Katawa Shoujo Forums

G'day all.

I'm currently working on a new festival in Sydney that is aimed at the "pop culture" (read: Nerd) community.
However, as I was sitting in the Production Meetings over the last few days I realised that this possibly is lacking a little bit of input from, well, the Nerd community. Sure, it's cool (to an extent) but I thought some feedback would be nice.

To give you a bit of info:
The Producers involved in this are aiming to get the kind of crowds that would show up at any standard Nerd convention; SMASH/Manifest/Supanova (Australia) or something like the Comicon type of thing (I haven't been to any American cons so I can't draw parallels).

Anyway, the website for the festival is here: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/About/p ... aphic.aspx

One of the things I think I might get myself into is the screening of Akira scored by Regurgitator.

What I'd like form you guys (before this thread is locked) is ideas on this kind of event, and how to make it better. Even if you're not in Sydney it would be good to get a gauge on what other people around the world would expect out of this kind of event (especially as you have to pay for each show, rather than for general entry. There are some things for free though). I find it funny that they were talking about independant games created in Australia and how "There were none of note; at least not any that were popular enough". To be a KS dev sitting at that meeting made me feel a little under-represented.

But you can change that. I'll be taking feedback from here to make sure that the programming for next year's event can reflect the current interests and wants of the Nerd commmunity. This is your golden opportunity to put Visual Novels and other things that we like at the top of next year's adgenda.

Please feel free to clog up this thread, or PM me through the forum system. Think of this as a once-off chance to actually affect the structure of a convention.

Well you guys got Kevin Smith, who is fucking awesome and if I could go there I would. Though as a guy who helps run cons and events here in Florida I've learned that people like a wide variety of panels. If a panel is interesting enough people will sometimes skip a main event to check it out.

Also as to their views of independant games and feeling under-represented...why not host a KS panel? Maybe even show off the demo or behind-the-scenes looks at what it takes to make a indy Visual Novel?

Personally, I feel that most cons and anime cons in particular are far too superficial and fannish. I'd visit a summit where knowledgeable people would talk CRITICALLY about the trends in fandom and mainstream and look at larger trends and what causes them, and the psychology behind them. Then again, if you want more popularity, that may not be the right route.

delta wrote:Personally, I feel that most cons and anime cons in particular are far too superficial and fannish. I'd visit a summit where knowledgeable people would talk CRITICALLY about the trends in fandom and mainstream and look at larger trends and what causes them, and the psychology behind them. Then again, if you want more popularity, that may not be the right route.

If you wanted a bigwig discussion like that, chances are demographic dispersal would necessitate using an internet forum/chat to begin with. Travelling to a con for that purpose would be a bit... superfluous. Not to mention needlessly expensive.

Naba: And yet, so many conferences happen in the real world that could just as easily be done online because not everyone is grouped into one little area.

I like delta's idea of having critical discussion. There's the possibility of a SXSW type thing, or an arrangement where there are both events for the community to enjoy as entertainment, and sessions that are more professional and educational, that allow for such critical discussion.

On both an animation and game-making front, I'm surprised that Paul Robertson hasn't been mentioned. He's a great pixel artist who's done stuff like Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 and Kings of Power 4 Billion%. Most recently he's been working on an XBLA game of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. So yeah, I think if you want to introduce pixel art alongside traditional graphic media then I think he's the guy to bring on board if possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminence_S ... _Orchestra

These guys might be worth looking at. We've had them come to Manifest once or twice and by all accounts they were popular. And what better place to have a concert than the Sydney Opera House

delta wrote:Personally, I feel that most cons and anime cons in particular are far too superficial and fannish. I'd visit a summit where knowledgeable people would talk CRITICALLY about the trends in fandom and mainstream and look at larger trends and what causes them, and the psychology behind them. Then again, if you want more popularity, that may not be the right route.

You're talking about a conference rather than a convention, really. Although some conventions (I know that SDCC in particular does this) host conferences during the convention, which would be pretty cool. That way it allows for the less interested to have something to do while at the same time providing a platform for more critically-minded. Best of both worlds.

We do lack the smaller rooms needed for break-outs and conferences.

A couple of people have PM'd me talking about a number of online possibilities; things that might even be possible this time around. If any of them eventuate I'll post them here.

I've seen eminence as well; they are pretty funky for a group of high-culture nerds. They did a pretty cool version of Danse Macarbe that only had Piano and Violin.

Please keep any posts coming; I will collate them and give them to the Producers at the end.

cemex wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminence_S ... _Orchestra

These guys might be worth looking at. We've had them come to Manifest once or twice and by all accounts they were popular. And what better place to have a concert than the Sydney Opera House

Ah, the Eminence Symphony Orcestra, the same who did the performances for Makoto Shinkai's image album, Promise.... with music composed by Tenmon, of course...

As I don't have any idea about organizing more then a party, I'm still a dude from the lowest part of this Nerd tree: a fan nerd with nerd interests and a nerd soul (also proud of being a nerd, showing of with no-life as if it was life and adding a lot social stuff to it, like, I actually go out a lot with friends, meet people bla bla. So I'm an active party nerd, enjoying sports, nerdism. A wicked cool guy- no life hybrid).

Wait... pop-culture = nerd? Isn't pop-culture stuff like Lady Gaga, Twilight and all the crap feeding masses?

So... It wouldn't be half bad smuggling some KS into that convention thingy of yours.
Also, it maybe be weird of me but other "hot" stuff consist also of Touhou. It has a impossibly big fanbase. Even people who don't know what's touhou, stumble upon fanart, fan music etc. I'm guessing Australia has fans too (heck, maybe it has fans even in Zimbabwe) who would probably help around and show fan-made actually good stuff. I know I would go, as a fanatic nerd.

From other of a typical otaku nerd stuff there's also vocaloid. A music synthesising program that also created a load of drooling nerds all around the world.

Google helps finding info about all that.

Also something generally about VNs. Visual Novels are almost unknown everywhere outside Japan. Whilst people would say they know a few anime titles and are aware of existing of manga, visual novels won't even ring a bell for them. So... a site that would present Visual Novels overally would be awesome. Tough I have NO idea how to present such things to regular people. it's like trying to explain a little kid about how are children born without the intention of screwing up his imagination- hard.
I mean, I'd view a convention with Touhou, Vocaloid and KS as main events as a pro and elite thing and I'd consider flying to another country to see and pay up a nice amount of cash (and I'm such a cheapskate that even my parents bought me a painting of a greedy jew on Christmas to make fun of me. So me saying that I'd pay means a lot).


Hope this helps in any way...

Smoku wrote:even my parents bought me a painting of a greedy jew on Christmas to make fun of me

Completely irrelevant and off topic, but goddamn, that's amazing.