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December 20, 2002
December 2002 Meeting Report
Our second meeting turnout was pretty good. Despite the busy times of the holiday season and some difficulties setting up a meeting location (which caused a late announcement), we still had about 25 people show up. We had many familiar faces along with a handful of new one. New attendees included members of Crystal Dragon and TrueMedia Studios.
The meeting got off to a rocky start. First, our reserved room was locked when we arrived, forcing the socialization segment of the meeting out into the lobby for about 20 minutes. Once we finally got into the room, we found it was really only suited to about half as many people as we had. After a little bit of crowding (with a few unfortunate late comers left staring in through the doorway) and a brief introduction about the IGDA, we introduced our guest speaker, Dr. John Laird of the University of Michigan. We must have been feeing the after effects from Friday the 13th the week before, because technical difficulties turned Dr. Laird's PowerPoint presentation into a whiteboard one.
Dr. Laird's discussion focused on game development and its place in education. He covered some of the key focus points of his "EECS 494 - Computer Game Design and Implementation" course. He talked about how it was essential that students learn techniques that are actually applicable to real world game development, such as DirectX programming and different AI mechanics. He also tackled the issue of pre-built game engines in the classroom, how they helped the students focus on the important points of game development while still being able to complete a real game in 8 weeks, and some of the tradeoffs of using various commercial engines (such as the Torque engine) in this environment. He briefly covered his ideas for expanding the game development curriculum at U of M, and finished with a brief discussion of the Game Developer's conference.
After the presentation and some brief discussion among a few attendees, we migrated to another room for the main focus of the evening…the Student Computer Games Showcase. With about 30 computers and several times as many attendees, the meeting began with Dr. Laird and his assistants handing out score sheets, CD-ROM of the evening's games, and raffle tickets. So many people showed up that they eventually ran out of score sheets and CD's. After picking up a score sheet, attendees were encouraged to walk around, look at the student's games, watch others play, try the games out themselves, and then rate them on the score sheet.
The games presented were actually quite impressive. They were all pretty decently polished (especially considering the students only had 8 weeks). The games touched on every genre: first person shooters, 2-player fighting, networked real time strategy, chess, logic/puzzle, racing, space battle, platformers…you name it and it was probably there. Some games were typical run-of-the-mill for their genre. Others actually involved some rather novel concepts. One game called Pirate Challenge involved shooting cannonballs into a pool and using the waves generated to move balls into the goal to score points. Another game called Allusions of Grandeur combined elements of a role playing game with traditional chess and some beautiful graphics to create a fun and unique experience. There were way too many fun games to mention. Congratulations to all the students involved.
After nearly two hours of gaming, the scores were tabulated, the top four rated games were announced, the developers of each of those games received a few video games prizes, and one Microsoft XBOX was raffled off among them. There were also quite a few PlayStation2 and XBOX games (graciously donated by Microsoft and Electronic Arts) that were raffled off as door prizes to the attendees. I was lucky enough to win a PS2 game myself (which I proceeded to trade with the winner of an XBOX game, since I don't actually have a PS2).
Afterwards, a few of us gathered around and had some conversions about gaming, development in the Michigan area, future plans for the chapter, etc. Unfortunately, things had gone on a bit longer than expected, it was getting a bit late for a weeknight, and many of the attendees had already left, so our plans to retire to a bar for some more chit chat got cancelled. Better luck next time.
All together, it was a great event. We had lots of fun, got to see what some of the students in the area were creating, and perhaps got a few creative ideas for our own games. We might even consider making this a yearly event for our chapter. If so, then next year we will try better to get an adequately sized room (so nobody has to stand in the hall) and make some better arrangements for getting a little more schmoozing in.
The chapter coordinators also got together and discussed some plans for future meeting, the chapter in general, and possibly a special event with another local group in the near future (if it works out, we'll let you know soon enough).
Below are a few pictures that were taken from the game showcase. Unfortunately our meeting room was a bit small and cramped, and we weren't really able to take a picture of everyone, so none of those pics (sorry).
Just a few of the many people who attended
Rubble Rumble (3rd place winner), a 2 player fighting game.
Castle Siege, a real time strategy game.
Critters, a logic/puzzle game.
Tactical Command, a multiplayer, capture-the-flag, combat game.
Allusions of Grandeur, a RPG/chess game.
A closer look at Allusions of Grandeur. Although not a top 4 winner,
its beautiful graphics got it a lot of attention.
Thanks again to everyone that showed up. We hope you had as much fun as we did. Stop by the forums to discuss the meeting. We look forward to seeing everyone at the February meeting (details coming soon…we promise).
The chapter coordinators:
Ron Frazier
Brian Winn
Rich Elswick
Posted by BrianWinn at December 20, 2002 05:24 PM