[Originally Published: 24 September 2013]
Hey, everyone. My name is Zach, I'm one of the directors of Future Is Games. It's a little bit late to do an introduction, but I wanted to share with you a bit about what this event has been like to put together and what we've learned from our successes and, more numerous, our failures.
FIG is still happening this year. It's final form, however, is going to be much different than how it was originally envisioned. We, as in myself and the other organizers, wanted FIG to be a relatively large-scale event for an upstart conference. Our original budget was looking somewhere around $120,000 -- although that number may look large, it's a drop in the bucket compared to most other conferences, regardless of industry. We wanted to combine the idea of educating developers and like-minded professionals about the future of the game industry through talks from veteran industry members. Combined with a game showcase from local and out-of-state developers as well as workshops and networking events, we thought we had a great slate of content for our first go-around.
And then...reality hit. Pretty hard.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Since we started organizing FIG back in late February of this year, our team has had a hard time dedicating the necessary time to create something of this scale. All of us have full-time jobs (some of us multiple jobs) that have been as big a hindrance on the project as anything else. We've worked tooth and nail to put this together, but without that foresight into what would be required of each of us it has been much more work than we ever thought it would be.
However, we have learned a lot during the process of trying to make FIG a reality. We've met incredible people throughout the industry and have created relationships with local, national, and international companies that we will continue to build upon. We have also worked with a number of local organizations to grow games as a method of development and learning in Arizona. Our immediate goal is to grow in that regard and continue to branch out as FIG's future advances onward.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
We hope that you attend and enjoy the event and continue to watch as we grow our organization throughout the Valley and the country. If you have comments or questions, feel free to drop us a line at: info [at] futureisgames.com.
See you at FIGCON!
- Zachary Snader, Director
FIG is still happening this year. It's final form, however, is going to be much different than how it was originally envisioned. We, as in myself and the other organizers, wanted FIG to be a relatively large-scale event for an upstart conference. Our original budget was looking somewhere around $120,000 -- although that number may look large, it's a drop in the bucket compared to most other conferences, regardless of industry. We wanted to combine the idea of educating developers and like-minded professionals about the future of the game industry through talks from veteran industry members. Combined with a game showcase from local and out-of-state developers as well as workshops and networking events, we thought we had a great slate of content for our first go-around.
And then...reality hit. Pretty hard.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Since we started organizing FIG back in late February of this year, our team has had a hard time dedicating the necessary time to create something of this scale. All of us have full-time jobs (some of us multiple jobs) that have been as big a hindrance on the project as anything else. We've worked tooth and nail to put this together, but without that foresight into what would be required of each of us it has been much more work than we ever thought it would be.
However, we have learned a lot during the process of trying to make FIG a reality. We've met incredible people throughout the industry and have created relationships with local, national, and international companies that we will continue to build upon. We have also worked with a number of local organizations to grow games as a method of development and learning in Arizona. Our immediate goal is to grow in that regard and continue to branch out as FIG's future advances onward.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
We hope that you attend and enjoy the event and continue to watch as we grow our organization throughout the Valley and the country. If you have comments or questions, feel free to drop us a line at: info [at] futureisgames.com.
See you at FIGCON!
- Zachary Snader, Director