Chp 478. Game Conference at Marriott, Pune.

What a busy weekend this had been. We, as in FITH Media, took part in our first ever Game Developers Conference, and man was it exciting and awesome as hell!

Since none of us had been to such a conference before, we didn’t know what to expect. We’re not even a year old Gaming Company, unlike many of the popular gaming studios who were taking part in the conference… would we be sidelined, would be we just a shadow in a sea of experienced players?

But we’ve come a long way in this short span of just 10 months. Two of our games, “Nikal Padi” and “Where’s My Cat?” were nominated for “Best Indie Game of the Year” Award!!!

And so we booked our tickets for NASSCOM Game Developers Conference (NGDC) two weeks ago. Since our games were nominated for an award, we could even avail of a 1000 rupees discount on our NGDC passes too! :D

As the agenda for the 2-day NGDC event was released, we looked at the extremely packed schedule happening simultaneously…

So many good talks by prominent people in the gaming industry were taking place at the same time, ranging from fund raising techniques, In-App Purchases, Tech workshops, Design workshops, Legal consultation, Mentorships, Indie game practice etc etc., and so we planned our participations carefully …

“Sumeet is attending this and this, Satish will attend this because it is important for him while Abhilash will attend this, then Shrey will join him for this, I will attend this and this, and then Jordan will attend this with me and then we will all meet up to attend this together…” and so on….

OH HOW WRONG WE WERE! Lolz

Since we were one of the finalists for “Best Indie Game of the Year” award, we were given a “stall space” to showcase our game to the public. Even though our stall was right at the end, it was truly an honor to be given that space at such an important event. We decided to utilize that to promote our other games as well. We made posters of “Where’s My Cat?” and personalized cards of all our games, so that people could easily download our games directly using a QR Code reader.

FITH = Fire In The Hole

Initially we thought any of us who were not attending a seminar would man the stall. We’ve never been that mistaken, lolz! The amount of people who came to our stall was so overwhelming that all of us had to be present continuously the entire time! All of us spent at least 80% of our time showcasing our games and explaining who we were, how we started the company, the type of games we’re developing, our offices, our future plans etc etc instead of attending the seminars. Man, that was crazy! :) But it was sooooo worth it, having met so many people we could network with to enhance our growth and quality of upcoming games.

I know, I know. It was our first time. We didn’t expect that at all, and it was so much fun.

Another thing we didn’t expect at the NGDC was the CosPlay! I’m a CosPlay fan, but there is a difference between a “Game DEVELOPERS Conference” and a “GamiCon/CosPlay” event. The latter is where you’ll find the CosPlays, the former is where you’ll find all the nerds and geeks discussing about programming languages and game engines/platforms.

But lo and behold, there was this really cute CosPlay girl on Day 1.

At first I thought her friends must have played a mean prank on her by telling her this was a Game Cosplay event and not a Game Developers Conference. But again I saw her on Day 2, mingling with the people and CosPlaying as cute as ever.

Eventually I took a pic with her :)

Turned out, she’s a huge CosPlay fan, a professional CosPlay model, and she was hired by NASSCOM for the event! Man, such an awesome profession. She goes by the name Niha Novacaine professionally, and here are a few photos from her FB page (posted here with her permission of course).

Yeah she definitely did make the NGDC more glamorous. Do like her FB page! ^___^

So how did we end up here and how was our entire Game Developers Conference experience starting from the very beginning? Here’s how it went -

We left Mumbai on Thursday evening around 6 PM. We took turns driving the Grand Vitara, as the distance was more than 150 KM. Got stuck in traffic IN Mumbai, as the day happened to be Muharram Ashura, so there were traffic jams everywhere, and by the time we finally got out of Mumbai, it was almost 9 PM!

Stopped at a Mc Donald’s in Panvel for dinner, and came across a type of burger that didn’t exist back in Mumbai McDee outlets – a burger called “Smoked Chicken Supreme”, which had two chicken cutlets and two slices of salami, and the bread was very different too.

Our verdict – Too bland.

Finally after a long drive (and two near-death experiences!) zig-zagging in and out of lanes at 140 kmph on the long Mumbai Pune Expressway, completely guided by Google Maps GPS, we finally reached Pune. Stayed at a friend’s house, where we were welcomed by Laphroaig and other really awesome single malts.

Slept peacefully by around 3 AM.

The next day, we made our way to the Conference venue: JW Marriott’s.

The place was packed! People everywhere, interacting, networking, socializing, setting up stalls etc etc.

We set up our stall too, by putting up a large banner Where’s My Cat and our FITH Media logo as well.

Jordan kept our visitors well entertained too, though he would only showcase our games to the fairer sex! If any important CEO or game producer of a reputed gaming company came to our stall asking for a demo and if that person happened to be male, then Jordan would quietly walk the opposite direction. Bastard :)

We measured our stall’s success with the number of new business cards we got. Jordan measured his with the number of new phone numbers he got. Kids…

Lunch and tea/coffee intervals were always packed. Well, with more than 1000 delegates not just from different parts of the country but from overseas as well taking part in the conference, this was not surprising.

At the Award ceremony, we didn’t win :( HUEBRIX by Noodlecake Studios deservingly won the Best Indie Game of the Year Award.

But we weren’t that disappointed, considering the number of people we met and exchanged cards with – Consultants, Co-founders, CEOs, Art directors, Tech heads, freelancers, students looking for internships, Publishers, Marketing managers, Business developers and Investors, including people from renowned companies like Disney, EA Sports, Reliance, Amazon, Microsoft and Ubisoft, not to forget all the Who’s Who of the Indian Gaming Industry.

On a personal basis I got to interact both online and offline with many people and even became Facebook friends with Founders/Co-Founders and other prominent people in the Indian gaming industry like Kinshuk Sunil, Yadu Rajiv, Manas Gajare, Anup Sarode, Swapnil Kadhav, Abhinav Sarangi, Jikku Benn, Asar Dhandala, Ravi Korukonda etc etc… including the ahemz... CosPlay model Niha Novacaine! :D

We ended that night with Beer, Biryani, and some random DJ :)

On Day 2, we skipped the awesome lunch served at the conference and saved our appetite for Burger King’s delicious beef burgers! We continued manning our stall, and attended 2-3 seminars individually.

Before leaving, we also tried out many of the new gadgets and game devices people brought to the venue. I didn’t take any photos of those as I was too engrossed in the games, but here’s one set Jordan took of me. This interactive game was really fun and cute, and it had this totally catchy beat too!

We left the Conference after that. Next year, we’ll be back :)

At Burger King, they were out of Beef Steak burgers when we got there, so we had the next best thing - their King Beef Burger Supreme burgers. Definitely the best beef burger joint in India! :) And the quantity was not only HUMONGOUS, it was really affordable too, at just 60 bucks a piece! Why aren’t they opening a chain in Mumbai, why why why????? :(

We left for Mumbai after that. We stopped on the Expressway to enjoy the beautiful idyllic sunset in the distant horizon…

More photos of the beautiful romantic sunset… *sigh*

Sumeet drove on the way back, and we were doing extremely good, hoping to reach Mumbai by 8PM.

And then the tragedy happened.

After passing the second Toll gate after Lonavala, our car broke down!!!!!

Turned out, we were out of engine oil, and so some of the guys walked back 2 KM to the nearest auto service shop, bought engine oil and hitched a ride in a delivery van back to our location.

But even after filling it up with 2 liters of engine oil, there was still something wrong with the car, making a loud TAK TAK TAK noise continuously. Some of us called up people we knew who were auto experts and finally it turned out that one of the pistons was broken because we were running without engine oil for quite a distance!

We had no other option but to call for a Tow Truck. It took more than an hour for the tow truck to reach us.

We travelled at 20-30 kmph after that, and this was what I was staring at for 5 straight hours. Arrgghhh so much torture.

The total cost of towing came to 5000 bucks. Finally reached home at 3 in the morning. Dayymmmm what an adventure it had been! :)

Other than the misfortune towards the end, I am really looking forward to doing this again, taking part in other Game Conferences and networking with others. What a weekend!

Cheers!

Chp 477. Arsenal Match at Zouk Bar

Yes we lost yesterday, that too of all the teams, to ManUtd… but nevertheless, that doesn’t mean I won’t update my blog about it. I’m updating my blog even though we lost because:

1. I had so muchhhhh fun cheering and screaming my lungs out with 300+ Gooner brothers wearing Arsenal jerseys in a packed Zouk bar.

2. In spite of the loss, we are still on top of the League table.

3. Beating ManUtd at Old Trafford is never that easy, especially when one had recently beaten Liverpool in London (currently number #2 in the league) and then went to beat last year’s Champions League finalists Dortmund at their home in Germany (becoming the first English team in history to do so) and then coming back to England, all in a span of one week.

4. Mertesacker and Rosicky suffered from food poisoning in the last minute, dealing a severe blow to our line-up. Arteta and Gnarby too suffered from the same bug but they had no other option but to play. Apart from that, Vermanator and Flamini were made to play even though they hadn’t fully recovered yet. And not forgetting players like Walcott, Podolski and Ox who are all still out with injuries, we had no other option but to let Bendtner come in as a substitute! Lolz seriously?

5. Anybody watching the match last night would tell you that Arsenal were the ones dominating in spite of fielding a weak squad. Moyes even ended up playing defensively, something SAF would have never done. Yes, this clearly showed that we’re a serious trophy contender this year, in spite of losing the match.

6. This past one week Arsenal played against some of the most prominent and feared strikers in Europe: Lewandowski, Suarez, Sturridge, Reus, Rooney and RVP, and from all these encounters, we conceded a total of just 1 goal.

7. Wenger surprised everybody with the Ozil transfer. And seeing how positive his mere presence in the team had affected other players like Ramsey, Wilshere, Giroud etc, what are the chances of him purchasing yet another high profile player during the upcoming Winter transfer window? Very high, I believe :) 

8. Considering the situation we’re currently in where half our main team were sick/injured, losing last night didn’t make me feel that bad or bitter at all. I had a very good sleep too. Yes, sometimes $hit happens even to good teams, and I think that’s why most of us were not sore last night. Because deep inside, we all know we’re still gonna keep winning and win the league title this year.

9. Eight years without a trophy now, people keep telling us. But one good thing about that is, only genuine fans now remain, which makes it a much better scenario than hanging out with the fakes and wannabes. Quality over quantity. I always have so much fun at any AMSC (Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club) events and gatherings. Even though most of them are strangers to me, we are all bonded and connected inside, making everybody comfortable with each other.

10. Despite it being an Old Trafford game and knowing we’re fielding a weak squad, more than 300 hardcore Gooners turned up at the AMSC match screening at Zouk bar. To end this short post, here are some of the photos I took last night…

On our way to the venue, all pumped up!

Our cover charge coupon. One drink of Old Monk large = 300 bucks

The congested bar

The Loo :P

Smoking break during half-time

One of the many screens inside Zouk bar

Hoping to have such fun again in the next AMSC screening…

Cheers! :)

Chp 476. Charity dinner at Blue Frog

I don’t like drinking.

Alcohol - Yuck. Ewww. Pthooo.

But then, when it is for a good cause, one must suck it up and guzzle down a couple of Old Monk rum for the greater good. Yes, one must sacrifice and go the extra mile if it is for charity.

And so, last Tuesday, I drank. For charity.

:)

Last Tuesday, HopeMonkey, a really amazing Non Profit crowdsourcing platform focusing on various causes, threw a benefit concert at Blue Frog, featuring bands such as Rang, Block A Bus, Zephyr, Eat Shoot Leave and Clayton Hogermeer. Their aim was to raise 1 lakh INR for “The Campus Bicycle Project”.

In most rural areas, school children have to walk a great distance every day, through murky forests and precarious ravines, just to reach their isolated schools. This arduous journey sometimes discourages them from attending classes, eventually leading them to dropping out from school. Such a long journey by foot can also be dangerous for little young girls as well. The aim of the “Campus Bicycle Project” is to provide free bicycles for young school girls so that they can travel easily and safely to school.

I’ve always been a strong proponent of “Educate the girl child” campaign. Educate a girl child and you educate a nation. This was one concert I was definitely not going to miss.

And so we reached the venue by 9:30 PM, stopping by an ATM on our way to fill up our wallets :D

The first band to come on stage was just gearing up. The atmosphere was awesome, though it was quite unlike the usual Blue Frog filled with staggering tipplers, bass dropping music and party people having a boisterous jolly time. This time, yes, there were drinks, and yes there were party peeps, but the whole atmosphere and experience were very…  I dunno how to describe it… “feel good” ambience? Yes, that would be the best description I guess. This immense “feel good” vibe overwhelmed us tremendously as we stood there, sipping on good ol Old Monk (ok I lied in my intro :P ), listening to good music and at the same time knowing we did something good for charity.

Here are some of us outside Blue Frog posing with some members of the awesome HopeMonkey team…

Back inside, the bands came on stage one after the other, giving a really good performance. Below are the talented Rang, Clayton Hogermeer and Block A Bus bands, entertaining us with their awesomeness.


[Rang – The Reunion]



[Clayton Hogermeer – what an awesome flautist]


[Block A Bus]

Initially it had a slow start, but soon patrons kept arriving one by one, filling up the place quickly. Some people who came to Blue Frog to party not realizing there was a benefit concert, even actually stayed for the concert, paying the 350 bucks entry fee, 100% of which goes towards the cause.





I stood at the back, because the bar was closer :)





Eventually, we ended up having a lot of fun at the back, catching up with former colleagues and friends.





And here is Tithiya, founder of HopeMonkey, interacting with the crowd. She and her team did a fine job of not just organizing the event but making sure everybody’s comfortable and merry.





Behind the DJ console…



Psychedelic!





The HopeMonkey team :)





Some of the pamphlets, vouchers and coupons distributed that night…





All in all, it was an amazing night. HopeMonkey not only reached their target goal of 1 lakh INR, they even exceeded it! And with this, the first batch of bicycles will be sent to the needy students soon. What awesomeness!

Do check out their website, you’ll see a list of different causes listed there. Feel free to select the one(s) that really touch you and donate even just 50 rupees in a matter of just 2-3 clicks, it’s as simple as that!

Comon peeps, give Hope a chance :)



…

When I woke up the next day with a slight hangover but feeling good at the same time for having contributed a tiny bit towards a good cause, I reached out for my jeans… From my pockets, I dug out some of the drink receipts from Blue Frog, a cigarette packet whose brand I DO NOT smoke, and a lipstick! Dafuq. A freaking lipstick! 

I mean, I can somewhat understand the cigarette packet; I must have grabbed somebody else’s by mistake thinking it was mine. But the lipstick? I have no idea how that got into my pocket, and I really wonder whose it is! 



Perhaps… perhaps, a mysterious and beautiful philanthropist who fancied me at the event tried leaving me a clue? Perhaps she slid her lipstick into my pocket as she coyly brushed past me, her tender touch so gentle that I failed to detect it, but her alluring perfume lingered just long enough so I’ll recognize her once I trace those lipstick shades? Perhaps at the next HopeMonkey fund raising event, this masquerade will continue?

Hope that’s true. 

Now that is another Hope I don’t mind giving a chance to too! :D

Cheers :)