Mods' Roundup!AdventureX for 2011 has come and gone. Watch this space for my full report! Special thanks to
Chris Bateman, Neil Rennison, Chris Jones and Alasdair Beckett-King for their wonderful talks, some pretty eye opening stuff... Thanks also to
Yahtzee for making a funny audio clip and
Simon Love for playing a wonderful set of videogame medley's. Thank you of course to
Joe and Sophie (boneyard audio) and
James and Jack (infamous adventures), not forgetting
Stuart and Sam (lightbulb games) who looked the part on Saturday. It was great to see some stalls at this first event! I could go on and name everyone because I AM thankful for all who turned up, sorry if I didn't say much to you - it was busy times, and I would have loved to have sat around and chatted a bit more... But I really do appreciate your support of this "trial run"
SATURDAYSaturday morning was cold, wet & icy. After an hours sleep the night before (due to prepping time) I awoke in a groggy haze, but Charlie arrived early and we had his car packed quickly. After a quick stop at Tesco and a revitalizing cup of tea, we went on to the venue and quickly started to set up. Before long the guests were arriving and I was still setting some things up for the first hour of the event.
Will was the first to turn up, representing Cubed Gamers and gaining experience for journalism. Others followed shortly and after all the final checks the show kicked off with a video about an experimental adventure game called S3nses. The video by Tom spoke of the game which is set from a blind persons perspective. After this game showcasing begun, and our first prize draw took place with Matt winning a copy of The Book of Unwritten Tales.
As more people tickled in - some who turned up on the spot - the showcasing continued. Before long Chris Bateman arrived and shortly after so did Neil Rennison. Although some guests were held up in traffic, and one suffering a car breakdown just outside the venue - Neil kicked off the talks to a good crowd, with enthusiasm and interesting information on how his company and its strategy have developed. His key points were getting your name out there, marketting yourself and your brand to be sure to succeed.
He later explained how next year was very important for his company, with a lot of key projects in the pipeline including the rights to produce a Judge Dredd game book. We wish him all the best and were glad to hear he had enjoyed AdventureX. Neil had connections with the local area so perhaps we will see him at another one! His speech was followed by Chris Bateman.
Chris was pleased to deliver his first ever speech about Discworld Noir. He explained the origins of the story and a few tales from working with voice actors. He detailed Perfect Entertainment and how after the work was done, the team would end up in the pub on most nights. After that, he told us his views on the death of adventures with an in-depth look at the use of an audiences imagination in terms of defining where popularity in a game genre might fade and grow, particularly how the imagination of a player is exploited through visual aspects. He also plugged his new book, so be sure to get a copy!
Once he had finished Chris had to shoot off, but we were very pleased he could visit and we were glad to accomodate his speech about Discworld Noir and game making philosophy. Another prize draw followed and Azure's friend Spike won a copy of Gray Matter. Tales of Monkey Island was later won by Daniel. The demonstrations continued, Technocrat giving us a brief insight into his new game The Rail. This was followed by Stu who spoke out about his Entrapment demo and the AGS Bake Sale. Another prize draw saw Technocrat win a copy of Back To The Future: The Game, thanks to TellTale Games.
Near the end of the evening Yahtzee's audio clip was played and raised a few laughs, and before the event ended Joe of Boneyard Audio explained aloud what it is he does and how he can help game makers with audio. Most departed after that, the lights were turned off and a few remained downstairs to have a few drinks. I was back home by 9pm and went straight to bed! The adventure would continue tomorrow...
Some pics from Saturday:
SUNDAY
FULL LIST OF GAMES SHOWN (thank you to the developers!):
Egress: Test Of STS 417
Doc Apocalypse (rolling demo)
A Night At Camp Ravenwood (rolling demo)
The Visitor
The Visitor 2 (preview)
Wretcher
Byrne In Hell
Unga Needs Mumba
Roadworks
The Philanthropist
The Rail
City (demo)
Ben Jordan 8 (preview + trailer)
Then We Were Angels
He Watches
Quasar
Murran Chronicles 3
Far Corners of the World chapter 1
Venator
Timeless Journey (demo)
Ask A Monkeyologist
Reality on the Norm: Night And Day
Kinky Island
Fountain of Youth (tech tests)
11-11-11
Entrapment
Nelly Cootalot 2 (preview)
Space Quest 2 Remake
FULL LIST OF EXHIBITORS & SUPPORTERS:
Lightbulb Games.co.uk
Infamous Adventures.com
Boneyard Audio.com
Screen7.co.uk
Gamebook Adventures.com
PRIZE WINNERS:
Back To The Future The Game (courtesy of TellTale Games): James Dearden (Technocrat) & Will Ross
Book Of Unwritten Tales: Tier, Joe Gilder, Nelly Cootalot
Gray Matter: Magintz (and two others, didn't write down who)
15 Days: Spike, Azure, Steve Violich
Tales of Monkey Island: straydogstrut (and two others, didn't write down who)
STAY-AT-HOME PRIZE WINNERS (courtesy of Lace Mamba Global):
Book of Unwritten Tales: Peder Johnsen
Gray Matter: Armageddon
Tales of Monkey Island: Stuart Forbes
15 Days: Rikard Peterson
VISITORS:
Saturday - 29 people
Sunday - 19 people
Stay-At-Home - 10 people
Complimentary: 4 people
Total: 62
Videos being added below!MEDIA:
New Alasdair Beckett-King full talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2KlPRIB7WIChris Jones full talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20pYaVjAV98Yahtzee "adventure game retrospective" recorded especially for A-X 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpNSlzk80HYSaturday short clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9x4oFKI24QARTICLES
Cubed Gamers article
http://www.cubedgamers.com/home/2012/01/03/adventure-x-2011/Cubed Gamers interview with Chris Bateman
http://www.cubedgamers.com/home/2011/12/20/an-interview-with-chris-bateman/The Reticule article
http://www.thereticule.com/adventurex-2011/Adventure Gamers perspective:
http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18648
