[Event] Cape Town Community Night - 28th August
When: 18:30 until around 21:30, Wednesday 28th August
Where: Microsoft offices, Engen building 2nd floor, Golf Park, Mowbray. https://maps.google.co.za/maps?q=-33.947185,18.4914
Agenda:
- Introductions
- Community News
- 7DFPS Entry, Death Smashers, Demo - @BlackShipsFillTheSky and Free Lives ~20 mins
- Pixel Boy Story + Ideas - @atomicdomb ~20 mins
- Khumba The Game: Alpha Mechanics + Early Art - @rumor and SIJO team ~ 20 mins
- Clash basic gameplay, artwork & music - @Gibbo, @benny_behemoth and Clash Team ~20 mins
- Making Desktop Dungeons less scary (for first time players) - @Dislekcia ~20 mins
- Open floor (Anyone may step up and present their games or talk - this is usually time contingent.)
- Your presentation/talk/game here.
Calling for content!
This event happens monthly, is free to attend, and anyone may speak at the meetup - just comment beneath to let us know! This is for anyone and everyone interested in making games of any shape, size or type. Come join us!
Test games! Talk games! Make games!
Where: Microsoft offices, Engen building 2nd floor, Golf Park, Mowbray. https://maps.google.co.za/maps?q=-33.947185,18.4914
Agenda:
- Introductions
- Community News
- 7DFPS Entry, Death Smashers, Demo - @BlackShipsFillTheSky and Free Lives ~20 mins
- Pixel Boy Story + Ideas - @atomicdomb ~20 mins
- Khumba The Game: Alpha Mechanics + Early Art - @rumor and SIJO team ~ 20 mins
- Clash basic gameplay, artwork & music - @Gibbo, @benny_behemoth and Clash Team ~20 mins
- Making Desktop Dungeons less scary (for first time players) - @Dislekcia ~20 mins
- Open floor (Anyone may step up and present their games or talk - this is usually time contingent.)
- Your presentation/talk/game here.
Calling for content!
This event happens monthly, is free to attend, and anyone may speak at the meetup - just comment beneath to let us know! This is for anyone and everyone interested in making games of any shape, size or type. Come join us!
Test games! Talk games! Make games!
Comments
I would like to come and demo what SIJO is currently working on. It will be basic mechanics for levels, nothing fancy yet :D also maybe show some low poly art, all depends on how much we can get through before Wednesday XD
Thanks guys!
Lost my flash card though :/ if anyone sees an 8GB flash with Allan Gray Orbis on it please let me know :)
But I have some criticisms of the meetup as well.
I felt a number of the games, including ours, could have been better prepared. In particular I don't think I offered much to the community, but rather used the community as a cool place to do show and tell.
I think our Death Smashers presentation could have been much better prepared, the game didn't exactly work, but also what we talked about could have offered more insights into the process of making the game. We could have done a much better post-mortem, or focused on one aspect (like art) and talked about how that came together and what our process was.
I think it's awesome that so many cool game projects are happening in Cape Town and South Africa. And I love that they are being demoed at the community nights...
But I think these demos could be shown with a bit more work put into what useful information we're sharing. I think that @dislekcia's presentation and @atomicdomb 's presentation were what I'd like to see more of. I think the Khumba team got some useful feedback out of showing their progress and that definitely had value being there (though to a slightly lesser extent).
But I think that our presentation in particular should have had more work put into it. I think there were things we could have talked about that would have added value, and I think that our demo didn't function well on the day was inexcusable.
I'd like for the Cape Town Community nights to be about sharing information, and getting feedback, more than just showing work. I particularly liked that @dislekcia's presentation was all practically bound, the result of QCF's design ideas were all shown and explained. I prefer @dislekcia's format to pure theoretical information, and vastly prefer what he did to what we did (which was really just showing off).
It's so so super cool that there are enough games being worked on that we can fill up an evening every month with new demos, and enough people attending to over-fill two of Microsoft's rooms... and as such I think we can expect the presenters to put in more effort (as there is more value to be gained in these meetups now).
I felt the Clash game as well was in a position were they couldn't get much feedback, and they didn't offer much in the way of insights. Though Clash was super cool, I don't think their presentation added that much value to the community night.
But mostly these are criticisms of Free Lives' performance (meaning my own performance). I think we can do better, and I think we should do better.
The other thing that I think we need to get better at is being stricter with the time (both in terms of when we start and how long people have to talk).
But still, awesome meet-up :D
Are the videos of the talks being updated to the channel? I guess it's kinda hard to track cos if it were cos it's not being posted around here.
The technical side's growth has been impressive thus far, and the chicken was delicious. I think many thankyous to yourself and whoever else is setting this up is definitely in order.
I don't think it'd be unreasonable to have one set up laptop which is to be used for all the Windows presentations. And that people should provide a flash disk with everything ready to go.
At least then we can setup just once for most of the talks. (And if no-one else has a better laptop option, Free Lives could offer the use of one of theirs)
The community has always been one of the most powerful places for me to get feedback and I have always treated it as that :) I'm hear to learn!! :D
Am SUPER excited for next months meet up!
This was my second Capetown meetup in a row and I just wanted to say thanks to all the people who were brave enough to subject themselves to potential criticism and throwing of rotten tomatoes. Only *slight* low-light was the microphone sound problems. Highlights for me was Pixel Boy and those new swooping creatures. Been following this one on green light for a while and loved the progress made. Also Desktop Dungeon presentation was really well planned and well presented and very informative. I should probably know more about this game, but I don't so it was an interesting updater for me. Looking forward to the next meet-up. PS: Everyone seems to be going the Unity route. Any XNA/ MonoGame developers out there? Make Games SA, and they will come ;)
As for the setup of the presentatuons, maybe people presenting should arrive a bit early and copy what they are presenting onto the presentation laptop while people are socialising. That way when time is called there wont be a setup between presentation.
Seeing the evolution of Desktop Dungeons was a great and well thought out presentation. I really enjoyed it seeing how you have evolved the game over the years.
Maybe we should have a 40min section where people can show what they are working on quickly, as a more show and tell. This allows people to see what everyone is doing and allows for feedback wich is great. Then we can move onto the meatier presentations where people can share knowledge and or talk about specific areas.
So the actual presentation evenings will be broken up into a quick show and tell and then actuall well planned presentations where people can share what they have learned.
What everyone has mentioned is awesome.
Next time SIJO present ill be making sure its a more well thought out presentatiin. I was excited to just showof what we are doing and get some feedback :D
*Apologies about the bad spelling, busy sitting in swellendam writing this on my cellphone.
It's totally super awesome to see just how active the community is these days, and just how many games are crawling out of the woodwork. So super props to everyone who's not only been involved in the organization of meet ups but also everyone for attending! Also, huge thanks to our venue sponsors microsoft?
I have noted though that personally meet ups have started to feel a bit "draggy" lately. Also noted that while attendance is booming, there are a lot of people who are sporadic attendees, or who only come when they have something to show - so I think it would be useful to ask how could we better keep people engaged? ( though maybe we shouldn't aim to be too successful lest we need a new venue ;) )
Quality talks require effort and consideration, and we can't always leave it up to @dislekcia and @blackshipsfillthesky ! So guys, even if you're not a successful game dev yet, don't be afraid to share your unique talents. For instance why haven't we seen any talks yet from artists about the creative process?
Next point is that I think demos are beneficial, especially for people to get feedback and for the community to actually have that sense of community and get a pulse on what everyone else is doing. I think though if if it's just showing off my game the limit really should be no more than 5 mins. Anything longer than that I think people should have a clear focus, like a specific design question the want to pose, or a post mortem on design considerations and the impact they had. Also I think that as our audience grows it becomes important to not make assumptions - so for instance if you're talking about your rogue like, how do you make that conversation relevant to people who aren't players of the genre? (Not just the other halves in the audience and non game devs in the audience, i often find myself lost on certain genre convos)
@dislekcias talk was a good template for how to make the talk relevant, because it wasn't just about "oh hai, here is my rogue like" but rather "here are these things that didn't work so good, and this is how we went about solving it" Admittedly most people don't have this wealth of experience, but I think even if people go as far as "here is this thing we tried that didn't work. We're not sure why, but we think it might because of x,y,z" then than gives everyone else in the room a meaningful point to interact and remain engaged, because then they can contribute to the conversation - and then the presenters get quality feedback.
Another idea that might be a bit far out there is to actually have a exhibition format for demos, where for let's say 30 mins in between talks the designers actually man their stations and watch people play their game. I think that's a super awesome potential of the meet ups that's being under catered, and that people are often frustrated when they are trying to get play test feedback at meet ups. This means that not only do the developers get to see more than one or two people play the game, but everyone gets a much more immediate experience by actually getting to play all the games. Also by sneakily having it In between talks it ensures than people don't disappear and that people don't lose out on precious socializing time like they would if they play tested after meetings. With a longer term view this could also help devs practice for real life exhibitions when they start getting successful. Also it could be really useful for a design discussion if a game is presented with the majority of the room having actually played it.
Anyway these are all just ramblings. The meet ups are only as strong as the level of participation, so any one who's shown anything or contributed In anyway is already a winner!
I like the idea of encouraging exhibit style play at some stage of the meetup. Though I worry that in between talks might be disruptive... Not sure. Maybe before the meetup begins (while people are socializing anyway).
I don't think it'd be unreasonable to set up a game station and play while others fill their faces with delicious chicken.
Re: Shorter demos. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask people doing show and tell to limit their demonstrations to be shorter... feedback is important, so rather a 5 minute demonstration and 10 minutes of feedback (while players play the game) than a 15 minute demonstration and 5 minutes of feedback.
I want people to know what's going on in the community, and for developers to get feedback. I do agree that Show and Tell has a place... just not as a substitute for more broadly informative talks.
Shorter demonstrations require us to be strict about reducing setup times (and not switching laptops as much as possible). While I think that's a good idea, I'm not involved in setting up the equipment so I feel hesitant to expect others to make that happen.
(Though maybe I can help in future)
@Bevis said he was keen to do an art talk next month (and hopefully he'll have time to make that happen).
I'm keen to do a talk about finding the fun in Broforce (and exposing the dirty secret that it wasn't always particularly fun). Based on @dislekcia's format.
I think all we need to do is emphasise the distinction between demos and talks:
-A talk is longer than a demo and probably means some sort of presentation. It doesn't have to be hectic and covered in powerpoint, just structured and designed to deliver a specific point. My talk's core point was "This is what we learned trying to make tutorials for a hard game". I'd like to talk about level design and difficulty progression at some point as well (not using DD).
-A demo is all about showing a game to an audience and getting feedback. That means that it has to be played by a volunteer from the meetup, not the developer. The demo has to give a brief overview of the game and why they made it, explain any cool/awesome things it does or has achieved and anything else interesting about it. Then the meetup at large can ask questions or suggest improvements.
I'm wondering if demos should have to be posted on the forum beforehand, but maybe the in person demo fills a niche before posting something here - maybe even a place to test out multiple prototype ideas for solving something and getting as much feedback as possible. So a demo is basically the forum, but in person. That's why we tried to keep them at the end of the meetups as targets of opportunity.
But it's a ton of work : ( ... if several others were also helping arrange UCT meetup I could imagine it happening once every two months.