lecture2130

Lecture 12: 27May2010 Final demo night!!!!!!!

2010-05-27T22:58:00.010+10:00

This was final demo night!!!!!!

Awesome games by everyone, fantastic fun, it was great to be part of so many creative ideas!
Thanks to all of you for joining every Thursday night, and thanks for creating, designing and developing such awesome exertion games! Everyone was really impressed!

If you post your webpages, your promotional pics and youtube videos here, I will collect them and make a nice demo out of it that you can send off to the press!

Thanks again for making this such an awesome time, I have learned a lot from you also, for which I would like to thank you very very much!
Keep up the good work,
your exertion gamer
Floyd

Dark Horse Defender Nerf Game Webpage

Waterfall climber's webpage

Spongeoline's webpage

Pin the Tail's webpage

Peak Hour BMX's webpage

Team M's webpage

Team Nymphora's webpage

Team Popzat's webpage

Team M's webpage

Hardcore swimming team interviewed!

2010-05-27T22:52:00.002+10:00

Nice interview by the hardcore swimming team:
http://www.healthgamers.com/2010/making-games/hg-interview-hardcore-swimming-wii-game-design-team/
Well done!

Analog Tetris

2010-05-23T23:01:00.001+10:00

http://www.geekologie.com/2010/05/just_buy_a_game_boy_already_an.php

Lecture 11: 20May2010 Bringing it all together

2010-05-20T22:31:00.000+10:00

Hi all,

Thanks for joining tonight. During this lecture, you saw how all your hard work on the presentations and the posters came together to help you in your career when it comes to talk about and analyze games such as Guitar Hero or the bar game. You have also seen how the theoretical work from the various game academics worldwide you were exposed to during this semester can support you in your quest to create more awesome games.

I am looking forward to playing your game next week!

Homework:
* 1 exertion game without a conventional screen
* 1 website that describes the game and its benefits (example see pacmanhattan)
* 1 video on youtube
* promotional photograph (collage)
** 1024x768 landscape
** gametitle
** 1-2 sentences describing how the game works and why we need it
** URL
** team
* Promote demo night
* Bring cameras etc
* Report red dots at end of demo night
* Return hardware at end of demo night

Please post in the blog any feedback you might have on the use of the design dimensions in you creating your upcoming game (or any other games where you might have used (any) dimensions).

Hanging off a Bar

2010-05-20T21:15:00.000+10:00

Thanks to Luke:

Demo Night 27 May 2010

2010-05-19T15:55:00.000+10:00

Posters

2010-05-13T22:42:00.001+10:00

Here are all the wonderful posters you created during your presentations:

The difference between Microsoft's Natal and Nintendo's Wii for game designers: Again

2010-05-13T22:02:00.002+10:00

Please post here in the comments (bullet points please) what the difference is for you as game designers between the technology behind Microsoft's Natal and Nintendo's Wiimote (Plus).
Can you think of a game that you can design with one, but not with the other?
Use the language from the posters in class and the design dimensions.

So far:
- Wii: expands the magic circle by supporting social play between players who cannot see each other, i.e. cannot anticipate their next moves

- Natal: supports tactics such as offense and defense in the physical space (i.e. players pushing each other to gain an advantage), as technology can distinguish body positions relative to one another

Lecture 10: 13May2010 The Mousegrip and Pushing Pixels

2010-05-13T21:56:00.001+10:00

Hi all,
Thanks for joining tonight.
Today you have seen how to make an Exertion Game for <$15. You have also experienced an Exertion Game that allows asynchronous interaction. Supporting asynchronous interaction is one big reason why computers can offer different experiences beyond what we already know from sports.

Again, thanks for filling out the survey form, it is truly appreciated. And thanks Seph for taking care of them.

Homework for next week:
* Blog: a) Comment on the lecture OR b) repeat the most important point you have learned for those who could not attend OR c) describe the difference between Wii and Natal for designers AGAIN, IN A NEW AND SEPARATE BLOG ENTRY
* Report progress on your team website/blog
* Promote demo night on facebook, twitter, etc. Invite friends, companies you want to work for, the press (remember, everyone gets dots)
* Start working on your video, promotional picture and website for your game

HealthGamers.com report about Exertion Games demo night and class

2010-05-13T09:37:00.000+10:00

An interview on HealthGamers.com about the Exertion Games demo night and the class and students, with all the links included!

The difference between Microsoft's Natal and Nintendo's Wii for game designers

2010-05-06T22:10:00.002+10:00

Please post here in the comments (bullet points are fine, but be precise!) what the difference is for you as game designers between the technology behind Microsoft's Natal and Nintendo's Wiimote.
What can you do with one that you cannot do with the other?

I challenge you that there is only a handful of points, but that they are much more important than 'more limbs'.

Lecture 9: 06May2010 The Mind and the Body

2010-05-06T22:06:00.002+10:00

Hi all,
Thanks again for coming out tonight.
Today you learned about what we know about the body (or how little about it), and how our interactions with computers (not just computer games) are becoming more and more appreciative of the physics of the real world. This is particularly buoyant in games, but can also be observed in how the iPhone adds weight to contacts, for example (You could push that further by 'adding' extra weight to 'heavy' - equals more important - contacts, so they come up more prominent when you flick through with your finger).

In order to design for the body, the best advice so far (to be most effective) is therefore probably no to think, but DO. Designing for the body means moving the body, and you hopefully have seen how the tape-body-parts-together might have given you ideas that would be a million times more complex to imagine and describe with the mind.

I realized that I did not let enough people speak who have not said enough yet, so sorry about that, I'll try to be better next time.

Homework for next week:
* Blog: a) Comment on the lecture OR b) repeat the most important point you have learned for those who could not attend OR c) describe the difference between Wii and Natal for designers IN THE SEPARATE BLOG ENTRY
* Report progress on your team website/blog
* Read the reading assignments for next week
* If you have not done so, email me your dots, video and promotional pic

PS: For the rock-climbing team: Have you thought why you are trying to 'improve' rock-climbing? Are you improving it? If so, why? Or are you making it more accessible? Or more engaging? What do you tell a rock-climber who might say: but rock-climbing is great on its own? Why do we need to add computers?

PPS: A note on getting in the paper: try to market your game through facebook, twitter etc. Email your video out. You have no idea how many people would like to pass your game video to their friends rather than do work in the morning. Just ask all your facebook friends to send it to their friends (this is not spamming, as they should only do it if they like it). Tag the video properly. Increase the hit count. Tell people what they should write about: This game gets fat kids off the couch because ...

PPPS: Thinking about a tag line for any newspaper article might also help your game: If a reporter asks you, what should be the headline? What would you say? Why do we need your game? This is were a target-group might come in handy: Your game might get kids active who so far only liked computer games. Or create a game that takes the piss out of the Myki system: You would need to swipe a fake card a 100 times in order to get a score.... any topical statement is always great for the paper. Or make a game for the unemployed Storm players. Think of a headline: would you print it? If so, your game is on the right track.
And then send it to all the papers, blogs, online articles you know: they all have email addresses, twitter accounts etc. Hey, you have seen what they show on TV (especially shows like Sunrise etc), and they are asking in any of these shows to send in any news, so make use of this! Be an active citizen!

PPPPS: To the Bubble Popper team: Sorry if I might seem very pushy for you to create something new, but I have been thinking a lot why I would like to see this: I think it is a) because I see potential. Everyone enjoyed playing your game. It was simple but wonderful at the same time. Your game did not have a tag-line though (it did not 'help' anyone, did not make the world a better place, but it was so obvious 'fun'). But maybe it did not need one. Nobody also needed to think why this game needed a computer. It was clearly a computer game. You could not do it without a computer. And then I realized: Maybe it is b) I would like to see if you could pull this off again, i.e. do you have enough knowledge about games to do it again but with a different game or was it just mere luck? :-)

If you are in Sydney this Sat....

2010-05-03T12:05:00.000+10:00

Janine from Demo Night invites you along:
http://sydsgbc.eventbrite.com/

Processing on the iPhone

2010-05-02T13:57:00.003+10:00

Lecture 8: 29Apr2010 Tangibility in Games

2010-04-30T10:15:00.001+10:00

Today you learned about tangibility in games, and what characteristics of tangibility you can use in your game to what effects, as well as a lot about casual games and why they benefit from a social approach through social facilitation.

One aspect that should be added to the idea of tangibility is the opportunity to personalize your tangible object: for example, your guitar in guitar hero can be personalized with stickers, you can buy a better-looking plastic guitar etc. just to make you look even more like a rock-star, to support the fantasy effect of becoming a rock-star the game facilitates. You don't really have this opportunity for personalization with Natal.

And thanks for all your comments on the survey sheet! Here is already one change (I hope you like it):

Please comment on the blog what you think about casual games, tangibility and social play.
If your opinion has already been voiced, why don't you repeat the most important point (1 is enough) you have learned so that the people who weren't in have an easy way to catch up?

Homework for next week:
* Blog: See above
* Report progress on your team website/blog
* Read the reading assignments for next week

Demo Night 15 April 2010

2010-04-29T11:05:00.002+10:00

Fwd: Interesting video about games

2010-04-24T08:30:00.003+10:00

I recently came across this Frontline (a Public Broadcasting Service program from the USA) episode about the digital world. About the last 15-20 minutes are focused on games.

Thought you might be interested.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1402987791/#

Nicholas Hower

Lecture 7: 22Apr2010 Design Dimensions for Exertion Games

2010-04-22T21:35:00.004+10:00

Today you learned about Design Dimensions for Exertion Games, and how playing with them can (hopefully) turn a great game idea into an awesome one!

For example, you have seen how adding a line (virtual or physical) in the Bubble Popper game could have made it a game solely about "being faster than the other player". In its current form, it is about "preventing the other player from scoring" by pushing the other player out of the way, a very different play experience (all of a sudden you can play offensively or defensively)! And by having the players hit one big target together (such as killing one big monster), the game could be turned into a collaborative affair, all without changing any technology! (What you could also do is point the projector at the people's bodies: now the balloon appears on your arm, and you can decide whether you will hit your own arm, or try to move it away so that the other player cannot hit it: can you see how your game now becomes more like Karate, changing the conceptual location in the design space again?)

Design Dimensions for Exertion Games

Thanks again for joining me today and giving me such great feedback! Your time and effort is appreciated.

I will look at all your feedback diligently and take it on board! See you next week!

Homework for next week:
* Blog: How (if) the dimensions helped you
* Send me video + photo (a 1024x768 photo with game title, 1 sentence gameplay, URL, team) before Tuesday
* Email me a picture of your dots
* Start working on your game
* Report progress on your website

PS: Biker-team: did you see the pump idea from one of the other teams? You could combine your games!
PPS: I just thought of another example where "secondary performance" is rewarded by the game: in Guitar Hero, if you lift the guitar up, you get extra points: the designers wanted to make sure you 'perform' like a rock star, so they linked this "secondary performance" aspect to the score, making it more interesting for the other players and the audience, and also getting you more bodily engaged. You can do the same in any game: if your player finished, and lifts up the arms in triumph, she/he gets extra points! A loud winning chant even more points!

Demo night!!! Exertion Games that make the players physically exhausted

2010-04-15T20:36:00.124+10:00

Tonight was demo night, and we saw many new computer game inventions that require players to invest physical effort (think of all the health benefits!) way beyond what Wii offers!
Who would have thought that working out could be so much fun?

Three hours of pure play! I hope you all had a
great time and exerted yourself. Congratulations to all of you for
making this night such a success!
In the comments you have the chance to congratulate those who you
didn't get a chance yet to tell what a great job they did!

Thanks also to our guests from Future Journeys, Exergaming Australia, 2nd years, and everyone else who helped making this a great night.

Please add your game's video here and make sure your webpage has a full description of your game for everyone to see. I would like to create a slideshow of all your games (like last year), so please add a promotional picture about your project here (either login yourself here or send me the URL).
Also, if you have not done so yet, please email me a picture of your dots (we had two late visitors who gave all their dots to Nick because he sticked around, so well done Nick!)

I was very impressed by the fact how you took the things you learned into your games: you looked at how people use their bodies and analyzed what makes bodily movements fun (see Kane's observations of 15-year-olds playing DDR) and how you expanded the magic circle socially (I am not sure if Luke would have "designed for an audience" (as he said) before he started this class) and environmentally (see escalator game).
You also focused on the game experience more than on the technology, even though you had some very clever implementation (you-have-to-run-for-the-music game, bubble-pop gloves) ideas which hopefully made you aware that you now can design anything you ever wanted!
And you all learned how to present your game idea in a busy, intense, and fast-paced environment, perfect for your future game pitches in industry!

Here are some individual comments about your games, as some of you asked me how they can improve. Here is what I saw (I am making up names for them based on what comes to my head first to show you what 'sticked'):

Balloon outdoor running game: I really like the idea of putting the exertion outside. Very similar to the other running games though. The video could have been even more convincing if it would have been 'real' people playing it, as in random people of the street. Nice use of phones!

Bubble popping: great fun, excellent use of social bodily interaction! Awesome simple game implementation. Next time make sure the room is really empty. Needs more audio effects (but not much else). you probably noticed that everyone who played it loved it, so kudos. But some people were reluctant to join in the first place, why? Are you getting in the paper?

music-running-music game: great idea of making people run based on sound (scream). wonderful simple implementation idea. You can make it more stable using an arduino and an accelerometer. Can't wait to try it out against another people.

bike: wonderful video. all you have to do is implement it, so I can play it! Is GPS going to be good enough? You could also combine it with an idea I had for a bike-version of Jogging over a Distance, but never implemented: Your cyclists should know _while_ cycling how far ahead their opponent is, not just at the end, at home in front of the computer. They cannot look at their mobile all the time for status updates, BUT they could have an attachment on their bike that has a laser pointer that is attached to a servo-motor that indicates how far ahead the other person is: the laser dot moves further or closer ahead of you on the street, controlled by the motor that moves the laser pointer up or down, indicating where the other cyclist is in relation to you (a little bit like the laser bike lane, but interactive). I have all the hardware for this, talk to me if you want to implement this.

bar game: great idea, I've said it before! Nice social add-on. Make it happen and bring the bar in so that people can try it! Get it connected with the Sydney lab! Good idea to involve hand-slapping as well.

Swimming: great idea of making swimming a 'spectacle', nice contrast to traditional swimming. Also nice consideration of social aspect. Well designed for the audience as well through glasses and body style. you obviously tried out many different movements and found one that is very exhausting very quickly. screen and game was a little bit 'conventional'. Great use of combining various body movements: swimming and turning.

Hunter: wonderful video, great editing. would have been even better if 'real' people would have been recorded (with permission) (see above). You can easily implement that on an iphone and give it to people. Well done on sticking around and demoing it to people.

punch willy: great combination of cognitive and bodily skills. wonderful clever implementation. needs projection and scoring system (processing with ess?). Did you think about social aspects? Can you put it int people's canteens as stress-relief?

Nymphora: great idea of 2 unequal participators: one runs, the other directs. would have liked to play it with others, and seen use of the punching video stuff. Would be great fun outdoors running around breaking the magic circle.

Escalator: great idea, very exhausting. nice example of designing for a specific target group: anarchists :-). Great video and logo. as mentioned, game device could easily give audio feedback and be wireless with wiimote. Think how computers could enhance it further: what could they do beyond counting rounds (which you can do in your head?). can you expand magic circle further by including by-standers? what about unaware participants? Great idea to get people away from classroom-style games.

Water bomb: nice idea of "fluid movement" combined with cooling down, which is important for exertion. How could computers improve this further? Why do you like _computer_ games? Can you get the 'cooling' and 'fluid movement' effect together with the advantages of computer gaming? Video with subtitles would look great on youtube.

Fencing: great job in considering the people and fantasy factor, adding a costume turned the game into a spectacle for the audience to enjoy also. For the code, you could just use the code the escalator guys have! It would be great if you could think of other advantages the technology offers: could, for example, a kid play with his dad/mum equally? Nice job in letting me win!

Achieve task in time and document with mobile: nice idea of challenging people with different capabilities and preferences. Already discussed ways to automate it, through making task recording colours, for example, and then analyzing them pro grammatically. Someone said she was not exerting much though?! How can technology facilitate that more? Think about hard fun & people factor!

Ball throwing: Lots of people loved it! Very exhausting. Nice job on going back to the basics: what is fun? nice video documenting how you tried out several approaches. Good idea having black and video targets. How could computers enhance the interaction? Could the lights go out after a certain while? Could people play in different time zones? Great website on documenting it! Can't wait for the video.

PS: All location-based games: Check this out: http://www.girardin.org/fabien/catchbob/pervasive/

Ok, that's from me, let me know if you need more feedback, can't wait to see your second games!

Tracking Feet with Luke's Wiimote trick for a dance instructor game

2010-04-15T11:10:00.001+10:00

From the Stanford lab I will be visiting: http://hci.stanford.edu/courses/cs247/2010/

The Dance Instructor - Final Demo from Troy Brant on Vimeo.

First video!

2010-04-11T12:52:00.002+10:00

Invite: First year students present their physical games next Thursday 15 April 2010: 5-8pm

2010-04-09T16:19:00.002+10:00

Hi,

You are invited to check out the 'Physical Game' demos of the first year students!
Same room as last year: 12.13.02 (Building 12, Level 13, Room 02, RMIT City Campus, Crn Swanston St and Franklin St)
Thursday 15 April 2010: 5-8pm

The goal was to come up with a design idea for a game that requires physical effort, but does not use a conventional screen!

Feel free to bring any friends and family and cameras and pass this email along to anyone interested in games!

Cheers,
Floyd and the 1st years.
--
Class blog: http://gameslecture.blogspot.com

Nice floor interaction

2010-04-09T16:17:00.002+10:00

Lecture 5: 8Apr2010 Jogging over a Distance

2010-04-08T21:20:00.005+10:00

Today you learned about Arduinos, phidgets, and the Wiimote as tools for creating Exertion Games.
I have also shown you Jogging over a Distance as an example of a game without a screen.

Next week, we will all play your games, it will be a lot of fun, as you chose this course because you like playing!

After the lecture, I had some great idea generation discussions how to realize your ideas, a few comments for everyone to benefit from:

If you are more creative than technical, you should have no problem with this assignment: use your creativity to make the game fun! Technical people tend to make games technically impressive, but often boring to play! (Think of FPS that have the best rendering engine, but are boring!)

Just because technology is involved, does not mean that you can be ONLY creative with technology: for example, make people dress up when they play your game, that adds a 'fantasy' element to your game, without any technical expertise required.

So think about the things you learned: How can you add the '4 reasons why people play games'?
- Fantasy: dress up, or introduce a virtual ghost world, or ...
- Social: introduce multiplayer, ....
- Easy fun: give people something to explore, ...

Remember the 'Magic Circle'? Does your game become more fun by blurring the circle, for example play it in public? ...

Look at the other team's blogs to get ideas!
I have mentioned GlovePie and OSCulator as great tools to take Wiimote and BalanceBoard inputs as simple keystrokes that you can read with Flash.
Also, if you can simulate your game by using your mouse, you can automate it with AutoIt.

This is your chance to be creative.

Cynthia, you left early, if you still need some help let me know; send me your blog's URL so I can put it up and comment on it.
Luke, here is the Bar Game code if you are interested (but you probably want to do it in Flash).

Dean (?) about the push-ups: do some, and think what you like the best about them: then add 'fantasy', 'easy fun', ... Also about swimming=free floating: maybe someone can hold you up like floating while you are peddling with your feet (attached is a wiimote)?
Remember, it's not a tech competition, it's a game fest!

PS: Nick, you wanted some sig from me?
Luke, so if I attach your pen to my head, I can measure how high I jump just by looking at the screen how high the pencil brush goes? With AutoIt, I can then look for these pixels, and start different iTunes songs, so the higher you jump, the better the song gets!

UPDATE: I have updated the schedule and contributions page and hopefully made it more precise: Your first game will be demo'ed Week 6, 15 April. There will be only demos this week, no presentations. Depending on you team letter, you will demo in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd hour. (Feel free to demo longer, this is just to give you a chance to try out other games as well, not just demoing your own.) Your goal is to convince everyone that your game is the most fun, so use your creativity!
3 hours is quite quick for 15 games to play, but should be heaps of fast action fun!
Your second game will be presented at the end of the semester, there we will split it up across 3 nights.
I also forgot to mention that everyone is welcome, so please bring your family, siblings and friends, fellow students, everyone who wants to play your game! Bring your cameras!

Homework for next week:

* Comment on blog
* Report progress on your website
* Let the others play your game! (Be early enough to set up!)

Guest lecturing at Bert Bongers Interactivation lecture

2010-03-26T12:15:00.000+11:00

Gamers rejoice as R18+ roadblock steps down

2010-03-25T18:07:00.002+11:00

Lecture 4: 25Mar2010 Gerard

2010-03-25T17:00:00.006+11:00

Today you learned various other ways to make your games a reality, and you got individual feedback to your projects.

Next week will be even more about hardware and how to built 'things' for cheap, with lots of hands-on with sensors and stuff!

Remaining presentations: I ran out of paper, so you need to bring your own for your 'what I want everyone to remember when woken up in their sleep' sheet of paper for the wall!

Homework for next week:

* Comment on blog
* Report progress on your website

PS: Gerard's slides

PPS: Gerard's videos

Speaking at Bert Bongers Interactivation lecture

2010-03-25T09:13:00.000+11:00

Fwd: TAG - Video Annotation Game - Try it out now!

2010-03-23T08:45:00.001+11:00

Arrived via email:
--

Hi,

We are currently performing an usability study of a video annotation game called TAG. The game has been developed within the context of the European project PrestoPrime in collaboration with the Dutch Archive Audio Visual Archive "Sound and Vision".
You might have already seen, played or heard about the Waisda? Video Annotation Game. The TAG game is a follow-up of Waisda? experimenting with some improvements identified from previous tests.

If you are interested to participate in the test you can:

(1) click on the links below (in English):
To play the game TAG: http://www.few.vu.nl/~aes200/taggame.html
To fill in the Survey: http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=KJLDNG_e60d6fc5

(2) click on the links below (in Dutch):
To play the game TAG: http://www.few.vu.nl/~aes200/tag.html
To fill in the Survey: http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=KJLDNH_76b27254

(3) contact Annelies van Ees <avanees@gmail.com> if you are in the Netherlands and would like to do the F2F usability test

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone interested in participating in this research.

Thanks in advance and we hope you will have fun playing the game! While you are playing you can watch some interesting videos from the Sound and Vision archive!

Best regards,
Lora Aroyo

--
====================
http://www.cs.vu.nl/~laroyo
twitter: @laroyo

VU University Amsterdam (FEW Building, U-326 Room)
De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

check out projects i am working on:
--> NoTube: http://notube.tv
--> Agora: http://agora.cs.vu.nl/
--> PrestoPrime: http://www.prestoprime.org/

Exergaming catalogue

2010-03-22T14:36:00.000+11:00

Might give you some ideas what is out there already:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=110533702291645&id=95915564396

Cheap way of hooking up treadmill with game

2010-03-19T08:45:00.001+11:00

Great video!

2010-03-19T00:07:00.000+11:00

2010-03-19T00:06:00.001+11:00

Lecture 3: 18Mar2010 Madness

2010-03-19T00:05:00.003+11:00

Today you have learned how to do an elevator pitch: present your idea in 1 minute.
You got feedback from the entire class of very smart games people, so make use of it when refining your game!

Next week, Gerard is going to visit, from http://www.bigfriendlyapes.com.au/, and he is a very smart young individual who is both, artistic and technical, so perfect for your needs, and he will give you more ideas how to develop hardware for your game easily and cheaply. Also, second years will come help and support him.

Thanks today for the engaging presentations, I hope you all learned from them.
Next week, there are no presentations, so a break.

Thanks for participating in the Madness session, I hope you got plenty of useful feedback.

My general feedback for all of you would be that you tend to make too much: you are trying to create a game for the hardcore gamer that needs to entertain for 20+ hours. Exertion Games do not need such a design approach, they can be much simpler; because the body is involved, people use their development for bodily skills to make it harder themselves. You need to think more like your 6-year old sister: she does not need much, a simple idea is enough. Ask: why would she play it? You do not need to design a 20-level game, not even a full level, but 1/10th of a level. Keep it simple, try it out, as mentioned last week, the art is to design something where you can add, but can't take anything out.

I have just been to a Fulbright reception, and I met the owner of sykes.com.au and wattbike.com.au, they do work with football clubs and the Australian Institute of Sports, and they have rowing machines and cross country skiing simulators, and they are interested in adding gameplay to them to make it more exciting; if you want to work with them for your project, please let me know and I'll get you in contact with him, I am sure he is happy to show you what they've got, and we could ask for a loan for the duration of the project.

Homework for next week:

Prepare work to do while Gerard is helping other teams!
Comment on blog
Report progress on your website

PS: I just had another idea: did you notice how super slow the elevator is? We could make a game that entices people to exercise while waiting for it: if you jog on the spot, the elevator will get there more quickly! How it works: we put another display on top of the 'what level the elevator is on' display, which reads the number via OCR and a camera. Then we always add 1 or 2 to the new display (so if you are on level 2, and the elevator is on 4, the display will say it is on 6), but when you jog, we speed up the numbers, so it appears as if your jogging makes the elevator arrive quicker!

PPS: Come to think about your projects madness again: I really would like to encourage all of you to use your artistic ability to come up with something crazy! Remember, you want to get in the paper/TV, and what they want is not the best game, but a crazy idea that is east to understand (and describe) in 1 minute. And I would also like to encourage to think more about the essence what you want to achieve. Lastly, target groups: it's ok to create a game that is only playable by your little brother, or only for people over 2m, or ...

For example: if you want to create a long-distance jogging game, think about the essence of why you like it. Do you achieve it in the costume game?
If you are after something else (quick turns, sprints), make it 'crazy' by attaching the tails to police officers.
Lastly, if you want to do the hanging-on-bar over animated river with wooden logs passing by game, you can just say that every player must be smaller than 1.7m so you don't have to adjust the bar.
Hope that helps,
keep up the good work,
Floyd

2010-03-19T00:05:00.001+11:00

2010-03-18T23:51:00.001+11:00

2010-03-18T23:48:00.001+11:00

Fwd: 2 Intern Positions at Siemens Corporate Research – Princeton, NJ, USA

2010-03-18T11:34:00.001+11:00

These guys have done Fish'N'Steps, an Exertion game to encourage step-count, so if you explain that you are doing this class, they might be super keen!

User Experience
Siemens Corporate Research
Princeton, New Jersey, USA

The User Experience (UX) group at Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) is
seeking 2 additional interns. Recent graduates or students in Graphic
Design, Interaction Design, Digital Media Design, Product Design, or closely
related fields are encouraged to apply. The interns will work closely with
senior staff in designing user interfaces for future Siemens
products/systems, supporting funded research projects, and/or creating
highly interactive conceptual systems for demonstrations, conferences and
international tradeshows. The SCR UX is a multi-disciplinary,
cross-cultural, dynamic, and friendly work environment.

Specifically, SCR UX has openings for the following 2 internship positions,
in addition to 4 internship positions that have already been filled this year:

1. Visual Design Intern, with solid interaction design background.

Ideal Candidate: BA/MA/MFA students or recent graduates in Graphic Design or
Visual Communication with excellent visual design skills and strong
interests or experiences in designing user interfaces for complex systems
and products. She/he should be proficient in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Availability: One 3-month position, preferably starting from March/April 2010.

2. Interaction Design Intern, with solid interactive media design and
product design background.

Ideal Candidate: BA/MA/MFA students or recent graduates in Digital Media
Design, Graphic Design, or Industrial Design with with excellent interaction
design and visual design skills and strong interests or experiences in
designing highly interactive demos and user interfaces for complex systems
and products. She/he should be proficient in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop,
and Flash; knowledge and experience in 3D modeling platform (e.g. 3ds Max)
is a plus.
Availability: One 3-month position, preferably starting from March/April 2010.

These internships are paid positions.

About SIEMENS CORPORATE RESEARCH (http://www.usa.siemens.com/research):

Siemens Corporate Research is the research, development, and innovation
center of Siemens Corporation in the US. The UX at Siemens Corporate
Research consults with and supports Siemens business sectors worldwide in
user experience design and innovation. Additionally, the UX works with the
US Government and partners with universities for research projects in the
field of Human-Computer Interaction. The UX / User Interface Design group is
located on three continents (Munich, Germany; Princeton, NJ, USA; and
Beijing, China). These internship positions are based at Princeton, New
Jersey, USA. Princeton is approximately one hour from New York City and
Philadelphia.

ABOUT SIEMENS (http://www.siemens.com/):

We're Siemens, a global innovation company helping the needs of businesses,
communities and employees right here in the US. From improving security at
airports, to helping healthcare professionals make more accurate diagnoses
of the heart, to reducing delivery time for forwarded mail and beyond, we're
achieving the unexpected all because of our employees. Which is why we offer
a work culture where ideas are free to fly, diversity programs that capture
the strengths of thought rather than ethnicity, and mentoring and training
programs that can take careers to new heights. And that's pretty inspiring.
Because when you and 70,000 diverse minds innovate together, you can change
the world. Imagine that.

automation & control • building technologies • energy & power • financial
services • hearing solutions industrial solutions • information &
communication • lighting • medical solutions • transportation • water
technologies

Siemens is an Equal Opportunity Employer encouraging diversity in the workplace.

Contact

Please send resumes to Dr. James Lin: jameslin@siemens.com
Please include URLs to online portfolios and previous work.

For immediate consideration, please reply as soon as possible and before
March 31st, 2010.

Mario on Arduino

2010-03-15T23:07:00.000+11:00

...from 2nd year's Chad, thanks!

Tequinox - FAR HQ Studio Opening Sunday March 21st

2010-03-15T22:54:00.001+11:00

FYI:

Tequinox Sunday March 21st 2p.m.

Future Art Research are proud to offer an exhibition and performance
spectacular.

Steve Irwin and The Stingray the re-enactment by John-Paul Hussey
Miss Havisham. By Lizzil (Voodoo Trash Dolls)
Robin Cook (Mutoid Waste)
Mbug (dj)
Hardkore Slakness (Mighty Burning Demon) unveiling a brand new sculptural
installation.
Lalalullaby interactive sound sculpture featuring Ross Bencina, creator of
Audio Mulch.
Robbie Avenaim and his 1600bpm MKS kick drums.
Makanico
Anthony Sawrey.
Plus more to be confirmed! XX

F.uture A.rt R.esearch is a brand new A.R.I. on the banks of the
Maribyrnong. We are a proud new community, come and see.
Plans hatched,
Deeds plotted,
F.uture A.rt R.esearch
Fun to be had.

Location:
Living Museum West, Pipemaker's Park
Enter from roundabout at Van Ness Ave and Gordon st, Maribyrnong VIC 3032

More details at:
http://futureartresearch.org/

........................................................................
.........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity..........
..........................http://dorkbot.org............................
........................................................................

Not a 'real' theory, but....

2010-03-15T22:51:00.002+11:00

Check out the staircase example, that could have been your 'game'!
(Lesson learned: doing something 'for real', in public, could be a lot of fun!)

Trying to come up with an idea how to spend as little time as possible PROGRAMMING your game?

2010-03-12T10:06:00.000+11:00

Do you know AutoIt? Probably the most boring website, but one of the most powerful tools to do rapid programming I think! If you can get existing programs to do what you want to do, you can just AutoIt!

Debate about R18 rating in Australia

2010-03-12T09:57:00.002+11:00

2010-03-12T09:01:00.000+11:00

2010-03-12T09:00:00.002+11:00

2010-03-12T09:00:00.001+11:00

2010-03-12T08:59:00.000+11:00

might be interesting to some:

2010-03-11T22:54:00.000+11:00

Just came in by email:

Dear all,

is a research project aiming to facilitate the integration of
educational games and game-like simulations in educational processes in
general and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) in particular. It has been
developed by the e-learning research group at the Universidad Complutense de
Madrid (http://www.e-ucm.es). With e-Adventure, any person can write an
educational point & click adventure game. Also it is very simple to create
first person simulations based on photos, which can be very useful for
training or teaching procedural knowledge.

The platform includes special features targeting educational environments,
such as built-in assessment and debriefing and the possibility of
automatically exporting the games as standards-compliant Learning Objects
(packaged according to the IMS Content Packaging specification and marked
with IEEE LOM metadata). The games can thus be deployed without effort in
different VLEs and stored in content repositories (now we are in the
process of integrating e-Adventure with LAMS).

The platform was published as a public beta a year ago, and in
these 12 months it has reached over 3.000 downloads from sourceforge.net. We
are now gearing up for the imminent release of v1.2 and
gathering feature requests for v2.0. We would like to invite as much
feedback from current and prospective users as possible, so that we can
incorporate it into our release process.

The tools, a short descriptive video, and a detailed tutorial, are here:
http://e-adventure.e-ucm.es
We would love to hear your comments and, if you create an interesting game
and wish to give it some exposure, we can make it available through our
website (properly credited, of course). Don't forget to have fun!

Best regards,

Lecture 2: 11Mar2010 The Essence of Games and Quick'n'Dirty Implementation

2010-03-11T17:00:00.011+11:00

Today you have learned about that you can design hardware for a game very cheap, very easily, very fast, as long as you are creative. This should not be a problem, as you are artists!

Secondly, you learned that in order to create better games it helps if you get to the essence of things. How do you get there? An easy way for you is to ask the 'sports' person in your team to take you along to his team/club/class and interview people what they feel when they are participating. You can then go back and design for this 'feeling'.

Example: You interview surfers, and they might tell you they get a high when they have only seconds to decide what to do, after minutes of calmness waiting for the next wave. Then you can design for this high, as you know you need the calmness to get there, and you'll add a timer so that the time pressure is also there. And then you use this as a guide for every decision you make: "Do we need X in our design?""Well, does it help to support the high? Does it support the calmness?"Does it support the time pressure?".
Because during your design (and real life), you will have to make compromises, and its important to have a guide to make the right decisions. So think about your essence of your game first before you think about implementation.

Thanks again for the first 2 presentations! You have seen how quickly time runs, so, next week's teams, focus on only a few (1-2) points in the paper (skip what you do not think is important), it's okay if different presenters get the same message across in different ways. And bring your key message on a big piece of paper!

Homework for next week:

Prepare Madness!

1 min presentation
2 min feedback

Read the two papers under schedule for next week
If you are presenting next week, practice timing!
Read also: Tips to working successfully in a group

Thinking of a cricket game?

2010-03-11T14:48:00.002+11:00

Get in contact with
http://firazpeer.com/

who is thinking about an Exertion Game of cricket at GATech.

Internship opportunity

2010-03-10T15:19:00.004+11:00

mixedrealitylab has done a game for chickens etc:

Keio-NUS CUTE Center is interested in inviting staff and PhD Scholars to become members of its research team working in innovative projects. Much appreciated if the following can be circulated among possible candidates (including students looking for PhD Scholarships and internships).
---------------------------
RESEARCH POSITIONS
Keio-NUS Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments (CUTE) Center & the Mixed Reality (MXR) Lab
Interactive and Digital Media Institute (IDMI)
National University of Singapore

The Keio-NUS CUTE Center is a joint collaboration between the Keio University, Japan and the National University of Singapore to carry out research in Feeling Communication, Global Computing and Media Telescope Asia. Mixed reality Lab has been involved in cutting edge research in the Mixed Reality arena for many years. They have joined their research expertise to launch an ambitious research programme in Interactive Digital Media with a vision to “Engage all senses in a creating centric approach to make Inventions that will engage millions of children and families”. Results of our research projects have won international awards, have been published in prestigious international journals, presented and demonstrated at top-level global conferences and featured in global media channels such as the Discovery channel. Visit our websites http://www.cutecenter.org and http://www.mixedrealitylab.org to see more of our innovative work and learn how it has contributed to the developments in the interactive world.

The Center is launching several new research projects with the aim of producing next generation technologies for human communication using all human senses, especially targeted towards children and family communication. Some of our recent projects are investigating Smell and Taste Communication, Touch Communication, Kitchen Media, Food Media, Lovotics,   paper interfaces and novel approaches to Social Networking, We are looking for enthusiastic and motivated research staff, PhD scholars and student interns to join our team of researchers.

PhD Scholarships and Internships
PhD Scholarships are available for students with a first class or a second upper degree in fields of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Computer Science/Engineering, Information Technology or closely related fields. Applicants for PhD Scholarships have to undergo the NUS selection process and once selected will be funded through CUTE Center scholarships.

Short-term M.Sc. and undergraduate internships for students following study programs in similar areas are available for deserving candidates.

If you require further details send your query to contact@cutecenter.org.

Please submit your application together with a recent CV to:
Research Staff Positions:          jobs@cutecenter.org   or    jobs@mixedrealitylab.org
PhD Scholarships and Internships:   scholars@cutecenter.org

Keio-NUS CUTE Center, Interactive Digital and Media Institute,
Level 02-02, No. 21, Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119 613
Phone: + 65 6516 5951, + 65 6516 7514
www.cutecenter.org            www.mixedrealitylab.org

Semester 1 2010 second half

2010-03-10T15:05:00.000+11:00

Semester 1 2010 first half

2010-03-10T15:03:00.000+11:00

Fed square

2010-03-10T14:06:00.000+11:00

have you thought about doing your project at Fed Square?
That might get you into the paper!
See what did these guys do, the next couple of thursday nights at fedsquare, it's a no-exertion game:
http://vimeo.com/8757265

If you want to do something at fedsquare please let me know and I'll see who I can get you in contact with.

Free journal

2010-03-09T18:18:00.002+11:00

Free journal with article by Jesper Juul on Stories vs Games

Notebook program

2010-03-08T15:46:00.001+11:00

I do not know more about this than the link reveals, but if applicable, I recommend having a look:

http://www.rmit.edu.au/mediacommunication/notebookprogram

Public video from what my colleagues were working on at Microsoft Research

2010-03-06T00:04:00.000+11:00

http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/top-five-gadgets-from-microsofts-research-labs-20100304-pkgg.html

Free Mario Cart Clone to learn from

2010-03-05T23:49:00.001+11:00

http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/

Unity workshop grants

2010-03-05T20:32:00.001+11:00

Just received this email:

The Apple University Consortium is pleased to announce it is offering up to 40 partially funded Scholarships to the AUC’s Unity Workshop to be held at the Clifton Training Centres in Melbourne and Brisbane in May 2010.
What is Unity?
Ever wanted to learn how games like Counter Strike and Quake worked behind the scenes? Ever wanted to learn how to take your own idea for a game and implement it? Ever wanted to learn how to write great games for platforms like the Mac, iPhone and even Windows? Well this workshop is for you.
This workshop will introduce participants to the fundamentals of game development using modern development tools. In this workshop students will develop an appreciation for the tools and techniques that make a great game. Some of the key game concepts that will be covered include Physics, 3D graphics, animation and audio.

http://www.auc.edu.au/Unity+Workshop

Groups (6 or 7)

2010-03-04T21:18:00.009+11:00

These are for the presentations (numbering same as in schedule)

1: J. Howard, J. Teo, Patrick, S. Stevenson, Junki W, Chris R, Adam W
2: Cynthia S, Manolya B, Luke S, Julianne T, Lauren R, Deane M, Samuek B
3: Justin, Chester, Simon, Miya/Kamila, Ann, Jack C, Josh T
4: Nick S, Michael M, Kane W, Chris B, Amy H, Hugh G, Francisco C
5: Georgina M, Stephanie W, Nicholas H, William M, Matthew M, Sarah C, Joseph W,Candice G
6: Nick M, Timothy D, Stephen L, Timothy Pye, Belinda P, Amy J, Luke B
7: E. Tigani, A.C. De Mel, T.R.Jeffs, A.Capretta, J. Williams, R.Mayes, A.Bullivant
8: N. Sanders, A. Cappaletti, C. Brown, Momo, J. Garner, A. Johnsen, A. Wignall
9: D. Bickerdike, Sev. Ali, Hong Jie Dai, Daniel B, Christian D., Steph B
10: Jeff B, Yuan Liu Z, Dara A, Stephanie Y, Fandi W, Ziyi G, Tristan P
11: TeRRy IP, Alex, DK, Peter, Sam, Tim

Teams (5)

2010-03-04T21:08:00.010+11:00

These are for the games you will develop:

A: Matthew M, Joseph W, Georgina M, Stephanie W, Sarah C
B: J. Williams, Rhyl M, A. Bullivant, C.Brown, Momo
C: Awesom-o: Lauren R, Luke S, Jack, Rick G, Josh T
D: Kane W, Amber C, Alex W, Christian D, Dean B
E: Team Venture Go!: Jeff B, Tim P, Miya (kamila), Stephen L, Tristan P

F: Belinda P, Amy J, Tim Jeffs, Dee, Nick M
G: Sev A, Francisco C (Paco), Daniel B, Luke B, Nick H
H: Nick Se, Nick Sa, Candy, Mikey, Estelle
I: Tim D, Will M, Cynthias S, Manolya B, Stephanie B, Julianne T
J: Dara A, Stephanie Y, Fandi W, Zigi G, Yuanliu Z

K: Amy H, Christopher B., AC D, Analisa C, Hugh G
L: James H, Sam B, Adam W, Justin T, Hong Jie D
M: Chris R., Alexander J, Jayden G, Junki W, Shaun S
N: Amy H Justin?, Chester G, Ann N, Simon H, Patrick K
O: Peter J, Terry, DK, Sam Armes and Tim

Lecture 1: 4Mar2010 Physical Games

2010-03-04T20:47:00.003+11:00

Today we have discussed what makes a game physical. We have learned that you automatically think of childhood games (because you are so accustomed to it?) and that we can learn a lot from sports to make computer games more exciting: after all, they are often more engaging, more social, more emotional, healthier, etc.
I have shown you my definition of "Exertion Games": a computer game that requires intense physical effort from its players. This is my definition, and you do not need to agree with it, but I believe it is important that you know it.

Please put in the comments below your thoughts about this class (you heard advice on how to do it from the 2nd years). You also need to post the URL of your game team's website to the left (you would need to become an editor to do that).

Thanks for all your contributions in the class, I had a great time, and I am looking forward to seeing all of you next week.

Cheers,
Floyd

PS: For the 2 groups that present next week: Can you please make a better job in bringing a big sheet of paper (or A4 stitched together) with you, with your "the one thing we want everyone to remember from this presentation" printed on it so we can add it to the wall? I'll be there half an hour earlier if you want to setup etc.
I want you to achieve the following: If I wake up any of your fellow students in the middle of the night, and ask them "why do people play games?" or "what is play?" they mumble "there are 4 reasons, hard fun, easy fun, .... and they play out differently in different games, for example when I play WoW, there is a lot of easy fun through exploring the virtual world" or "play starts when entering the magic circle of play. That circle is evident when I play Halo because... " and then they can fall asleep again. That's when you know you did an ace presentation.

Homework

Start preparing your presentation with your group
Enter the URL of your team's blog either on the right or in the comments below and enter progress weekly
Read 2 papers on "why we play games" and "pervasive games" before next week
Bring $20
If you are presenting next week, practice!
Comment on today's lecture

About

2010-03-04T10:39:00.001+11:00

Hi,

This is the blog accompanying the physical games "lecture2130" at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia.

The first time this lecture was given was semester 1, 2009, and due to its success, will now be repeated (with updated content) semester 2, 2010.

For the content from the first lecture, simply search for entries from 2009, otherwise it is 2010!

Enjoy,
Floyd

Schedule 2010

2010-03-04T10:33:00.077+11:00

Schedule of lectures:
1.
04 Mar

Physicality and Games
Introduction cont.
Contributions explained

2.
11 Mar

Exertion Games
Why we play games (Group 1)
Pervasive Games - Games and Pervasive Games Chapter 1: Talk about the "magic circle of play" (Group 2)

3.
18 Mar

Games project Madness
How the Nintendo Wii will get you emotionally invested in video games (Group 3)
Persuasive Games: Wii’s Revolution is in the Past (Group 4)

4.
25 Mar

Guest lecture
Guest lecture
Guest lecture

5.
8 Apr (1st Apr is semester break!)

An overview of what physical games can be developed with Phidgets and Arduino (Group 5)
Exertion Games over a Distance
The potential of the Wiimote using homebrew techniques such as GlovePIE (Group 6)

6.
15 Apr

Games project demonstration (Team A, B, C, D, E)
Games project demonstration (Team F, G, H, I, J)
Games project demonstration (Team K, L, M, N, O)

7.
22 Apr

Dance Games and other Exergames: what the research says (Group 7)
Exertion Games: additional benefits
This might be a game ("dissertation" link, then PacManhattan chapter), tell us what you think of her analysis of PacManhattan (Group 8)

8.
29 Apr

A casual revolution (Pick one chapter, I suggest the 1st one) (Group 9)
Dimensions for the Design of Exertion Games
Persuasive Games: The Missing Social Rituals of Exergames (Group 10)

9.
6 May

A theory of fun for game design, chapter 5: what games aren't (Group 11)
Bringing it all together
Flow in games (and everything else), explain how it relates to games such as flOw and what it can mean for exertion games (Group 12)

10.
13 May

Game projects presentations (Team A, B, C, D, E)
Game projects presentations
Game projects presentations

11.
20 May

Game projects presentations (Team F, G, H, I, J)
Game projects presentations
Game projects presentations

12.
27 May

Game projects presentations (Team K, L, M, N, O)
Game projects presentations
Game projects presentations

Class contributions 2010

2010-03-04T07:37:00.003+11:00

There are four ways in which you will contribute to class:

Group assignment: You will form your own groups, of 6 or 7 members each, and select a topic related to physicality and games from the Schedule 2010 page that interests you.

On the day when your group is scheduled, your entire group will stand in front of the class and create a discussion around the topic with all members of the team: the goal is to teach your chosen topic to the rest of the class, and deliver the topic in a memorable way so that everyone remembers it! You can make a presentation, role-play the topic, demo it, whatever you think is most appropriate to initiate reflective thinking about it with your fellow students.

You will conclude with a large sheet of paper on the wall that summarizes what you want everyone to remember!

You will have 30 min on the day, so make sure your equipment is running beforehand and plan your timing wisely!

This will count towards 15% of your final grade.
Game Project: You will present two physical games in a team of 5 (1 game mid-semester, 1 towards the end). This team should comprise of different team members from the other group assignment for your own benefit. You will let everyone else in the class play your game (or have a video of other people playing it and demo it to people on a laptop if it is unfeasible to set up in class). You can talk people through your game (suggested format: motivation, problem, approach, result, conclusion) to convince them that this is the best game ever. This is your chance to try out something new and challenging, so do it!

Your game will be accompanied by its own blog, in which you will document your progress weekly. Use the blog to convince everyone that you are making the game better every week and therefore the result is the best game ever! Post your URL and team members (photos, student id) to this blog so people find yours.

As part of the final demos, your blog contains two 'demo description' pages (1 for each game) that describe the games for everyone to see.

Combined, this will count towards 20% of your final grade.
Class discussion contribution: Your contribution to class discussions will count towards 30% of your grade.
Critical reflection: You will write a comment about each class on the blog before the next lecture in which you critically reflect on what you have learned. You can also comment on ideas it generated for you, what you would like to hear more about, or what it inspired you, or what you disagree with. Pretty much anything goes that shows you are an adult thinker. You need to leave your blog comment in a way that clearly identifies you (so please use “Derek A.” if there are multiple Derek’s).

This will count towards 35% of your final grade.

Exertion Games

2009-06-11T12:18:00.003+10:00

These are the final project presentations on physical and exertion games:

Each team consisted of 5 team members, who had to develop a physical or exertion game concept, present it for intense review from their peers, and develop a website arguing for its 'awesomeness'. The link is included in each slide, and the critique can be found in the comments under each game's own blog entry.

Slides on Victoria St

2009-06-05T13:09:00.002+10:00

The slides I have received so far are up at:
Building 91, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton

Team P

2009-06-04T22:38:00.004+10:00

http://www.jumponatile.webs.com/index.htm

Team N

2009-06-04T22:37:00.004+10:00

http://map-tetris.host22.com/

Team O

2009-06-04T22:37:00.003+10:00

www.stompadoosh.com

Team M

2009-06-04T22:36:00.005+10:00

http://teammwiimaid.blogspot.com

Team L

2009-06-04T22:36:00.004+10:00

jumpshock.blogspot.com

Team K

2009-06-04T22:35:00.004+10:00

http://freshslicedtoast.blogspot.com/

Class 8: How it all comes together

2009-06-04T22:28:00.003+10:00

Hi,

Today you hopefully saw how all the individual pieces of the "exertion game puzzle" can come together: each conceptual theory piece you were introduced along the way formed the larger puzzle of what it means to design such exertion games.

And on this journey, you might have gained some insights on presentation skills, teamwork, arguing, discussing, etc.

I hope this was all useful.

Homework
Powerpoint slide of your project by midnight!
Enter project URLs into blog
Enter comments on blog before next Thursday
Enter grades before next Thursday
Next Thursday: in Stefan’s office: 4.30-7.30: feedback
1 week later: grades

For your comments below, here is a suggestion:

You all seemed to like the Nike+, and there was a good question from Michele what aspect of it is a game. Now think of all the concepts on the whiteboard: using any of these concepts, how could Nike+ be improved, and why?

Thanks again for a great opportunity to interact with your bright minds.

Thanks,
Floyd

Shameless self-plug

2009-06-04T14:48:00.001+10:00

and
http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-life/games/articles/staying-ahead-of-the-game/2009/06/03/1243708460523.html

Presentation

2009-06-03T22:49:00.003+10:00

Hi,

Here is a presentation about all the projects, each project gets one slide.
Please add in no particular order:

a representative image of your project (Use all the space! Make it look good!)
30 word description: consists usually of 2 sentences: what the game is about and why it is original.
Your URL
Team members

Feel free to play with layout, structure etc. Make the visual stick out, not the words.

Sydney

2009-06-01T09:31:00.001+10:00

I am assuming most people are already aware of "X|Media|Lab on Serious
Games" which will be in Sydney on June 12th.

More details at http://www.xmedialab.com/?q=node%2F273
Registration is $99.

The speakers are:

* Noah Falstein - President, The Inspiracy (San Francisco)
* Ondi Timoner - Director of Multiple Internationally Award
Winning Documentaries DIG! and WE LIVE IN PUBLIC Director/Producer,
Interloper Films (Los Angeles)
* Ian Bogost - Founding Partner, Persuasive Games; Associate
Professor at Georgia Tech (Atlanta)
* Lee Sheldon - Video Game Writer & Designer; Professor at Indiana
University (Indianapolis)
* Michel Mol - Director of Innovation and New Media, Netherlands
Public Broadcasting (Amsterdam)
* Joshua Harris - Internet Pioneer, Artist (Los Angeles, Sidamo)

IGDA Sydney is also organizing an event on Wednesday June 10th (Beer
and Pixels
) which Ian Bogost and Noah Falstein will try to attend if they are
not too jetlagged! It is free (except for the beer you drink) and a
good way to connect to the Sydney game developer community.

Team J

2009-05-29T12:21:00.007+10:00

http://www.irnmedia.net/virtuallimit/

Team H

2009-05-29T12:21:00.006+10:00

Daniel Angelone 3236600
Leigh Jackson 3238700
Jacob Paris 3238163
Rhiannon Baragwanath 3235028
Dylan Sterland 3236586

http://wiiroll.uuuq.com

Team F

2009-05-29T12:20:00.007+10:00

http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/head/sensorsuit/index.html

Team G

2009-05-29T12:20:00.006+10:00

Andrew Daniel Lewis S3238104
Vicky (Tamnhu Dao) Nguyen S3135111
PekLoke Tay S3214125
Samantha To S3197261

Our page is hosted at:
http://weareteamg.blogspot.com/

Team B

2009-05-29T12:18:00.002+10:00

http://ambocc.blogspot.com/

Class 7: design principles

2009-05-29T01:01:00.002+10:00

Well done on the second set of project presentations!
You have also learned about different types of parallel and non-parallel play and the implications and opportunities for you as designers.

Homework:

Please post your project URLs as separate blog entries and allow for comments.
Read the papers for next week.
Comment on today's lecture here.
Grade each project you have seen in its respective blog entry's comments. Use F, C, P, ...
Provide an explanation if you feel comfortable and think it is helpful.

Game teaching you how you make decisions

2009-05-28T09:25:00.001+10:00

http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?page_id=117
he also has some great mac vs pc videos on the page....

Presence

2009-05-28T09:15:00.002+10:00

Some of you mentioned presence, here is a nicely illustrated overview of presence research that came out. Can you see the difference to a bodily-centric view?

http://issuu.com/keho/docs/presenceforeveryone/39

iAwards Wednesday

2009-05-25T23:17:00.001+10:00

Apparently there was also an entertainment entry...and it's free for students!
http://www.aiia.com.au/event_details.aspx?ID=6f948f57-7d39-de11-be6e-001b78cbf152

More Arduino

2009-05-25T15:21:00.002+10:00

Jonathan Oxer from Melbourne (who has implanted an RFID chip in his arm) is writing a book on Arduino with lots of examples on his blogs.

Team D

2009-05-25T14:14:00.003+10:00

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=99607801418&ref=ts

Birds and brains and mind and body.

2009-05-23T13:30:00.008+10:00

A few films about the topics we've been talking about recently.

1. The intelligence of crows.

2. Catalyst, the ABC's science show, on how the mind-body loop can be easily broken.

3. On why games might be a good idea for animals:

A 137 pound orang-utan with a history of mischief short-circuited an electric barrier, then built a makeshift ladder to escape from her enclosure, forcing Adelaide Zoo to be evacuated on one of its busiest days of the year.

Karta, a 27-year-old female, jammed a stick into wires connected to the barrier, then piled up shrubs, roots and debris to create a platform. Using it as a stepladder, she climbed up onto the concrete and glass wall surrounding her enclosure, where she was spotted by a member of the public who raised the alarm.

Rest here.
Zoos spend millions of dollars on keeping animals entertained, and bored animals may become depressed, aggressive or sick. Animals with active minds and bodies are happier and healthier. Zoos already use puzzle games as a substitute for predators' hunting instinct, such as this otter with his fish-flavoured ice-cream:

or use toys to keep them active, like these cats and their pumpkins:

TIGERS LEOPARDS Vs Pumpkins! - The best video clips are right here

So games for animals may actually save zoos money and help conservation efforts.

4. Aimee Mullins and her 12 pairs of legs.

Barrel Roll's Presentation.

2009-05-23T13:14:00.001+10:00

Push! Dodge! Balance!

2009-05-23T00:15:00.004+10:00

Hell yeah, pushing.
epicgame.diaryland.com

We are Team E, consisting of:
Rachel Shi,
Jesse Holtham,
Rory Sampson,
John Gregg
and Anh-Tu Tran

Thank you for your time and mercy.

Class 6: Social Play

2009-05-21T23:06:00.008+10:00

Well done on the first set of project presentations!
You have also learned about social play and the social ritual of play.

The presentations touched on some very interesting aspects, and I did not want to interrupt, but sorry that I did: because of Rob's great comment, I had to quickly mention the difference between parallel and non-parallel play; thanks to the last group who let me 'use' them to explain the concept.

I would like to dig a little bit deeper here, to help clarify if you have some questions about it (I am only figuring it out slowly myself):

Think of 3 activities: (Note: they are all competitive)

400m
This is a parallel game, or 'race', as the player have no 'direct' way of influencing the other player's physical performance. There is no 'offense' or 'defense'. The players face the same direction. The players' spaces are physically separated (by a white line).

Aussie Rules
This is a non-parallel game, or 'match'. The player has a 'direct' way of influencing the other player's physical performance (you can chose to kick goals or prevent goals, the defenders in American football are an extreme example: their only job is to defend, they will never score). There is 'offense' and 'defense'. The players face each other (especially at the start). A player can only be as good as the other opponent allows him to be. The players share a space. The players experience bodily feedback from opponents.

Tennis
Different to traditional sports such as Aussie Rules above, but it is still a non-parallel game: The players face each other, but they do NOT share a space, (the net separates them). However, they share a ball: this allows for 'offense' and 'defense'. The players still experience bodily feedback from opponents, but 'through' the ball as proxy.

Social implications
So does that mean that only Aussie Rules is social? No, as Rob will hopefully confirm, a 400m game is also social: I predict that his personal best was probably achieved in a race with others, possibly amongst a large crowd: the social presence of others affects your physical performance (can be negative, too, see stage fright), so it was a social experience.
But these sports experiences are also not the same socially. We can only conclude that they are social, and different. But what we can do is acknowledging these differences, and considering them in our designs.

How? (Mark might ask)
By realizing that there are 2 spaces in exergames (at least in most of the ones we play):

1. The exertion space: this is the space in which we exert our body.
This space can be social, for example when playing with others in the same room, but the experience is (so far) pretty much always parallel: we never physically interfere with the other player. You can imagine a 400m-line drawn between each Wii player, and you get the idea.

2. The virtual space: this is what happens in the virtual world, displayed on the screen.
This space can also be parallel (see 400m Wii Olympics: parallel in both exertion and virtual space), mimicking the parallel exertion activity in the exertion space.
OR: you, as the designer, can change this, and make it non-parallel: for example, your Wii Olympics avatars can run into each other and push each other over to win. OR: Wii tennis: the shared ball is virtual. Or Wii Aussie Rules: the virtual space is shared.
With these examples you can see why Wii tennis is easier to design than Wii Aussie Rules in terms of input control: in Wii tennis, you only have to accept that there is no physical feedback from the virtual ball (the feedback transcends from the virtual back into the exertion space), in Wii Aussie Rules, the physical feedback that is missing is from the ball and the other players, and accomodating that is harder.

And this is why we have to know about this, as we need to consider these social aspects of different sports experiences in our designs:
For example, by knowing that parallel exertion play turns into non-parallel virtual play, we can accommodate for its shortcomings:

we need to think how to compensate for the lack of physical feedback
but also the fact that the players do not face each other anymore while thinking about
how they can still experience offense and defense
...

Think of Breakout for Two: if each brick would immediately break when hit the first time, it would be a parallel game (in the exertion and virtual space), but because the bricks are shared and only break and score a point when hit three times, the virtual space offers non-parallel play, allowing for offense and defense.

Conclusion
Technology does allow accommodating people with different preferences (parallel or non-parallel sportspeople), but also to mix these different sports styles to allow for new experiences, such as turning a 400m race into a 'match', allowing people with different physical capabilities to play together, play over a distance, ...
and these are the opportunities for you as designers!
So grab them!

Did I get this right Rob?

See also as example:

Homework:

Please post your project URLs as separate blog entries and allow for comments.
Read the papers for next week.
Comment on today's lecture here.
Grade each project you have seen in its respective blog entry's comments. (You should know by now what makes a great game, so use that knowledge and its terminology)
Provide an explanation if you feel comfortable and think it is helpful.

Roly Poly

2009-05-21T15:53:00.003+10:00

BOO YEAH.
Blog is up for our game.
We're group A.
Sophie Bryson
Raphael Chung
Thomas Eccles
Gan Cheng
Timothy Goschnick
Victoria Na

NERD LOVE!

OUR GAME!

CAPITALS!!!

Help! Still looking to join a group...

2009-05-21T15:11:00.002+10:00

Hello everyone, It's Vicky.
Sorry for the inconvenience and the hassle but I'm still struggling to find a group to join, so if anyone is kind enough to let me join a group, I'll be more than happy to accept the invitation.
My mobile number is here for contact: 0412478559
Also feel free to send an e-mail instead if you want: s3135111@student.rmit.edu.au
Cheers
Vicky.

Your projects go here

2009-05-21T14:53:00.002+10:00

Your project's website needs to be entered here, on the main page, as a new, separate blog entry. You are all admins, so you can just log in and create a new blog entry.
If you do not want to create a new webpage, you can also document your project with the blog entry, of course.

Coding for Mario

2009-05-19T09:29:00.000+10:00

** IFIP ENTERTAINMENT COMPUTING NEWS SERVICE
** http://listserver.tue.nl/mailman/listinfo/icec
** Send all news to: icec@listserver.tue.nl
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Call for Participation in the Mario Competition
IEEE Games Innovation Conference (ICE-GIC 09)

Organized by Sergey Karakovskiy and Julian Togelius, in association with
the IEEE Games Innovation Conference 2009, this competition is about
learning, or otherwise developing, the best controller (agent) for a
version of Super Mario Bros, defined as the controller that wins as many
levels (of increasing difficulty) as possible.

One of the main purposes of this competition is to be able to compare
different controller development methodologies against each other, both
those based on learning techniques such as artificial evolution and those
that are completely hand-coded. We hope to attract leading experts on
various learning methods and controller architectures to test their
techniques on this challenging problem. But we also encourage using the
competition and its associated software for student projects and
assignments.

The competition software is in Java and designed to be as simple as
possible to get started with, with no external dependencies. Submissions
in Java are encouraged, but any programming language can be used thanks to
a TCP client/server interface (example Python client provided). The
organization of the competition is similar to the simulated car racing
competitions held in conjunction with recent IEEE conferences: submission
will be by email, and the source code of all submitted entries will be
published on the competition web page.

Deadline for submitting controllers: 18 August, a week before ICE-GIC in
London.

URL: http://julian.togelius.com/mariocompetition2009/

Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/mariocompetition (please join
this group if you plan to participate in the competition - all technical
discussion will take part in this group)

Competitors will be invited to give short presentations of their
controllers at ICE-GIC, and a prize will be awarded for the best
controller. Attendance at the conference is not mandatory for
participating in the competition.****************************************************
** To send and receive IFIP-EC-NEWS, go to
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Bodily game for relaxation

2009-05-19T09:26:00.002+10:00

from Pranee's friend Ian Bogost:

http://www.bogost.com/games/guru_meditation.shtml

Reading acceleration data off iPhone easily

2009-05-15T20:56:00.002+10:00

Hi,

I've just seen a talk by Bert Bongers, and he told me about this cool iPhone app MRMR
http://poly.share.dj/projects/#mrmr
which reads out acceleration data off the iphone, but also button presses etc. and sends it wirelessly to, for example, a max/msp patch. This makes it very easy to build a project that detects movements or touch input and have a response on a screen nearby.

Hope this helps some of you realizing your ideas.

Cheers,
F

Class 5: Difference between a good and a very good game

2009-05-14T20:54:00.003+10:00

Today you have learned about how a mindset on the design themes for exertion games can make a difference between a good game and a very good game.

You have also practiced presenting an elevator pitch, and received feedback from the entire class on your project.

You have also learned that you can easily extend your game to the physical world with Arduinos and the Wiimote, please refer to the groups' members if you have any questions.

Please make sure you check the project presentation page that you know your team's letter and when to present your final project.

Homework

Use today’s feedback in your project
Your project needs a webpage!
Prepare a 5 min presentation of your project
Enter your blog comment
Read presentationzen.com

Mailinglist for exergames in AU and NZ

2009-05-13T00:31:00.001+10:00

Hi,

I've just created a new mailinglist for people interested in exergames in AU and NZ.
To join, send email to

exergames-australia-subscribe@googlegroups.com

Cheers,
Floyd