Video Games Live (April 29th, 2011)

Finally! After 2+ years of hearing amazing things about this show, Video Games Live had the opportunity to grace Ottawa with its esteemed presence. Video Games Live (VGL) is a symphony orchestra concert which travels the world playing all kinds of video game music. I heard about VGL from a friend who had experienced it in Toronto and immediately checked it out for myself. I was convinced after the first video I saw and each following year I patiently awaited VGL, ready to pre-order tickets for all my closest friends. Finally on April 29th 2011, after two years of pleading, VGL showed up in Ottawa to a packed house and blew us all away.

With nostalgic tunes from old video games to epic songs from new titles, VGL does an amazing job of presenting the greatness that is video game music. My favorite part of the show had to be the beautiful music and video from God of War, I felt shivers run down my spine multiple times throughout the piece and was slack jawed in awe, reminiscing about one of my favorite series of all time. Of course there were many songs that every single gamer in the audience could relate to as well and those definitely translated to the most powerful moments of the night. From classics like Zelda and Mario to Shadow of the Colossus and Civ 4′s “Baba Yetu”, we all grinned from ear to ear and basked in the glory that is video game music.

Apart from PAX, E3 and midnight releases there really isn’t much to draw gamers out from the comforts of their homes. Video Games Live however is an event like no other and it represents something so much more than just the music. The comradery and connection you feel to everyone around you as you (and a thousand others) hum the theme to Mario or belt out the lyrics to Portal’s “Still Alive”, is unlike any other. Games are so much more than a simple form of entertainment and VGL proves this by taking you on a roller coaster of nostalgic emotions with simple images and wondrous scores. I don’t think you can ever truly appreciate the power of music in games until you’ve attended this concert.

I encourage everyone who has the opportunity to see this show to do so. It is an unmatched experience for anyone who has even the slightest passion for gaming, though the more music you can relate to, the more deeply VGL will effect you.

Senior Project Fair (April 6th, 2011)

The Senior Project Fair is essentially a final presentation of a years worth of work for all 4th year students in the Information Technology program at Carleton University. I had attended past fairs and been completely blown away at the final products of my peers, this year it was my turn to do my best to once again make the fair a success. My team, polyUnite along with 3 others showcased our final projects on April 6th, 2011 in Azrieli Pavillion on Carleton’s campus.

My project titled, Chaos Reigns was a Real Time Strategy video game for the PC developed over 12 sleepless months. As both project manager and secondary programmer I had my hands full organizing every aspect of the project and became so devoted to its every facet that I thought of little else over the past year.

I of course could not have achieved such a colossal amount of work without a stellar team;

John James Belaskie: Lead Programmer
Josh Crozman: 2D & 3D Artist
Dane Clarke: 3D Artist and Animator
Mark Pintar: 3D Effects Programming

You could not find a more hardworking and fun loving group of people. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to work with these extremely talented guys, they made this entire process so enjoyable and I wish them all the best in their future projects.

 

The project fair ran from ~11:30am – 4:00pm, in which time family, friends, industry professionals and students of all ages dropped by to play our game and ask questions about our process and time spent in the Information Technology program. We were thrilled at the amount of people who showed up to take part in the event. For the majority of the day our room was full of people and we were kept busy answering questions and helping those players unfamiliar with RTS games. This part of the day was by far the most enjoyable for me, I could not believe the amount of enthusiasm and positive feedback we received from everyone who tried our game, it finally made all our hard work worth something.

 

A few hours into the day we had to give a formal presentation of our project to industry professionals from in and around the Ottawa area. Representatives from Akendi, Artech, Fuel and Ubisoft came out to share in our accomplishments and it meant so much to us for them to have taken time out of their busy day to come view our projects. Our presentation lasted a little over half an hour as we did our best to sum up our year of work. We covered our process from the conception of our initial idea to the end product. We even touched on all of the challenges overcome and tough love required to work so closely with four other people who each are uniquely creative and headstrong. Every aspect of the project was a challenge in some way, yet we met them all head on and overcame everything as team.

When I first started the day I was full of excitement mixed with anxiety, wondering if everything would go well, hoping that people would show up but nervous that they might not enjoy the game. By mid-day I was completely astonished at the amount of people who ended up coming and thrilled that many of them stayed for an hour or more, asking questions and being genuinely interested in all the work that we had done. Most of all I have never felt more accomplished in all my life. To have the opportunity to manage such an amazing team and work together to bring little more than a rough outline jotted down over lunch to a fully fledged real time strategy video game is beyond words. I want to thank everyone who came out and tried the game, the industry professionals for taking time out of their busy days, my friends and family for putting up with my insessent ramblings about the project for the past year, all the professors and students in the Information Technology program and most of all John, Josh, Dane and Mark – polyUnite!

Now that I have finished my University journey and no longer feel compelled to work on senior project every waking moment of my life, I thought I would take this new found time to reminisce over some important events which I attended in the past few months.

Global Game Jam  2011 (January 28th, 2011)

For those of you who do not know of Global Game Jam (GGJ), it is a fantastic event. 48 hours of caffeine induced insomnia, fire extinguisher chalk setting off fire alarms and camaraderie of a kind which only a grueling and challenging event such as this can breed. I am sure a wholly unique environment is offered at each jam site, but the prior description pretty much sums up our own; which was graciously hosted by the school of Information Technology at Carleton University and overseen by Dr. Ali Arya.

The GGJ is a project of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and allows game developers all over the world to gather for a weekend in their home towns and attempt to develop a game which adheres to a secret theme announced on the first day of the jam.

The theme of this years jam? Extinction.

Nomaggedon Poster

Short version (Get on with it!): The game I created along with two awesome team mates, Kyle Stacey and Allen Pestaluky, is named Nomageddon, was written in XNA and can be downloaded from the Global Game Jam website.

Epic Version (Tell me everything): Kyle Stacey and I both had class until 5:30pm on the Friday of the Game Jam. We were however intently watching Azrieli Pavilion room 236 fill up with gear laden game developers over a video live-stream set-up in the room. By the time we arrived the space was packed with game dev equipment, over-night supplies and excited teams of developers. The theme had already been announced and groups had started to form so Kyle and I quickly sought around for any lone-dev looking to join a team. I had participated the previous year as a volunteer for the Game Jam and even stayed overnight, in the room next door working on a Design Studio 3 project. As first timers however Kyle and I both were unsure what to expect in the planning phase. Many great ideas were thrown around the room but it became clear alot of the teams had been decided on prior to the jam.

Undeterred we managed to snag Allen Pestaluky from the clutches of another team. Unanimously agreed on developing a very simple 2D game, due to our small team size and lack of an experienced artist; we set about brainstorming a fun idea. Feeling the pressure of time ticking away and other groups hard at work – we made a quick pizza run. Finally, sometime in the dark hours of Friday night, Kyle’s quick sketch of an adorable, wide eyed Dinosaur spawned the main idea and character for our game, as we chewed away at our delicious cheesy pizza, Nomaggedon was born. Kyle volunteered to take on the bulk of the artwork while Allen and I discussed what environment to develop the game in. I initially thought the development of a 2D sidescroller of this size would be easiest in Flash, however we ran into a number of problems early on, including the fact that I had not touched Flash for 3 years and Allen flat out despised it. I banged my head against it for a few frustrating hours during which Allen left to get some sleep at home. Early Saturday morning I made the switch to XNA and we finally got rolling on the development side of things, MY BAD GUYS, my bad.

At some point Saturday night I believe, some kids (not part of the GGJ) thought it would be a good time to cover each other in fire extinguisher chalk right outside our doorway. Unfortunately not only did this create a huge mess in the hallway, it also set off the fire alarms in our building. The cold winter air outside was a nice break however and though we were all bleary eyed, we remained in good spirits and were ready to get back to work. At some point I found myself wandering downstairs and curled up for the worst non-sleep I have ever experienced; that room was COLD.

Saturday was much quieter than the night before, everyone was hard at work or passed out in the ice box downstairs. I enjoyed this day the most out of the whole experience, everyone intent and focused on their work, excited murmurings and high-fives breaking the semi-silence of the whirring computer fans. Not quite feeling the pressure of Sundays deadline we were free to wander about and see our peers games in development. By Saturday night I was sleep-deprived but very awake, in the strange way minds react to abuse by sugar, caffeine and forced consciousness. We made alot of progress over Saturday, Allen was thrilled at our change to XNA and got an SVN up and running so he and I could work together on the code. Kyle had managed to figure out a good method of making sprite batches and was almost done our main characters animation. I switched from code to helping him design some of the enemies, backgrounds and menus for our game.

By the time the final countdown was in effect Sunday afternoon, everything was a blur. Teams rushing to put the final touches on their games and upload them to the GGJ website, judges showed up from local companies in Ottawa to have a look at the games and we all got to experience what our fellow jammers had created. I was weary yet satisfied and quite proud of what we had accomplished for our first game jam. For all the worry we had about our team not having an artist we had pulled off a higher level of design than a good number of the other teams. If I could have changed anything about our game I would have focused more heavily on the mechanics as opposed to the design and I’ll definitely keep that in mind for next year. The three of us, Allen, Kyle and I come from the same program, Information Technology: Multimedia and Design and if theres one thing that is drilled into our heads year after year it is, design a complete, polished product. In 48 hours that is a monumental task, but we even have the complete game instruction pages to prove that we followed this mantra to the best of our abilities.

Overall GGJ went above and beyond what I expected. It is a chance for developers to meet their local community and challenge themselves and their abilities. It is an inspiring event and a great learning experience. I encourage all professional and casual developers to give it a try next January if they have not yet done so!

Thank you IGDA, BIT & Dr. Ali Arya.