A Mac mini computer ($700 incl. SDTV output adapter, keyboard, mouse, and gamepad) is cheaper than an Xbox 360 game console ($350) + 5 years of XNA Creators Club subscription ($99/yr). I think you're supposed to develop and publish a game on Windows or Mac OS before trying to develop for consoles.
concerning casual game development, there is an interesting article here: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=14990 "Opinion: Why Casual Game Cloning Makes Sense ... In March this year, two High Court judges in the UK ruled that the ideas behind computer games could be copied perfectly legally. For many people, this signalled the end of the industry, ...." so, this proves what you, tepples, already wrote in your fine tetris article (damn, where is the link..) "all ttc has is the name "tetris", nothing more"..
So! I'm back home! It was a lot of fun but inevitably had to come to an end. Here's a recap of the sessional achievements: Even beyond these records, there were great performances all around. It was very nice to find people of all skill levels playing with passion and a high level of enthusiam. I'd be very surprised if these people didn't start climbing the rankings in the near future -- assuming of course that they haven't overdosed on Tetris already. To add a bit to the above records, I know I was trailing 15-20 seconds behind jago in both of the master-y categories. It would be nice if others added their personal records from the meeting too. In fact, sharing any pictures or anecdotes from the meeting would be much appreciated as well. I know mfm005 in particular had quite a lot of stuff. Which reminds me... At the meeting, there was some point late one night, I believe it was on the second or third day, where I was talking about the way I practice Death Mode. I was saying that there were only 3 things that could kill me, and I would make a mental note which of the 3 it was every time I died and work on improving whatever was killing me the most. At the time, between jetlag, too little sleep, and an over-abundance of Tetris, my brain was so fried I wasn't actually able to remember what those 3 things were. Of course, I can easily remember them now. A final note... During the slow paced, analytical part of the meeting when there were few people, we discovered many cool things. In particular, I found an awesome move that uses all 3 rotation buttons to place a piece faster. Now, it's not the most versatile of moves, but it's so damn cool I'm definitely going to learn and use it whenever possible. Think you could make an animated GIF jago?
So, when and where will the next meeting be held? I am very interested in going to the next one. - Jono
Wherever and whenever a large concentration of players wants to gather. It would sort of make sense for me to host one, what with my TGM3 arcade cabinet, sometime next spring or summer while Amnesia's in Canada within bus'ing distance from me. But we're really playing things by ear. I know Taratang expressed some interest in hosting something in England sometime.
there we go : slow motion & T.A. Death speed don't use f***** Internet explorer if you want to see those animation with the correct gif animation timing.
3-11 November is a possibility as I have an empty house (my folks are visiting my brother in Japan) and the week off work already. It's probably too soon though, and I would be relying on guests to bring pretty much all of the equipment.
Wow, thats an ideal time for me. Yeah, it could be hard to gather enough money for the trip. (nothing a quick loan cant fix ) All good, I have tons, might be hard to bring my Atari Tetris though (arcade version). - Jono
Where do you actually live Taratang? Of course, I'd be in school then, so would be unable to come except for maybe the weekend.
Excuse me for the very long delay: http://mfm005.free.fr/meeting/d1/ http://mfm005.free.fr/meeting/d2/ More pics to follow (soon hopefully), + a somewhat uninteresting video (!) and sound recordings (which even if mostly in french recreates the great ambiance)
http://mfm005.free.fr/meeting/d1/IMG_1594.jpg I have no idea what I was doing in this photo, but I seemed to be enjoying myself!
Nah I think it's because he's surrounded by 3 beautiful women... Err.. I mean joysticks. This is awesome, thanks for posting it mfm005. Can't wait for the rest.
Next: http://mfm005.free.fr/meeting/d3/ http://mfm005.free.fr/meeting/d4/ the last day is Strasbourg pics.
C'est cool mfm ! Thanks ! I thought you were dead.. I am still waiting for a first Master mode sub-10 without sonic drop.. From you..
