USC IMD:

Interesting UCSD Event: Serious Play

Here is an event that sounds interesting: "Serious Play: MMO gaming, real money, and social worlds A Discussion"

Participants include: Julian Dibbell, Raph Koster, and William Huber (who is teaching our own CTIN 309 class this semester).

The location is Atkinson Hall, Auditorium, UCSD
Thursday, February 8, 2007, 4-6:30pm

Student GPS Drawing KML Files

KML File (Loadable in Google Earth) AnnaMichaelaKatieBrittany.kml

KML File (Loadable in Google Earth) Celeste.kml

KML File (Loadable in Google Earth) CharlesDantelJamel.kml

KML File (Loadable in Google Earth) ChrisAndrewRyanLorenIan.kml

KML File (Loadable in Google Earth) ParkingStructureA.kml

KML File (Loadable in Google Earth) ShermanGeigerCalozSain.kml

309 Final Presentations Pictures

Are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kinojabber/sets/1527852/

Sensorama TV !

And another one From DigitalMediaWire newsletter:

New York - Dutch electronics firm Philips said on Friday that it has set a May 2006 launch for its "amBX" technology, which creates a "sensory surround experience" for TV and video games with added light, color, sound, heat and air. The technology utilizes LED color-controlled lights, active furniture, fans, heaters, audio and video output devices strategically placed in the living room. Philips said that it is in advanced stages of talks with game developers and peripheral manufacturers, and expects amBX-enabled games and peripherals to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2006.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/051202/20051202005296.html?.v=1
http://www.ambx.com

Alternative Games Powerpoints

Click here to download a copy of my Powerpoint from today's presentation in 309.

vision statement

By joe Barnes & Melanie Wider

Goal:
Incorporate typing into an action game. The advantage of using the keyboard is that a large number of people are already familiar with it. An alternative keyboard, with fewer buttons, might also later be a solution depending on the needs of the game. One of the requirements of this type of game (and a feature in our own design) is a highly interactive world – to keep the player’s interest.

A part of our design concept is to make a typing game as fun as possible, because most games which involve a keyboard are strictly for educational purposes (not counting MMORPGs), and do not hold the attention of the user beyond the goal of “teaching” them to type. One of the ways we intend to keep the user’s interest is to include a dynamic feedback system within the game itself which allows the player to immediately see the results of good hand-eye coordination in the way that the game world becomes richer in response to good performance.

The most interesting part of this design is, we believe, the uniqueness of both the interface and core mechanic. Though both of these draw on other, preexisting games for their inspiration, they become greater than the sum of their parts when incorporated into our design.

Descriptive Notes:
The player in our game will be creating a world through their typing in order to further the story and accomplish goals within the game universe. The player will be introduced to the mechanics in a tutorial which is not time-limited. During play, the user will be faced with a time limit to create elements of the world as he battles the antagonist(s) for control of a mind, a soul, and the meta-physical world.

GCE: Game Creation Engine

By: Peter Van Dyke, Shon-Ting Fu, Jonathan Zabel

This will be an MMOG (such as World of Warcraft) that will allow players to input and add to the existing game world. The “Game Creation Engine” will be essentially an ongoing extension to play that will give players the ability go add additional content. An apt (though dated) analogy would be to compare this Engine to player housing in DAOC.

Branching FPS Vision Statement

Many games today describe themselves as immersive, but we feel that something is missing from these experiences. What we propose to create with our new first-person shooter is the first game of the genre that will actually engage the player on an emotional level. By placing the player in situations in which he is forced to face difficult and morally ambiguous choices, the player will become more and more involved in the character that he plays. To further improve this sense of a real and dynamic world in which the player exists, the other characters around him will react in differing and expressive ways, based on the past decisions the player has made and each character’s individual and unique personality. By creating predispositions for each non-player character and using those to gauge their responses to the player’s choices at each critical point in the game, we will create a “mental fitness landscape” to determine the extent of influence the player has on that character.

The world in which we implement these design concepts will play a large role in the player’s involvement. Without a convincing setting and cast of characters, even the most serious of choices may not seem important or interesting, so we will develop an intriguing and dynamic science-fiction setting in which the player will assume the identity of a lieutenant commanding a small squad of soldiers during a futuristic war. By putting the player in charge of a group, he must take his responsibility to these men into consideration when he makes a decision (following or disobeying unjust or suicidal orders, for example). By combining the high level of agency offered by the choices throughout the game and this flexible character interaction system, our game will offer a more powerful sense of authorship than any FPS before. Since each choice the player makes affects the events and the characters around him, the player truly writes the story.

Rive by Logan Olson and Justin Lin

"Rive" by Logan Olson and Justin Lin

The main concept for our game comes off of two innovative influences: Katamari Damacy and Zone of the Enders 2.

Katamari Damacy takes the simple concept of rolling a ball in 3d space in order to roll up anything the character wishes under a time limit. The controls were intuitive and the worlds were expansive. Katamari took simplicity to a whole new level of complexity.

With Zone of the Enders 2, we have a game whereas non-stop fast paced action was an appealing feature. The game basically allowed the robot character in the game to perform "ballets of destruction" via an auto-targeting system that would push the action forward. It provided enough spectacle to wow the viewer throughout the whole game.

By combining the two we came up with a game about a ribbon that would be able to go through 3d spaces and interact with the obstacles within an expansive world with no time limit, while providing a fast-paced visceral experience. Hence we coined the idea: "Rive"

Controlling a free flowing ribbon through a dream-like environment, the player of Rive, French for "strand," travels through the mind of a hospitalized sick child, fighting his internal demons and exploring the depths of his psyche to beat his ailment. The ribbon/strand is innocent, searching for freedom and a better world, fighting through the odd and sometimes evil worlds of his imagination in order to find his better place, in order to come out of his comatose state.

The overall artistic designs are based on movies and artists such as H.R. Geiger, Salvador Dali, Monet, Akira, and the Matrix. These will all be represented in the many unique and differing worlds within the child's psyche.

The most unique and appealing feature of Rive is the player-character and control scheme. Using the Nintendo Revolution controller, the player will guide the ribbon as if playing with a streamer to explore and manipulate the environment, as well as fight the enemies which inhabit it. The player will use the complete control of the ribbon to create his or her own combos, assisted by an auto-targetting system that will make sure that all enemies will be within range to perform attacks with the Revolution's wand. In addition to the self-created combos, there will be in-game combo/skill system that relies on the player performing certain movements with the wands and/or the button, allowing for special moves, actions, transformations, weapons, etc. to appear. The intuitive, physical control of the ribbon and abstract dream world will convey a sense of wonder and excitement to the player in the artistic and unconventional Rive.

Through our combination of innovative control aspects, engaging and unique production design, and hybridization of inventive game schemes, we hope to create a game that is accessible to all ages. We hope that this game will create complexity through the authorship of the player via our simple, but potentially expandable scheme and concept for Rive.

The gamers' game? - research blog

Joe Barnes and Melanie Wider

As a child, I always thought that the future lay in developing human ability within an entertainment context - increasing complexity in our gaming interface to aid in development of mental agility and hand dexterity as well as coordination between eye and hand. The missing link between my vision of the future of gaming and the current paradigm of physical interface is the game I wish to create.

Already there are games which force the players into a state of almost meditation with their complexity and demands placed on the player. A genre of games that typically has this effect is called "shooters". Shooters make a good showing overseas in the Japanese market, and while not extremely strong in America, they do hold their own as a traditional arcade favorite.

Also, there are already controllers which require players to use more than ten input keys (though not all at once, of course). The most common and widely used is the alphabetic keyboard. This controller has been used as an interface by many for productivity, education, entertainment, and device manipulation, since the personal computer has been prominent.