Make the QExpo better

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Toss in your 2 cents! We want to know how to make the QExpo bigger and better.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Comments?

This is the place to talk about it.

Things to focus on:

Publicity. How do we make this bigger than ever.
Other games being involved (this has caused trouble in the past - keep it low this time)
Keeping it fresh!


RULES: NO FLAMING as your post will get deleted. Keep it good. No fists below the belt. This is a discussion, not an argument.

Other games? That'd ruin the whole point of it being a "Quake" Expo.

Other games? That'd ruin the whole point of it being a "Quake" Expo.

I think he's talking about Quake2, Quake3, Quake4, and ET:QW.

Publicity? I'd say just make sure we get it posted on all the major public sites: Inside3D, QuakeSrc.org, QuakeDev.com, func_msgboard, PlanetQuake, ModDB (as much as we might hate it, but they need some Quake exposure over there), QuakeOne, Quakeworld.nu, our own personal sites, etc.
Quake2 can be included, for sure. I think Quake3 could work too. As for the others, probably not.
One of the first things I'd recommend for "keeping it fresh" would be to take on interesting, fresh projects between now and QExpo. We've seen plenty of simple weapon modification mods. Projects like CocoT's, RenegadeC's, and Dr.Shadowborg's are really interesting. Other than that, I'd say we should see if some id software guys can show up for an event or interview or something.

Just a few thoughts from me, I might post some more later.

[scar3crow]

I think he's talking about Quake2, Quake3, Quake4, and ET:QW.

I'm a fan of keeping the rule of "If its Quake and its open sourced in the engine" that seems to be unspoken, my vote is for Quake, Quake2 and Q3A.

Publicity? I'd say just make sure we get it posted on all the major public sites

I will post news of it here - which generally translates to it being news on PQ and QuakeOne as well. It would probably spread from there. However what we need to do more is personally spread news. In the eve of QExpo06, I connected to random servers, netQuake and QW... and played for a while, and would ask people if they knew about QExpo. No one ever did. Not a single player I ran into had heard a word of it before, the closest I ever got was people thinking I was talking about QuakeCon. We need to simply tell more players, a lot of people just play Quake on servers and don't frequent as many sites, they don't keep an eye on community happenings, they just stick to the servers. Find them, offer news of it to them, because you know they will enjoy what they find there.

On still the note of publicity... There are other Quake scenes... the Brazilian scene for example, of which we theoretically have our own ambassador of Orion, and though I am not interested in making QExpo bi-lingual (that would be quite a mess, even for news alone, let alone booths) it could do well to be more international beyond the nationalities present in... ...basically I3D and Func_Msgboard. Thats another thing, we need more activity from content creators outside of these two websites.

For keeping it fresh, I say we should just play some Quake during it... Bring people things they haven't seen before and make them accessible. You know whats damn fun? Storm the Castle. You know what basically no one outside of #qc regulars haven't played? Storm the Castle. Put up a server, or get a server to run it, and make all the files necessary easy to get a hold of (single pak file, straight up readme file, drop it in the appropriate folder and then connect to the server and bam, you're playing). The same can be said for other easy to get into mods (STC works because people who have played TF are immediately familiar, and its not too complicated otherwise), or even just older mods (Zerstorer dm and Painkeep).

Celebrity matches! Frag FrikaC, get a free link to dl Fimg! Granted it is free anyways, but... well.... silliness! Play Quake!

I can poke at Romero about some things as well, I keep in contact with him.

Other than that, I'd say we should see if some id software guys can show up for an event or interview or something.

I can begin looking into this if you wish, maybe get Romero to comment on something in the expo or the expo itself, or try and get a hold of someone else (Carmack, Petersen, McGee, A. Carmack, Cloud come to mind).

As for what games to be involved - I think the general consensus is open-source quake games only. So unless Q4's engine gets open source in the next year we can forget about it.

Publicity is an issue certainly, but it's not the only one. Good content is in my opinion more important.

What I'd really love to see at a qexpo is a community project.
It may be a pipe dream, but a project that has work put into it by as many of the remaining quake developers as possible. That'd be a real triumph. It wouldn't have to be a big project, even some kind of minimod would be great, but I think it's the perfect qexpo idea.

Instead of running various speedmod and speedmap events over the course of qexpo, have a goal to create a working minimod by the end of it, with everyone contributing.

I'd say Q1, Q2, Q3...

The other Quakes are still sort of suffering (for the most part) of the 'new-game' syndrome... where all the mods are just small code changes etc. Yes there are a few exceptions to this, but it'd be nice to have a qexpo with a lot more content.

and that the content is released through-out the expo, not just all at the end or whatever.

Keep the rule of "If its Quake and its open sourced in the engine", which means Quake, Quake2 and Q3A.

I'll drink to that.

As for what to do... well... "let's play some Quake, motherfucker" springs to mind. To that extent, we should have some special servers that are up during the event, with stuff that doesn't really get played...

So this means finding mods that are fun to play, rather than aimed at competition. If that means silly but fun, then all the better. Also, some "total conversions" can be an interesting take on using the power and ability of the Quake engine, as can stand-alone games.

And if possible, also keep these servers going for a while after the event is over, so people don't get disappointed about the servers disappearing...

I have just some small requests....

A hidden page counter (option to make it public)

also, PLEASE the ability to comment booths.

Publicity? I'd probably suggest that the site be up and advertised long before QExpo itself, maybe with a flash teaser up. I'd be happy to voice it if you're looking for something like that.

Maybe a contest that results in something fancy for the winner, resulting in more almost-free publicity.

Must haves are celebrities, and contests with prizes. Make it super mainstream with sponsors and lots of advertisement, and pretty screen shot oriented. Award categories must include, and preferrably be limited to, Most lifelike graphics, Awesomest effects, Most realistic gameplay and Counter-Strike look-alike contest.

Actually, only the first scentence was serious.

QExpo needs more fresh content, not just "hey look i am releasing a new version 1.2231 of my mod/engine/code". There were too many boring advertising booths.

scar3crow: Sandy Petersen!

And I have never heard of Storm the Castle.

Then you must educate thyself!

Sandy's cool. Also get Gabe Newell, I want to hear who's idea DMC was.

Up2nOgOoD[ROCK] idea about comments on booths.

And booth babes.

Getting more players involved is certainly the way to go. QW people usually don't give a damn about anything, but I'm sure one or two small tournaments could be brought up when nagging the right people.
We could also finally have our Speedmopping sessions and possibly even include its products in some sort of multiplayer challenge in which everybody can participate. Another idea is interactive mapping (inspired by the interactive comic stories at explosm.net) - no idea if something like this would work, but still.

So in short: not only presentation of new and old Quake mods/engines/etc but also active development with involvement by players/visitors.

I love QEXPO. I'm not sure how to make it bigger or better. Maybe to email some of the generic gaming sites: GamerReports, CVG, Gamespot, Gamespy etc.
It might be good to delegate some roles in setting the thing up; web creation, Advertising, liasion (with ppl like id) overall coordination etc.
As much as possible it maight be good for those creating content (being finished and releaed at QEXPO) to release information; screenies, movies etc before the event itself. Again givign that info to generic gaming sites as well quake/fps sites.

An expo next year is great news for me; I'm having an operation in a couple of months, which will mean 3 months-ish off work; bad for pay but great for doing some modding.