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August 22, 2006
Next Meeting: September 18
The next EFUG meeting will be held on Monday, September 18 at 7pm. As usual it will be held at Guru Digital Arts College (address and map available to the left ), and will feature refreshments, networking, discussions, shwag, and a couple of great talks from some local Flash talent.
Our first talk will be presented by Randy Troppman:
Demonstration of RUNNINGMAP.com and YAHOO! Maps.
The world of map mashups and geo-encoded content is exploding. Google provides an easy to use API for incorporating an interactive map on a website, but it is AJAX based and difficult to customize if you are use to the Flash world of development. To the rescue comes Yahoo! Maps which provides both AJAX and Flash based APIs. RUNNINGMAP.com is an example of a Yahoo! Map Flash based mashup and has been lauded by the Yahoo! Map Team themselves.
In this demo Randy will:
- show iterations of the applications
- demonstrate how to use the Yahoo! Maps component
- give a brief code tour of RUNNINGMAP.com
This will be followed by open networking and discussion time, then Erik Johnson will take the stage to present:
Competitive game programming, development sprints, and flash.
Erik will be talking about his experience participating in online game development competitions. He will cover what the process involves, and how it is possible to create a game in a weekend. Erik will also share his thoughts on why Flash is such a great technology for this application, and what could be improved.
I hope to see you there!
Posted by Grant at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)
Recap of Flash 10th Birthday Party
Our August meeting was a blast! To celebrate Flash's 10th birthday we had a party with food, drink, cupcakes, prizes and a whole lot of fun. Rather than having formal talks, we opened up the floor, and let attendees share their old work, inspirational sites, or favourite projects. Everyone who presented got entered in a raffle for a full copy of Studio 8, and some consolation prizes (pens, anyone?). We also had a short quiz on the history of Flash that gave everyone a chance to win some shwag.
A good time was had by all (I hope), with some terrific food, great presentations, and lots of beer. I was having too much fun chatting to take many pictures, but here's a few for those who didn't make it:
Bobi Skinner tending the foodstuffs.
Watching the presentations.
Perry Shulak talking about one of his projects.
Our next meeting will be on September 18, and will feature talks by Erik Johnson and Randy Troppman. We'll send out more info in the next few days.
Posted by Grant at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2006
Happy Flashy Birthday Event!
On August 21 we will be having a special EFUG gathering in honour of Flash's tenth birthday. As always, it will be held at Guru Digital Arts College (see left bar for address and map). As usual, we will have beer, beverages, and great company.
Because this is a special event, we'll also have food and some special Flash-oriented goodies. You'll also get to see a special "History of Flash" reel from Adobe, and have a chance to win a full copy of Macromedia Studio 8 (worth )! You're going to have to work for it though. To be entered in the raffle for Studio (and other shwag), you will have to do one of four things at the meeting:
1) Describe how you got into Flash, and show off an early piece of work from your career. Alternatively, show off a piece of work that inspired you to become a Flasher. Or,
2) Show off one of your favourite things that you have built using Flash, and describe why you like it. Games, experiments, applications, websites or anything else you've built in Flash. Or,
3) Give everyone a tour of a current Flash site or piece that you find especially amazing, inspirational, or forward-looking. Or,
4) Talk about your favourite feature in Flash, and show how you use it.
Any of these can be design or development oriented (ex. show off an illustration trick for #4), and should only be a couple minutes long. I'm hoping to showcase the diversity of the people in our community, their varied backgrounds, and the work they produce.
If you plan to participate, please be sure to bring your files on a USB key, CD, or put them on a publicly accessible server.
It should be a ton of fun, so mark it in your calendar, tell your colleagues, and I hope to see you there.
Because we're offering food, and the meeting might run longer the meeting will probably start at 6:30p. This isn't solid yet, so please let me know if you have any problems with the earlier start time.
I will send a couple of reminders between now and the 21st that will include the exact starting time.
RSVPing to efug AT gskinner.com would be appreciated (but not necessary), as it will let me figure out food / beverage requirements.
Hope to see you there!
Posted by Grant at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)