Text Game: PAX Boston, 2010

RealityCheck · Post by **RealityCheck** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:47 pm

Do I still have a date for Get Lamp premier?

Worm · Post by **Worm** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:39 am

Reality Check doesn't sound too sure of himself?

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:21 pm

Well, that's all sorted out. ANYWAY. I've lost so much time lately, that it ain't looking good for Cryptozookeeper to be finished in time for the show.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:30 pm

It's too bad I can't get tickets to PAX. I have a work trip planned for NYC the week before PAX weekend.

bruce · Post by **bruce** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 6:20 pm

I'm going to Garycon instead. It's much closer.

Bruce

ICJ · Post by **ICJ** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:41 am

Well, I think we on the IF panel did a really good job.

I was anxious at first - felt like my heart was over 100 bps - I eventually calmed down, made what I hope were a few good comments, and hopefully kept things light. J. Robinson Wheeler did an outSTANDING job as moderator, and it was great to be up there with Aaron, Emily and Zarf as well. There's a video that I'll link to when it's available.

I met Worm and Mike Sousa for the first time and had a blast hanging out with them and Roody Yogurt today. I'm still buzzing from everything.

As for the premiere of GET LAMP, which was also tonight... it deserves its own thread and I can't EVEN process it at this point. Move over "Brick," it's time for something meatier! (I mean to say it's probably my new favorite movie.)

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 8:54 am

Gonna try to use this thread to keep track of PAX East blog posts I liked. Here's one from Paul O'Brian about life in the IF suite:

http://paulobrian.livejournal.com/25435.html

And here is one from Jenny (Didnotcatchherlastname) with her notes from the panel I was on:

http://pissylittlesausages.wordpress.co ... nel-notes/

And a blog post from Aaron Reed:

http://lacunagame.blogspot.com/2010/03/ ... aways.html

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:57 pm

You think this is over?? This isn't over, Ukilicoz!

http://inventory.getlamp.com/2010/03/31 ... e-success/

http://paulobrian.livejournal.com/25752.html

http://nickm.com/post/2010/04/pax-blurb/

http://selfasfractal.blogspot.com/2010/04/pax-east.html

http://emshort.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/more-post-pax/

Emily's has links to even MORE articles. This is what you get when you hold a convention for people who like to write. You get articles about the con- more?? Did you ask for more?

Everyone thinks Granade is angry all the time, but that's because he hosts the IF Comp and more apropos to our sentence here, the last 10 games each year of the IF Comp. He's not angry, quit projecting! He's a survivor - of PAX East!

http://granades.com/2010/03/31/i-survived-pax-east/

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:32 am

Hey! This whole thread is Awesome!

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:29 am

This thread is really making me want to write an IF game.

Roody_Yogurt · Post by **Roody_Yogurt** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:02 am

I was going to write my thoughts on my lj, but hey, I haven't updated that thing in like two years- why start now?

First off, these days, I'm kind of surprised when I meet people that I haven't met before and find it especially enjoyable (I dunno, I'm fatalistic enough that I just get to a point where I figure I've met everyone I need to meet so far). I could list everyone I enjoyed talking to, but for fear of leaving anyone out, I'll just give a special shout out to Mike Sousa, Worm, Chris Klimas, and Paul O'Brien since they are the most likely to read this.

I was very impressed with the quality of panels we had over the entire weekend. I was a little worried going into Robb's panel that, being the one where people unfamiliar with the medium would go to, it would be the most watered-down talk of the weekend. Instead, it was quite the nice talk about various aspects of IF, and unsurprisingly, Robb delivered many of the funniest lines.

We had a panel the next day in the IF Suite about "IF Outreach"- promoting IF to new people. I was impressed with the caliber of the panelists. One guy was an AV Club writer for The Onion and another did stuff for jayisgames. It was great getting outside-the-community perspective from people who still appreciated the format.

The last talk on "adaptive difficulty" was good, too, but I'd like to chew on it some more before I really say much about it.

"Get Lamp" was good fun (and gave me my chance to finally thank Lebling personally for The Lurking Horror).

I think the weekend did a great job at showing new people that, yes, there is a community bundled with this gaming interest (which, sure, everyone knows but there's just something about being crammed into a room full of people you've only known virtually). For us older people, many of whom are not as excited as we were when we found IF on the internet 10+ years ago, it was a great reminder that there are still new frontiers to be discovered in IF and that more progress and innovation are still ahead of us.

I know of at least three IF authors who haven't written anything in years that have either already started coding something new or intend to, and I'm sure there are several more.

Near the end of the weekend, I was once again reminded that some of the recent IF games most mentioned aren't similar in scope to the games I intend to write (I aim to continue writing games that are somewhat old-school, in at least limits-of-implementation and keeping-wordage-on-the-less-verbose-side aspects if not actual old-school puzzles), but the weekend was effective in making me rethink some scenes in the game I want to write (and I think it will be better for those changes).

Also, I have to admit, watching people code in Inform 7 is pretty even if I intend to stick with Hugo. Just the same, seeing that in person helps contribute to the whole "brave new world" feel.

All in all, the various game design talks were great, but just because I personally didn't get into work-in-progress game mechanic discussions, I have found myself wanting another IF meet-up for authors where we concentrate on more on the applicable than the theoretical. Some other people feel the same way; we'll see if it happens.

klembot · Post by **klembot** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:09 pm

Busted! I have to end my epic career of lurking JC now that I've been called out by Roody. (This is Chris Klimas.) It was great saying hi to everyone at the suite, even though I've been out of the IF scene for a long long time. It was kinda hilarious to be all, "Hey, remember that game you made like ten years ago? Man, I dug that" to a couple people. And it was really cool to see that some people still remembered my games. I ended up writing up my own PAX experience over here... the IF bit was definitely the high point.

One of my biggest disappointments actually was not meeting Robb -- I think he was flogging his wares in the convention center when I was at the suite. Too bad. Remember Chicks Dig Jerks? Man, I dug that.

sgranade · Post by **sgranade** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:44 pm

Man, I had no idea I was so angry all the time.

I shall have to crush you all.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:04 pm

RobB's a guest star! I need you to autograph my JC comics now.

Seriously, way cool!

THE
SAG MEMBER
AARDVARK

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:20 pm

sgranade wrote:Man, I had no idea I was so angry all the time. I shall have to crush you all.

This is the best first-post on here I can remember. Usually it takes a while before someone (rightfully) wants to punch the people here in the throat. Welcome!

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:23 pm

klembot wrote:Busted! I have to end my epic career of lurking JC now that I've been called out by Roody. (This is Chris Klimas.) It was great saying hi to everyone at the suite, even though I've been out of the IF scene for a long long time. It was kinda hilarious to be all, "Hey, remember that game you made like ten years ago? Man, I dug that" to a couple people. And it was really cool to see that some people still remembered my games. I ended up writing up my own PAX experience over here... the IF bit was definitely the high point.

One of my biggest disappointments actually was not meeting Robb -- I think he was flogging his wares in the convention center when I was at the suite. Too bad. Remember Chicks Dig Jerks? Man, I dug that.

Yeah, I was pissed - for whatever reason, I didn't see your name on the lists and wiki pages going around, so I didn't know to look for you. Roody mentioned that you were there when I talked to him on Monday and I was mad, as I would have made sure to go back to the suite. Frustrating! But it seems more and more likely that another IF Gathering is going to happen at some point in the future. I could have used an entire week for everything that went on, especially with a video game con in the background.

I'm glad you had a good time!

bruce · Post by **bruce** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:07 pm

Wow! It's like a RAIF-non-jackasses reunion around here.

Me excepted, of course.

Bruce

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:37 pm

I did want to also say that everyone missed you. I hope we can do another one of these things with you there at some point, my friend.

sgranade · Post by **sgranade** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:43 am

Bruce, if pissing on people's cheerios was being a jackass...well, okay, it probably is being a jackass.

ICJ, I've already been outed by Jenni as the kind of person who shows a picture of a robot unicorn performing auto-fellatio to a perfectly nice near-stranger, so I might as well add violence to my list of crimes.

I've actually lurked here for a while, but now the gloves are off. Unless we're going to box, in which case I'll put them back on.