We started working on the mechanics for a 3D mobile game over the last week or so. Currently working on it are myself, RJay Haluko, Luis Herrera, and Ryan Bailey. All we can say so far is that involves an egg :) More to be added as things progress…
We have been using Unity3d as the game engine. Unity is one of the gold standards of new platforms that is used to create engaging 3d content. That content can be exported to multiple devices (web, mobile, game console) in one click. So far we have tackled a few challenges, such as:
Physics – Unity ships with a great built-in physics engine, as well as plug-and-play components. We have begun using their velocity variables extensively for control of the main character, as well as the built-in Character Controller to handle collisions with other Rigidbodies in the scene.
Levels – We started with a basic level for our game – Luis has been handling creating the models in Maya, and then importing them into Unity.
Prefabs – We have some moving platforms and other cool prefabs that can be drag-and-dropped into the Scene very quickly, almost like a Level Creator.
Coming up are some creative sketches from RJay and other new features and functionality…We might even showcase a demo!
This was a blast from the past. Just found out about this
from joystiq.com. Sarien.net has a bunch of
Sierra adventure games that are playable on the iPad. You can play
Space Quest, King’s Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. These kids don’t
know how good they have it with their Wii’s and PS3s on hi-def
TVs.
I’ve been waiting for Nobuo Uematsu to come back to the United States so I can see him in concert. Yea, nerd alert! I found 1 show in 2011 at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As I was in the purchase funnel and trying to figure out were I’d be sitting and what the stage would look like, I found their 3D seating selector.
1. I pick from the area where I would like to sit based on the view of the stage vs. the amount of money I’d like to pay
2. I pick the specific seat that I’d like to sit in while having a true understanding of what my view of the stage would be
Love that they have all the user’s in their regular work clothes, plus one guy takes a call while playing the game. Just plain clever! Like it says, there’s a soldier in all of us! Even Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel get into the game :)
Just stumbled across this thing through a friend’s link the other day, and I can’t wait to start playing around with it..It is from a company called Emotiv, and is:
“a high resolution, neuro-signal acquisition and processing wireless neuroheadset. It uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expressions and connects wirelessly to most PCs.” (from here).
It seems like it seem to work for some people better than others. There is a YouTube video (shown below) that shows someone unpacking it from the box and trying it out with the supplied demo software. Their results are a bit fuzzy as to how well it works for them, however.
Maybe the console-makers will incorporate this into their next-gen systems? It seems that Nintendo might already be planning to go down this route..Other companies, such as Canadian Interaxon are actively working to integrate thought-controlled computing into real-world scenarios, like recently at the Vancouver Winter Olympics where visitors were able to use their brainwaves to control live lightshows.
Here are some old commercials of your favorite game systems from the not-so-distant past. Some of these are funny and other are just out there. But all were staples of their time.
1978 Atari Commercial
Colecovison Commercial
Atari 7800 Commercial – The Choice of the Experts
Turbo Grafix 16 Video Game Commercial
Nintendo Game System – Now Your Playing with Power!!!
Children aren’t going to understand the importance of keeping passwords secret unless you explain it to them.
I had a conversation with a guy the other day, and he told me about his son’s personal password tragedy. The kid really liked an online game. He played it often and accumulated a lot of valuable in-game items; magic swords and armor. One day another guy in the game convinced his son to give up his password. The guy stole all of his son’s equipment and left his character essentially naked.
The bright-side of this story is that his son learned a valuable lesson about password protection, privacy, and security within the safety of a game. As upset as the child was, the damage wasn’t irreparable.
My message is simple, teach your children to keep passwords secret.
After you teach them, they can choose to ignore you as a teenager… But that will be on them, you did your job.
