German Torque User Meeting - TorqueCon
by Martin Schultz · 07/11/2006 (4:40 am) · 8 comments
As written in my previous blog, I'm interested in holding some kind of Torque user conference here in Germany. It shall be an event where to meet other Torque people, show off the work, discuss technology, build teams, make games and so on (so far the theory right now). Just a bit like the things you do here in the forums, but face to face.
Biggest issues until now was to find a place to meet at no costs. Beside others I talked to the government of the city of Hamburg as they have a special business initiative called Hamburg@work to support companies and people in the new media area (including games). First contact is made and they are interested in getting a Torque conference to Hamburg! I'm going now into a bit deeper discussion with them to start sorting things out. Even a little budget seems available to fund parts of the event. First issue was to find a suitable date and as Hamburg is a busy event city, it seems like the first possible event date would be in februrary/march 2007. Ok, far in the future, but would give some time to plan things.
Such an event lives and dies with what happens there. If it's boring, no second conference will be held. I want to have it kick-ass and to make it such an event, I'd be interested in what people would expect from the conference. Do you want to see
- Showing demos/games of the people?
- source-code explanations?
- tips & tricks?
- making game-art? (sound, graphics)
- presentations about the Torque game engines? (hello GG people... :-)
- Demo'ing making a little game in 1 hour? (like the TGB Tetris example)
- Haveing people hold speeches about special topics?
- Torque in education?
- Playing and testing Torque games
- (your idea goes here)
Right now I think it shall be a one-day event, something like starting at noon and then ending the official part at 7-8pm fading over into a party thing. By the way: The baby needs a name. What do you think of "TorqueCon" or is that name already taken somewhere?
It's still unclear how many would attend, what background attendes have and so it might be useful to collect people's thoughts about such an event - even people who wouldn't attend!
I'm interested in hearing your opinions!
Thanks,
Martin
Biggest issues until now was to find a place to meet at no costs. Beside others I talked to the government of the city of Hamburg as they have a special business initiative called Hamburg@work to support companies and people in the new media area (including games). First contact is made and they are interested in getting a Torque conference to Hamburg! I'm going now into a bit deeper discussion with them to start sorting things out. Even a little budget seems available to fund parts of the event. First issue was to find a suitable date and as Hamburg is a busy event city, it seems like the first possible event date would be in februrary/march 2007. Ok, far in the future, but would give some time to plan things.
Such an event lives and dies with what happens there. If it's boring, no second conference will be held. I want to have it kick-ass and to make it such an event, I'd be interested in what people would expect from the conference. Do you want to see
- Showing demos/games of the people?
- source-code explanations?
- tips & tricks?
- making game-art? (sound, graphics)
- presentations about the Torque game engines? (hello GG people... :-)
- Demo'ing making a little game in 1 hour? (like the TGB Tetris example)
- Haveing people hold speeches about special topics?
- Torque in education?
- Playing and testing Torque games
- (your idea goes here)
Right now I think it shall be a one-day event, something like starting at noon and then ending the official part at 7-8pm fading over into a party thing. By the way: The baby needs a name. What do you think of "TorqueCon" or is that name already taken somewhere?
It's still unclear how many would attend, what background attendes have and so it might be useful to collect people's thoughts about such an event - even people who wouldn't attend!
I'm interested in hearing your opinions!
Thanks,
Martin
#2
TorqueCon caught my eye, maybe have a section a bit like a 'QuakeCon' so a multiplayer section playing Torque Games or an offical game of the TorqueCon? I think this could get more of the market in to the indie section, and start to look at the games been made. So not just for people interested in making games and already use Torque.
07/11/2006 (5:23 am)
This sounds great, shame I'm not in Germany, but there is a chance I will be at the time.TorqueCon caught my eye, maybe have a section a bit like a 'QuakeCon' so a multiplayer section playing Torque Games or an offical game of the TorqueCon? I think this could get more of the market in to the indie section, and start to look at the games been made. So not just for people interested in making games and already use Torque.
#3
07/11/2006 (5:32 am)
@Edward: Cool idea with game testing, I'll add it to the list above. Also an cool idea with the official game! Thanks! 
#4
So what would make me travel to Germany to attend this event? Here's a few points:
- Showing demos/games of the people.
- Tips & Tricks in Torque.
- Haveing people hold speeches about special topics.
- Playing and testing Torque games.
- Discussion events.
07/11/2006 (6:45 am)
Very interesting! I applaud your stamina in this, Martin.So what would make me travel to Germany to attend this event? Here's a few points:
- Showing demos/games of the people.
- Tips & Tricks in Torque.
- Haveing people hold speeches about special topics.
- Playing and testing Torque games.
- Discussion events.
#5
@Stefan: Dicussion events - Do you mean something like breakout sessions where a special topic is discussed by the attendees?
Regarding demos/games:
I would offer to show the very latest work on my dogfighting TSE game called Subsonic.
Regarding speeches:
If there's interest, I could for example ask Tom to hold a speech about security in games as he's a security specialist, lives here in Hamburg just around the corner and already offered this to me (he he, I think he already forgot this, but I'm going to remind him! ;-)
Regarding tips & tricks:
Would it be of interest for example to explain how to integrate a simple serial number copy protection into your own Torque game? I have done this for my game SuperMaze and could explain how I did it (including how to write your own serial generator for your own game - all in Torque!).
07/11/2006 (8:13 am)
Thanks, Stefan :-) I really would love to have this event happen.@Stefan: Dicussion events - Do you mean something like breakout sessions where a special topic is discussed by the attendees?
Regarding demos/games:
I would offer to show the very latest work on my dogfighting TSE game called Subsonic.
Regarding speeches:
If there's interest, I could for example ask Tom to hold a speech about security in games as he's a security specialist, lives here in Hamburg just around the corner and already offered this to me (he he, I think he already forgot this, but I'm going to remind him! ;-)
Regarding tips & tricks:
Would it be of interest for example to explain how to integrate a simple serial number copy protection into your own Torque game? I have done this for my game SuperMaze and could explain how I did it (including how to write your own serial generator for your own game - all in Torque!).
#6
Anyway, that serial number copy protection does sound useful, if you have any kind of tutorial or resource for it, I'd really like to see how you did it.
07/11/2006 (11:53 am)
Well, I don't live in Germany and getting there cheaply would burn off about one third of my year's wages. I wish I could go =(Anyway, that serial number copy protection does sound useful, if you have any kind of tutorial or resource for it, I'd really like to see how you did it.
#8
07/11/2006 (12:38 pm)
Ah, Mathias. That reminds me that I wanted to send you an e-mail... 
Torque 3D Owner Florian Ross