Just a sticky thread for those who have been to the AGDC to chat and tell us all about it!!
Did all the Aussie devs have booths? I just seem to remember a fair portion of dev houses being bitter that the costs of booths were so high, and Micro Forte running the whole show soured it alittle more.
Last year or the year before... I remember hearing it though...
Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/
List of booths:
Stand 1: Discreet
Stand 2: nVidia
Stand 3: Alias Wavefront
Stand 4: Multimedia Victoria
Stand 5: Academy of Interactive Entertainment
Stand 6: Unsigned Games Voting Booth
Stand 7: Currently available
Stand 8: Metrowerks
Stand 9: Sony Computer Entertainment
Stand 10: Computer Graphics College
Stand 11: Atomic MPC
Stand 12: QANTM
Stand 13: Auran
Stand 14: Intel
"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002
Someone told me in an email that, from their experience, the AGDC wasn't too good.. in fact it's gotten smaller and there was hardly anyone there. I think they were there on a Saturday afternoon. Was it bringing in the crowds? I would have thought that Saturday afternoon would be one of the busier times for the conference..
The AGDC draws in many types of people interested in the game industry, from developers, to students, and lanfest people, but what does it offer joe six pack for a good $30 or so dollars entry price? Actually, if they did pay, what could they see? Seminars and lans were off limits unless you were had a delegate pass or were signed up for the lans, right?.. and as mentioned earlier, there weren't any developers there with their latest and greatest games on display to play, so what else was in the showroom exactly? (actually,nevermind.. Jacana just wrote up the booths info..) Perhaps the purpose for the AGDC wasn't meant to be something for the general populous - it's a conference, and not an exhibition, but I wonder why it couldn't be that too? More developers showing their games, and nore software/hardware/cpu/gfx companies showing their gadgets + giving out live tutorials.. I remember going to the Digital Media World exhibition years ago, and there were soooo many people sitting around watching a Maya presenter going through the basics of Maya, with tricks and hints etc.. there were tonnes of other live tutorials too.. I think by doing things like that would be encouraging more creative people to visit, especially those from film and animation..
A huge draw for attending the AGDC for me is the seminars, guest speakers, and seeing the people behind the developer companies, but what else do you think could make the AGDC better, and what did you think the conference was lacking? (I think initiatives to get developers to mingle a bit more would be great, from what Jacana and Zaph mentioned).
About the AGDC getting smaller, I've read that the number of delegates have risen from under 500 to over 650 from that Gamespy article, so that's very assuring..
Anyway, damn lucky Melbournites!.. they get to host the AGDC for another *3* years !!!! :)
btw how many people could those seminar rooms hold?
quote:Originally posted by Souri
Anyway, damn lucky Melbournites!.. they get to hose the AGDC for another *3* years !!!! :)
btw how many people could those seminar rooms hold?
The smaller rooms had seating for about 60 people. They really needed more space in a lot of talks. Rooms were filling up and people were standing up or sitting on the floor for some of the talks. By Sunday most people were getting in early to make sure they had a spot. I missed out on a few talks because there was no room left :
I overheard *cough* a talk and it sounded like they were going to try and get a Thursday Job Fair in next year.
"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002
Well it would be cool to have more booths showing off games, but that would mean that people would have to staff them etc. The Unsigned Games voting area took up both Booth 6 & 7. I would image the expo area could be doubled in size by just taking up some lanfest room, I'm sure a few less people at the lan wouldn't hurt, especially since it would mean more booths etc. IMO the AGDC could turn into a trade show, or something like that, and more international names, especailly a few from Japan, or Korea, or wherever would be a good boost. Maybe another party or so to get the developers drunk would be good for mingling, although I found that during the coffee breaks was a good time to mingle.
Souri: Actually the $35 pass for Saturday got you into 4 of the lectures (there were only 4), both keynotes, and I think even the cocktail party so that's a good deal IMO.
Erg, enough babbling.
quote:Originally posted by Souri
ahh ok.. that $35 pass sounds like a very good deal to me too [:)] - as you know, I didn't get to go, so that Barbie game incident you guys mentioned went right over my head... so what happened there then? [:)]
One of the talks was by Mark Morrison from IMH about using licenced content - it was changed from another talk.
Mark started off by talking about how -cool- a Powerpuff Girls game would be -yea- but at some stage in the talk actually said that they were kind of cool. He then asked if someone had another licenced product that was quite a bit more "lame". Our own David Coen piped up with "Barbie". So off Mark went on Barbie.... At some stage there were a couple of questions from the audience. Mark answered the first question then looked for the second person - whom no longer had their hand up. He had taken notice of the second person so he was curious what that person had wanted to ask/say. Their comment was along the lines of having worked for a developer that shipped the only barbie game this year. It was one of guys from Krome.
I have a feeling that David might have said Barbie because he knew someone from Krome was in the audience [:p]
"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002
There was a $15 expo pass that only got you into the expo. I think this would have been pretty useless to most people, unless for some reason you could only spare say an hour on saturday and just wanted to take a quick look around the booths.
Perhaps the person who said it was smaller was there when everyone else was at talks or keynotes :P
CYer, Blitz
All in all it was a great time. I think I found it good tho because of the parties, the booze, and the dinner. I attended most of the hardware talks, and they were a bit weak. It was mainly an "information" presentation and "look here for more info" kind of thing.
Listening to Ray and a bunch of those other guys was really kewl. I got a lot out of that. The expo was exceptionally weak. They _could_ turn it into something big, but I dont see that really happening for next year.
But I think to get the most out of the time there, you had to goto the party, the cocktail party, and the dinner (which was worth the money). I dont know about Daemin's comment about more alcohol - I had more than my fair share ;-)
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Andrew McGregor
Engine programmer
Tycom Studios
andrewm@tycomstudios.com
www.tycomstudios.com
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More parties would mean they would have to extend the conference, which wouldnt be a bad thing. Altho sunday was basically a half day :-(
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Andrew McGregor
Engine programmer
Tycom Studios
andrewm@tycomstudios.com
www.tycomstudios.com
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Just wanted to comment on a few things on Scott's article
quote:SCOTTS AGDC 2002 TRIP
Simulation, Emulation and the Game Design/Development Process
Doug Church - Ion StormDoug Church didn't turn up after the previous nights party. BOOOO Ion Storm! John Romero where were you?
I left this lecture in disgust. >:(
Umm... Actually it was announced just as Doug Church had only just got into Melbourne when he did his talk. He was asking people to wake him up if he fell asleep durning the talk. Not sure how one can expect him to be at a party when he wasn't even there. Odd part is that its mentioned that Scott left the lecture. Well if he showed up he would have heard the same announcement I did.... *shrugs*
quote:SCOTTS AGDC 2002 TRIP
was a little blown away when talking to their trainers... for Hail they had a team of 20:5 programmers, 15 artists, and 7 MONTHS IN DEVELOPMENT!!!
7 MONTHS!!! What were you doing guys?
Last I understood there is bad blood between Quantum and AIE so not a suprise comment. In that 7 months the guys wrote their own engine as well as the game :)
"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002
Haha thanks for the reality check Jacana. I wrote that stuff about Doug Church because I couldn't remember anything memorable about the roundtable. I didn't actually walk out. :)
Hail was actually quite cool. I realise that their stuff was based on their own tech (mine is too), but 7 months?!?!?!
Actually QANTM was planning to do a similar thing with us at the beginning of the year, making us funnel our entire years learning and work into one demo. There was a shakeup midway through, and it was decided that a more modular approach should be taken.
I hope I haven't hurt anyones feelings, that would make me sad. :(
Wait, Christian S has left? That would suck :(
It was kind of amusing actually, on one of his first lectures during 2002 he told everyone:
1) Get a divorce now (heh)
2) Nobody in the course will be able to get a game running. At all. It's just not going to happen.
I really, really, really enjoyed how silent he was on Industry Night when he saw all the games we had made :)
(But Industry Night is waiting to be written about in another thread topic, so I'll get to that later)
What I want to know is...what game did you make Scott? And was Ryan Starr on the QANTM booth? (it was the kid with a monkey in a room full of robots game)
*laughs* So Christian lasted just over a year, eh? QANTM still sounds like same ol' QANTM.
Scott's comment "Hooray QANTM" worries me... I think you've been chewing on your QANDOM pen too much... @;-)
Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/
I thought Scott/Rezn0rs' article was great and damn hilarious [:)].. I haven't had a laugh like that in a while hehe.. You should've posted here before the AGDC and asked where all the good clubs are - I'm sure Melbourne has plenty of great clubs..
I'm sure AIE students can take a bit of healthy criticism, and rivalry/competition is always good if it makes the students work that bit harder.. and hey, if you're planning to become a game developer, you may as well get used to criticism on your games [:)]
quote:Originally posted by Souri
I thought Scott/Rezn0rs' article was great and damn hilarious [:)].. I haven't had a laugh like that in a while hehe.. You should've posted here before the AGDC and asked where all the good clubs are - I'm sure Melbourne has plenty of great clubs..
I'm sure AIE students can take a bit of healthy criticism, and rivalry/competition is always good if it makes the students work that bit harder.. and hey, if you're planning to become a game developer, you may as well get used to criticism on your games [:)]
Hehe :) I didn't mean my post to sound bitchy. I was a bit sick when I wrote it.
I just ment that I think the two might be a bit more critical of each other then most. Or as you said Souri, maybe it allows them to voice it a bit better.
You're right that you need criticism in your games. As we know the pefect game has not been developed yet because I am not working for any company yet *grin*
"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002
quote:Originally posted by Gazunta
2) Nobody in the course will be able to get a game running. At all. It's just not going to happen.
That's not the only comment of that sort he made. He made it expecting people to say "screw that" and prove him wrong. It worked like a charm.
Ryan Starr wasn't on the show reel in the rooms on Industry night IIRC, and since they showed off those exact same reels at Melbourne...
Scott came in to my project 3 weeks before Industry night. It was a third person shooter set in the Warhammer 40000 universe. I wouldn't quite say the tech was on par with Hail, but if I had another 6 weeks (I'd only been working on it for 3 weeks before Scott came aboard, making it a total of six weeks work) I'm confident that the tech would have been getting pretty close to the same level (perhaps even surpassing in some areas - Hail looked like it was using lightmaps, I've been researching using stencil buffers for lighting; and Christian had been touching networking all year and finally got in to some hardcore stuff towards the end of the year so I would have had an invaluable source of advice for getting multiplayer happening properly). I appreciate the amount of work that went in to Hail (having programmed 95% of the code for the game displayed on Industry night, you'd expect that), but it left me saying "7 months with that many people?" aswell. Oh well, I'm trashing all my code and starting from scratch. The code started to get pretty messy towards the end. I know what not to do and have a better idea of what to do with the next incarnation of my portal renderer so it should come out even better than before. Just need someone to write a decent map editor this time... :P
quote:Originally posted by Jacana
When you keep to your own you miss a lot. There was a wealth of knowledge there over the weekend and I tried to take in as much of it as I could. Not just from the talks but from the people. I really apprecaited that after the last talk of the conference Derek from Mirco Forte (Xbox project) talked with a few of us for good hour. He missed the closing keynote as did we. But in that hour there was a lot of knowledge to be had.
Oh, did he say anything about their oh-so-mysterious xbox game? :D
I think that Scotts AGDC article is the best article I've ever read,
and that Ben character sounds really cool,
and I'm not just saying that because I'm Ben.
too bad there was no mention of the pimp shirt, but i could understand why Scott wouldn't add that.
Also boy-girl was another point over-looked.
I guess it's just that because we don't have anything like E3 in australia, you'd expect dev studio's to show off their upcoming and just released games at the AGDC to get some media coverage...
CYer, Blitz