10/27/2014 - Play-Testing

The IGF student competition has its submission deadlines at the end of this week, so Zuoming, Cindy, Tyler and Mark were here to let us play-test their game and get some valuable - pretty much last minute - feedback. All around there were spouts of frustration, glitches being found, sheep being pushed off cliffs (and garbage cans), and pizza being eaten. Hopefully the team can squash some of those bugs and most importantly, come up with a name for their game, before the deadline. Good luck!

Announcements: Read this excerpt from Cindy's wonderfully worded email about the workshop.

"So I know I wasn't very clear about what time the Rapid Prototyping Workshop was, but it will be Saturday, November 1stat around 4PM. I say around because I will be coming back from Seattle! So please bear with me! I'll bring you presents, hahaha. But if you are interested, you do not have to know how to code to attend this workshop! This workshop is CODE-FREE. I will supply assets for you and we will be building a game together. :) 

To RSVP: http://goo.gl/forms/aDf5rOpk4l

To download Stencyl: http://www.stencyl.com/

And when the date gets closer, I will send you guys the assets that we will be using! We will be in ECE 105 for this workshop. Parking is free on weekends ( unless it's a game day... )."

Also, about the quickly approaching Game Jam!

"GAME JAM is coming around the corner! It's sneaking up on us like a wild animal on its prey... If you are interested in Game Jam, and now you know that you can go, please sign up! We need to know how much food to get for you guys, and how much space we need to accommodate.

Please RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1D0hD7Dm9QfLJQ6L_-ZrcSlVyTOie4CrCZ-COismj0SU/viewform "

Hope to see lots of people at these two events!

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10/20/2014 - Tile Art

Hi again, sorry this recap is a bit late. This [last] week our Final Boss (Cindy Trieu) gave a talk and demonstration on creating tile art in Photoshop CS2, Blender and Gimp. This comes in handy when you're creating a 2-D game and need to populate it with graphics.

Throughout the discussion our group had some heated debates about whether lava was better than forests or whether the wall should be grassy, viney, or grassy-viney. In the end, the answer still alluded us so we all decided that drawing Mario was the correct response.

Here is the followup video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFvsRvo_78Y

*For announcements see next [this] weeks recap.

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10/03/2014 - GDC and Competitive Balance

Hey all,

This week we went more in depth on our future trip to GDC in San Francisco. There are a few things to note about this...

If you would like to go on the trip then please sign up here. We will try to get funding from ASUA and the computer science department, but to qualify for this funding you need to fill out a CA application. Being a CA (Conference Associate) enable you to get a free all-access pass, significantly lowering the cost of the trip. We will also be trying out some fundraising ideas.


For the other half of the meeting Patrick gave a talk on balancing competitive games - Halo. He focused on a multiplayer game because he found that the ideas translated more easily to single player games than they would the other way around...


Tuning Knobs: These are areas that are easily to change technically and can have relatively easy to identify affects on gameplay. Crank them high when starting the balancing process.

Game Mechanics: With your tuning knobs turned up see which of the mechanics you actually consider fun and focus on those. Also, identify which mechanics are not fun or are overly complex.

Feedback: Player feedback is nice near the end, but remember that you can't please everyone and everyone is looking out for what makes the game most fun to them.

See you all next week!

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Game Night on Friday, October 10th!

The GameDev Club is teaming up with the IEEE club to hold another game night! There will be food, and everyone is encouraged to bring their own games, consoles, snacks, computers, batteries, etc. This Friday is a special day because it is the first Game Night following the release of Super Smash Bros for the 3DS.

• When: Friday, October 10th, starting at 5:30pm until midnight.
• Where: Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) building, room 105 (map below)

As usual, the free food that we get is funded by your donations, so if you plan to donate, remember to bring some money.

Important Info

1. You can park for free in the parking lot by the ECE building (lot #3039) after 5:00pm.
2. The doors for the building (as well as the elevator) close at around 6pm, so call the IEEE room at 520-626-7324 if you're locked out. It's best to add that number to your contacts, just in case.
3. In order to get to the bottom floor of the ECE building, please only use the South stairwell door, which will be left open.
4. While we've never had any incidents before, the clubs are not responsible for damaged, lost, or stolen valuables. It's generally good practice to label your things to make sure they don't get mixed up.
5. In accordance to university policy, no alcohol, firearms, or weapons will be allowed.

University Map

Below is a map of where the ECE building is. To view the map in another window, click here.


View Larger Map

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10/06/2014 - Rapid Prototyping

This Monday evening our beloved ex-president (now vice) gave a talk on rapid prototyping. Pulling from his past experiences and especially his ongoing student IGF project, he went through the process and benefits of this development process.

Some of the things to take away from his presentation...

1. Prototypes are a great way to get an idea of how your brainstormed ideas will work as games.
2. They save a lot of time due to not requiring a lot of coding.
3. Set a deadline on each prototype.
4. Before starting, make sure to ask yourself, "what do I want to learn from this prototype?"

Next week Patrick will be giving a talk on gameplay balance. We'll also be talking about GDC, so if you plan on coming, or are interested in how the largest Game Developers Conference operates come join us!

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First Meeting of the year!

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to the beginning of another year of hard work, tears, and sleep deprivation! I hope you all had a wonderful summer, and I'm excited to tell everybody that the first meeting of the year is this upcoming Monday, September 8th in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building in room 105 at 5PM. So pretty much the usual time and place. 

For the first meeting of the semester, we'll be introducing ourselves to newer members. We then will be showcasing games that people have been making over the summer! If you made a game this summer ( or recently ), then send it to me! We'll show it off, playtest it, give you feedback, whatever you need! Even if it isn't done, we'd love to check it out and help you make it even better. So please email me at cindytrieu@email.arizona.edu and we'll show it during the first meeting!

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Game Night on Friday, May 9th!

The GameDev Club is teaming up with the IEEE club to hold the LAST game night of the year! Austin Wintory Jordan Wallet will be there!

 There will be food, and everyone is encouraged to bring their own games, consoles, snacks, computers, batteries, etc.

• When: Friday, May 9th, starting at 5:30pm until midnight.
• Where: Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) building, room 105 (map below)
• RSVP: http://bit.ly/IEEEGameNight

As usual, the free food that we get is funded by your donations, so if you plan to donate, remember to bring some money.

Important Info

1. You can park for free in the parking lot by the ECE building (lot #3039) after 5:00pm.
2. The doors for the building (as well as the elevator) close at around 6pm, so call the IEEE room at 520-626-7324 if you're locked out. It's best to add that number to your contacts, just in case.
3. In order to get to the bottom floor of the ECE building, please only use the South stairwell door, which will be left open.
4. While we've never had any incidents before, the clubs are not responsible for damaged, lost, or stolen valuables. It's generally good practice to label your things to make sure they don't get mixed up.
5. In accordance to university policy, no alcohol, firearms, or weapons will be allowed.

University Map

Below is a map of where the ECE building is. To view the map in another window, click here.


View Larger Map

Questions

If you have any questions, send an email to Livio at ldelac01@email.arizona.edu, Zuoming at zuomingshi@email.arizona.edu, or Cindy at cindytrieu@email.arizona.edu.

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Photos from the Spring 2014 Game Jam

This semester's game jam was so awesome that this post probably won't be able to do it justice. The theme for this game jam was flowers, and so everyone had to make a game that tied to the theme in some way within 42 hours. There were around 16 participants and about four non-participants. Fortunately, there was a healthy number of both frequent participants and newcomers, and they divided themselves into five teams.

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4/7/2014 - The GDC Rant Panel

We dedicated this week's meeting to talking about our club's trip to GDC. We organized the meeting like a typical GDC rant session, where everyone who went to GDC (all eight of us) sat at a long table in the front of the room. We each took turns talking about our favorite parts of the trip, what we learned, and advice for attending next year.

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Game Night on Friday, April 11th!

The GameDev Club is teaming up with the IEEE club to hold another game night! There will be food, and everyone is encouraged to bring their own games, consoles, snacks, computers, batteries, etc.

• When: Friday, April 11th, starting at 5:30pm until midnight.
• Where: Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) building, room 105 (map below)
• RSVP: http://bit.ly/IEEEGameNight

As usual, the free food that we get is funded by your donations, so if you plan to donate, remember to bring some money.

Important Info

1. You can park for free in the parking lot by the ECE building (lot #3039) after 5:00pm.
2. The doors for the building (as well as the elevator) close at around 6pm, so call the IEEE room at 520-626-7324 if you're locked out. It's best to add that number to your contacts, just in case.
3. In order to get to the bottom floor of the ECE building, please only use the South stairwell door, which will be left open.
4. While we've never had any incidents before, the clubs are not responsible for damaged, lost, or stolen valuables. It's generally good practice to label your things to make sure they don't get mixed up.
5. In accordance to university policy, no alcohol, firearms, or weapons will be allowed.

University Map

Below is a map of where the ECE building is. To view the map in another window, click here.


View Larger Map

Questions

If you have any questions, send an email to Livio at ldelac01@email.arizona.edu.

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Volunteer Opportunity for a Charity Game Project

Last week, Juan Cuadra came to our meeting to talk about this really cool project that he's working on to make some kind of interactive play experience for child patients of the Diamond Children's Hospital at the University of Arizona Medical Center. If you're interested in helping out with this project, please email Juan at: juan.cuadra7@gmail.com

Here's a quick summary of the project (this is my summary of the meeting, not a list of what Juan's looking for specifically, so if you have questions, please ask him directly):

• The goal of the project is to create something that will allow kids to play some kind of game without having to touch any toys or controllers or anything (which is an important safety precaution when dealing with patients). The display will use cameras, sensors, and projectors to make the game work, and there's an opportunity to make the game work with the Kinect.
• The project is mostly undefined and currently seeking funding, so if you were to get involved, part of your responsibilities will be to help define the project further, much in the same way that a game designer would define a game project, and it will likely involve doing some user research so that you can better understand the space that you're working in.
• In addition to the game design work that needs to be done, there is also engineering work to do, such as programming, art, sound, etc.
• There's also work to be done on the setup of the display. The technologies that will be used for the cameras and sensors are still to be determined, and you'll also have to figure out how to program for that technology.

Like I said during the meeting, you can probably get course credit for working on this project by pitching it to either a CS or SISTA professor as a potential research project. If you have questions about the specifics on how to do that, you can talk to either me (ldelac01@email.arizona.edu) or Zuoming (zuomingshi@email.arizona.edu)

So if you're interested in volunteering for this super cool project, please contact Juan Cuadra: juan.cuadra7@gmail.com

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3/31/2014 - Roblox talk, and Volunteer Opportunity

During this week's meeting, Greyson gave a talk about how he has been making money by making games on Roblox. Click here to download the slides from his presentation.

We also had Juan Cuadra from Pima Community College come to give a presentation about a new charity-based game project that he's starting. It looked like an awesome project, and he's looking for students who are willing to volunteer their time to help work on it. Click here to read more about his project.

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