XNA UK User Group

 Hiya guys!

I wanted to share with you the latest project I've been working on for some time now, www.devworm.co.uk. It's a specialist online bookstore specifically for hobbyist & professional games developers. The aim of the shop is to promote better game production by offering the best reference and training material, keeping people up to speed on the latest development techniques, and thereby rasing the profile of the UK and European games industries.

I'd really like to get your feedback on the site at this early stage. The site design is not complete yet (check out my awful logo!), but functionally it's all there - you can order a book and it will arrive at your door! The main things I would like feedback about are the categories - I've tried to arrange them so that you can easily find a book about a specific subject you are trying to learn or research. If there's any extra categories you'd like to see, or others you'd like removed - let me know! Also, if there are games related books you know are really useful, but aren't listed on the site, let me know about those too!

In the future I'd like to add extra features such as promoting books related to the latest trends & technological advances, for example, showcasing books on concurrent programming when the next playstation comes out with 32 cores :D

Or, interviewing people in the games industry, showcasing their book recommendations on the front page, and why they like them!

In those respects, I think the site could be a useful resource for those people trying to learn or stay up to date. Obviousley I can't compete with Amazon in terms of price, but with specialist product knowledge and the community aspect, I hope that people will use my site :) Besides, my prices are still quite competitive!

You guys are the first people I've showed this too, and it represents nearly a year of work - so be gentle!

PS> Is anyone handy at doing web graphics / logos? If you fancy it, there's a couple of free books in it for you!!! :D

looks like a great idea! I'll certainly point the guys in the team your way next time they’re looking for reference books...
Have you thought about chatting with the universities? Perhaps you could provide all the reading material for set courses/modules at a click of a button (with a student discount). I think the academics would love it (especially if you sold their books... )
As for the site design, I’d usually help out for free but I’m swamped with the upcoming game site... In a month or so I’ll have more time, if you still need help give me a prod..

Cheers
Robin

PS: Oh yes,our artists tend to buy video tutorials (for 3dsmax, maya etc) rather than books.... they're always moaning about how hard they are to get - perhaps you could make a few bucks from that?

Thanks for the encouraging feedback! Yes I've given a lot of thought to universities, I do like your idea of 'university bundles', they'd make a great feature on the front page :)

Branching out to other training materials such as DVDs is certainly on the agenda once the business gets established. I'm interested in stocking titles like these, or these, which i think could be quite popular. I'm also thinking about including other resources such as texture CDs, or even software!