When: Wednesday the 31st of October, 2012. Starts at 18:30, ends at 21:00 (although socialising afterward is encouraged)!
Where: Microsoft offices, Engen building 2nd floor, Golf Park, Mowbray.
Google map location
What:
Pizza and liquids courtesy of MXit - so we need ideas of numbers people!
Feel free to dress up if so inclined! We'll post pics here for blackmail purposes :)
Where: Microsoft offices, Engen building 2nd floor, Golf Park, Mowbray.
Google map location
What:
- Talk: Their Dirty Little Secrets: Hidden Prototypes of Famous Devs - @Nandrew
- Talk: "that talk, the one which I haven't written yet" - @BlackShipsFilltheSky and @bevis
- Demo: BlockBoy - @Pomb
- Demo: Death Smashers - The actinic ones.
Pizza and liquids courtesy of MXit - so we need ideas of numbers people!
Feel free to dress up if so inclined! We'll post pics here for blackmail purposes :)
Thanked by 1mariskaza
Comments
I'm there like a bear
Okay, so I have a topic of interest if anyone's keen (gonna spam talks until I get better at mouthbreathing in general):
I believe that too many people getting into development feel compelled to build up the very first monolithic project that they think of instead of prototyping a whole bunch of little ideas and then following up on the best one. I also believe that many developers get extremely discouraged when they hit on several dud projects in a row, further compelling them to just latch onto the next idea they make instead of accepting losses as part of the natural dev cycle and moving on.
We see prominent developers internationally and think, "Oh man, they just shit gold every single time they do ANYTHING. If I'm to be any good, I must do that too."
I believe that behind every successful developer, about a million billionty battered prototypes and half-arsed throwaways which we never ever ever see are hiding away on their hard drives. I'd like to go dig some of those up and talk about them at the meetup, just as a basic way of saying, "Hey guys, it's fine if you make a whole bunch of little games that never go anywhere, the best of us have that problem too."
I think that for all intents and purposes, people smile and nod when we pitch Rapid Prototyping as the way forward in game development, but never really internalise its value. By delivering a talk which I'd like to provisionally entitle Their Dirty Little Secrets: Hidden Prototypes of Famous Devs, I hope to show people that this problem is simply a reality of development that affects everyone, no matter how much mad street cred you've got under your belt.
I'll put some proper research effort into this and contact numerous prolific devs directly to see if they can throw me some really really lame shit that they've cobbled together over the years (bonus points for failed prototypes they made *after* becoming world-famous).
It would serve the dual purpose of ( A ) encouraging / inspiring newbies who feel like they just fail waaaay too often and ( B ) actually backing up the stuff we find ourselves telling people OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN with basically the strongest and hardest-hitting examples conceivable.
Value-added extra: laugh at really crappy games made by high-class devs. Let's see if we can find Daikatana: Indie Edition!
Thoughts?
:P
That's an awesome idea, I totally agree with the approach, and even though I think I've tried to stick to the approach, it's really difficult not to think really long and hard and try to "salvage" or "uplift" (like the Krogans) what you got at the mo cos you really really believe in it.
Knowing when to stop and try something else is really a virtue! Would LOVE to see the talk!
taunt
taunt
taunt
was that the only command? I'm guessing if there were more commands (or if one could discover the commands it recognised)
what happened to the pigeon from the beginning?
If you actually pass the taunt-at-your-underlings section the pigeon then beats you at a debate.
been in a work hole, I popped my head out an there are like a billion posts I need to read...
Looking forward to attending the event next Wednesday. Please remember to indicate whether you're attending or not, so I can organise enough pizza and drinks! :)
Perhaps just heart this message if you are attending?
*M
Thanks
So I'll be doing that talk, the one which I haven't written yet, and presenting a game which we started yesterday...
I hope you guys are getting yourselves moist with anticipation because this stuff is so fresh it's going literally smash your brains to actual shit.
waste matter discharged from the body, especially feces.
There's room for a couple more demos :)
I wanted to go too. Especially because of the food (just kidding, but not really). But you know, exams and projects and all around bad times.
How many people were present by the way?
It looked like @Jwho303 got some awesome video footage.
*M
@Tuism could you swing the project file for your sweet ass logo?
@Nandrew can I get your hi-tech power point?
Thanks again guys, talks were great, I paraphrased what you guys said about prototyping to my VFX class so they can learn to take baby steps :)
@BlackShipsFilltheSky can I get the cacodeamon pic? Got i really cool title card in mind :D
Email is jwho303 @ gmail
Firing off that mail for ya.