Thursday, August 20, 2009

A Disappointment

According to my department head, the technical staff will not be able to get SourceU installed on my classroom computers this semester. They'll try to get it done for the Spring semester. Evidently since this software has to be commercially licensed ($10 per student) it has to go through our technical staff, we can't just do it. I guess I will have to make do with the UnrealEngine2 Editor demo that came with the book.

The good news is that another student signed up for the Level Design Concepts course. If we get one more I'll get paid at 2/3 the normal rate instead of the current 1/3 rate. Now I'd better get busy with my syllabi so I'll be ready to teach next week.

Here is a link to content I may need later:


- Gadget Man

Monday, August 17, 2009

Game (Company) Development

Z is working on his collection of tools (he doesn't like the term "Game Engine"). TelevisioN is doing art for a commercial game with actual funding. Chex is doing art for a natural food/wellness website. I am going to document my progress (or lack thereof) understanding everything needed to make a viable video game -- and a video game company -- here in Oklahoma. I teach some game development related classes at a local university branch, so whenever something I'm doing for a class relates to my goals here I'll post my accomplishments accordingly.

This weekend my wife, Junie, and I saw Julie & Julia. Naturally, as a computer geek with literary aspirations, I was inspired to actually start contributing something to this blog.

Currently I am preparing to teach Level Design Concepts for the upcoming semester. The class has three enrollees at present, and may not actually make, but I want to be prepared in any case. Our textbook will be Level Design for Games: Creating Compelling Game Experiences, by Phil Co. So far I have read the first two chapters: How Do You Make a Game? and Defining the Game.

I also contacted Valve Software's academic licensing program (known as SourceU) to find out how to participate. Valve's Academic-Education coordinator told me what information they need about our university's program in order to write up a licensing agreement. I passed this information along to my department head who told me she would "see what we can do." Does that mean "don't hold your breath?"

I proceeded to download the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools and so far I have completed the first three steps of Left 4 Dead Level Design Basics. I'll let you know if I make anything really exciting.

- Gadget Man