Just in case you dont know, Palm are doing a UK conference on Wednesday, March 30 at 6:00 PM. I've booked my place :) so hopefully will be going...
http://www.amiando.com/em/webosconnectlondon/317793405
The UK convention went very well - it was certainly well attended with many looking into developing for the system and established developers. GLBasic caused a bit of interested, and was certainly well known through Twitter :)
Palm/HP do realise they are playing chat-up, and that they need to improve developer relations. To that end they said that the App Store will be upgraded to allow in-app purchases and sort out a few country-specific problems. Unfortunately I couldn't get to anyone to improve the Tax detail situation for UK people, but I can always contact them later.
They always want to improve marketing for Apps too. In addition, they will also be sending out labs for testing applications.
The tablet was on displayed and will have webOS 3. It seemed to run very well and will be out in June. Unfortunately the price wasn't know. In addition, they will be bringing webOS to their PC's next year - in addition to other devices like printers...
The webOS 3 SDK beta is now out.
It probably wasn't the best idea to hold it in a pub - after the half-time break, everyone was busy drink and it got rather noisy, so hopefully a dedicated venue will be chosen for the next one.
More will be added once I get my notes :)
Awesome news! I wish it was a little bit closer...
Glad it went well. Shame I couldn't make it :(
Quote from: Kitty Hello on 2011-Mar-31
Awesome news! I wish it was a little bit closer...
Just be glad you don't live in Australia. Most of the guys with our background (the ones I'm familiar with at least) have spent a large portion of their lives in envy of those who live in Europe with all your conventions and the like. Any that are held here never look half as fun, mostly because they are usually held in Sydney. :)
And if the programming side of things is bad, don't get me started on board game conventions...
I'm a Europhile stuck in an Aussie body. :)
I'm a Florida Boy stuck in Germany. But I'd swap with AUS, too ;)
A picture of where it was held :
(http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr115/MrTAToad/CIMG0024.jpg)
I was 5 hours early (I like to get anywhere nice and early :) )
And when it was a bit fuller :
(http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr115/MrTAToad/CIMG0025.jpg)
And the ubiquitous picture of London (in this case Shoreditch) :
(http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr115/MrTAToad/CIMG0023.jpg)
It was rather wet unfortunately...
I would have liked to have taken more but the Pre wasn't fully charged to start with.
Is the ceiling corrugated? :S
Heh - no, wood beams :)
Ah yes, I can see it now. Never seen anything quite like that before (I was a business valuer at one point and saw hundreds of pubs (professionally!) and so on).
It didn't help with poor lighting!
Finally got my notes! One chappy game the following tips for a successful game :
Fun, Casual and Simple
Must have story and presentation
Niche concept
Brand definition
Social interaction
Marketing and exposure
Do multi-platform games
Re-design for tablets (or re-align)
That's frankly B'lox!.
Why must a game have a story? Tetris doesn't. PacMan doesn't. Space Invaders has a tag line of "stop the invasion" or something similar. Is that a story? Games don;t even have to have a reason for why you are doing what you are doing. Pretty much every arcade game ever never neeed a "story."
A game doesn't have to be fun - but it does have to be entertaining (eg Resident Evil)
Niche concept - like every single racing game is niche? Like every match 3 game is niche? Like (so on ad infinitum).
Most of the biggest selling games have no niche concept to claim their own.
Social Interaction - erm. No thankyou! I don't want to play my games with a bunch of screaming/shouting/swearing 14 year-olds.
Multi-format increases profits only - it doesn't make the game any better. Just makes it available to more people.
Brand definition. You what? Be serious. Some of the biggest games ever never had brand recognition when first created - PacMan, Space Invaders, Doom etc. Brand recognition comes after the game becomes big.
So there you are... it's perhaps a good job that I didn't attend the meet!
:P
2cents...
_Fun, Casual and Simple
that is standard for indie+mobile I guess
Must have story and presentation
_I guess those are more for interactive fictions, adventures, etc type games. but if you can add something quick and skippable, it wont hurt.
Niche concept
_if you consider that target, can be, like for example Hit The Deck is quite directed to pinball/baseball fans, all ages.
Some games are quite for everyone, others don´t. They say sngry birds is for the whole family, I quite don´t like it and would never buy it.
_Brand definition
If your game has a main character, can be. Even puzzles. I dare understand that as your game DEFINES a brand, so you can do sequels. Any game defines a brand.
Social interaction
_ agree with Ian, i´m out too.
Marketing and exposure
_no money for that, have to rely on informal marketing, let´s say that too is also obvious other then a hint.
Do multi-platform games
_cashwise for sure, agree with Ian.
Re-design for tablets (or re-align)
_don´t, plan you game/assets to be scalable to your multiplatform from the very beguining. Don´t re-design as RE is time wasting stuff.
Would be nice to be there an chat considering all different opinions, even though whenever I attend animation fairs or the likes I end up pissed off with people in general :puke: hehe.
Thanks for sharing Mr Tatoad.
Missed out "Casual" and "Simple"
Games don't need to be casual or simple. Some of the best games I've played recently are maybe simple in concept and execution, but are complex in the decisions that the player makes - look at Plants vs Zombies. This has been my fave game in the last few years. It's execution is wonderful (on all formats), but the strategies required to beat each and every level is fairly complex. Do you choose a Pea Shooter, which is weedy and only costs 100 or a Re-Peater, which is more powerful but costs more etc. etc. It's certainly not a simple game though. Chess is not a "simple" game either. It has a fixed and small ruleset, but the options available to the player are near-endless. Is that classed as casual or hard-core?
What is a "casual game" or indeed a "casual gamer"? I'm still waiting for a proper definition that I agree with.
Anyway, yes sorry MrTaToad - thanks for taking time to post that list. My comments are not aimed at you, I just find it incredulous that a software developer actually stated all of those things.
A causual game is one where you play it on a train or bus journey for a a few minutes and not for hours on end. A simple game is something easy to pick up and play. Both of which are ideal for the smartphone/pocket pc area.
If you can pick out a niche area with an exciting gameplay, you've probably got it made...
Palm realise that they need to help with brand recognition/advertising etc - in-app purchasing is one area they want to deal it. I suspect the App Store will get a vast improvement when their Tablet comes out.