Idea for a UNTee3

This isn't any sort of idea for a video game, but more as a way of incorporating not only our technical know-how, but also how the game industry runs and thereby allowing our products to have some airtime somewhere.

So, what are the biggest events in gaming the entire year, aside from Quake-Con? That's right, the trade shows! E3, PAX, GDC, Blizzcon, Tokyo Game Show, Gamescon, all of them are huge trade shows that allow developers to show off what they've been working on, allow the Big Three (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony) to show off the new hardware they've been working on, and more. People flock to them in such masses they make the President's inauguration seem like a tiny tea party.

I was thinking, what if we were to try and design a mini-trade show here at UNT, after we've gotten a few games off the ground? For the smaller games, we could find ways of setting them up either on the computer or, if they come to fruition, on the actual system for which they were designed, and for the bigger games, we could set up some sort of demo or something. It would be a way of not only getting our names out there, but also as a way of showing that we mean business, and the people of UNT can see what we've been doing. Of course, this is a long way out there, probably not happening until the Spring semester, but even so, that should be enough time, if enough of us get on our A-games now, to be able to develop something for an audience. We can even have keynote speakers and invite the NT Daily as well as a few others (I think I might could swing The Game Heroes out here), and it might also be able to generate enough press for the bigger companies to take a look.

Also, the name. I thought of UNTee3, just because it sounds similar to the E3 expo in Los Angeles, but I'm not married to the name. If anyone thinks another name sounds better, go ahead and give it a go.

So, what do you say? Does this sound doable? Can we get this ball rolling?

I think it sounds like an awesome idea, if waaaaay down the road.

Maybe it could be something like QuakeCon where it has a LAN party aspect to pull people in, then have booths and demos set up for our games. What do y'all think of allowing other DFW area developers to come show off as well?

Provided they will do it for free, I don't mind at all. We would most likely do this for free (i.e., I can't conceivably think of a way to pull in a profit of any kind for this), and if they aren't down with it, they can scram.

As for a LAN party situation, we can always ask that other gaming group on campus that doesn't really exist but just might for help. I'm sure they'd be down with it.

This is genius. I think we should hold a mini version of that event at the end of this semester, even, just to give everyone something to work for. It would probably be for club members only because it would be on a very small scale, but it would give us a chance to see what other groups have been up to, and it would be a good way to gauge our progress.

I feel like that's a very healthy goal for the end of each semester, or at least once a year. It gives us an event deadline we can work towards and get excited about. Even if it's just a celebration for ourselves.