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.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Invite: First year students present their physical games next Thursday 15 April 2010: 5-8pm
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.
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.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Lecture 5: 8Apr2010 Jogging over a Distance
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!)
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!)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Lecture 4: 25Mar2010 Gerard
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
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
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Fwd: TAG - Video Annotation Game - Try it out now!
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/
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/
Monday, March 22, 2010
Exergaming catalogue
Might give you some ideas what is out there already:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=110533702291645&id=95915564396
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=110533702291645&id=95915564396
Friday, March 19, 2010
Lecture 3: 18Mar2010 Madness
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:
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
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
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
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