Our first talk is part of the session entitled: Post-mortems of Student IGF Groups which is hosted by our own Tracy Fullerton as well as professors from the Guildhall.

We'll be speaking about our experiences designing the game, gathering and leading a student run team and discussing five rights and wrongs we've encountered while working on the project.

The second session is the Experimental Gameplay Workshop hosted by Jonathan Blow (creator of Braid). We'll actually be showing Winterbottom and our B-Game Submission: The Wrath of Transpertor at the session! Transpertor is an invisible platformer where the player's avatar is invisible. The core gameplay forces user to intensely study the environment as opposed to a players actions in order to gain immediate feedback on what user’s action is doing.

The Student IGF Post Mortem is on Tuesday during the IGDA Education Summit from 2-4 in Room 131 of Northall.

The Experimental Gameplay Workshop is held on Thursday from 2:30-4:30 PM in room 2018 of Westhall.

We'd love if you came by and sat in!

COME ONE, COME ALL!

The official Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom T-Shirts are available for the IMD Department! We got em in Medium, Large and X-Large!

You can grab them from the IMD Thesis Space over at 555 23rd Space right now! We'll be here until late tonight! Just stop on by!

Or you can just grab them up at GDC 2008!

Progress Update on the Wiki

I. Mungeon Production Schedule
II. Mungeon Project Overview
III. Mungeon Dungeon Asset Doc
IV. Mungeon Avatar Doc

Feel free to leave comments on the Wiki itself if you find time to have a read.

More Information on the IMD Wiki

Part of the documentary focused on native Los Angeles food, which of course includes tacos. Justin grabbed me for an evening of all things tacos. I took him to my favorite spot in Los Angeles: Echo Park's Taco Zone (on Alvarado and Montana).

Enjoy!

And now its being remade for DS.

Like OMG!

Via Kotaku of course.

Good Goings

Pizza and Pie!!!!

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Get from the Wiki iki wik.

For faculty and students only.

The Bionic Apple Picker, Toy Dog Purse, and Stilt o Wheels

The Bionic Apple Picker- What can speed up that apple picking job of yours? Bionic Arms, thats what.

Toy Dog Purse- I got a Toy Poodle, and she's getting her head caught in my purse's. Why not put a porthole in that Gucci bag? Stylish anddddddddddddddddd dog friendly.

Stilt-O-Wheels- The Newest fad for Venice Beach freaks.

Rocket Kite- For big kids (not large-old) with bad knees Having trouble running and getting that kite up? Not a windy day? Get that kite up in the air- WITH ROCKETS.

PBJ Robot- I'm sick of getting sticking jelly on my hands. I wish I had a robot to make my sandwhiches for me! Well, here you go.

DYI Acupuncture- Company insurance doesn't cover non-traditional medicines? Don't have time to study acupuncture and get a license? Are you a sadist with leg cramps? Then pop a few needles in the pre-located holes and relieve the pain!

Painting Assistant- Do you have no talent in art? Well, you don't need any. Not when you have an automatic arm guiding your inner Rembrandt.

Off Kilter Clones- For helping with chores you don't want to do. Clone yourself. Why not? Maybe.

Genetic Screening PDA- Skip the Genetic Counselor, find out what possible genetic combinations you and your partner are capable of. Who knows, you might end up saving some time and money by getting a divorce or breaking up.

Genetic PDA Detail

The Semi-Automatic Taco Dispenser is a machine that aids a taco eater in preparing their taco in a streamlined and efficent manner. The user inserts a tortilla, turns on the conveyor belts, and dispenses their taco ingredients, and then consumes their taco.

2. The Process

After sketching out a few different ideas ranging from toy 2-d platforming, and a collapsing building, I decided to go with my first love: tacos. I sketched out a taco dispenser, and brainstormed the feasibility:

Basically, I wanted to get my hands dirty with power tools and create something purely mechanical. I hadn't done so in years, and felt this would combine my love of tacos with learning how to use power tools.

- On Which day did you settle on a plan?

I brainstormed on Tuesday and Weds, but ultimately realized my final design decision on Thursday. I consulted with my father, a mechanical engineering, about the feasilbity of the project. On Friday morning, before going to work at my internship, I consulted with a family friend who is a carpenter. We brainstormed on my design, and came up with a list of hang ups and a list of materials. From then on, the design was finalized.

- When did you actually get started?

Saturday morning, I began shopping for materials. I experiemented with a variety of bottles, but concentrated more on buying the parts for the treadmill. All day Sunday, and on Monday evening construction went underway.

- Did you prototype? How did prototyping altar your final project? What in terms of process didn't work this week? How will you avoid this isssue while doing your thesis?

No. And this would have helped extremely well. I should have approached the project by tackling the problem of the meat dispensers. That was the largest hang up as larger items did not dispense properly. If I had figured out this problem, than I could have designed the box according to the dispensers. Instead, I designed the treadmill system before thinking about the dispensaries.

Had, I given that are more thought than perhaps I could have tackled the next problem: complete automation. In hindsight, I could have easily designed a trigger system that would release ingredients automatically when a taco reached a certain position on the treadmil. The next step after that would be letting the user, program what ingredients they want and letting the machine dispense the taco accordingly.

In terms of my thesis, the lesson learned here is to keep my eyes open to bigger idea of the project. I got carried away with one aspect of the design, and didn't budget my time accordingly to fix the problems that came after. Overall, when working on my thesis project I will have to give myself time to iterate and re-design.

3. Rate your project in terms of expectaton

I started this project with the right amount of enthusiasm to carry out my idea. I felt the construction of the project was done well. However, I missed a crucial point of solving the problem of creating an automated taco dispenser. It wasn't very automatic. Interactive, yes. But Automatic, no. And even though the audience in general enjoyed the idea, eating tacos and shooting tortillas out of the machine- it missed the mark. Overall, I'm glad I got to work on this project- as it was a ton of fun and I learned some valuable lessons.

Latest Review at the usual place.

Um...totally rad.

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