DEEM Directory Flyer

At the IGDA meeting, a flyer was handed out about the Digital Entertainment and Emerging Media diectory for Maryland. If you'd like a copy of the fly or more info, I've posted a scan in the repository: DEEM Directory Info.

Assignments Clarification for Weeks 12 & 13

If you are missing something, get it to me asap.
If you have questions, email me so I can help.

Week 12:
Everyone needs to do the week 12 animation homework assignment.

Week 13:

• If you came to the IGDA meeting on 4/27 and signed in with me, then you get credit for week 13.You have no other assignments for week 13.
• If you did not attend the meeting, you need to send me the week 13 alternate assignment for class credit.

There is no other homework for week 13.

Week 13: Alternate Assignment

If you opt not to attend the IGDA meeting, please complete the short assignment below today 4/27/10 and email it to me.

Assignment:

• Last week's homework reading selected by Mr. Medina examined the rise and fall of sprite quality of several classic 2D sprite characters. 
• In just a few sentences, what are some of the characteristic differences between good sprites and sloppy/bad sprites? (Tell me "what went wrong" with the later development of some of those 2D sprites.)
• This is in place of the quiz and so I will decline any late work for this assignment. Also, in fairness, this is not available as extra credit if you also attend the IGDA meeting.
• Please email your response to me today, 4/27/10.

Homework:  
There is no homework assignment for this week.

Prep for next week:
Next class will be 5/4/10 on Usability in UI. Please have your skinned mockup assignment available online for easy access in class, as we will be doing an in-class activity with usability testing them.

Week 13: (4/27/10) IGDA Meeting or Assignment

EDIT: 9:00 pm 4/26/10: Soda, beer, and food at the meeting are generally reserved for IGDA members, but since there will be many non-members and students at this meeting, the president has allowed food and beverage for this meeting to anyone who donates $10 to the IGDA (to cover themselves for the night, since IGDA members pay dues to cover costs). 

So, if you'd like food and beverage with the meeting, bring $10 cash, exact change. Also, there are soda and snack machines available in the meeting area. 

There will be no official class meeting for the week of 4/27. You may select one of the following options:

Option A: 
Attend the IGDA meeting this week at Firaxis Games at 7pm. You MUST sign in with me thatnight to get credit for coming to the meeting.
Dan Baker will be giving his talk from GDC on the tech behind CivV.


Firaxis Games
10 Loveton Circle,
Sparks, MD 21152

Please post a reply with email contact info to this post if you have spare seats for carpooling or are interested carpooling, so hopefully you all can connect.

Option B: 
If you can't make it to the IGDA meeting or decide not to come to the meeting, you will be writing a short essay and emailing it to me on 4/27. (I'm expecting you to use our regular class time to complete the short assignment.) I will update this post with the assignment on that afternoon.

Homework Activity:
There is no homework activity for this week.

I will see you all back in class 5/4/10. We'll be working on critiques and usability reviews of the skinned mockup screens you worked on.

Week 12: Animation with El Medina

Readings:

• Mario development: http://nfggames.com/games/mariosprites/
• Sonic development: http://nfggames.com/games/SonicSprites/   
• Bonk development: http://nfgworld.com/mb/thread/724

Sprite Sheet Resources:

• http://www.videogamesprites.net/      
• http://spritecity0.tripod.com/id4.html  
• http://sdb.drshnaps.com/display.php?object=5494   

Animation Critique Activity:

1. Select a game with interesting visual effects. 
2. Write a short essay discussing the animation and visual effects in this game, generally but please focus on the user interface: 
• Describe the animation and effects. 
• How do these or some of these effects help to enrich the game experience? What works well?
• What aspects or effects detract from the game? How do they detract from the experience? 
3. Post a link to your essay.

Reminder: guest lecture tonight with El Medina

Tonight's guest lecturer will be El Medina. Here is El's resume in the repository.

BHG Open House for Art & Animation Students

Thought some of you might be interested in this public service announcement.

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Big Huge Games is pleased to invite Art and Animation students from local colleges and universities to their Spring 2010 Art Open House. The event will be held on Wednesday, April 21st from 6-9pm at their studio in Timonium, MD. Join them for a tour that includes free food and plenty of game art creation discussions. In addition, Big Huge Artists will be available for student portfolio reviews and feedback. Portfolio reviews will be first come, first serve. We kindly ask that you RSVP below or via email to RSVP@bighugegames.com by April 20th. In your RSVP please note if you'd like to reserve a portfolio review slot and specify your primary area of interest (concept, character, environment, animation, modeling, texturing, etc...). Review sessions are limited and during past Open Houses have filled up quickly.

Week 11: Implementation

Starter files and in-class activity guide located in the repository.


Readings:

1. Ben Fry & Casey Reas "Getting Started with Processing" - http://processing.org/learning/gettingstarted/
2. Wiki: "Polling (computer science)" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polling_%28computer_science%29
3. Wiki: "Event-Driven Programming" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event-driven_programming

Homework: Implementation Project

1. Download the starter file from the repository. This file has a simple simulation running of a bouncing ball. 
2. Create at least two displays of data in this file, describing interesting data that is changing. Examples of data you could show: 
• The current location (x,y) of the ball
• The direction of the ball as a vector
• The current angle of the ball
• The color of the ball
• The number of times the ball has bounced
• The total distance that the ball has traveled while the simulation has been running.
• and so on...
3. For your font to display, use either your font from your style guide, or another font that we did not use in the class activities. (You will need to create your own font using the Sketchbook.)
4. Create a text file in your script folder called writeup.txt . Give me a short writeup of your experience with this project answering these questions:
1. What was easy?
2. What was difficult? 
3. What was new to you? 
4. What was most interesting / enjoyable? 
5. What would you change or do differently if you were to redo this project?
5. Pack your final script folder up as a zip file. Be sure to put YOUR NAME in the zip file name. (I will dock you for this! Easy points! Do it!!!) 
6. Post a link to your zip in this blog post. 
7. I will be running your project from the code, not from any exported files. Your code must compile and run. 
8. OPTIONAL because your brain just wants a challenge / an interesting portfolio piece: 
• add user interface controls to your project such as a slider to change colors or speed
• create multiple balls and have them reflect off of each other / improve the bounce physics and create interesting data display
• investigate other ways to show data visually in the simulation beyond text 

Resources:

1. Dan Chudnov - video on learning to code with processing http://vimeo.com/1031578

Week 10: UML

UPDATE: 4/13/2010 12:22pm: Comments turned on.

The topics in the class schedule have been modified. Check the repository for updated topic order. 

Lecture notes and in-class activity worksheets are in the repository.

Readings:

1. UML reference sheet: http://www.holub.com/goodies/uml/
2. Practical UML: http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/31863 
3. Programming concepts: http://www.landofcode.com/programming-intro/computer-programming-concepts.php
4. Object-Oriented Game Design: http://www.devmaster.net/articles/oo-game-design/

Resources / optional reading:

1. UML Diagram references: http://www.vinci.org/uml/
   
2. UML Basics from IBM: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/769.html
3. Description of the parts of a UML Diagram (the arrows, dots, etc.): http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/activityDiagram.htm

UML Diagram Project:

1. Decide on a classic arcade game to design. (You can play flash version of many arcade games here: http://www.classicgamesarcade.com )
2. Write a textual description of the game, a few sentences describing the primary mechanic.
3. Use your description to come up with an initial class diagram. You are modeling at the conceptual level.  
4. Create an object diagram by using post-it notes or movieclips etc to create instances of your objects.
5. Move the objects around in to create scenarios that the objects need to interact.  Develop an activity diagram for your simple game logic.  Does this modify your design?  If so, modify your design.
6. You may work however you are most comfortable, using a whiteboard, pen & paper, post-it notes, drawing software, etc., but you will need to digitize your final submission (photo, scan, or render as bitmap). As long as it's legible, it's fine.
7. Deliverables: place the text and diagrams on a single web page, in a doc, or in a folder so you can post one link to all of your materials.
• A description of your classic arcade game. Include a link to a flash version or a screenshot if handy. 
• A high-level class diagram.
• A activity diagram for a sample interaction between the objects.