Adventure Game Studio

Did you attend? Please fill out the survey :) http://tolu.na/W0nkKq

That's the full schedule, the panel topics are a little sketchy, so if anyone has ideas about more specific topics then come forward now cos the who's and what's regarding involvement in those will not be finalized til tomorrow or Sunday, so I can still make some changes there. Exhibitors & speakers, I've tried to make sure nothing clashes. The two (well, three) areas is going to be an interesting trial...

Still - WOOT :)

WOW - that's really impressive!
                   (http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/userpics/12962/boah.gif)

I envy those who can be there live.  (nod)


(http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)  (http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)  (http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)  (http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)

Looks really great! Can't wait to get stuck in.

Super excited for this, hope the weather doesn't take a turn for the worse! Everyone should wear avatar badges, it will help me remember people :=

Quote from: Tabata on Fri 07/12/2012 16:46:34
WOW - that's really impressive!
                   (http://www.smileyvault.com/albums/userpics/12962/boah.gif)

I envy those who can be there live.  (nod)


(http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)  (http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)  (http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)  (http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120328/tfsbci6c.gif)

It's okay, Berian will be there dead.

:tongue:

That schedule looks great!
People that wont be able to make it but participated in the Indiegogo campaign, will be eligible for the prize draw?

Yep, if it was included in the perk, that person is eligible! :)

Will this be filmed like last year? I can't make it across the pond. :(

EDIT: Not sure if video documentary means that. And Lewis Denby is going to be there. 8-0

Quote from: Armageddon on Sat 08/12/2012 20:29:08
Will this be filmed like last year? I can't make it across the pond. :(

EDIT: Not sure if video documentary means that. And Lewis Denby is going to be there. 8-0

Hello!

Yes, some of it will be filmed and put up as videos in the near future.

Quote from: m0ds on Sat 08/12/2012 00:22:57
It's okay, Berian will be there dead.

:tongue:

Of course the whole building would be shut down for several months in mourning if I were to die, so there'd be no AdventureX.

Oh, it turns out you were just sleeping, but it looked like you were dead.

(roll)

Sigh.  You sleep at the side of a Swedish motorway *one* time...

I'm having flashbacks to the mummy puzzle in DOTT, "that's all we need" I was thinking...

There will now be game demonstrations instead of game desmontrations. (Thanks Stee!) :P

Information on who is leading the panels and who else is on them should be up by tonight.

Could we also beat THE clock in the AGS quiz game please?  :P

Nope :P

I think I'll be doing more public speaking this weekend than I have in my entire life before combined. Looking forward to it, though. Will be great to put some names to faces!

If anyone is around on Friday evening with nothing to do, I'm meeting some devs for drinks around 7. If you want to join us, PM me and I'll give you the details.

I'll arrive on Friday and stay until Monday - any recommendations on which ticket for public transport is best?

Got your note cat thanks and hopefully a yocal like Berian can give you a hint about a ticket.

People are also welcome to scope out the venue and have a coffee with us beneath it on Friday evening from 8pm-9pm. After which I guess we'll try and find Dave G and co!

Quote from: cat on Wed 12/12/2012 13:14:18
I'll arrive on Friday and stay until Monday - any recommendations on which ticket for public transport is best?

Where are you staying?  You can only buy daily or weekly passes, so unless you're going to be travelling around a huge amount it's probably cheaper to just pay as you go.  A day pass is £8.40, which is the cost of two tube journeys or four bus journeys pay as you go.

Quote from: Dave Gilbert on Wed 12/12/2012 11:15:48
If anyone is around on Friday evening with nothing to do, I'm meeting some devs for drinks around 7. If you want to join us, PM me and I'll give you the details.

It's the BeefJack Christmas party on Friday evening, sadly, otherwise I'd have been well up for that. Where are you drinking. Come to Islington and drink with us! ;-)

There's a printable schedule and "programme" here
http://www.screen7.co.uk/adventurex/AdvX_2012_Programme.pdf

Anyone else located in a Hotel near Heathrow and wants to go to AdvX by subway on Saturday morning? We could meet up and go together.

Realized there's no need to PM. I can just post this here. I'm meeting up with Ben Ward and Dan Marshall at (ahem) the Dirty Dick's pub by Liverpool Street station at 7pm. All are welcome to join us. The details are here: http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/58/586/Dirty_Dicks/Bishopsgate

If you have trouble spotting us, this is what we look like:
(http://i.imgur.com/yDgQZ.jpg)

Ben's on the left. Dan's in the middle. And I'm on the right.

Which day is that on? I missed the last meet-up :(

I believe Dave G is talking about Friday :) though there's also Adventure X drinks Saturday night.

Would have been a chance to do something in London on Friday evening, but I will arrive at 10:20 pm, have to check in to the hotel and I think that's too late to catch a subway and join. Have fun Ben, there and Dan, that's not possible for me.

Okay. Okay. I've just done a final compile and check of the Richard & Alice AdventureX demo. Specially created for this lovely event. Our baby's going public. And now the terror sets in.

Quote from: Azure on Thu 13/12/2012 20:46:46
I believe Dave G is talking about Friday :) though there's also Adventure X drinks Saturday night.

:-[ That'll teach me not to read previous posts properly. Not sure if I can make the Friday drinks - the rest of Hungry Planet Games aren't arriving in town until Saturday morning!

Not sure our build of Astroloco will have music, but it'll certainly have some voice acting and sound effects. Some being the operative word.

You could present the game and sing a bit while doing? :-)

Quote from: neon on Thu 13/12/2012 20:57:59
You could present the game and sing a bit while doing? :-)

I'll hum annoyingly in the background while you try to remember what you were going to say, if that will help.

Quote from: neon on Thu 13/12/2012 11:16:52
Anyone else located in a Hotel near Heathrow and wants to go to AdvX by subway on Saturday morning?

In the interest of pedantry, in London a 'subway' is an underground pedestrian footpath. The underground train network is 'the Tube' 'the Underground' or as I prefer, 'the Under-The-Ground'.

These tedious facts and more at... AdventureX!

Looking forward. Until then I use what I can get to go from one point to the other as fast as I can. No matter how you call it. :-)

Fast and the tube ahahahhhhh.

No?

I joke, it's OK. When travelling tfl.gov.uk is a good place to check in case of delays.

Oh, I have a lot of time.

Oh my god, now I have a feeling I will get completely lost in a subway system in a foreign town I did not visit for nearly 20 years. On my birthday. Without anyone I really know. Thanks I'm an adventure gamer. :-)

use BORG INTELLIGENCE IMPLANT with LONDON UNDERGROUND MAP.

In my experience it's pretty hard to get lost on the London Underground. Maps are easy to find, and easy to understand. Nothing to worry about :)

Disclaimer: I live here. I might be biased.

You have not ben here dan this yet. But soon, you will have. Over the ground. Wombling free.

See you all Saturday :)

And I do apologize if I don't get much time to talk to people individually. But don't be afraid to approach me or any of the team about any concerns. If I've personally forgotten something important bloody tell me! Don't not tell me and post about it on the AGS forums three days later. We can probably get it sorted there and then :P But definitely do come and tell me who you are and make me rack my brains and see if I know you.

"Oh, you are Isiah Sweeting?"

Lots of outside interest by the look of things, so safe journies, thanks again for making it happen and see you very soon!

Enjoy tomorrow! Unfortunately I won't be there, but I hope to make it in 2013. Mark, I've just PM'ed you :)

Well I've been told that I'm coming by my friends. So I am coming.

Who knows, maybe it'll spur me to actually finish an AGS game :D.

I'm not local to London, but I know my way around. If anyone wants to hang out with me I'd like that.

(http://s17.postimage.org/hpfoqqbbv/PIC_0157.jpg)

ben there, aga, tier, magintz and azure

cannot enlarge. drunk

Exceptional work. I love the video games industry. You can always count on it to get royally bladdered the night before it's got something important to do.

See you all soon!

Work screwed up my BACS payment and now i have only 18p in the bank. Sorry to all who i said i would see there :~(

Im HERE! :)

Forgot my "Ask me about He Watches" pin at home, but if you are here and want to chat or see what Ive been doing, find a fat man in green camo pants!
Also, I have no idea how there english keyboards work!!!

I hope you will stream something for the ones that cannot be there. :)

Tech issues, we've had to use the webcast laptop for showing games instead. If we can get it back to stream we will. Lots of videoing going on though!

What a lovely first day! What was the incredible game about fixing broken code called? Some of the most impressive AGS work I've ever seen!

Did anyone make an archive of the live feed? 

WHERE can I drop in and turn on :D

From what I can tell there weren't much live stream to archive?

Shame really :(. Also you should really use twitch.tv imo as it archives automatically. (I suspect stickam doesn't?).

Schade.  I haven't been able to watch the stream at the right time.   I assumed I was just missing everything.   

Hopefully, someone will post some pics and reviews!

 

The live stream had to be taken off due to an IT emergency.  We're hoping to have it running again today.

Don't worry though, almost everything that happened yesterday was recorded by someone.  Might take a few weeks for the footage to be edited and made available, but you'll all get to share in the AdventureX goodness eventually.

Can't get sound working on the stream, no idea why, it should be working fine. Sorry about that.

You're all just as lovely in person.

So I guess I have to start an AGS game now and actually finish it.

Rachel (Nelly) and I just got home. We had a lovely time!

Mark, Rebecca and Berian did a great job. Roll on AdventureX 2013?

Was great to meet so many people who have a common passion for adventure games!

Thanks for being awesome. Yes, you.

Who is Kat, who is lovely and who I can't find on the forum? We were going to talk about a game-related thing! Get in touch.

A fab weekend guys!

This is the cat you are looking for. (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=6833)

Great weekend all.  Thanks to Mark, Berian and Rebecca for doing a fantastic job and to all the exhibitors/speakers for putting on a great show.  Onwards and upwards!

Cat with a C! That explains it!

Yeah, great to meet so many lovely and charming people in one place! Really, the event was worth every penny I spent on participating.

Woohoo, back from Adventure....X!

Really great weekend, although I'm pretty exhausted today from having spent last night at Stanstead...

Some highlights:
* Meeting with some true old-school mitteneers - I counted to 5 (or 6?) from the very first Mittens in UK. Also seeing how Magintz has turned into a fully grown, really nice gentleman
* Being housed by CJ in his charming flat near the confusing Elephant & Castle
* Meeting some AGSers in real life for the first time, like Cat, Wham, Ali and some others
* Getting some nice feedback on my game presentation from total strangers. Thanks to those who watched by the way!

Some requests for next year:
* Maybe slightly harder moderated, so that people can start in time, and some clearer introductions to the speakers
* Maybe only one talk/panel on voice acting (instead of 3) and more talks on design stuff like puzzles, animations, background-painting etc.
* No hentai porn presentations!

All in all, a huge thank you and well done to the organizers, Mark, Berian and Rebecca

The highlight of the event had to be seeing Technocrat modelling the Johnny Hurricane pilot's helmet!  But then I was only able to be there on Saturday, so I don't know what good stuff I missed yesterday...

Can the lady in the audience who admitted that she used to use her SingStar mic for voice recording PM me?  (Nothing sinister I assure you, just wanting to make contact with a couple of voice actresses as well - because I don't have any at the moment I tend not to write female characters into my games right now, which is a bit limiting!).

For the record I STILL use my Guitar Hero mic for voice recording and I'm not the slightest bit ashamed of it.  :-D

Mark and the rest of the crew, congratulations on a great event!

Great of everyone to visit AdventureX, compared to last year it was much bigger and better. Everything had doubled in size. 75+ guests each day. For a medium sized venue I think we had a comfortable amount of guests. The teamwork (thank you AGA and Azure!!) and organization really paid off. But there's certainly things to improve on, and always further help needed. Dave G mentioned a funny comment on sucking at things, and it made me realize I suck at running prize draws, so please someone else sort that out next year :P Also the deliverance of material for contributors. Online perks are a big undertaking, which is why I definitely think the show needs a focused person who can deal with marketting the event, sorting the prize draws/raffle and making sure the people get their perks properly.

And I'm sorry about the porn (lol) I did ask for no explicit material but perhaps a more strict child friendly content policy would be better in the future. Anyway it has been (for me) a lot of fun and certainly exhausting but I know all the support, friends and comments will spur us on to do something next year too.

Feel free to keep the suggestions coming. I realize some elements didn't quite come together perfectly, and at times the venue left us a bit befuddled. I don't think we ever made use of the little OHP's that were built into the desks, or did someone manage to? The amount of video work Jack did this year seemed phenomenal, lots of personal interviews with the attendees as well as private interviews with the special guests, and filming the key speeches and such, so I assure you there's great vids to come. Nice of neon from AdventureTreff to also capture lots of video, and celebrate his birthday in London!

Nice of you to watch the live stream Peder. I think that is my big aim for next time, to make sure the live stream is awesome and that's what I can devote most of my time at the show on. I have a good idea on how to do a multicamera stream and such. This year there were certainly problems there but the fact you could see an image is the start of a good interactive element I think :) Couldn't do much with Mars either in the early days, just look at it... But thanks for those who tuned in and squinted at powerpoint presentations, that's definitely a great element but needs real work.

And nice job Ali, for creating a game especially for the event! And bringing Nelly again too! And of course the posters and cards designs and such... I most certainly will (or you can) share that game wherever :)

I caught a lot of cool details but didn't get to listen to the whole thing, and regret missing your (Andail) presentation, The Last Door presentation and Alex Warren on Sunday. But that's what you get when you party with adventure gamers in the center of London ;) Also cool to meet Dan Marshall and so many other people I honestly can't remember who exactly nor all the conversations but must say I enjoy every minute of what we talk about and your enthusiasm towards it all is truly remarkable & memorable as a whole. Your appreciation is touching. I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people for making it happen!

The easiest way for me to do that is assure you there will be another one in 2013 and you are most welcome :)

And of course, if you didn't manage to make it this year, you're also welcome next time round!

Merry Christmas!!!

Quote from: m0ds on Mon 17/12/2012 18:06:10And nice job Ali, for creating a game especially for the event! And bringing Nelly again too! And of course the posters and cards designs and such... I most certainly will (or you can) share that game wherever :)

Go on then, here it is:

The official(?) Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-X game (15mb) (http://ali.agser.me/CYOAX.zip)

If you couldn't make it to Adv-X, you can simulate the experience by playing this game and getting a hairy friend to read out the words in a variety of unconvincing accents, then mock you for your choices.

Thanks to everyone who played the game, and saved me from talking to an empty room.

Your game was awesome. Great fun.

What did everyone play in the exhibitor room, and what did you think of what you played?

I thought Astroloco was really fun, really sharp writing and a cool visual style. And the pixel art web adventure series whose name I forget looked to really nail the atmosphere.

The game about the broken game (I am really bad at remembering names it seems) was super-creative as well. Really awesome stuff.

Sorry if anyone felt offended by the presentation of "Saga of Original Sin". I knew it was going to be at least a bit controversial, however, I really wasn't trying to offend anyone. I asked permission in advance, and Mark asked me to keep the presentation R-rated, so if I crossed a line with what I showed, that is entirely my fault.

By the way, the talks and the panels I was able to see were really something - both inspirational and informative! There's so much experience with all you guys, it's really amazing!

The event's over, and sadly so. I had a ton of fun talking to people both in the event and after it, also had the first proper indian food in my life, so that has to count for something! :D
To top it all off, seeing all these people, talks, panels and more really got me motivated to get back to work on my games and get back to being active on the forums. Maybe participating in a MAGS or OROW or something like that might be the right way to get started again.

Next year I might have to choose between attending mittens or AX due to budget conserns, but with a little bit of luck I'll be able to visit both and meet that many more people. We'll see.

PS: Taleweaver, I missed your presentation and felt a bit bad about it. Then I heard it was naughty and now I feel doubly bad! :(

PPS: Actually, is OROW still running? Or has it died out? If its the latter, can we revive it? :D

Right here are the fruits of my obnoxious photo taking http://www.flickr.com/photos/aralego/sets/72157632267523951/ . I just want to thank everyone for being awesome! ( shout back to AGD and m0ds. At some point I'll write more, but right now I am utterly pooped out.

It was a great event and it was a lot of fun with many great people, indie games, and projects. I managed to try out a couple of them. I liked Astroloco and Hamnasya, and I have to try out many others I didn't get... well... to try out. Dave Gilbert's and Alex Warren's had interesting panels.
Congratulations to all the crew who made a great job.

Quote from: Azure on Mon 17/12/2012 21:57:12
Right here are the fruits of my obnoxious photo taking http://www.flickr.com/photos/aralego/sets/72157632267523951/ . I just want to thank everyone for being awesome! ( shout back to AGD and m0ds. At some point I'll write more, but right now I am utterly pooped out.

Great pics! In the one from The Last Door, the link is wrong. It should be http://www.thelastdoor.com/

Whoops this is what happens when I do things when tired, will try to add m04r tags later.

Back home! And - wow. What an amazing weekend. All the talks, all the demonstrations, and - most importantly - all the people made it one of the most memorable gamedev events I've been to in a long time. Too many great moments to mention, and too many people to thank. I'll just single out Mark, Berian and Rebecca - you guys really pulled off something special.

Bring on AdventureX 2013! (AX13?) Hopefully I'll be able to make it. Surely an eight month old can't be TOO much trouble, can it?

-Dave

Quote from: Azure on Mon 17/12/2012 21:57:12
Right here are the fruits of my obnoxious photo taking http://www.flickr.com/photos/aralego/sets/72157632267523951/ . I just want to thank everyone for being awesome! ( shout back to AGD and m0ds. At some point I'll write more, but right now I am utterly pooped out.

And here's some of the fruit of *my* photo-taking.

(http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/Nedraed/2012-12-15180657_zpsee0b07c2.jpg)

Hahaha! Nice photo.

Thanks Dave, it was great of you to be involved in so many of the features. I learned top tips from you definitely. What was that PR ladies name please, and I forgot to ask during your talk, do you still use her/the same PR team these days?

I'm also wondering - did anyone buy anything from the market outside on Sunday and if so, what?

The PR Lady is Emily Morganti.

Nothing bought from the market, but took some photos.

As one of the chosen ones who attended last year's Adventure X, I'm really impressed with the leap that the convention made this year.

*Double the number of people - not to be sniffed at!

*Much better venue: Whilst I of course missed the permanent source of alcohol in the building (drinking ale all afternoon AND talking about Adventure Games IS pretty cool!) the venue was fantastic and had great facilities which is what you really need for this kind of event (in terms of projectors/mics etc.). Good variety of food outlets nearby guaranteed due to its busy location (albeit with the Petticoat Lane market there!).

*Better location: Of course, I would say this (I live not too far from Liverpool St.!), but I think it was a lot easier for everyone to get to London rather than Didcot. I stayed overnight in Oxford, so there were accommodation options available but these will of course pale in comparison to London. I don't think that options in London would necessarily be more expensive either (especially if you factor in travel costs where you may have to go via London anyway). I also think that London is a much better place for international delegates to get to, and it easier to navigate since we're used to having loads of tourists.

*Talks were really good. Similar to last year you got a good selection of people to speak that were interesting. Like some others said at the event, it was good to reach out to 'outsiders' (;-P) from text adventures and MMF (even if it is MMF - sorry Fano!). Panels were a great idea and the mix of amateur and professional speakers was great.

*Raffle is still a great idea and is good fun! (especially when you win something ;-) )

Possible improvements for next year:

*Would be nice to organise the space so that people presenting their games were in a cordoned off space if possible. Much of the time there was no where to chat without disturbing what was going on in the games presentation space. Maybe have exhibitors set up in the rooms by the lifts and then people can present where they were? Either way, a slightly different focus of where the 'default' space might be worth toying with.

*More marketing. It's a great event and I'm sure that people would be interested in being there, pros, amateurs, players, developers whatever. What Dave said about social marketing is a case in point here.

*Some more breaks in between talks to allow people to hang out/check out other things/grab lunch/network etc. Maybe put in early, lunch and late breaks?

*Some retrospective style talks would be good. i.e. someone's made and released a game: How did it start? How did they design it? What was the process? What did they learn? What would they do differently next time? Advice/comments for others? That kind of thing. A bit like Dave's talk - although his was from the point of view of business and making a living. I think loads of people would be interested in story of a game/developer diary kind of thing.

*Panels/discussions are still really good and a great way to get people talking to each other.

*Some more professional input if it's available. I think many of us are thinking about indie development and hearing about Dave's story with Blackwell was a real inspiration.

*Dare I say it - talks about other software! Getting different viewpoints on other packages out there is really good, since some are starting to say that AGS may not meet their needs in the future - especially from a commercial point of view. Wintermute? Unity? Visionaire? Moai? Whatever...

On this final point, it may be worth thinking about Adventure X morphing into something a bit more than an extension of the AGS community - although it seems you might have pre-empted me already. It's well placed, now that it's been started, to cater to the adventure gamers community at large. I think that would get more people coming, more speakers, more exhibitors and we'd all learn a lot more.

Thoughts?

Hope that all helps.

Another thing - I would be up for helping next year to make things bigger and better in whatever way I can. Maybe start a new thread where you can ask for help and/or people can offer their skills/services to help next year?

Again, thanks for a great convention. Roll on 2013!

AdventureX was great, definitely worth going there.

I enjoyed meeting people from Mittens again, getting to know those I only knew from the forums and also meeting a lot of other new people.

The talks were great and I also enjoyed the panels and game presentations. Often it was hard to decide what to watch because there was so much interesting stuff going on.
The games that were presented, either by their own booth or a presentation looked very promising and it was fun to try some of the demos. I'm looking forward to their release!

I think it was great that there was a focus on voice acting and the topic was covered from different points of view. Maybe next year there could be a focus on graphics for example?

The venue was perfect for this event. I especially liked the room with the tables, booths and presentations going on, it was great for socializing. It was also great to have a place in central London with lots of accommodation and it was easy to get there.

The only thing I would suggest for next year, is to include breaks for lunch and also time to socialize and play games. Several times I was talking to people or trying their demo when I got interrupted by a new talk starting.

Thanks to Mark, Berian and Rebecca for the organization!

I'm not sure if I can make it to Mittens AND AdventureX next year, but I'll definitely try!

Quote from: m0ds on Tue 18/12/2012 15:10:19
What was that PR ladies name please, and I forgot to ask during your talk, do you still use her/the same PR team these days?

PR lady is Emily Morganti. (http://www.emilymorganti.com) And I definitely still use her. She's become pretty indispensable these days!

Yeah, definitely the 'worst' thing (if you can call it that) was how much there was going on!

I can understand how difficult it is to fit all these awesome talks into just two days, but I think it needed some general down-time mixed in there. As Cat said, after the early morning it was often difficult to have a good talk with anyone or properly play their demo because of talks constantly starting in the same room.

My 2 cents:

It was a great event, well organized and I had a lot of fun. It was interesting to meet a lot of good people (still missed some... WHAM, you've been there?) :-)

But of course I also have some points that could be improved. Most of them are pretty simple.

First, a plan of the current presentation should be on the door in addition to the 'QUIET PLEASE' sign, so everybody can see if it's interesting for him/her without opening the door.

The start times of the presentations in the two rooms should not be the same. If a presentation starts in the speakers room at 11 for example, the next game presentation in the other room should start at 11:15. So everybody has a chance to see the beginning of a presentation and if he finds out that it's not interesting enough to stay, he has a chance to move over without missing anything.

There should be a BIG timeline poster in the entry room where people can check where to go next.

There should be a coffee machine. I would donate coffee beans.

There should be some sort of kiosk with soft drinks (probably cans or plastic bottles) and candy bars and that kind of stuff. Actually if you ask a kiosk owner that he can send somebody there and give him a table, they will take the extra income and sell the stuff there.

The phone number of the chinese food restaurant downstairs should be available on the tables (I'm sure they have a flyer), so people can order and then 10 minutes later jump down and pick it up.


Overall, it was great to be there and I hope to come back next year.

Quote from: cat on Tue 18/12/2012 16:55:31
I think it was great that there was a focus on voice acting and the topic was covered from different points of view. Maybe next year there could be a focus on graphics for example?

Good idea to have a main topic every year. This one was really voice-recording-heavy, but it also was because a speaker got ill and there was need to improvise a bit. Actually it worked out because Dave was creative enough to jump in.

But yes, a focus on graphic design next year would be a nice option and maybe on storytelling the year after and so on. There are many interesting aspects in game design that deserve to be discussed.

And sorry for the double post.

Quote from: theSynapse on Tue 18/12/2012 16:34:07
*Dare I say it - talks about other software! Getting different viewpoints on other packages out there is really good, since some are starting to say that AGS may not meet their needs in the future - especially from a commercial point of view. Wintermute? Unity? Visionaire? Moai? Whatever...

Quote from: cat on Tue 18/12/2012 16:55:31
Maybe next year there could be a focus on graphics for example?

If anyone was interested, I'd be happy to do introduction to Blender3D. Perhaps with a view to creating low-poly assets for Unity3D? A workshop might be more fun than a talk, if there were enough laptops available.

I don't think we were deliberately limiting anything to AGS.  It's just it's pretty difficult to find people who are willing to talk about stuff, and it's easier to gain people's interest from within the AGS community as we're established names here.  If we had a way into all the other adventure dev communities we'd be glad to have speakers from them.

So when can we see videos? There were some talks I missed while listening to other talks, and it would be swell to watch those at some point.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I am going to try and collate as much as I can. It meant a lot that people were saying " see you next year" or " how do I book a table?"

-As was said the high VA content was completely accidental, we probably could have done with a composer or sound designer on the audio panel. Ali's suggestion for an event sounds cool though we'd have to plan the logistics, while we can try and invite folks to do talks on other engines, the simplest and easiest thing is if we get volunteers.  I made a big effort to find people from other communities we didn't get to everyone but it meant we had a coningent of general indie devs, gamebook makers, visual novels etc.
-Not entirely sure about the start times thing when I was trying to get a moment of peace to make some announcements one in the other room was running late it was very hard to, we do need gaps where no talks are happening and chat times sound good. I guess it is good people want more! but it's finding the time.
-Thanks for being tidy! :) I also spotted people helping confused looking new arrivals showing them the schedule etc which was great.
-The suggestion for a schedule stuck outside the doors is good though. People kept stealing mine everytime I put it down ( also my hat and the stickers too :P). I also wonder if we could have a google calender or something next time so Berian doesn't have to keep printing them for people with phones/tablets/laptops and people can get alerted to changes.
- Would it be helpful if I made some kind of brief guide on dos/don'ts in terms of demos and presentations & booths ( and what can /can't be shown) ? In general the standard was fantastic but I think it would have helped if people started getting ready ( e.g moving laptops) before their talk started, some of you did which was great. It's also inevitable things will run late whilst we will try and give everyone the same time, you have to be flexible. If your time is up people can ( and will) come find you to talk to you after I for one am still replying to messages! I also plan my presentations to be flexible so if I do run over I can cut stuff, but still cover the main topics. A 30 mins slot shouldn't mean you talk for 30 mins it should probably be around 10-15 mins talk, then you have about 15 mins for a Q & A and set up/take down. I agree we could have been a bit firmer on end times, but on the other hand meet us halfway -eh ? :)
- I was wondering about zone c having the booths, but I think Mark's  layout was pretty good for the numbers as there was a lot going on without it feeling too empty or crowded. There were slight conflicts ( with the lights once one person dimmmed them everyone wanted too sorry exhibitors XD). If the numbers go up then I think more space would be great. Mark ( with some Berian recon) did a fantastic job of the layout.
- Another thanks to folks who joined in the tweeting, as people have been saying ( and did panels on!) PR is important! I think the stuff we did impacted our numbers positively and I think converted a few sceptics about the event into supporters. If you happen to stumble across write ups about the event let me know.

If anyone missed it - here's the intro to our presentation. It was fun making this, inspired by the errors that kept popping up the day before ;)

[embed=640,480]<object width="640" height="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/YCVuCfBP2MU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/YCVuCfBP2MU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>[/embed]

I started out talking a little bit about subAtomic and Plan M, and then things took an unusual turn...

Quote from: Andail on Tue 18/12/2012 21:14:59
So when can we see videos?

Working on it, give me some time.

Brill. There was another nice big room behind Zone A that would be great to hire out next time too I reckon. And perhaps the small one near Zone C that I slept in for a bit ;) It was great to see mums and dads sitting patiently in zone c and that area was quiet, which was good, and was needed - but yes not much was made of that. Refreshments didn't work out, the guy coming to do that, er, couldn't come in the end. But I'd like to organize a deal with Tinderbox next time and perhaps the restaurant at the least. The PDF printout of all the schedules, company logos and stuff to print and stick up on the day...well, that was the one thing I forgot to put on my USB. Otherwise, yes, the schedules, floorplan and other items would've been stuck up on doors and stuff. There was no way to salvage that. Also some instructions next to the presentation desks would've been useful. But I like all the comments, valid points... nice one folks!

PS. Totally agree on the breaks, and the staggered timings. But hm, so much to fit in to so much little time as rebecca says...... more rooms could help.. But yeah breaks and a time to "chill out" definitely a good thing. But I kind of felt zone c was there for that. That said, I can see some ways of allowing for a break period. Something for consideration next year, certainly :)

Quote from: AGA on Tue 18/12/2012 21:13:15
I don't think we were deliberately limiting anything to AGS.  It's just it's pretty difficult to find people who are willing to talk about stuff, and it's easier to gain people's interest from within the AGS community as we're established names here.  If we had a way into all the other adventure dev communities we'd be glad to have speakers from them.

That's actually not a problem. I tried to get in touch with some people, but it was on too short notice, at least that's what Charles Cecil, Jonathan Boakes and Matt Clark told me. I can help out with my contacts next year, it just has to be early enough. Most of them are pretty busy, so they should be contacted at least four months before the event takes place.

Actually I didn't feel like this was too AGS related. Of course there were some AGS topics here and there (what is normal for an event organized from within the AGS community), but overall I more felt it was about adventure games than about AGS.

Quote from: Andail on Tue 18/12/2012 21:14:59
So when can we see videos? There were some talks I missed while listening to other talks, and it would be swell to watch those at some point.

Jack recorded majority of talks and got some interviews with developers/speakers so will have them up soon. He'll also be making a short documentary but the full talks will be uploaded to an Adventure X YouTube channel.

As for the event, I had a great time. Very friendly people, lots of promising looking projects and an abundance of talent in one room. And it was even better winning the big bundle prize! ;).

Thanks for everyone who stopped by our booth and gave Quest for Infamy a whirl. Really pleased with the feedback.

But especially thanks to Mark, Rebecca, Biriam, Ali and for everyone else who helped make this event possible. Look forward to 2013!

Contacts are helpful Neon :), I think there is a difference though between talking/alerting to other fans/freeware people to come and show their game or run a tutorial  and a guest speaker.

Though at least one of those we were already talking to *way*  before the event ( and was also invited last year)  :) We started planning in June which is way more than four months ago and we snagged four guests! In the end it worked out we had four special guests  each doing at least an hour plus panels and I don't see how we could have fit in more!  I'm guessing that you just mentioned the event to them in correspondence  fairly recently? I think we can keep them in mind in future now we know they are interested, but I think there's a difference between mentioning /tweeting the event to people we know ( encouraged) and official invites which should I think only go through one person on the ADVX staff.
As much as it'd been awesome have have every adventure person ever, we can't, and if both us and attendees start inviting people it's going to cause problems. Again it's super appreciated you mentioning the event, next time now we know you have those contacts we can possibly bring you in more officially? I mean it'd rock to get them all, but I then suspect we'd have to raise more money so we need to know ourselves who's been invited!

Yes, actually I talked to Mark if there are free slots in advance. He would have probably had free slots left, but I did not invite anyone, because they had no time anyway. And yes, I came to this very late because I waited until funding is secured before asking if they also plan to visit the event.

And sure, if you want to bring me in more officially, sure, we can talk about that next year. We do the Adventure-Treff party in Cologne every year, so I check them all anyway starting May.

Oh, and actually why do you think you need to raise more money? If those people are interested to come, they will come, even if they do it on own costs. It's also good for them to get free coverage and most of them also like such events because it's a good chance to meet fans, developers and probably find new contacts that could get important in the future.

OK fair enough that you talked to Mark I didn't know it had happened, sorry for any confusion of offence inadvertently caused.  :) it's just if you read the context of the thread before it, we were talking about getting people talking about practical how-to topics ie tutorials on other game engines like Unity, Wintermute, Lassie..etc It's easier to get someone to come speak about their games we had an entire room for that, I think what people are asking for is a bit more tutorial/workshop content and an increase in effort to welcome Adventure Makers who use other engines ( most in zone B were AGS).
As for costs some guests did incur costs which were covered by the convention, which was mentioned on the indiegogo. The Indiegogo could have been earlier, but on the other hand I suspect some people won't donate unless they have some idea who will be there ( catch -22). I think you raise a valid point about timing.

Man organisin' is hard.

No offense taken, don't worry, you're absolutely right. I wouldn't have invited anyone but connected them to Mark on FB instead.

I watched bits and pieces of the Stream, but because of the sound issue, it wasn't much. Reading your comments, looks like you had a great time. As I see it, AdventureX has grown a lot since last year. In retrospective, the closure of that place in Didcot was a good thing because it forced the convention to get bigger, and all in all, everything turned out alright. So, congratulations and bring on AX13!

Quote from: Azure on Wed 19/12/2012 22:21:16
we were talking about getting people talking about practical how-to topics ie tutorials on other game engines like Unity, Wintermute, Lassie..etc

YES to this. I had misunderstood as well. As sacrilegious as it might be to say this on this forum, I would be very interested in learning what other engines are out there and what they can do (is Lassie even still around??).

Quote
The Indiegogo could have been earlier, but on the other hand I suspect some people won't donate unless they have some idea who will be there ( catch -22). I think you raise a valid point about timing.

I think that the indiegogo thing might have made things harder than it needed to be. I imagine it would be difficult to officially plan ANYTHING for an event unless you knew the event was actually happening. And since the campaign didn't hit its goal until a month before the event, it must have been a scramble to get everything ready. For guests like me who were traveling there, it was impossible to commit to going unless I knew for sure it was happening. I didn't want to spend the money until I knew it was happening, and it got more frustrating as time went on because airline tickets and hotels get more expensive the longer you wait.

For next year, how about some sponsorship instead? Now that I've experienced AdventureX first hand, I definitely want to see it happen again so I'd be more than happy to donate to the cause. I'm sure others feel the same.

-Dave

Lassie is still used, but not really much. Actually it's a flash based adventure game engine. The main reason to use that (with also taking the con's) is the portability to other platforms than the one you are developing on. But then again there is Unity now, what is very powerful and even supports 3D environments. So actually I doubt there is much market for Lassie in the future.

And yes, I agree the indiegog campaign with the announcement that AdventureX will only happen if funded, was a little showstopper in the process. Not from organizier's view, but from developer's and press people's view, especially if you have to travel from other countries or continents to go there. But on the other hand, it's also something to learn from, so it isn't a bad experience at all. And for the sponsorship, I'm sure publishers are interested in being present at least with their logos on the videos if they just appear beneath the presentation screen. I can check with some of them if they are interested to do that. Of course video coverage is an important thing to have then, but this worked good this year so it will also work next year.

I'd also be interested in sponsoring next years AdventureX through AGSArchives.

Quote from: Azure on Wed 19/12/2012 22:21:16I think what people are asking for is a bit more tutorial/workshop content and an increase in effort to welcome Adventure Makers who use other engines ( most in zone B were AGS).

I wasn't.

What if I give a short introduction to Ren'Py during GerMittens? Would you like that?

Quote from: Taleweaver on Thu 20/12/2012 07:49:42

Quote from: Azure on Wed 19/12/2012 22:21:16I think what people are asking for is a bit more tutorial/workshop content and an increase in effort to welcome Adventure Makers who use other engines ( most in zone B were AGS).

I wasn't.

What if I give a short introduction to Ren'Py during GerMittens? Would you like that?

-Talewaver You haven't asked for anything yet, so by 'people' I meant people who had specifically made content requests :(laugh). Also GerMittens is something totally different I think it's more of a social meet isn't it? ( I have never been so I have no idea). Whatever it is, 'tis not AdventureX!



Anyway the debate is really heartening sorry if I come across abrupt at all, it's great to see people volunteering to help with stuff next year. The talk about how to fund the event ( and it's side effect on speakers/PR is interesting and valid). I did in fact have one site tell me they have a blanket "no kickstarters' rule and they wouldn't post about the event!
I think we will have more options available next year now that there's been proof the event can run. Sponsorship would be super awesome :)
If more talks on other engines only appeal to a few of you, what else would you all like to see? and do you have ideas how we could pull those suggestions off?

Unity themselves may well wish to come and do a workshop and sponsor the event a little - in the interests of publicity for Unity Engine.

It'd be nice to have a presentation which exhibited all the best contenders for low-budget/indie adventuring.

Monsieur OUXX's topic about the lack of a good 3D adventure game engine (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=42356.0) would be a good place to look for the options: Unity, Blender, jMonkey, Crystal Space. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any that will handle adventure game basics like inventory systems or dialogue trees out of the box (except the sadly defunct DAGE, the not-out-yet Wintermute 2.0).

It would be great to find a speaker who understood Unity and adventure games.

I'm working on a 3d point'n'click prototype in Unity right now as a matter of fact! Dunno if I qualify as speaker-material considering I'm just a computer science student at this point in time. Plus I would only be able to attend if it's not too expensive (I'm a student with very little money to spend on vacations and such) AND if the next AdventureX takes place some time where I don't have to go to university obviously!

In any case, just throwing that out there!

There seemed to be plenty of questions about using Blender for making backgrounds when I showed Technobabylon, so that might be something worth expanding on next time as well!

Dkh I hope you can come :)
Actually the Unity adventure thing is possibly do-able there is an entire book by Sue Blackman ( update due out March) which is a start to finish adventure game making tutorial. I don't know if it's any good yet as I might wait for the update!. I have a feeling that there's been a couple of unity powered adventure games. I will chase that up.

Quote from: Azure on Thu 20/12/2012 14:22:23
-Talewaver You haven't asked for anything yet

Er, no, what I meant, I was in zone B, and I wasn't AGS. Not "I wasn't asking". Sorry for the misunderstanding :)

Quote from: Azure on Thu 20/12/2012 20:53:16Actually the Unity adventure thing is possibly do-able there is an entire book by Sue Blackman ( update due out March) which is a start to finish adventure game making tutorial.

It's 100% doable, Unity is very powerful and, as I said, I already have a prototype running after 30 minutes of work where you have rooms/scenes that you can move your character around in by clicking places. Next will be proper pathfinding and hotspots! But it's fairly easy to pull off in Unity, no question.

Quote from: Azure on Thu 20/12/2012 20:53:16
Dkh I hope you can come :)
Actually the Unity adventure thing is possibly do-able there is an entire book by Sue Blackman ( update due out March) which is a start to finish adventure game making tutorial. I don't know if it's any good yet as I might wait for the update!. I have a feeling that there's been a couple of unity powered adventure games. I will chase that up.

Oh yes, I was meaning to ask, which book was that? I've found some others on Google books that were coming in handy.

Quote from: dkh on Thu 20/12/2012 21:02:05
It's 100% doable, Unity is very powerful and, as I said, I already have a prototype running after 30 minutes of work where you have rooms/scenes that you can move your character around in by clicking places. Next will be proper pathfinding and hotspots! But it's fairly easy to pull off in Unity, no question.

We must see this!

Quote from: Technocrat on Thu 20/12/2012 20:15:12
There seemed to be plenty of questions about using Blender for making backgrounds when I showed Technobabylon, so that might be something worth expanding on next time as well!

I mentioned earlier that I'd like to do a workshop or intro for Blender. Maybe we should talk nearer the time and pool resources?

Quote from: dkh on Thu 20/12/2012 21:02:05

Quote from: Azure on Thu 20/12/2012 20:53:16Actually the Unity adventure thing is possibly do-able there is an entire book by Sue Blackman ( update due out March) which is a start to finish adventure game making tutorial.

It's 100% doable, Unity is very powerful and, as I said, I already have a prototype running after 30 minutes of work where you have rooms/scenes that you can move your character around in by clicking places. Next will be proper pathfinding and hotspots! But it's fairly easy to pull off in Unity, no question.

dkh, 30 mins really?! I will back Ali this we must seeeee. The bulk of the talks were people volunteering, so you'd be more than welcome to do a talk on Unity.
In the mean time here is the site for the book:
http://www.3dadventurous.com/

I will compile a thread on it including a tutorial or something (along the lines of: "how do I setup unity to allow me to create a 3d point'n'click") but it'll take me a while, not only do I want it to be thorough, I'm also spending the winter vacation at home with my family so I won't have access to my desktop pc! Didn't realize there was so much interest in how to create 3d adventure games using Unity!

Quote from: Ali on Thu 20/12/2012 21:51:07

Quote from: dkh on Thu 20/12/2012 21:02:05
It's 100% doable, Unity is very powerful and, as I said, I already have a prototype running after 30 minutes of work where you have rooms/scenes that you can move your character around in by clicking places. Next will be proper pathfinding and hotspots! But it's fairly easy to pull off in Unity, no question.

We must see this!

You may find this (http://mlab.taik.fi/~plankosk/blog/?p=308) useful, good sir.
And here's the game's page: http://www.liesandseductions.com/index2.html

I also made a 3D adventure game prototype in unity. It's *very* easy and I got my little fella walking around, using and looking and verbing all over the place after just a day.

The problem is that i have no 3D modelling skill so I never did anything about it :>

I did contemplate getting in touch with Ali or someone else with 3D experience but i never bothered in the end.

Bottom line: Unity is piss easy.

Any updates on when any video from the event will surface?

Quote from: MurrayL on Fri 11/01/2013 18:06:10
Any updates on when any video from the event will surface?

+1 to this! I would love to catch up with the presentations I missed.

As far as I'm aware those that took the vids are still compressing/editing them.

Edit. Just spoke to Jack, he's definitely been editing his footage but it's not quite ready yet. Christmas time not a particularly great time for getting things done ;)

edit: oh, here's the only video I shot (on Fri night) with bad language..!!

Spoiler

[embed=480,360] <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TliZXj8o1jg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> [/embed]

[close]

Adventure Gamers are soon to publish a review/roundup of sorts I believe and whilst we wait for the videos...

Anyone who attended is welcome to fill out this questionnaire, which COULD help us improve on things next year and get an idea on what worked for you this time or not.

So if you have a moment (takes no more than 10 minutes) please do fill it out!

http://tolu.na/W0nkKq

Thank you :)

An extensive report of the event thanks to Adventure Gamers (reporters Rob M and Stephen B!):

http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/23773

Jack continues to work on an official video compiled from all his filming, but that is yet to be seen.

There is also 13gb of additional video files, and anyone who has the time to download and cut them up a bit to create some simple full length videos of the speeches, please do get in touch with me. These were shot by neon but he nor I have time to compress or edit them (I can't download files so big either). So if someone has a bit of spare time & a decent internet connection and can download one of the clips, or all of them - and just make a few chops of the footage (no fancy editing required) do send me a PM. Thanks!

Some good news, the first full length video...of Dave Gilbert's talk...should be online tomorrow! :D Or later tonight, if things go well... Dave talked about his "mistakes" over the Blackwell series, and is a very insightful look on how to perhaps make progress as an indie developer without making the same mistakes. Some may have seen the slides on the webcast, like a rover reaching Mars for the first time there wasn't much beyond grainy image and no sound...but this video most certainly has an audio track! Props to Michael Stein of Adventure-Treff for the video. Will post back here as soon as it's uploaded.

And here it is! 1hr in length, if you have the time! :D Thanks to neon (Michael S) for the video and Dave for helping with the file! Not on a proper "AX" YT channel just yet, but this should suffice for now..

That's a very open and informative talk mr. G. (and a lot of patience for some suggestions for Blackwell stories  :grin: ).
Thanks for uploading it m0ds.

Thanks for cutting and uploading and sorry I did not have the time to do it by myself. Also thanks for adding the AT-Logo. This way we can also use it for our own article that will come up (sooner or later) without having to cut it again. I'm also looking forward to the other ones. I think I taped about 75 % of the presentations and I know that some of the other stuff has also been recorded by others. Means, at least one of the presentation rooms should be available on video.

And sorry for the picture quality, but I think having this is better than having nothing at all. Next year in HD, promised.

Poor thing, went through so many conversions (yours, Dave's mp4, to avi, to wmv, to youtube...) but as you say...it exists! It's aliiiive! I love Dave's rant at Berian :D

Quote from: m0ds on Sun 10/02/2013 15:21:17
I love Dave's rant at Berian :D

and the hovering cap at the bottom of the screen  :-D

Quote from: m0ds on Sun 10/02/2013 15:21:17
Poor thing, went through so many conversions (yours, Dave's mp4, to avi, to wmv, to youtube...) but as you say...it exists!

At least the sound quality is still good enough to understand everything and I think that's most important.

Anymore clips coming soon?

Quote from: Peder Johnsen+ on Tue 26/02/2013 10:49:24
Anymore clips coming soon?

James Broom Quest for Infamy speech should be up in a few days, and I've just seen a preview of a sort of 5 minute montage with the special guests + exhibitors which looks great, but is still being finished and that will probably take a couple of weeks before it's online.

Please subscribe to the video page on youtube and you'll be the first to know :)

Jack's vid will be online earlier than expected, sometime next week. And so will James Broom's Quest for Infamy talk!

http://www.youtube.com/adventurexpo

New old footage and a preview clip of an upcoming video! I overlooked some simple factors in 2011 like bringing an extra tape for the camera...so I'm sorry they're not really the full speeches. Thankfully 2012 coverage is excellent, I hope that shows soon on the YT page!

Meet some of the exhibitors and special guests in this new video, thanks to Jack Hennigan! :)

Great video! Glad I don't look like a complete idiot.

It was worth the wait. Great job!

Hearing myself on video it always feels like it's a mirror that talks me back.

Awesome video, some interesting opinions and voices! :)

Great video with the developers, feels very professional. Gutted i couldn't be there this year!