I leave for the airport in two hours, and will be home sometime tonight. I'll probably want to sleep for a day or two, but after that who wants to go out and play? Or stay in and play. I'm okay with either :-)

At the lab, working on Ragnarokk. Grabbed a screenshot I thought you all might enjoy. This is what happens when the player casts the fire spell:

Hehehe. School is awesome.

Some links:

Ragnarokk website...because I do so adore web design :-P
Altepehua Plot...a lot of content is missing, but this is the basic sequence of events

And some pictures:

Screenshot from "Cante, Florezca". This is the title screen, minus links. Once we have an installer built, I'll link to that so you can download and play the game.

This is a spread from the atlas for my world, Altepehua. As you can see, the atlas is based heavily on a history textbook. I'm almost done with it, and will link to that once it's posted as well.

This is a screenshot from the Spatial Palimpsest project. This doesn't look like much, but the code behind it is much cleverer (I promise). What you're seeing in that placemark is a Flash widget that is pulling photos and data from Flickr, and playing audio hosted on a separate web server. The placemark is also time stamped, so you could potentially see a different one of these for different dates on the timeline at the top.

WOW I'm tired.

Holy crap! A post! I know, I'm shocked too. Try not to faint.

Quick update on how things are going, and then I'm off for Thanksgiving. I won't lie to you, this is as much an update for me as it is for you. I figure if I write it all down in one place, that'll help me figure out where I'm at with all my projects :-)

-RagnaRokk: Oh my, this one has been a time sink. We're making progress, it's just been very up-and-down. All of the music is written, which is amazing. We have a heavy metal arrangement of Ride of the Valkyries that is probably the best thing I have heard ever. Side note: I now listen to heavy metal on a regular basis, for fun. I find this as surprising as you do. Anyway, the art is coming along and looks AWESOME. There was a major delay on the programming side of things, but this past Thursday three more engineers joined the team, so that was a major relief. I've learned that baked goods, particularly homemade pie, are an excellent currency when dealing with engineers. They will work for HOURS if I just bring them the occasional slice of pie or cookie. After Thanksgiving I am going to just stock up on flour, butter, and sugar, as I foresee many many loooooong nights in our future.

-¡Cante, florezca!: Polyphony (the flowers+music game) has a new name to go with its new look. We've taken the art style and changed it so that it looks a lot like cubism. It's kind of trippy, but I really like it. Gameplay is all in place, all the static art (the stuff that doesn't move) is in, and the composer is working away at our music. All that's left is an interactive tutorial to teach people how to play and some animated scenes that tell the game's story in between levels. Piece of cake, right? :-P

-Spatial Palimpsest: This project is, I believe, new to the blog. We're using a combination of Google Earth, Flash, and Flickr to create a method for people to document how their areas change over time. Basically, what you'd see as a user is a map in Google Earth with landmarks on it, and each landmark would be tagged with time data. So if you're looking at, say, Hollywood Boulevard, and you click on Grauman's Chinese Theatre, you could see photos and information about the theatre today, and then slide a time slider to see that same location as it looked in 1920, 1960, etc. What we're hoping to do is develop a process for how to do this kind of historical documentation, and then create a tutorial that would teach others how to do it. Dunno if it will go anywhere after it's done, but it's been interesting to do the programming for it.

-Altepehua: This is my alternate history for North America, that explores what would happen if Europeans didn't reach North America until like, 1800. I've laid out how I think the timeline will progress more or less, and am working on details of how the rest of the world works (like, why DIDN'T Europe arrive on schedule?). I've settled on my presentation format as well: the major portion will be a chapter from a high school history textbook, written as if the events in my world are actual history. There will also be corollary materials, like a sample exam and some in-class exercises, that will allow for inclusion of more world details. I will be spending the next two weeks or so writing text and creating info-graphics. Should be...fun?

-Health game: My boss and I have been working on a concept for a game that addresses social issues related to genetic blood disorders. I know, weird. Think of it like a documentary film, except instead of making a movie, we're making a video game. So far it's mostly just been a lot of research into other games that have tried similar things, but I think it'll end up being kind of cool. I just found out that the latest version of Flash will let me make programs for my cell phone, so I'm going to have to try that out and see what I can get it to do.

Hm...I think that may be it. It doesn't seem like that much when it's all laid out like this, but MAN I've been busy. Anyway, hope everyone has a great holiday, and I will see a lot of you this week!

Well, I finally raided my camera and updated Flickr. So the pics from my birthday (some of them, at least) can be found here. A lot of the rave ones were blurry, so I posted the ones that were easiest to make out.

In other news, we have a promo poster for RagnaRokk, and it's pretty great:


Other than that, things are moving along at their usual crazy pace. Will try to post again soon. Night all!

So, by preordering Hellgate: London, I got myself a pass into the game's beta test, which is going on right now. I have to say, I am REALLY REALLY EXCITED to play the full game. I know some people have been complaining that it's too much like Diablo, but guys, DIABLO WAS AWESOME. There is nothing wrong with more Diablo. That said, this is TuathaKane:

Tuatha is a Templar Guardian. He is 7 feet tall. He carries a flaming sword, and he kills demons with it. He is without a doubt the best MMO character I have ever created.

So, long story short, those of you who are planning to join me for Hellgate: London, get excited. It is lots and lots of fun.

I know, I owe you guys a post about last weekend, and I'll get that up tomorrow night after my meetings are done. So, you know. Everyone who doesn't care about Hellgate will have a more interesting post soon ;-)

Stories (and more pictures) later, but for now: http://flickr.com/photos/dihughes/1465103555/

Hi there!

Just a quick update before I toddle off to bed:

-Ragnarokk (the viking game) is going rather well, though we had a bit of a setback this weekend. Turns out there's another student game out there that uses the guitar controller, and it's called Ragnarawk. Their game isn't really very much like ours, but just to be safe, we're going to have to change the name of our game. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, send 'em my way!

-My intermediate game class project has taken shape, finally. The game is called Polyphony, and it's...well, it's a bit odd. You have this plant, and depending on what fertilizers you put on it, different kinds of flowers will grow out of it. Now, different types of flowers correspond to different notes, so the idea is to get the plant to grow the right flowers in the right order such that they form a given melody. Sound trippy? Yeah, that's because it is. I was in a meeting the other day, thinking to myself "Okay, so if I were to add a square flower to a triangle flower, that would make...a star flower?" And at that moment, I realized I had lost my mind. Oh well. Shape/botany math aside, here are some of the images from the game (drawn by yours truly, unbelievable as that may be to anyone who's ever seen me try to draw):
This is roughly how our music/shape system works. Basically, if you've ever seen shape notation (used to be used in protestant hymnals back in the day), then you know where the concept for this comes from. We have our first playtest of this game on Wednesday, so my partner and I have furiously been churning out art and code for the past week. Here's hoping we're ready!

-I'm working on another presentation for the Game Deconstruction Group. This month's selection is Bioshock, which if you've spoken to me in the last month, you know is my current favorite game ever. I have until late October to build the presentation, so I'm taking my time in getting the research put together.

-My world building class is chugging along. This is the class where we spend a semester just coming up with a fictional world, and really getting into the details of how that world works. By the end of the semester, we've assembled something like an atlas, with maps, descriptions/pictures of the inhabitants, descriptions of the ecology, etc. My world is called Altepehua, and it's an alternate history story. The basic question that created Altepehua is, "What would happen if Europeans hadn't reached the New World until the late 19th century? How would the native civilizations have developed and spread, given an extra 400 uninterrupted years to do so?" In other words, how would the Incan, Mayan, and Aztec civilizations have grown and changed if Europeans hadn't basically annihilated them? I'm reading a lot about the history of these cultures, and trying to project how I think they would have changed (and interacted with each other) if left to their own devices. Those who are interested can read more as the story develops here: CTIN-532 Class Blog

Well, it's 3am, and I still have more Polyphony art to do, so I should probably stop procrastinating and get to it. Hope you all are doing well, and be sure to check back next week for pics of my birthday adventures. We're going to a pirate themed restaurant (like Medieval Times, but with pirates) and then to an all night techno festival in downtown LA. I am quite sure there will be massively entertaining stories and pictures from this little outing. Until then, hasta luego!

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0913/p01s04-ussc.html

I walk down the stretch of road in this picture literally every day. I am amused.

I almost forgot!!

Remember that green screen shoot I worked on in June, and couldn't say what it was? Well, the site launched about a month ago. Head over to www.cluckhere.com to check it out.

Hey everyone! Did you miss me? I bet you did.

So, the semester has started. True to form, I was busy right up until classes started, and then jumped right into classes and projects and extracurriculars. Here's what's on tap:

Internship at Fox: Wrapped this one up the Friday before classes (good thing, seeing as how working full time doesn't mix well with school). I'm really happy with how this internship went. Learned a lot, had fun. They must have been happy with me as well, since they hired two IMD people to replace me, and asked me to stay every day until my last day. Might go back next summer, we shall see.

Game Deconstruction Group: A professor of mine invited me to come and present for this organization, largely composed of important game industry types. Basically, the idea is that these guys are busy people and don't have time to play every game that's out there, so they invite intelligent, game-minded students to come in and present games they ought to know about. For my presentation, I played Maple Story, a Korean (and now US) MMO, and led a 2 1/2 hour discussion on it. The game itself is kind of lame, so I don't recommend you go out and get it, but the presentation went really well. I made some great contacts, and they've invited me back to do another game later in the semester. A guy from Yahoo games also said that if I ever had a Flash game, he'd feature it on the Yahoo Games site, so you know. Woo!

Thesis Space: I'm still employed as the site manager for the IMD thesis space. This mostly consists of telling thesis students they're not allowed to knock down walls and making sure they don't paint said walls tangerine orange. It kind of sucks to be the bad guy all the time, but eh. At least I know that when it's time for the thesis show, the space won't be a total disaster.

Intermediate Game Design: This is the first of two game classes I'm taking this semester. It's a production class, which means I'll have built a game by the time the class is over. My partner and I are talking about making a serious issue game; we're tossing around the idea of an RPG-style game where you are a homeless person in Los Angeles. This is still in a really infant stage, so stay tuned to see how it develops.

Advanced Game Design: Yes, you read that right. I'm taking Intermediate and Advanced at the same time. Why? Because I'm nuts. The game for this class is the one I've mentioned here before, RagnaRokk. We worked a lot on the game over the summer, and I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far. If anyone is interested, head over to www.playragnarokk.com/wiki to see the design doc, some level concepts, and our source/concept art library.

World Building: This one is mostly a creative writing exercise. By the end of the semester, I will have constructed an atlas for a fictional world. I have no idea yet what my world is going to be. I'm supposed to commit to a broad world concept by Thursday. Anybody got any ideas?

Experiments in Interactivity: I'm still not real sure what this class is going to be about. It seems like it's mostly theory, but by the semester we will have built something. We just don't know what yet. We're thinking of working in the interactive environments area, so that could be fun. If nothing else, the prof for this class is really trippy and fun. I'm pretty sure they invented the idea of the doddering academic just so we'd have a way to describe this guy. So even if our interactive something doesn't turn out, at least I got to talk to the fun prof for a semester.

New house: As of the first week of August, I'm living in a new place. One of these days, I will clean my room and kitchen so I can take pictures and post them here. For now, I can at least describe the place. My room is pretty big (three queen beds long by two wide...I have a queen bed, so this is the easiest way for me to describe the room's size, haha). I have a closet that runs the entire length of the room. It has a motion-sensitive light in it. This closet is epic, I'm telling you. One wall of the room glass sliding doors, leading out into the garden in the back. I can basically barbecue out the back of my bedroom. I find this immensely satisfying. The house itself is nice; one story, five bedrooms, two bathrooms. The oven in the kitchen could be bigger, but we've got two refrigerators, so I'm not complaining. I live with friends from IMD, as well as Renae (my roommate from last year). We're pretty happy with the place so far.

Archery Club: Yeah, this one kind of came out of nowhere. A friend of mine is the VP of the USC archery club, and he talked me into coming shooting with them last Sunday. I thought it was a one-time event. I was incorrect. I am now a card-carrying member of the USC Archery Club. This means that once a week, my friends and I drive out to the archery range, some nice people give us bows and arrows, and we shoot at a wall made of phone books for a couple hours. Sometimes there are targets, sometimes it's just that big wall. So far, I'm actually not terrible. I can hit a balloon from about twenty feet...when I concentrate really hard. I figure I've only been twice, and am bound to get better. They told us at practice this week that we can bring in our own targets next week. I have access to a large-format poster printer. This should be hilarious.

New computers: Yep, plural. Once per degree, the USC financial aid office allows students to apply for a budget increase so they can get a computer. I cashed mine in this semester, and got myself a Sony Vaio laptop (it's red and adorable), several hardware upgrades for my PC, and a nice pair of wireless studio-quality headphones. I now have a nice portable machine that I can use on campus and in meetings, and a super badass tower at home for video work and (of course) video games. Plus, no more rolling over my headphone cable with my computer chair 23983459240523450924 times a day. Speaking of games, if you aren't playing Bioshock, you should be. It's absolutely fantastic. Also, Dad, Chris, Kelson, and I are going to be playing Hellgate: London come November, so if anyone is interested in joining us (it's an online game), pick up a copy when it comes out and I'll tell you what server we're on. Some of my friends from school will also be playing with us, so I expect it will be quite the raucous good time.

Whew, I think that's the long and the short of it. Hope everyone is well and happy, and let's hope it's not another month before I update here!

Hey folks,

Sorry for the paucity of updates around here. As usual, things come up and Diana goes elsewhere. I'm sure most of you are aware, but there was a death in my family about two weeks ago. My grandfather Ben (Dad's dad) passed away on July 9th. It was a blow to the whole family, and I think to his community as well. My Uncle Mike put together an absolutely fantastic montage of photos of Grandpa...you can check it out here should you be so inclined: Ben G. Hughes Memorial. I'm not really a writer, but Grandpa was a teacher, so for me, the best way I can remember him is to remember all the things he taught me growing up. For those who knew him, I'm sure he taught you a lot of the same things and plenty more besides. And for those who didn't...you missed out.

1. Baking is the most important way to get ready for family coming to visit.
2. Put the charges on the ions!!
3. Any damn fool can play if he's got the cards.
4. Sitting next to Kelson means you will always, ALWAYS get your aces trumped. Grumbling about this is customary. Shouting for help from his mother will not do you any good.
5. Christmas is the most important holiday of the year.
6. Collecting things is fun...showing off the collection is even more fun.
7. Playing with little kids is fun...even if they are little monsters.
8. The computer is a toy as well as a tool.
9. It's a pain when someone else plays with your toys and puts them where you can't find them.
10. ABBA is the best band ever. Period.
11. Mama Mia is the best musical ever. See above.
12. Singing/playing all the right notes is okay, but singing with attitude is far more important.
13. The birthday song should never, ever be sung in key.
14. If your coffee gets cold, just put it in the microwave. This can be done several times, with no bad effect on the coffee.
15. All Hugheses are smart, talented, attractive, and fun. This is a direct result of Ben's genes and careful influence.
16. It is perfectly acceptable to wear black socks with sandals and shorts, so long as the socks are pulled up as far as they will go.
17. Suspenders are sexy. Yes they are, shut up.
18. Don't be condescending when speaking to children. They're smarter than they look...and probably smarter than you are.
19. There is no such thing as a stranger...there are only people who haven't seen pictures of your grandkids yet.
20. Board games are fun, card games are better. Really, though, it's just important to sit around a table to eat, tell stories, and play with people you like.
21. Baking is essentially chemistry. That's why it's so fun.
22. Organic chemistry, however, is not fun.
23. It's okay to like science fiction. It just means you're smart.
24. Families should always be expanding. If nobody is having babies, start adopting other people's kids.
25. When your baby teeth fall out, they don't come back in.
26. Teenagers are difficult to be around, but deserving of as much understanding and support as we can give them. Embarrass them in public whenever you get the chance.
27. Laughter is the best medicine. It is also an excellent hobby, form of exercise, and method of communication. Laugh more.
28. Pets (read: cats) are the same thing as kids. All should have their portrait tucked in your wallet.
29. Friends are like family. Treat them as such.
30. Stories are meant to be told. Often, and to whoever will listen.

Whew, okay. Summer? Not as laid-back as it should be. Lots going on, with highlights below. Also, I updated my Flickr with pics I've shot on my cell phone, so have a look if you're so inclined. Now then, what I've been up to since last we spoke:

Internship with Fox Interactive: Last week, I started a 40 hr/week summer internship with the division of 20th Century Fox that handles video game licensing. Basically, this group authorizes others to use Fox's properties (like 24, the Simpsons, Family Guy, etc) to make video games. The work I do generally involves looking for potential studios for us to work with (and playing their games, when possible), reading/doing preliminary evaluation on game pitches from outside studios, and playtesting games that are in production. It's a pretty sweet gig, and I'm having a good time so far.

Green screen shoot: Went home a couple weeks ago to spend two weeks working on a shoot for the Iona Group in Morton, IL. My former professor, Jim Ferolo, hired me on for green screen work. I can't really talk about what the project is, since it hasn't launched yet, but we did a week-long shoot on green screen, with digital effects and editing going on right there at the studio. For reference we basically shot and did very basic effects on the equivalent of a short feature film (about 120 mins) in a week. It was...difficult, but I think the site will be really fun. More on this after the site launches, which should be soon.

Transformers: Okay, I am a nerd. I think we've long since established this. I also have very nerdy friends. Therefore, it only makes sense that we went to see Transformers, on the day it launched, at the LA theatre that actually had the cars from the movie. Hooray for the Arclight! Pics below:
Optimus Prime is awesome. I will beat up anyone who says otherwise. Also, LA summer weather is hell on my hair :-P

Best Hummer H2 ever. I don't normally approve of Hummers, but I will make an exception because this one is a Transformer.

Bumblebee was my favorite in the movie, but this car was a little less awesome than the rest. Probably because it wasn't as massive and custom, and it lacked the Autobots logo that was featured on each of the others.

Touch panel: A project I've been working on since I started at USC is almost done. We've got this touch panel that drives our media lab, and all year we've been trying to redesign its interface. It took forever to get our hands on the code, and then another chunk of forever to get the graphics ready (partly because thesis show happened in the middle), but the project is almost done. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like:

This screen is used to route any digital source (a computer or laptop, for instance) to any of the projectors in the room, or to the plasma TV next door. Kind of cool, when you think about it.

Las Vegas: Did a weekend in Vegas this past week with my friends Ryan and Lily. It was pretty fun, and I didn't lose nearly as much money as I could have. I preferred to invest my dollars in things like show tickets and food. We had a lot of fun (read: ate too much and drank too much), and didn't take any pictures, which is exactly how Vegas is supposed to be.

That's about it, for now. I'll be working at Fox and at USC for the rest of the summer, possibly with some travel in there, and then classes begin at the end of August. I'd like to say that the blog will be updated more often, but let's be honest--my updates are sporadic at best. Hope everyone is doing well, and GOOD LUCK to Grandpa Ben, who will be in surgery tomorrow to recover from a heart attack and unrelated aneurysm in Springfield. I'll be thinking of you!

Okay, so many many things have gone down since the last time I posted here. The semester ended, the thesis show happened, I got an internship, etc. In the interest of keeping things straight, I wrote several posts (see below) relating what I've been up to when I'm not here entertaining you fine folks. The only thing I didn't cover in the below posts was a post-semester rehash, so I'll do that here:

Film class: Heaven save me from film classes, man. I mean, I know technically I'm in a cinema school, but I'm definitely not in a cinema program, so why all the film classes?? Anyway, so I took another film class. We made a movie in two weeks that we were supposed to make in a semester (got a B+, too...not too shabby considering). We shot approximately a bajillion photos for a photo book assignment (most of mine can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dihughes/sets/72157600270334839/). And we met for 8 hours a day on Saturdays for the first half of the semester to listen to one Bruce Block teach us about making films that aren't ugly. Neat.

Game class: My first game design class is done. This is the class that we did Butterfly Effect and Guitar God for. Our latest effort, Photo Op, was a rousing success. People wore silly hats, ran around like idiots, and had their pictures taken. Good times were had by all.

Writing class: Writing for Interactive Media was a fun, fun class. I never thought I'd like a writing class, but this one was interesting and gave me a chance to do writing projects related to games (so, you know, awesome).

Seminar: Meh. I'm glad seminar won't be required next year. It was interesting, but you can only listen to so many people talk for 2 hours about their work before it gets repetitious and boring.

Visits: Several people came to visit this semester. Meg was here for a few days, and bless her heart, we did my homework for about half of that. Granted, my homework involved wandering around Hollywood taking pictures and going to thrift stores to buy costume pieces, but even so. It was awesome having her here, and I promise, next time we'll do ONLY fun things.

Colin came to visit while Meg was here. Shenanigans occured. We went to a shady-ass Wal Mart and a shady-ass grocery store to get liquor, and came back to my place to watch movies and enjoy said liquor. Amuuuusing.

Lejla was here for a weekend. She was even more neglected than Meg, sorry to say. I was drowning in thesis stuff, so we didn't really get to hang out much. She will be back this weekend, though, so hopefully we can have a little more fun.

Drove out to Vegas for a weekend to see Mumsy and Daddums. We saw the Producers (yes, the Hoff in a dress was exactly as awesome as I had hoped). We went down on the strip. We gambled a bit in the casino. I got more than 6 hours of sleep two nights in a row (since this was at the height of thesis insanity, I was really excited about the sleeping). It was a lot of fun! I wanna try Vegas again when I have more than a weekend, though. Who's up for Vegas this summer? :-)

Games!

Got a few games in the works at the moment. They include:

RagnaRøkk: This one should be crazy fun. It's basically a platformer adventure game (think Zelda, God of War, etc) that you play using the Guitar Hero controller. The premise of the game is that you're a viking, and the gods have given you the ability to use rock and roll as a form of magic so that you can save the world from various monsters and demons. Levels will be built around different metal songs, with the action of the level corresponding to what is happening in the song. The story will be heavily influenced by Norse mythology, with visuals that are appropriate to the Norse and heavy metal genres. A huge challenge to build, but it should be a lot of fun. The game is my friend Mike's thesis; I will be signing on as producer. I'm also taking this as my Advanced Game Project credit, so that'll be nice.

Errantry: This one is by far the strangest of the games I'm working on, in terms of premise. Basically, you're a knight's herald, and your job is to tell stories about your knight that make him look better than all the other knights. Think Geoffrey Chaucer in A Knight's Tale. The game is played on the Wii, and uses a tarot card based system to determine how stories are told. I know, trippy right? I'm only on this one for the summer, helping with tech testing on the Wii and helping to choreograph the motions that players will be expected to be able to do.

Tenth Power: This one is another thesis project, this time for my friend Garrett. Again, I'll be on the team as the producer. Tenth power is a more traditional computer game, in terms of the controls used (PC, mouse, etc). It deals with world building and scaling, as well as getting the player really connected to the world they're moving through. The player starts as a tiny bit of energy, and as they move through the world, they grow bigger by powers of ten (so energy, then molecule, then cell, then insect, etc) As the player collects resources, they have the option to put them into their character or the environment; as the environment is fed, it grows more colorful, it fills with sounds, more creatures appear, etc. Should be a lot of fun to see how this one develops.

484/489: In the fall, I'll be taking Intermediate Game Project. The end result will be a game...the rest is up in the air at this point. I'm hoping to build it in Flash, as I'm already familiar with that environment. Stay tuned for future developments.

Summer plans!

Internship: Yep, I got myself an internship. Because, you know, I get bored and twitchy when I don't have enough to do. The internship is with Fox Interactive. I'll be doing game-related stuff, including reading proposals from outside studios, playtesting games that are in production, and helping to market proposed games internally. There is also the chance that I will be answering phones, managing appointments, and picking up lunch. Should be interesting.

Working for Jim: Because the best employees are the ones you've trained yourself ;-) Jim Ferolo was one of my professors at Bradley. I'll be home for two weeks in June helping with a green screen shoot and then digital work on the resulting footage. I have no idea what the project is about, other than it's green screen and it's for Tyson Foods. It should be a good time, as I'll be working with Jim and a couple other folks from my Bradley days.

Going home: When I'm not working for Jim, I will be at home in lovely Pekin, IL. If you're going to be in the area from June 2-17, look me up. We will go have rambunctious fun.

Craft projects: Yeah, okay, these are really nerdy. I'm doing some modifications to my Nerf guns, including paint jobs and some mechanical changes to make them work better. I'm also doing cosmetic mods to my DS Lite and possibly my PS2, because I was so pleased with the skins I got for my Wii.

Kristin: Kristin will be here for the bulk of the summer doing a couple of internships. I am quite sure that wacky fun will ensue. Stay tuned for pictures and stories.

Moving: First week of August, my friends and I will be moving into our new place. It's a cute little house, and everyone will have their own bedroom. I'm pretty excited, as this will be a return to a more Moss House style arrangement, where I actually know all my roommates. Also, rent will be a lot cheaper. And I really like cheap rent. I'll post pics of the place once we're moved in.

Pre-production: See the "Games!" entry for descriptions, but I'll be working on pre-production for a couple of games this summer. Basically, we'll be doing tech tests, working out schedules, getting a lot of the scoping issues worked out, etc. for the games we're doing in the fall.

Thesis show!

Many pics can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/uscimd/pool/

This was basically my life from the beginning of April to mid-March. We took a warehouse-type work space and turned it into a gallery/exhibition space for our thesis students. As production manager, my job was basically to make sure all the space modifications and individual project construction got done. This meant everything from painting to building walls to covering windows (no sunlight allowed...ruins the lighting for all the projectors) to gluing styrofoam to the walls (yes, we really did this. fun fact: 8'x4' foam insulation panels can be affixed to the wall using liquid nails and they are an excellent sound dampening material). I used every skill I ever learned in OM (ha, OM, remember OM guys?) and growing up in a house that was always being remodeled, plus some I kind of made up as I went along. My crew was AWESOME. We had a bunch of undergrads and grads from various cinema programs, as well as some of my IMD classmates, working together for hours upon hours on end. It's a real miracle nobody died, either me killing them or them killing me. There came a point where every six hours or so, someone would go around handing out energy drinks, bottled water, and ibuprofen. I was putting in 50-60 hours a week, and I had several crew members who had at least 30-40 hours a week. And, just for fun, in between wielding power tools and coordinating crew, my boss and I also did a lot of the graphics and web design to promote the show. Obviously, construction was INSANITY.

Then, when construction was over, we had an exhibition for a week. For those who have been to an art gallery, this was similar, except that every piece was interactive (many were games), and we had people stationed around the exhibit to explain how to use each of the installations. The installations varied; we had a dance floor you could play games on, a costume that gave you feedback on how well you moved, an MMO where you were a crime lord, an interactive movie, and so on. Each one was a different student's thesis project. We had regular exhibition hours during the day, and then on certain nights there were receptions. There was an opening reception, a USC alum reception, a closing reception, and several salons. These were always an interesting venture, as they involved dressing nicely (twice I wore a dress and heels...ew), making small talk, and keeping an eye on staff and guests to make sure everyone had what they needed.

Now, finally, we're in the tear-down phase. The space has to be put back to rights so that next year's thesis class can use it as their workspace. A lot of the major cleanup is done. I have a few organizational and storage issues to take care of, and then the next class can move in. In the meantime, my boss and I are working on policies that will govern next year's workspace rules and show construction, based on what we learned this year.

In all, the show was a success. We got everything done that we wanted to, the thesis students' work was displayed to good effect, and nobody died. I also made enough money to pay my rent for the summer, which is always neat. It sounds like I will still be site manager for the thesis space for awhile; at least until December. It remains to be seen if I will be production managing the actual show next spring or not.

This is where I've been lately...

I'll post pictures once we're a little closer to done.

Took some pics, thought I'd share:

This is Tommy Trojan. He stands in the central quad near the student union and bookstore. I think I can say with absolute certainty that everyone who has ever walked by him has tried to look up his skirt. They are all sorely disappointed, as the sculptor appears to have abandoned anatomical correctness to protect Tommy's masculine dignity.

This is the entrance to the Leavey Library, the biggest library on campus. It's pretty, and it has a reflecting pool, and...uh...yeah, I never go there.

Bought this at a thrift store today for $4. In case you're not nerdy enough to recognize it, that's a rancor. As in, the big nasty monster Luke kills at the beginning of Return of the Jedi. I named him Pork Chop. He and TMX Elmo hang out on my bookshelf. Sweetness.

Haven't been here in awhile. Sorry about that. Life is...well, it's insane. Highlights include:

-I got an Easter basket today! Well, it wasn't really a basket, it was more like a recycled Amazon.com box, but that is SO NOT THE POINT. It was full of chocolate and Life Savers and dollars and these neat marshmallow eggs that you draw on with non-toxic markers. FREAKING SWEET!! And it was waiting in front of my bedroom door when I got home from work tonight. I was all tired and cranky and depressed, and then there was this treasure trove of sugary goodness to make me feel better. Family is the best! Thanks Grandma Sharon!!

-The thesis show. Oh man, the thesis show. To give you an idea, here is my calendar for April:


All that stuff in red? That's the production schedule. And it's only about half filled in. Awesome. I'm sure I'll get more detailed about this later, but for now, let me say this: I put in ten hours today, and all we did was plan. No building, no painting, just making lists and calendars and schedules. Tomorrow, I'm going to the Garment District to shop for felt; we need approximately 150 yards of it. I could be wrong, but I believe that may be a metric assload of felt. I'm kind of excited to see the textile peoples' reactions when we ask for this stuff.

-My immune system is insane. Last week I discovered a marble-sized lump on my neck, about as big around as a nickel. It didn't hurt, it wasn't discolored, it was just HUGE. Went to the doctor, who put me on some serious antibiotics on the theory that the lump is an inflamed lymph node reacting to some illness I can't feel. Seems to be working; the lump is getting smaller. I will kind of miss it. My friends named it Mulder because we had decided it was an alien. Ah well.

-Shooting a film for Visual Expression sometime in the next two weeks. Good thing, since it's due in three weeks. We're making a five minute short about a painter who slowly goes color blind. No dialogue, no onscreen text, no lyrics to the music, just visuals and instrumental music. Film school is neat.

-Anti Easter! Since my friends and I can't go home for Easter, we decided to have an anti-Easter instead. We're going to dim sum for brunch, and then watching Halloween and Christmas specials and eating Easter candy. Naturally, the festivities take place on Saturday, not Sunday. It should be pretty epic.

-Meggles is coming to visit!! She'll be here in two weeks. I can't wait!

-Colin is coming to visit!! He'll be here in two weeks. I can't wait!

-Lejla is coming to live here!! She'll be here in three weeks. I can't wait!

-Dave is coming to live here!! He'll be here in...uhm...more than 2, but less than 4 weeks. I can't wait!

-I'm going to Vegas! We've confirmed that when Mom and Dad are in Vegas later this month, I'll drive out to meet them for a couple of days. Hooray for me, I get to see the Hoff in a dress!

Okay, I gotta go pass out, since my ride to the Garment District will be here at nine. He promised me coffee. We'll see if he delivers. Hope you all are doing well, and for those of you who're still in school, I hope the end of the semester is being kind to you. For the rest, happy Easter!

So I'm sitting in the lab on campus, rebuilding a laptop so it will be usable, and I thought I'd do a blog entry. Isn't that neat? Sure it is.

-Got the Production Manager position at work. Apparently, nobody applied, so my boss appointed me (despite my objections). It's going to be a MAJOR commitment for the next two months, but some decent paychecks and experience (and hopefully connections) will come of it, so we'll see. I'll be managing a team of 10-20 people, and I get an assistant (okay, not really. there is someone with the title of Assistant Production Manager, which really means I will do all the yelling at people and he will do all the paperwork). The laptop I'm rebuilding is for me to use during this project, so I guess that's a nice perk. Would be nicer if it had more than 256Mb of RAM in it, and REALLY nice if I didn't have to rebuild it...

-Went swing dancing with Renae and some animation people last night, and had a sweet nerd celebrity sighting. Remember Bill Nye the Science Guy? Well, apparently he is quite the avid dancer, and he was at the same club we were. AND, midway through the evening, he grabbed me and we did a turn on the floor. Very cool! Didn't have anyone take pictures, because I'm smart like that, but we did snap a few of Renae when it was her turn, so at least we can prove he was there with us. Hooray for nerd celebrity sightings!

-There is a possible Las Vegas trip in the works for April. Mumsy and Daddums will be there so Dad can attend a conference, and if I can get away from the thesis show for a few days, I will join them. See, David Hasselhoff is playing in The Producers right now and, well, I just can't pass up an opportunity to see the Hoff in a dress. I'll repeat that. The Hoff. In a dress. Singing and dancing on a stage. In Las Vegas. NICE.

I think that's all for now. Developments tend to move more slowly when school isn't in session, but I'm sure things will pick back up next week. Which reminds me: if you aren't doing anything right now, IM me or call me. Because it's still break, and I'm still BORED OUT OF MY SKULL. Thanks :-)

Some things:

-Head over to my Flickr (link in the right hand column) for pics of the Chinese New Year parade and some Roman reenactors (like Civil War reenactment, but with fewer guns and more centurions). Here are some samples:



-300 is the manliest movie ever. Seriously, I think the world's testosterone supply is depleted. Either that or it's now larger than ever, because this movie spontaneously generates more. The only way it could have been manlier is if each audience member had been handed a bacon-wrapped steak on entering the theater. Also, if you can see it on an IMAX screen, do so. It's AWESOME.

-I'm on Spring Break until the 18th. For heaven's sake, entertain me, because I will not be doing anything interesting.

So it looks like I haven't posted in a few weeks. Whoops a daisy! Here's a rundown of what I've been up to instead of posting here and entertaining you all:

-Mom and Grandma came to visit! Yaaaaaay! They were here for a little over a week, so we did a pretty good sampling of what LA has to offer. Shopping (hooray for Mommy and her Visa!!), trying new restaurants (hooray for In N Out and Sushi Dan!), a rainy afternoon at the spa, driving around to see the sights (and almost falling off a couple mountains, haha), etc. The weather didn't cooperate enough to make the beach fun, but I guess there's always next time. Good times were (I think) had by all. It was nice having them here; I probably won't get to go home for another few months, but at least I've had a dose of family to tide me over for awhile :-)

-Game class! After three weeks of iterations, playtests, and refinements, my group submitted the final version of our prototype board game. I think it turned out rather well, considering how complicated our concept was. If you're particularly bored today, head over to http://evolveyourpresent.blogspot.com for our group's production blog. We kept track of all our testing notes, versions of the rules, game art, etc over there, so if you're curious to see how the process works, this is a decent illustration. Hey look! Pictures!

Our logo for the project, done in about ten minutes by yours truly. Probably could have been snazzier, but oh well. We weren't being graded on art.


In every game design class that does prototyping, you will see at least three variations on this basic setup: a board with a hex grid on it (attached to a piece of foam board), a deck of cards made with printable Avery business cards, and pushpins. Ours was slightly more ambitious in that it provided a cheat sheet to each player.

With the prototyping assignment complete, we've moved on to feature design. We're supposed to design an addition or new feature for an existing game. My partner Mike and I are calling ours Guitar God. It's pretty straightforward. Guitar Hero + real guitar = AWESOME. It's so obvious, I can't believe no one has done it yet. The fun thing about this project is that for the team that has the strongest presentation, the prof is going to try to bring in someone from the game company we're pitching for, and they will see and critique our presentation. I don't need to tell you how awesome it would be if someone from Red Octane came in to see Guitar God :-D

-Thesis space! No, it's still not done. The basic setup is done (it's a livable workspace for the students), but now we've moved on to prepping the space for the thesis show. I'm learning all kinds of things about electricity, hiring moving companies, and the kinds of personnel one hires to put on a thesis show. Speaking of hiring, it sounds like if my boss can't find someone to fill the Production Manager role, at least some of it will fall to me. This is a nervous proposition; I feel like I'd be up for the challenge, but I think I'd like it a lot better if someone else were in charge. Say, someone who's actually seen an IMD thesis show before (because I definitely have not). More on this as it develops.

-Writing class! Man, I love this class. I think Andre said it best: "i feel like i get too much credit for bullshit work sometimes." Basically, I sit down, I blab all over a Word document for awhile, and I get an A. Good deal! The last assignment was to write a concept for a theme park or similar interactive space. Mine was a variation on Tomorrowland. Instead of presenting one version of the future, it presented four: Brave New World, Star Trek, Firefly/Serenity, and The Matrix. The idea is to present four very different ideas of what the future might look like, each with a semi-plausible explanation of how we'd get from the world of today to that particular future. It's probably too cerebral to be commercially viable (I'm asking people to come in, pay attention, and draw comparisons and conclusions based on four possible future visions), but it was fun to write. Next up: take an existing source (a book or film, etc) and reimagine it in a new medium, extending the story and the world as you see fit. I'ma play with Orson Scott Card's Enderverse, see what I can come up with. Probably a game, since Card himself is already writing the movie script.

Whew, okay. There's more to tell, but I should probably go ahead and write my Enderverse paper, seeing as how it's due tomorrow morning. Hope you all are doing well and keeping warm.

Was flipping through my camera, found some pics from the last week that I thought I'd post:

So here's Mike, me, Jamie, and Andre celebrating our victory over a board game. Shadows Over Camelot (which, by the way, is an EXCELLENT game) is a game where all the players team up against the game...and the game usually wins. We were really, really proud of ourselves for winning. I believe I mentioned in a previous post that playing and critiquing board games was homework for one of my classes. Turns out this is a weekly assignment. Mike, Andre, and Jamie are my usual group for this activity. As you can see, we're all very, very cool.

Do you know who this guy is? That's okay, I would be extremely surprised if you did. His name is James Kiefer, and he's head of game development at Mattel. He came to our game class and talked about the process of designing board games and getting them to market (and of course, getting them to SELL). Apparently he will be coming to our last class to see our final projects, and if he sees something he likes, that group will be given the opportunity to develop their project further at Mattel (or with Mattel, or with Mattel's blessing, or something...I'm a little vague on the details). Neat!

Ah, here are two members of my game design group with our latest prototype, Butterfly Effect. As you can see, Lily is thinking EXTREMELY hard, and well she should. We're developing a board game version of what would eventually be an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game...think World of Warcraft). The basic idea is that it's animals versus plants, with each side competing to control the most territory. As the patron god (or goddess) of your side, you have the ability to place resources on the board, Risk-style, and battle your opponent to take their territory. The twist is that you can do these things both in the present and in the past; whatever you do in the past will change what is happening in the present. It's an interesting premise, in theory. In execution, getting the mechanics of it worked out is a PAIN. I liked this better as a hypothetical computer game. Then, we could just say things like "well, then there would be magic on the server, and BAM, what you did in the past would be reflected in the present!" Oh well, we're having fun with art supplies and dice, and that is definitely something.

Spent the afternoon/evening in San Diego today. Al, Mike, Andre and I decided to take a mini road trip to attend a panel on serious gaming (professional gaming, the economies of game worlds, etc.) at UCSD, Mike's undergrad. It was a pretty good trip. The panel was interesting, if a bit esoteric at times. Highlights from the trip included:

• Ralph Koster, of Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online fame, gave a response to what the rest of the panelists had been discussing. His remarks were insightful, particularly his argument that the line between games and play is largely an artificial one, and that games inherently create structures and rules that are very difficult to get out of (one reason why innovation is so hard to create in games). After two and a half hours discussing such things as virtual economies, the social ramifications of gold farming, and the different playstyles of different nationalities of MMO players, Raph's impassioned and accessible style was very much appreciated.
  
• Lev Manovich, a well-known new media theorist guru type, attended the panel, and joined in the discussion afterwards. Most of you will not know who that is, and no harm done. However, for those of you who've done the Bradley Multimedia thing, and have taken Ed's MM250 class, remember The Language of New Media, a blue and white book that was really dense and sometimes hard to parse? Kinda read like the author wasn't a native English speaker, or was just an uber-scholar type or something? Yeah, this guy was the one who wrote it. And as it turns out, he is both not a native English speaker AND an uber-scholar type.
  
• We got to meet Mike's sister, which was cool. She's a great deal of fun, and I am quite sure that the Rossmassler siblings are far cuter as a unit than my brothers and I will ever be. (sorry guys, but it's the truth. we're way too devious to ever be that adorable)
• Al's battery died. And I discovered that Californians do not have the "always be prepared" mantra drilled into them the way that Midwesterners do. I swear, we must have checked with 5-10 people (including Al and Mike's sis) and NO ONE had jumper cables. Also missing was a flashlight (so we could, you know, see the battery we needed to jump) and the owner's manual for the car. I was both amused and appalled. Man, I remember when I got my license, the FIRST thing my dad did was take me out to the driveway and show me how to check/fill all my car's fluids, change a flat, check tire pressure, etc. I thought everyone did that. Apparently, we Midwesterners are far more pragmatic than our Western brethren, who simply call AA when these things happen. Who knew?
• CALIFORNIA BURRITOS. Holy crap, these things are amazing. They're burritos with carne asada (steak), salsa, shredded cheese, and french fries in them. At $4.45 each, they are basically the perfect food. I was sad to learn that they are only available in San Diego. I guess this means we will have to go to San Diego again.

That is all.

I was walking on campus today and saw a couch in a tree. I don't know anything more about it than that, but I thought I'd share.

So it's been over a week, and that means it's time for me to do a blog post. Not entirely sure what I should post about, as nothing extraordinary has happened lately. So...let's try a "how things are going" summary.

-Classes are excellent. My writing class is entertaining, my games class is pretty damn great, the Saturday class is...well, as good as a Saturday class can be, I suppose, and seminar is not unbearable (hard to top Zemeckis, though I am sure they will try...eventually).

-Original Fin (the game I'm working on) seems to be progressing, though I admit, this is through no action of mine. I'm still learning the Torque Shader Engine (a program for creating 3D games) and holy CRAP it is confusing!! There's just code and models and collision eeeeverywhere. I've been having limited success in sorting it all out; I'm hoping that this week I'll at least be to the point where I can put code in and get a meaningful result out. Maybe even a useful meaningful result. Wouldn't THAT be crazy?

-Work is going well. We're finally able to mess around with the touch panel interface in ZML (a process they've been trying to make happen since...well, way before I got here). Hopefully, we can get the software on the thing redesigned and user-friendly in the next month or so. That will be a major accomplishment for all involved. In other news, I am finally going to get some professional help with the thesis space. Not that I'm not up for a challenge, but I am most excited to have a real contractor person who can recommend things like soundproofing materials and flooring. Trying to pick those out on my own has been...confusing.

-Found myself some new gamer things to do. One of the many Mikes I know is reviving a USC Game Design Club, so I'm lending what help I can on that. Our first event for the semester, Wiimbledon (yes, a tournament of Wii tennis) was a success. Through Wiimbledon, I met the USC Gamer's Network guys, who apparently have a LAN every Friday night. I am so there. It's not even funny how there I am. Or, will be, you know, on Friday.

-MY WII IS HERE!!! I absolutely adore it. It's all skinned (thanks Grandma!) and awesome and great and stuff. If you have a Wii, I am going to require your number, so I can find you online and steal all your Mii's.

-Mom and Grandma will be here in February, and there's rumblings of a Meg/Janelle visit sometime in...March? April? Marpril? We're working on it. The point is, I am ridiculously excited to have people here. If you're not Mom, Grandma, Meg, or Janelle, you should probably go ahead and get in touch with me about coming out for a visit. We don't have real winter here. Think about it.

Okee, that's all for now. Hope all is well amongst all of you. Drop me some comments once in awhile. I will tell better stories if I know what you want to hear about. :-)

Look, everyone! I own a dress! A dress I wore! Out in public! Try not to faint.

NOTICE:

It is not snowing in LA, and I'm pretty sure it didn't snow yesterday either. It's 69 degrees and sunny today. It DID snow in Los Angeles County, but remember kids, there are mountains in LA County.

So for all of you Midwesterners who were...concerned for my comfort, rest assured. My weather is much nicer than your weather. ::grin::

Hi all! I'm going to go ahead and briefly summarize the last three weeks so that I can describe this week in detail. I am pretty sure I saw most of you over the break, so this shouldn't take long.

1. Finals ended well. All A's and passes, leaving me with a solid 3.8 GPA and a couple projects I'm pretty happy with.
2. Christmas was lovely. Saw a lot of the family, drank a lot of booze and ate a lot of cookies and meat, and got some excellent swag. Highlights include hanging out with the fam (saw some of the Childs side and ALL of the Hughes side), playing Guitar Hero with everyone I could get to play it, my Tickle Me Elmo (see the archives for video of this little guy), and catching up on my sleep.
3. New Years Eve was fantastic. Chris and I joined a bunch of my friends from undergrad in Chicago for a bar party and a night of drinking in our hotel. Mistakes were made, as were a lot of ironic toasts to "dignity", and we had an all around fabulous time.
4. Break was excellent. Saw a lot of people, worked on stuff I needed to work on, and in general got life under control so that the new semester could start.

Okay, recap over. Let us get to what's in store for the coming months:

-Original Fin: A video game I'll be working on this semester. The core team has been working on this bad boy since September, I believe, so I'm coming in halfway. A good opportunity to get experience in using the Torque Game Engine, as well as just general experience in working on a 3D game. When this thing is ready to send out to festivals, I'll have programmer credit as well, so that's always nice.

-Interactive Writing: Taught by Paul de Meo (he wrote the Rocketeer! zomg!), this is probably the first writing class I've ever taken where I'm actually looking forward to the work. We'll be learning to write for games and related media, with lots of suggested reading and playing (yes, he recommends games as homework) to go with in-class discussions.

-Game Design Workshop: Exactly what it sounds like. We meet for lecture and lab once a week and go over all the pertinent aspects of game design (rule systems, art, that kind of thing). Taught by Chris Swain (one of our head game profs) and Dan Aray (creative director at Naughty Dog Games...Banjo Kazooey and Jak and Daxter are their top titles). I'm VERY excited for this class. Looks like it's going to be fantastic. This week's homework: play a board game with classmates and put together a photo essay about the experience. AWESOME.

-Seminar: As with last semester, seminar is a class "taught" entirely by guest speakers. Basically, IMD brings in interesting people and has them tell us about their work, their current projects, the state of our art or the state of the industry...whatever is relevant to us at IMD. Last night, our first seminar speaker was none other than Robert Zemeckis (of Back to the Future and Polar Express fame, among many many others). He is teaching a motion capture class at USC this semester, using the techniques he learned/developed on Polar Express, Monster House, and his latest one, Beowulf. The lecture last night was a general overview of where this type of filmmaking stands, and we got to see production footage of Beowulf, which was pretty awesome. It was interesting to see what gaps existed in Bob's knowledge (he had never heard of the uncanny valley phenomenon, for instance, and had no comment for our questions about the copyright issues of motion capture filmmaking), as well as what his vision is for this art form in the future.

-Visual Expression: The jury is still out on this one, as we haven't met yet, but I will say this: It's a seven hour photography and film class taught on Saturdays. Again, I'll withhold my opinion until we've actually had a class, but I think we can all agree that this will probably be my least favorite class.

-Relocation: Sadly, Renae and I have decided that we can't stay at our current place next year. It's really, REALLY nice, but the rent is just too high. The realtor who found us this place is working with us to find something a little more reasonable. In addition, we'll be adding Al and Mike (friends from Interactive...their pictures are in this blog someplace I'm sure) as roommates, which should be tres fun. Bridget, the realtor, has a couple places for us to check out early next week, so the search has begun in earnest. Here's hoping for something WITH Internet and WITHOUT bars on the windows!

-Employment: Still working for the lab manager in IMD, though my focus will probably shift as things get going. I'm still working on the thesis space project from last semester, trying to nail down things we couldn't get done last semester (flooring and locks, mainly). In addition, I expect I'll be working pretty heavily on the spring thesis exhibition when that starts ramping up. Plenty of opportunities to play with power tools and yell at electricians...whee! I'm also considering a couple of on-campus internships, but I haven't decided if I'll apply for any or not. The work sounds interesting, and I of course like being paid, but the schedule may not allow for any more commitments. We shall see.

I think that about covers it. As things get really moving, I'll be able to elaborate on all of these projects and classes, and of course, I'll post pics whenever possible. Hope everyone is well and enjoying their January (whether you're on break or getting back into the swing of work) and I shall talk to you all again soon!