Casual Connect Amsterdam: Some good presentations

http://amsterdam.casualconnect.org/content.html

There's some pretty interesting sounding ones - in fact there's something for everyone from game developers through to global portal stuff. I've made a list of the ones I plan to attend and now I can book my flights and hotel!

Perhaps I'll see some of you there.

Probably you can find out all this stuff on the Internet anyway, but I'm hoping to have some gems spoon fed to me.

What's it all cost anyway? I'm not bothered about anything on day 3.

Maybe next year. Finances are a little strained at the moment.

I think it cost $300, but mine was paid for. If it wasn't I would have gone anyway as I have a friend there I wanted to see. He'll also put me up for a night or two.

Just booked a return flight from Exeter for £140 including baggage, taxes etc. My partner will drop me off so no car parking charge. It was only £90 from Bristol but it's an extra 45 mins drive which adds up to time lost and fuel cost (my car costs about 20p per mile and the extra milage would be 120 miles = £24). The flights are mid afternoon which is perfect - I just flew to Austria a week ago at 6am! youch, it was painful as I had to get up at 2am.

I'm mainly going to meet the BFG people as I'm about to finalise a new contract with them, but I'll also "hob nob" at some of the other big portals so they'll hopefully remember me when if I email them. Got some new Grey Alien Games business cards made up too. Plus, as I said, some of the presentations sound very intersting and up my street.

I'm going on Tuesday and will go to the conference on Wed/Thu and Fri morning (yeah not much on friday interests me either except for maybe the Peggle Case Study on Steam, and Passion vs Financial and maybe Viral Game Marketing and Outsourcing done right (which seems to be more about distributed teams which I basically am part of).

Other things I'm interested in (this is a reduced list): Character Cash (how characters are important in casual games), 0-101 Games for Everyone (not just ladies 35-55), Dream Weaving (about Dream Chronicles which is a genre I'm interested in) or maybe Getting on Real Arcade (on at the same time), Contract Negotiation, Hype vs Real Deal (sounds cool, a panel answers questions about casual game "buzz" topics), Hints in games, Sounds Workshop, Let me Win (work with the player not against them). Yeah that's pretty much it, I have a few more "maybes" like about advertising and internation stuff but they don't interest me as much, I'm still into game "design" more than the whole marketing thing. A good game will sell itself to a certain extent and also BFG know how to do all the marketing stuff anyway.

Pity they don't do this anywhere in the UK.

yeah. Perhaps it's easier for people to get to in Europe via train or something.

Hey, I wish there was a Blitz convention this year!

Hasn't been one for a few years now. I think the last one was in 2005.

Problem is there's always some altercation about where its held, because everybody wants it where they are, rather than where is central and easy for the majority to get to.

Plus I think people are reluctant to organise such a thing because they'd be the one that ended up footing the bill.

Maybe I'm too cynical but a lot of guys earnestly taking notes at a computer convention wasn't the first thing I expected to see...

Darkheart

GfK: Yeah a central location would be good, but central to what? England only (so like Birmingham) or Scotland Wales and Ireland! (Manchester/Liverpool?)

-=Darkheart=-: What did you expect to see? Lots of wasted guys playing games?

Yeah I'd go with Manchester. Its got an airport, so even Flameduck wouldn't have an excuse.

Spliff and ladies. Its why its in amsterdam.

I was about to say that ;)
Its AMSTERDAM not australia. flights probably costs less than a rail ticket from cornwall or manchester to london.

Cant go myself, gotta work, no hols left :(

'Coffee Shop Solitaire' Grey?

I was thinking of a "smoke-3" game actually.

Nah, I'm there purely for business.

when this thread first came up and the "i dont like the looks of friday" i knew there would be something alternative to do during that time

an accuaintance (whom loves taking scenic detours eg a quick stopover in belgium then poland) sugested he drive me to amsterdam when i said i was thinking of a long weekend there sometime later in the year
i said id fly its safer*
and it is cheaper with easy jet to go abroad than it is to go from cambridge to manchester to visit my brother

*he was meant to drive me from the local cinema once which is 10 mins by foot
instead he drove me to bar hill's 24/7 tesco wtf ?!?