View Full Version : I saw the poster.... [prep]
Game.Dev School Promotion Drive
Currently Game.Dev isnt growing because promoting it takes time and effort which dis and others dont really have time for at the moment. So Im starting the ball rolling and starting a drive to promote Game.Dev. In the past, attempts have been made to try get schools to join in on competitions, and they have pretty much through any official method rejected it, reasons being along the lines of the fact that making computer games "cant really be educational/helpful" or the fact that they dont want their teachers to learn new languages and such. We're going to change that.
The drive will work through the pupils of a school and the IT teachers directly in an effort to get people pointed in the right direction to start taking part in Game.Dev competitions and such. I will be dedicating my time to helping out newcomers to Game.Dev from the drive and Im sure there will be more then sufficient help from community members to answer any questions and give any advice needed for this to work.
We will rope in the newcomers through a thread that we will start when we begin putting posters up titled "I saw a poster about Game.Dev..." as a way to see how many people actually get drawn in by this campaign, and to also set the ball rolling with helping them to get started with game development.
The biggest issue that we will have will be the fact that the schools dont all use the same language (delphi/pascal/java/python/etc) so it would be nice for some people who know a little bit about one or two of them to help out here and there.
So what will happen:
We need to create a poster that works well in B&W and also in Colour that is A4 sized to be put up at schools (if you all could help decide what should all go on it, and someone could design it, that would be great)
We need to make a list of the schools that people are in to put up posters at, and to hand over a letter to their IT teacher(s)
Drafting of a letter that can be printed or emailed to IT teachers to ask for some minor assistance
Have introductions to different language's libraries for Game.Dev and esspecially emphasizing Game Maker as they can script in whatever way they are comfortable
The letter (which is in the works) will state the intentions of the program and what we need their help with. Essentially all we will ask of them is to speak to their students, and reffer the interested students on to us.
The schools list is just to see how many schools we can get to at the start, and to see how well this ends up promoting Game.Dev. (the "unconfirmed" in brackets willr eflect whether the IT teacher will help or not)
School List:
Rand Park High - (confirmed) - edg3
Allen Glen High - (unconfirmed) - 01DT!m3r
St. Andrew's Bloem - (unconfirmed) - Aval4nche
Fourways High - (undonfirmed) - edg3
Downloads
the Letter - Final (http://realdev.co.za/Letter.doc)
Side projects
Game.Dev Info, Resources, and Downloads site - edg3 - Im almost done with this
Beginner Site - edg3 - Will fit in with the Game.Dev Info Site, will cover the starting problems for most people, like how to start doing things in pygame, and how to do things i Game Maker, etc
dislekcia
05-08-2009, 04:47 PM
Been talking to edg3 about this all morning, plans are solid, let's make this happen people!
Also, big thanks to edg3 for volunteering to drive it all, muchos gracias :)
FuzzYspo0N
05-08-2009, 04:58 PM
im keen to help. i can help on artwork, and stuff up front. Quick and simple to the point ass kicking.
Nandrew
05-08-2009, 06:32 PM
Beginner Site - edg3 - Will fit in with the Game.Dev Info Site, will cover the starting problems for most people, like how to start doing things in pygame, and how to do things i Game Maker, etc
Particularly interested in this. edg3, dude, why aren't we asking you to put more stuff on Dev.Mag? We're sorely under-equipped in these sort of tuts.
I expect something by the end of this weekend. Send it to me or Chippit. No exceptions.
dislekcia
05-08-2009, 07:29 PM
Particularly interested in this. edg3, dude, why aren't we asking you to put more stuff on Dev.Mag? We're sorely under-equipped in these sort of tuts.
I expect something by the end of this weekend. Send it to me or Chippit. No exceptions.
Agreed, cross-pollinate with Dev.Mag for epic win. Content is always better when it's everywhere :)
01DT!m3r
06-08-2009, 06:42 AM
I will be more than willing to help you . Its an awesome concept . Okay . I attend allen glen high school ,we program in delphi and i have been trying for a few weeks now to get some class mates into game developement , having my teacher on game.dev's side would be Schweet . Just let me know what you would like me to help with .ps this was posted with my phone.
Aval4nche
07-08-2009, 03:10 PM
Great idea! I'll see if our IT teacher is okay with it. My brother and his friends have some sway with him :P.
Our teacher is quite into gamedev. He lets us program games for our year projects, which sucks in Delphi. You can pretty much count St. Andrew's Bloem in \0/
Still havent completed the letter, but Ive added 3 schools to the list and I think they should be the 4 we target for the rAge competition. Is there any suggestions for the poster or can I bug someone to start making it? :)
01DT!m3r
12-08-2009, 01:04 PM
I can see what i can come up with.
dammit
16-08-2009, 11:25 AM
Still havent completed the letter, but Ive added 3 schools to the list and I think they should be the 4 we target for the rAge competition. Is there any suggestions for the poster or can I bug someone to start making it? :)
I said I'd post my suggestions for general game.dev promotion-work. I cannot help you out with getting to schools in durban, though perhaps LionsInnards can help you there. SkinkLizzard also has access to UKZN while I might be able to get myself into Varsity College (as much as I think that place is a waste of space). I'm also willing to help out with the construction of the letter (it'd be good practice for me considering my second major is communications :P).
Other suggestions: It'd probably be a good idea to create fliers for the schools and universities so that you can give the students information that they can take home with them. Also, fliers can be posted on notice boards in universities and libraries (though, some may ask you to pay for this).
You might also find it useful to send a copy (possibly edited specifically) to local newspapers (like a press release). One never knows when they need to fill some space and need just a basic piece last minute. This is mostly a matter of getting hold of the right email addresses and sending it through, possibly phoning to find out if your email got through their spam filters.
If I think of anything else, I'll post it here.
I have added a link to the third draft of the letter for people to read, if nobody has any issues with it by friday we can assume its fine and send it off to the listed schools. Let me know what you think if you read the letter.
Letter Draft 3 (http://realdev.co.za/letter_draft3.doc)
Fruzz
25-08-2009, 05:32 PM
I noticed that the third paragraph starts with "T" instead of "It".
I really wish I was in SA to help out with this, its such a great idea.
Nandrew
25-08-2009, 07:13 PM
Regarding your letter draft, I'm wondering how viable it is to still be pointing to the gamedotdev domain to present our "face" with. I know that linking directly to the forums would be messier, but while there's considerable activity here, the domain itself is very inactive and may provide a bad impression if it looks "empty".
If I understand correctly, dis's primary motivation for keeping the site running is tied in with its hosting benefits.
Obviously, D would be better qualified to comment on this, but it's definitely a thought that crops up when I see it.
dislekcia
26-08-2009, 01:16 AM
Nandrew's right: The Gamedotdev site is a corpse, I keep it so that I have a place to put files ;)
Point new people to the Dev.Mag site instead, that's where the old site will point eventually...
Nandrew's right: The Gamedotdev site is a corpse, I keep it so that I have a place to put files ;)
Point new people to the Dev.Mag site instead, that's where the old site will point eventually...
Well, if I can finish the side projects perhaps we could put them up on the Game.Dev site and it will look a lot less empty? Lists of resources and engines and stuff.
Fengol
26-08-2009, 09:33 AM
I think using Dev.Mag as the point of contact is not a bad idea, cause there's articles people can pick up without having to ask on the forums.
Ok, so the Game.Dev Info, Resources, and Downloads site is pretty much done, Im just transferring the list of links to the SQL database and sorting an issue with my hosting, then thats sorted.
More importantly, if at all possible could the people listed for schools take the letter (http://realdev.co.za/Letter.doc), and print it/email it to their IT teachers. Note that it isnt letter draft 3, draft 3 lacked dis' phone number.
dislekcia
28-08-2009, 07:08 PM
Third paragraph still begins with "T" instead of "It".
Kill the link to the Game.Dev site for now.
01DT!m3r
30-08-2009, 04:19 PM
Posters coming along , im using the color scheme of the game.dev site if thats ok ? , i need to know exactly what details must be displayed on it , a first draft should be up before the end of the week .
Thats fine, I'll give you the writing for the poster tuesday some time if thats fine with you. If you'll pm me your email address or msn messenger address I would be greatful.
just try not to make the poster too ink heavy please, dont want it to cost a fortune to have printed and put up ;)
01DT!m3r
31-08-2009, 07:08 AM
Will do , ive kept that in mind dont worry , ive also kept in mind that schools may not be able to print in color , so it is being designed to look good in black and white as well.
I'm not a dev(though I'm adept at quite a few programming languages(electronic/computer engineering), and I'll be more than happy to help the students with the programming aspect) and I'm at Potch university, I can go talk to the two high schools next to campus (Potch Gymnasium and Hoer Volkskool) and hear if they're interested... Lemme know.
I'm not a dev(though I'm adept at quite a few programming languages(electronic/computer engineering), and I'll be more than happy to help the students with the programming aspect) and I'm at Potch university, I can go talk to the two high schools next to campus (Potch Gymnasium and Hoer Volkskool) and hear if they're interested... Lemme know.
That would be great and much appreciated :) Can I add those to the list then?
01DT!m3r
03-09-2009, 03:09 PM
Ok the first draft of the poster is done , its not set in stone so i used layers in photoshop to make changing it easier . I think i used all the info you gave me :p. Should be up tonight.
01DT!m3r
03-09-2009, 04:35 PM
the poster as promised :
it's not my best work and I'm not 100% happy with it ,but it's probably the best I could do during Prelims:)
here ye' go (ps:tell me if anything needs changing):
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/2685/firstdraft.jpg
Just some constructive crit:
the reflection of the logo should start much more faded, like at least 25% faded already at the top of it. The other major thing being that there are a whole bunch of errors in the writing, eg. ",it'fun" is probably meant to be ", it's fun". Last thing that immediately stands out id that the Theme line has a gap under it, why not have the gap above it rather?
01DT!m3r
03-09-2009, 05:16 PM
here ye' go :
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4571/seconddraft.jpg
1)dimmed the reflection .
2)Fixed some spelling and stuff.(stupid mistake).
3)I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THAT GAP GOT THERE!!!It annoyed me :D,but it's gone now.
Still one or two spelling and punctuation errors but like you said its not the final and its looking good. :)
Nandrew
05-09-2009, 03:34 PM
Regarding poster layout, I'd like to offer my 2c.
To be frank, I doubt that what we're looking at on-screen is going to translate well to a printer. I'm thinking, in particular, that the Game.Dev logo reflection doesn't need to be there: rather than tweaking it, I'd suggest you remove it. Printers don't like gradients like that, and chances are that the overlap with the body text isn't going to have enough contrast to survive the inking process. Similarly, I have a feeling that the last words in "be sure to post in 'I saw the poster!'" are going to be swallowed up by that orange, especially when it gets translated to black and white.
This may also be a bit of paranoia at work, but I just want to make sure: are you working at 300dpi? I understand that you just may be offering a "preview resolution" with the JPG for the sake of the Web bandwidth, so disregard this if you are.
---
Basically, just one overarching piece of caution: stuff like this NEVER looks the same on-screen as it does when printed out, and I'm worried that may be especially the case here. When working on an RGB monitor, don't be fooled: stuff here may look "perfect", but it could easily go to pot when printing out. Try some test pages, on various printers, to make sure.
01DT!m3r
05-09-2009, 05:01 PM
No problem , i can always do with another eye to catch the mistakes , as often i dont see them before its too late :p . Ill remove the gradient reflection and tweak the writing and colors a bit to see what looks (hopefully , like you say it is totally different when something is printed). Next week ill print a copy and see what it looks like , then see where things need to change to be clearer for the reader , after all thats who the poster is for :) thanks thus far for the crit .
Well, if the poster is finished by wednesday I can send it to the only school I have received a reply from (Rand Park High).
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