Announcing Spring Fighter 2013 – with Special Guests Daigo ‘The Beast’ Umehara and Seth Killian
The NYU Game Center is excited to announce our fourth annual Spring Fighter event, with special guests Daigo ‘The Beast’ Umehara and Seth Killian, on Saturday, April 13th.
Continuing the NYU Game Center’s mission to support the New York game scene and expose our students to the most interesting and vital portions of the game industry, this year’s Spring Fighter is an even more elaborate event than in the past. First, a tournament featuring three games, Street Fighter 4 AE, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom, and Street Fighter x Tekken, will begin at 10am and go until 6pm. Then, at 7pm the Game Center will present a conversation between legends, with Seth Killian sitting down and talking to Daigo Umehara about his life in and outside the Street Fighter scene.
While the tournament is only for those who want to test their skills in the heat of battle, the evening event with Daigo Umehara and Seth Killian is open to anyone curious and fighting games and life of an e-sports legend.
Registration for the tournament and the talk will open on April 8th.
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Photo by Kara Leung
Daigo Umehara is widely considered to be the most dominant fighting game player in the world. He is best known for his aggressive play and nearly psychic ability to predict and counter his opponent’s next move. This power not only paralyzes world-class opponents, but has also led to many unforgettable comebacks from the brink of defeat, made world famous at the EVO 2004 World Finals, which was chosen as the most memorable moment in the entire pro-gaming history byKotaku.com. Daigo lives and practices in Tokyo, Japan, but travels all around the world to face new challengers. His many victories in nearly two decades of his career and bloodthirsty style have earned him the nickname “The Beast.”
In 2009 he became Japan’s first professional gamer by signing with Mad Catz Inc., a leading US video game peripheral maker. His success is not only limited to video games. In April 2012 he published his first autobiography, and it has been a best seller in both print and kindle version for many months on Amazon. He also has his own clothing line, Beast apparel lines, and hosts various charity events, including Tohoku Earthquake disaster charity and Arcade Campaign, which is his own effort for saving dying arcade scene in Japan. He continues to lead the fighting game scene and to inspire many young fighters with his gameplay and moral leadership. Currently, he is working on his second book to be released in fall of 2013.
Before We Were “Gamers”: Roberta Williams, Sierra On-Line, and How We Write Women into Video Game History
Personal Best welcomes Laine Nooney to the second event in our continuing series on the best practices of contemporary women game designers and researches through a feminist lens.
Before We Were “Gamers”: Roberta Williams, Sierra On-Line, and How We Write Women into Video Game History
Tuesday 3/26 7PM, 9th Floor
Personal Best is excited to welcome our second speaker, Laine Nooney whose lecture will cover some of the founding hits of Roberta Williams’ game design career and offer insight on how Williams’ understood her own design practice, put in the context of Sierra On-Line as an important company of the 1980s home computer software boom. Furthermore, the contributions of Williams will be framed within the larger context of video game history, and focus on how women like Roberta Williams aren’t simply “additions” to a historically male gaming narrative but could actually challenge what we understand the history of games to be.
A Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory at Stony Brook University, Nooney’s dissertation work is a cultural history of the personal computer and domestic space, focusing on women’s engagements with computers in their home from the late 1970s-early 1990s. She is Editorial Assistant to the Journal of Visual Culture, Curatorial Assistant to the William A. Higinbotham Game Studies Collection, and has just completed work as a Production Assistant on the documentary When Games Went Click: The Story of Tennis for Two. She has recently been interviewed by NPR’s Marketplace TechReport on Roberta Williams on the history of women in gaming, and is co-organizer of Different Games, the first conference on diversity, difference and intersectionality in game production, scholarship and criticism.
Personal Best is an event series presented by NYU Game Center which showcases the best practices of contemporary women game designers and researchers through a feminist lens. The series is co-created by Game Center MFA candidate, Toni Pizza and Graduate Assistant to the NYU Poly Game Innovation Lab, Sarah Schoemann in partnership with NYU Game Center faculty and staff.
Meet the Game Center at GDC!
Going to the Game Developer’s Conference and interested in learning more about the Game Center? Our faculty and MFA students will be gathering to meet our friends on the West coast at GDC on Tuesday and Friday from 12:30 – 1:30 at the Tabletop Game Lounge, located in the West Hall on the second floor.
If you’re interested in joining our MFA program, would like to see what our students are working on, or just want to hear about the game scene in NYC, stop by and talk with us!
Game Center Program Coordinator Dylan McKenzie will also be available throughout the conference to chat with anyone interested in the Game Center- prospective students, companies looking to connect with our talented students, or those simply curious. To set up a time to meet with Dylan, email ‘gamecenter@nyu.edu‘.
Our faculty will be present throughout the conference, speaking on a range of topics, including building our game design eduction. You can find all their lecture times below.
Finally, four Game Center MFA students were selected as finalists at the Playstation Game Jam at Indiecade East last month. You can read more about their game and what they’ve been doing to prepare for GDC here. Their game will be available for play at the Sony Booth, so we encourage you to stop by there and see what amazing games our students are making!
See you at GDC!
Game Center Meet Up
(Located at the Tabletop Game Lounge, West Hall 2nd Floor)
Tuesday, 12:30PM- 1:30
Friday, 12:30PM-1:30
Eric Zimmerman
Monday – Friday 10AM – 6PM - Curator, Tabletop Games by Video Game Designers
Monday, 4:30PM -5:30 – Game Design Curriculum Deathmatch
Thursday, 11:30AM -1 – Humanity’s Last Game: The Game Design Challenge Final Championship
Friday, 11:30AM-12:30 – Mad as Hell: Hothead Developers Rant Back
Friday, 2:30PM -4:30 – Experimental Gameplay Workshop
Katherine Isbister
Monday, 3:35PM – 4 – Yamove! An Experiment in Collaboration Between Researches and Indies
Tuesday, 11:20AM – 12:30 – User Research to Support Design of Mobile-Based Social Dance Game
Frank Lantz
Tuesday, 10AM – 11AM – Beyond the Dialogue: Perspectives on Industry and Academia
Wednesday, 5PM – 6PM – Strange Love: Game Theory vs. Game Design
Joost van Dreunen
Wednesday, 9:30AM – 10:45 – 2013 Game Changers: How WIll Devices Impact Your Future Growth?
Play ‘Crumble’ at the Sony Booth
More information about the process of building Crumble leading up to GDC here!
Wednesday, 12PM – 2
Thursday, 4PM – 6
Friday, 11:30AM – 12
Game Center Students Bring Playstation Mobile Indiecade Jam Success to GDC
A month has flown by since the Team Snakesss Crumble project was picked as a finalist entry for the Playstation Mobile Game Jam at Indiecade East 2013. In that time, amidst numerous academic deadlines for classes at ITP, NYU Poly and the Game Center, the four person team has managed to stay focused on crumbling their way to excellence. After several iterations, the game’s central mechanic has more or less remained intact. Players pilot a rectangular avatar composed of many smaller pieces that are sheared off and crumbled into space as they move through a series of narrowing obstacles. What has changed more than anything is the level design, which now includes a surprising twist not seen at the Indiecade event. A good bit of thought and effort has also gone into balancing sub-goals and scaling of the game’s difficulty over time. All of this has opened some new pathways for us to consider how this project will expand in the future.
Writing at the beginning of our final push we thought now might be a good time to introduce the team and their respective roles. Ilya Zarembsky is our programming guru and local curmudgeon, bringing us all down to earth while making our dreams into reality by forging ahead with the PSM SDK. Stephen Clark is responsible for Crumble’s art direction as well as sharing in the level design and audio production roles. Team troubadour, Zeke Virant was essential in designing the game’s original mechanic and has continued to refine this concept and the accompanying level design through rigorous playtesting at the Game Center’s Playtest Fridays, a weekly public playtest at the Game Center’s Game Library. As Crumble’s product manager, Maxim Kolbowski-Frampton has constantly pushed the team to tackle the project’s weakest points, helping to synthesize diverging designs as well as generating audio and art assets for the current prototype.
It’s a little early for a post-mortem but we’ve already learned a lot from the early stages of working on this game. One major challenge has involved becoming more familiar with the SDK. Learning how to manage collisions, garbage collection and splitting up art assets into composite parts has allowed us to dramatically reduce the overall file size and greatly improve the game’s memory load. Because of its extended format, this gamejam has also been a great exercise in following through on an idea. In the end, we had to limit our rehashing of game design concepts in order to focus on the central logic of player experience and, so doing, prioritize those aspects of Crumble that could be improved in the timeframe allowed. We feel incredibly lucky to have been among such tough competition and hope that our final prototype shows our ability to expand this game into a beautiful multi-layered experience, with a broad appeal.
If you’d like play Crumble and meet Team Snakesss at GDC, they will be at the Sony booth and at the Game Center Meet up.
Sony Booth
Wednesday: 12PM – 2
Thursday: 4PM – 6
Friday: 11:30AM – 12
Game Center Meet up (And the Tabletop Game Longue)
Tuesday: 12:30PM – 1:30
Friday: 12:30PM -1:30
No Quarter 2013 Exhibition Participants Announced!
The NYU Game Center is proud to announce the games commissioned for participation in this year’s No Quarter Exhibition.
Each year, the Game Center commissions new games from established and emerging developers, challenging them to create games for a gallery setting to be premiered at our annual Exhibition. In the past, No Quarter was the first time people could play games from creators like Mark Essen (Nidhogg), Margaret Robertson (Drunk Dungeon), and Zach Gage (Guts of Glory).
This year, No Quarter will feature:
- Matt LoPresti (Async, SoundStory)
- Bennett Foddy (QWOP, GIRP)
- Sophie Houlden (Swift*Stitch, The Linear RPG)
- Nikita Mikros and Josh DeBonis (Propaganda Lander, Meriwether)
The No Quarter Exhibition will premiere this Spring on Friday, May 3rd at the NYU Game Center.
Check out this video about the 2012 No Quarter Exhibition, and remember to save the date for No Quarter 2013!
Game Center Events, Week of 3/11
It’s a busy week for events here at the Game Center! Strategies for landing on your feet in the game industry, expert introduction to Dominon, another amazing speaker at the Lecture Series, and cap it off with a
game jam at NYU Poly this weekend. We hope to see you here this week!
Click below for an expanded view and full event details for each night.
1. Tuesday, 7PM | Breaking into the Game Industry Panel
2. Wednesday, 6PM | Dominion Night
3. Thursday, 7PM | Lecture Series: Mary Flanagan
4. Thursday, 7PM | Games in Engineering: Research Grand Challenges
5. Friday, 6PM | Sifteo Game Jam
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1. Tuesday, 7PM, 9th Floor Lobby | Breaking into the Game Industry Panel
How do I get an internship?
What do game companies want to see in a job applicant?
Should I start my own company or work for someone else?
Can I really make a living making games?
At Breaking In, a panel of game industry veterans and recent Game Center graduates will answer these questions and whatever else you want to throw at them. This session is designed for current students looking for an internship, as well as students who are graduating soon and are considering the game industry as a career. Join us for a rapid-fire discussion and open-ended Q&A about getting a job in games.
Featured panelists:
- Nicole Leffel, Former Game Center student, Game Designer & Community Manager at Universal Games Network
- Rob Meyer, Former Game Center student, Game Designer at Large Animal Games
- Wade Tinney, CEO and game designer at Large Animal Games
- Nik Mikros, Owner & Creative Director, Smashworkx & Tiny Mantis
- Francesco Antolini, Lead Designer at Avalanche Studios
2. Wednesday, 6PM, Game Center Open Library | Dominion Night
NYU Game Center librarian Mehak Khan and Adjunct Professor Jesse Fuchs are teaming up to open up the Game Center’s collection of non-digital games and introduce students to the depth and enjoyment these games offer. Each month for the remainder of the semester, Mehak and Professor Fuchs will pick a game to explore in detail.
This Wednesday, come try out Dominion, an easy and fun game to break into the world of customizable card games (CCGs) with. No prior knowledge of the game is required, and any and all skill levels are welcome. There will be introductory sessions for new players, and casual tournaments for more experienced players.
3. Thursday, 7PM, Room 006 | Mary Flanagan – Hippies, Hackers, & Wargames (A Secret History of War & Peace)
What do Call of Duty and the Parachute playground game have in common? How did Alan Turning affect computer games? These phenomena may not be as disparate as they seem. The 20th century bore witness to opposing yet dominant threads that led to what we know as the indie game movement today. First was the invention of the computer and the games that emerged as an entertaining byproduct of the military industrial complex. Second were the physical games from the New Games Movement which brought revolutionary ideas about play and its role in society to the mainstream.
Flanagan will weave the history of computer gaming and the clandestine birth of computer science in with the peaceful play of hippie visionaries who saw games as a means to get in touch with one’s essential humanness. Exploring the complicated relationship between games, war, and peace, Flanagan will draw connections from these historic phenomena and demonstrate their influence the present moment. How are the radical ideas from computer science and the optimism of generations past being realized in experimental games of today and tomorrow?
This event is free and open to the public. RSVP required, please sign up here.
4. Thursday 7PM, NYU Poly Game Innovation Lab | Games in Engineering: Research Grand Challenges
Digital games are a broadly established mass entertainment and cultural form, both attacked and lauded for their influence in our everyday lives. Less known is that games have been an important driver in ground-breaking Computer Science and Engineering research. Please join us for this panel discussion of digital game-related research in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Cognition/Perception, and Human Computer Interaction, with leaders in the field from these domains.
Speakers will be Michael Mateas, Director of the Center for Games and Playable Media and Professor of Computer Science at the University of California Santa Cruz, Katherine Isbister, Director of the Game Innovation Lab at NYU-Poly and Associate Professor jointly appointed between the NYU Game Center and the NYU-Poly Computer Science & Engineering Department, and Andy Nealen, Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at NYU-Poly.
5. Friday 6PM, NYU Poly Game Innovation Lab | Sifteo Game Jam
Sifteo Cubes are a magical new interactive game system built on the timeless play patterns of legos, building blocks, and domino tiles. Tilt, flip, shake, neighbor, press! Sifteo Cubes communicate wirelessly and respond to each other and your gestures. Create games that challenge and delight, exploring new ways to create interactive games!
Sifeo’s hardware will be available at the jam site, as well as direct online support from Sifteo developers.
The game judged to have the “Best Use of Sifteo Cubes,” will receive a 50% Off Discount Code for a 3-Cube Set, plus a Sifteo Shirt for each team member. Team members will also be offered the opportunity to interview for an internship with Sifteoin San Francisco.
The Jam starts March 15th at 6PM and continues for 48 hours!
Friday: 6pm – 10pm with kickoff presentation from Sifteo
Saturday: Doors Open 11AM, Developer support available 1-3PM, Doors close 8PM
Sunday: Doors Open 11AM, Developer support available 1-3PM, Presentations from 6:30pm – 8:00pm.
RSVP Required: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5477184406
Lecture Series Presents: Mary Flanagan
Hippies, Hackers, & Wargames (A Secret History of War & Peace)
721 Broadway, Lower Level, Room 006
7PM
Thursday, 3/14
What do Call of Duty and the Parachute playground game have in common? How did Alan Turning affect computer games? These phenomena may not be as disparate as they seem. The 20th century bore witness to opposing yet dominant threads that led to what we know as the indie game movement today. First was the invention of the computer and the games that emerged as an entertaining byproduct of the military industrial complex. Second were the physical games from the New Games Movement which brought revolutionary ideas about play and its role in society to the mainstream.
Flanagan will weave the history of computer gaming and the clandestine birth of computer science in with the peaceful play of hippie visionaries who saw games as a means to get in touch with one’s essential humanness. Exploring the complicated relationship between games, war, and peace, Flanagan will draw connections from these historic phenomena and demonstrate their influence the present moment. How are the radical ideas from computer science and the optimism of generations past being realized in experimental games of today and tomorrow?
This event is free and open to the public. RSVP required, please sign up here.
Sifteo Game Jam @ NYU Poly
This March, the Game Center and NYU Poly’s Game Innovation lab will be co-hosting a Sifteo game jam. These jams have been popping up everywhere as Sifteo is bringing their platform to as many developers’ eyes as possible.
It will follow a typical jam schedule. We’ll get started on Friday, March 15 in the evening, and things will run through until Sunday, when everyone will present their projects. There will be people from Sifteo there (via telecommute) to help with tech support and/or design issues.
Winners will be offered the opportunity to interview for an internship with Sifteo in San Francisco!
If you want to try your hand at developing for a new and interesting platform to play digital games, come down to the Game Innovation Lab for the weekend and see what these little cubes can do.
Registration is free, but RSVP is required. Sign up for the Sifteo Game Jam here!
Guest Lecture Series Presents: Jesper Juul, The Art of Failure
Join us on Thursday, March 7th at 7PM for a conversation on the pain of playing video games!
We tend to talk of video games as being “fun,” but in his new book The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration. So why do we play video games even though they often make us unhappy?
At this book launch event, Jesper Juul will discuss game failure with Doug Wilson, PhD graduate from the IT University of Copenhagen and indie game designer at Die Guten Fabrik of Johann Sebastian Joust fame, and Frank Lantz, veteran game designer at Zynga New York and Director of the NYU Game Center.
During the talk, the panelists will play painfully challenging games, and the audience will be invited to share the pain.
Jesper Juul is an assistant professor at the NYU Game Center. He has been working with video game theory since the early 1990′s. His previous book are Half-Real and A Casual Revolution, also on MIT Press. Jesper is a sore loser.
http://www.jesperjuul.net | http://www.jesperjuul.net/artoffailure
This event is free and open to the public. Seats are limited, RSVP here: http://bit.ly/YsnWK1
Copies of The Art of Failure will be available for purchase following the lecture.
C’est La Videogame
C’est La Videogame: An Exhibition of Life as a Play Experience
Curated by Andy Sebela, NYU Game Center Librarian
Thursday, February 28th
721 Broadway, 9th Floor
7:00pm – 10:00pm
When I was much younger, I received a Tamagotchi as an Easter gift. I lifted the toy from my basket. It was tangled in cellophane grass. I pressed one of the buttons, and an egg appeared on the small screen. It began to wiggle, and a few minutes later, it hatched. What emerged was a circle of pixels with a blank expression. It looked confused and maybe a little bit happy to see me. I had just witnessed the miracle of life.
C’est La Videogame examines if and how life can be effectively captured in a game. It investigates the essential properties of life, and explores what games can say about existence through a play experience. The games in this collection tend to disregard winning, losing, high scores, and storylines; instead, they focus on strategies for and representations of being alive. The featured games each offer unique expressions of what life consists in. The goals and choices that players encounter in these games are reflective of the basic goals and choices that we confront as living things. By abstracting life in this way, each game in C’est La Videogame is able to articulate its own account of what it means to be alive.
The unexamined game is not worth playing.
Games for play include: Seaman, Passage, Tamagotchi*, Animal Crossing, John Conway’s Game of Life, and more.
*many, many Tamagotchis
