DCDayDreamer wrote:goatdan wrote:Wow, now you're defending us?
Just pointing out some facts. You guys did (and still do) a great job with The GOAT Store and the MGC, mistakes were made, lessons have been learnt, but sometimes a little reminder of both the good and bad points helps to keep the focus on a positive path for the future.
Just for the record, I was kidding -- I know that you don't *just* have it in for me
I'll attempt to tie this in, but I think we need to look at how DreamCon came about to begin with, and what it did in its short run. This information is taken directly from the
DreamCon page at IndieDreamsWiki:
DreamCon 2005
The first DreamCon acted as the surrogate convention for the Midwest Gaming Classic, which was not held that year. It was held at the East Coast Gaming Expo 2005 on July 25th, 2005 in Reading, Pennsylvania. As the Midwest Gaming Classic was the usual place for new GOAT Store Publishing games to debut, DreamCon 2005 featured a playable demo of Cool Herders. It also was host to many familiar named from the Dreamcast community. Sam Steele was present with updated versions of DCSquares and DCBlap. Lawrence Sebald had updated versions of his RPGs, ljsdcdev and DCRPG on hand. I.M Weasel had his Macintosh burning tools available. Curt Grymala represented DCEvolution and DCHelp with a "burning station" and several of DCEvolution's compilations available on a high quality CD-R with a laser printed label and booklet with a CD case. MetaFox represented The GOAT Store, Dreamcast-Scene, Screamcast, and Cydoca Entertainment. Playable versions of Grizzlies: Forest Prelude and Feet of Fury were available. Fackue's Dreamcast Development discs were also available to anyone who wanted to get into Dreamcast developing.
Oh, okay -- I don't know if this is exactly correct. As far as I remember it, the DreamCon idea was sort of taken from the Jagfest: On Tour idea where you would have a specific type of event that went from place to place showing off different stuff. I know for a fact that the idea was hatched completely without my input or the GOAT Store's input, and it wasn't until after people had announced that they would be doing it that I said that I would be happy to support them in whatever way I could. The first DreamCon was at the East Coast Gaming Expo because that was where the people lived who came up with the idea to do it.
The only tying that I really think is appropriate between DreamCon and the GOAT Store, GOAT Store Publishing or the Midwest Gaming Classic is that the release of Feet of Fury, Inhabitants and Maqiupai had really re-energized the rest of the community, both from the coding and the fan sides, and that was where the idea came from.
MetaFox did have full permission from us to represent us -- it was his work that got both Inhabitants and Maqiupai released.
DreamCon 2006 part 1
The next year, it was decided that the convention would be at multiple locations, as Wisconsin was too far for most of the exhibitors of the first convention to travel. The first stop of DreamCon 2006 was held at Magfest 4 on January 13th, January 14th, and January 15th in Charlottesville, Virginia. As with the last DreamCon, a new playable GOAT Store Publishing game was presented, only this time it was the first time the public got a glimpse at the game. A demo of GOAT Games was presented for the first time at the show. Curt Grymala, representing DCEvolution and DCHelp, returned with the "burning station" setup from the last year, except he had new compilations to hand out to the convention attendees. MetaFox once again returned as well, representing The GOAT Store, Dreamcast-Scene, and Cydoca Entertainment. Playable versions of Feet of Fury, Inhabitants, Maqiupai, Cool Herders, and the unlicensed Korean Dream Para Para game were available. Screamcast was represented at this convention by Donald Haase. Screamcast had Grizzlies: Forest Prelude and BurgerDC on show.
This is basically correct, although I don't remember the DreamCon at the MGC being a factor with determining to do MagFest. As I recall, we didn't figure out if we would be able to host a DreamCon at the MGC until well after this was over, probably around March. It really depended on if MetaFox or anyone else was willing or able to come.
DreamCon 2006 part 2
The third location of the show was at the Midwest Gaming Classic 2006, which had returned after a year in hiatus. Exhibiting at the event were Dan Loosen from The GOAT Store, DCSteve and Tommy Watson from BOR Revolution, a site dedicated to showcasing games using the engines from Senile Team, and MetaFox, representing Screamcast, Cydoca Entertainment, and Dreamcast-Scene. Ten new games were announced at the show: Feet of Fury 2, Donk!: Samurai Duck, R3K, an untitled S+F Software adventure game, Amnesia: Psychic Spelunker, Blocks2: Master of Blocks, Age of the Beast SE, Fightoon, Yumi: Samurai Warrior, and Feuer Frei. In addition, new information was revealed about GOAT Games and DCastle. Several games featuring the Beats of Rage engine were showcased, and a new video for Age of the Beast was shown. In addition, videos were shown for R3K, and screenshots were shown for Fightoon. Grizzlies: Forest Prelude and BurgerDC were once again playable at the show. Dynamite Dreams and Feuer Frei were shown for the first time.
Realistically, I didn't showcase. We provided a couple displays, but it was really left to MetaFox do decide what to show. I did speak which is where the announcement comes from. But beyond that, I had some random cool things from my own collection that were there, but they were unrelated to the homebrew / independent stuff being showed off. Like my Jet Set Radio pachislo slot.
Also, and since I wasn't at the other events, I'm not sure about this, but DreamCon at the MGC was meant to show off *everything* for the Dreamcast, not just the new stuff. The idea was to create a Jagfest-esque display of neat Dreamcast stuff to get people interested in, which helped to draw them in where they would learn about the other stuff.
Finally, R3K was not shown at the event, unless the person was talking about the QBasic version that I had there. R3K is Gary and my's property, we created it and were working on trying to get it produced into a real game. We have a demo of it that was completed, however the person that did it got it to us about a year later, nothing was ready at the show. We did, however, show a Blocks2 (Irides: MoB) video which I still have somewhere and was really quite fun. Feuer Frei was not officially shown at the show. We did have a demo copy of it that we showed to a grand total of four people I think, so I would barely even call that something what was shown.
DreamCon 2007
The 2007 DreamCon convention was held by Curt Grymala of DCEvolution at Magfest 5 on January 4th, January 5th, January 6th and January 7th in Vienna, Virginia. This time DreamCon was integrated right into the convention, with several tournaments. Saturday's tournament was Cool Herders, with the prize being copies of some of DCEvolution's images, complete with labels and cover art. Sunday's tournament was Feet of Fury, with the prize being a Dreamcast with all of the hookups, a Playstation controller adapter (so a Playstation dance mat could be hooked up), and a copy of Feet of Fury.
There's not much else I can say, DCEvo tried (with its very limited capacity) to display some of what the community had to offer, by using DCEvo, Curt could give away free software on CDR to promote Independent Dreamcast projects to whoever was interested. From a personal perspective I can not say if any of the DreamCon events were a success or not, but Curt was always positive about the events he attended, and both he and his family had a good time at them (from what I can remember when he posted in the DreamZone forums).
That last one I agree with from what I recall. Curt most definitely did a good job setting things up and running them. I know that in talking with MetaFox about some of this stuff, the biggest problem was just cost. I don't know if this is true for MagFest, but I know that for the East Coast Gaming Expo show, they got three or four tables, and they were charged full price for those tables, which I believe was something like $75 / table, or about $300 overall. Since they weren't selling anything, and as was noted giving away things.
On top of that, you have people who aren't advertising things that make them money. I mean, a $300 advertising cost for ECGE which as I recall had about 500 people is a horribly expensive advertising venture. Add to that at least there, I know they weren't happy with the location they were placed or the promotion that was done for them being there, and it becomes stupid to continue it.
Certain similar events have worked at the MGC because we put an emphasis on content and do things differently because of that. DreamCon isn't at the MGC anymore only because no one is willing (or maybe is able) to do the name justice. I could call a couple Dreamcasts in the museum area DreamCon, but I feel like that isn't right. If anyone is interested in doing something like that contact me and maybe we can work something out.