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? :-)
Saturday, May 26, 2007
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.
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.
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.
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.
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