Adventure Game Studio

Knittens
AGS meeting in the Netherlands

This is the first ever Knittens and it will be held in August for a week from the 15th till the 22nd. If you're interested in attending please let us know!
Also, let me know when you're going to attend; when enough people do I can book a place!

Update:
Unfortunately there weren't enough people interested; Knittens is off.

Definite attendees

• DoorKnobHandle (entire week)
• Wyz (entire week)

Shown interest

• Ghost
• Radiant (W/E)
• Arj0n
• Tamara
• AGA (W/E)
• noavana
• MattFrith
• Minimi
• Dualnames
• Mods

Places

Vakantiehuis De Vrijheid - Klijndijk
(http://cdn.leisure-group.net/photo/web/1024x683/198930_lsr_20140210309803135281.jpg)
The link (http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/klijndijk-10-personen-NL-7871-01) (in Dutch but lots of pictures)

The place costs â,¬981,- to book but there are extra costs, and this does not include groceries. It will be around â,¬150,- per person I estimate in total including groceries. I really hope we can book this place because it looks nice!

Some other possible locations though the might not all be available for the selected timeslot any more unfortunately:
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/appartement-wellerlooi-12-personen-NL-5856-09
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/landhuis-asten-12-personen-NL-5725-05
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/markelo-10-personen-NL-7475-07
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/baarschot-12-personen-NL-5087-05
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/waskemeer-15-personen-NL-8434-01
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/balkbrug-12-personen-NL-7707-02

http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/gulpen-10-personen-NL-6271-19
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/westelbeers-12-personen-NL-5091-08
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/luxe-villa-cadzand-10-personen-NL-4506-32
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/venhorst-10-personen-NL-5428-06
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/warnsveld-10-personen-NL-7231-01
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/lunteren-12-personen-NL-6741-09
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/haaren-10-personen-NL-5076-03

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The old text

What is Knittens?
Basically it's just an excuse for AGS folks to meet and hang out together in the Netherlands. So basically it is like brittens or mittens but then in the Netherlands. (Knittens is to mittens what brittens is to mittens. :D)

For who is it?
Well for everyone really. It is not just for people from the Netherlands, everyone is welcome to join if they want. You don't have to be part of the AGS community too though it's obviously aimed at the community.

What activities will there be?
Since this is a new thing it's basically a blank canvas we can fill and together think of what we'll do. I'm not really going to get involved in planned activities but if folks want to there should be an opportunity to. Maybe we could all shout what we'd like but ultimately it depends on who will attend. Personally I'd love to have a campfire and do stories. Have a BBQ or just cook together. Heck we're all creative people here we can think of numerous ways to have fun and it shouldn't even have to be very expensive (I'm very much Dutch ;)).

What's with the name?
It's a bit of a poke at Mitten like Brittens with the first part sounding like Neth and it definitely better than "Nittens (http://hairnits.co.uk/graphics/nits_in_hair.jpg)". :D

The old poll: (for when)
Doodle (http://doodle.com/2qechf9f3ykmpawz#table)

I'm completely in!

+1! I can drive that by scooter!

Oh, definitely!

I'll get my bicycle ready!

Funny thing Wyz, I've been talking about this with Tamara cause Jan isn't able to join this years mittens and Bjorn didn't even show up on last years germittens ( ;) )

So yes, it's a great idea, count us 2 in for sure!

sounds interesting, closer than portugal, though still a 8h+ drive...

Good idea! Rotterdam might be appropriate. Not that touristy (and therefor expensive) but very accessible and plenty things to do.

Awesome. :D
Thanks for your replies so far!

Just some ideas:

Somewhere close to the Vaalserberg Tripoint, maybe? It's very central, a bit of a sightseeing place with reasonably priced hostels, and I ate the third-best fries of the whole worlds there last year.

A weekend sounds good IMO; it makes the thing more flexible (almost everyone can get a free weekend).

I'd be up for this, assuming it doesn't take place too close to Mittens.

Couple of benefits to Rotterdam: 1) silly people would technically be correct when they talk about it taking place in Holland b) it could be called Rottens

This place (http://www.stayinn.nl/en/) is pretty cheap (â,¬28 per night), and has decent reviews.  Could be an option, especially if we're only doing a weekend / long weekend.

Vaalserberg is much nicer than Rotterdam though! :D

I'm with Radiant on this one! :D I've been there once actually; also in the labyrinth (http://media.vvvzuidlimburg.nl/uploads/images/overigevermeldingen//images/23794.jpg).

At first I thought the tittle was Kittens, and was really exited to see what was inside. :-D
Good luck with this new gathering.

A great idea!
I have been there with my father when I was a little girl and would love to visit again and hang around with the locals :)
Plus, maybe we could jam :tongue:

What time frame are we looking at? Perhaps something in May?

I can do May, June, July and August probably. Anyone else interested can share their agenda's I guess. :D

For me the only option is August because of my student semester.

Even if it took place at the weekend, dkh?

Good point, if it's only a weekend then it depends. In general I would favor a 5-day Knittens however. We should probably first discuss the length of Knittens, then sort out the date?

I'd go for 5 days since the weeknd might be a bit short for people who have to travel longer but I guess people can just come for the weekend. How about we plan the weekend in the middle of Knittens?

Btw if more people are interested let me know, then I'll put you on the list.

I'd prefer a weekend, I probably don't have time for more than that.

I'd be possibly interested in attending since it looks less likely I will be able to go to Mittens this year!

I'm currently job hunting, and already have other stuff (like Mittens) planned for the first few months of new employment.  So later in the year, or over a short timeframe like a weekend, would be far preferable for me.

I'll put you on the list Matt. ;-D

Fair enough AGA :)

Also I've updated the list in the first post indicating people who have shown interest for a weekend.

Same for me. Quite a busy Summer so preferably a weekend.

This sounds like fun, I'd be interested in attending this if it's sometime after June (if my finances allow for it), be it a weekend thing or a 5 day thing.

I'm willing to make it, provided bici or ghost are in this list.

For me everything goes, but I'd prefer a weekend. Since I'll come by car I could also offer to pick up people from around Aachen.

I've updated the list. :)

There enough people that have shown interested so I guess I'll make a poll soon to see what dates people are interested in! :=

So, how about we pick a time and date here?

Yes! I was planning on making a poll for this myself but it turns out it's taking too long so instead I've made one with Doodle. It might not be the most practical thing and I'm open for suggestions but here it is:

Quote from: Wyz on Wed 02/04/2014 01:22:10

The 'when' poll (http://doodle.com/2qechf9f3ykmpawz#table)

"Show all 123 options"?

Er... perhaps it would be more practical if you listed each week, rather than every single day for the next four months? :D

Well that's the thing and why I wanted to create my own poll, Doodle does not support that. Hmmm would it help if I only listed one day of each week?
edit:
I went ahead with this: so only the first day of the week is listed but it counts as the entire week. I picked Monday on purpose so it's clear it's not just that day. I hope at least. :D

Sorry I didn't speak up earlier, but consider me interested! Any date is fine for me, my only preference is that it isn't too close to the Mittens dates, despite not being a confirmed attendee on that yet it'd be good to know there's a little time between the two to earn some money to afford the other should that commitment be made..!

Voted! Anything before August is hard for me to make. If at all, it could really only be a friday-sunday thing at best. August is much, much better for me.

Quote from: DoorKnobHandle on Thu 03/04/2014 21:40:18
Voted! Anything before August is hard for me to make. If at all, it could really only be a friday-sunday thing at best. August is much, much better for me.

Same.  Starting a new job next month, and I already have Mittens time booked off, so taking more time off before August isn't really feasible.

I see August is starting to look good but keep them coming! I guess that's also far enough apart from Mittens for people who want to attend both.  :)

Quote from: Mods on Wed 02/04/2014 14:20:29
Sorry I didn't speak up earlier, but consider me interested! Any date is fine for me, my only preference is that it isn't too close to the Mittens dates, despite not being a confirmed attendee on that yet it'd be good to know there's a little time between the two to earn some money to afford the other should that commitment be made..!

Awesome, I'll put you on the list!  ;-D

Anytime in August should work for me.  I might also spend some more in the Netherlands and visit some other places so if anyone has any suggestions about what is fun, let me know :)

Edit - Added my name and preferences to the poll!

Added my preferences too.
Can't make it a definite yet, since I have to look whether I got any off days left after Summer.
That's why I preferred a weekend, but that seems to be no option?

Boss: "So you need a whole week off? On SHORT NOTICE?"
Ghost (shaking with exitement): "Yes."
Boss: "Convice me."
Ghost (now positively vibrating): "It's my last and only hope and chance to give the man-hugs to m0ds."
Boss: "That's..."
Ghost (starting to bounce on the spot): "Also Dualnames."
Boss: "Er..."
Ghost (creating supersonic waves by now): "And Wyz."
Boss: "You're waking Those Who Live Below, man!"
Ghost: "Gimme the leave and I will stop resonating!!1111!1"

Later, in the Netherlands:
Ghost: "And that's how I got my leave."
Forumites: "Oooooooo!"

At the same time, in Germany:
Boss: "And that's how I saved the world from being eaten by Those Who Live Below."
Wife: "That's nice dear. Now come over, dinner's ready."

Does that mean we... will... be haunted...? :)

@Tamara: I think the idea was that it takes place from say Thursday till Tuesday or something, so the people that can only do weekends (that *might* include me, depending on the month) can still make it, and everybody else, who wants to stick around for a longer time can also do that! I'm pretty sure that's the plan right now! Would be awesome if you and Arjon could make it again!

Poll'd

Quote from: DoorKnobHandle on Mon 07/04/2014 17:30:14
Does that mean we... will... be haunted...? :)

Yes. Also QUAKED. Someone bring Quake. We'll play it while high on Joppiesaus.

Quote from: Ghost on Mon 07/04/2014 19:17:54
Someone bring Quake. We'll play it while high on Joppiesaus.

And Heksehyl.

I made a vote.

I'm busy for the next few months so every weekend is the same, hopefully there is nothing interesting going on on the knittens weekend (and more).

Quote from: DoorKnobHandle on Mon 07/04/2014 17:30:14
Does that mean we... will... be haunted...? :)

@Tamara: I think the idea was that it takes place from say Thursday till Tuesday or something, so the people that can only do weekends (that *might* include me, depending on the month) can still make it, and everybody else, who wants to stick around for a longer time can also do that! I'm pretty sure that's the plan right now! Would be awesome if you and Arjon could make it again!

I just see this reply. Would be a great idea to do it like that! If we can make it, we definitely will come.

That would be cool. ;-D

I think I'll wrap the poll pretty soon. By the looks of it it will be either the first or the second week of August. It's time to talk about places! If you have suggestions feel free to post them and let's discuss.
Places accessible by train are preferable and a somewhat central place would be nice. This website (http://www.vakantieboerderij.nl/) has a lot of places. I estimate the number of attendees to around 10 people. A thing to check is whether there's wifi (most houses I checked have), there are enough separate beds and it is vacant in August. There's a general rule: the more rural the nicer the place, the harder it's to get there. :D The average price for an accommodation would be something like â,¬650 per week for 10 people.

Let's find a place! :D

Some of them look really good I think. What about this one (it looks like it's secluded enough so we can be loud :p) http://www.vakantieboerderijgroningen.nl/

This one also looks nice, but is it separated apartements or one big hourse with individual bedrooms? http://www.scharrelhof.nl/fotos

Quote from: DoorKnobHandle on Thu 08/05/2014 11:34:15
This one also looks nice, but is it separated apartements or one big hourse with individual bedrooms? http://www.scharrelhof.nl/fotos

If you go for 'group accommodation' (which is the case I guess) it states that:

if you choose 'Voorhuis': this one has 7 big bedrooms, 5 upstairs and a shared bathroom. The house can accommodate up to 16 people.
if you choose 'The whole house': this one has 10 bedrooms, which 3 of these has their own bathroom. 2 bedrooms are downstairs having (with both their own bathroom).

(check: http://www.scharrelhof.nl/overnachten/groepsaccommodatie)

That sounds pretty awesome but very large haha. How expensive are these (I suck at navigating Dutch websites)?

The prices:

group accommodation 2014 - All Inclusive:

From april up to oktober:

The whole house (big house):
weekend â,¬1495,-
midweek â,¬1050,-

Smaller house:
midweek â,¬700,-
(no weekend-only option)

Hmm okay so that is pretty affordable assuming we're ~10 people. As in, really cheap actually, even for the big house. Cool!

Sadly (to me at least) I will most certainly not be able to attend this :(

Oooh, I'd love to come too! I live in Hilversum in The Netherlands, so everything is near for me. :)

That's too bad Peder. :(

Quote from: Minimi on Tue 27/05/2014 22:10:25
Oooh, I'd love to come too! I live in Hilversum in The Netherlands, so everything is near for me. :)

Great! I'll put you on the list! :-D

I've been looking for places some more today. I wanted to do this sooner but I've been a bit preoccupied lately unfortunately. :( But I'm still pretty psyched about all of this, don't worry! I could use some help organizing this btw, I've never attempted such thing so all the tips, advice and help are welcome!

I'll compose a list of possible places soon but for now here is my long list (it already is sorted with the most relevant places on top):

http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/klijndijk-10-personen-NL-7871-01
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/appartement-wellerlooi-12-personen-NL-5856-09
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/landhuis-asten-12-personen-NL-5725-05
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/markelo-10-personen-NL-7475-07
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/baarschot-12-personen-NL-5087-05
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/waskemeer-15-personen-NL-8434-01
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/balkbrug-12-personen-NL-7707-02

http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/gulpen-10-personen-NL-6271-19
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/westelbeers-12-personen-NL-5091-08
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/luxe-villa-cadzand-10-personen-NL-4506-32
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/venhorst-10-personen-NL-5428-06
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/warnsveld-10-personen-NL-7231-01
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/lunteren-12-personen-NL-6741-09
http://www.belvilla.nl/vakantiehuizen/haaren-10-personen-NL-5076-03

All places include wifi, and should have enough beds. Some have one or more 2p beds or don't include sheets; I have 'down voted' those options. If you find other options I should add to the long list, let me know.

I absolutely love the upper three that I've just now taken a look at. The first and second look especially GREAT. Very nice and still very cheap! I'd be 100% happy with either of them.

the first one looks the best. Last one of the first block has horses though!

May I please ask that we select a date for this quickly? I need to plan this in advance or I won't be able to attend (and I'm afraid weekdays won't be an option for me).

On the Doodle poll, the most popular date is 11th of August, which I presume means either the week from monday 11th to sunday 17th, or the weekend from friday 15th to sunday 17th. Would it be ok to fix this date so that people can base their plans upon that?

Maybe I should have been a little more clear about this yes. :)
I was shooting for the first or second week of August because of the poll; the poll has since slightly changed so it could even be a little later.
My idea was to do a week but with the weekend more in the middle so from Friday to Friday is a option for example the first house in the list. That all taken I'd go for August the 1st to the 8th or August the 8st to the 15th or August the 15st to the 22nd or August the 22nd to the 29th.

Which one would work for you?

I'd really like August 15 to 22 personally. What about everybody else?

Quote from: Wyz on Tue 17/06/2014 23:51:16
Which one would work for you?

Thanks. In my case, either 1-8 or 15-22, with the understanding that I'd only attend the first three days (1-3 or 15-17 respectively).

At earliest 15 to 22 would be best, although 22 to 29 would be even better to have a bit more time to recover after Mittens!

By majority it looks like we're going for August the 15th till the 22nd!
So it is time for the next phase: Gathering enough people that will come, if so I can book a place! :=
As always: the more the merrier so let's ramp this up! :D

I'm in for August 15th till the 22nd.

I've updated the first post. :D

Can anyone that want to attend please confirm?

Thanks! :)

Everyone start planning their holidays right around now so I don't know for how much longer the place will be vacant.
So, I want to take an option on the house before it's gone but as of now there are not enough people interested. :(

I'm planning on doing so in the weekend so if I don't have enough people by then I'll have to cancel the event. :(

So please let me know if you want to come before Saturday; this is the last chance.

Yes, PLEASE everybody don't let this opportunity for a great meet-up get cancelled just because you didn't sign up as an interestee. So many people were initially interested! Arjon/Tamara, Miez, Mark etc.! Don't have time this August 15-22?:)

I'll recheck when she's back home but i can only attend for 2 or 3 days...

damned, as things develop I really don't know if I'll have time then.  :(

:(

Come on knitteneers to be,
please let us here know if you're still in 😊


the list:

•Ghost
•Radiant (W/E)
•AGA (W/E)
•noavana
•MattFrith
•Minimi
•Dualnames
•Mods

One day left guys...

:~(

Yes I'm sorry I couldn't commit to this personally right now Wyz, but will definitely consider it for a future date.

Quote from: Radiant on Tue 17/06/2014 23:55:56
Thanks. In my case, either 1-8 or 15-22, with the understanding that I'd only attend the first three days (1-3 or 15-17 respectively).

Sorry, I was without internet for a few days. This post was meant to state that I'm still in, but I doubt that my confirmation would have been enough to get this event uncancalled. Well, I'm sad to see this, there are some local AGS'ers that I was looking forward to meet. Should we perhaps reschedule for September?

It's a shame that not enough people were up for it in the end, especially since so many showed interest initially which got my hopes up. :( I was looking forward to meeting a couple AGSers this year again after last years awesome GerMittens, oh well! Since Mittens will be in the US next time around (at least it should be if I remember correctly), maybe a similar initiative would have more success next year?

Thank you Wyz for putting all the effort into making and updating this thread, organizing the list of interested/confirmed people and finding all those amazing looking places, I know that was a bunch of work!

I'm sad to see this couldn't take place. Some time and effort was put in this but unfortunately that is how things can go; no damage was done and maybe it can be an incentive for future projects. :) I'm still very much in for something like this but as for Knittens this year I'll have to call it quits. If someone else wants to take this on for a different date I'm totally fine with that; maybe I'll take another shot but that would be next year then.

Long in short: sorry guys, maybe next time!  :~(

As usual, late to the party. Fml :c

Darn. Hope we'll get this flying sometimes later, then :-[

Crap :-\ ... I was (and still am) interested. But halfway through august is simply impossible for me. I'm taking a vacation by the end of august, so I can't really afford to tell my employer that I won't be there for a couple of weeks.
Sad to see this fall through. Maybe we can find a couple of days this fall or winter to organise a meetup?

The idea right now is to maybe try again next year since Mittens might/should be in North America following it's twice-in-EU-once-in-NA-rule and a lot more people from here will have a hard time making it over the Atlantic. We'll see how it goes, who organizes it etc.

Quote from: Miez on Wed 23/07/2014 15:01:44
Crap :-\ ... I was (and still am) interested. But halfway through august is simply impossible for me. I'm taking a vacation by the end of august, so I can't really afford to tell my employer that I won't be there for a couple of weeks.
Sad to see this fall through. Maybe we can find a couple of days this fall or winter to organise a meetup?

I say why-fucking-not!
Do you think next summer there will me more probability for this to succeed dkh? That'd be a point.

Quote from: Miez on Sun 16/06/1974 12:00:10
Sad to see this fall through. Maybe we can find a couple of days this fall or winter to organise a meetup?

Yes, let's do that!

Quote from: Miez on Wed 23/07/2014 15:01:44
Sad to see this fall through. Maybe we can find a couple of days this fall or winter to organise a meetup?

Ab-so-lootely possible!