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On day 4, we wanted to talk a little about the basics of the way that software thinks about things and introduce a few of the fundamental abstractions of programming. I know it’s a whippersnappers/get off my lawn/uphill both ways in the snow kind of moment, but the computing experience of the 80s really did prepare us beautifully for software engineering careers, and, well, these kids don’t have to type in 6 pages of code if they want their computer to draw a picture of Alfred E. Newman like we did. Anyway, I introduced Eric as someone who writes software for a living, and he talked about variables and collisions and things that the computer would have to keep track of.

On day 5, the topic was the main loop of the game and continuing to build on the distinction between property and state; and the notion of stepping through the loop many times per second; when it updates positions, when it implements input from the players, checking for collisions or scoring, etc. Of course, this may not be the exact way that the engine handles events, but it’s helpful to analyze what would be needed to make a game happen.

On monday, we’re going to talk about the process of making a game, the types of jobs that are involved (including looking through the credits and seeing if I can hint them into guessing what QA means) and a few ideas about game design. We’ll play a few of the minigame modes and they’ll come up some of their own ideas for minigame modes. We’ll see how it goes!

Also, I have to say that we could no longer resist the opportunity to let them play Little Big Planet of Friday… we’ll see if they demand it first thing on monday.

The plan for Day 3 was to talk about the basic ideas of 3D space, coordinate systems, and how the 3D space is represented in a 2D image. I had two personal goals for this day: get the two girls to take some guesses, and say the words “Matrix Transformations” in a meaningful way.

Before the class started, I took a shot at singlehandedly solving one of the biggest issues in modern education: girls and geekiness. Now, the two Sophies in my class are really cool, smart girls; they clearly know what’s going on, they love to play the game, and they seem to be enjoying the class, but they don’t take any guesses during the discussion. There is so much built-in resistance to overcome to get them to participate, from the modern image of what girlhood is and what girls are supposed to be interested in to the ancient imbedded biological maxim that you can’t go wrong making a man feel smart. Regardless, they chose to take this class, and I’d like to try to get them to engage with the content a little. I had noticed that they were quite into the competitive element, cheering on their team and trash talking as required, so I mentioned to them before class that their team had falled behind a little bit yesterday because neither of them took any guesses, and they could help their team out by speaking up a little during the discussion. They nodded enthusiastically, and lo and behold, during the discussion, they actually took some guesses! It didn’t last, though, and I can’t yet try that gambit again; later in the week a Sophie would raise her hand and when called on point to Nemo.

It is clear that these kids by and large understand 3D, even if they’ve never really heard the terminology before. Nemo got a super papa bonus for correctly guessing that the third axis is called the z axis. The funniest thing is because ‘binary’ and ‘software’ were answers on the first day of class that I got really excited about, they keep guessing those again just in case. “OK, how does the program know what lines to draw to make the perspective shape of the car?” “Uhhh, binary?” Which is fun, because it’s not exactly wrong!

However, we got through the stuff I wanted to talk about and then moved on to a 2 vs. 2 teams tournament. The kids are starting to get a little better at the game, but it’s still hard to get them to do anything other than blindly charge after the ball. But who could blame them?

I’m working on a megaman-themed spot at the office, so I indulged myself on the plane back from New Orleans by making a megaman boss for the library. What a blast, pixelart is very addictive! I’m also eagerly awaiting my block party portrait from Diesel Sweeties. R Stevens said I have the coolest hair he’s yet done. He said that.

It’s an ebook.

Today, I split the group up into 4 teams with the intent of them staying in those teams for the rest of the class. In the open school way, each group covered the age gamut of the class, although I was sorely tempted to make a team out of the 3 Andrews and 2 Patricks and call it Full House. Teams can earn points for good guesses or right answers during the discussion, plus points from their team’s turns in the battle arena. I had put down Physics and math as the topic, but I really started with “What is a videogame made out of?” Which was initially answered with “uh, chips?” and with some prodding and discussion was ultimately getting shouts of “ones and zeroes” and even, to my delight, “information!” We talked about the difference between hardware and software (and even firmware), what the game needs to be able to calculate, and what kinds of forces are in play during the game. We also talked about the difference between properties and state in relation to the ball, which even led to the difference between linear and angular momentum. It was pretty great. Still a lot of answers from the 8 or so geekier guys (and no guesses from either Sophie), but I gave out about 80 points for lots of good guesses over about 30 minutes of talking, leaving 45 minutes to play.

On the first day, there were few goals because even the easy bots get right after the ball and control the match. So today, we tried 4 vs 4 with no bots and all the kids on the same team; I also added the red and the blue scores so they could get it into either goal. This gave them time to look at the ball and their starting places and see if they could make something happen. After the first two rounds of everybody running all over the place and scoring 3 or 4 goals over 5 minutes, they realized that when their positions get reset after a goal, one of them is usually lined up to bop the ball right into the goal, so the game became figuring out which of the 4 players was lined up, and then letting them shoot it as quickly as possible. The high score was 32, which we added to their question points to determine who advanced to 2 final matches: The Marauders ultimately defeated Team X, while The Blazers fell to The Destroyers.

For tomorrow, I’m hoping to talk a little about how the game produces a 2D image of a 3D simulation, talk about wireframes and textures and 3D modeling, and a little about lighting and special effects; and maybe get the girls to take a couple guesses.

Day 1 was off to a great start! We have the use of Mike’s content studio / classroom with a projector and lots of open space. We set up my 2 PS3s (I’m again thankful that a PlayStation Network purchase usually allows you to download the product onto 5 different units) and 2 of my 15″ travel LCDs with 3 controllers each. We projected the game onto the screen and I went through the tutorials so that all the kids could see the basic moves. Nobody has played this game before (except Nemo) and we have a wider spectrum of game familiarity than I had expected; some self-proclaimed videogame experts who were clearly not all talk, and some kids who sheepishly admitted that they aren’t very good at videogames. I have to admit, I’m shocked to see American elementary schoolers who haven’t ever held a videogame controller and are at a loss when confronted with an analog stick; it’s clear who has anti-game parents. I can’t help but see this as a handicap, but it’s one that they very quickly overcome.

The kids correctly identify what ‘supersonic’ means (although the answered first said ‘faster than light, er, sound!) and Nemo chips in by adding that it means that the vehicle should cause a sonic boom. I love that answer, because that’s totally not in the game and Nemo knows it; but he’s applying his knowledge of the world to the question and that’s what it’s all about! The kids also go CRAZY when I mention that you can destroy other cars when you’re supersonic. Nothing like mayhem to inspire an elementary schooler. Lots of oohs and ahhs as the cars do backflips and such; and many helpful suggestions to defeat the tutorials and move on.

We then spent the rest of the class taking turns going 3 on 3 vs. the computer so that everyone could get a few chances to play. While they’re at this, I rethink my approach to taking turns the rest of the week; I think I’ll split them up into teams with all ages on each team to make it fair, and there should be enough time for everybody to get to play at least once each time we meet. During the discussion, I’ll award points to the teams for each good guess or correct answer; I want to get them throwing out ideas and see how much of what goes into 3d software they can deduce on their own. We’ll then add the discussion points to points earned in the battle arena and crown a team victorious each time; and the number of daily wins each team accrues will affect their standing in the final tournament.

Tomorrow will be the first big step; talking about the concepts of 3D Physics and Maths (not doing any equations, just talking about what equations need to be done) to see if we can get them thinking about everything that goes into even simple little games like these!

Stay tuned for a report from day 2!

My kid Nemo is lucky to go to a really great school: Ann Arbor Open School @ Mack. One of my very favorite things they do at Open School is called Focus Studies: three times a year, for 2 weeks, a mini-elective is shoehorned into each day. There are usually 25 or so different Focus Studies to choose from, offered by teachers, staff, and parents. Some are creative, like knitting, building a model, poetry, or writing and staging a play; or there’s a Basketball clinic, a Euchre tournament, a Spanish class, all kinds of stuff. Last year I offered a Focus Study called “Pokémon and Probability” for grades 5-8, and it was a blast. Of course, I learned a lot about what worked and what didn’t, how to engage the kids and keep them focused on some content that’s above grade level. I wrote out lesson plans and everything, but I didn’t keep notes on what happened, so much of what we did was lost to the mists of time. Well, not exactly, but I wanted to blog about it and didn’t, so I’m fixing that this time around.

This year, with the assistance of Eric ‘rhymes with toaster’ Klooster, I’m offering Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-powered Battle Cars: The Focus Study. Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars is a wonderful little game from the Playstation Network that essentially boils down to playing soccer using , well, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars. One thing that I found last year when talking about content that the kids had had essentially no exposure to (like, say, the concept of a spreadsheet!?) was that kids were reluctant to throw out guesses to leading questions if they didn’t know the answer. So, to encourage kids to think and guess, I’m going to award tokens for good guesses or right answers (and artificially spread them around, especially to the little guys) and the kid with the most tokens at the end of the discussion advance to play the game… the idea is to use this game as a framework to talk about things to which kids grades 1-6 aren’t usually exposed. Here’s the basic idea of what we’ll talk about, and I’ll post each night about how it’s going.

Day 1: Overview of Game, What We’ll Cover, How to Play.
Everybody gets a turn, 2v2 and 1v1.

Day 2: Physics and Math: Gravity, Velocity, Momentum, Relative Speed.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 3: Graphics: 2D and 3D, wireframes, textures, lighting, special effects.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 4 (ejk): Memory: game code vs. variables, what the game needs to track.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 5 (ejk): Programming: collision, networking, graphics & physics engines.
2v2 playoffs for top token getters

Day 6: Game Design: Who works on a game, Specifications, Designing for Fun.
Mini-game modes, design your own mini-game

Day 7: Full Tournament for 2-player teams

I’m not really much of a PC gamer. I was crazy into Apple ][ software and its vibrant acres of pirated, paper-punch-modded truly floppy discs, and I downloaded lots of Apogee stuff at 1200 baud in the late eighties, but when I think about it, the only computer game I’ve actually bought since leaving the nest was the legendary Homeworld. Oh wait, no, that was a crack too. OK, I did actually buy the brilliant and disasterously underrated Moonbase Commander, which is SO overdue for a release onto Wiiware it hurts.

I do remember playing Doom for the first time at a campus computing lab and getting almost violently sick whilst wondering who still thought that space demons were a neat idea. I also used to play Rise of The Triad when I was a retail store designer at the now-defunct VideoWatch against my slightly odiferous and despiseable colleague; which I think is a key to why shooters have just not ever taken hold of my interest: there just isn’t anybody (except that guy) I’d like to pretend to shoot in the head. I guess that ‘no gun toys’ rule worked, thanks Mom and Dad! As someone who doesn’t like shooters, I’ve had no use for the Xbox and thus no exposure to the Halo menace; in fact, when I played Halo 2 for the first time at the first Sandbox Symposium in 2006, I was very interested in the story and the atmosphere but just had no interest in all the running and shooting. It would be a great game if it wasn’t for the need to essentially move through the entire game sideways to avoid incoming fire.

I realize it’s perverse for someone who likes videogames and immersive experiences as much as I do to dislike first-person shooters, an influential sector of the market and a cornerstone of the industry. However, I do think that my distaste for the tropes of the FPS world allow me to see lost potential in these games abilities to appeal outside of the 14-34 year old boy twitch world. Which brings us to Bioshock. The demo has recently become available in the PlayStation Store (officially no longer the PLAYSTATION Store, in case you missed that very important press release this week), and I had been fascinated with the story, the graphic design, and the atmosphere since the game’s PC release almost a year ago. I even read through the whole plot on wikipedia assuming I would never play through the game. So, I downloaded the demo, and after explaining to Nemo that I could only play this game after he was safely in bed (he is not accustomed to me showing interest in titles that are rated M, and I had to explain that there are some games that just aren’t for kids) I fired up the demo and tried to set my expectations aside.

At first, it worked. I was transfixed by the first-person perspective of the airplane crash and sinking in the water, sitting there looking at the burning wreckage until the game reminded me that I could actually, you know, push the stick and move. Looking up at the tower, the artful and engrossing environment, the fortunate calm seas and sinking tailfin… I was a fool to have discarded this genre, and that sensation lasted until the game actually started. Enter the dehumanized monster one can safely kill legions of, the flickering lights, hooks for hands, the friendly voice actor on the radio dedicated to “keeping you alive”, and the reveal of the friendly voice’s wife and kids who he needs you to save just in case you weren’t emotionally invested enough yet. Gah. Even a unique story, gorgeous set dressing, brilliant audio work, the introduction of ethical repercussions and a healthy dollop of Ayn Rand fanservice can’t disguise that this game isn’t really different than the 100 other mild permutations of the same idea that a profitable corner of the industry has pumped out over the past 15 years to snare the interest of a certain segment of gamers.

I did give it a chance; I played through the whole demo, experienced heart palpitations at the entrance of the first Big Daddy, felt relief that I didn’t have to fight him yet, marvelled at the breakthrough and highly effective use of old music to set the atmosphere instead of just another bad game soundtrack, and stood around corners to hear the mutant folks mutter to themselves to see how much content was there. And there was a lot! This game is so clearly a labor of love, and a masterwork of the genre, and it’s deserves every accolade it’s received, most of which came from people who love this kind of game. Then, the demo ended, and I was wondering if I should consider actually buying this excellent title to experience the rest, even though it was not my thing. Fortunately, I was then treated to a 2 minute video, obviously put together by a marketing department with a very narrow view of its customer, that attempted to entice me with the delights that awaited me in the rest of the game. Oh god, why would I want to do any of that? It was 20 or so 8-second excerpts from the most violent and frenetic moments of fights yet to come in the full version, shrieking, flopping zombies being electrocuted and blown up. Simply put, that did not look like fun to me, it looked like agonizing, unpleasant work. I’m glad they put it all out there, as I just saved $60. I guess I can’t shake the feeling that this product, and others like it, are restraining themselves to appeal to a narrow but fervent, fickle, and pissy audience (see the collossal fuss over making Diablo III actually be visible), and I would have enjoyed this game much more if there wasn’t always a bloody carcass waving in my face. I’m not disputing that there are people who like this kind of entertainment, and that’s fine with me; I know horror films continue to be big at the box office for similar reasons; but I’m not interested in the ideas those stories are putting forward, even though there may be someone who knows what I did last summer. It just disappoints me to see such a cool idea as the city of Rapture get the fangoria treatment in pursuit of a narrow market. I’d love to see a prequel get further into the story but without so many scary scary zombies.

This is just a tip of a big iceberg that the game industry is going to have to grapple with seriously over the next few decades. Up until the mid aughts, gamers were a safe, definable subset of the population that could be easily targeted, developed for, and marketed to. As ‘gamer’ reaches the level of ubiquity across our society that ‘tv watcher’ has and ceases to be a monolithic stack of wallets, game developers are going to have to decide who they’re going to pander to, and how much money they’re leaving on the table when they do. Sure, SAW and other violent films are big business and have their place in the content ecology, but as they say at Pixar, G-Rated equals G-money. The decision for developers and for the publishers who finance their projects is going to be who does your game include, and who does it exclude? Profitability lies in many locations across that spectrum, but you can bet that the wide-ranging appeal and greater market of games that appeal outside the hardcore is going to lead to publishers and other suited types putting pressure on developers to make titles that are accessible to more casual players.

We’re seeing this already with Fable II, Gaming Legend Peter Molyneux’s latest adventure title, which is being killed in early previews because hardcore players don’t like it. Molyneux is beseeching these foul-tempered pad-grippers to find a nongamer and try the demo with them, as a gamer clearly wouldn’t appreciate the accessible direction this title has taken. This is essentially the Jersey Girl defense, if someone doesn’t like your work, just say “well, it’s not for you.” That’s not going over very well with gamers, but Molyneux is at least trying to get ahead of what is going to be a very different curve for the game development industry to negotiate. He’s trying to make a game that has a broader appeal to reach more customers (and their wallets), but the success of the title is threatened by the hardcore’s response to his choices, which impacts all-important review scores and undermines the title’s base sales. If this direction results in a commercially unsuccessful title, the industry is going to be scared off this tack for a while until the indie scene beats them to it and they have to scramble to catch up. That said, I can’t understand how Molyneux can insist that an Xbox 360 title is intended to appeal to new gamers…. that’s akin to equipping a chopper with training wheels.

I'm really looking forward to this year's symposium… Jenny has a great program lined up and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.  I'll be giving a quick gtsystem update and demo, running a social tourney, and presenting two sessions: Civic Engagment through gaming: how to build Communities of Players and Level Up the Discourse, and a Pokémon Primer.  I'm looking forward to both of these, but the Pokémon Primer is really going to be a blast.  Register now for the symposium and get access to a fantastic set of sessions.

Also, today's Questionable Content about the library ecosystem was awesome and will surely result in some new tshirts. 

Cracked.com has quietly been reinventing their brand over the past few years, becoming a bit of a web powerhouse in the process.  They've certainly cracked the code for success on Digg.  What's most interesting to me (as someone who remembers cracked as a lame chaser of the usual gang of idiots) is the space they're occupying somewhere between comedy and legit analysis, not unlike The Daily Show, and they're definitely following TDS's formula of picking up stories that no-one else is covering, and then making jokes about them.

This week, Cracked.com ran Tech Zombies: 6 Technologies That Don't Know They're Dead, and while they aren't all slam dunks, this is some excellent, provocative writing, even if it's not all that funny.  Especially to libraries.  These walking dead are our bread and butter, and what's most interesting is that many libraries are just now getting into a few of them, seeking salvation.  I'll grant that the Cracked brand isn't usually associated with media prognosticating, but they make some excellent arguments (especially when they talk about the competing interests of sustainability and profitability) and there's a sizable grain in truth in their portrayal of the light at the end of the tunnel being not an oncoming train, but a train that's speeding away faster than libraries can catch.

What's really intriguing is that books aren't listed among the undead; perhaps the author is angling for a book deal.