http://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
Holy Shit! This hotel is about 2000 feet from my house. It is in Brookfield, Wisconsin, about 20 miles west of Milwaukee.
Is anyone from nesdev going to be there? I know that there are a lot of you from Indiana. Are any of you going to drive up?
I've been thinking about it. I went last year while I was still living in Chicago just for Sunday and it was a lot of fun. This year I'm debating whether or not to set up a table to demo my game like I did at MAGFest. It all depends on how much the tables are and how confident I feel spending the money on hotel room/table rental so soon after I spent boatloads at MAGFest on room/table rental/massive loads of fun stuff off the merchant floor/booze. If you'd be interested in splitting a table with me to demo Yar's Revenge, that would be cool. From what I remember their sizes being last year, I'm pretty confident we could fit two TV/NES combos on one table. Let me know if you're interested.
At the very least, even if I don't set up a table I think myself and my buddy I attended with last year may be going for one day like we did last year.
I would love to split a table and demo Yars' Revenge, if I can get it finished in time. I have no idea what a table costs though. Or what the lead-time is if I were to pay Bunnyboy to fabricate some.
I asked my wife is she would be a "booth babe". She declined.
I know that three other regular members on this site live in Indiana. Maybe you guys will car-pool + split the gas / hotel.
We have a guest room. But I've asked my wife twice and she said that she absolutely does not want "strange people" in our home.
Besides, we have two cats, two dogs (greyhound + beagle) and a ferret. This place is a zoo.
Hey clueless,
No prob on not staying at your spot. To be honest I didn't even think of that as an option and I completely understand your wife not being comfortable with it since we've never met. Thanks, though. It was nice of you to ask the Misses.
I sent an email to the guy running the vendor area last week on table pricing and he said they still haven't hashed it out yet. He told me he should know a little later this week and will email me back at that time. So I'll keep you posted.
Regarding the game demo: do you by chance have a PowerPak? All I did at MAGFest was load my latest demo build onto my PowerPak and had people play it that way through the NES. And if not you could always just set up a laptop (or use mine if you don' t have one) and play the ROM through an emulator. I have a laptop and a generic controller I use to have people play stuff on an emulator when I'm demoing the game and the NES isn't handy.
If any other fellow Hoosier homebrewers want to car-pool and possibly add to the homebrew table I'd definitely be up for that, as well. I'm on the south side of Indianapolis. I'm not sure if that works for anyone wanting to attend, but hit me up if interested. And it goes without saying that I'd definitely be up for splitting a room.
I am a bit timid about bringing my own real NES. I also have no dev carts and no powerpak. However, I'm willing to purchase a powerpak. Even if I brought a NES, I have no TV to bring with it. The nice TV in the living room is not moving
. I live a simple existence, I guess.
I have access to a laptop. I have two Retrousb SNES -> USB adapters that I use on my development PC for play-testing the game. I have no problem demoing in an emulator. I have access (via work) to a VGA projector that works well with the laptop, if the booth's lighting is conducive to this (which I doubt). I have a 17" flat-screen CRT on my server in the basement. I can bring that in I suppose.
It does sound like fun. I've wanted to go that event, or the Cincinnati one, but haven't yet. I'd car-pool there with you and split a room, travel expenses are one of the reasons I've missed out on these events.
I could bring any of my own prototypes, PowerPak + CF card writer, front-loader and/or toploader, maybe some various oddities. I do have a couple CRTs, if we really needed it.
I'm on the south side of Indy also, just outside Beech Grove.
I'm excited. This sounds awesome. Now we need to get Tepples from BFE (Fort Wayne) Indiana to make the trip too. Too bad that Ft. Wayne and Indianapolis are not on the same route to Milwaukee.
Damn, I'd like to go but the drive from California is a little long, and I'm not very keen on flying these days.
Hey folks,
My name is J.D. Norman and I'm one of the organizers of the Midwest Gaming Classic, specifically for the museum wing along with Marty Goldberg.
I noticed that you guys were talking about buying a table to show off your NES demos, and here's the thing... If you were trying to SELL the games at the show, then yeah, you're probably going to have to buy a table in the vendor hall. However, if you're just interested in demoing the games without selling anything at the show, there's a very good chance we could give you a table in the game designers area free of charge.
The table wouldn't come with any tickets, but it would certainly be cheaper than buying a vendor package.
The exact location for the game designer area hasn't been decided quite yet, but last year it was downstairs in the VGEVO Events Room, where many of the journalists and podcasters set up shop.
Let me know if you guys are interested... I'll continue to monitor this thread, or you can PM me if you like.
Later.
Thank you for posting here!
How large (width, depth) is a table in the "game designer's area"?
Will AC power be provided?
How much does it cost to have a real vendor spot? Your web site does not list prices yet.
http://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/join-us/become-vendor/
clueless wrote:
How large (width, depth) is a table in the "game designer's area"?
As I mentioned, the space isn't finalized yet, so anything I told you right now would only be a guess, unfortunately. What I can tell you is that the people specifically responsible for this area would be willing to work with you guys to ensure you have a space that's practical for both yourselves and the show itself.
Quote:
Will AC power be provided?
Yes, though you should bring as many extension cables and power strips along as you would need. We would need an idea for what you would be plugging in, however... Obviously we can't have anyone popping any breakers.
Quote:
How much does it cost to have a real vendor spot? Your web site does not list prices yet.
Prices are actually set, but the big issue is whether or not we have any more space! As I understand it, the vendors for the last several years have been quick to order space for the following year - and often more of it. I believe they've put a few things in place to even things out and grow the area this year, but right now they're busy trying to figure out if there is any space left before selling it.
That's actually one of the reasons I wanted to post here... I wanted to give you guys some additional options in case the vending area is full.
In 2002 my duties included helping independent developers like the Dreamcast community get some much deserved exposure for their work at the show, and since then I've always been interested in giving developers a chance to show off their dev's at the show.
Later.
Wooot! Woooooot!
Damn, I haven't had a chance to look at this thread in over a day, and in that time it's exploded into twenty thousand megatons of kickass! (Yyyyyyep! I'm a dork.) So much to reply to:
@clueless: that's cool, those SNES->USB adapters should work well. Then again, if memblers ends up coming, it sounds like he may be able to hook you up. Or we could even load multiple ROMs on my PowerPak if space ends up being constrained, and take turns between the NES and laptop depending on who's doing what. (I may duck out every now and again to attend a panel or two, if it's cool with everyone else. And of course I'd stand guard when other people wanted to take off for a while to do some stuff). I'm probably getting way ahead of myself here, though, as we can figure out these kinds of logistics once we know for sure who's coming/who's bringing what. And on that point...
@Memblers: Hells yeah!! Let's carpool! I'm really new to the Indy area so immediately I didn't know where you were, but I just mapquested it and you're roughly five or six miles or so from me depending on where exactly you live around Beech Grove. If you like, I just bought a Prius and I'm more than willing to drive that to save us both some money. The thing gets awesome gas mileage, but space may be limited. I just used it to go to MAGFest and it fit my large CRT and all my other NES gear and luggage with room to spare. Sometime before the con we could meet up and figure out what all we can take, or if your car would be better, but I'm confident we should be able to get most, if not all, of our stuff in mine. I do have a buddy in Chicago that's going this year, too, but he's most likely only going to want to go for one day so he'll probably drive up separately. We haven't finalized that yet, though.
@Mr. Norman: to reiterate what clueless said: yes, thank you for posting and offering your assistance. I remember the space you're describing from last year, and it seems like it would be a great place to demo our stuff. I don't know for sure what everyone else is planning, but I for a fact will not be selling anything. Just demo.
I've got to say I'm getting really excited about this. It's shaping up to be a nesdev parrrrrrteeeeeee! And I'll get to play your Yar's Revenge ROM, clueless, which will also rule.
I will be there as the past 3 years. I plan on bringing some N64 stuff but exactly what I don't know yet.
Marshallh, would you like to demo your N64 tech at a "nesdev" table?
We (nesdev) should attempt to estimate how many of us would like table space so that we can let DHG Hunter know. I propose that we, or MGC, set a deadline of when we must let MGC know how much space we would like.
However, it does seem a bit early to know what we would like to ask for. Just something to think about I guess.
Now how do I get up out of northeast Indiana to attend? It'd be my first time ever on Greyhound.
Greyhound is an interesting experience. I actually rode on one for 20 hrs last year to the east coast. If nothing else, you'll certainly have some stories to tell once it's done.
Right on, taking your Prius would be great. My car is an '00 Sentra, it's basic but reliable. The road noise and weak sound system is annoying on longer trips.
I've got new UNROM boards that I could build, if you want to make a dedicated cart to demo Yars' Revenge or Assimilate. I've got some 32kB PRG page / 8kB CHR-RAM boards also.
What would be useful (that I don't have) is some kind of multi-A/V input switch. We'll probably have more systems than TVs. I could bring power strips, but I don't have a decent extension cord.
I have some really good (heavy duty + long) extension cords. I don't have any spare power-strips, but I can buy some. We gave a bazillion hardware stores within a few miles of here. Although power-strips suck when you have lots of wal-worts. Thinkgeek and newegg have some specialty power-strips that work well for wal-worts.
Memblers, if you burned Yars' Revenge onto a physical cart, what would become of it when the MGC is over? Its effectively a one-of-the-kind prototype (I doubt that my game will be 100% done at that point).
You could have it, but also it can be put in a CopyNES to erase/rewrite it (it uses FlashROM). Also could build a socketed cart, it fits fine in the top-loader and is just as well if you don't have a label.
No problem, I will probably set up in the benheck room as I'll be hanging out in there most of the time.
clueless wrote:
We (nesdev) should attempt to estimate how many of us would like table space so that we can let DHG Hunter know. I propose that we, or MGC, set a deadline of when we must let MGC know how much space we would like.
That about sums it. Organize, figure out how many of you are planning on doing something at the show, and we'll work out the where and how much space is needed. Sooner the better, but keep in mind if there are maybe a half-dozen devs there and someone else wants to join in last minute, they can join you though we can't guarantee any extra space so close to the show.
On a related note, themes are also important. Figure out what you guys want whether it is sticking with the NES or something else like a Nintendo theme (NES, SNES, N64...)
Later.
Then I propose that we set a dead-line of Monday, noon, CST for nesdever's who would like to demo homebrew games, gadgets or other similar creations at "the table" to indicate so.
At, or shortly after that time, I'll tally them up and post the official count for DHG Hunter's convenience. Once we have the count and a general idea of what we want to show, we can work out (quickly I hope) how much space we would like.
DHG Hunter, I really do appreciate your offer of table space.
Nesdev as a community doesn't have a rigid leadership. As far as I'm aware, there are no votes for "nesdev president", nor any secret cabal of power-brokers. Our BBS forum is generously hosted by a fellow member, admined by a few others. I have no formal "authority" to speak on nesdev's behalf, so I hope that I'm not over-stepping my bounds by stepping up and trying to organize what I can on my end. I'm really freaking excited because I can walk from my house to the convention in ~5 minutes.
That being said, I'd like to know if it would be acceptable (to MGC and Nesdev) to put up any banners or "booth decorations" around our table. Sutff like the web-site logo, prominent display of the URL, maybe pass out business cards with the URL of our forums and the URL of where some of our games are sold online. Or should we keep it very Spartan: Just use humans + NES-related hardware?
@clueless: disregard the PM you'll be getting from me. I went ahead and posted a notification in the brewery on NA for anyone there that may want to come.
bigjt_2 wrote:
@clueless: disregard the PM you'll be getting from me. I went ahead and posted a notification in the brewery on NA for anyone there that may want to come.
No problem. I did not receive a PM anyway (weird).
Yeah it was sitting in my outbox since yesterday when I sent it. I just finally logged in now and deleted it.
I'm in MN and I have been to the event before, and I have been considering coming again this year. I don't know my finances or job schedule will support that, but if I can come I can bring a small NTSC monitor or two. (commodore screens) If someone else is coming from MN and I can't come and they want to bring one of my screens for you guys that'd be fine with me too.
Noon (CST) has come and gone. Work is really hectic today, so I don't have the time right now to re-read this thread and search out nintendoage.com posts.
From what I can remember, we have three definites:
1) Myself, demoing Yars' Revenge clone on a dinky little laptop. I can bring some power extension cords. I will also have my SNES -> USB dongles (from retrozone).
2) Bigjt, demoing <something?> Has a power-pak
3) Memblers, who can bring some gear, but are you going to demo anything (hardware project or homebrew game)?
Possibles:
1) Tepples, if he gambles with his life on a greyhound bus. Tepples, you have many games + works in progress that you could demo, too.
2) Marshallh, who has a N64 device that is like a power-pak. Might want his own area though (8-bits is not good enough I suppose....)
If any of the above is incorrect, please post corrections. Lets extend the deadline to Wednesday night. Sometime Thursday morning, we'll summarize the list of table-space-requests. I don't know if there is anything that we need to do after that for DHG Hunter or not.
Memblers, bigjt, I'm fine with demoing on a 13" laptop. However, if either of you wants to bring up a larger display, NES + PowerPak, then we can load our games onto that.
If anyone misses the sign-up, but shows up wanting to demo NES, SNES, N64 related homebrew, then we can try to squeeze them in. I can't imagine that I would want to stand at a table for two days solid...
I'm planning on bringing a 32" TV and NES with PowerPak inserted to demo
Assimilate on. I'll also have my laptop and I'll probably be playing a video of Gradualore's
Nomolos project on that. We can also run ROMs on my laptop, of course. And we can also load all ROMs on my PowerPak and switch off demoing our stuff on that, as well. But I think Memblers is bringing an NES and some TVs, as well, so we may have enough where we can all three be demoing our stuff at the same time, plus playing videos on my laptop.
One thing that helps a big deal at these things is to wear a nametag ("HELLO MY NAME IS")
Use a big fat sharpie so you can be spotted from some ways away.
I'll try to remember to pick up a packet of those nametags.
clueless, I will probably be demoing my n64 thing in the benheck room, if only because that's where i spent most of my time last year. But I'm ultimately going to end up wherever there's a TV. I probably won't be able to bring one 12 hours from home.
DHG Hunter,
It looks like we would like enough space at a table for three people (myself, bigjt, memblers) to demo homebrew games + possible homebrew NES hardware.
I've never attended an event like this before, so I have no idea what to expect, or how to estimate table space requirements. I would guess that we each would need about 1 square yard of flat space. ??
I imagine the games are all from Nintendo systems, specifically the NES in most cases?
I'll bring it up and get back to you.
Later.
Kind of a shame I can't attend this con, but it looks like it would have been fun.
My next con will probably be the Screwattack one, heh.
tepples wrote:
Now how do I get up out of northeast Indiana to attend? It'd be my first time ever on Greyhound.
My first trip on a greyhound bus was quite interesting. I went from Indy to Cincinnati with my then girlfriend. There were a couple of kids running away from and even a few Amish people. It's was actually a enlightening and not that bad if you put on some headphones and enjoy the scenery.
At any rate, I know they have expos and conventions but the one thing that has kept me from going is travel and cost. I can't recall them ever having anything like the MGC around here.
MrNickelAss wrote:
At any rate, I know they have expos and conventions but the one thing that has kept me from going is travel and cost.
People on Slashdot have occasionally told me that the obvious solution to the lack of conventions and/or the lack of employers is moving.
Just came across this thread and this is the first time I've heard of this show. Sounds cool and it's a pretty short trip from the Chicago suburbs. I'm going to try to attend.
Hello guys and gals,
I've been communicating with Dan Loosen, one of the MGC organizers. He would like the names and email addresses of those of us that plan to attend and would like to be part of the "NES Homebrew exhibit" in a NES specific conference room.
So, if you would like to attend, and show off anything that you've created (hardware or software), please let us know. Dan can be contacted best through his own email: <his last name, in all lower case> <@> <goatstore.com> (edited 2011-02-21 at Dan's request for anti-spam measures), and myself here. If you are sensitive about your real identity, don't worry, I won't share it with anyone not involved in the MGC organizational apparatus.
However, we should all know that MGC asks that we not demo any original commercial games. There will be other vendors there selling commercial games (we won't have a vendor license), and the MGC doesn't condone piracy. Homebrew flash-cart are awesome, but they should only contain homebrew games (not hacks of donkey kong or zelda-outlands or stuff like that).
This should be a kick-ass time for nesdev! It will be fun. Come and show off your cool stuff!
Also, fyi, there are FOUR hotels within walking distance of the MGC. If you are having trouble booking a hotel, use your favorite (*cough* google *cough*) online map and look just south of the Sheratan hotel. You'll see the interstate (I-94), and south of that are three more hotels: One on the left (west) side of Mooreland road, and two on the east side.
Does "not demo any original commercial games" mean don't demo any free "lite" versions of games for which one expects to eventually make a "deluxe" version?
Does "doesn't condone piracy" mean don't demo any free games with the same rules as existing games, albeit with completely original code and graphics? One well-known company thinks games with the same rules are pirated copies.
Tepples, I don't know. Dan asked that we don't load a "commercial" game, like Donkey Kong of Zelda onto a flash-cart and use that to demo the flash cart as a piracy device. Not his exact words, but that's the gist of it. Your teramino games are fine for demo, imho.
I know that Tiato (sp?) attempts to sue anyone making a space-invaders clone. Is that what you are referring to? As you have pointed out repeatedly in the past, a company can't claim a copyright on a play mechanic, just copyrights on sounds, images and names.
tepples wrote:
Does "not demo any original commercial games" mean don't demo any free "lite" versions of games for which one expects to eventually make a "deluxe" version?
You can demo anything that you created, even if its for sale somewhere else. For example, it is fine to demo Battle Kid (if Sivak were to attend), but not SMB1 (on a flash cart or a repro).
clueless wrote:
I know that Tiato (sp?) attempts to sue anyone making a space-invaders clone. Is that what you are referring to? As you have pointed out repeatedly in the past, a company can't claim a copyright on a play mechanic
Uncopyrightability of methods of play doesn't stop companies like Taito and Tetris from pretending that their copyrights are patents and forcing cloners to hire legal counsel. Had
Star Castle developer Cinematronics (now part of Midway) done this back in the day, we wouldn't have
Yars' Revenge.
I believe the basic gist is no pirated games on a flash cart like SMB, no sprite rip games or hacks, and no unofficial translated games. Basically, don't break any copyrights or IP's with what you're doing and you'll be fine.
I would personally say that "inspired by..." games are not going to be shunned. Ironic that you mention Star Castle since when I assembled the Dreamcast development group for the 2002 show, one of the games there was a quasi-port of Star Castle for the DC called DCastle.
Even ports & tributes are generally OK so long as they are one-of-a-kind and not for sale. For example, Ben Heck had his Bill Paxton Pinball at the show last year that met this criteria and another person had Donkey Kong running on a CoCo3 classic computer.
If you're unsure about it, ask. Dan would be the final say on the matter and you have his e-mail.
Later.
As long as the person with the cart has a copy, it's legal.
vNES/vGBX/vSNES is proof of that. ^_^ Hope this goes well!
3gengames wrote:
As long as the person with the cart has a copy, it's legal.
vNES/vGBX/vSNES is proof of that. ^_^ Hope this goes well!
Thats not really the law, its just something they say. If you where to say buy a dvd you would also not have the rights to stream it on your website or make a bunch of copys and sell those.
The reason they don't get in trouble is cuz nobody cares enough to shut them down. I am sure they have received some take down notates for some titles and they most likely did when asked.
Hey everyone,
It's Dan from the show here -- I can't always stop by and reply to everything, but I have been reading and I just wanted to kind of clear this up a bit about exactly what we can and cannot allow...
At the end of the day, here's the deal -- we've worked directly with a number of companies that have older properties. Because of those relationships, and to respect everyone's rights, we simply ask the following:
If you're showing off something, it should be your work. If it is a port of a game that did not come out on that console, that's fine. If it is a sprite hack of Super Mario Bros that turns the characters into fish, that would not be.
If you've got a flash cart, please don't load commercial software onto it. Also, if you will eventually have it for sale, please do not promote it as "load all the commercial games onto one cartridge!" If it's being made as an official development tool, that's awesome -- the GOAT Store (the online business Gary and I run that also finances the MGC) is actually working on the production of a flash cart for development purposes on the Atari Jaguar, so we definitely love that sort of thing -- but the point is simply that if we have Nintendo show up at the show, and crazier things have happened, and they go down and see you showing off how you can play Super Mario Bros 3 on a flash cart, that's not good for anyone. On the flip side, if you have a brand new game, they can't say anything negative about it.
After all, the show is all about celebrating the brand new awesome things that you guys and other fans of gaming are coming up with, so that's really all we ask -- let's show off the new stuff! If I want to play Super Mario Bros 3, we'll probably have at least 50 SMB3 carts for sale in the vendor hall... let's introduce the public to some brand new, awesome stuff so those that don't know about the indie development scene for the NES realize they should start paying attention!
I can't wait to see this stuff at the show! I'm a huge indie development supporter (as the GOAT Store hopefully shows... and I own a bunch of other stuff myself), and I'm SUPER excited to see everything!
Thanks, and if you haven't contacted me yet (or got an email back from me - if you did contact me, check spam...) please contact me again so we can work out all the details! Thanks! Also, any questions, contact me and I'll be happy to answer!
Hope to see you all at the show!
Last minute check:
Any NROM-128 games that you want to see exhibited? I have a couple spaces left on a multicart.