Chapter Meeting: August 2001
Our South Florida IGDA Chapter's second meeting at the Florida Atlantic Center for Electronic Communication (CEC) was both interesting and entertaining. Looks like we have found a good home for our chapter to grow for the foreseeable future, thanks to local board member Fran McAfee. And since Fran is also deeply involved in the Fort Lauderdale SIGGRAPH chapter, this month's meeting and probably most of our future meetings as well will be joint meetings with the SIGGRAPH folks. Nice group to share our common interests with!
The meeting commenced with Fran screening the SIGGRAPH2001 Electronic Theater DVD for us. Imagination at its best. Lots of awe inspiring images to be sure. Clever humorous stuff too. It was a real hoot. And I am pretty sure we have more to see at our next meeting!
Monty Clark of Exodus Entertainment then took over the program with parts of the demo reel for their over the top TV project called "The Game Room"...man this was something! Their beautifully designed and rendered 3D characters are the stars of this Computer and Console game oriented TV show. The high point for me was watching Lorne Lanning and the other inhabitants of Oddworld interact with the 3D host, Jack, for some really clever bits while delivering a tremendous amount of insight into the philosophy and history of the Odyssey project.
During the usual discussion prior to tasking it over to the Iguana Canteen for our monthly libations one of the attendees asked Monty the obvious question..."Man that show is incredible...why isn't it on TV?" Guess that is something that Monty would be the last one to know. But I agree, this project is one that should have been picked up a long time ago and the whole industry is lacking without it! This is just the kind of vehicle that will help our industry transition to the next level! Now is they can just get someone to put in on the air!
Until next month...
Tom Buscaglia
Chapter Coordinator
IGDA South Florida Chapter
