Creating and Adapting the List

Even before the idea of creating a bucket list became popular, I had a list. It wasn't so much a list of things I wanted to do before I died (as is the usual bucket list). It was more of a 'things to do' list that never went out further than 5 years... and I was always faithful to that list. At first it started out small:

• Join the military: 1985
• Blow something up (hulk of a tank in this case): 1987
• Become an artist (or at least in this case to go art school): 1987
• Jump out of an airplane: 1988
• Drive to Tiajuana (from Vancouver): 1989

And bit by bit, as I aged so did my 'things to do'. Some things didn't get done just because it was too complicated or beyond my meager means (space flight is unlikely). And yet, I was still able to accomplish many of my other check-points:

• Build and sell a company: started in 1992 and sold in 1999
• Find the love of my life and get married: 2000
• Go to a Full Moon party in Thailand: 2000
• Buy a house: 2001
• Run with the Bulls: 2002
• Have a family: 2003
• Create a career where I get to travel (and have it paid for): 2004

You might start to see a pattern here. Some of my list items are mundane and some are a bit more adventurous and thats ok. Getting married and having a family were really, really important to me. As was buying a house in Vancouver. Considering how much a house cost in Vancouver, you can see why its on par with jumping out an airplane. In my 40's my list becomes somewhat more desperate:

MBA: 2007

Oktoberfest: 2008

Attend High Mass in St Peters: 2009

Become a war artist: 2010

Go to Afghanistan: 2011

Attend Burning Man: 2012

Write a book: 2013 and ones not yet in planning

Run A Marathon

Climb Kilimanjaro

Attend Mardi Gras or Carnival

See my daughters get married

See my grandkids

Retire to paint full-time

Sell a painting to the VAG

ect...

I guess, that in the end your list should never end. It should always adapt to the outer limits of your ability, push you close to personal bankruptcy and make your family look at you in wonder (as they shake your head). I will note that on that last one, they only tsk-tsk me when I'm planning it because when I actually get it done (and I almost always get it done) I get a bit of begrudging respect ;)

I recently attended the Flash Games Summit in San Francisco. This is the first time the conference was held and for a single day event, it was pretty successful. That is unless you’re a flash developer. Throughout the show, there was a fair amount of frustration focused on how hard it is to make money at flash games. To be honest, the companies like Kongregate.com and Mochi Media do pretty good business but I can’t help but think they do so on the backs of the Flash Game designers. Although there were some stated cases where games created $250 dollars per CPC, in talking to the designers, they said it really ranged from $.12 to $.45 CPC. That’s a lot of sweat and hard work poured into the IP of a title for a meager return.

The debate was very good during the panel sessions but the entire model that they’re promoting at the show is flawed. Almost all the panelists are companies that drive revenue through CPC. The general feedback I received from some designers was that this conference should not be about how to keep flash developers under the thumb of the big CPC driven game portals: it should be about creating a sustainable industry. I admit I left after the panel on Monetization and Business Models because It became clear that the big drive is to keep flash designers under the control of the big flash portal players.

As an industry, Flash games have been the red-headed step child of the games industry. They've had to be very creative in how they monetize and made money off their IP, which I think is very cool. There have been lots of great concepts and models developed here (advergaming and ad placement ect) that have now been picked up by the rest of the games industry. The big change is that the flash games coming out now are really brilliant, standalone game titles that have great playability and are downright fun. But instead of selling them first and cpc'ing them after that initial burst of demand, the flash portals grab them up. These flash game portals need this new content to drive their CPC engines. The flash games industry will continue to be treated as it has until it grows up, takes itself seriously and starts demanding payment for its IP. And I don't have a lot of confidence in the Flash Game Summit being the vehicle for this evolution as its sponsored and headed by those companies that are heavily invested in that CPC model. There was a couple times durring the show where I thought I was back at the ShareWare Industry Conference 6 years back. Eerily familiar...

My company has created something new for the Flash Games industry. We've created a DRM and License wrapper that allows Flash Game designers to wrap their product and sell through (non) flash game portals. This could get them into PopCap, WildTangent, Playrix ect but unfortunately, not very many of the designers are interested in selling flash games… Again, its that dependency on the existing flash game monetization model. The truly odd part is that customers don't give a hoot about what language the game is coded in. They just want to play it, if its good. And some of the titles these teams are putting together are bloody good.

Casual Connect in Hamburg

This week I'm in Hamburg Germany for the casual games conference, Casual Connect. I'll be meeting with some of the casual games leaders all week but hopefully, I'll get a chance to get out and snap a few shots of Hamburg.

The biggest drag right now is that I've lost my status with Air Canada. Last year was not a banner year for travel for me so that means this year, I won't be getting any upgrades and cool perks from my favorite airline. Oh well, I'll make due somehow.

Oktoberfest: What You Need to Know

This last post on Oktoberfest in Munich will hopefully be useful for anybody who wants to attend in the future. Its based on my recent experiences and what I wished I knew before I attended.

What to Bring

It all depends on how long you’re going to be there but there a few things I’d bring along. For clothing, make sure you bring a good sweater or coat as Munich is actually pretty cold (by Vancouver, Canada standards) and you’ll get the occasional shower. Not a big deal if you’re inside the entire time but in truth you’ll spend a great deal of time outside the tents on the rides or even sitting in the outside beer gardens. As with any event that involves booze I’d also suggest bringing a goodly amount of aspirin/tylenor and antacids. We went through an entire bottle… Don’t bring a backpack to the festival itself as it will get searched or worse yet, you’ll get completely hammered and forget it somewhere. Of course do bring a camera because you’ll really want to capture all those special moments (oh my god, I can’t feel my legs!).

Money wise, you’ll need to plan on about 100eu a day. Each litre of beer costs between 8-10eu and a plate of food another 12eu. If you can drink 5 litres a day (which my mate Forrest and I did), plan on a plate of food for in-between each beer (yes, that’s like 4 full meals :)

Where to Stay

Yeah this is the real pricey part. We found a hotel about 6 blocks away but we had to pay over 300eu a night. This is pretty normal. If you book 9 months in advance, you might get a cheap hostel but they book up fast. Start looking for accommodation by Dec. Here are some useful links:

• Backpakers.com
• Discover Munich
• Vacation Rentals by Owner: Good site but book early
  

Where to Drink

Honestly, every tent we went to was great and everybody was really friendly. That said, there are few places (hells-bells there are over 14 big tents!) that were better than others, either because they had better beer/food or the atmosphere was unique. If you are a party of 6 or more you will need to make reservations at least 3 months prior to the festival. If there are only a couple of you, you can just show up, ask a server to find a seat for you and you’re off to the races.

Click the image to the left to see where these tents are on the ‘Weisen’.

1. Hippodrom: This is arguably one of the best big tents at the festival. Its located on the far northern side of the ‘Weisen’ grounds and always has the biggest line-up for a seat. Arrive before it opens at 10am to get a seat and stay at least for a couple hours. The band was great and the crowd was almost entirely Bavarian (we were looking for the genuine article). Eat the Hendel (chicken).
2. Hofbraeuhaus or HB: I’m X’ing this one out because its known as the ‘English’ tent and no self respecting Bavarian would be found there. As it states on the Oktoberfest site, “Americans and Australians feel especially happy here”. I like Americans and Australians as much as the next dude but I didn’t fly halfway across the world to Germany to drink with them :)
3. Hacker-Festzelt: We spent a lot of time at Hacker. Great beer and the design inside is brilliant. Young crowd but you’ll still see lots of families at the tables. Again, get there before 11am if you want to sit inside and be there by 10am if you want to sit near the bandstand. Excellent sausage, sauerkraut and pretzel.
4. Käfers Wies’n-Schänke: This is the high-end tent at the festival. It’s a smaller venue with excellent music and a menu you’ll not find anywhere else. Almost all the food is game based (pheasant, boar ect) and they also have an excellent wine list. We had our last dinner and drink at this tent and it was the best food we had on the trip. Forrest highly recommends the Duck and if you’re struggling with the menu, ask a server and they’ll walk you through it.

See all the beer tents here.

Getting Along

Oktoberfest is very safe and I never felt intimidated or unwelcome at the tables. Unlike Pamplona during San Fermin (the running of the bulls) where the locals wore shirts that promoted the hanging of tourists, the locals in Munich are very welcoming and patient. Try to speak some German, be polite and the festival-is-your-oyster. Its always hard to get a place to sit so go up to a server and ask them if they can help you out. We found this the easiest way to get seated.

Tips for Surviving

I’ve mentioned a few of these in earlier posts, and so I'll summarize and add to these:

1. Eat, eat and eat. Not only is the food great, but it will help you survive all those beer. Especially the Hendel (chicken). Very close to a religious experience.
2. Get to the tents early to get a seat. Yes, it might seem odd that you start drinking at 10am, but the upside is you’ll be on number 5 by 4pm and passed out on a park bench by 6pm.
3. Pace yourself. You’d be amazed how much you can drink over a 12 hour period if you eat and don’t guzzle the beer (re: the young Americans beside us who downed 3 litres in two hours and were in bed by 1pm…)
4. Ask to be seated by one of the servers. And then tip them appropriately when they bring you your first beer.
5. Ride the rides. This is a festival and there are some great amusement rides.
   
6. Prost! When you’re beer arrives Prost! (cheers) everybody at your table. To no do so is very bad form.
7. Good form. Hold the handle of the mug, not the mug itself and after a toast (Prost!) tap the glass on the table.

I hope this was useful. Add you comments or questions below.

~ chris

Oktoberfest Day Five: The Way Home

My closest friends (and family) will attest that even through at times, I can be sentimental, I am not one for epiphanies. So believe me when I say that every time you travel, you have an opportunity to learn something about yourself. For my trip to Munich, my singular attempt at 40ish self indulgence, I learned the following: my children must lean good kung-fu and I like to travel more with my family. Please don’t construe this as a slight on my traveling companion Forrest, as he is a great person to travel with. He is a patient as grandmother and game for any mischief (which we had a fair bit of). It’s just that every time I think some adventure would not be a good fit for my wife, I realize at the end of the trip, that she probably would have enjoyed it. My Friend Glen might see this as my married-drivel, but he knows better, since most of his traveling usually includes somebody more effeminate than me :)

As for the ‘good kung-fu’? Its more of combination of my own dreams imposed on my children and the fact that I watched “The Forbidden King” on the way home. No, really, the kids need to learn some kung-fu!

And speaking of the trip home, we missed our connection from London to Vancouver (flight delayed in Munich). The upside is that Forrest secured a decent exit row seat (to himself) and I got upgraded to First Class. A quick tip for you intrepid travelers out there: don’t ever underestimate the power of a kind word. It’s what got Forrest and I upgraded on the trip to London from Vancouver and me upgraded on the trip home. And this First Class, unlike some more regional Air Canada flights, was well and truly top notch. The tiny cabins with their own little beds…. that was a first for me. So I arrive home after watching some great movies (love Iron Man), great grub and a head full of Cab-Franc from Lake Erie. All in all, a great way to end my 40th year celebration. Every man should be so lucky. But in truth, luck had nothing to do with it… Thanks to everybody who helped make it a reality: Forrest for being a boon travel mate and friend, my family who helped out with child care and most of my wife, who worked many extra shifts to pay for my little excursion. Love you all dearly.

~chris

Oktoberfest Day Four: Neuschwanstein Castle

Day four is about the day tour. As suggested previously, Oktoberfest is best experienced by staggering the staggering with some pure tourist touring. Today we hit Neuschwanstein Castle, about two hours outside of Munich. This is one of the best castles to visit in Europe, even though its completely fake. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant Castle but it was built in the 19th (1886 methinks) century by ‘Mad’ King Ludwig in the style of the Gothic castles of the 12th century. It is called the ‘Fairy tale’ castle and the blueprint for pretty much every other castle in modern story telling (Disney, Shrek ect). Kind Ludwig II was a bit of a Wagner fan and this castle was built in his honor. Almost all the tapestries-like paintings cover Wagner’s operas and much of the internal appointments are set to those stories. In fact the castle itself was not designed by an architect, but instead by set designer from Munich who specialized in operas. It’s more of a palace or retreat than a strategic, defensive position. The whole structure is built out of regular brick with sandstone facia (could never take a catapult straight on ;). As long as you ignore these silly points and take the charm at face value you’ll find that the castle is really quite breath taking… and I mean this figuratively and literally (you have to walk for a bout 2k up a steep grade to get to it).

Side note: I loved the Americans on the tour “why don’t they have an elevator” and “if this was in the US they’d bloody well drive us to the top”. Thank the wee-nymphs-that-reside-in-the-lake-beside-the-castle that it’s not in the US (or Canada) because I’d never be able to pick up Pil or a Helles at the halfway point or in the gift shop at the top. Side-side note: apparently the swearing off of beer in my previous posts was somewhat premature.

For those of you who might to want to visit Neuschwanstein Castle: It’s a bit of a pain to get to (actually, it was a bloody dog-and-pony show to get there by train, bus, donkey ect) but when you finally get to the top of the mountain it sits on and see the amazing detailing and appointments inside, you’ll be quite amazed. Be patient with the Americans who’ll wheeze and fart their way to the top (no, seriously, the old dude and front of me crapped his pants the whole way up the closed-in, spiral staircase with me right behind him having to eat his wind). And forgive the Canadians who can’t get enough of German beer, even when slogging up a hill.

~ chris

Oktoberfest Day Three: Nightcap

As planned Forrest and I headed back to the Festival Grounds at about 7pm. This is after I worked on the blog and Forrest had a snooze (bugger). As the sun was going down, we noticed that there was just as many people on the `Wiesen` as there was earlier today. In other words it was bloody busy.

I haven`t mentioned this in the past posts but its important make future comers to Oktoberfest aware of the family orientation of the whole show. Surrounding the beer gardens is a massive playland with rides, games and everything you`d expect at a country fair. In all the beer tents you`ll see kids, babies, moms, dads and grandparents having a grand old time. Even late into the evening you`ll see families out and about and everybody gets dressed up in the traditional Bavarian garb. And since its still a beer garden you`ll still see people getting seriously smash-faced :)

Bottom line is if you`re coming to Oktoberfest, bring your family and be prepared to have a really great time. Seeing all the families around me just make me miss mine even more.

~ chris