Category Archives: Games and Game Development

Thoughts on games and game development

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Assassin’s Creed

Amidst all the scrambling work for Bandology and Game Design, I have had moments of rest from time to time. On Saturday I took to watching Joe play Assassin’s Creed for a good part of the afternoon. I played a bit myself, but preferred to watch (I think there is some inherent Little Sister gene in me that lends itself to pleasantly watching someone else play a game).

I really like the game, of what I’ve seen. Its approach to stealth, what with hiding in plain sight and blending in socially, makes it a few points closer to true stealth arts than any other stealth game I’ve seen. I appreciate this very much. It’s also pretty and engaging and makes you feel like a badass.

The weird, matrixy, modern-present/memory-past scenario is a little off-putting and puzzling, but I like how they use it to explain away anachronisms you experience in the memory world. It was a very clever means of keeping a consistent world, I thought.

I’m not sure when Joe will have another chance to play, as GDC looms on the horizon, and after that we’ll be in crunch for pretty much the rest of the semester. Alas, such is life.

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Birthday times!

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First off, thank you all so much for your dice comments! They were all very helpful and intriguing, and I jotted things from each of them in my brainstorming log. My game is ending up similar to the “dice darts” concept, except that I’m using a super magnet, and using bolts and nuts as dice in the same way that Pass the Pigs uses plastic pigs as dice, scoring based on what position they land in (this is until Monday, when I can get some magnetic paint from our facilities admin, and I’m going to try using normal dice).

More details on that later. For now, birthday report!

This has been one of my best away-from-home birthdays in awhile

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

XO Game Jam

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(This is cross posted to my mailing list, because I figure not a lot of people are on both)

One of the second year projects here at the ETC is XO Games. This was a student-pitched project to design and build games for the XO laptop for the One Laptop Per Child project. The group decided to hold a Game Jam this past weekend, which is somewhat of a “design and build a video game in 40 hours” marathon, in order to test out the documentation they’ve been creating over the course of the semester.

I decided that this would be a brilliant opportunity to drag some of my non-ETC friends into the ETC experience. Ever since beginning this program, I’ve often thought about how so many of my talented friends would do so well in it, and wished I could share the experience with them. The Game Jam gave me an opportunity to share a sliver of that experience, and so after some healthy peer pressure, I convinced Will, Brendan, and Kyle to come up and participate.

Last Friday, 10 teams of 40 or so people met up at the ETC for the start of the event. The project group talked about the XO laptop and OLPC, and some of the quirks for designing for the laptop, and started us in with a “Hello World” assignment. If you’ve never seen the XO, it is quite amazing! It’s very tiny, amazingly rugged and power efficient, and yet the screen resolution is better than the monitor I’m using right now. The idea is that these affordable laptops will be distributed to children in developing nations as educational tools, and to give them access to computing technology. In many situations, a child may have to travel to the only nearest power supply to charge the laptop, so the battery life on these things is pretty hard core.

After our initial program, my team ventured off to do some brainstorming. Since the XO is going to be distributed world-wide, we wanted our game to use very little to no language. We eventually decided on a pixel-hunt inspired adventure game, where you can click on objects in a scene to trigger events. However, only certain events (and only when clicked in proper timing) will advance the story.

40 rigorous hours later, we came up with “Cake Town,” which I suppose can be called a rough prototype for a game. It only has two levels, and doesn’t have as many interactive scene elements as we’d wanted, and it can still be broken if you try hard enough.

Still, Will’s art and Kyle’s sound design is amazing, and I’m still incredibly impressed that Brendan was able to program the thing to work having had little to no experience with the tools we had to use to make the game (Python and PyGame). You can download it here if you would like to take a look. It’s about a 10MB download (size efficiency was something we struggled with, though the bundle download for the XO is only 2 MB. Still, for a dial-up speed situation, that’s even a bit much).

As for my role, in true producer fashion I jumped in wherever I was needed. This included figuring out the tedious steps for creating an activity bundle out of our game for the XO, helping Will with layout coloring, getting Kyle into the ETC’s sound booth so he could record Will’s voice acting, and eventually helping Brendan with the programming in the last stages. It was an adventure, for sure.

The games that other teams came up with were all amazing. On Sunday we had school children play and judge our game, and there were some prizes for the winners. My favorite thing about this Game Jam was that there were teams comprised entirely of beginners (like ours) and also teams comprised of people who actually work in the game industry. Everyone at the jam helped one another, and it was a good community experience. And of course, it was great to see my friends from home, and give them a glimpse of the sort of stuff I get to do at the ETC. You should check our the Jam’s photo blog if you have the time.

The downside to all this, however, is that I apparently do NOT handle sleep deprivation like I used to. I am quite sick, and my biological clock is completely confused (hence my writing this update at 3:30 in the morning). I’m hoping that Thanksgiving Break will help me get things back in order.

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Graduate Research at the ETC

Research is very important here at the ETC, as my TAs advised me today, and especially on the Round 2 world (the naive user world). Fortunately, graduate research at the ETC means playing video games. Lots of them.

At the end of every hallway is an arcade setup with ROMS of (probably) every arcade game known to man. Our current virtual world is steadily becoming some manner of 4 player pacman (with amoebas, and on the Beyond Questions remote control) so my TAs recommended that I do research on top-down view chaser/collecting games to see what I could learn and apply to my own world.

I sauntered down the hall, loaded up Ms. Pacman, and quickly remembered that Ms. Pacman stresses me out TERRIBLY. All the while, I was remembering a game they had at a restaurant we went to when I was little. It was a Pacman-esque game, only you controlled a paintbrush. The goal was to paint every surface of the maze. There were thingies that chased you and occasionally kittens would walk through your wet paint and leave little kitten prints that you’d have to paint over (you could paint over the kitten, too, stalling it and gaining points). Ah, what a fun game from my youth, if only I could remember it’s name! Ah, no matter, it’s so obscure they probably don’t even have it, right?

WRONG! I typed in “paint” in the ROM computer’s search box, and of the billions of trillions of games on there, one called “Paint Roller” comes up. And yes! It’s the game I was thinking of! Thank heavens for obvious titles! Nonetheless, since it is essentially a pacman game, it caused me great stress.

I think the slow pace of our amoeba game will keep it from being stressful….or maybe even make it MORESO! (there is a 1 second delay on the input of the remotes, since they were never really intended to be used as a game platform, but rather a means of voting and submitting feedback in large lecture halls).

People are starting to post screencap videos of their round 1 worlds, so I’ll have to get mine up soon!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Busy updates

Busy times, busy times.

Tomorrow is my last day of work. Half of me is excited (hence the not being able to sleep so instead staying up late and posting on LJ), and half of me is frantic because I have to leave them in the middle of their hectic getting-ready-for-the-start-of-school time. My calendar is packed full of social obligations I have to tend to before heading off to Pittsburgh, and it’s equally exciting and exhausting.

Last Friday my Kempo friends came over for dinner. It was fantastic to see them again and amusing to watch Brad and James compete on the Wii. Kempo is such an important yet not often talked-about part of my life and spending time with them is always enriching. I’ll try to keep updating within the next week, as I’m sure much will happen before I depart for the north.

A few notes…

1) They should just rename Facebook to Scrabblebook and be done with it.

2) Iisaw (iisaw) posted this awhile back in his journal, and I kept meaning to share it. It is one of the most fun and cleverly designed Flash games I’ve encountered. Brendan, you would like this a lot, so be sure to check it out: BLOXORZ

3) The other day I helped my grandparents set up their first email account and send their first email. They were delighted.

That’s all for now!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Chicago

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First of all, thank you guys so much for your congratulations, it really means a lot to me! I feel all warm and squishy inside knowing I have so much support.

In other news, Scott and I went to Chicago this weekend to visit D Flo, and it was tons of fun. We got to meet Ezzie, who is D Flo’s little Maltese puppy. She is a fluff ball of playfulness and love, and has reshaped my previously bad experience with Maltese. D Flo needs to video her and post for all to see.

On Friday, Scott and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was tons of fun, though Scott had his hopes raised because Body Worlds 2 was on our map. However, it doesn’t open until next week. Hopes crushed! We still had lots of fun at the museum, and we saw a cool Omnimax about Deep Sea Volcanoes.

That night we went to see D Flo in a sketch Comedy show at Donny’s Skybox at Second City. The show was written by the Second City Conservatory writing students, and was quite entertaining. D Flo remains the funniest man I know.

On Saturday we went to the Shedd Aquarium. We saw the sharks and the rays and the dolphin show, the belugas, the sea dragons, and so on. I love aquariums, but it tempted me to run out and buy another betta, which I can’t do right now. Sadness! That night we ate out to celebrate my grad schoolness, and I got to see Squirt, who I haven’t gotten to hang out with in aaaaaaaaaaaaages. Yay Squirt!

The rest of the trip was all Guitar Hero and Mario Party, but I am very happy I was able to see D Flo. Yay Chicago!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

2006 Review

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Oh man, 2006 seems to have happened all at once, so this will be short.

I guess the most dominant events of 2006 have been, unfortunately, sickness and death. The most prevelant, of course, was Nancy’s brain cancer and death in March. Looking back, I am surprised to see that the time between when she went in the hospital and when she died was little less than a month. It’s strange, because that time felt like forever.

Immediately after her death I went to visit Will in Savannah, and wrestled between having a fun time with my friend (who took me on my first ever trip to Disney World!) and my overwheling grief. Among all this was my own weird health problems, in full swing. It was a tryingly timed trip, and I still feel like I made a bad impression on Savannah in general because of it, and still feel bad because of it.

Shortly after said trip, my Nana died of lung cancer. Following that, Bonmom died (Mary Beth’s grandmother). Eric and Mary Beth’s cat, Check, also died last year. No one is allowed to die this year, okay guys?

Moving on, the spring and summer progressed in a slightly upward direction. My parents decided to sell their house, and so massive cleaning and repair began. I got to visit D Flo in Chicago and have many fun times. I got to visit Will in California and see such exciting things as Cartoon Network and the La Brea tar pits. Brendan and Maria adopted Brenna, the first canine member of the Tuesday Night Ballers. Camping, glorious camping occured! And of course, through the power of peer pressure, I came to begin playing World of Warcraft.

Moving into the fall, I got the cue that 2006 was a year for initiating change, so I applied to grad school, and we’ll just hold our breath about that, I s’pose. More changes with the winter, as I am now beginning to successfully address my weird health problems. A new cat wandered into our lives, and Eric and Mary Beth took him in. I think it all culminated in my parents successfully selling their house, and our combined Christmas dinner to toast Nancy and say goodbye to our home.

New Year’s came and went without much fuss. Fun times were had playing video games and spending time with loved ones. I think I’m ready to get started on 2007, I feel good about it.

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

I’m turning into Maria!

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I’m on some new medicine, which so far is working great for my pain issues! Unfortunately it is messing with my sleep patterns. I am wide awake at 3 a.m. and sleeping in until 11, which is highly, highly unusual for me (normally I’m barely standing at 10:30 and on the go at 7).

Hopefully I can fix things before I go back to work, but in the end I’m not too worried about. It will correct itself or I will just adjust to the new sleep pattern, no worries, especially since the intended medicinal effects seem to be working.

Tonight I stayed up late playing Gemfire, a fantastic NES game that we used to play when I was little. It’s the only strategy-esque game I’ve ever been able to do well at, probably because of its simplicity, and I’m doing much better at it now that my brain has developed past 8 years old. I’m a lot better at the logical thinking these days.

I also absorbed about half of Jurassic Park this evening, which I haven’t read in ages. My mind devours books, grom grom grom!!

Night everybody!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Chicago!

Hooray for visits!! This weekend I made a brief jaunt up to Chicago to visit D Flo, who has been wanting visits since my short stay with him last year before my Japan trip (note, I still haven’t put up all my pictures from that, doh!)

I arrived at Midway and trained my way downtown successfully, with the loss of only one man. Two mans left for the rest of the weekend! (Also, D Flo, I swear there is no means of transferring from the red line to the orange line at Lake without leaving the station!)

We ate at a Mexican restaurant which was alright, except I think they made their tortilla chips with flour tortillas instead of corn. Grah! We then went to Best Buy and picked up a cheap compilation game for the xBox with Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell, and spent the latter part of the evening gaming away.

D Flo’s new pad is super nice, especially compared to his old no-bedroom one. It is great big and decorated in a very D Flo style, with hardwood floors all around. It is also right above a bar, and the living room (where I slept) was right above the stage area. It wasn’t so bad except that Friday night was apparently Live Punk Rock night.

Saturday I slept in, a big step for the no-later-than-8 trend I have picked up since starting work, but it was mostly attributed to the aforementioned punk rock show. We went out to grab food at a diner, and my appetite made a guest appearance, which I took advantage of.

We went down to Navy Pier and hopped on a boat tour (one of D Flo’s friend from his acting class is a tour guide, so we got to go for free). It was really fun and interesting, and since said tour guide was a comedian-in-training, it was entertaining as well. I got a little more sun than I had anticipated, but ah well, it will not kill me

After this, we met up with Rebecca, who works in the box office at the Briar Street theater, and assured me that if she’d known I was coming she could have hooked me up with Blue Man tickets. Doh! I may attempt to take advantage of this on my next Chicago visit.

We dined on Cold Stone (French vanilla with strawberries and oreo mix-ins, yum!) then saw a show at Second City. It was pretty funny sketch comedy and quite enjoyable. I can’t wait to see a show that D Flo is in (his D&D Improv hoo-hah starts up soon!)

After the show, D Flo and I picked up a pizza from the pizzeria right next to his place. T’was my first experience with Chicago style deep dish; it was strange but delicious. We spent the rest of the evening gaming (by which I mean my hands hurt, so I watched him play Splinter Cell).

A fine visit! I would like to go back again and have a museum day, and maybe catch Blue Man Group. Everyone should go visit D Flo and hang out at his new apartment. Win!

In other news, this visit has opened up the gates for a whole line of summer and fall visits! Lisa will have no money! But that’s okay, who wants a visit?