Hi, Here is the log of the chatroom at http://farsides.com/chat/ (or irc://irc.freenode.net/#farsides) for the 2011-10-10.
2011-10-10 06:03:17+0000 blanchard1 (blanchard1) is now online 2011-10-10 06:14:14+0000 blanchard1 (blanchard1) is now online 2011-10-10 07:44:34+0000 dachary (dachary) is now online 2011-10-10 08:06:38+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: hi ! I'm having lunch with Marine today, I'll probably be late for the meeting 2011-10-10 08:07:06+0000 <blanchard1> I'll be there in the afternoon though if you want to discuss software model 2011-10-10 08:07:48+0000 <antoviaque> hi 2011-10-10 08:09:56+0000 <antoviaque> it's not ideal - I'm going to sound like a pain in the ass I am, but would be good if you could be there 2011-10-10 08:10:27+0000 <blanchard1> i committed some time ago for this lunch 2011-10-10 08:10:56+0000 <blanchard1> i'll see if i can meet her earlier to be back at 2pm 2011-10-10 08:11:27+0000 <antoviaque> ok, thanks :) 2011-10-10 08:12:10+0000 <antoviaque> actually, it's a good opportunity to discuss attendance at meetings. Would be good if you could be there for more meetings, even on days where you work on something else - would it be possible? 2011-10-10 08:13:24+0000 <antoviaque> I know they don't look like much, but it would help to have you around every day 2011-10-10 08:15:00+0000 <blanchard1> i can try but it's not always possible. For instance next thursday i give class between 9 and 12, and 13 to 17. In these cases I'm not in control of my availability. What i can do is try to limitate this to thursday and friday max, but currently i don't see how i can ensure presence every day :( 2011-10-10 08:18:03+0000 <antoviaque> yup, I know it's not always possible 2011-10-10 08:18:39+0000 <blanchard1> but when i don't have a full day class, i can attend yep 2011-10-10 08:19:26+0000 <blanchard1> and if i find some consulting work instead of school (which i'm currently looking for), it would solve this problem (and many others...) antoviaque 2011-10-10 08:19:26+0000 <antoviaque> cool, thanks : ) 2011-10-10 08:19:44+0000 <antoviaque> any leads on that already? 2011-10-10 08:20:01+0000 <blanchard1> i meet 2 consulting firms tomorrow we'll see 2011-10-10 08:24:04+0000 <antoviaque> good luck with those : ) 2011-10-10 08:36:25+0000 <blanchard1> ok for today 2pm. An issue though is that i just received two mails for work lunchs. It's hard in these cases to be back for 2pm, and there are many people to see currently and often people are available for lunchs, so i'm not sure how i can deal with that. 2011-10-10 08:36:30+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: ^ 2011-10-10 08:42:22+0000 <antoviaque> yup, I know how it is - maybe we could move the meeting to a better time (if there is one)? maybe a bit earlier, like noon? not sure how it would work for arbrandes and mtyaka though 2011-10-10 08:43:47+0000 <blanchard1> for mtyaka it would be ok, for arbrandes more difficult. Problem is that they don't have a lot of time in common, that's why we went for 2pm. But we can discuss it yep 2011-10-10 09:09:26+0000 blanchard1 (blanchard1) is now online 2011-10-10 09:35:54+0000 antoviaque (antoviaque) is now online 2011-10-10 09:42:14+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: are you around I need you for a quick thing please :) The business plan that is in share folder. When i open it on ubuntu, the positioning page (the one with graph) appears wrong (some info missing). But when i open it with windows it's ok. Can you try opening it on ubuntu to tell me if you see the issue ? 2011-10-10 09:42:50+0000 <antoviaque> sure, let me check 2011-10-10 09:43:40+0000 <blanchard1> it's businessplan_sept_28.pdf antoviaque 2011-10-10 09:43:56+0000 <blanchard1> thx ! 2011-10-10 09:44:51+0000 <antoviaque> page 7? 2011-10-10 09:45:01+0000 <blanchard1> yep 2011-10-10 09:45:12+0000 <antoviaque> what's missing on yours? 2011-10-10 09:45:26+0000 <blanchard1> i don't see name of axis and name of games antoviaque 2011-10-10 09:45:29+0000 <blanchard1> can you ? 2011-10-10 09:45:33+0000 <antoviaque> yep 2011-10-10 09:45:38+0000 <blanchard1> hmmm 2011-10-10 09:45:44+0000 <blanchard1> i'm doomed i guess :) 2011-10-10 09:46:03+0000 <antoviaque> try opening with acrobat reader if you have it, it will look the closest to what most people will see 2011-10-10 09:46:04+0000 <blanchard1> thx antoviaque :) 2011-10-10 09:46:13+0000 <blanchard1> I'll go submit that to IT angels 2011-10-10 09:46:19+0000 <antoviaque> cool : ) 2011-10-10 10:09:09+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: looking at http://www.kimaventures.com now. Unfortunately no contact there. I guess I'll go the hard way (fill the form and be one of the 100000that does it) 2011-10-10 10:09:22+0000 <blanchard1> (IT Angels, i know the founder, easier) 2011-10-10 10:09:49+0000 <blanchard1> are you friend with Niel or Berrebi by any chance ? :p 2011-10-10 10:10:43+0000 <antoviaque> ahahah, dont think so ;p 2011-10-10 10:12:26+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: for berrebi you can try to ask olivier hugot, he has him in his linkedin contacts 2011-10-10 10:12:59+0000 * blanchard1 is very afraid of the cost when asking anything to him ;) 2011-10-10 10:13:15+0000 <antoviaque> And Stephane Hercot (Nevrax) 2011-10-10 10:13:40+0000 <antoviaque> ahaha, come on : ) 2011-10-10 10:13:42+0000 <blanchard1> hmmm jewish connection :) I should be part of that connection, damn it 2011-10-10 10:15:35+0000 * blanchard1 is thinking about moving to israel 2011-10-10 10:53:12+0000 MCMic (MCMic) is now online 2011-10-10 11:30:31+0000 mtyaka (mtyaka) is now online 2011-10-10 11:42:02+0000 arbrandes (arbrandes) is now online 2011-10-10 12:00:41+0000 antoviaque (antoviaque) is now online 2011-10-10 12:01:32+0000 <antoviaque> hi : ) 2011-10-10 12:01:37+0000 <arbrandes> mornin! 2011-10-10 12:01:37+0000 <antoviaque> eve: start dailymeeting 2011-10-10 12:01:38+0000 * eve antoviaque arbrandes blanchard blanchard1 dachary mtyaka tartarugafeliz and al: daily meeting starts! Please say "eve_: yesterday|today|blockers <your report>" 2011-10-10 12:01:48+0000 <blanchard1> hi all :) 2011-10-10 12:01:51+0000 tartarugafeliz (tartarugafeliz) is now online 2011-10-10 12:01:54+0000 <arbrandes> doods :) 2011-10-10 12:01:54+0000 <mtyaka> hi :) 2011-10-10 12:01:59+0000 <antoviaque> hey arbrandes - had a good week-end? hope you could escape outside a bit : ) 2011-10-10 12:02:07+0000 <antoviaque> hello mtyaka! 2011-10-10 12:02:08+0000 <tartarugafeliz> hello 2011-10-10 12:02:15+0000 <antoviaque> and hey tartarugafeliz : ) 2011-10-10 12:02:22+0000 <blanchard1> hi tartarugafeliz :) 2011-10-10 12:02:31+0000 <arbrandes> antoviaque, I escaped into Starcraft for a bit, if you count that as "outside", lol 2011-10-10 12:02:34+0000 <antoviaque> hey blanchard1 - you're there at the end? : ) 2011-10-10 12:02:48+0000 <tartarugafeliz> :) 2011-10-10 12:02:58+0000 <antoviaque> arbrandes: ahahaha, yep, I definitely count this as outside - it's other planets after all ;p 2011-10-10 12:03:05+0000 <blanchard1> nope it's not me it's my slave that i use when i'm not around to pretend it's me :) 2011-10-10 12:03:15+0000 <antoviaque> :p 2011-10-10 12:03:27+0000 <blanchard1> hehe starcraft is outside for sure :) 2011-10-10 12:03:27+0000 <arbrandes> hehehehe 2011-10-10 12:03:28+0000 <antoviaque> didn't go to the meeting with marine? thx then : ) 2011-10-10 12:03:37+0000 <blanchard1> np 2011-10-10 12:03:38+0000 <antoviaque> who wants to start? 2011-10-10 12:03:53+0000 <blanchard1> i can 2011-10-10 12:03:54+0000 <arbrandes> eve, yesterday merged latest work by antoviaque and mtyaka, completed #200/201 (game announcement in the chat - no sound yet, though). 2011-10-10 12:03:54+0000 <eve> Done: merged latest work by antoviaque and mtyaka, completed #200/201 (game announcement in the chat - no sound yet, though) 2011-10-10 12:03:54+0000 <arbrandes> eve, today Hopefully a few code reviews, maybe fix the JS tests (some recent modification broke a few tests in all browsers) 2011-10-10 12:03:54+0000 <eve> Next: Hopefully a few code reviews, maybe fix the JS tests (some recent modification broke a few tests in all browsers) 2011-10-10 12:03:54+0000 <arbrandes> eve, blockers none. 2011-10-10 12:03:54+0000 <eve> Blockers: none 2011-10-10 12:03:56+0000 <arbrandes> lol 2011-10-10 12:03:57+0000 <blanchard1> hehe 2011-10-10 12:03:59+0000 <arbrandes> sorry 2011-10-10 12:04:02+0000 <blanchard1> :) 2011-10-10 12:04:28+0000 <blanchard1> eve, yesterday : Mail to IT Angels (business angels), mail to responsible for investors relations at Cap Digital. Mail to a friend MD at ubisoft who might be willing to invest. Mail to IT Angels, and to Kima (business angels). Started discussion with ubisoft people about third party work (see buddypress comments on that regarding size of missions). 2011-10-10 12:04:28+0000 <eve> Done: : Mail to IT Angels (business angels), mail to responsible for investors relations at Cap Digital. Mail to a friend MD at ubisoft who might be willing to invest. Mail to IT Angels, and to Kima (business angels). Started discussion with ubisoft people about third party work (see buddypress comments on that regarding size of missions) 2011-10-10 12:04:28+0000 <blanchard1> eve, today : contact other investors. Start working with accountant on EoY closure. 2011-10-10 12:04:28+0000 <eve> Next: : contact other investors. Start working with accountant on EoY closure 2011-10-10 12:04:29+0000 <blanchard1> eve, blockers : none 2011-10-10 12:04:29+0000 <eve> Blockers: : none 2011-10-10 12:04:51+0000 <tartarugafeliz> antoviaque just crashed 2011-10-10 12:04:59+0000 <arbrandes> I liked your post, blanchard1, it matches my feelings about this 2011-10-10 12:05:05+0000 <arbrandes> Both good and bad 2011-10-10 12:05:13+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: yep :/ 2011-10-10 12:05:22+0000 <arbrandes> Taking 10k jobs will not help 2011-10-10 12:05:28+0000 <mtyaka> yeah, well written post 2011-10-10 12:05:53+0000 <tartarugafeliz> sorry guys but which post are you talking about? 2011-10-10 12:05:55+0000 <blanchard1> thx mtyaka :p Yep, not an easy situation 2011-10-10 12:06:37+0000 <arbrandes> tartarugafeliz, http://farsides.com/activity/p/1672/ 2011-10-10 12:06:44+0000 <tartarugafeliz> thanks 2011-10-10 12:07:19+0000 antoviaque (antoviaque) is now online 2011-10-10 12:07:25+0000 <antoviaque> re 2011-10-10 12:07:29+0000 <antoviaque> sorry I crashed :/ 2011-10-10 12:07:36+0000 <arbrandes> I worked for 6 years with a company that essentially took these 100k jobs exclusively 2011-10-10 12:07:38+0000 <antoviaque> Can someone pm me what I missed? : ) 2011-10-10 12:07:41+0000 <arbrandes> It works fairly well 2011-10-10 12:07:43+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: do you want me to copy paste the log ? 2011-10-10 12:07:52+0000 <antoviaque> thanks yep : ) 2011-10-10 12:08:15+0000 <arbrandes> lol 2011-10-10 12:08:25+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard was kicked out 2011-10-10 12:08:32+0000 <tartarugafeliz> excess flood hahaah 2011-10-10 12:08:33+0000 blanchard1 (blanchard1) is now online 2011-10-10 12:08:37+0000 <blanchard1> wtf 2011-10-10 12:08:40+0000 <blanchard1> am i here ? 2011-10-10 12:08:43+0000 <tartarugafeliz> yeap 2011-10-10 12:08:47+0000 <blanchard1> hehe 2011-10-10 12:08:55+0000 * antoviaque catching up 2011-10-10 12:08:59+0000 <blanchard1> i crashed when copy pasting for antoviaque 2011-10-10 12:09:06+0000 <antoviaque> ahaha, thanks :p 2011-10-10 12:09:06+0000 <tartarugafeliz> antoviaque: we're discussing this post http://farsides.com/activity/p/1672/ 2011-10-10 12:09:23+0000 <antoviaque> cool for #200 arbrandes : ) 2011-10-10 12:09:37+0000 <arbrandes> antoviaque, yup, finally done 2011-10-10 12:09:39+0000 <antoviaque> thanks for this 2011-10-10 12:09:54+0000 <antoviaque> how long do you think you need to get to the sound part? 2011-10-10 12:09:55+0000 <arbrandes> Many (twisted) lessons learned (again) 2011-10-10 12:10:07+0000 <arbrandes> How long? Should be easy 2011-10-10 12:10:11+0000 <antoviaque> yep, that's a tricky beast - if only they had better doc... 2011-10-10 12:10:18+0000 <arbrandes> mtyaka, wanna do the honors? #515 2011-10-10 12:10:25+0000 <arbrandes> It's basically just cutting the tape 2011-10-10 12:10:31+0000 <arbrandes> mtyaka already provided the method 2011-10-10 12:10:41+0000 <mtyaka> let me see... 2011-10-10 12:10:48+0000 <tartarugafeliz> blanchard: what do you mean by sell bigger missions? 2011-10-10 12:11:29+0000 <mtyaka> sure, i'll be happy to tackle #515 :) 2011-10-10 12:11:33+0000 <blanchard1> tartarugafeliz: sorry to which part do you refer ? 2011-10-10 12:11:49+0000 <tartarugafeliz> "This model start being interesting when they sell bigger missions, 100kâ¬+ :" 2011-10-10 12:12:18+0000 <arbrandes> cool mtyaka - there's a little "if" now inside the template function that identifies notifications. Basically, you'd just play the sound from there. 2011-10-10 12:12:24+0000 <tartarugafeliz> and then arbrandes said he worked in a company that survived for 6 years with this 2011-10-10 12:12:41+0000 <arbrandes> tartarugafeliz, precisely 2011-10-10 12:12:48+0000 <mtyaka> arbrandes: great, will check it out 2011-10-10 12:12:54+0000 <blanchard1> when you sell the dev of a game for a few 100s kâ¬, there is a lot of room for being clever about it and spending less, keeping the rest for your projects. With 10kâ¬, the negociation is a lot tougher 2011-10-10 12:12:55+0000 <arbrandes> My boss would sell services for 100k+ at a time. 2011-10-10 12:13:02+0000 <arbrandes> The company was really small, smaller than Farsides, actually 2011-10-10 12:13:09+0000 <tartarugafeliz> ahhh 2011-10-10 12:13:47+0000 <arbrandes> agreed, blanchard1, that is precisely what happened 2011-10-10 12:13:59+0000 <arbrandes> And the only way to have this freedom, is to charge well 2011-10-10 12:14:09+0000 <arbrandes> (and spend little, heheheh) 2011-10-10 12:14:11+0000 <tartarugafeliz> then we would start developing for other companies, is that it? 2011-10-10 12:14:24+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: yep, everyone's preferred option definitely remains fundraising (angels, CNC, YC, Kickstarter) 2011-10-10 12:14:24+0000 <antoviaque> (it seems) 2011-10-10 12:14:24+0000 <antoviaque> for the 100K vs 10K project, agreed too - if we can find the 100K ones we'll be much better off 2011-10-10 12:14:31+0000 <blanchard1> that's the discussion tartarugafeliz yep 2011-10-10 12:14:33+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: what do you think would be best, at the end? 2011-10-10 12:14:59+0000 <antoviaque> I mean, how do you see the follwoing 1-2 months? 2011-10-10 12:15:01+0000 <tartarugafeliz> and how do we get this kind of clients? 2011-10-10 12:15:41+0000 <arbrandes> tartarugafeliz, if I remember correctly somebody mentioned that you worked in a media agency before - I imagine clients would be brought in the same way. 2011-10-10 12:15:55+0000 <antoviaque> rahh, get some lag (catching up over the last 20 messages that I missed) 2011-10-10 12:16:00+0000 <arbrandes> A lot of schmoozing, networking, beer and drinks, hehehe 2011-10-10 12:16:20+0000 <arbrandes> (and other stuff I'm not comfortable mentioning here, lol) 2011-10-10 12:16:38+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: yep, fundraising is the best shot provided I'm successfull with investors and CS has a few happy players :) Then I don't want to give away the 100k⬠missions but on a personal level, i don't know how to handle all these things in the very short term 2011-10-10 12:16:45+0000 <tartarugafeliz> in the agencies I worked for, there was always 4 to 5 people that were friends with people inside the big companies, so it was all arranged in a very disgusting way. ahhaahha 2011-10-10 12:17:04+0000 <arbrandes> tartarugafeliz, that is precisely what I meant 2011-10-10 12:17:07+0000 <arbrandes> hehehehe 2011-10-10 12:17:08+0000 <tartarugafeliz> hahahaah 2011-10-10 12:17:26+0000 <blanchard1> I guess we all have these kind of experiences :p 2011-10-10 12:18:47+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: precisely - the 100K missions require a lot of work. how competitive are we on the smaller ones? what would be the margins? 2011-10-10 12:19:56+0000 <blanchard1> margins would be small imho : enough to pay mtyaka and arbrandes and tartarugafeliz with a margin but not enough to pay myself. And not enough to pay for additional time for all of us to work on CS 2011-10-10 12:21:02+0000 <blanchard1> that's what currently happens to a friend of mine who has a studio : he pays his team with small missions but he had to get another job on the side (at ubisoft...) 2011-10-10 12:21:30+0000 <arbrandes> My humble but honest opinion: small jobs do not make sense for Farsides. 2011-10-10 12:21:54+0000 <arbrandes> They make sense for us as individuals 2011-10-10 12:22:04+0000 <antoviaque> ok, so how do you see the months to come then? 2011-10-10 12:22:07+0000 <arbrandes> (Because that's what would happen anyway) 2011-10-10 12:23:24+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: a) CS has a few players and investors are interested => things can turn a lot better quickly b) CS takes more time, investors want to wait, what do we do ? 2011-10-10 12:23:52+0000 <blanchard1> b) we all need to earn a living. But it would be a shame if we have to close FS. 2011-10-10 12:24:07+0000 <blanchard1> can we go in stealth mode ? 2011-10-10 12:24:09+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: yep, it's the details of those two paths that I'd like to explore 2011-10-10 12:24:16+0000 <blanchard1> (i mean for b)) 2011-10-10 12:24:36+0000 <tartarugafeliz> what do we need to put CS out for people to play? 2011-10-10 12:24:48+0000 <tartarugafeliz> that's what we need to solve right now, no? 2011-10-10 12:24:57+0000 <antoviaque> while we still have time, it's good to av contengency plans, then we can safely work hoping on the best option, knowing we have fallbacks 2011-10-10 12:25:02+0000 <blanchard1> that's one of the aspects tartarugafeliz 2011-10-10 12:25:17+0000 <blanchard1> we also need to check what to do if CS takes more time to attract players 2011-10-10 12:25:31+0000 <antoviaque> tartarugafeliz: that should come quickly - the task mtyaka is working on should allow us to start making players comes 2011-10-10 12:25:58+0000 <antoviaque> (then it will depend on how the players react of course, to know if we keep ramping up or have stuff to fix) 2011-10-10 12:26:06+0000 <tartarugafeliz> I think independently of what we decide we should put the game out for people to play yeap 2011-10-10 12:26:23+0000 <antoviaque> tartarugafeliz: definitely 2011-10-10 12:26:31+0000 <tartarugafeliz> there's Felix that wants to invest 10K 2011-10-10 12:26:57+0000 <tartarugafeliz> this money can hold us for a little more time until we know about the CNC no? 2011-10-10 12:27:11+0000 <blanchard1> we'll see about that :) I hope so, but i'm waiting for his answer 2011-10-10 12:27:54+0000 <antoviaque> yep, in any case we have many possibilities for funding 2011-10-10 12:28:27+0000 <blanchard1> we're exploring many paths yep 2011-10-10 12:29:29+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: what's the agenda for the different answers we'll have from funding sources? Felix we'll know in the coming days hopefully, CNC in november if I remember correctly, YC at the end of the month (plus eventually interviews mid november), etc. ? 2011-10-10 12:30:23+0000 <blanchard1> Ubisoft MD i should know soon. All the other investors, it's hard to say. 2011-10-10 12:30:40+0000 <blanchard1> I'm sorry i can't offer moe but it's tough to commit on their behalf 2011-10-10 12:31:18+0000 <arbrandes> Out of curiosity, Ubisoft is a candidate as an investor or as a client? 2011-10-10 12:32:17+0000 <blanchard1> as a client arbrandes (though it's the very beginning of discussions). And an MD of one of their studio is a friend who could be interested as an investor 2011-10-10 12:32:48+0000 <arbrandes> "MD"? They have a physician in the studio? ;) 2011-10-10 12:32:55+0000 <mtyaka> lol 2011-10-10 12:32:56+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: also the investors want traction on CS, it's the egg and chicken issue we're aware of 2011-10-10 12:33:00+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: lol 2011-10-10 12:33:12+0000 <blanchard1> MD is the boss of a studio (managing director) 2011-10-10 12:33:35+0000 <arbrandes> ah, ok, thanks 2011-10-10 12:33:36+0000 <arbrandes> heheheheh 2011-10-10 12:34:35+0000 <blanchard1> And I'm sorry to bring this back to my own little case, but there is also a worry for me (like the rest of you, of course), which is that at the end of the month i will run out of money. I don't have a lot of time left to find a 2 days per week solution. 2011-10-10 12:34:44+0000 <blanchard1> there, everything is on the table :p 2011-10-10 12:34:53+0000 <blanchard1> That is why i was mentioning stealth mode 2011-10-10 12:35:54+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard1, I can relate - it's a scary situation to be in, one that I'd rather not go though any time soon, hehehe... Which is why from my point of view, I'd rather see Farsides make money on its own sooner rather than later. 2011-10-10 12:36:42+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: what do you mean by stealth mode? For me it means secrecy, when a startup doesn't communicate about what it does 2011-10-10 12:36:51+0000 <arbrandes> Investments, when they happen, are great, but finding clients seems to be an easier sell, if you know what I mean. 2011-10-10 12:37:45+0000 <antoviaque> arbrandes: how would you see things? 2011-10-10 12:37:47+0000 <tartarugafeliz> I think stealth mode = smooth no? 2011-10-10 12:37:55+0000 <blanchard1> i meant a way antoviaque to keep Farsides alive while earning money to eat. It means less time on FS. I don't love this solution, but right now unless good surprise in the coming weeks, i don't see a way. 2011-10-10 12:38:28+0000 <arbrandes> antoviaque, I'd be after big clients ASAP 2011-10-10 12:38:35+0000 <arbrandes> antoviaque, like, yesterday 2011-10-10 12:38:58+0000 <arbrandes> I think we have the team and the potential 2011-10-10 12:39:14+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: but, I mean, what does it mean in practical terms? who spends time on what? 2011-10-10 12:39:19+0000 <arbrandes> Again, company I previously mentioned ended up making money enough to finance its own side projects. 2011-10-10 12:39:57+0000 <arbrandes> But this means putting CS in the "fridge" in terms of development 2011-10-10 12:40:26+0000 <arbrandes> (which doesn't mean we can't release it as it is now, and fix bugs as they happen) 2011-10-10 12:40:55+0000 <arbrandes> And if investment comes... well then, we'll have "rich people" problems, as we say in Brazil. 2011-10-10 12:41:14+0000 <antoviaque> arbrandes: agreed, for me the team is really good and that's the core of farsides' value besides CS, and worth protecting (if we all put it as a secondary project, we definitely die in the way Paul Graham describes it http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html ) 2011-10-10 12:41:20+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: it means that everyone interested to go this way does the necessary to earn a living and spends the additional time on FS... 2011-10-10 12:41:59+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: it will likely kill farsides to do that imho 2011-10-10 12:42:07+0000 <blanchard1> nice title :) (but good article) 2011-10-10 12:42:25+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: i understand the danger with that 2011-10-10 12:42:34+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard1, I agree with antoviaque on this one, if most of the team works part-time, Farsides itself will go nowhere. 2011-10-10 12:43:01+0000 <arbrandes> I know because I'm having trouble doing both at the same time 2011-10-10 12:43:04+0000 <arbrandes> It's really hard 2011-10-10 12:44:03+0000 <arbrandes> Again, I'd rather earn a living through/with Farsides, regardless of what it does 2011-10-10 12:44:19+0000 <arbrandes> But that is dependant on Farsides making money ;) 2011-10-10 12:44:37+0000 <antoviaque> Yep, if time must be spent to peripheral stuff, if at least it can be done together, we've avoided to die one more time :) 2011-10-10 12:44:54+0000 <tartarugafeliz> yeap me too 2011-10-10 12:45:21+0000 <arbrandes> Nevertheless, I gotta tell you, my talents lie in hacking computers - I suck at hacking people 2011-10-10 12:45:29+0000 <antoviaque> rofl arbrandes 2011-10-10 12:45:33+0000 <arbrandes> Which is what's necessary for getting clients, heheheh 2011-10-10 12:45:35+0000 <tartarugafeliz> hahahaha 2011-10-10 12:46:21+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: you prefer to have bosses? :p 2011-10-10 12:46:43+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: understood. This is more a personal issue. I'll rephrase it : in a month from now, I will have spend all the money i saved 2 years ago. I know that if i look for a job (even if not full time), I can find within a month, and still dedicate time to fund raising. But, if i go on looking for big contracts for FS, first i'm not sure i can eat next month (if i don't find one quick), second i can't spend time on fund raising, 2011-10-10 12:46:54+0000 <blanchard1> sorry, long one :p 2011-10-10 12:46:57+0000 <arbrandes> I think you hit the spot, there, antoviaque - having a boss sucks, heheheh 2011-10-10 12:47:35+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard1, understood, completely 2011-10-10 12:48:04+0000 <tartarugafeliz> yes, blanchard1 I understand too⦠2011-10-10 12:48:11+0000 <arbrandes> Tough situation 2011-10-10 12:48:41+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: ok, I understand the constraints, it's difficult to do both right? or is the second solution too risky for your finances? 2011-10-10 12:49:22+0000 <blanchard1> the second solution (contract) is both very time consuming and extremely risky for my finance :) 2011-10-10 12:49:45+0000 <blanchard1> Though i understand the logic of it, completely 2011-10-10 12:50:03+0000 <arbrandes> Yup, in terms of risk, from less to more: job < contract < investment 2011-10-10 12:50:43+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: true, except that for investment we already have contacts and almost a cool game 2011-10-10 12:51:04+0000 <blanchard1> So imho we're closer to investment on CS than to a big contract 2011-10-10 12:51:12+0000 <blanchard1> but that's just my feeling 2011-10-10 12:52:00+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard1, cool, understood 2011-10-10 12:52:59+0000 <arbrandes> Let me quickly expose my situation, then, with respect to becoming a founder or not. I already talked a bit with antoviaque on Friday, but here's the big summary: 2011-10-10 12:53:51+0000 <arbrandes> It doesn't make sense for me to become a founder if I can't work full time on Farsides. 1) I don't have the funds for it, 2) it wouldn't make sense for you guys to have a part-time founder that can only work on weekends (if at all). 2011-10-10 12:54:36+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: understood 2011-10-10 12:54:49+0000 <arbrandes> Different from you, blanchard1, at this stage I can only produce results if I spend the time to do it - I don't have "investors lined up" which I can spend part time on, you see? 2011-10-10 12:55:01+0000 <arbrandes> So it wouldn't be fair to you guys 2011-10-10 12:55:32+0000 <arbrandes> And I'd become very anxious (as I already am) to try and help, while still surviving... It's tough. 2011-10-10 12:55:40+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: absolutely true, it's not the same situation 2011-10-10 12:56:14+0000 <blanchard1> hmmm 2011-10-10 12:56:44+0000 <arbrandes> What's currently happening to me is that I'm becoming a one-man software house. 2011-10-10 12:57:09+0000 <blanchard1> you're a banana man now arbrandes 2011-10-10 12:58:06+0000 <arbrandes> Clients are showing up, and I'm considering hiring people to help. I'm having trouble with the scaling scenario, exactly as you mentioned - the clients are too small. This is all to say, from my point of view, the perfect situation would be for Farsides to become a software house itself, so we could go after big clients, hire more cool programmers, and ALSO work on CS, which I now consider as much my baby as probably you guys do. 2011-10-10 12:58:12+0000 <arbrandes> heheheh, blanchard1, definitely a banana man 2011-10-10 12:59:07+0000 <arbrandes> Of course, ideally, an angel would come by and drop 200k on your laps so the problem would be solved, but... we just don't know yet, right? 2011-10-10 12:59:24+0000 <arbrandes> And until such a time, we all have to eat. :) 2011-10-10 12:59:40+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: i feel like i'm the issue here. I'm saying this in a positive sense :) 2011-10-10 13:00:01+0000 <blanchard1> If not for me, this software house is a direction that makes sense 2011-10-10 13:00:27+0000 <arbrandes> Not the "issue" at all, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the one that's best positioned to find clients. Without you, this doesn't make much sense, either. 2011-10-10 13:00:30+0000 <blanchard1> it's only because i run out of money that FS is not taking this direction from what i understand 2011-10-10 13:00:40+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: i'm not sure 2011-10-10 13:01:14+0000 <blanchard1> i could find clients with time, but the network of potential client is not my core asset :) 2011-10-10 13:01:58+0000 <antoviaque> I could try to help with this, but I'm not very good at talking to business clients - tried it in the past with very little results 2011-10-10 13:02:11+0000 <arbrandes> I guess we can safely and "Britishly" say, "we're in a picke" 2011-10-10 13:02:14+0000 <arbrandes> *pickle 2011-10-10 13:02:16+0000 <arbrandes> hehehehe 2011-10-10 13:02:29+0000 <antoviaque> :) 2011-10-10 13:02:49+0000 <blanchard1> and arbrandes i'm not a salesman :) I think (i hope) i was a good MD (not physician :p), but that's not the most critical need now on Farsides 2011-10-10 13:03:27+0000 <blanchard1> we're in a pickle hehehe 2011-10-10 13:03:34+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard1, sorry about that, I think I made a mistake assumption, there 2011-10-10 13:03:38+0000 <arbrandes> *mistaken 2011-10-10 13:03:51+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: no, no worry, i'm just opening all options here 2011-10-10 13:04:08+0000 <blanchard1> including looking at the blockers to become a software company 2011-10-10 13:04:56+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1 what would be required to get a big client? I mean, what would be the actual work/steps? Are there things you can distribute to the rest of us? 2011-10-10 13:06:10+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: i'd need to think about it, but yes of course some things could be distributed 2011-10-10 13:06:43+0000 <arbrandes> The hardest part is definitely the contacts 2011-10-10 13:07:09+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: what do you reckon, about this big client thing ? Given what we did on CS and what we want to do, do you think there is an expertise that we should try to sell/build on 2011-10-10 13:07:45+0000 <blanchard1> i like the idea of doing a thing for a client that we've thought about well, and that has some potential to be re-used for other clients 2011-10-10 13:07:46+0000 <arbrandes> The rest is sort of "icing on the cake", from what I've recently seen: building an online portfolio, create a pitch template (including neat PDFs), etc. 2011-10-10 13:08:38+0000 <blanchard1> agreed with arbrandes, the toughest is the contacts. Many forums, events, beers and co :p 2011-10-10 13:08:52+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard1, well, the problem I see right now is that CS (which is what we have) is simply not geared for it. It would have to be highly modified, for sure. 2011-10-10 13:09:30+0000 <arbrandes> But I think your question is: can we sell CS as a platform? 2011-10-10 13:09:34+0000 <arbrandes> Modifications are implicit 2011-10-10 13:09:48+0000 <arbrandes> I think we can, but it'll be a tough sell 2011-10-10 13:10:36+0000 <arbrandes> Again, from what I've seen at a few agencies, for this kind of thing the customer is king: they decide what they want, and if they don't like CS, do we just say no and move along? 2011-10-10 13:11:26+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: do you see a way to make it work if we all help with it, or would it remain too time consuming? 2011-10-10 13:12:18+0000 <arbrandes> Take o2games.com.br, for instance: they create games "on demand" for customers (in Flash, yuck, but still...) 2011-10-10 13:12:40+0000 <arbrandes> They call them "advergames" 2011-10-10 13:12:59+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: right, customer is king :), i was not specifically thinking about CS but more about something that would make sense in our line. I know for instance that each publisher studio kind of builds its own business intelligence tools for social gaming on top of existing Tableau and co. So for instance, selling to a studio something around this topic would make sense (i'm just giving an example, i haven't thought much about it) 2011-10-10 13:13:16+0000 <antoviaque> I agree with arbrandes here, if we're paid to do cool stuff and it keeps us as a team, I don't mind working on less related projects 2011-10-10 13:13:50+0000 <antoviaque> of course it's better if we can link it to us, but in the current perspective I see it as a bonus, not the goal 2011-10-10 13:14:00+0000 <arbrandes> blanchard1, ok, we'd be designing a product - but then we're back to square 1. To sell this product, we need investors. ;) 2011-10-10 13:14:06+0000 <arbrandes> I mean, to BUILD this product 2011-10-10 13:14:17+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: I'm not sure this would solve my very short money issue, but it's definitely something to look at (shaing the work) 2011-10-10 13:14:36+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: except if we find a client that wants us to build it for him :) 2011-10-10 13:14:53+0000 <blanchard1> which does not solve the problem. We still need to find the client :p 2011-10-10 13:15:13+0000 <arbrandes> But then he'll want to own it, blanchard1. I've seen this before. The only solution is not to charge anything. 2011-10-10 13:15:30+0000 <arbrandes> (or to charge very little) 2011-10-10 13:15:50+0000 <blanchard1> arbrandes: i'm afraid you're right on this. If we come with nothing, we can't leave with everything. 2011-10-10 13:16:16+0000 <arbrandes> Back to the pickle, hehehehe 2011-10-10 13:16:21+0000 <blanchard1> damn pickle 2011-10-10 13:16:56+0000 <blanchard1> ok so we're back to finding a contract, any contract 2011-10-10 13:17:25+0000 <antoviaque> on the other side you have a point blanchard, we'll likely be more competitive on stuff that are close to what we already worked on - ie looking for clients in priority with games, distributed teams, etc. 2011-10-10 13:18:03+0000 <blanchard1> yep 2011-10-10 13:18:11+0000 <antoviaque> not sure how much easier/harder it would be, but we'll have more arguments to convince, then (because we'll have something relevant to show) 2011-10-10 13:18:48+0000 <blanchard1> yep, better to come with a related portfolio for sure 2011-10-10 13:19:40+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: arbrandes: so could it be "looking for any big contract anywhere, but targeting clients close to our core business in priority" ? 2011-10-10 13:21:38+0000 <blanchard1> i see it this way. Then we can define what we're good at , then I can send some mails, try to meet people, you can do the same if possible. It's a lead to explore. 2011-10-10 13:23:15+0000 <antoviaque> blanchard1: would it work in your agenda and level of risks? do you want more time to think about how to organize this, see if there is a distribution of tasks among us that would work? 2011-10-10 13:23:53+0000 <antoviaque> (or not, which would be important to know too) 2011-10-10 13:25:56+0000 <blanchard1> I can take a little time to think about it for sure. Right now the way i see it (on a personal level), is i can take a little time to send some mails to prospects if you help me summarizing what we're good at, and you can definitely try to reach some people too. But i still have this deadline in a month from now that might not be solved with this solution. 2011-10-10 13:27:59+0000 <blanchard1> So basically, my life in a couple of weeks would look like 1/3 fundraising, 1/3 contract, 1/3 looking for a way to eat, what do you think of that antoviaque ? 2011-10-10 13:29:27+0000 <blanchard1> and then a decision to be taken in a month from now depending on what come out of this 2011-10-10 13:31:26+0000 <antoviaque> for me it looks good, but it's more about you, how you feel with this 2011-10-10 13:32:00+0000 <blanchard1> i don't feel anything at all anymore, I've flooded this chat too much :) 2011-10-10 13:32:26+0000 <blanchard1> I'll think about it for the rest of the day see if i have better ideas 2011-10-10 13:32:47+0000 <blanchard1> antoviaque: ^ 2011-10-10 13:34:11+0000 <antoviaque> for what we're good at, I see: HTML/CSS games, complex web applications, illustrations, kids, free software/open source, communities, distributed teams 2011-10-10 13:35:58+0000 <antoviaque> ok, sounds good! you bring back the subject tomorrow during the meeting? 2011-10-10 13:36:10+0000 <blanchard1> of course 2011-10-10 13:36:18+0000 <antoviaque> thanks : ) 2011-10-10 13:36:32+0000 <antoviaque> anything else for today? (loooooong meeting :p) 2011-10-10 13:36:33+0000 <blanchard1> thanks to you for what we're good at ;) 2011-10-10 13:36:52+0000 <antoviaque> yw :) 2011-10-10 13:37:06+0000 <blanchard1> we've frightened everyone they ran away :) 2011-10-10 13:37:23+0000 <antoviaque> ah and design too, we rock on that one, even if tartarugafeliz is fed up of design :p 2011-10-10 13:37:36+0000 <blanchard1> :) 2011-10-10 13:37:40+0000 <arbrandes> Sorry, had to deal with some stuff 2011-10-10 13:37:45+0000 <arbrandes> Sounds good to me 2011-10-10 13:37:48+0000 <antoviaque> just that it was long I think - but worth it imho, we've covered a lot of ground 2011-10-10 13:38:06+0000 <antoviaque> arbrandes: glad :) 2011-10-10 13:38:15+0000 <antoviaque> eve: end dailymeeting 2011-10-10 13:38:16+0000 <eve> Meeting Ended 2011-10-10 13:38:16+0000 <eve> Minutes available at http://paste.pocoo.org/show/490410 2011-10-10 13:39:55+0000 <antoviaque> oh, just realised I forgot to give mine :p 2011-10-10 13:40:08+0000 <arbrandes> Oh, forgot one thing: is it ok if I charge for #200, antoviaque? I spent a total of 18 hours on it (mostly on the weekend). I don't want to be an "evil mercenary", but there's still a little money left in the budget for this, right? 2011-10-10 13:40:09+0000 <antoviaque> eve: yesterday Plebia - Added release date information of episodes, auto-refresh of episodes listings&series info, auto download of new episode once released, started reviewing backend codebase to improve code/objects structure 2011-10-10 13:40:09+0000 <eve> antoviaque: That didn't go down very well. Burp. 2011-10-10 13:40:09+0000 <antoviaque> eve: blockers None 2011-10-10 13:40:10+0000 <eve> antoviaque: That didn't seem to agree with me 2011-10-10 13:40:09+0000 <antoviaque> eve: today Card Stories - Review alpha10 tomorrow morning. Plebia - refactoring on the backend 2011-10-10 13:40:10+0000 <eve> antoviaque: I'm not feeling too well 2011-10-10 13:40:42+0000 <antoviaque> arbrandes: of course, np, blanchard1 planned it in the budget for that purpose :) 2011-10-10 13:41:00+0000 <arbrandes> cool, thanks :) 2011-10-10 13:43:05+0000 <mtyaka> long meeting today 2011-10-10 13:44:21+0000 <mtyaka> i disappeared half way through - had a long phone call 2011-10-10 13:46:44+0000 <arbrandes> mtyaka, hehehe, you'll have a tough time reading through all that ;) 2011-10-10 13:47:22+0000 <mtyaka> yeah, tough situation :( 2011-10-10 13:47:44+0000 <mtyaka> hopefully, things will turn into a better direction soon 2011-10-10 13:52:58+0000 <arbrandes> cross your fingers! :) 2011-10-10 13:53:41+0000 <mtyaka> antoviaque: can you take a look at #514? I ran into some problems integrating SoundManager, especially around the configuration (it is pretty peculiar as to when the configuration gets set), also had a tough time getting the test to work (which was related to the configuration being set too late). I decided to implement it as a separate cardstories_audio js plugin and spent 5 hours in the end. 2011-10-10 13:57:08+0000 <mtyaka> blanchard1: This is a pretty bad timing, but today I finally managed to get all the formalities of my business and bank account taken care of, so that I can start handing out invoices (and receiving payments) :) Could we do the payment for my previous work sometime in the near future, when you have some spare time? 2011-10-10 14:03:40+0000 <blanchard1> mtyaka: it's not a bad timing at all, it was accounted for of course :) 2011-10-10 14:04:27+0000 <blanchard1> Can you do an invoice maybe with everything until end of september, and then we'll do another one at the end of october with october's work ? 2011-10-10 14:05:02+0000 <blanchard1> I'll just need the invoice and the paypal account (or bank account) 2011-10-10 14:05:07+0000 <blanchard1> mtyaka: ^ 2011-10-10 14:06:27+0000 <mtyaka> blanchard1: sure, i'll create an invoice and send it to you (with bank account details). Thanks! 2011-10-10 15:04:50+0000 <antoviaque> mtyaka: re - sorry I missed your messages 2011-10-10 15:05:00+0000 * antoviaque looking at #514 2011-10-10 15:09:29+0000 <antoviaque> mtyaka: good, it looks clean from the example. imho good balance between design principle & practicability, given that it fit in 5 hours of work (which are good for me) 2011-10-10 15:10:13+0000 <antoviaque> and preloading will likely not be necessary now for this use yep 2011-10-10 15:10:36+0000 <mtyaka> thanks, antoviaque! 2011-10-10 15:11:04+0000 <mtyaka> yeah, preloading will probably might not be necessary 2011-10-10 15:11:31+0000 <antoviaque> yep 2011-10-10 15:11:37+0000 <mtyaka> but the main reason why i didn't look into it is because downloads might be handle by flash, and i am not sure "usual" browser caching applies there 2011-10-10 15:11:54+0000 <mtyaka> if i went to investigate this, i'd probably waste too much time 2011-10-10 15:12:08+0000 <mtyaka> so decided to not go into that at this point 2011-10-10 15:13:17+0000 <antoviaque> btw do you think you can finish #515 for this sprint (tomorrow)? 2011-10-10 15:13:17+0000 <antoviaque> mtyaka: ^ 2011-10-10 15:14:11+0000 <antoviaque> yup, agreed 2011-10-10 15:14:34+0000 <mtyaka> until tomorrow? hmm.. i'm not sure, i've got a lot of work to finish tonight. if i finish it early, i will look into #515 - if it's easy to do, i'll do it tonight or tomorrow morning 2011-10-10 15:14:35+0000 <antoviaque> (still some lage here, not sure what's going on lately with my irc connection) 2011-10-10 15:14:57+0000 <antoviaque> mtyaka: ok, as you can : ) 2011-10-10 15:14:58+0000 <mtyaka> otherwise it will have to wait until tomorrow evening 2011-10-10 15:16:03+0000 <antoviaque> yep, np 2011-10-10 15:16:19+0000 <antoviaque> Not to put pressure on you, :D but it's the last blocker until we start bringing a few first players :p 2011-10-10 15:16:28+0000 <antoviaque> (well, at least until the next playtest ;p) 2011-10-10 15:17:06+0000 <mtyaka> hehe, ok. this feels like pressure, but it's the good kind of pressure :) 2011-10-10 15:17:10+0000 <antoviaque> :D 2011-10-10 15:32:56+0000 dachary (dachary) is now online 2011-10-10 17:11:41+0000 arbrandes (arbrandes) is now online 2011-10-10 20:07:14+0000 arbrandes (arbrandes) is now online
_______________________________________________ Farsides mailing list - [email protected] Wiki: http://farsides.com/ List: http://farsides.com/ml/ Forum: http://farsides.com/forum/ Ideas: http://farsides.com/ideas/ Chat: http://farsides.com/chat/
