MN VR and HCI Feb 2015: GGJ Post-mortems

Wednesday, February 25, 2015 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (CST)
SmartThings (above The Bulldog NE)
11 4th St NE

Global Game Jam 2015 VR and HCI project post-mortems and interaction design discussion

We had five(!) projects at the local 48-hour Global Game Jam with VR and/or unique HCI. Projects can be viewed and downloaded at http://globalgamejam.org/2015/jam-sites/gamecraft-umn-glitch-and-igdatc/games

We’re going to do post-mortems on at least 4 of these projects: The focus will be on VR/HCI interaction design aspects of the project. We’ll also be sharing lessons learned about workflow, debugging and tuning/playtest tips.

SmartThings is on the 3rd floor above The Bulldog NE.  Go through the glass door and up 3 flights of stairs.  Please plan for traffic and parking so you can arrive before the door locks at 7, or we’ll be running up and down those stairs a whole lot.  There is street and lot parking all around the building.  The nearest ramp is a block away by Ginger Hop.

Schedule:

IGDATC Feb 2015 – Multiplayer Extravaganza

Wednesday, Feb 18, 2015 at 6:30PM
Republic (Seven Corners)

Multiplayer Extravaganza

The Multiplayer Extravaganza is an ongoing series of monthly events where our community gets together to play games and share gaming experiences. The games we play and discuss include a rotating collection of multiplayer favorites suggested by the community as well as locally made games that local creators bring to the events. It’s kind of like playing games on a couch with your friends, but bigger!

Come share your passion for games, or sign up to show your own game to get feedback and encouragement, or simply join us to find your place in the gaming world. Join us at Republic (Seven Corners) for good friends, games to play, and general fun! The festivities begin at 6:30pm on Wed, Feb 18 and go late. Republic has a late night happy hour from 10 – midnight! The food is excellent, and they have a huge beer list.

Like all IGDA-TC events, this is free and open to the public. All ages welcome (under 18 with parent or guardian).

Locally Made Games

We want to encourage local game makers to show off their own current projects. Sign up for the “bring a game” ticket type, and we’ll contact you with details. This is a very friendly and helpful opportunity to do playtesting or just get general encouragement.

We’re interested in all kinds of games made by local developers. Your game can be a rough demo or a finished product, single player or multiplayer, a board game or a videogame, etc.

See you at Republic for the fun!

More info and further discssion can be found on the IGDA-TC google group.

IGDATC Feb 2015 – Global Game Jam Recap and Play Event

Wednesday, February 11, 2015 from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM (CST)
UMN Rapson Hall Courtyard

Global Game Jam Recap and Play Event

Location change notice: this meeting will be at UMN Rapson Hall Courtyard, the same location as GameCraft, the Global Game Jam site for IGDATC and Glitch.

Our jam site produced 28 games during the jam! Come see, talk about and play some the games we made in January during the Global Game Jam. We’ll talk about the jam and how things went. Some teams will get a few minutes to talk about their game and their jam expereince. What went wrong, what went right? Learned lessons and fun happenings. A great way to recap the Global Game Jam and see what eveyone spent their 48 hours on.

But most importantly, we’ve got the space this year to setup game stations so you can play the games. Including a few VR games and the game made by the Virtual Reality Design Lab (VRDL) using their Perception Head-Mounted Display and motion capture system in Rapson Hall.

MN VR and HCI Jan 2015: Homebrew Data Glove

Wednesday, January 28, 2015 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (CST)
SmartThings (above The Bulldog NE)
11 4th St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

A Homebrew Data Glove with Haptic Feedback on a Budget – Paul Christian

While I was anxiously waiting for my DK1 to ship, all I could think about were ways to do things in VR. Game controllers are great, but I wanted hands. So having a bit of electronics knowledge and being a decent programmer, I figured might as well try to build a data glove.

This will be a brief presentation of what went into making it, some things learned in the process, applications, limitations and future plans; followed by a hands-on demo if time allows.  I’ll also do an overview of features vs complexity and cost in commercial gloves/trackers.
Paul Christian is a full-stack JVM web developer/artist/musician, and recent transplant from Philadelphia. Interested in collaboration or employment relating to VR, physical computing, HCI R&D, edutainment, etc.
www.linkedin.com/pub/paul-christian/90/140/201
https://github.com/meta-meta

SmartThings is on the 3rd floor above The Bulldog NE.  Go through the glass door and up 3 flights of stairs.  Please plan for traffic and parking so you can arrive before the door locks at 7, or we’ll be running up and down those stairs a whole lot.  There is street and lot parking all around the building.  The nearest ramp is a block away by Ginger Hop.

Schedule:

IGDATC Jan 2015 – Dylan Zellmer: Professional Marketing for Independent Developers

Professional Marketing for Independent Developers – Dylan Zellmer

Drawing from his experiences as a games journalist and crowdfunding consultant, Dyllan has compiled some need-to-know information for independent developers that need to operate on a small or non-existent marketing budget.

The presentation focuses on tips identifying viable marketing avenues and sucessful strategies when contacting the media.

Dylan Zellmer is the Chief Editor/Founder at iGame Responsibly, and exploring the world of Independent Game Development at MurWare. murware.com @Mur_Zelly

Member Project – Designing a Shoot ‘em Up – Sati Bros

Sami Sati and Erick Sati will be discussing the development of their game Astral Gunners. Astral Gunners is a fast paced Shoot ‘em Up in development for PC.

Astral Gunners puts a strong emphasis on unique characters and scoring mechanics. They will talk about their first foray into game creation and how they are using Game Maker to its fullest potential. They will also discuss the how creating their own Shoot ‘em Up helped them learn the reasoning behind common design decisions, and why the best games in the genre still feel like they haven’t left the arcades.

Astral Gunners trailer video.

Global Game Jam 2015 Q&A

We’re once again participating in the worlds biggest game jam Jan 23-25. Mark your calendars, and sign up here for future info. We’re working with Glitch this year, so the Jam will be at the University of Minnesota.

IGDATC Dec 2014 – Winter Social / Holiday Hootenanny

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2014 at 6:30PM
Republic (Seven Corners)

Winter Social / Holiday Hootenanny

December is a busy time for everyone, so our regular monthly meeting in December is replaced with a casual social event.  This year, come join us at Republic (Seven Corners) for good friends, games to play, and general fun!  The festivities begin at 6:30pm on Wed, Dec 10 and go late.  Republic has a late night happy hour from 10 – midnight!  The food is excellent, and they have a huge beer list.

Like all IGDA-TC events, this is free and open to the public.  You are welcome and encouraged to bring friends, significant others, and strangers.  Come for dinner, have a beer or lemonade, play some games or just hang out.

Local Games Screen

As part of the game playing and socializing fun, we want to encourage local game makers to show off their own current projects.  Sign up for the “bring a game” ticket type, and we’ll contact you with details.  This is a very friendly and helpful opportunity to do playtesting or just get general encouragement.

We’re interested in all kinds of games made by local developers.  Your game can be a rough demo or a finished product, single player or multiplayer, a board game or a videogame, etc.

See you at Republic for the fun!

More info and further discssion can be found on the IGDA-TC google group.

MN VR and HCI Dec 2014: zSpace at Boston Scientific (field trip)

Maple Grove, MN at Boston Scientific Vis Lab
Wednesday, December 3, 2014 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (CST)

Using zSpace for visualization at Boston Scientific

Discussions and demos of how Boston Scientific is using zSpace systems for visualization and design.  The zSpace workstations let you view 3D object from multiple angles, and interact with them in 3D space above the screen.  The hardware is a combination of a unique 3D monitor, polarized glasses, head tracking and a 3D tracked stylus.

We’ll also have a brief discussion on the upcoming Global Game Jam (Jan 23-25), and Oculus, PC Hardware, and other news.

BSC is located off of Weaver Lake Rd, which is the next exit west after 494 and 694 merge into 94.  Once you turn off of Weaver Lake Rd into BSC, continue on the ring road to the far end of the complex and park near the building 3 lobby.  Enter on the large parking lot side.

Schedule:

Event Schedule Dec 2014 to Feb 2015

Calendar graphic from Nov 2014 meeting.

• Dec. 3rd, VR & HCI meeting.
  At Boston Scientific.
• Dec. 10th, IGDATC Holiday Hootenanny, Social and Gaming.
  At The Republic.
• Jan 14th, IGDATC meeting. TBD
  At The Nerdery (here)
• Jan. 23-25, Global Game Jam, hosted by Glitch.
  At the UMN
• Feb. 11th, IGDATC meeting, Global Game Jam Team Post Mortems
  At The Nerdery (here)

IGDATC Nov 2014 – Tabletop Game Design Tools & Tips

Wednesday, October 8, 2014 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (CDT)

Tabletop Game Design Tools and Tips – Martin Grider

Martin Grider will talk about his experiences designing a fairly complex tabletop game over the course of several years. He’ll talk generally and specifically about using spreadsheets to help with game design (both tabletop and video game). He’ll also discuss and demonstrate Playtest, a tool for converting spreadsheet data to printable playing card prototypes.

Martin is the owner of Abstract Puzzle, and has made a number of mobile games available on iOS.

Member Project: Automating Gameplay (aka Cheating) – Ryan Foss

Ryan Foss has developed a way to automate game play on a few of his favorite mobile games. He will explain and demonstrate his missuse of testing tools that allows his computer to play for him.

Ryan is the co-owner of Duck Duck Boom and promises that some day they will release a game.

Plug My Thing!

In addition to informal verbal plugs, we’ll also show your trailer, user group, recruitment page, promo video, demo reel, etc.  Grab the appropriate ticket – first come, first served.

Video guidelines: 

• Short and sweet.  3 minutes max.
• 1 short URL, Zero setup (Media  is streamable from fast/reliable site like YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
• Your Contact info is on page or in video.
• You were a part of this project, are attending the meeting, and will introduce it.
• Meet us in the back of the auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda:

Many, many thanks to the Nerdery for hosting IGDATC events over the years.

October 2014 – Board Game Multiplayer Extravaganza

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
Light Grey Art Lab

A special Halloween Board Game Multiplayer Extravaganza at Light Grey Art Lab!

IGDA Twin Cities is proud to present another Multiplayer Extravaganza on Wednesday, October 29th.

This month we are teaming up with Light Grey Art Lab, and joining them for tabletop games in their gallery space. This means we won’t have the usual projectors and controllers, sorry if that disappoints you!

As usual, we’re coordinating with a number of local game developers and hope to have an awesome selection of local board games to play! Usually we’re interested in all kinds of games made by local developers, but this time around we won’t have as much space. Your board game can be a rough demo or a finished product. If you’d like to show your game, please select the “I’ll attend and want to bring a game I made!” ticket type when registering for the event.

The Multiplayer Extravaganza is an ongoing series of monthly events where our community gets together to play games and share gaming experiences. The games we play and discuss include a rotating collection of favorites suggested by the community as well as locally made games that local creators bring to the events. Come share your passion for games, or sign up to show your own game to get feedback and encouragement, or simply join us to find your place in the gaming world.

All of our events are free and open to the public.

Hope to see you there!