RTS done right, MIT’s Battlecode Tournament
I know some of you will be attending the Global Game Jam this weekend. But maybe that’s not enough for you, maybe you need more exciting video game plans this weekend. Well boy are you in luck!
This Saturday is the Battlecode final tournement. For those of you who don’t know, every January MIT has a one month course imaginatively called 6.370 in which students attempt to create the best game artifical intelligence (AI) around. The competition is fierce, and this Saturday the finalists will battle to see who’s AI reigns supreme from 7pm to 9pm in the Kresge Auditorium. If you haven’t been before I strongly recommend checking the competition out, it’s really exciting and worth the trip!
Oh, and us Fire Hose nerds will be there as bronze sponsors of the event. You can check out the competition’s website for more details, but there aren’t tons.
January 29, 2009 | | Comments (1)
Category: Events
Tags: 6.370, AI, artificial intelligence, battlecode, MIT, real time strategy, RTS, tournament
Words of Wisdom: Chris Swain
Last night Chris Swain, assistant Professor at USC and the co-founder of the EA game innovation lab, visited MIT to give an interesting talk on all things games. Touching on myriad subjects, Chris hopped from how we came to our current state of game development, what areas/genres of game development are still ripe for exploration, and what trends he has been observing in the games industry. He ended with a quick piece on how he believes development will change over the next few years to remain sustainable.
Chris also made some controversial claims about how games will be the dominant form of media in this century, which while I happen to agree with him I don’t think I’d make the statement so strongly, and I wouldn’t count out less interactive media like film. Overall the talk was really enjoyable; Chris really knows his stuff, and has the development chops to back it up (full disclosure: I worked with Chris on Immune Attack).
Follow this fantastic link for more details on the talk – (more…)
January 27, 2009 | | Comments (1)
Category: Words of Wisdom
Tags: chris swain, lecture, MIT, USC, Words of Wisdom
What We’re Playing: QWOP
When was the last time a game made you laugh? Not smirk, not smile, but actually laugh out loud at how ridiculous it is? If you just played QWOP then the answer would have to be “a few seconds ago”. Less of a game and more of a punchline, QWOP chronicles the efforts of your country’s sole Olympic representative in his bid to run in the 100 meter whatever. While it sounds easy, the game’s ragdoll physics makes this a bit… challenging.
The game is one player and the instructions are straightforward, but I highly recommend playing this with friends around, or taking turns. You’ll enjoy it a lot more. See if you can beat my high score of 23 meters.
Update 1/29/09: To be clear, we did not make this game. Someone over at Foddy.net did.
January 24, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: game, QWOP, ragdoll, What We're Playing
Global Game Jam, Next (not this) Weekend
Some people play games, some people make games, and some people lock themselves in rooms for a weekend and go crazy trying to spit out a game in a short period of time. Yes, of course I’m referring to Game Jams, one of the most fun things you can do if you’ve got some free time and an itch to make something new and different. This time the Jam is of a Global flavor, and teams from around the world will be making games at the same time. Just think about it! Nerds in California, Japan, Singapore, and Sao Paulo will all be trying to one up Braid and World of Goo in the same weekend.
The Boston branch of this Jam is being graciously hosted by the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab (of CarneyVale: Showtime! fame) and will take place this next weekend, from Friday Jan 30th to Sunday Feb 1st. Follow the shiny link for details on this awesome event. (more…)
January 22, 2009 | | Comments (1)
Category: Events
Tags: event, GAMBIT, game jam, MIT
Job opening: Senior Artist
As you can probably tell from the title of this post, we’re looking for a damn good artist to join us here at Fire Hose. We’d like to get someone with a good amount of prior game development experience, but what we’re really concerned with is talent. If you can make art that is beautiful, sexy, and perhaps beautifully sexy we’d like to talk to you. Check out our jobs opening page for more details.
All the artist who submitted resumes + portfolios in response to the Craigslist entry: I’m getting through all of your submissions now, and will respond to each of you soon. Thanks for your patience!
photo (c) Adam Parrish 2008
January 19, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Random
Tags: Jobs
What We’re Playing: Eversion
Got a free half hour, and looking to lose some of your sanity? Check out Eversion, a new game by Tows Guilherme. While the game at first glance appears to be boring and derivative, after a few levels you’ll get to notice that there is something… different. I strongly recommend playing in the dark by yourself for maximum effect. A quick rewiew (with some well marked spoilers) awaits you if you follow this shiny link (more…)
January 13, 2009 | | Comments (2)
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: eversion, game, What We're Playing
Carneyvale: Showtime a IGF Grand Prize Finalist!
So it’s no secret that Fire Hose is a huge fan of GAMBIT (especially considering that both Sharat and I are graduates of the lab) – hell, we pop over there on a regular basis to steal their food and drinks. Well, two years ago when we were making AudiOdyssey a separate Wii Remote project was being made, Wiip. The game was popular enough that the Singapore branch of the lab decided to make an XBox Community port of the game, and the result is the massively popular new title, Carneyvale: Showtime.
As a matter of fact, the game has done so well that it is now a finalist for the Seumas McNally grand prize in the Independant Game Festival awards! This is huge news, and the teamthat made the game couldn’t be more deserving. Congratulations to everyone involved, even the creepy voice over narrator who scares the bejesus out of me.
January 11, 2009 | | Comments (5)
Category: Games, News
Tags: carneyvale, GAMBIT, igf
AudiOdyssey in the New York Times
Yeah Baby! AudiOdyssey hit the New York Times last week, making it to the big, fat Sunday edition. There was a section on 23 student innovators, and they felt a Wii Remote video game that is accessible to the blind is worth a shout. Apparently the article gained enough attention to even get a Kotaku hit. Pretty cool!
My first reaction was to suspect that they ran out of innovators around the 20 mark, but 23 is such a weird number that maybe that’s not the case? Or maybe the editors just like prime numbers and didn’t want to go all the way to 29? Who knows. What is nice is that the gaming accessibility movement gets more visibility, as it is a super important effort that not enough people know about. Want to learn more? Check out the IGDA accessbility SIG’s wiki, it’s full of great info and links to other smart people doing accessible gaming research.
Hit the jump for thoughts on the article. (more…)