This weekend is Global Game Jam! If you follow Andrew Parsons’ blog then you’ll know that this year Global Game Jam especially exciting. If not, you can head over to his post or you can read this telling excerpt:
And this year it’s even more exciting for me because Microsoft has sponsored a number of the GGJ sites in the East Coast of the US, and a bunch of us are going to be there. For example, I’m going to be heading over to the Jams at NJIT in Newark, NJ and NYU in downtown Manhattan. And because we love Windows Phone (and secretly I want to encourage as many students to find out how easy it is to develop for the Windows Phone and maybe enter Imagine Cup too), for those specific sites we’re at, we’re going to be coming with actual phones to give away to any teams that want to try their hand at building Windows Phone games on the weekend itself. Cool!
The East Region Audience Team is going to deployed all over the East Coast in the name of game jams and Windows Phones! If you’re going to a site on the list below, give some serious thought to a Windows Phone game. Just in case it didn’t sink in the first time, here’s why: : )
If you create a Windows Phone game your team will receive a Windows Phone!
I’m going to be at the Rockville and Baltimore jams. I’ll see you there!
On 11/11/11, LinkedIn and the White House are joining forces for the first-ever open Veterans Hackday. If you’re a student with technical skills or you want to build an app for a hackday, this is a great opportunity for you!
Present your hack to the celebrity judges for a chance to win prizes
It’s open to everyone. Veterans serve our country every day. Now is your chance to give something back. Grab some teammates, your laptop, a pot of coffee, and use your tech skills to put together a project that will benefit our veterans. [via LinkedIn]
Added bonus: Your Veterans Hackday project would make a perfect entry into the Imagine Cup, a global student technology competition that asks you to make the world a better place using technology. Have questions about the Imagine Cup? Let me know! I’d love to support your team!
This year I got to help judge the games for the Worldwide Imagine Cup Game Design competition. Andrew Parsons, WW Game Design Captain, has done a great series about all the games that made it to Round 2. You can find the 10-part 2011 Game Design Competitor Showcase on his blog or by clicking here. (To see all the Game Design Finalists that will be competing in New York, check out these posts.)
I L-O-V-E the graphics in this game! They are high quality and gorgeous. The tutorial level was really helpful and gave you paper trees to practice with. There’s a lot of good information within the game about fires, but it’s quite a bit for a user to read at once. I’m hoping they can pick out some key facts & tips and show them when you’re learning new firefighting techniques or when you’ve leveled up. Information is great, but making sure that it’s actually getting to the user and not overwhelming him/her is important too.
I really like that Team Cohesion made a game trailer for their submission. Again, great graphics! One of the great features of this game is that it supports multiplayer and relies on your ability to work as a team. I hope they release this game because I would definitely download it and play it! They say that there’s the possibility of a Windows Phone 7 version of the game and I’m certainly looking forward to it! Check out Some GameStudio’s YouTube channel for a game play video.
Of all the games that I saw, I thought BioJam had the some of the greatest potential for future development. Getting students interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) subjects is one of my passions and anything that makes STEM subjects more appealing for students is fantastic in my book! Not only do I hope to see this game go multi-device (think phone, tablet, Microsoft Surface), but I’m also hoping they create more modules to make some of the drier areas of science fun. I can see a notebook for chemistry, physics, anatomy, computer science and eventually other typical subjects like English and history. Since the game takes place in a notebook, it might also be neat to see some OneNote integration. I’m really excited about this game and I hope they continue to improve it and enter it again next year!
Anyone who likes funny things should be hooked right away by this team’s name. For everyone else, you can get hooked on the game itself. I really enjoyed this game, nice interface and nice game play. I found this game very addicting and found myself playing until I lost a level three times in a row before I realized how much time had passed.
If there is one game I want on my phone N-O-W, it’s Brainergy. SERIOUSLY. This game is exactly the kind of game I love to play! Puzzle-based, fun, colorful and it makes me feel smart when I complete a level. Here’s a short letter from me to Geekologic:
Dear Geekologic,
Please continue to develop Brainergy and put in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. PLEASE! I will bake you cookies and send them to you.
<3, Ed
The idea of the game is fantastic and so well-executed. Sustainable energy is not only a green practice for the environment, but I think it can be extremely profitable. The way Geekologic is helping people become aware of sustainable energy practices is great!
One of my favorite events happened from April 8th-11th, the Imagine Cup US Finals! I could tell you that I’m blogging about this two weeks after the event to keep it on everyone’s mind as long as possible and that would sound really good. But let’s be honest, I haven’t been very good at blogging lately (and when I say lately, I mean the two months since my last post), so it’s really that I hadn’t gotten around to blogging about the Imagine Cup US Finals.
I didn’t blog the event in real-time, but I did get to host some really cool videos about the event. If you’re short on time, these are a great way to get a feel for the US Finals.
From Medical Breakthroughs, Social Challenges, and Green Sustainability, Student Competitors Invent the Future at the Imagine Cup
Today’s Competitors Will Likely Run A Start-Up. Hear From the Teachers Who Inspire These Entrepreneurs
U.S. Imagine Cup Winner Revealed
If you have a bit more time, check out the following blog posts from two fantastic bloggers did: Patrick Godwin, a Microsoft Student Insider that covered the event, and Alfred Thompson, the Microsoft Academic Developer Evangelist for K-12 in the US. They each did a great series about the entire weekend.
From Alfred
Imagine Cup Stories: A pre-US Finals post highlighting some great stories from Imagine Cup participants and mentors.
Final US Imagine Cup Teams Announced – 2011: Overview of some of the training sessions available to finalist during the weekend and the final four teams in each competition.
2011 US Imagine Cup Finals–Day 1: Hobnobbing with Microsoft Vice Presidents, ice breakers to meet other competitors and getting some awesome swag, what to expect on the first evening of the Imagine Cup.
I love the Imagine Cup! I’ve participated as a competitor and a mentor. Both experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. With a little tutorial help from my Imagine Cup teammates, Ashley and Malisa, I put together this video about the Software Design competition.
