PyCon India 2010 was the second installment of our very own PyCon. A lot of people worked really hard to make this happen and we tried to learn from the experiences of last year and do a better job. The conference was organised by the Indian Python Software Society and was held at the M.S. Ramaiah institute of technology, Bangalore on the 25tr and 26th of September 2010.

We had around 650 people attending on the first day. On the second day, it dropped to around 300.

There were approximately 60 talks spread across 3 tracks and a special track targeted at scientists and engineers conducted by FOSSEE which contained half a day of lectures and one and a half days of workshops.

Our main sponsors this time were ZeOmega and FOSSEE. We also had support from the Python Software Foundation and had smaller sponsorships from TANDBERG and ProjectPlace. Mahiti helped us out with a lot of the logistical issues and we partnered with Vodex technologies to provide offline copies of the presentations. We partnered with DoAttend to help us with the ticketing so that participants could register online beforehand and shorten the queues.

We were able to get David Goodger to come and be our keynote speaker for the conference thanks to help from our sponsors and the PSF.

Like last time, I was the semi-official leader of the entire project. I’m glad to say that it went reasonably well.

Unlike last time, I am listing below the list of people who actively helped out with the event so that it goes on the record (if I’ve missed your name, please drop me an email).

• Anand Pillai - Handled Talks and scheduling
• Anand C. And Abhishek - Webmasters
• Vijay - Sponsor coordinator
• Arvind Dixit - Recording and A/V.
• Kenneth - Handled creation of society and bank account.
• Santhosh - Handled Records (treasurer)
• Sree - Swag, Infrastructure, food.
• Kunal - Banners, id cards, coupons
• Anil and other student volunteers from MSRIT - Ground support and running around
• Kunal, Ramki and Vijay - Session chairs

Following is an account of the weekend of the conference.

David arrived on the 22nd. It was his first trip to India and we tried to show him around the place as much as we could.

On the day before the event, there was the looming “threat” of a verdict for a 6 decade old civil case. The local government had initially declared a preemptive curfew on the weekend which would have forced us to cancel/postpone the event. The fear we had is reflected in this blog post. However, the verdict was pushed forward by a week and we were able to conduct the event as scheduled.

Due to work pressure, I was not able to visit the venue on the night before the conference. Sree looked over the place, made sure that everything was working fine. It rained quite heavily the night before the conference. I called all the volunteers who had taken charge of the various aspects and made sure things were in place. The even we were working towards for 6 months was finally going to take place.

The following are my descriptions of the two days. Unlike last year, I wasn’t able to attend too many talks and so it’s mostly just my experiences as a “manager” rather than a delegate.

25 September 2010 - Saturday

I met Anand Pillai at my house at around 600 hours and went to pick David up. We got to the college at around 700 hours and started to get things ready for the keynote. Sree was already there and Anil and his band of student volunteers got things moving quite well. The A/V guys arrived and Arvind took care of doing what was necessary to get them rolling. It started on time without any problems.

Things suffered a little after this. The crowds started pouring in. While Sree, Santhosh and the other volunteers did a great job at the registration desk, a queue did form. People hadn’t taken printouts, they opted for size L and took size XL etc. Some people wanted to register on the spot and started bargaining on the price. The lack of civil sense was… characteristic. However, the queue cleared by around 1100 and things went on.

Wifi was a problem that was reported over and over again. Lack of IP addresses, lack of signal strength and numerous other problems prevented people from using it effectively. This was uncool and we need to figure out a way to do this properly next year. Anand C. had a wireless router which he brought from his house which we set up to help. It did help but wasn’t enough.

Another problem was that one of our halls (the “hitech hall”) was away from the other two halls which were easily accessible. We didn’t stick up maps and the signs were not sufficient. People were wandering around without direction and support at this hall was less than satisfactory. This led to delays and other problems because of which a lot of speakers whose talks were scheduled in this hall suffered. We need to take care of this kind of situation next year. The volunteers Anil had arranged couldn’t all make it since they had placement tests to write and so we were short of people at the venue to help with directions etc.

The caterers messed up with the lunch setup. I don’t like the idea of barking at volunteers since they’re doing the work they are out of their own good will but if we’re paying for something, I expect some amount of professionalism. I was relaxing when Anand told me about the lunch delay. There wasn’t much to be done but they got the tables set up 30 minutes late and the queues grew long and uncomfortable. However, there was still enough time and the afternoon talks didn’t get delayed.

The afternoon sessions went reasonably well. However, there were a few speakers who cancelled their talks without informing us. This messed up our schedules.

I wanted to attend the Zen of Web talk by Anand C. but couldn’t. I missed the celery and twisted talks as well. I missed llvm-py too. I attended part of the ZIO talk by Vijay Kumar and Asim Mittal’s Wii related talk which were both nice. I stayed for Arun R.’s blender talk but was too exhausted and stepped out for a cup of tea. The hardware talks (ZIO and Wii) were well received and I liked the preparedness of the presenters.

We left a little late. I dropped off David and got back home.

26 September 2010 - Sunday

I picked up David in the morning a little late. I had been burning the candle at both ends for longer than is healthy and I was starting to buckle. I reached the venue and saw a significantly lower turnout. My morning talk was postponed to the afternoon since Baiju couldn’t make it due to bad health. I sat in David’s talk for a while in the morning but was too distracted to pay attention. My own talk went okay. Things went mostly well. A few talks were cancelled but we filled in the spots as much as we could.

We ended the day with the first annual general meeting of the Indian Python Software Society. Kenneth chaired it and we had some discussions and motions passed. After that, all of the volunteers headed to a nearby restaurant for a treat and we got back home.

Thoughts

The talk quality was slightly better than last time but it’s still the major sore point (apart from the wifi). We need to be more active with talk screening and give more time to the selected talks so that people can talk better. A separate tutorial day would be good too although that would spill into the weekdays.

I delegated work a lot more than last time. There were large aspects of the conference that I was simply unaware of and completely willing to entrust to the volunteers. This improved the cohesion of our core group of volunteers. That’s a good thing.

During the initial discussions on the mailing list, I put my foot down a few times and that led to some rather bad vibes in the community. In retrospect, I really do sound annoying in that email. This was a bit of learning experience for me. Made me appreciate the kind of balance that real project leaders like Guido and Linus must maintain.

There were quite a few people on the mailing list who brought up completely irrelevant topics during discussions and wasted valuable volunteer time and energy discussing useless topics. This was annoying and it’s taking all the strength I have to stay quiet.

The conference was bigger and better than last years in all respects in my opinion. We didn’t take any steps back but have a lot of steps to take forward. The road is clearer now.

This was a humbling experience for me. To pull something like this off. A foreign keynote speaker, over 600 participants, so many interactions, so many volunteers. I think it went well.

Next years event is slated to be held in Chennai. I will be taking a subordinate role during the event. People are probably fed up of my attitude anyway.

See you all there!

Thanks to PyCon India and my work, I hardly get time to play any oldies. However, one always needs some release and this time, it arrived as a Delphine classic.

Flashback - The quest for identity is one of the best games I’ve played and considering what a hopelessly addicted gamer I am, that’s saying a lot. It has a number of things notable about it which I’ll mention one by one.

Firstly, the story. Flashback is a cyberpunk platformer characterised by one reviewer as a “thinking man’s action game” which I think is quite accurate. It’s got a very Philip K. Dick feel about the whole thing and is very nicely narrated. You can skip the next paragraph if you don’t want spoilers.
The story is basically an alien takeover of earth detected by the protagonist Conrad Hart during his thesis. His investigations were noted by the aliens and was hunted. He takes the precaution of recording his memories and sending them to his friend Ian. He gets captured and mind wiped but escapes and restores his memory. After that, he figures out a way to destroy the aliens but at great cost. He gets stranded in an uncharted region of space and is goes into cryo sleep at the ending of the game. It’s narrated using animated cutscenes. In the disk version, the cutscenes are hand drawn and have a rather cartoony feeling about them. In the CD version, they are pre rendered and look more realistic. The first picture below is from the intro cinematic of the disk version and the second is the corresponding picture in the CD version.


I personally prefer the disk version since it matches with the mood of the game better. The game graphics itself were like the disk version cinematics - hand drawn and very intricate.

Secondly, the animation. Flashback boasts of using rotoscopy to animate the sprites. Most of the limelight for this technique was stolen by the legendary Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechner but quite frankly, Flashback’s animation is far superior. In my opinion, Prince’s real contribution to the gaming world was the non projectile combat system i.e. the use of swords during fights which was a first at the time as far as I know. The rotoscopy is much more detailed and beautiful in Flashback. Here is an image of the various sprites used to animate Conrad when he turns during running.

It looks good in itself but seeing it on the rich backgrounds while playing is even better. Here’s a video on youtube showing our hero negotiating level 1.

Also notable in this area is the sheer range of moves. In contrast to the very limited number of moves in Prince of Persia, Conrad can run and leap onto distant ledges, roll while running, roll with his gun drawn, drop down, climb up and do a lot of other things which makes some parts of the game quite interesting and fun to watch.

Next is the inventory. Conrad’s ability to use a force shield to deflect enemy fire, throw stones to distract enemies while he moves in for the kill, use a portable teleportation device to solve some puzzles all add to the flavour of the game. In some situations, the “thinking man” approach really helps and is quite satisfying. Although the only weapon Conrad has is a gun, the other items he can use to get the job done give the game more depth and feel.

Finally, there’s the gameplay. The game is not annoyingly tough. I get turned off when the game is too easy and not challenging enough and also when it’s so tough that I have to save and reload just to cross a tiny ledge because of a timing problem. Flashback keeps the game realistically tough and also playably easy - a balance hard to get. The story elements and the action are woven together really well. The game is riveting and there’s a strong sense of reward with every level you finish. The puzzles are not so complex that the game becomes a Sierra adventure game. At the same time, they’re tough enough to keep you on your toes.

On the downsides, there’s the broken password based save system with “save points” that disappear when you quit the game. This can get annoying but the levels are short enough to finish in a single sitting so it’s not that.

Highly recommended for platformer lovers. Highly recommended for people who have good hand eye coordination. Flashback - The Quest for identity is available as a DOS (disk) version but with copyright protection that annoys the heck of me and as a CD version without the copy protection that works just fine.

This is not a game you want to miss.

Sai Kiran of Agiliq solutions has created some nice publicity badges for PyCon India 2010.

and

Different sizes are available as well at http://in.pycon.org/2010/publicity. Please spread the word and use the badges! Thanks Sai!

With Robert Downey Jr.’s “interesting” take on the fictional detective, there’s been a rise in the amount of interest in Sherlock Holmes. Being a bit of a retrogamer myself, here’s my list of oldish Sherlock Holmes computer games with some capsule reviews and technical notes on how to play them if you’re a die hard fan. There’s semi-randomly ordered although I’ve tried to list them chronologically with release dates.

1. Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels

   Ah. Interactive fiction. A gem in the world of gaming trod on and completely neglected by the impatient gamers of today. I have a soft corner for the whole genre and consider it a nice union between the interactivity of a computer game and the language of a good novel.

   That being said, I’m sad to report that I haven’t really played the game to it’s end. It doesn’t really have much Holmesian feel to it and given the high quality of many of the other IF titles out there, this one falls short. That being said, it does have a “bookish” feel to it and if you’ve got an evening to waste, it’s worth a few hours. You play Dr. Watson. The Crown Jewels of London have been stolen and you’re investigating the case. Holmes is a bystander (thereby allowing the game developers to prevent him from bungling). You lead the way and Holmes on occasion steps in to make the game fun. Its got a few “find the object” type puzzles and gets old quite quickly.

   The game can be downloaded here. It’s a Z-code file. The download contains instructions on how to play it. If you’re on Gnu/Linux, you can use frotz or any other Z-code interpreter to play it.

2. 221B Baker Street
   This is a computer version of the famous board game 221B Baker Street. I haven’t played it at all but if it’s anything like the board game, it’s worth playing. This is not a solo thing. It’s something that a group of people have to play (first one to solve the mystery wins). It’s much more interesting that cluedo and is fine way for a group of Holmesians to spend an evening. This is not the same at the much more modern game 221B. I have no knowledge of this and it appears to be a facebook based marketing scheme rather than a real “game”.
3. Sherlock Holmes: Another Bow

   This is also an IF title but with some more graphical elements. It has a few simple 4 colour pictures in the scenes. The plot is a murder mystery on board a steamer. Holmes is an old man so steps out of the way for you (Watson) to solve the case but only in name. He pretty much dictates all aspects of what goes on making it a very simple game and interesting only to people who touch Holmes just because it is Holmes.
   This game is downloadable at http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/529/Sherlock+Holmes+-+Another+Bow.html and can be played using DosBox on Windows and Gnu/Linux.

4. Sherlock Holmes consulting detective

   This is a sweet set of games. The original was just called “Sherlock Holmes : Consulting Detective” and was a computer version of the book based game of the same name. .

   The games are full motion video based with charming music. Each “case” is structured as a video of the client visiting the detective and his friend at 221B and laying out the details of the case. You then have to decide on which of your resources (the baker street irregulars, contacts in the higher social strata etc.) to call upon to get more clues. The idea is to get as much as you can in the quickest possible time and then to present them to a jury. If the evidence is sufficient, a video of the heroes at their rooms will play discussing the details of the case in retrospect.

   They’re fun to play and somewhat true to the “nature” of Sherlock Holmes that fans can detect quickly. There were addon packs released after the original that provided more cases.

5. The lost files of Sherlock Holmes

   These are my pick of the lot. Two games released in the early 90s by Electronic Arts. The case of the serrated scalpel and the case of the rose tattoo. The second improves on the first with more graphical and story content. The games are delightful to play. They’re basically point and click adventure games. You play the detective. Watson is a sidekick character who maintains notes and hangs around till needed. The plots are a little weak but the care devoted to all aspects of the game is so great that it’s a “don’t miss” for all Holmes fans.

   The first game can be downloaded at Abandonia. The second I couldn’t find anywhere online but it should be available from a torrent site somewhere. They’re both playable using DosBox. Highly recommended to all serious Holmesians and gamers.

6. Sherlock Holmes

   This series of games by FrogWare is the most modern incarnation of the detective on the gaming platform. I’ve played just one (The Mystery of the Mummy). The game is absolutely horrible and playing it was a traumatic experience. Poor blocky 3D graphics, bad voice overs, extremely watered down plots with lousy puzzles, bad artwork, horrible music and the list goes on. To be fair, this was the first game in the series so the future ones might be better but it put me off so much that I just gave up on the whole series. Stay away from this one brother Holmesian!

On the overall, I feel that the series has a lot of potential to become a good game. The lost files comes close but I think more can be done.

We’re working towards PyCon India 2010. The official website is at http://in.pycon.org/2010. The call for proposals is already out at http://in.pycon.org/2010/cfp. All ideas are welcome!

We also need help with all aspects of the conference. Volunteers are in short supply so if you’re interested, join the InPyCon mailing list and help out.

The conference will take place on the 25th and 26th of September at MSRIT, Bangalore. See you all there!