Monday December 11, 2017 IGDA-TC and MN VR and HCI Winter Social

Join us at Joe Senser’s Kitchen and Bar for beverages, good conversation, and fun! The party begins at 7:00pm on Monday, December 11th and goes late.  Like all IGDA-TC and MN VR and HCI events, this is free and open to the public. All ages welcome (under 18 with parent or guardian).

The maintenance is what allows the Website to continue fulfilling the objective for which it was created throughout its life cycle, so important to have the help of the professionals from best website hosting to have your website update.

Winter Party Instead of Presentations

We will not be having our regular meetings in December. Instead, come to Joe Senser’s Kitchen and Bar to hang out and relax at our casual winter social! We’ll have some video games and board games to play, of course. Feel free to bring your own! We know it is a busy time of the year for everybody, so please feel welcome to stop by any time during the night. We’ll be chilling and talking until they kick us out.

Global Game Jam 2017

The Global Game Jam 2017 starts Friday January 26th. We’ve partnered with Glitch again, so if you’re interested you can register at GameCraft.MN. 31 games were made last year, 6 of which used VR and/or HCI. Let’s make more this year!

See you at Joe Senser’s!

All volunteers and event attendees are asked to please read our Safe Arcade Policy.

More info and links for further discussion can be found on the IGDA-TC Connect with Us page.

The Nerdery | Bloomington MN 55341
Wednesday, November 8, 2017 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (CST)

Member Project

Modding: Forging the Way
Connor Skidmore

Modding can be an interesting hobby and exercise for game developers, but it’s twice the fun when it is done without documentation or tutorials. Connor Skidmore will be discussing the recent indie game Rain World, and how he worked with the game’s community to forge the way in modding for the game, with stories of the ups and downs of the process and other anecdotes.

Main Presentation

Game Dev Cheat Codes: A Gathering of Tips and Tricks
Stephen McGregor

All those tips and tricks you’ve learned from making games are basically cheat codes, unlocking the secrets of game developers don’t want you to know. Stephen McGregor is compiling those into a game dev cheat code library (you know, like those ones from the 90’s!) Join us to learn from other people in the community (as well as fellow game devs from the internet) and to share your game dev tips and tricks. Notes from this talk will be compiled and posted on the MSP Game Dev Slack as well as the Midwest Game Developers Facebook group.

A game designer for Escape Industries, Stephen is currently working on Fingeance, a 4-player cooperative shoot-em-up with RPG elements. He also co-hosts the podcast Nice Games Club.

Stephen also runs the Midwest Game Developers Facebook group.

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.

Guidelines:

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• Related to games, gaming and or game development in some way. (Exceptions can be made, but please consult us first.)
• 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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:30 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Other Happenings and Announcements

Check out other local happenings at Ice Cold Games.

Help us find interesting presenters, use this easy form to let us know.

Member Project: Unite Conference Overview
Patrick Swinnea

A short summary of the Unite Conference, and the experience involved with the Unity certification test.

Zodiapp: Or Why I Never Want to Develop a Freemium Game Again
Matt Gravelle and Nick Miller

This mini post-mortem will, in a nutshell, explain why we never want to work on a Freemium game again.

Freemium mobile games are often attributed making large sums of money. At the time of writing this, 199 of the 200 top grossing iOS apps are Freemium in some form! So when Graveck teamed up with their old buddies from Freeverse to build a Zodiac themed freemium game, it seemed like a winning combination. It wasn’t. After 3+ years of development, countless soft launches, and heavy iterations Zodiapp lived in the app store for only a month before it was deemed dead.

Graveck was officially Founded by Matt Gravelle and Jonathan Czeck in 2005. We entered the industry professionally with Big Bang Brain Games, the first boxed retail product developed by the Unity 3D engine (back when retail game sales was still a thing). Since then we’ve created a mixture of independent and work-for-hire games, seeing releases for big-name clients such as Disney and independent releases such as Skee-Ball and Strata. We also have some exciting things on the horizon that we may touch on in the presentation!

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.

Guidelines:

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• Related to games, gaming and or game development in some way. (Exceptions can be made, but please consult us first.)
• 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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:30 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Other Happenings and Announcements

Check out other local happenings at Ice Cold Games.

Help us find interesting presenters, use this easy form to let us know.

Skyera, Sneak Peak at a Work in Progress
Matt Meuwissen

Matt Meuwissen is developing a game with an intriguing mechanic and we’ve convinced him to tell us about it. Skyera is a work-in-progress game where the player can explore a bizarre world in amazing ships, obliterate enemies, loot treasure, and raise pets. In Skyera, the animals have adapted to the chaos and can morph into powerful ships and weapons that the player can use. With live game play, Matt will talk briefly about the game and its development so far, the inspiration and mechanics, as well as challenges and implementation using Unity 5.0. Matt is looking for feedback and suggestions from the audience to help improve the game. (Matt’s website.)

How to build a Holodeck: A Star Trek VR postmortem
Mark LaCroix

For its Summer 2017 “Star Trek Live” event, the Minnesota Orchestra asked GLITCH (http://glitch.mn) to come up with a Trek-themed lobby installation, and GLITCH asked game developer and noted Trekkie Mark LaCroix (http://noblerobot.com) to create it.

In his presentation, Mark will talk about designing a VR installation space for a non-gamer audience, and walk though his method for “impersonating” high-end 3D content for Google Cardboard by using photospheres in Unity. He’ll also talk about the dead ends, false starts, and various “trials and Tribble-ations” he faced along the way.

Mark LaCroix is a filmmaker, game developer, and co-host of the weekly gamedev podcast Nice Games Club (http://nicegames.club). His video work has appeared on NBC and Netflix, while his Javascript advertising template is probably cached on your computer right now (sorry). Mark lives in Minneapolis with his wife and three computers.

Story Time With Zachary Johnson

Pull up a beanbag and roast some fish-shaped cheese crackers on the fire of the stage lights… it is time for Story Time with stories! Zach Johnson has returned from adventures abroad and domestic bringing tales of games like you’ve never heard nor played before. For approximately 30 minutes, there will be pictures and ramblings about A Maze. / Berlin, JS Conf EU, Signal Conf, Play Date Game Show, and the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Oh, also E3, too.

A Brief History of the ColecoVision Zaxxon Cartridge Development in 1982
David Megarry

In 1982 David Megarry was part of the development team for the ColecoVision Zaxxon Cartridge. He will explain the history of how the cartridge was programmed, what part he played in the development and answer questions about cartridge creation in the 1980’s. He will bring a working ColecoVision, the listings for the ColecoVision OS, the listings for the Zaxxon cartridge as well as other examples of the ColecoVision development process. At the end of the talk, David will be making a brief announcement of an idea he has for the ColecoVision, seeking the audiences input.

David started playing Avalon Hill’s Blitzkrieg in about 1967 and eventually fell into David Arneson’s basement Napoleonic Campaign in 1968 (he is the Emperor of Austria, so treat him accordingly..;). He designed Dungeon! In the Fall of 1972 (Oct) after almost being drafted into the U.S. Army in the previous September (they threw him out as he was too skinny). He worked briefly for TSR in 1976 as Treasurer, did programming for video consoles (ColecoVision) in the 1980’s, produced data games (Compton’s) in the 1990’s.  Ultimately he became a software tester in the medical and process control industries.

He is now retired and is exploring his passions of independent scholarship (physics, math & history) as well as game design.

David has two grown children, Martha and Henry, lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Rose, and two chickens, St. Joan of Arc and Charlotte Corday.

Camping Games
Ryan Foss

If you go camping this year, Ryan has a few fun game suggestions.

“It’s A Little Weird, But We’ll Deal” – A GLITCHCON 2017 Post-Mortem
Evva Kraikul

GLITCH CONNECT is an arts and cultural festival celebrating digital games and play.

Attendees explored two packed days of powerful keynotes, panels, arcades, exhibits, and quests. The festival serves as a catalyst for digital innovation and attracts 700+ makers, doers, and thinkers in video games from all over U.S.

GLITCH’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, Evva Kraikul, will dive into developing and designing the festival in its 5th year. Evva will touch briefly on the history of the project as well as discuss the challenges, tools, and strategies that are used to build the longest running games conference in the region.

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.

Guidelines:

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• Related to games, gaming and or game development in some way. (Exceptions can be made, but please consult us first.)
• 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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:30 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Other Happenings and Announcements

Northern Spark is all night Sat 6/10.  Grab the free Green Line pass!

Eyeo Festival is the week of 6/26, still a few tickets left.

For Northern Spark, our own Martin Grider and Patrick Swinnea worked on Chaos on the Green Line (VR on a train!)  The team is handing out 2,000 Cardboard VR viewers, and is seeking volunteers for short shifts Sat night 6/10.  Contact Joanna at jj@joannajahn.com

Check out other local happenings at Ice Cold Games.

IGDA Twin Cities and Glitch are hosting the 6th annual E3 Social at Glitch HQ near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

The conference schedule is more spread out than pervious years, so we’re doing things a little differently. We’ll watch the live press conferences from Ubisoft and Sony, and watch recorded press conferences between. Stop by any time. Bring your laptop and “work” (though space is limited), or just come to hang out, play some games, run some playtests, etc.

There isn’t food or drink service, but you can bring your own food and drinks. Or plan to order in or go to a nearby restauraunt for dinner. You may bring your own drinks if you want (alcohol is ok so long as you’re responsible and legal age).

Between 4 and 8 there are no live press conferences, so we’ll watch other recorded press conferences, go out for food (or order in), or play games.

This event is open to all, no memberships required.

Schedule

The schedule is a little complicated so check out this IGN Conference Schedule for times.

Agenda

2:30 pm – doors open at Glitch and coordinators coordinate and setup, come on by
3:00 pm – live stream of Ubisoft Press Conference
4:00 pm – recorded stream of EA or Bethesda press conference, games, whatever
6:00 pm – recorded stream of Microsoft press conference
8:00 pm – live stream of Sony Press Conference
9:30 pm – last keynote ends and we need to leave Glitch, but if enough people are intersted, we’ll move downstairs to the Viking Bar.

Transportation and Parking

You can get to GLITCH via the 2, 7, 22, Blue, and Green Lines. Check this useful Google map for parking and transit options.

A note about accessibility: This event takes place on the second floor and there is not an elevator in the building.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (CDT)

Game Design for HoloLens
Zach Wendt

The current HoloLens is aimed and priced only for business adoption.  So, a profitable game market doesn’t exist. But, the totally unique hardware capabilities (and limitations) have already given rise to game designs and interactions that aren’t possible in VR, or AR on devices like phones or Tango.  So, think of this more of a preview of the future – when these capabilities start showing up in more affordable devices late 2017 and 2018.

Adaptive Audio: What Video Games and The Performing Arts Can Learn From Each Other
Benji Inniger

Video games and the performing arts have a lot to offer audiences. One of the aspects that makes them unique is the use of adaptive audio and music. Video games have many strengths that could benefit theatre audiences and visa versa. This session will explore audio design strategies that can capitalize on the strengths of each of these art forms to create compelling and immersive audio design.

Benji Inniger is a composer and sound designer from North Mankato. His theatre design experience includes Des Moines Metro Opera, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Guthrie Theater, The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Trinity Repertory Company and Brown University. He also works as a a freelance video game and media composer and sound designer and Associate Professor of Theatre at Bethany Lutheran College.

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.

Guidelines:

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• Related to games, gaming and or game development in some way. (Exceptions can be made, but please consult us first.)
• 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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:30 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Other Happenings and Announcements

GLITCH is hosting GlitchCon for its fourth year this May 5 – 7, 2017!

Check out other local happenings at Ice Cold Games.

If you’re paying attention, this might look like a duplicate meeting announcement. Due to a scheduling mistake, last month’s main presenter was moved to this month.

Music Theory for Devs: Basics for Non-Composers
Troy Strand

Do you find yourself unable to express the musical ideas for your game? Want to save time and money when talking with your composer? Come listen to Troy Strand discuss the building blocks of music, helpful hints to get the exact sound you’re looking for, and how to communicate with the composer you’ve hired for your next big hit!.

The Rift Between ZeniMax and Oculus, and What It Means for the Future
Brent Lorentz

February’s jury decision ordering Oculus to pay half a billion dollars to game company ZeniMax finds developers, game executives and hardware designers wondering what could come next. Among charges of violating a non-disclosure agreement, misappropriating trade secrets, copyright infringement and other allegations, the lawsuit poses real implications for players in an industry that is as collaborative as it is secretive.

Join Brent Lorentz as he walks us through the details of the case, how the charges came about, and highlights how the case has the potential to significantly alter the VR gaming landscape.

Brent Lorentz is a litigation shareholder with Winthrop & Weinstine, representing clients in complex litigation matters. He has a personal passion for the video game, game development and gaming industry, especially where it intersects with intellectual property and business law. He also frequently blogs about gaming topics and the law via Winthrop & Weinstine’s award-winning DuetsBlog.

GDC Recap

It’s a few weeks after GDC and some talented, local game developes have volunteered to discuss some GDC topics. Additonally, if time permits, we will have an open forum for discussing some of the bigger news events. So bring your favorite stories from GDC – a favorite talk, demo, conversation, big announcement, experiences, hero sightings, questions, etc.

Global Game Jam Recap and Game Post-mortems

GameCraft, the Global Game Jam 2017, was a smashing success with 31 games submitted on our jam site. With the 2017 Global Game Jam still fresh in our minds, come join us for a review discussion and post-mortems. Some teams will talk about their game and their jam experience. What went wrong, what went right? Learned lessons and fun happenings. A great way to recap the Global Game Jam and see what everyone spent their 48 hours on.

If you participated in the jam and would like to talk about your game during the meeting, please register for the “I’ll talk about my game” ticket.

Due to the number of games and limited time and space, this is not a play event. Glitch is hosting a Gamecraft games play event called PLAY PARTY. It’s Saturday January 28th, 6pm – 10pm at Modist Brewing Company.

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.

Guidelines:

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• Related to games, gaming and or game development in some way. (Exceptions can be made, but please consult us first.)
• 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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Other Happenings and Announcements

Game Dev Day An event for parents and kids to explore making game design, art, code, sound, game testing, and more. February 11, 2017 1pm – 4pm at The Works Museum

Wednesday, January 11, 2017 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (CST)

The Global Game Jam Is Coming, Jan 20-22!

Let’s talk about the Global Game Jam, and the local site Gamecraft. We’ll give a quick synopsis of the GGJ and discuss the upcoming event. We’re happy to be partnering with GLITCH again this year at the second annual Gamecraft, GLITCH’s locally hosted site for the 48-hour Global Game Jam. Registration is open now. We hope to see you there!

25 Years of Game Development in Fly Over Land
Ken Paterson

Ken Patterson, President of Big John Games will be discussing his involvement in game development. Starting as a hobby in 1981 making games for the Apple II then making the big move to full time game development in 1991. Taking on console development in 2006.

Ken will be sharing experiences in the early years of game development 1980’s, building a development studio in the 1990’s, struggles of the early 2000’s, focusing on consoles (Nintendo, XBOX) in 2006. Self publishing on consoles starting in 2008 and continuing self publishing.

Ken and his studio have created properties for Disney, Activision, Mattel, Marvel, Viacom, GT Interactive, Scholastic, and many more companies. Games created by Big John Games are sold in North America, Europe and Japan. Big John Games has forged a lasting partnership with Arc System Works of Japan, allowing BJG to sell it’s game Japan.

Come ready for a fun history lesson in how a little studio in Fly Over land, designed and built games for the big boys of the video game industry and is now competing head to head with them.

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.

Guidelines:

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• Related to games, gaming and or game development in some way. (Exceptions can be made, but please consult us first.)
• 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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Tuesday December 13, 2016 IGDA-TC and MN VR and HCI Winter Social

Join us at Republic (Seven Corners) for beverages, good conversation, and fun! The party begins at 6:00pm on Tuesday, December 13th and goes late.  Like all IGDA-TC and MN VR and HCI events, this is free and open to the public. All ages welcome (under 18 with parent or guardian).

Register now!

Winter Party Instead of Presentations

We will not be having our regular meetings in December. Instead, come to Republic Seven Corners to hang out and relax at our casual winter social! We’ll have some video games and board games to play, of course. Feel free to bring your own! We know it is a busy time of the year for everybody, so please feel welcome to stop by any time during the night. We’ll be chilling and talking until they kick us out.

Mixed Reality Video Production

How do yo show Virtual Reality to someone who’s never experienced it? MR becoming a very popular way to sell VR, but there’s still a major lack of tools. Learn about Pixel Farm’s early experiments and new/upcoming techniques looking to make MR more accessible to developers and streamers.

UX in Virtual Reality

Eatable interfaces, teleportation, flying cats, and magic helmets – Welcome to the wild west of virtual reality, where traditional menus are usually the worst option and there are no established best practices. Less that a year into commercially available VR, what are the emerging trends in UX and interaction design?

Schedule:

Member Project
Story Time with Zachary Johnson

Gather round for story time with Zachary Johnson. This time, there will be travel tales from Fantastic Arcade, Pixel Pop, and IndieCade. The thick is guaranteed to plotten with news of NESpectre and Joggernauts.  And stay tuned for a big reveal involving Tommy Sunders, Robert Frost, and a mace from outer space!  Anything could happen.

A Vast Treasure Trove
Patrick Leder

From its early days as a modest work in progress to a success, Vast has gone through many changes. As a board game designer Patrick faces a unique set of challenges. He will discuss transparency in design, flow, and play balance, in terms of the development of Vast. In addition, he’ll talk about the technical process of creating a game and all of the people involved.

Patrick Leder runs Leder Games, a Board games micro-publisher that makes exciting, socially conscious games. They’ve published the rummy style card game Trick or Treat, and their newest title is Vast, the ultimate asymmetric cave-crawler board game. Sometimes working on Vast full time, Patrick is currently working part time in the Hennepin county Public Defender IT office doing help desk and development work as needed.

Here’s our topics, and examples of what you can expect to hear about.  We’ll have some (time limited) Q&A for each section.

Oculus Connect 3 – Bryn Erickson, Mark LaCroix, Zach Wendt

Announcemens, favorite demos, learnings and meetings, impressions of Touch, all the new tech and SDKs…

Google Daydream – Marc Jensen, TBD?

Daydream overview, Hands-on impressions of the new headset and controller, SDK info(?)…

Future of StoryTelling – Marc Jensen

Event overview, favorite takeaways, visionaries and their tech demos…

PSVR Launch – Martin Grider, TBD?

HW/SW impressions, supported configurations, launch details, favorite titles and biggest disappointments, quick comparison to Vive/Rift/GearVR…

Steam Dev Days – Paul Eckhardt, Mark LaCroix

Announcements, favorite demos, learnings and meetings, impressions of the prototype hand controller…

Member Project
Verdant Skies Development Update

Verdant Skies grew out of a love for games like Harvest Moon and a desire create something special with modern gameplay and deep storytelling. We’ll hear some development highlights from the team. Andy Korth will give a programming update. Troy Strand, and Topher Pirkl will talk about music and sound design. We’ll hear an art direction summary from Lizzy Siemers. Beth Korth will discuss the narrative design direction. The team will finish up with a special surprise announcement, so don’t miss it!

All Your Crates Are Belong To Us
Dev Jana

Through the lenses of modern expectations of games, flow state, and foundational game design principles, we’ll explore the challenges of moving games into the future while attempting to not alienate the general public. All while keeping the industry’s dedicated fanbase from spinning into boredom. This participatory session will include real world examples as well as a classic game case study from the 8-Bit era that stands out as a terminal endpoint for a game genre.

The last decade or so has seen Dev making and teaching games, interactive web projects, and mobile apps across the US. Currently an Instructor at Prime Digital Academy and President of Code and Noises with Twin Cities based indie game manifesting DevNAri LLC, Dev has also taught Game Design and Development in numerous colleges across the US as well as being a speaker at events such as MinneBar, IndieCon (Burlington, VT), and the Independent Games Conference West (Los Angeles) and has previously presented his current project Newt One at IGDATC this past June.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

NOTE: Please try to arrive at the 3rd Ave entrance between 6:30 and 7.  You’ll be escorted to the elevator.

Nvidia Flex and Flow for VR – Paul Eckhardt

Paul did a quick Nvidia Flex VR prototype for our October social/demo event. It had a really unique feel, and generated a lot of discussion and questions afterwards. If you missed his demo, you can check out Flex in NVidia VR Funhouse for Vive.

This month, Paul’s going to get us all up to speed on the Nvidia Flex and Nvidia Flow physics simulators, and how they can be used in VR.  The talk will cover:

• Nvidia Flex overview and uses for soft and rigid bodies, cloth, ropes, liquids and bacon
• Nvidia Flow overview and uses for smoke and fire
• Hardware and performance considerations
• VR-specific rendering, interaction design, and performance considerations.
• UE4 integration and Funhouse mods

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots on 2nd Ave.  Ramp C is also close.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

Guidelines:

Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!  You will be timed.
1 short URL, Zero setup (any media on reliable site like YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
Your contact info is on the page or in the video.
You were a part of this project, are attending the meeting, and will introduce it.
Check in 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page

It’s time for another MN VR and HCI social and demo night!  Huge thanks to Brightstone VCfor hosting, and BiteSquad for catering.  Join us for great conversations stimulated by VR/AR/HCI demos from local developers and enthusiasts.

Official demo list is below.  But, we still encourage anyone to bring their mobile VR and show off their work, or just try some networked GearVR with others, etc.  We’d love to show your work or unique hardware in the future – please get in touch.

• Hybrid Medical Animation: Latest Demos/Videos on Vive, Oculus and GearVR
• Martin Grider: Puzzle Prison on Cardboard
• Paul Eckhardt: Something amazing on Vive and two Titan Xs
• Pixel Farm: Two new Vive demos
• Realvision: Virtual home tours on GearVR and Cardboard
• Roomera / Rêve Academy: student designed retail space for youth, by youth. VR by Roomera
• space150: Vive demo and recent 360 video projects for mobile VR
• UW Stout: Oculus game prototype and/or 360 video version on Cardboard
• Visual: High-bitrate version of favorite 360 videos on GearVR and Cardboard
• VRChat: Bowling Night! Try it on a Vive at the event, or join us virtually Event Details
• Zach Wendt: Wearality Sky 150 degree FOV Cardboard viewer. Bring your giant-est phone to test!

Parking:

Parking in Ramp B is $2 for the first 30min + $1 per 30 min thereafter. There’s also a parking lot directly across from our office, Butler Park, and their flat rate is $8.00 after 7:00p.

Schedule:

About MN VR and HCI:

MN VR and HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) welcomes developers and tinkerers working with all variety of VR, HCI, hardware hacking, creative coding and interactive art.
Members are working on projects with custom displays and lenses, projection mapping, mocap, tiny computers, servos and sensors, interactive statues and a wide variety of VR, AR, motion and computer vision applications.

If you’ve only been to our parent group IGDATC meetings, MN VR and HCI is a slightly different format: We aim for smaller group discussions and lots of specific details.

What’s the next-best thing to being at a concert, sporting event, or beach? The answer is increasingly 360 video, also known as VR video. Minneapolis’ own Visual has produced 360 video experiences for clients ranging from media companies (MPR, StarTribune, Washington Post, Twin Cities PBS) to sports teams (MN Timberwolves, MN Lynx) and more (Mall of America, Newborn Foundation, U of M). But content alone is not enough! We’ve built a 360 video platform that includes VR apps for iOS/Android with Cardboard compatibility, and a dashboard for customers to update and manage their 360 content, and prepare them using video transcoding programs which are not that difficult to get online.

We’re happy to share an overview of 360 video production and app development, with an emphasis on our first public platform customer: Rhapsody VR

• Overview of 360 video capture, and the challenges
• 360 post-production: Syncing, stitching, editing and effects
• 360 distribution: YouTube, Facebook, Visual’s mobile apps
• Challenges and victories of developing 360 video apps in Unity
• Sneak peek at some cool 360 videos we’ve produced

Here are a few 360 videos we’ve produced – check them out in Cardboard!

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Ramp C is also close.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

Guidelines:

Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!  You will be timed.
1 short URL, Zero setup (any media on reliable site like YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
Your contact info is on the page or in the video.
You were a part of this project, are attending the meeting, and will introduce it.
Check in 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page

Please arrive at Vidku before 7!  The door is locked, we have to escort you up.   Thanks to Vidku for being such great hosts!

MN VR and HCI Member Project Night 2016

A lot of new projects and/or new members have been appearing at meetings recently. So, we thought it would be fun to get a quick show and tell on as wide a variety of projects as possible (Not only VR, not only games, etc.)

Presentations will be fast (5-10 min timed), and informal – with some type of visuals being mandatory. Recently completed projects, incomplete/WIP, interesting graphics, shaders or HCI experiments are all encouraged.

Here’s who’s confirmed so far. Grab a Presenter ticket, and we’ll add you to this list:

• Tony Bruno – Enterprise Constitution Class for Vive
• Paul Christian – Simple Stereo Drone Video / Thom Yorke’s Face
• Paul Eckhardt – Beach Ball Vally / Zen Blade / Space Couch!
• Ryan Foss – It Puts the Ball in the Basket for Vive
• Martin Grider – Puzzle Prison: a VR puzzle game for PC and mobile
• Paul Lyrek – Sparky’s Day – Educational Museum Experience
• Mike Medicinehorse – Trip to the Moon / VR for a convention
• Zach Wendt – Trampoline VR / 4 Vive controller experiments

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Parking right in front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Presenter Notes:

The Vidku projector has a full-size HDMI only for input for video and audio.  You’re encouraged to put slides, pics or video online – then use the shared PC laptop running chrome.  No thumb drives please.  Video doesn’t need to be great/captured – use your phone.

Talks will be strictly timed.  Plan for a 5-7 minute presentation max, including setup.  Previous presenter will do Q&A while you set up.  Run through your presentation once with a clock – don’t be like Zach

If you find yourself wanting to show more stuff, we’re always looking for presenters for our regular format. Do both!

Plug My Thing!

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

Guidelines:

Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!  You will be timed.
1 short URL, Zero setup (any media on reliable site like YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)
Your contact info is on the page or in the video.
You were a part of this project, are attending the meeting, and will introduce it.
Check in 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page

The Nerdery
Wednesday, September 14, 2016 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (CDT)

Member Project
Brock Thompson

NanoSeed Production Company is finally in full production! We are making a film and also want to develop a new engine for making Interactive Augmented Reality Pop-Out Book comics and stories, with potential to branch the technology into digital card games and education/instruction.

Working in the Games Industry
Joshua Seaver

Joshua Seaver will informally present personal reflections and anecdotes of working for the last several decades at some of the most influential companies and institutions in the education, games, film and animation industries: from Minnesota to Australia to Texas to California and back again. With a focus on trends and behaviors he’s observed with our relationship to technology, he’ll specifically share an intimate glimpse (with a nod to the irony of being a game developer) into his family’s journey of growth surrounding his teenage son’s problem behavior with video games.

Joshua worked for half a decade at Academy Award winning Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California, collaborating across the studio on Presto: Pixar’s in-house, movie making software. Bookending his Pixar experience, Joshua was involved in two creative technology startups; as an art director and experience designer for San Francisco-based Weaver Labs, a predictive storytelling tool for the Apple Watch; and as a co-founder of Austin-based GameSalad, a platform democratizing game development for iPhone, iPad and the Web. From 1996-2006, Joshua was a new media manager/developer and an informal art & technology educator for the Science Museum of Minnesota. He is currently a lecturer in Animation, Film and Game Development for the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Wisconsin-Stout. He received a B.A. with a focus on fine art from Macalester College, and a Masters from Carnegie Mellon University in Entertainment Technology.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Pizza and drinks (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

The Importance of Quality Audio in Gaming, and Where to Find It
Dan Musselman

Would Super Mario be the same game without the “coin” sound as Mario plunges head first into a metallic block or without its catchy theme song?  Would Halo be as immersive without its epic soundtrack characterized by otherworldly vocals and haunting strings?  Successful scoring and sound effects not only help support the images on a screen, but it also propels the narrative, helps to define the branding of a game, and makes the gaming experience more vivid and immersive.  This conversation will be a demonstration on the importance of quality sound design, and it will also connect you to resources in the Twin Cities where you can find high-end companies, professional freelancers and aspiring student composers who can contribute to your project.

Dan Musselman is a professional composer and musician in the Twin Cities.  He received his Ph.D. in music composition from the University of Minnesota, is a faculty member at McNally Smith College of Music, and is the in-house composer for the visual media company Fusion Media North.  For more information about Dan, visit www.danmusselman.com.

Main Presentation:
Introducing Zones of Control
Pat Harrigan

Games with military themes date back to antiquity, and yet they are curiously neglected in much of the academic and trade literature on games and game history. Pat Harrigan and Matthew Kirschenbaum have now edited a large academic volume that fills that gap, providing a diverse set of perspectives on wargaming’s past, present, and future. In Zones of Control, over 60 contributors consider wargames played for entertainment, education, and military planning, in terms of design, critical analysis, and historical contexts. They consider both digital and especially tabletop games, most of which cover specific historical conflicts or are grounded in recognizable real-world geopolitics. Game designers and players will find the historical and critical contexts often missing from design and hobby literature; military analysts will find connections to game design and the humanities; and academics will find documentation and critique of a sophisticated body of cultural work, since documentation is important, and can be even created in digital formats as PDF files using software from sites as https://www.sodapdf.com . Pat Harrigan will be speaking about the origins, context and contents of Zones of Control, and outlining areas for future study.

Patrick Harrigan edits large academic anthologies about games and new media (Zones of Control, First Person, Second Person, Third Person), occasionally writes fiction (Lost Clusters, Thin Times and Thin Places), and has had other work published by Camden House, Fantasy Flight Games, Chaosium, Pagan Publishing, Gameplaywright, and ETC Press. He performs regularly at spoken-word venues around Minneapolis, notably at the Encyclopedia Show, A Great and Happy People, and the Not-So-Silent Planet cabaret. He also co-hosts the podcast “Get Off My World” (www.getoffmyworld.com), in which he expresses cranky opinions about Doctor Who.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We go to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

The mechanics behind maximizing Guitar Hero scores
Daniel Lew

At a professional level, every video game engine requires knowing the rules inside out in order to abuse them for profit. Even a deceptively simple game like Guitar Hero can be manipulated in order to get ahead.

Dan will describe some interesting math and algorithms that can be applied to maximize scores, as well the subtleties of the game engine that people used for points. (Yes, people wrote complex programs in order to solve Guitar Hero!)

Dan Lew is…
…a social media website with severe character limitations. Turn to page 199.
…an Android developer at Trello. Turn to page 15.

Introduction to Speedrunning
Tony Ogborn

Tony will be providing a high level introduction to Speedrunning followed by a Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition All Hyper Levels speedrun, and will open the floor for a question and answer dialog with people in attendance.

“Tony “TonyOgbot” Ogborn is a local speedrunner that specializes in games developed by WayForward, as well as large variety of other games such as Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Pokemon Blue, Hotline Miami, and more. Not only has he participated in marathons such as Summer Games Done Quick, Rookathon, Hayai Kawaii Marathon, Speedrunning General Marathon and more, he also is one of the lead organizers for the Midwest Speedfest, a local speedrunning marathon hosted through 2D Con, the biggest video game convention in Minnesota.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

IGDA Twin Cities is hosting the 5th annual All Day E3 Social at Glitch HQ near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. We’ll have videos from E3 streaming all day long, including live press conferences from Microsoft and Sony. Stop by any time. Bring your laptop and “work”, or just come to hang out, play some games, run some playtests, etc. If a social hangout is more your thing, plan to have dinner and drinks after work at the Viking Bar (located right below Glitch) and hang out there as well.

If you’ve come to our E3 event before, we’re doing things a little different this year. We are not showing videos at a bar/restauraunt so there isn’t food or drink service. However, we’ll have some time between live events for a late lunch, so plan to pack some food, order in or go to a nearby restauraunt. Additionally, you can bring your own drinks (alcohol is ok so long as you’re responsible and legal age). We’ll have a cooler full of ice you can keep them cool in. Between 4 and 8 there are no live press conferences, so if your interested in watching the EA’s or Bethesda’s prerecorded press conferences, we’ll have them playing. Otherwise, plan for dinner at the Viking Bar, socalizing and drinks.Move between the Viking bar and Glitch as you please.

Schedule

The schedule is a little complicated so check out this Google Sheet with a basic timeline.

Agenda

There really isn’t one. We’ll have the keynotes on througout the day, but you’re not obligated to watch them.

11:00 am doors open at Glitch and coordinators coordinate and setup, come on by
9:30 pm last keynote ends and we need to leave Glitch, but if enough people are intersted, we’ll move downstairs to the Viking Bar.
2:00 am bar closes

Transportation and Parking

You can get to GLITCH via the 2, 7, 22, Blue, and Green Lines.
The area has metered street parking and ramps. There is some free street parking on 19th Ave.

A note about accessibility: This event takes place on the second floor and there is not an elevator in the building.

Member Project: Game analytics in Play the Past
Nic VanMeertem – GLITCH

Nic will discuss his work with Play the Past, an augmented reality game at the Minnesota History Center. He used analytics from telemetry data to improve the design of the game and player experience.

Nicolaas VanMeerten is the Co-founder and Senior Programs Director at GLITCH. Nic is a data scientist by trade and his research focuses on studying how people learn in complex multiplayer video game environments.

Developing a Non-Violent 3D Platformer
Dev Jana – DevNAri

Newt One is a truly non-violent 3D platformer currently in “mid-beta” by Minneapolis 2-man crew DevNAri. This talk will dive into the evolution of the distinct art style, adaptive music/sound effects systems, and other systems in the game including their implementation and design. Also front and center in this talk will be the ability to make decisions and change direction as needed when working independently.

Co-owners of DevNAri LLC, Ari Carrillo (“President of Visuals and Playtime”, 3D Modeler at Axonom Inc.) and Dev Jana (“President of Code and Noise”, newly relocated back to the Twin Cities to be an instructor at Prime Digital Academy) have been working on Newt One since Jan 1st 2015 on the nights/weekends and are looking forward to releasing Newt one by year’s end.

devnari.com
facebook.com/devnari
@DNAnewtone

Vive Interaction Design in Unity

Matt Summers – Pixel Farm

Matt will give an introduction of Vive development in Unity, with a focus on common room scale and hand tracking interactions, and making the most of the Vive controllers. The talk will cover:

• Physical and software setup tips for Vive dev/test in Unity
• Lighthouse mounting options
• Vive controller inputs and ergonomics
• Popular control mappings for common interactions (Pick up, Use, Teleport, etc.)
• Common ways to handle collisions, controller interpenetration, etc.
• Overview of SteamVR plugin for Unity
• Detecting and using different sized play spaces
• Comparison of 3 libraries: ViveGrip, NewtonVR, and SteamVR Unity Toolkit
• Tradeoffs with direct object movement vs physics joints/constraints

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Parking right in front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!  You will be timed.
• 1 short URL, Zero setup (Any 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.
• Talk to us at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

PAX East and IndieCade Recap

Local game company North Games exhibited their game Chimera Genesis at PAX East. Shanti Pothapragada will share lessons and details from exhibiting thier indie game at a national convention, including budget details, logistics, and demo structure insights.

Time permitting, Zach Johnson will share his experience showing his game Joggernaughts atIndieCade East in New York City.

Main Presentation: Living as a Starving Indie

Brent Ruby from Nevenga Games will be discussing his 9 years of work on indie development.Hear about game development as a indie before early access and crowd funding. Covering the creation of Nevenga Games and the sometimes hilarious/tragic bumbling events of the following games:

• Spellbound Potions, the over zealous first game now being kickstarted!
• Pinyo Project, the “simple” facebook game that wasn’t so “simple”.
• and multiple RPG atempts.

Learn from Brent’s experiences and mistakes to avoid cost and wasted time.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.

6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!

6:45 Member Project

7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Please arrive at Vidku before 7!  The door is locked, we have to escort you up.   Thanks to Vidku for being such great hosts!

“Jobbing in VR” – Designing a Room-scale VR game for Vive

Ty Burks – Producer/Artist at Owlchemy Labs

Job Simulator is a tongue-in-cheek virtual reality experience for the HTC Vive. In a world where robots have replaced all human jobs, step into the “Job Simulator” to learn what it was like to job. Ty Burks will be sharing development stories spanning the earliest hand-made prototype Vives, being featured in the 4/5 Vive launch bundle, and early post-release impressions.  But, the main focus of the talk will be on lessons learned and best practices for designing a room-scale environment in VR.

The talk will cover:

• Thoughts on the current state of VR development
• Adventures with hardware launch, and the first VR gamers
• Things that make me barf, other than moldy donuts.
• Object and Interaction design.  Making it fun.
• Bold statements. Probably.
• Playtest nightmares to keep you up at night.
• Exit Burritos and other stories.
• Other random thoughts. Or just ask some questions about designing games for VR!

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Parking right in front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!  You will be timed.
• 1 short URL, Zero setup (Any 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.
• Talk to us at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

GDC Recap

It’s a few weeks after GDC and some talented, local game developes have volunteered to discuss some GDC topics. Additonally, if time permits, we will have an open forum for discussing some of the bigger news events. So bring your favorite stories from GDC – a favorite talk, demo, conversation, big announcement, experiences, hero sightings, questions, etc.

Main Presentation: Paths: A Druid’s Duel Post-mortem

It’s no secret that game development involves a multitude of difficult decisions from game inception to final release. Every step you take alters your view and affects latter choices. Only upon review can we see the path for what it was and determine just how good (or bad) our decisions may have been.

Join Kris Szafranski for an honest review of the development and launch of A Druid’s Duel, a turn-based strategy game released on Steam in February 2015.

In this talk we’ll dissect the development and business decisions made and their outcomes around common game development concerns: Game Design, Architecture, Project Management, Marketing/PR, and Community Management.

Kris Szafranski is the owner of Thoughtshelter Games, where he ran a successful Kickstarter campaign and then launched the game A Druid’s Duel on Steam in early 2015.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.

6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!

6:45 Member Project

7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Please arrive before 7.  The door is locked, we’ll escort you up.   Thanks to Vidku for being such great hosts!

Intro to UE4 and Vive Development – Paul Eckhardt

Paul Eckhardt will give an overview of the HTC Vive, SteamVR, and an introduction to VR development in Unreal Engine. Along the way, he’ll include solutions for common issues for new VR projects.

The talk will cover:

• Creating a sample project in UE4 for SteamVR and HTC Vive
• Intro to UE4 features like blueprints, materials, and physics
• Hitting 90FPS in UE4, performance tools and common fixes
• SteamVR features for apps and users, configuration tips, current hardware compatibility
• Haptics + Sound + Motion Tracking Possibilities
• Important practices for Roomscale VR

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Parking right in front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!  You will be timed.
• 1 short URL, Zero setup (Any 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.
• Talk to us at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Member Project: UW Stout Game Design and Development Program Introduction

Dave Beck serves as both the Director of the Game Design BFA Program and the Chair of the Department of Design at University of Wisconsin – Stout. Dave will present indroduction materials about the Stout Game Design and Development Program and introduce the student game projects. Dave presented his intractive expereince game, Tombeaux, last year.

Main Presentation: UW-Stout’s Game Design and Development Program Capstone Game Projects

Senior Students from University of Wisconsin-Stout’s Game Design and Development Program will present their year-long capstone game projects. Multiple games will be presented by representatives from teams of artists, designers, and programmers. While the games are not finished *yet*, this will be a perfect chance to get a sneak peek into the development processes behind these games, before they are debuted a month later at the Stout Game Launch from 6-8pm on Wednesday, April 27th in Menomonie (only 60 minutes from the Twin Cities!). For more information, please visit UW-Stout’s Game Design Program web site.

Games that will be presented include

• EVEREND – a 2D/3D puzzle platformer in which you are an owl trapped underground in a cave, trying to get back to your family
• BUILDING 37 – a 3D noir-style narrative exploration and puzzle game with a graphic novel aesthetic. You are trying to solve the mystery of what happened in Building 37…
• SMALL FOLK – a multiplayer co-op game, in which 3 players control the “small folk”, while one player controls a giant “exterminator”, trying to vacuum up the little guys.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.

6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!

6:45 Member Project

7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Global Game Jam 2016 was another huge success.  Thanks to Glitch and all the voulenteers that made the local GameCraft site run so smoothly with almost 150 participants.  There were 6 projects this year that used VR, mixed reality, or some unusual form of HCI:

• Aztec Pong
• Crossbow Defender
• Dark Mazes and Face Lasers
• Save Jimmy! [VR]
• Tiki Terror
• VR Wood Chipper, Oops!

We’ll have 5-minute post mortems from each team, and focus the rest of the time on mingling and demos.  Show up on the early side if you want to be sure to try everything.  And, feel free to bring your own portable project if you like.

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Parking right in front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Global Game Jam Recap and Game Post-mortems

GameCraft, the Global Game Jam 2016, was a smashing success with 31 games submitted on our jam site. With the 2016 Global Gam Jam still fresh in our minds, come join us for a review discussion and post-mortems. Some teams will 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.

If you participated in the jam and would like to talk about your game during the meeting, please register for the “I’ll talk about my game” ticket.

Due to the number of games and limited time and space, this is not a play event.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)
6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

NOTE: Please arrive at Vidku before 7.  The door and elevator are locked, we’ll escort you up. 

Thanks to Vidku for being such great hosts!  And, thanks to Bill Nagel for our snazzy new logo.

The Global Game Jam starts Fri 1/29.  Our local site is over half full – register now atGameCraft.MN  Last year we ended up with 6 VR and HCI focused games, let’s make more this year!

Unity VR/AR Bootcamp and Tips – Various

Just in time for GGJ… Learn how to create your first VR or AR Unity project using free software and content (now free on iOS too!) Then our panelists will share their favorite design, workflow, and code tips and lead a free-form discussion and Q&A session.

Zach Wendt will give a live demo of creating and deploying VR projects for Oculus Rift DK2, Google Cardboard (on Android) and Gear VR. Time/interest permitting, we’ll also demo, or at least discuss Cardboard for iOS, and Project Tango. Zach will also give a quick overview/demo of input for VR and, designing for different hardware.

Then, our panelists will each share a few of their favorite design, workflow, and code tips for beginner to advanced skill levels. Their VR/AR experience covers almost all bases: Unity, UE4, Vive, Oculus, GearVR, Tango, iOS, hand tracking, networked VR, large scale tracking, avatar IK and animation, Blender, heavy geometry and optimization.

Our Panelists are:

• Paul Eckhardt
• Ryan Foss
• Thomas Myers
• Zach Wendt
• Aaron Westre

Finally, we’ll wrap with a round-table discussion / Q&A. We’d like to talk about audience projects, roadblocks, and ideas. Bring some!

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Parking right in front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• 1 short URL, Zero setup (Any 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.
• Talk to us at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Global Game Jam is Coming! Announcements and Details

We’re happy to be partnering with GLITCH again this year at the second annual Gamecraft, GLITCH’s locally hosted site for the 48-hour Global Game Jam. Registration is open now. We hope to see you there!

Member Project: Midwest Game Jam Recap

Beth Korth is one of the organizers for IGDATC and an advocate for our community. She features local devs in her Ask An Indie series at TECHdotMN and led the organization of the first Midwest Game Jam.

Beth will give a short recap of the Midwest Game Jam which occurred November 21-22. She’ll talk about how it came to be, the games made, lessons learned, and plans for future jams. For more information on the jam, check out the website (http://midwestgamejam.org/).

Play the games here (http://jams.gamejolt.io/midwestgamejam/games).

Main Presentation: The Journey of a Successful Video Game Media Convention

Gamer’s Rhapsody is a video game convention held in Bloomington, MN. The second annual convention was in November 2015 and celebrated video games and their creation through live performances of video game music; panels and workshops. Thomas Spargo, founder of Gamer’s Rhapsody will talk about the convention, reviewing some of the aspects that were sucessful. Additionally, he will discuss the process of starting a business in Minnesota along with project management principles. Whether it’s a game, an event, or a brand new business, a structured project management plan helps to keep any type of project on course and reaching milestones.
Thomas is a recent Augsburg College graduate in marketing and business analytics. In college, he started Gamer’s Rhapsody video game convention taking place annually in the late fall along with a Knexus LLC, an event planning and consultation group. Thomas has been planning large scale events for over 6 years.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

• 6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
• 6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
• 6:45 Member Project
• 7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015
from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM
at space150!

Space, snacks and soda generously provided by space150  Please try to arrive at the 3rd Ave entrance between 6:30 and 7.  You’ll be escorted to the elevator.

MN VR and HCI Holiday Social and Demos

This is primarily a social event. But, we always like to show work!  Local devs and artists have confirmed 7 very unique demos so far, with some really fun bells and whistles. No matter how hardcore, I guarantee you haven’t experienced even half of these. If you have, we really should hang out.

We’d love folks to bring more demos and show off work. Or, just some GearVRs to test the networked/social VR while in the same physical space!  Remember the tag line of MN VR and HCI: Anything interactive with weird input or output …just not THAT weird. Portable is best, but there is a ramp from street level – please confirm ahead for heavy/large/crazy demos.

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Ramp C is also close.

Schedule:

We’ll resume our normal schedule of every 4th Wed starting 1/27/16, with a VR dev bootcamp just before the Global Game Jam. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for GGJ 2016 on 1/29-31, The holidays are also a great time to bank extra SO points before you’re gone for a whole weekend!

If you’re not familiar with the Global Game Jam, here’s info and history/stats.  Our local site last year ended up with 6 VR and HCI focused games. Let’s make more this year!

Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 6:00PM
Republic (Seven Corners)

Winter Party Instead of Presentations

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

We will not be having our regular main IGDA-TC meeting at the Nerdery in December. Instead, come to Republic Seven Corners to hang out and relax at our casual winter social! We’ll have some video games and board games to play, of course. Feel free to bring your own! We know it is a busy time of the year for everybody, so please feel welcome to stop by any time during the night. We’ll be chilling and talking until they kick us out.

See you at Republic!

Join us at Republic (Seven Corners) for an awesome time! The festivities begin at 6:00pm on Wednesday, December 16th and go late. Republic has a late night happy hour from 10 – midnight! The food is excellent, and they have a huge beer list.

All of our volunteers and event attendees are asked to please read our Safe Arcade Policy.

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

Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 6:30PM
Republic (Seven Corners)

About Multiplayer Extravaganza

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

Come out to this monthly(ish) bar event to play games and share gaming experiences! The games we will 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!

Fun Multiplayer Games for Everyone!

We have multiple screens setup where we can play great games together at the same time! Games like Elbow Room! This event is for everybody, even people who claim they “don’t play games.” Often times we are trying out new games, and everybody is equally terrible! It is good fun.

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!

Join us at Republic (Seven Corners) for an awesome time! The festivities begin at 6:30pm on Thursday, November 19th and go late. Republic has a late night happy hour from 10 – midnight! The food is excellent, and they have a huge beer list.

All of our volunteers and event attendees are asked to please read our Safe Arcade Policy.

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

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (CST)

Member Project: Let’s Talk About Contracts Baby

There is a lot involved with making and publishing a game. Contracts are incredibly important and are commonly overlooked. What are contracts? What are they for? Do I need one? When should I have one in place? What should they cover? Contracts can be involved and confusing. Kris Szafranski has had experience with contracts and will address some of these questions. Most importantly, lessons learned and what to look out for.

Kris Szafranski is the owner of Thoughtshelter Games, where he ran a successful Kickstarter campaign and then launched the game A Druid’s Duel on Steam in early 2015. *Kris is NOT a lawer.

Main Presentation: Taking Your Game Global

It’s hard enough to get a brand new indie game noticed in the domestic market, let alone in other places around the world. This month, Michael Migliacio of Intropy Games will be discussing a few tips and tricks he learned while exhibiting the PC and Wii U action puzzle game, Astral Breakers, as a part of the 2015 Tokyo Game Show Indie Showcase in Japan. Learn how to shatter language and cultural barriers alike and find a brand new audience for your game!

Michael Migliacio is a producer, software engineer, and author. He currently serves as an Executive Producer for Intropy Games, a Lead Web Developer for a large company in the Twin Cities area that shall remain anonymous, and a Web Content Developer / Japanese Player Liaison for Team Evil Geniuses / Twitch. His work has appeared in numerous online publications including IGN and USgamer. He can be found at angstygaijin.com or on Twitter @angstygaijin. Information about Astral Breakers can be found athttp://www.intropygames.com/astral-breakers.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

• 6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
• 6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
• 6:45 Member Project
• 7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

NOTE: Please arrive at Vidku before 7.  The door and elevator are locked, we’ll escort you up. 

This is a special joint meeting of MN VR and HCI, and  the Twin Cities Maya Users Group.  Thanks to Vidku for being such great hosts, and making this possible!

Maya to Unity Pipeline for VR – Mike Medicine Horse (Hybrid) and Zach Wendt

Moving from pre-rendered to real-time involves lots of workflow changes. Virtual reality projects also bring unique design considerations. Learn from our experience, and pain!

Zach will give a quick and broad overview of important VR design and real-time performance considerations, along with the consumer VR hardware that is about to be released. Mike will dive into the details of what parts of Maya work in Unity, and best practices for preparing assets.

• VR visual design Do’s and Don’ts
• Overview of relevant human perception factors, with fun illusions
• Quick summary of VR “tiers” – hardware and experiences with release dates
• VR Performance considerations on different hardware
• FBX exporting tips and pitfalls
• Shaders and materials
• Triggering animations
• Baking Maya deformers to blendshapes
• Blendshapes vs bones considerations
• Project planning, previewing and demoing for VR

Hybrid Medical Animation is looking for student interns or freelance professionals with experience in creating content for real-time game engines. Due to the nature of our business we are looking for people to work on-site with the possibility of working remotely. This will be decided on a case by case basis. Experience with Unity is preferred but we are also interested in people who know Unreal as well.

Preferred skill set:

• Creating real-time game assets (from hires pre-rendered assets) with focus on UV optimization and texture baking
• experience with animating in Unity/Unreal a plus
• Interest in VR technology and pushing the boundary of visual quality within realtime constraints
• Knowledge of xNormal/Zbrush normal map creation
• Ability to work in Maya and Modo

Websites / portfolios and resumes can be sent to mike@hybridmedicalanimation.com

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Parking right in front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• 1 short URL, Zero setup (Any 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.
• Talk to us at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

About Multiplayer Extravaganza

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

Our community gets together monthly(ish) at a bar to play games and share gaming experiences at Multiplayer Extravaganza. 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!

October Games!

We will try to show some spooky stuff to get you in the mood for Halloween. Games shown will include the creeptastic multiplayer game Crawl and Loren Schmidt’s Murder Simulator v.666 which is a 2d arena deathmatch game with antigravity instead of jumping and a huge variety of unique weapons. We will also be testing an alpha build of Arena Gods by Supertype. It’s kind of like a top down 4-player Nidhogg with flying swords.

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!

Join us at Republic (Seven Corners) for an awesome time! The festivities begin at 6:30pm on Thursday, October 8th and go late. Republic has a late night happy hour from 10 – midnight! The food is excellent, and they have a huge beer list.

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

Member Project: Meet the UW – Stout IGDA

In the last five years the UW – Stout IGDA has hosted multiple game jams and speakers. With a new executive board this year, they are taking this opportunity to tell us about their past activity, current situation, and future plans. This presentation will include an interactive portion to sollicite ideas and suggestions from the audience.

Main Presentation: Halfway Mark Report: The Convergence of History and Art in Developing Tombeaux 

Dave Beck will share a “mid-mortem” experience about developing Tombeaux, a first-person narrative, historical walking simulator that is set on the St. Croix River. Beck will speak about how the game’s creation has incorporated artistic, historical, and local elements that might not always be found in the game development process.

Dave Beck is an artist, indie dev, and history buff, and also serves as both the Director of the Game Design BFA Program and the Chair of the Department of Design at University of Wisconsin – Stout. He also feels pretty lucky to be considered an “auxiliary member” of IGDA-TC, even if he does live in Scott Walker country. More information about his project can be found on his website, Tombeaux An Interactive Experience.
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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.

6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!

6:45 Member Project

7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

NOTE: Please arrive at Vidku before 7.  The door and elevator are locked, we’ll escort you up.

This is a special joint meeting of MN VR and HCI, and GDG-TC (Google Developers Group – Twin Cities.)  Thanks to Vidku for being such great hosts, and making this possible!

VR and Google Cardboard Crash Course – Paul Christian and Zach Wendt

Creating your first VR app can be suprisingly fast, easy, and cheap. But, there’s definitely pitfalls along the way. We’ll get you started out in the right direction!

Zach will give a quick and broad overview of important VR design considerations, and the hardware and human perception factors behind them. Paul will give a tutorial on Google Cardboard development in Unity, and some features of the Cardboard app he made forToursler. The talk will cover:

• Summary of VR “tiers” – hardware and experiences
• Overview of relevant human perception factors, with fun illusions
• VR design Do’s, Don’ts, and painful mistakes
• Cardboard viewer differences
• Deciding between the Cardboard SDK for Android, and SDK for Unity
• Build and Deploy a sample Unity project for Google Cardboard
• Leveraging Unity scripting to pull data from the internet in real time.

Oculus Connect 2 (oc2) Summary – Various

The second annual Oculus Connect conference is Sept 23-25th. It should be just as jam packed with great info as last year. Check out last years talks for a flavor, Tom Forsyth’s talkwas my favorite.

Since Oculus will be livestreaming and putting all talks online after, we’ll just have informal recaps from attendees – favorite stories, demos, new knowledge and celebrity encounters.  We have at least 3 people from MN going.

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  In front of Vidku costs more.  Try the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

• Short and sweet. 3 minutes max!
• 1 short URL, Zero setup (Any 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.
• Talk to us at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Member Project: Composer Quest, Developer Challenge

Charlie McCarron produces the podcast Composer Quest. As part of the show, he regularly gives composing “quests” to create new music based on a specific challenge, like score a short film, write a song based on a fortune cookie, etc. The next quest hopes to connect composers and game developers and create short games based on a theme (TBD). The end goal will be a gallery of new games with original scores to show off at Gamer’s Rhapsody on November 13-14th.

Charlie McCarron along with Thomas Spargo from Gamer’s Rhapsody will present their quest challenge in more detail and discuss the idea with the audience.

Main Presentation: Indie Dev Survival: Fusing Business Strategy with Creative Design

Everyone knows the Indie Bubble has collapsed and there is no hope of surviving as an Indie Dev. What this talk presupposes is: Maybe there is?

Patrick Swinnea (Omega Drive, Merlin’s Marble) looks back on six years as a one-man game studio… What worked, what didn’t and how The Force Awakens could possibly be worse than the Prequels (j/k, it can’t).

Topics include monetization, discoverability, development tools, humorous (angry) fan mail and thoughts on the future of solo game development as a business endeavor.
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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.
Agenda (approximate)

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.

Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting the IGDA Twin Cities events over the years.

This event is open to the public. An IGDA Membership not required.

IGDA-TC 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 Thursday, September 3rd 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.

NOTE: Please arrive by 7.  The door and elevator are locked, we’ll escort you up.

Virtual Tours – Bryn Erickson from Toursler and Paul Christian

Toursler Inc is the first large scale maker of detailed virtual tours for real estate, business and construction. We are currently in the process of opening a new office in the MSP area. Our virtual tours can be viewed on mobile, desktop, and soon in virtual reality.  …this is the first public sneak peak of our new VR viewer.  Virtual tours are also more than just navigating around houses – they can be enhanced with before/after construction or remodeling, day/night views, apartment/hotel amenities, room layout options, etc.

Toursler has experimented with many technologies for capture, back-end processing and viewing. We’re happy to share where we’ve been, what we’ve learned along the way, and answer (most) questions. We’re planning to cover:

• Overview of the capture process in the field
• Spherical focus and stitching
• Our Computer vision approach vs using depth cameras
• Back-end processing
• Creating floor plans without blueprints
• Previous technology experiments
• Mobile and browser viewers
• VR use in Real Estate, and where it’s going
• Toursler’s strategy with VR
• First public sneak peek of our Google Cardboard VR viewer

Some links to favorite tours and info, if you’d like to learn more:

Toursler overview
Tour with Nice Building amenities (pools, theater, etc.)
Tour of Alexandria Place – with a good story behind it
Tour of a Modern loft in NL
Article about Toursler

Parking:

There is nearby street parking and surface lots.  Locals say check the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.)  Bring cash.  Small bills.  Unmarked.

Schedule:

Plug My Thing!

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

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.
• Talk to us at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

Paths: A Druid’s Duel Post-mortem

It’s no secret that game development involves a multitude of difficult decisions from game inception to final release. Every step you take alters your view and affects latter choices. Only upon review can we see the path for what it was and determine just how good (or bad) our decisions may have been.

Join Kris Szafranski for an honest review of the development and launch of A Druid’s Duel, a turn-based strategy game released on Steam in February 2015.

In this talk we’ll dissect the development and business decisions made and their outcomes around common game development concerns: Game Design, Architecture, Project Management, Marketing/PR, and Community Management.

Kris Szafranski is the owner of Thoughtshelter Games, where he ran a successful Kickstarter campaign and then launched the game A Druid’s Duel on Steam in early 2015.
A Developer’s Journey

In April, Nik Olson released a game called Gravity Lines on iOS, Android and browser. Nik was 12 years old. As a young game developer Nik has accomplished a lot and he’s going to tell us all about it. Nik will talk about his background and how he found help and developed his skills. He’ll walk through Gravity Lines, from the idea and development to making the music and publishing. What’s next?

Nik Olson is a 13 year old game developer. He created Gravity Lines, and founded the After School Programming Club called Pizza Scripters at Harriet Bishop Elementary School.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.
Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting IGDATC events over the years.

This event is open to the public. IGDA Membership not required.

Register on Eventbrite!

NOTE: Moved to the 29th, new host, and pizza. Thanks Vidku!

Structure shipped in 2014 as the first 3D sensor for mobile hardware, with 3 core capabilities:

• Reliable 3D scanning with high-res textures
• Quick room mapping and measuring
• Multi-modal 6DOF positional tracking (for VR/AR)

Structure was quickly adopted for a variety of 3d scanning applications. As developer experience and the SDK has matured, the capabilities are being combined for interesting use cases like:

• Pre-vis at ILM and on Agents of Shield
• Medical wound care
• Capturing realistic face blenshapes and textures
• Bringing your real environment into a VR or AR scene in real-time

The Structure SDK for iOS provides both a low level sensor control layer for raw depth and color streaming, as well as a high level SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) layer that includes 3D mapping, tracking and scanning features. For non-iOS platforms, Occipital have taken over the maintenance and evolution of the OSS project OpenNI which enables low level depth streaming on Windows, Android, and Linux platforms.

Come learn how to leverage this incredible technology as we demonstrate and discuss the sensor capabilities along with the design and use of the SDK.
You might even be digitized for safe keeping!

Parking:
There is nearby street parking and lots of nearby surface lots. Locals say check the lots at 1st and Washington (both sides of Pixel Farm), and 3rd and Hennepin (behind Vidku.) Bring cash.

Schedule:

Fundamentals of Game Accessibility

Josh Straub will discuss definitions of game accessibility and why should developers be conscious of the disabled gamer market. Basic principles of accessible design will also be covered, along with some game play examples.

Josh Straub is the founder and Editor-in-Chief at DAGERS (Disabled Accessibility for Gaming Entertainment Raiting System), the leading game journalism site for disabled gamers, featuring disability game reviews and perspectives on video game accessibliity. Josh suffers from Cerebral Palsy.

Composing for Video Games Camp

Troy Strand will present highlights of student work from MacPhail Center for Music’s Composing for Video Games Camp, where two students created original music for published, fictional, and locally developed games.

Troy is a local composer, performer, and educator specializing in game audio. He’s been teaching music and composition at MacPhail Center for Music for over 5 years. He does freelance audio at Yellow Chord Audio. He’s also created music for numerous games, including the music for the locally made strategy game Druid’s Duel.

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 Wednesday, July 1st 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.

 
Vision-aided Inertial Navigation – MARS Laboratory, University of Minnesota

Over the last decade, GPS-denied navigation has been a formidable task, whose solution can enable a wide range of applications, from space exploration, and autonomous ground and aerial vehicles, to indoor localization and augmented reality applications.

Interestingly, the endeavor towards GPS-denied localization initiated with the push of the space exploration frontiers, since it was a prerequisite for the success of interplanetary missions. Specifically, researchers have been investigating the fusion of visual information from a camera, with motion information, provided by an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), in order to track the position and orientation of an object, in what is termed a Vision-aided Inertial Navigation System (VINS).

Recently, the decreasing cost of inertial and visual sensors along with the increasing computing capabilities of modern mobile devices, allowed for the transfer of VINS technology from spacecraft navigation to consumer-grade devices, such as wearables, cell-phones and tablets.

In this presentation, solutions to three key problems in VINS will be presented:

•  Tracking the 3D motion of a mobile device, navigating in a previously unknown GPS-denied environment.
•  Mapping the surrounding environment using information from multiple devices, exploring the same area.
•  Using 3D maps, for navigating within an indoor environment.

We’ll include videos and demos of how these techniques are being used by the MARS lab.

Getting there:

We’re in Walter Library room 402 (4th floor.)   All building doors and the elevator on the Pleasant St entrance will be open during our meeting.

There are bus and light rail stops nearby on Washington Ave.

You could park at meters on Pleasant Ave, nearby Weisman or Church St Garage, or in the Maroon Lot near our end point at BWW / the stadium.  UMN East Bank parking map pdf

Schedule:

IGDA Twin Cities is hosting the 4th annual All Day E3 Social at Joe Senser’s Sports Theater in Bloomington. We’ll have streaming and satellite video all day long, along with game demos, multiplayer games, card and board games. Stop by any time. Have lunch, dinner, and/or drinks. Or, hang out all day and “work”, run some playtests, etc.

Bring your projects, your game, card and board games, 3DS or whatever. Bring an extension cord if you’re serious about the laptop/work. We’ll be in the side room from 11am – 10pm, and maybe later. Guests and strangers encouraged!

Happy hour is 3-6pm. Other specials too.

Agenda

There really isn’t one. We’ll have the keynotes on througout the day, but you’re not obligated to watch them.

11am doors open and coordinators coordinate and setup
10pm last keynote ends, but you don’t have to leave
2am bar closes

E3 2015 Keynote Schedule for Mon. June 15th (central time):

11:30am – 1pm Microsoft Keynote
3pm – 4pm Electronic Arts
5pm – 6pm Ubisoft
8pm – 10pm Sony Keynote

Other Keynotes and Events (central time):

June 14th, 9pm Bethesda (we might watch a recording of this)
June 16th, 11am Nintendo Digital event and World Championships
June 16th, 12pm Square Enix
June 16th, 7pm PC Gaming Show

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (CDT)

What’s it’s really like to work in Game industry – Chip Pedersen

“You get paid to play games all day?” Everyone thinks the video game industry is just fun and games. I’m here to tell you it’s not. It complex software development and problem solving with a twist. Not only do you have to make a solid software program, on time, on budget. You also have to make sure its fun. Building games is hard enough. Building a game that is fun and makes money is even harder.

Discover all the different positions that have to come together to make a hit video game. Learn the differences of working at AAA publisher, a developer to a startup indie studio. The highs, the lows, the late nights, where we harvest unicorn tears and lots of caffeine. Did I mention caffeine? Over my 20 years in video games I have seen it all, and lived to talk about. Please come with questions, prepared to laugh and learn why we don’t get paid to play games all day.

Chip Pedersen currently works at Concrete Software and runs his own studio FrostBit Studio.

Member Project – Art+Code+Nostalgia: A Boss Rush Post-mortem – Chris Schons

Chris Schons will talk about the art experiments that lead him from comics to game development to procedural illustration. He’ll go over his process and lessons learned from creating digital and print companion pieces for Light Grey Art Lab’s recent Boss Rush exhibition.

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.

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 auditorium at least 5-10 minutes early, so we can load your page.

6:00 Snacks and Soda (thanks to the Nerdery!) and socialize.
6:30 Meeting starts. Announcements and Plug My Thing!
6:45 Member Project
7:15 Main Presentation

We’ll be heading to Joe Sensers in Bloomington after the event. Come socialize with other local developers.
Many, many thanks to The Nerdery for hosting IGDATC events over the years.

Victory Motorcycles VR experience: Marc Jensen – space150

space150 recently partnered with Victory Motorcycles (Polaris Industries) to create a first-of-its-kind virtual reality ride that transported Chicago International Motorcycle Show attendees to Sturgis—through the Badlands and Needles of South Dakota.

This talk will be a deep dive covering all aspects of the project including:

• Early VR R&D work at spaceLab
• Guided vs direct user controls
• Tricks for representing the Virtual Self
• Passive and active haptics
• Experience design for first-time VR users
• VR exhibiting tips for tradeshows

SVVR Highlights: Zach Wendt

The Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference & Expo was 5/18. Informal photos and highlights of the best talks and demos at the show.

Software for Good 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.  There is street parking all around the building. The nearest ramp is a block away by Ginger Hop.

Schedule:

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 Thursday, May 21st 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.