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

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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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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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August 19

Mobilising Console

Will mobiles replace consoles?

History has shown us that in the games business nothing is sacred. Gamers are a growing demographic with little loyalty to platform, and they will pay for and play with the most immediate and satisfying experience available. I predict that when mobile devices become widely and easily wirelessly connected to the game controller and the TV, it will start to replace the console. I even think that mobile-as-a-console will be common usage within ten years.

Mobile hits to date, perhaps with the exception of Infinity Blade, have a short-form anatomy, where play occurs over tens – if not hundreds or thousands – of sessions lasting from two-to-10 minutes each (a median session time for our game My Star is currently 2.1 minutes).

Small screen devices augment with a player’s routine; they do not disrupt it for preplanned play sessions involving complex game mechanics and character development.

The mobile player wants something immediate at the bus stop and when they return home, they have other medium-sized screen entertainment that vies for heftier chunks of attention; including the console. When mobile can deliver what a console can as well as or better than it can, users will begin to dump the dedicated device in favour of the multitasker. It’s happened
with the home phone, calculator, diary and now, in the case of tablets, the laptop and home PC.

That ‘when’ caveat is a pretty mammoth one: The power increases in mobile have been blistering year-on-year and are now approaching our current console generation. Firemint’s Real Racing 2 running on iPad 2 via HDMI today is pretty much there visually, but still a way off a top-end PC.

Yet cloud gaming is set to make client power irrelevant within the decade. I see now that the biggest shift is a small technological one (standardised wireless TV and controller connections) and a larger developer and consumer cultural one.

from: http://www.develop-online.net/blog/225/Mobilising-Console

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