icould - career in video games

http://icould.com/talk/are-you-considering-a-career-in-video-gaming/

Questions answered by Laura Weir, the HR Manager for Jagex and Fiona French, Course Leader for BSc Computer Games at London Metropolitan University.

The Big Woolwich TXT Game

25th July 2009: Greenwich Heritage Centre, Woolwich Arsenal

http://bigwoolwichtxtgame.blogspot.co.uk/
Murder or misadventure? Be a time-travelling detective and contact the spirit world using your mobile phone. You have 1 day to solve the mysteries of 3 unexplained deaths at Woolwich Arsenal...
 
Commissioned by Stream as part of London 2012 Open Weekend in July 2009. This was a participatory art project that used story-telling and sms messaging to investigate the local area. Using mobile gaming technology, players took part in a game that invited them to solve a series of clues and discover an unfolding story along the way.

Facebook event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117376467712

StreamArts Project: www.streamarts.org.uk/projects/big-woolwich-txt-game

HOW
Technically, setting up the sms system was fairly straightforward. I set up a txtlocal (http://www.txtlocal.co.uk/) account and used the developer API to send and receive sms messages using PHP CURL. The messages were then passed to an SQL database + site hosted for free on 000WebHost (http://www.000webhost.com/).
 
PHP scripts took care of all the logic - depending on which message was received, the ghosts in the machine would send back an appropriate response to the player.

The main difficulty with this sort of application is in designing the game itself. Messages sent by players need to be short and preferably one-word, aas the system uses simple string matching to discover what message has been received. Variations in spelling and lexicon are not recognised. Answers from the ghosts are limited in length by typical sms maximum - 160 characters. The system was deliberately designed to be used by anyone with the most basic mobile phone.

NARRATIVE
A huge amount of time and energy went into the story research.   Here are the initial instructions for players:

Detective, you are challenged to unravel the mysteries of three deaths connected with the Royal Arsenal over the last three centuries. You should have a map, a sheet of questions and a fully-charged mobile phone at your disposal.  There are some clues in the area, which we think may have been left by poltergeists, anxious to pass information to the side of the living.  If the spirits feel that you are a friendly presence, they may send you a message.

You can usually communicate with spirits directly, by texting a name, then waiting. (eg. BENJAMIN, GEORGE, ROSE)

They may ask you a question, in which case you should text back your answer in order to score extra points and receive more clues. They may direct you to another spirit, who you can choose to contact. They may direct you to a place where you might find a clue or provide you with useful information.


1777 Benjamin Blight died on board one of the hulks, huge prison ships moored on the Thames alongside Woolwich Arsenal. Prisoners doing forced labour were responsible for constructing fortifications at the Ordnance Storage Depot.
 
1833 George Bodle died in suspicious circumstances on his farm, but his son was acquitted of murder because of lack of evidence. James Marsh, ordnance chemist at Woolwich Arsenal, subsequently discovered a new method for reliably establishing whether arsenic was present in victim's bodies.
 
1916 Rose Clark was one of the "canary girls" who worked in munitions during World War 1 - so-called because the TNT they handled changed the colour of their skin to yellow and gradually poisoned them.

Global Game Jam LONDON 2009

48 hours of innovation, creativity and experimentation: the first ever Global Gamejam comprised 1600 participants in 23 countries including USA, France, Denmark, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, South Africa, Venezuela, Norway, New Zealand, Spain, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Israel, The Netherlands ... We hosted the London event.

"In a Game Jam, participants come together to make video games. Each participant works in a small team on a complete game project over the course of a limited time period, usually over a weekend. With such a small time frame, the games tend to be innovative and experimental.

"The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the first of its kind: a Game Jam that takes place in the same 48 hours all over the world! The Global Game Jam will start at 5:00PM Friday, January 30, 2009 through 5:00PM Sunday, February 1, 2009, (all times local). All participants in the Global Game Jam will be constrained by the same rules and limitations, with each time zone having one distinct constraint."

from GlobalGameJam conceived by IDGA and its Games Education SIG

DETAILS
Shoreditch Building, 35 Kingsland Road, London E2 
30 Jan - 1 Feb 2009

You are a developer, a student, a programmer, a designer, a thinker, an artist, a musician etc etc. Come by yourself and form a team when you arrive.

Fri 14:00 Registration and social entertainment
Fri 17:00 Keynote and brief
Fri 18:00 Form teams and start jamming
Sun 15:00 Deadline for handing in - games uploaded to globalgamejam
Sun 16:00 Show-off and chill

We supply refreshments and snacks, breakfast on site, access to kitchen area, tokens for delicious lunches and suppers in Shoreditch. Bring your own laptop and software, wireless Internet on site.  Sleep? Forget it - go home or crash with a friend if your stamina runs out. Bring a fresh t-shirt. Open-access 24/7.

PHOTOS http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkmakeplay/sets/72157613294689027/
VIDEOS http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EC54B9F62CFC0CF5
DOWNLOAD GAMES http://globalgamejam.org/games  Filter for London
BBC ARTICLE http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2009/02/13/global_game_jam_feature.shtml

Why do girls avoid us?

French, F. (2009) Why do girls avoid us? 
Presentation for British Computer Society on Feb 12th, Southampton Street, London

Here's a brief synopsis of some of the points:


1. Consuming not creating
Although women seem to be using computers as much as men, they tend to be utilising software rather than actively developing it. 
2. Back to school
Problem - we don't recruit as many women as men into computing at higher level.  Distance from technology kicks in around age of 12 - why?  Peer pressure, angst, snobbery (technical not professional), lack of role models.
3. Teaching
The ICT curriculum...
4. Poor image
Games programmers can't win - they're either too "geeky" or too "macho" - either way they're all men, aren't they?  Crunch time!  But industry is maturing, isn't it?
5. The nature of games
Look at what's predominant, check out the characters and the action.  Who designed it?
6. What do girls like?
Same as what boys like + social stuff (chatting, dating) + girly stuff (hair? handbags? you tell me) + personalisation (stretch to fit)
7. Media representation of women
Say no more...