IFComp in public
George Oliver
competition games in public, in a coffeehouse or wherever. I know that
people have write-a-thons for NaNoWriMo, so this would be like a play-
a-thon...perhaps this is a dumb idea, because really you wouldn't look
any different than all the other guys and girls staring at their
laptops. And frankly I would rather play IF in the comfort of my
home.
But don't think I'm trying to persuade myself not to do this! No,
these were the same arguments I used last year (and they worked,
obviously). Wouldn't it be fun if we had a couple of 'play IFComp in
public' days across the world? Where we knew at that very moment our
(figurative) brothers and sisters were united staring into our LCDs?
Anyway, how about October 20th and November 10th. We could make t-
shirts. I'm in Seattle.
best, GO
Poster
I think the idea of T-shirts is tres cool. I could design them if enough
people want to run with this.
-- Poster
www.intaligo.com Building, INFORM, Seasons (upcoming!)
Ron Newcomb
Hey I'm in Seattle. I can be a geek for a day. :)
George Oliver
> Hey I'm in Seattle. I can be a geek for a day. :)
Hey, that's awesome. I think that makes a quorum.
Can someone school me in t-shirt knowledge?
We have screen-printing facilities here at home, by the way.
Zack Kline
to participate in an IF comp in public event. Who knows, I might
attract people to the genre.
Mike Snyder
news:1191433180.5...@n39g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
>
>> We have screen-printing facilities here at home, by the way.
> Can't say as I know much about shirts and such, but I'm quite willing
> to participate in an IF comp in public event. Who knows, I might
> attract people to the genre.
Places that can print shirts are all over. It's usually pretty easy. The
place I've used just needs the image (preferrably in a vector style like
.EPS, but I've given then high-res .BMP's or .GIF's and that's been okay
too). They would have a different screen for each color you want on the
shirt. If it's one color, make a monochrome image (black art on a white
background). Shading and anti-aliasing aren'g going to work (it'll probably
all just appear as a solid color, unless you do some dithering). The last
two shirts I've had printed were for the 2005 and 2006 IFComp's, and I opted
for two colors where I provide two separate images (one for the black layer,
and one for the green or the blue layer). In general, you can get any color
of ink on any color of shirt. Dark colors look best on light shirts, and
light colors look best on dark shirts.
Here, it costs between $11 and $12 to print a shirt (even with two screens
like that) -- and that includes the t-shirt itself. It'd be a bit more if
you only ordered a couple of them (but there are places online that can
handle that, even). If you can't find a local place, look online. Maybe
Cafepress.com is the place I'm thinking of.
---- Mike.
James Jolley
Z_k...@hotmail.com says...
messes it up for me as i'm from England.
George Oliver
>
> I'd also jion up but most people are american here so that kind of
> messes it up for me as i'm from England.
Not at all James -- the idea is that people are playing IF in public
around the world at the same time. Like other things like this (the
NaNoWriMo write-a-thon for example) sometimes it's one person, or it's
four people, or it could be ten people. How else will England
represent? :)
George Oliver
shirt with one side printed, including shipping in the U.S., would
cost about $20.00 including printing.
Pros and cons seem fairly obvious. Pros, no one person has to front
the t-shirt cost, or spend time to collect money for it, or make sure
they get all the sizes they need, or ship any t-shirts. And people can
order the shirt at their leisure, though this doesn't seem as
important.
Cons, it's probably twice as expensive. I have some quotes here in
Seattle where the shirt is about 5 bucks for two-color front-side
printing on a white t-shirt (though the CafePress shirt was organic
cotton, and these aren't -- a place like American Apparel, for
example, also charges 15.00 for t-shirts). And I don't know what
CafePress quality is like.
So, some questions for y'all -- and by the way, this t-shirt business
is not the most important part of this idea, I just want to plan ahead
for it.
Mike, how many Comp shirts do you typically print? Do you only fill
specific orders or do you order extra?
People who want t-shirts, does $20 versus $10 kill the deal for you?
Poster, if you have ideas for a design, that's awesome!
best, GO
George Oliver
> OK, I did some looking around CafePress, and it looks like a regular t-
> shirt with one side printed, including shipping in the U.S., would
> cost about $20.00 including printing.
Of course, $20.00 including -shipping- is what I meant to say here.
Mike Snyder
news:1191735770.5...@19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com...
>
> Mike, how many Comp shirts do you typically print? Do you only fill
> specific orders or do you order extra?
Both years I've done it, I paid for four or five extras that I hang onto for
myself or my wife. I don't get them in advance and then sell from the stock
(and I don't think Stephen did either, although I could be wrong). Orders go
for a couple of weeks (maybe longer), and then I put in an order based on
the exact count of sizes and colors that I need. Both years, that's
consisted of around 20 shirts in all (including my own). They've always
quoted based on an order of 25 or more, but I've never had to pay more for
requesting fewer.
---- Mike.
George Oliver
Here are some ideas for 'rules' that are up for discussion. I'm still
going with two days, October 20th and November 10th, times TBA.
1. IFComp in public (IFCP) means you play at least one IFComp game in
a public place. A cafe, the library, the bus -- the only exclusion is,
your place of work doesn't count.
2. You -can- be the only person playing IF games, though if you want
to coordinate with others you probably should shout out in this
thread.
3. Proof -- after the IFCP day, send me something telling me where
you're from, and -at least one- of the following:
- picture(s) of where you played (you don't have to be in the
picture).
- a field recording of 30 seconds or less of the place you played.
- 100 words or less describing your impressions/thoughts of the
moment.
- some piece of memorabilia of where you played, or a picture of
it.
If you send me proof and a return address, I'll send you back a
special commemorative prize! Also, if you send proof, you'll receive
free shipping on the IFCP t-shirt (see below). I'll be providing my
post address and email soon.
I'll publish the collection on a web page (somewhere) after the
10th.
4. T-shirts will be available for order in November, cost somewhere
around $12 NIC shipping, and I'll ship them on or around the 10th.
Payment via check or paypal. Or, I might still use CafePress depending
on what people think.
That's it so far, what do you think?
George Oliver
Here are the final 'rules':
1. IFComp in public (IFCP) means you play at least one comp game in
any public place. After some discussion, the exclusion is that your
place of work and school -doesn't count-.
2. You -can- be the only person playing IF games. Represent!
3. Proof -- after your IFCP day, send me something telling me where
you're from, where you played, and -at least one- of the following:
- picture(s) of where you played (you don't have to be in the
picture).
- a field recording of 30 seconds or less of the place you played.
- 100 words or less describing your impressions/thoughts of the IFCP
day.
- some physical piece of memorabilia of where you played, or a
picture of
it.
Send email to georgeo...@gmail.com
Send mail to:
George Oliver
805 27th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
If you send me proof, you'll receive free shipping on the IFCP t-
shirt (see below).
I'll post all proof to the IFCP site (not yet live) unless you ask me
not to post it.
4. I'll take t-shirt pre-paid orders for about two weeks starting
November 1, payment by check or paypal, about $10 not including
shipping. Printing will take about another two weeks, so I'll ship t-
shirts around the end of November.
The design (currently in production) is white art on a black t-shirt.
There is -no- text on the shirt, but anyone (who has played IF, of
course) who sees it will know it's about IF. I can't wait to show
people the finished shirts, they're going to look great.
That's it! The second IFCP day will be November 10th.
George Oliver
> OK, the first IFComp in public day is this Saturday, October 20th!
I'm in Seattle, and a couple of people in this thread have expressed
interest in joining in -- where are people's top picks for a place to
play?
I live in central Seattle, so I'm thinking this Saturday I'll keep it
close to home, and the next day in November I could go farther afield.
My choices in rough order of preference are:
1. top floor of the downtown Central library. Lots of space, great
atmosphere, and probably the most family friendly. They have coffee in
the library too.
2. A coffee shop somewhere (I don't have a clear preference here
obviously). Where depends on how many people might be playing. Choices
could be either Victrola on Capitol Hill (big but could be busy),
somewhere on University Ave like Cafe on the Ave (busy but big),
Zeitgeist in Pioneer Square (near Elliot Bay Books -- nice and usually
not too busy).
I'm going to go around 1 PM and play for around 2 hours, but I could
move that up or down an hour or two.
I was also thinking we could mix it up a little and do some Speed IF!
I'm also thinking of bringing an extra laptop and setting it up as an
open terminal with a sign saying something like, 'Play Interactive
Fiction here'. Stop me if any of this sounds crazy.
Let me know at georgeolivergo at gmail.com if you think you'll be
there in Seattle!
George Oliver
http://flypicture.com/display/NDgxMjA=
I'll start taking payment in a few days when I get the final pricing.
Anyone is welcome to order this shirt! In fact people who've never
heard of the IFComp or IF have already put orders in.
If you want to get your pre-order in now just let me know what size
you'd like.
The art will be on a black tshirt, probably American Apparel, about
$12 not including shipping.
I might print the lantern-light circle in glow-in-the-dark if there's
enough interest. If you like this idea let me know!
thanks, George
georgeo...@gmail.com
Benjamin Sokal
http://flypicture.com/display/NDgxMjA=
:)
"George Oliver" <georgeo...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193713218.3...@v29g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
Benjamin Sokal
either. Maybe it's just my message viewer. If clicking on the link doesn't
take you to the right place, just add the equals sign yourself!
"George Oliver" <georgeo...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193713218.3...@v29g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
George Oliver
IFCP day. I'm going to go to the Central library in Seattle once
again, it was a sweet place to play last time.
I'm going early, around 11 AM, and I'll stay for about two hours --
top floor.
Ron Newcomb
George Oliver
> Poop! I missed it! How did it go?
I had a great time, but you could say the turn-out was not
statistically significant ;).
Victor Folk
This is (was) a fantastic idea. I missed it, but I would have loved to
participate.
Here's hoping this does not remain a singular occurance,
-- Victor Folk
George Oliver
>
> This is (was) a fantastic idea. I missed it, but I would have loved to
> participate.
>
> Here's hoping this does not remain a singular occurance,
>
> -- Victor Folk
I have some more plans for this, for between now and IFComp 2008 and
next year's comp itself, but I'm keeping it under wraps for the
moment.
Of course there's nothing to say you couldn't have your own IFCP day
at any time.
Also I picked up the tshirts today and they are outstanding! I'll be
sending shipment confirmations soon.