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September 12, 2004
September 2004 Meeting Report
Over 20 strong, the members of the chapter got together once again on September 12, 2004, this time on the campus of Michigan State University.
The following were on the agenda for the meeting:
- Welcome
As usual we chatted about games, our successes through the summer, and whatever else as folks gathered for the meeting.
- "What to Pay Attention to in Your Sound Design and Music" by Jay Sheremand
This was an informed presentation and discussion led by Jay of Red Leader Audio. Jay discussed several of the simple things you can do to create stronger sound design and music in your game projects. He demoed a cut scene from a game that had no audio in it. He then walked through the process of adding a number of layers of audio (sound effects, atmosphere, music) to the cut scene to bring it to life, aid in the storytelling, and convey stronger emotion. He then showed the same cut scene using a variety of different audio tracks to show how dramatically you can change the scene simply by changing the audio.
- Pizza Break
After Jay's presentation, the pizza and pop arrived so we grabbed a bite to eat and got on with the show.
- "Methods & Considerations in Designing Web-Based Real-Time Strategy Games" by Brian Winn
The next part was a presentation and game demonstration of http://www.mudraft.com by Brian Winn. Mudcraft is a web-based, real-time strategy game that challenges you to avoid the perils of nature as you build a strong mud community while foregoing the violence associated with most RTS games. Mudcraft is a humorous game designed to be enjoyable to male and female players of all ages.
Brian discussed why they made this web based real-time strategy and what were some of the considerations. The game was submitted to the IGF competition and is available online, in beta form, for you to play. Go check it out.
- Updates on Mentorship Program
We continued to discuss the new mentorship program that we have begun in the chapter. We have begun three separate internships, one in programming, one in business, and one in game design. We hope to report of their success at our next meeting.
- Future Meeting Schedule
To date we have not kept a consistent schedule of meetings or meeting locations. After discussion among the coordinators, we have decided to change that. We are going to meet every other month and rotate back and form between Michigan State University in East Lansing and University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. We are trying to schedule at least two meetings out so people can plan ahead. The next two meeting are:
Sunday, November 7th in Ann Arbor
Sunday, January 23rd in East Lansing
- Book Giveaway
Finally, we had our usual book giveaway, randomly drawing three lucky members names for their choice of books from our library.
- Socialize!
Afterwhich many people hung around to discuss informally.
Ron Frazier announced to the coordinators that he was stepping down as one of the chapter administrators to make time to pursue other things. His help since the launch of the chapter was a major help and he will be missed as a coordinator. Rich, Jay, and Brian remain as chapter coordinators.
The chapter coordinators:
Rich Elswick
Ron Frazier (last time there as an admin!)
Jay Semerad
Brian Winn
Posted by BrianWinn at September 12, 2004 04:51 PM