Farming Simulator Championship at FarmCon 18

25 Mai 2018

The popular Farming Simulator Championship goes into the second round. At FarmCon 18, teams consisting of three players can participate in the tournament and compete for attractive prizes provided by our sponsor GIGABYTE. Of course, there will be enough space for spectators if you want to cheer for your favourite team.

You don't know what the Farming Simulator Championship is? The video below this text will give you an insight into the game.

The task: This time each team has a maximum of 8 minutes to press 20 bales of straw and load them onto a bale cart in the middle of the field. The team that has loaded the 20 bales in the shortest time wins.

Sounds simple? If you also want to participate, register your team on the official website of the tournament and choose your playing date and time. You will then receive an e-mail from us with further details.

Please note that you have to be on site in Schwandorf and need to have a ticket for FarmCon to take part in the competition. To verify this we ask you to enter a FarmCon booking number of one of your team members. Ideally it’s the booking number of the person registering your team for the FSC.

Last agenda items confirmed

18 Mai 2018

Only a few more weeks separate us from the FarmCon 18. Today we would like to announce the last program items for this year. We are especially pleased to present our guest speaker and host Phillip Horsch from HORSCH Maschinen GmbH.

The following sessions complete the schedule:

Dynamics and diversity in product development (Philipp Horsch)
Product development is a highly complex process with influenced by many factors today. Driven by worldwide customer focus we are being challenged to react to the many regional and individual requirements more dynamic and more individual than before. This customer focus automatically leads to an extreme product diversity which can only be managed with pragmatic and unconventional structures and processes.

Workshop Lua Scripting (Manuel Leithner)
The modern and modular script language LUA is used in the GIANTS engine. Manuel Leithner will follow up on last year's presentation and take you into the world of LUA scripting.

Panel: YouTube changes - LPs now and then (Martin Rabl and the Youtuber: David Schult from GudnLP, Werner Dirr from Burning-Gamers, Ansgar from NordrheinTV and Randy Pfeifer from SachsenLetsPlayer)
The world of Let’s Plays is constantly changing. Together with selected youtubers Martin Rabl will talk about the development of Let's Plays in the last years, give you an insight into the hurdles of the Let's Players and maybe even dare to look forward.

The speakers:

Philipp Horsch

Philipp Horsch built the first sowing machines for direct seeding together with his older brother Michael 35 years ago in the garage of their father’s farm. Today it is a worldwide operating company with 7 factories in 5 countries. Horsch is one of the leading companies for seeding, planting, plant protection and soil cultivation. In this segment Horsch is one of the 3 largest and most innovative agricultural manufacturers in the world with roughly 350 mio Euro revenue and 1600 employees. Philipp Horsch (born 1968) is co-partner and managing director of HORSCH Maschinen GmbH and leads the Research and Development department. After he finished his farmer education he worked on the family’s farm and studied mechanical engineering and business economics.

Ansgar Blauth

Ansgar from the Youtube channel nordrheintvplay has been showing everything from the big world of simulators for more than five years now. He follows the development of the genre very closely and has great fun informing the simulation community about new games and entertaining them with his Let's Plays.

Werner Dirr

Since 2014, Werner and the other burning gamers from the same YouTube channel have been showing daily new action in the simulation area, especially in the Farming Simulator games. They have several projects a day, whether single or multiplayer, there is something for everyone.

David Schult

David from YouTube channel GudnLP has been a fan of the series since the release of the very first Farming Simulator back in 2008 and has been creating Let’s Plays on YouTube since 2012.

Randy Pfeifer

Randy is the person behind the YouTube channel „SachsenLetsPlayer“. He is direct, cheeky, critical but also passionate when playing games from the simulation genre.

An update to the factory tours at FarmCon

20 Avril 2018

As announced, FarmCon 18 will offer the opportunity to visit the HORSCH factory and take a look behind the scenes of the company.

We have finalized the details of the factory tours and can now begin to fill the groups. If you already own a FarmCon ticket, please check your email, we have just sent out all the information you’ll need to sign up for a factory tour.

People who buy a farmCon ticket now have the opportunity to add the factory tour to their ticket free of charge.

We look forward to welcoming you in Schwandorf. All details can also be found here.

FarmCon 18: New agenda items confirmed

13 Avril 2018

The FarmCon 18 is approaching and our program is filling up. Today we would like to present you a further overview of what is to come. Visitors to FarmCon can also look forward to the following programme items:

Workshop: Modding for LS19 engine, features, changes, tips (Stefan Maurus)
With FS19 some things will change for our modders. The engine revisions and some technical changes mean that modders have to familiarize themselves with the new situation. Stefan Maurus will talk to you about these changes and give you some tips for better modding.

Workshop: Modding for consoles (Jan-Hendrik Pfitzner)
Bringing a mod to the console is not always easy. Jan-Hendrik will talk to you about the 10 most common console conversion errors and give you some tips and tricks on how your mod can make it to the consoles.

Panel: General Modding Q&A (Martin Rabl, Manuel Leithner, Marc Schwegler and Stefan Geiger)
You have questions about modding? Here is your chance to ask all these questions and get them answered by our team. Martin will be your moderator and Manuel, Marc and Stefan will answer your questions.

The speakers:

Stefan Maurus

Stefan Maurus is Gameplay Programmer at GIANTS Software in Erlangen. He is a long time modder and community mamber. He has published numerous mods in the ModHub and of course participated in the Mod Contest.

Manuel Leithner

Manuel Leithner is lead gameplay programmer at GIANTS Software and head of the office in Germany. Since he also built and published numerous vehicles with his modding team (SFM) during his computer science studies, he has a good feeling for what is interesting for newcomers and professionals.

Martin Rabl

Martin Rabl is PR & Marketing Manager at GIANTS Software. He joined the video games industry more than 10 years ago as community manager and took over communication and public relations for the Farming Simulator series in mid-2015.

First agenda items confimed

20 Mars 2018

On July 14th and 15th it will be ‘this time of the year again’. Once again, FarmCon brings together players, modders and developers of the Farming Simulator series. The HORSCH FITZentrum in Schwandorf will be the meeting place for this unique community for two days. Here you have the chance to talk to the developers, watch presentations about the game and improve your modding skills.

We are still finalizing the program, but we would like to give you an overview of some of the program points in advance.

The Farming Simulator Championship is coming to FarmCon
How fast can you press and stack 20 bales? Compete with other teams of three and win great prizes. We will give you more details about the registration procedure in the future, but you better start practicing.

Presentation Farming Simulator 19 (Stefan Geiger and Marc Schwegler)
The Farming Simulator series goes into the next round. Stefan Geiger and Marc Schwegler will show you the game. Watch the game live in action and get first-hand information about the new features and machines.

Presentation: Sound Design in the FS19 (Laszlo Vincze, Tiago Inácio)
The vehicles and environment in the Farming Simulator series must not only look realistic but also sound that way. In this presentation, our sound team will show which steps are necessary from recording to the finished sound, which problems and stumbling blocks can occur and which innovations in this regard will be introduced in FS19.

Presentation: LS Community Management (Lars Malcharek)
Community Manager ‘Lisertan’ gives you an overview of community management in general and leads you behind the scenes of community management at GIANTS Software. Learn what a CM does and how it helps you to improve communication with the company.

Presentation: Textures for FS19 (Marc Schwegler, Jan-Hendrik Pfitzner)
In this presentation, Marc Schwegler and Jan-Hendrik Pfitzner will provide an introduction to the new material design in Farming Simulator 19. Learn more about the relationship between materials and UVs.

The speakers:

Marc Schwegler

Marc Schwegler is Lead Artist at GIANTS Software and leads the production of the Farming Simulator series. He joined GIANTS in Zurich in 2010 and has worked on numerous indie-game projects as a freelancer before.

Stefan Geiger

Stefan Geiger is the co-founder and CTO of GIANTS Software GmbH. He received a Master's degree in Computer Science from ETH Zurich, with a focus on Visual Computing.

Jan-Hendrik Pfitzner

Jan-Hendrik Pfitzner has been taking care of the community and support issues of the Farming Simulator since 2013. He has been with GIANTS Software since 2016 and now keeps a very close eye on the Farming Simulator as QA Lead. He has been a passionate modder for several years and has released several mods for the FS series.

Lars Malcharek

Lars 'Lisertan' Malcharek is the Community Manager at GIANTS Software and takes care of the communication with players and fans. He joined GIANTS in Erlangen in 2017 and has previously worked as Community Manager for various major game developers such as FunCom, NCsoft and Electronic Arts.

Laszlo Vincze

Laszlo Vincze has been responsible for sound design at GIANTS Software since 2017. The experienced sound designer has worked on many big games like Project Cars 2, The Witcher 3, and the Crysis series before dedicating himself to the sounds of agriculture.

Tiago Inácio

Tiago Inácio has been audio designer at GIANTS Software since 2017. Besides his work on the agricultural simulator he is currently doing his Master in Sound & Music for interactive games at Leeds Beckett University in England.

The surrounding programme at FarmCon 18

20 Février 2018

Of course, the presentations will once again be a central part of FarmCon this year, but there are also some highlights waiting for our visitors outside of the presentations. Today we would like to give you an overview of the surrounding programme we have prepared for you.

Saturday:
Saturday is traditionally the longer day for visitors at FarmCon, and the surrounding programme on this day is correspondingly extensive. Visitors can look forward to the following things on Saturday:

Tractor driving
Who hasn't always wanted to ride a tractor or even drive it himself? We will draw 5 main prizes and 20 additional prizes on Saturday among all interested visitors. The 5 main winners are allowed to drive the tractor, while the 20 secondary winners are allowed to join the ride in small groups.

Suckling pig feast
The entrance fee includes lunch on Saturday. A very special treat awaits you for this. There will be fresh suckling pig that is prepared locally. Of course, other dishes (e.g. vegetarian)will also be available.

The HORSCH Shop opens
FarmCon visitors will have the opportunity to visit the HORSCH Shop for a limited time on Saturday. There are some interesting things to discover and purchase for you. Check it out!

GIANTS After Party
Traditionally, a small after party takes place after FarmCon on Saturday. After the presentations, you can chat with the GIANTS developers at the HORSCH FITZentrum in a pleasant atmosphere. With a beer in a relaxed atmosphere we like to talk about everything you are interested in. Later, night owls will surely meet some of our people in hotel bars in Regensburg or Roding. Where exactly we are will be announced at a later date.

World Cup match for 3th
Football fans will not be forgotten, of course. We will offer the opportunity to watch the match for third place in the World Cup live after the final session of FarmCon.

Sunday:
Sunday is the departure day for many of our visitors, but those who decide to stay longer are waiting for the two very special event points.

HORSCH factory tour
The HORSCH factory tours start on Sunday after the last presentation at FarmCon. The first factory tour will be held in English, all other tours are in German. Interested parties can take a look behind the scenes of HORSCH in groups of up to 50 people.

The World Cup Final
Those who stay until evening can watch the final of the World Cup privately with us after FarmCon. Good atmosphere guaranteed!

Feel like joining the fun? Then you can buy the reduced early bird tickets for 10€ here.

We will announce more details about the FarmCon 18 programme in the near future. Keep your eyes open.

FarmCon 18 takes place on 14/15 July 2018

27 Novembre 2017

FarmCon, the Farming Simulator community event will come back in 2018 and we are following the invitation of our guest speaker Michael Horsch. At FarmCon 18, we will all meet directly at the HORSCH FITZentrum in Schwandorf on 14 and 15 July 2018.

Mark the date in the calendar and get tickets for the reduced early bird rate of €10, which even includes lunch on Saturday.

There are lots of talks, panels and workshops about modding and then there is the LS19, which you can ask us about at FarmCon - and just like FarmCon 16 you will get some exclusive insights.

As a special supporting programme, there will also be a factory tour on site and we have a few other ideas - but more about this later on.

To help you find a room for the night, we've picked out a few hotels in the area and blocked rooms. Call there, enter the password "FarmCon" and you will get access to it.

Bus transfer:

From all these hotels a free bus transfer to and from FarmCon will be available on Saturday and Sunday. So if you arrive on Friday evening or arrive at the hotel on Saturday morning, you are welcome to use this service. The exact departure time is still to be announced, but will probably be 2 hours before the start of the FarmCon, so that you will arrive on time, but can also have a look around a bit earlier.

The bus from Roding will also stop at the train station in Schwandorf (approximate time will be announced).

Important: When purchasing a FarmCon ticket, please indicate whether you will use the shuttle bus or whether you will come directly to the FITZentrum by car. This is NOT a reservation and the bus driver will not count if everyone is there but it helps us to estimate how many buses and parking spaces are needed.

Teams:

If you come in a group with friends, you can register a team at Eventbrite. We may use this to allocate you the same time slots during the factory tours.

Football:

As this (the only possible date for us) falls on the weekend of the final match of the World Cup, we will make sure that the match for third place on Saturday at 4 p. m. and the final on Sunday at 5 p. m. will be shown live. On Sunday we will adjust the program accordingly so that no one misses something essential, e. g. when we go home at noon to be home in time for the final. But if you want to play it safe, you can stay in the FitZentrum and join some of us, Horsch and friends from the community in a private setting after the actual event!

More details will follow but mark the date in the calendar!

FARMCON 18