Hi all, I’ve started a dev blog for my thesis project, Quicksilver: Infinite Story , in hopes of explaining what it’s about and sharing some things that might be useful.  So far I’ve written one post explaining what Quicksilver is , and another about computational storytelling .  I’d appreciate any feedback about the direction or style of the dev blog – what would [...]

After spending a week at GDC, I am quite honestly surprised by how much I learned about game design. Here are some miscellanea from the conference that I found especially noteworthy. Failure Workshop Stresses Importance of Iterative Design One of the more helpful sessions at GDC was the Failure Workshop, in which game developers talked about [...]

For my first project in worldbuilding, I decided to look at a game genre that is traditionally underserved in the worldbuilding department: sports. Most sports games rely on the players’ knowledge of real-world sports, leagues, and players. Their worlds are built for them, and each one is immersed in the tone and imagery of the [...]

The Scott Pilgrim series is, summarily, the surreal story of a Canadian slacker who deals with relationship problems through video game-like battles. Originally a series of six comic books beginning with Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life , released in 2004, the series has since spawned film and video game adaptations, both released in the past month. This analysis will [...]

For my summer internship, I am working in the USC Game Lab with Peter Brinson on the “Powerhouse” project. As part of the implementation of a Smart Grid energy system across the USC campus, we will be making a game encouraging energy conservation. Over the summer, I will work as a game designer and programmer [...]

Originally, I proposed three different ideas for my midterm. After thinking about the scope and scalability of those three projects, I decided to pursue my third idea. I described it as a “brief adventure/puzzle game or interactive experience” about a journey through a snowy trail in the arctic with only a dog for company – sort [...]

As I am largely unfamiliar with the various modalities of hardware sensors, I decided to bring a few different proposals for a character-based midterm project into class Thursday. That way, I would be able to discuss each idea with the class and professors and evaluate both how feasible and how interesting they are, choosing the proposal [...]

(For context, this post probably requires the reading of my entry on Assignment 3 for CTIN544 ) To expand on my previous assignment, I made the “head squishing” demo into a fully symmetrical two-player game, wherein each player has a pair of finger-based sensors. The associated game is loosely based on the arcade game “Silent Scope,” [...]

For the third assignment, I decided to make an entirely new sensor. To be frank, the one I made for Assignment 2 was rather difficult to transport. My sensor this time is a decidedly simple one. Each of the loose wires in the circuit is attached to a sheet of tin foil fashioned into a sort [...]

For my project, I chose to make a sensor that works with a guitar. As shown in the diagram, one end of the sensor is attached to the bridge of an electric guitar, and the other end is attached to a quarter, used as a makeshift metal guitar pick. The sensor turns on whenever the pick [...]

Paul De Marinis’s “Rain Dance” is a public exhibit in which people interact with falling drops of water to make music – simply by using an umbrella. Diagram, explanation, and rest of assignment are in the extended entry (i.e. “after the jump”). “Rain Dance” is an exhibit generally set up outdoors, resembling an open-sided tunnel with several [...]

‹Backchannel 11/› http://interactive.usc.edu/members/abalsamo/archives/2009/11/imd_forum_for_111109_sha_xin_wei.html 11/11/2009 18:20:32 ‹Seminar› http://topologicalmedia.ab.net/joomla/main/index.php 11/11/2009 18:21:22 ‹Mike› http://topologicalmedialab.net/joomla/main/index.php 11/11/2009 18:21:50 ‹Seminar› http://topologicalmedialab.net/joomla/main/index.php 11/11/2009 18:23:08 ‹Mike› http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/viola/ 11/11/2009 18:24:39 ‹Jade› observe the homo sapiens rex as it devours its prey. The chimp raptors will have to wait their turn. 11/11/2009 18:25:26 ‹ndef› What is the motivation for designing systems as non-humans or for [...]

Since I guess everyone in CTIN534 is posting their game projects, here’s a link to mine:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/laikafawkes/walk-straight

It’s a game about navigating a space. It’s called “Walk Straight.” Hope you enjoy it.

Last week during Design for Interativity, Professor Fullerton used “baseball” and “submarines” as two ideas that probably wouldn’t work well together in the same game. During the rest of the class, the subject of “Submarine Baseball” came up numerous times, causing increasingly moderate mirth. It kept reappearing. It was in danger of becoming a localized [...]