Video Games for Self Expression & Education An L3D Presentation by: Cami Dodson

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About Me BS in Computer Science, May ’07 Certificate in Technology, Arts & Media Work –L3D, Craft Technology Lab, TA for GEEN 1400, Geology Department –Circadence, LightReading.com Clubs –Game Developer’s Club (CS) –Technology, Arts & Media Club (Atlas)

I Graduated!

About Me International Game Developer’s Association (IGDA) Scholarship Best in Section – Design Expo ’07 Active Learning Award www. supercami.comwww. supercami.com

Familiar Faces

Overview Game Developers Club CS Students – Why Make Games? Serious Games BioKid – My CS Senior Project

Overview Game Developers Club CS Students – Why Make Games? Serious Games BioKid – My CS Senior Project

Game Developer’s Club Helping each other make games –Teach techniques –Analyze current games and trends –Discuss critical topics like morality in games, addiction, and the creator’s responsibility Play games President for 2 years, member for 4 years

Game Developer’s Club: Officer Structure President Vice-President Publicity Officer, Webmaster, Special Events General Officers (x6) Officer Meetings

Game Developer’s Club: Schedule Every Tuesday 7-9pm –With after-events from 9-12am Game Jams Contests White-Board Games Board Games Workshop Workshop Tutorials –Flash, OpenGL, DirectX, Java, Python Live-Action Games

Game Developer’s Club: Tuesday Night Presentations Presentations –20-45 minutes each –3 per meeting –BioKid Game Engine, Cinematography in Games, Geometry Shaders, Writer’s Group, Modding, Game Reports, XNA

Game Developer’s Club: Tuesday Night Presentations Guest Speakers –45-60 minutes each –Wild Divine, Globaloria, Café Play, Sun Rep, Microsoft Rep, SketchUp, Idol Minds, Colorado Game Dev –L3D talks: Anja Kinstch & Andy Gorman

Game Developer’s Club Game Jams Weekend Long Event Gather at someone’s house Design a Game Based on a Theme –Dreams –Film Noir –Biofeedback

Game Developer’s Club Contests Make a Game, Win a Prize –Best Frogger Game –Best Pac-Man Game –Game Dev Website Design Contest Best White-Board Game Prizes –$25 Gift Certificate, Google Chair, Computer Book

White-Board Games

Game Developer’s Club Board Game Workshops Special Tuesday Night Meeting Break up into groups of 3 or 4 Each group gets a Go board (a basic grid) & ~50 black and white stones Time structure: –20 minutes to create a game –30 minutes to share games with everyone –30 minutes to build off of your game or create a new one –30 minutes to share games

Game Developer’s Club Workshop Tutorials 1-2 Student Teachers Topic Signup sheet 2 hours long Special Time/Place Flash, OpenGL, DirectX, Java, PyGames (Python)

Teaching Flash

Live-Action Games

Game Developer’s Club Turnouts Event# People Tuesday Night Meetings15-20 Game Jams10 Contests4 Whiteboard Game Contest9 Board Game Workshop15-20 Workshop Tutorials5 Live-Action Games15-30

Game Developer’s Club: Wiki My G-Life ( –Idit Harel Caperton, PhD Online Community for Members –Members can edit any page Content –Calendar of Events, Discussions, Our Games, Photos ->USA -> Boulder GameDev

Game Developer’s Club: Web Server Members’ personal sites 100+ GB of space Any member can get an account PHP, mySQL enabled Can hook up to their own domain name:

Werewolf

After a Tuesday Meeting

Cami Goes to the Game Developer’s Conference

Game Developer’s Conference 2007

GDC 2007

Fan Girl

GDC 2007

Overview Game Developers Club CS Students – Why Make Games? Serious Games BioKid – My CS Senior Project

Overview Game Developers Club CS Students – Why Make Games? Serious Games BioKid – My CS Senior Project

Computer Science What is Computer Science? –Data Structures –Algorithms –Methodologies –Computer Languages

Computer Science What is Computer Science? –Data Structures –Algorithms –Methodologies –Computer Languages

The Computer Scientist’s Audience Knows Social Networks Online –Facebook, MySpace, Match.com Software Tools –Office, i-Tunes, Dreamweaver, Mozilla Hardware Support –Spaceship, satellites, cell phones, i-pods Hackers –Websites, bank accounts, credit cards, companies

The Computer Scientist’s Audience Knows Video Games –One of the most popular forms of entertainment –Programmers are the core developer of any video game.

Programmers: The New Rock Stars

The Role of Programmers in Game Development “Programmers are your most important audience, this is how your game gets made, this is how your vision turns into something real.” –Damion Schubert, BioWare Talking about communicating your game designs to a large team

Video Games for CS Students Very Receptive Audience –People love to play your games –The first time someone’s asked me how I made a software program Have Fun –Mask complicated topics behind zombies, pirates, ray-guns, cyber-pets Artistic Skills –Let CS students share their other talents – artist, 3D modeler, photographer, musician, writer, game player

Video Games for CS Students Games are Very Complicated Systems –Graphics Programming 3D & 2D –Math –Physics –AI –Optimized for Real-Time Calculations –Newest Hardware to the Limit –Testing Unit Tests just aren’t enough

Ichor Luke Palmer Namaste Reid

Overview Game Developers Club CS Students – Why Make Games? Serious Games BioKid – My CS Senior Project

Overview Game Developers Club CS Students – Why Make Games? Serious Games BioKid – My CS Senior Project

Serious Games What Serious Games are Usually Like –Sugar coat the bitter act of learning Learning Fun

Serious Games What Serious Games can be –Learning can be fun –Find the fun and expand on it Fun Learning

Serious Games What Serious Games can be –Learning can be fun –Find the fun and expand on it Fun Learning

Life Simulations Cash Flow –Educational board game –Teaches accounting, finance, and investing –Created by Robert Kiyosaki, author of book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" –$ –The Fun: Making lots and lots of $

Guitar Hero Making Beginner Guitar Learning FUN

Guitar Hero You are a Rock Star

Guitar Hero The Fun: –Playing the music you love –Sounding good –Improving –Feeling like a star

Flash Math

Biofeedback Heart-Rate & Skin Conductivity Awareness of body-mind connection Communicate your feelings to the computer –Anxiety, excitement –Steady –Calm, relaxed

Cami Dodson Robert Scoville Daniel Off Ghassan Zaynoun

Conclusion: Video Games Are Cool I want to help make Game Dev classes in CS and in Atlas We want a Game Development Track for CS majors Play video games with your kids –They’ll love you for it