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September 21, 2006
Metroland article about Mildred Elley's game-design summer camp
There's an article by John Brodeur on page 16 of the September 21, 2006 edition of Metroland about Mildred Elley's game-design summer camp for kids. Here's an excerpt:
LEARNING TO PLAY
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to cowboys—send them to video-game-design camp!
By John BrodeurIt’s early afternoon on a gor-geous midsummer Friday. A moving truck is parked by the curb outside Latham Circle Mall as men load office supplies through the mall’s entrance doors and onto the waiting truck bed. Another Latham Circle business apparently has gone to pot. That’s no surprise; this place has been on the decline for well over a decade. In fact, the sprawling hull of a building, once the bustling lower half of a semicolon dotted by the Latham traffic circle, now faintly resembles what was once known as a shopping mall: The few businesses that continue to thrive here—or survive, at least—include a bank, a few food stands, and a Burlington Coat Factory. But in a small, dark classroom tucked deep in a corner of the mall’s second-floor, you can almost see the future . . . or something like that: Welcome to video-game-design camp. Now drop and give me 20.
Read the full article on the Metroland website
Posted by IanStead at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2006
Meeting Announcement : Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Speaker: Leo Zuniga - Designer, Vicarious Visions
Topic: Tiny Tony: Delivering Console-Quality Gameplay on a Handheld Platform
Location: Brown's Brewing Company, 417 River Street, Troy, NY
Date: Wednesday, September 20th, 6-9 PM (Presentation 6:30-7:30)
Ever wonder how Vicarious Visions manages to cram all that delicious Tony Hawk gameplay into a convenient travel size package? Designer Leo Zuniga has the answers. Join us as he explains the process behind adapting a sucessful console design to a handheld platform.
If you want to enjoy a tasty meal or frosty beverage at the meeting, we've got the hook-up. Make sure you bring cash, though, and pay one of the coordinators before you go. Otherwise, we will be sad (and broke!) pandas. Don't forget to include 24% for tax and tip.
Read below for further details on Leo's talk and his bio:
Tiny Tony: Delivering Console-Quality Gameplay on a Handheld Platform
Presented by Leo Zuniga
How did Vicarious Visions manage to bring the fun and challenge of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise to Nintendo’s GBA - and then do it all over again with the Nintendo DS? VV’s time with Tony Hawk has been a positive experience resulting in many great titles. Having played a key role in developing the franchise at VV, I’d like to share some of that adventure with you.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, the franchise debut on the GBA, was met with great reviews and awards for technical achievement. Tony 2 was a big game to fit on the GBA. It took a lot of tricks coming from all three disciplines in order to keep true to the Neversoft formula.
Last fall, Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land DS met with similar praise and recognition. The DS is a different monster. It is more powerful, but the Tony Hawk series (now on its 8th iteration!) has done nothing but balloon over the years. As a result, there was still a lot of cramming and careful feature evaluation on our part. We spent a lot of time deciding which features would fit best in a “pick up and play” handheld game as well as considering which features were most important to new and old Tony fans. On top of that, we found ways to incorporate the touch screen and pioneer online play on the DS.
Bio:
Leo Zuniga, Game Designer, Vicarious Visions.
I started as a lowly tester for Activision QA for a little known title called Tony Hawk Pro Skater (1999). I was able to help VV during the
development of Tony Hawk 2 GBA and joined the company later in 2002. My latest project is Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam for the Nintendo DS.
Tester - Tony Hawk 1, 2 PSX
Production Tester - Tony Hawk 2, 3 GBA
Level Designer - Tony Hawk 4 GBA/PSX
Designer - THUG GBA, THUG 2 GBA, THAS DS, THDJ DS
Posted by IanStead at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2006
Article by Erin Hoffman in the Escapist Magazine
There's a great article by Erin Hoffman in issue 61 of the Escapist Magazine, an online only publication devoted to game development and culture. Erin is a local designer at 1st Playable Productions who lead our June chapter meeting. Check out the article here: Why We Haven't Lapsed.
Here's an excerpt:
Read the Full ArticleLike any cultural phenom, the game industry waxes and wanes. Its attitude shifts, it grows older, gets pimples, passes some classes and fails others, grows, moves on. The past year, for whatever primal reason lurking in the dark waters of the collective ludological unconsciousness, has been one of intense cynicism, maybe even despair. And I have to say I'm getting damned tired of it.
Posted by IanStead at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)