I've always wanted to go to an IRDC (
International Roguelike Developers Conference), but they've always been in Europe, not easy for me to reach from way out here in East Asia. More recently IRDC has also made its way into the US, but always out on the East Coast, so still not quite within my means.
Then I noticed a number of other developers signing on to this "
Roguelike Celebration" event being hosted by genre enthusiasts
Noah, Britta, and Asheesh in San Francisco for a day of activities aimed at both players
and developers. My brother happens to live right down the road from the venue, only about 10 hours by plane from me, and I figured this is the best opportunity I could hope for short of hosting an event myself, so San Francisco it is!
I'll not only get to meet some Cogmind players who I already know will be there (maybe you, too?), but also a number of other developers, several of which I've known only online for some time now.
And I'm not just going as a spectator--I'll be giving a talk alongside a great cast of other speakers, including devs from Dwarf Fortress, DCSS, Brogue, Caves of Qud, and...
the original Rogue You can see the complete list of speakers and topics
here.
I haven't prepared my own talk yet, but I did settle on a topic, which is kind of a summary of the entirety of Cogmind development: "Taking Traditional Roguelikes Mainstream." So I'll be explaining a wide range of design elements across the interface, presentation, sound design, and more that work to broaden Cogmind's appeal beyond the core roguelike audience.
I hope you're interested, and I hope to see you there! If you can make it, I suggest getting a ticket as soon as possible, because the price will be reportedly be going up after this Wednesday (7/20). (The cost is just to cover event expenses.)Come celebrate roguelikes with us! (And spread the word!)