there’s too much to talk about so i’m just going to do a picture dump

wooo finals!

more game discussion were had.
Fataliste got an update:
web: http://cartcgd.org/fataliste/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html
win: http://cartcgd.org/fataliste/fataliste_5_win.zip
osx: http://cartcgd.org/fataliste/fataliste_5_osx.zip
I think next week we’re going to start doing things however.

coding, eating candy, drinking - good fun

oh and, what was worked on: OSx development was being worked on by Ian, Cg Shader learning and shader discussions by Henk and myself were had as well as graphic creations for other TAG games by Moh.

yay

Valerie Walker from the advanced programming class is showing a screening of the original Tron movie this friday the 21st and this wednesday the 26th at 6:30 pm in EV 6.720

there will be popcorn and you can bring your own snacks and stuff to the movie,

here’s what Valerie had to say:

Since TRON Legacy is out and so few seem to have seen (or grokked!) Tron the first!   I’m doing a couple screenings with media-literacy intro by moi meme!    The Games group folks who’ve missed Tron 1 or just want to see it again with some others are warmly invited to bring some drinks, snax  (i’ll have popcorn) & come find out why TRON is so freekin’ important to digital/computer arts and game development & realization.     18:30 (6:30pm) both Friday the 21st and weds the 26th

Please pass around the poster, made by one my students  Catherine Ma Ai Poirier!! thanks Ramy!!  -Valerie

See the original before you see Legacy Again!!

thanks to Cart 365 instructor Valerie d. Walker

I will personally be going on wednesday since i have a math class on friday

Saturday, January 15th, 2010: It’s frigid outside, but a few dedicated programmers and artists managed to get together at TAG for the CART Collective for Game Development (CCGD)’s first Gamart Jam of the year. There’s something about collective creative energy… Things seem more fun, problems are solved
quickly, and stuff gets done. So what is Gamart Jam anyway?

There are many different specialties in the club; there are people who work with sound, game level design, hardcore programming, 3D art, and animation. Because Game Jams are so popular, we decided to create our own, one in which artists feel welcome, too. Hence, the name Gamart Jam was created. The CCGD strongly believes that coming together will facilitate closing the gaps often formed when a game is created. For example, it’s all coded, but pretty ugly. Or, you have this great character modeled, but can’t seem to get it to move in a way that looks natural. This is where either mentoring or forming a team becomes your golden ticket to awesomeness.

Ramy, the president of the CCGD, explains what he was up to:

Ramy is now looking into finding a PS3 he can jailbrake so we can test out some home-brewed games!

Mohannad, a very talented 3D artist, sketched up an awesome gas-masked, skeletal character head. He and Charlotte (myself), a 2D and 3D artist, will be working together on creating the art of a game they are working on with Ramy. There is already a demo online (made by Ramy)—now it’s time to use the jams to experiment, discuss, and progress.

The number of people at the Gamart Jam was below our expectation on the first day, probably due to a mixture of confusion after the holidays (back to reality), the cold weather, and perhaps a few hangovers. Whatever the reason, those of us who made it got something small and quick coded, a monstrous character sketched out in 3D, even hacked into a PS3—well, paved the road to it anyway. The CCGD had offered pizza to those who would come to the very first Gamart Jam, but we decided that, since there weren’t many at this Jam, we would save the pizza for next week. Because we are so caring : )

The CCGD hopes to get the word about the Jams out there—not just to CART students, but to all students who love games and want to make some great stuff. The It’s Not a Doll project team will be using this time to gather research, improve their site, and create artwork. The Mine game group will be building characters and sets, and improving level design. More games will come, big and small. If students want tutorials, help, just to play around and make quick games, work on their portfolio, or

simply thrive on that creative energy, the Gamart Jam is definitely the place! Where: TAG, EV 11.475 When: Every Saturday, 1:30pm – closing Free pizza at the next Jam (January 22nd), so be there or be a hungry, equal-sided rect ();

crunch sessions are 4 hour blocks where people can focus on their homework in a productive environment by having quiet space, other people there to work with, and other people to ask help from in various topics. (it’s also an environment that provides timbits and awesome discussions)

These sessions happen every Saturday from 12:30pm to 4pm on the 11th floor.

here are some pictures from last Saturday’s session after which Sagar showed some demos, played prototypes and talked game development.

focusing hard

workn' and crunchn'

So, here we are and a new semester has begun. We want to add to all the excitement, therefore here are two upcoming events of the CartCGD club:

• Informal Information Party is going to be on Friday September 24th from 6-8 pm. The location is Concordia EV 7.765 . There’s gonna be food and video games. So, come and Socialize!

• Pitch day is October 4th at 6:3o in Concordia EV 11.705 .
  

Hope to see you all there

RAF: “The Damaged”

• Game about a damaged world, with six major cities/areas/rooms, in a medieval setting.
• World is populated by 6 categories of evil (drug addicts, gluttony, alcoholism, violence, greed, laziness, etc) like Shadow of the colossus.
• Each city has a “boss”.
• Some regular people, some “damaged” characters, with a vice/problem.
• Dynamic between these 2 types of people.
• Main character half-god?
• Through exploration, see who you hate the most, begin killing off the damaged people.
• You are an omnipotent-style character. You start killing one type of
• people in this world but the other types take over the space previously occupied by the types you just killed (cannot actually kill them all) you must make a choice: try and fail or join the ranks (needs some expansion/clarification)

The look:

• Creepy characters, rich, dark, grungy atmosphere
• Like some old great civilization that has fallen, now inhabited by useless, broken people.
• Medieval, fantasy, horror theme

Game genre/mechanics?

• First person style game play.
• No levels, just exploration. Medieval GTA
• Not sure about the ending of the game, needs help with the development (ex: what is the motivation to go on the quest?).

STEPHEN: Idea #1 “Ohme”

• Prefers to explore mechanics over sound or storyline. He can do design, does also graphics and programming.
• A side-scrolling game populated with cute, unique characters, doing what they do. Ex: road crew drives around fixing holes. Ex: crazy science dude mixing chemicals and burning holes in the ground.
• Possible forest setting.
• Example: Raccoons! With some industrial guy wanting to kill the forest, you would have this guy going around trying to make things right.
• So, dynamic solutions to puzzles by interacting with the different characters.
• Dialogue: you can pick stuff up and use items, like feed road crewà they follow you around and help you (creative, procedural dynamic stuff, creative problem solving)

Idea #2: “Noir”

• Interested in accessible games: to people with disabilities (difficulty holding a controller, visually impaired)… Using senses other than vision to solve a puzzle game.

Inspiration: Pit

• Wants to extend this into more of a puzzle game; can’t get a sense of the space around you; compact space.
• Somehow you get into a “spot of bother”
• Adventure game, figure out a way to escape…
• Setting could be a detective who is thrown into a basement and has to figure a way out of that space by using his other senses to navigate around and figure out puzzles to get out. Example: he could try and crack a safe by listening to the mechanical ticks of the safe dial to get to the items inside.
• Short game, not many rooms

Things you can do:

• Try to listen to noises…
• Drips of water/puddle to see yourself…
• Can feel along walls…

Idea: Wii controllers—use vibrations for some feedback for example.

He needs good level design, and good sound design!

MAX: “Battleschool”

• Multi-player first person shooter based on the book “Enders game”
• Zero gravity, 2 teams on opposite sides of a cubic room.
• Can’t just get from A to B, have to jump around—movement is important, starting and stopping is tricky.
• Sliding gate to get into the cube.
• Randomly appearing smaller cubes could provide cover.
• players are kids. Shooting someone shoots a (tagging?) beam so when a specific limb of your body gets shot, that limb looses hit-points.
• Limbs are unusable when their respective hit-points reach 0. Not being able to use limbs, like legs, can affect movement or, if arms are affected, aiming.

• To win, eliminate all opposing players or capture the flag-like goal.
• Possible other mechanics like hooks to swing around in 0 gravity and a “golden snitch” mechanic for an alternative method to winning

For next week:

-       If you haven’t yet, post your name, skills, what you’re interested in on the blog in the section “Who We Are”

-       Next meeting, we will be discussing our goals.

-       Concrete teams should be forming now, pre-production finished by the end of the semester, with design document.

The Interactive Mobile Gaming Clan blog is at  http://www.urbanambush.com/img_clan/

Our mission statement explains the concept and criteria for designing our game.

Our team is in need of core members who are interested in the initiative, but I also invite anyone and everyone interested to contribute their input, ideas, and suggestions, and am hoping to involve the larger CCGD community in discussion, research, and testing

anyone interested can email me at: thehandwordandlaw@gmail.com , or leave some info here or on the IMGC blog

Courage, victory, and strawberry pocky,
Brian A