, XNA, etc?

Generally people bring their own PCs, so you can develop in anything you feel comfortable in. I keep the initial theory talk language/tool agnostic for a reason... If there is some code to work off (like in the networking devLAN) I tend to make that in GM though, it's the easiest option.

Be aware that so far we've had a lot of people start building things in C++ and not really get anywhere in the day we have for the LAN ;) GM and other rapid prototyping tools are preferable. But stick with what you're comfortable with.

edg3
18-11-2008, 06:13 PM
Be aware that so far we've had a lot of people start building things in C++ and not really get anywhere in the day we have for the LAN ;) GM and other rapid prototyping tools are preferable. But stick with what you're comfortable with.
As tempting as it is, I wont be bringing my 360 and other necessary additions to dev for it... :) I still think stuff from older DevLANs needs to be shared! Yes, I do! :P Would like to read up on the networking one more specifically.

I just want to ask here as it seems off topic a little on the other DevLAN threads, but how often are they planned? (ie. annually, quarterly, etc)
If they arent planned to be every so often maybe we could work out when holidays are for school goers and set an interval, and make a plan to have one?

dislekcia
18-11-2008, 08:32 PM
As tempting as it is, I wont be bringing my 360 and other necessary additions to dev for it... :) I still think stuff from older DevLANs needs to be shared! Yes, I do! :P Would like to read up on the networking one more specifically.

I just want to ask here as it seems off topic a little on the other DevLAN threads, but how often are they planned? (ie. annually, quarterly, etc)
If they arent planned to be every so often maybe we could work out when holidays are for school goers and set an interval, and make a plan to have one?

DevLANs are roughly planned around holidays, but to be honest they happen when Fengol kicks me hard enough to get me moving on them ;)

If you've got a time table idea for them (basing that around school holidays would be a good idea) go for it. That way we can plan a little more in advance and get more regular attendees :)

Krummelz
21-11-2008, 11:57 AM
Generally people bring their own PCs, so you can develop in anything you feel comfortable in. I keep the initial theory talk language/tool agnostic for a reason... If there is some code to work off (like in the networking devLAN) I tend to make that in GM though, it's the easiest option.

Be aware that so far we've had a lot of people start building things in C++ and not really get anywhere in the day we have for the LAN ;) GM and other rapid prototyping tools are preferable. But stick with what you're comfortable with.

Looks like I'll have to do some serious "studying" for XNA if I want to use that at a devLAN.. I've started with XNA and gone through some tutorials, but I wont be able to pull off in an hour what you you can do in GM in 5 minutes..

Another, possibly dumb, question: A devLAN is for one day only, right? So like a Saturday.. not a whole weekend?

Fengol
21-11-2008, 12:21 PM
yes, the devLANs are a single day from late morning to early evening.

I've found that workshops spanning a weekend are 1) not as productive as you think because you eventually get exhausted and 2) aren't well attended because people have other commitments and wouldn't rather not attend at all than only attend part of it.

edg3
21-11-2008, 01:04 PM
DevLANs are roughly planned around holidays, but to be honest they happen when Fengol kicks me hard enough to get me moving on them ;)

If you've got a time table idea for them (basing that around school holidays would be a good idea) go for it. That way we can plan a little more in advance and get more regular attendees :)
Will get back to you as soon as I can about that. Just need to find out the holiday dates for next year. Perhaps do 3 next year? 1st term holidays, 2nd term holidays, december? (factoring in DBP, etc)

If we can have rough dates at the very least people can plan to make it much more in advance :)