Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
Gripes aside, what's one specific thing YOU plan to do differently next year?
Posts
If you have a smartphone, Guidebook was invaluable for this for me. I only planned out the majority of my panels a couple days ahead of time, but the 1 hour reminders and me constantly checking my schedule kept me on target for each panel I wanted to go to. @PAX_Lines twitter was a huge help too to know which ones were starting to line up and/or fill up.
(And on the smartphone note, having a spare battery or two is really nice too! Unless you're an iPhone owner of course...then maybe one of those goofy external battery packs, or finding a wall to charge at sometime during the afternoon)
On that note, if there is one thing I DO want to make sure to do again next year, it will be to bring one of those goofy external battery packs as it was incredibly helpful. For my cell phone and my 3DS, it was a life saver. While not quite as nice for one device as a spare battery, it's incredibly useful if you're using multiple devices a lot (and even if you are going with just one device, it is nice because it contains about half a dozen spare batteries worth of juice). With a full charge, it was able to recharge my phone back to full from like 10% 3 times (thanks to twitter, text messaging, phone calls, guide book, picture taking, and some video recording) and keep my 3DS going all day and I finished up with over half left. When I unfortunately missed my train home, it kept my phone running with the GPS and screen on for the entire car trip from Boston back to MD since I didn't have my car adapter with me.
Yeah, guidebook helped me out a lot but it was still annoying having to figure out what I wanted to see on the fly rather than have some stuff planned out before being in the convention.
I actually was using an iphone but will definitely think about getting an external battery charger thing as trying to find a place to sit down and charge my phone was difficult and could be pretty time consuming. Also due to the poor convention wifi I was running my battery down faster using 3G, though it still lasted a good long while.
- See more of the Expo floor. For my second PAX East - I think I did pretty well, as PAX E #1 I ended up doing mostly panels, so I flipped to tabletop and D&D this time - still pretty good though.
- Will Definitely keep with the "get my own room" thing, b/c that was good
- bring breakfast foods. We brought only lunch stuff, and I was peckish throughout the day.
The best thing I did there this year was playing Ninja in the hallways of the convention center on Saturday... so much fun.
For anyone who'd like to get into Making, I highly recommend looking into a MintyBoost. You can use it to charge anything that can take power over a USB connection (although I don't think it has enough juice to really power an iPad), and it's a great little project if you'd like to try out soldering.
2. Remember to hand out contact cards to the people I do talk to
3. Room alone
4. Sling backpack is a NO. My shoulder is still sore
5. Pack food or head to 7-11
HAX:
1. Buy one at a place you can return it at a different location (like Best Buy)
2. Use it while you're away from yours
3. Return it when you get home
4. Make up for your karma by purchasing DVDs in store instead of Amazon
-
Bring bottled water. I don't drink tap unless I have to and $3.50 is a scam.
Be on and get a forum badge.
I'd bring a piece of relevant technology, like the 3DS. No DS phat or PSP love, it seemed.
I'd spend more time at PAX, but I couldn't avoid that because I wanted to see Boston and go to Anime Boston.
Go to free parties. Especially ones I can just walk into. Especially ones with open bar.
Bring a multi purpose jacket. Just fancy enough for fancy, just casual enough for hanging out.
Thinking about staying at a closer hotel next time to cut down on travel time, although the T owns.
The only free party with an open bar was the Curse one... and that one wasn't all that. It was sort of lame, really... I did get a free drink out of it, but meh.
Relevant info: #PAX East: 3 Coin Lunch organizer. 2012 Trading card available. Pokecrawl Assistant 2012. Pokecrawl attendee 2011. Cult of the Leaf attendee 2012.
Free drinks are free drinks! My roommate said it was awesome, but I'm not sure how he parties.
So maybe a better lesson is the pay attention to the PAX Parties thread.
The past two years I've promised myself I'd get more sleep and eat more meals, but after this year I know now that this is a LIE. There's too many fantastic things happening during PAX for me to waste time being unconscious or feeding myself. Instead I hauled along a large cache of meal replacement bars and other snacks, and continued the practice of only eating substantial food when nearing physical collapse. I can't recommend the strategy, but it seems to work for me.
I'd also recommend one of those portable battery packs. I used my phone as a camera, for Guidebook, and to stare forlornly at the Wifi trying to connect, which tended to drain the battery - having a spare charge or two with me helped a lot.
Next year I will not bring my PSP. It is a paperweight now, I accept that.
Steam: TestSubject23 | Minecraft: chaos_introvert | Backloggery: TestSubject23 | PSN: testsubject23
Most networks are going to be overwhelmed in Boston. the BCEC is in.. well.. a shitty location Boston-wise. FIOS is illegal there (No I'm not kidding) and the cell networks implode, since the normal BCEC "heavy load" is something like 10k concurrent connections- except none of them use data anywhere near what PAXers do.
Short version: There isn't enough pipe. And there won't be for many years.
I will be organizing a Coin Lunch next year if my plan to Enforce doesn't make it impossible. If it does, I will organize a Coin Dinner- I highly suggest anyone fretting over getting good meals in sign up. It's a few hours, and you meet more awesome paxers in a more relaxed setting.
And it makes you eat a real meal.
PS: Coins will likely not be distributed at the next one, and really I don't care if you have a coin- it's just a "Dude, let's book a restaurant and swarm it with people who play games for a meal!"
I'm silly like that,
Relevant info: #PAX East: 3 Coin Lunch organizer. 2012 Trading card available. Pokecrawl Assistant 2012. Pokecrawl attendee 2011. Cult of the Leaf attendee 2012.
Relevant info: #PAX East: 3 Coin Lunch organizer. 2012 Trading card available. Pokecrawl Assistant 2012. Pokecrawl attendee 2011. Cult of the Leaf attendee 2012.
The others I was travelling with had only a few problems with their AT&T/T-Mobile connections... I just had the bad luck to pick a provider that doesn't like my particular phone. So next year... either a new phone or a new provider.
The Wifi, well, I didn't really expect it to work. Last year I was able to get on it rarely, and this year not so much at all, but them's the breaks with 70K of net-savvy attendees.
Count me in for the dinner next year - you're one of the few people whose name I *do* remember. Had a blast on the Pokecrawl.
Steam: TestSubject23 | Minecraft: chaos_introvert | Backloggery: TestSubject23 | PSN: testsubject23
Booyah my pokebro! Two years running!
I'll do my best to make it known, but it'll be in the coin thread
Relevant info: #PAX East: 3 Coin Lunch organizer. 2012 Trading card available. Pokecrawl Assistant 2012. Pokecrawl attendee 2011. Cult of the Leaf attendee 2012.
I had three batteries with me for my Galaxy Nexus, it was awesome to not have to worry about battery life every day!
Google+//http://gplus.to/chorazin
FitBit//Profile
3DS Friend Code: 3823 8527 9997
Wii U NNID Chorazin
Same here! One extended, the one that came with the phone, and the one that came with the external battery charger. And somehow, due to the 3g/4g switching and clogged up data lines, I actually went through all three on Friday. (Granted I also started travelling at 5AM) On Saturday I dimmed the screen, kept 4G off for most of the day, and shut off sync, and battery was greatly improved--I started up on my third late at night.
Haha, i have that exact same battery configuration!
Google+//http://gplus.to/chorazin
FitBit//Profile
3DS Friend Code: 3823 8527 9997
Wii U NNID Chorazin
2) Get a closer hotel, i booked last minute and ended up with the Qunicy Marriot. It was a nice hotel and had shuttle service to the closest T-Line station but since that service ends at 12AM i had to drive to the convention the days we wanted to go out at night.
3) Post on this forum more! If i would have known about events like the Pokemon Pubcrawl or people bringing their 3DS' i could have better prepared.
4) Dont get so wasted on the day before the convention starts, being incredibly hungover Friday wasnt fun.
5) Find out more about the Panels id be interested in seeing.
2) D&D! how do i keep missing you?! once again, this year i planned to do a learn-to-play session and the d&d beginner panel and i was all "THIS WILL BE THE YEAR I LEARN D&D!!!" yeah... totally didn't happen. next year!
3) i took tons of pictures and video this year, which was awesome. in fact, my new year's resolution was to take more pictures of things! the problem? i'm not in even ONE of them. it's all my friends and cool cosplayers and stuff, which is great, but next time i'd like to have some evidence i was actually there.
4) cosplay, but not all weekend. cosplay can be really time consuming, especially if you do it well and lots of people want pictures, but this year i didn't wind up doing a costume and it made me a little sad. next year, i'd like to do either a comfortable cosplay that i can be relaxed in or just do one dedicated day of something awesome and over the top.
5) ask the westin to turn on that fridge. would have been REALLY helpful to stash groceries and take out leftovers.
I will say, the first thing I did upon making the jump to a phone that is "smart" was to buy an additional battery that I keep on me at all times. And its come in handy on many an occasion. Just gotta swap them out from time to time so they wear evenly, like rotating your tires.
Guidebook was a great help, but don't count on internet there. My friend with Verizon had no trouble, but I only had a clear data signal towards the center of the expo floor. I was not able to take part in the Wil Wheaton Twitter Penis Bomb. No problem with the regular signal though, so text messaging became very helpful in maintaining communication with the friend I carpooled with.
The kids and I finally did some table top gaming last prime including a 'learn D&D' campaign and we had a blast....the hard part is trying to remember the names of the games we played...they all jumble together...
I dunno, I can't imagine it'd be that hard... I know at least 3 DMs that would be fine DMing a 3.5 D&D or Pathfinder game for newbies at East. I'm not as good a DM for D&D as I am for Shadowrun, so I wouldn't want to do it... But plenty would!
For 4th, WotC runs a bunch of newbie games. I'm personally not really a fan of 4th, but it's very easy to learn.
Relevant info: #PAX East: 3 Coin Lunch organizer. 2012 Trading card available. Pokecrawl Assistant 2012. Pokecrawl attendee 2011. Cult of the Leaf attendee 2012.
i might just take you up on that!
Same here, sounds like fun. Been trying to get going with D&D for a while now, largely unsuccessfully.
count me in as well! i'll be playing my first game in a couple weeks. i'm always down to meet some folks and roll some dice!
Another is preparedness in the morning. By default neither of us are morning people and we have a habit of rationalizing being late while laying in bed, then berating ourselves once we're actually up and on our way. Considering we missed some really good stuff in the mornings we've sworn to have plenty of caffeine ready for us by our bedside for first thing in the morning, we can crash in the handheld lounge if need be later.
Most importantly, we're not going to be shy dolts and we'll be remembering to get people's contact info. We met some phenomenal people over the weekend and, other than one guy at the Omeganaut final round, we never once thought to ask for their Steam ID or IM or anything, something we both regret (not knowing any gamers in our day-to-day lives and, frankly, having drifted in tastes from what online gamer friends I DO have).
Oh, and we wont be sitting on our own playing MTG for hours either. That's something we can/do at home, why spend our time at PAX doing the same exact thing? Nonono, we'll find OTHER people to play in Magic!
We did the "Learn to Play D&D" thing in the tabletop area Saturday at 3pm. It was me (total D&D noob), 3 friends with experience, and 1 random guy in line. It went pretty slow at first with all the explaining and whatnot, but once things got settled it was great. The DM did a great job (forgot his name), and everybody had a good time. Highly recommended.
As far as things I'd do different: Go off the beaten path a bit. Since everybody wants to see different things, you'll make yourself nuts if you try and keep the group together at all times and keep up with where everybody is. I missed a few panels I really wanted to see because I decided to 'stick with the group.'
1. Have a better lens for my camera- switching between my 50mm and my telephoto lens was such a pain in the ass (if anyone has a recommendation, I'm all ears!)
2. Have an external flash, (also taking suggestions!)
3. Bringing a external battery charger thing, someone else mentioned it in a earlier post and it seems like a great idea... I had to spend about 45 minutes recharging my phone at around 5pm on Saturday...
4. I really need to experience more of the upcoming new games, reflecting on it now I should've left the booths that I was more familiar with and went into other booths that I wasn't so familiar
5. Poster carrier/cases, I ended up coming back home with like 6 posters... lol
1 and 2: Get a fast, wide lens. If you don't have a full frame sensor (and you don't have a "made for digital" lens), your 50mm is more like a 80mm. It's hard to fit a lot into a shot. I would suggest something like a 24-70 f/2.8, and maybe a wider fixed. Telephotos are only useful in the larger panels and concerts, and between those two, concerts are going to give the most interesting pictures, and those are the easiest to make your way closer to the stage. External flashes cause you to lose the lighting of the scene (which is often very important for shots of the booths), so use it sparingly.
(Can you tell what my non-videogame hobby is?)
3DS Friend Code: 2707-1614-5576
PAX Prime 2013 Buttoneering!
2) Plan where to eat instead of going to the Sam Adam's bar.
3) Book a room at the Westin. Don't have to worry about driving and parking. And be able to hit up any bar crawls and after parties.
4) Attempt to be less socially awkward and talk to people.
5) I guess not to spectate any of the Street Fighter tourneys, feels like it takes the whole day.
Feel free to follow me: https://twitter.com/_jnup
1. Spend less time on the expo hall and check out more panels/freeplay areas, etc.
2. Let people know that they can contact me on Steam or whatever if I've spent more than twenty minutes talking to them. It's difficult to know that you've chatted with cool people but never got their contact info.
3. Go all three days. Seriously. I've always attended only one day.
4. Try to go with a group of friends (which isn't easy, admittedly).
5. Become an enforcer (maybe).
Your non-videogame hobby... must be... salsa dancing...!
I have a Canon T2i, I don't think it's a full frame IIRC from the specs/reviews I've read when I bought it.
I just recently picked up photography as a hobby, and been trying to soak up tips and looking to buying a tammy 28-75 2.8 and start playing around with that at a local anime expo in maine to see how that works in a convention style environment.
Imma sponge wanting to soak up information, so lemme know your thoughts