The Game Jam started in Denver 2009, and we’ve continued it ever since. In San Jose 2010 The Touch Arcade Game Jam saw a ton of awesome games being worked on, developers collaborating, sharing their knowledge and skills, to help each other out.

The Game Jam brings together developers of all skill levels, to collaborate and build games or learn game theory. Many developers with little experience in game development use the Game Jam as a launch pad to quickly ramp up and leave the next morning with a firm understanding of Game Dev. Touch Arcade, our awesome sponsor in San Jose did several posts about the experience.

To take part in the Game Jam you have to be an attendee, register now!

These books are great! If you’re thinking up app ideas, designs etc, these books (There’s an iPhone one too!!) are the thing to use. They’re incredible resources!

Whether you’re a developer or designer, these books are invaluable assets in your day to day work!

We’re really glad that Apress is such an awesome supporter of 360|iDev, and that we’ll be giving one of these to EVERY attendee of 360|iDev Austin.

Don’t miss out. There’s only a few early bird tickets left!! Remember there’s only 100 and they’re moving fast! Register now!

For those that were at 360|iDev San Jose this past year you’ll know we had volunteers to help out. The volunteers were a HUGE help, and a large part of why the conference was probably the smoothest we’ve ever done.

It’s that time again for our call for volunteers!
Why do we want volunteers?

• Obviously having free workers is a bonus, but one of our main reasons for having volunteers is to provide a way for those that absolutely cannot afford the conference to be able to have a way to join us!
• Give us your new graduates, those that were laid off, and those without 2 nickels to rub together!
• The point behind 360 conferences is to have an affordable event that the majority of people can come to! Being unemployed doesn’t need to be the barrier.

Please note, that if you just want to save a few bucks you don’t necessarily fit the bill. Think of those less fortunate than you! We’re always throwing out discount codes, visit your local user group, they’ll have one, etc. The volunteer program is really for those that won’t otherwise be able to make the conference.

What do I need to do if I’m a volunteer?

• We need you to be available Saturday thru Wednesday.  (Saturday can be waived, but the more hands the faster the work is completed)
• We need people the Saturday prior to the conference for lanyard/badge assembly, and swag bag assembly, and to get familiar with the location.
• We need people Sunday to run the Registration desk. This is your training for monday when the masses invade! There are 3 shifts, 7am-noon, noon-5, and 5-8.
• Monday thru Wednesday we need people to run the Registration desk as well as the cameras in each session. You will be assigned to either the desk or recording sessions.
• If you are assigned to record a session you need to remain in that session for the duration. You will need to confirm the camera continues to function and get the slides from the speaker at the end (via flash drive)
• Sunday and Monday you will need to arrive between 7 and 7:30.
• Tuesday and Wednesday you will need to arrive between 8 and 8:30.

What’s in it for you?

• When you are not assigned to a session or the reg desk – you are free to see the sessions.
• You get to enjoy lunch.
• You get to mingle at all the parties (unless you are working the desk on sunday)
• You get to meet a ton of people during registration!
• You get a cool badge that says “Volunteer” :)
• You get to say you know the folks that run 360|Conferences.

We really want you to get something out of the conference! We want you to have fun and learn a ton! You’re there to help us, but also get as much as you can out of sessions.

If you think you can hack it – apply!

• Name:
• Email:
• Local:  Y/N
• Phone Number:
• Current application of technology:
• Reason for wanting to be a volunteer:
• Availability Sat?
• Availability Sun?

Just email us at INFO at 360idev DOT com with the above details. We’ll let those selected know ASAP.

My main goal in attending WWDC each year is to hang out with the awesome developers who are there, saying ‘hi’ and making sure they know about 360|iDev. By not actually attending the conference my only options for meeting the community are the parties, and my office away from home, Starbucks. That worked to a degree. Several people were able to find me and purchase tickets, even a few potential sponsors. But I think it’s easier when I’m hanging out inside the conference. The time between sessions, etc, made it hard for some to get out, get to Starbucks, and back in to the next session.

My other goal in being around WWDC is to offer our special WWDC pricing. We figure you’ve paid $1600 to attend WWDC, why not cut you a break. A break in the form of $200 off the ‘first 100′ price of 360|iDev. I mean really, who can pass up $299 for a 4 day event with the best and brightest of the iPhone community? This was the second year we sold super discounted tickets to WWDC attendees, and we sold 2x as many. That’s a plus on a lot of levels!

The parties at WWDC are always a blast, and I met a ton of awesome peeps! Finally got to meet @grouchoduke! which was nice! They give me a chance to hang out, meet folks, give out cards… you see the moo cards around? Those had 15% off discount codes on them, hope you picked one up! It was a testament to the iPhone developer community that WWDC Sold out in 8 days, and was entirely iPhone focused. It’s great to see the community so huge, and getting so much love!

The upside of not being an attendee of WWDC, sleeping in :) Sorry guys, but after closing bars, it’s nice to not be up by 8-9am :)

The other thing we do at WWDC is the scavenger hunt. This was the second year we’ve done it, and judging by the interest, a HUGE success. Last year the drives sat in their hiding places for a good while, while this year, they were all gone within 30 minutes of being hidden. Congrats to those 5 folks! They all got a free pass to 360|iDev, and a bunch of awesome promo codes from some incredible developers!

Next year I’ll have more drives, and more promo codes! I really enjoy the hunt, and it’s a ton of fun for everyone!

So, see you next year at WWDC, but in the meantime, you should seriously be registering for 360|iDev Austin. November 7-10. I mean WWDC is great, and the best/only place to see what’s new and hot, and coming soon, but 360|iDev is the place to learn things that will not only energize you for months afterward, but will have you doing things the rest of the community isn’t even thinking about! Go get your ‘first 100′ ticket now! before they’re gone!

You see events that cost over $1000, and think (at least I do) “what will I be getting out of this conference? Will it be worth $1000? Will I be wasting my money?” I especially have those thoughts as someone who doesn’t have a company expense account to draw upon. But even in my days as a cube monkey I felt weird when I’d return from a conference and 1. have to make up what I learned to report back to my boss, and 2. submit expense reports, etc for thousands of dollars of company money.

What about when a conference has an early bird price that takes $550 off the price? I mean the savings in the early bird price is more than the actual cost to attend 360|iDev. I wonder if they think they provide over $1000 in knowledge and networking?

Why do events, with similar formats as 360|iDev cost so much more? They’re “enterprise” I guess is the only explanation. Meaning nothing but they want to milk attendees (who are typically on the company’s dime) for as much as possible. I certainly hope “enterprise” attendees don’t get suckered into this thinking, but looking at conference history, those events with “enterprise” anywhere in their name or description, tack on at least an extra $500 just because.

These events are obviously not aimed at indie developers. Ever wonder if you get 2-3x the value? They’re not 2-3 times the length, or the number of sessions, or anything else that would be a good metric, so what’s the difference?

I know that every attendee or potential attendee has a choice in the events they attend, and I show my gratitude in organizing an awesome event that blows their minds. At least a few times every event, someone walks up to me (I’m the guy at the reg desk, or walking around saying hi) and tells me that they’ve already gotten their money’s worth.. ‘Already’, and it’s usually lunch time on day one!

360|iDev Austin is still a ways away, but why wait? Waiting will cost you $100 if nothing else, and it’s not like you’re not gonna have a good time, and get more information from 3 days than you’ll get anywhere else. Go register, worse case you can get a refund if you can’t make it (Make sure it’s before the cut off though!)

BUT once accepted, speakers can tweak their topic to their heart’s content, so long as it’s not a complete “Oh well it was this, and now it’s this completely different thing”, so submitting now, or waiting a while, no matter. What matters is not forgetting to submit, or missing the deadline. You can always update your submission as we go before the call for papers close.

I figure the call for speakers will close around July-August sometime.

The way it works (for those of you that haven’t spoken before) is this. You email us with your idea, answering all the items outlined below. That’s it :)

After we close the call for papers, we’ll make selections.

Haven’t spoken at 360|iDev before? it’s easy. We’re probably the most low pressure event around, and we love having new people from the community present. Many of our highest rated presenters, started out as attendees, then decided to share what they knew with the community.

What we’ll need in your session submission:

• Your name
• Your Email
• Your twitter ID or blog address (Whatever you want your name to link to on the speakers page)
• Session Name
• Session description
• Session level (100 – 300+) The more advanced the better, just saying.
• Session Track (tracks are: Business,  Sights, Sounds, and Interactions, Development Tips and Tricks)
• Is this session strictly iPhone or iPad? Let us know so we can start marking any such sessions
• Lastly, have you presented this topic anywhere else. No offense to other events, but we hate stuff that’s made the circuit. It’s cool to show it at a cocoa heads, or NScodernight, but we hate sloppy seconds. The fresher the content the better.

Have a few ideas, submit them all! Sometimes we ask speakers to do more than one session if they pitch more than one awesome idea.

What’s in it for you as a speaker? Well we of course don’t make you pay to attend, but we also cover your hotel stay for 3 nights.

Less quantifiable benefits of speaking at 360|iDev?

• Book deals
• New Job or new consulting work
• who knows, Apple might hire you… just saying, we’ve seen a fair number of people who come to iDev, get snatched up by the mothership…
• Everlasting fame and (kharmic) fortune

So send in your topic ideas, remember, I’m under NDA too, so if you have an idea that’s not released yet, feel free, and we’ll keep it hush hush until it is announced. No NDA breaking here :)

See you in Austin!

It’s 3 days, in New York, with two incredible developers! Check out the course plan here.

Julio and Jeff are both long time speakers at 360|iDev, and great guys. Both far smarter than me :)

If you’re in or around New York, check out this course. You won’t find a better pair to teach you everything you need to know. After all Jeff’s book is one of the best intro to iPhone dev books around.

This will be an excellent way to jump start your iPhone development, and then of course, you can top off your mental tank at 360|iDev Austin! Register now for $499!

Austin TX. The week of November 8th! (I’ll be posting many many more details over the next few days. Including the Call for Papers, but for now…)

Sunday Nov. 7th is the Hands on training, followed by our normal three days of mind blowing, expectation exceeding content, community, and rock brand.

Tickets are on sale now. If you’re going to be at WWDC, find me (probably at the starbucks outside Moscone) for the super early, WWDC Discount. $299! That’s $200 off the normal early bird price of $499.

I’ll be in San Francisco Sunday through Friday afternoon, so don’t miss your chance for this awesome deal. 4 days of the best conference you’ll find for iPhone Developers (Sorry Apple) for $299.

Oh and stay tuned, the USB Scavenger hunt is gonna be on next week! Free passes to 360|iDev, tons of promo codes!

In the meantime, if you haven’t checked out the session recordings, you should. 30 videos from 360|iDev San Jose! Buy 5 get 1 free still going on too!

See you at WWDC (And then in Austin)

It’s sad to see Wolf close up C4. Sad to see Apple basically snub it’s nose at the mac desktop crowd.

Makes me wonder if (I’ve entertained this thought a few times) there should be a 360|Mac? Aimed specifically at the desktop app builders, bringing the same great content (Maybe more/better parties) the iPhone community has come to expect.

Nothing is firm, this is more just my thinking out loud post. I do love Mac desktop apps, I do think it’s a bummer that Apple is focusing all of WWDC on the iPhone.

What do you think? Point your mac dev friends to this post. if there’s interest, let’s do it.

Remember, this fall. 360|iDev Austin.

Download the session materials here, it’s a single DMG file of every slide deck and code sample we collected, which was most of them.

The session videos are being worked on right now and those who attended the conference already have access to them. Once we get the payment handling figured out we’ll blog that URL, we definitely want anyone who wants access to the videos to be able to get them easilly and affordably. On that note, if you have any suggestions for how to handle individual purchases of videos, let us know! We’ve got plenty of streaming hosting, but have not found any turnkey solutions to sell single sessions. We’d rather not sell them all as a single download at a high price.

Save the date(s). while we don’t have a specific date/location locked in, we’re planning around September, just like Denver. RIght now we’re looking at Austin or Washington DC. I know Austin isn’t the East Coast, but we go where the largest collection of developers are. We’re researching that now.

Regardless of location, we’re looking at September, so mark your calendars.