January 17

New SGD Course in 3D Data Capture

SGD210

SGD 210 – 3D Data Capture is one of the new courses that you can expect from the SGD program.

This course introduces students to the tools used to capture data in a 3D environment. Emphasis is placed on capturing data from motion capture and/or 3D scanning devices for use in 3D models and animations. Upon completion, students should be able to capture data from a 3D environment and import for use in 3D models, simulations, and animations.

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact our instructors or advisers. More info here!

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January 17

SGD Has Moved!

The CPCC Simulation and Game Development department has moved!

We are still in the Levine Technology Building, but now we are located on the first floor, setup complete with our own lobby so our SGD students have a place to relax and study that is their own. If you are interested in enrolling in our program, please contact any of our instructors or advisers. Marc.tucker@cpcc.edu , Farhad.javidi@cpcc.edu , or Perry.courter@cpcc.edu.

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January 17

http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2007/12/12/285427/logoblack96.jpg

The Carolina Games Summit is about to commence at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro. This event is a full day summit that holds interest for gamers and developers both, as CGS holds about 10-20 classrooms full of the newest gaming platforms and even those dating back to the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube era(Smash and Mario Kart are still king).

The game developers looking for more career related fun will be happy to know that EA, Redstorm, Funcom, Autodesk and more are always there exhibiting and happy to talk to a budding developer.

This is a great place to attend if you don’t have the budget for East Coast Game Conference or Game Developer’s Conference but you still want to put yourself out there and network with some of the industry’s finest.

On another note, CGS is always looking for student volunteers!

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January 17

Game Developers Conference is Looming!

The week long world known conference for game developers is on the horizon. Those who have shelled out the $1500+ or signed up to be volunteers are booking flights and hotels. One of the best AND worst things about GDC is that it has so many lectures and tracks for every facet of game development, it is impossible to go to all of the lectures. Though if you did attend, you can access the GDC vault. A magical repository where they have all the lectures on record so that if you did attend GDC that year, you can log into the vault and watch what you might have missed.

http://www.gdconf.com/img/logos/download/2013/gdc13_logo.jpg

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May 7

LoveIT Tv

LoveIT TV

Simulation and Game Development has several series of videos showing off what is going on in the IT department, student videos in SGD, and anything related to the gaming industry. Come check us out!

Latest videos are with Christopher Totten:

Part 1 video here

Designing Better Levels Through Human Survival Instincts

The experience of users in a space is something that architects have understood for centuries but which has been lost with the Postmodern focus on building forms. In a work that evolved from his Architecture Masters thesis, game design professor Christopher Totten set out to understand how buildings and games make better user experiences. What he learned was how to make better levels. Through case studies and building analysis, this presentation shows how video game environments can learn from architecture in ways that begin with human survival instincts. Shelter, shadow, shade, and vertigo are all explored to discover how levels can be both thrilling and fun.

Christopher Totten:

Chris Totten is a Washington, DC-based professor of game design and 3D animation. He has also participated in several independent game projects as an artist, animator, and project manager. Chris has written articles featured on both Gamasutra and Video Game Writers. He is currently writing a textbook called Game Character Creation in Blender and Unity, which will be released by Wiley Publishing in the summer of 2012. He has a Masters Degree in Architecture with a concentration in digital media from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Chris wants to help shape a new generation of game designers who look deeper into their designs. He works with students and other designers to challenge gaming conventions through cross-disciplinary research.

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September 20

Overgrowth and their in-house engine

Overgrowth and Wolfire’s In-House Engine

A great friend who loves looking for new engines to play with recently showed me this gem of a game that is being made for the pc market. Overgrowth is a third action adventure fighting game where you play as anthropomorphic animals in a world littered with other animal hybrids trying to kill you. The game looks amazing and I cant wait to play it, but the real fun is their in-house engine that they are using to develop Overgrowth. The developers have multiple videos showcasing every step of the progress for Overgrowth, showing texturing, quick rigging, terrain development, blood splatter trajectory, 2D art assets, lighting, new ways of vertex weighting in action, etc. They keep blog updates about every aspect of how they are developing the game that make you think about how you would develop games using the same techniques. Either way if you are looking for cool new games, new engines, or great articles about game development, you will need to check out Wolfire Games and their upcoming game Overgrowth.

 

Click Here for Wolfire Game’s website!

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August 27

What are good ways to come up with video game ideas ?

Author: Mike Sellers, a game designer for over 15…

Inspiration can come from daily life, from taking a walk or a drive, from playing another game, from seeing a problem that can be modeled in a game, or from the ever-present “wouldn’t it be cool if…” Another useful way to get ideas is to set constraints; many people don’t do as well as you might think with a completely empty canvas. So choose limiting conditions, even arbitrary ones (you can always change it later). So: this is a game about flying. Everything in this game is a shade of blue. The game is about loss and rebirth. Just typing those (at random) you may have three new ideas for games you could spin from them — and other people would come up with ones that are completely different from yours.

All that said, and not to sound flippant, but the problem isn’t coming up with ideas — it’s sorting the bad ones from the good ones, and then focusing on one good one for long enough to turn it into something. For most designers, ideas come in an unending stream. It’s like a fascinating and frustrating firehose of ideas that you can’t really turn off. All you can do is quickly scrawl down your idea (cloud creatures living in twilight, rotating with the earth, dying with the night but being reborn with the sunrise — etc) and get back to the idea you’re supposed to be working on.

source: http://www.quora.com

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August 20

CryENGINE 3 SDK Available

CryENGINE 3  SDK 

The CryENGINE 3 SDK has been released and made available for free for non-commercial use! Go visit them and download it. They have the full engine available for games, serious games, and soon to become licensed for use in Architecture, TV, and Film.

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