Archive for Tech News
January 11, 2008 at 9:27 am· Filed under Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News
Over the last year or two we’ve seen a number of advances that make the jump from two to three dimensions seemingly quite trivial.
For example, there have been algorithms that extrapolate depth and perspective from photographs to form 3D environments (see fotowoosh) and professional services that create 3D models from a series of photographs (goo3d).
Whilst these ideas and implementations have all been interesting and food for thought, none have rocked my casbah as much as this. Wow!
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October 2, 2007 at 3:13 pm· Filed under Flash, Play, Tech News
As much as I loathe the fact that Adobe MAX is happy to occur without me (one day I’ll get there), at least the keynote surfaces on the intertubes quickly enough.
With advanced text support, 3D perspective functionality and the new Pixel Shader API’s (Hydra), this release (Astro) looks like its going to rock your world! :)
Check it out…
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September 4, 2007 at 9:57 am· Filed under Flash, Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News, ActionScripters
Unless you’ve been asleep in a ditch (that can’t get wireless internet) you’ll have heard about Seam Carving and would’ve been wondering how long it will take for the ActionScript community to get in line. Well, it didn’t take long.
For those who came in late, Dr Ariel Shamir and Dr Shai Avidan have developed a process that enables you to resize images without losing key visual information. Since then, I’ve seen three or four attempts to achieve the effect in ActionScript and all have been quite impressive.
First check out the YouTube demo and then see where we’re up to in terms of an ActionScript implementation.
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June 27, 2007 at 11:31 pm· Filed under Play, Tech News, Opinion
Well - Remix has finished up and I’ve had 24 hours to reflect on the experience and contemplate the conference’s main theme: the relationship that binds designers and developers in the new media space.
The final session was a panel discussion that presented the opinions of four noteworthy and experienced professionals that represented either side of the fence. Titled “Designers are from Venus, Developers are from Mars”, the banter was primarily intended as a lighthearted experience that would hopefully unite the audience and send us off with the impression that Microsoft understands us and the next generation of UX - whether that involve their software or not.
Clearly the audience was saturated with developers - one would expect little else at such a conference - and as a result, the occasional cheap shot was aimed at the graphically endowed and was usually rewarded with laughs and applause. Now, I know that most of the comments were intended to keep the tone of the forum light and enjoyable, but I couldn’t help but feel that it provided an invaluable insight into the mindset of each party, their perceived plights and what the future may hold for all of us.
Friends from my university days would recall that I don’t have any problem asking questions at the end of a presentation - quite the contrary, actually! As I didn’t get a chance to field my thoughts during the final discussion, here they are… largely in defense of the absent designers.
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June 26, 2007 at 9:09 am· Filed under Work, Tech News, Silverlight, Opinion
Well, Remix07 Day 1 is in the bag and I’ve come away with a few good hours of Silverlight exposure… so what have I learned so far?
Let me start by saying that I was fortunate enough to meet and chat with some of the Microsoft Silverlight heavyweights - which was great - and the evening of free beer evolved into a series of funny moments. If you didn’t come then you should have!
I ventured in knowing very little about Silverlight, the ‘threat’ it posed to me as a Flash developer and how it was going to fit in to the scheme of things. During the course of the day, two magical secrets were revealed to me.
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June 20, 2007 at 6:34 pm· Filed under Work, Tech News
Here’s the info on the Remix session that will be presented by Lucas Sherwood, of Lightmaker fame.
After recently completing two real world application builds in Silverlight and WPF, we will talk about the real challenges that we faced during the development process. Our aim is to address the issue facing developers as they begin to tackle these technologies and to dispel some of the myths surrounding them.
WPF and Sliverlight are still fairly new technologies and it does help to know what you are getting yourself in to, so that your development will be relatively pain free. In this session, we will share our thoughts on how we would try different approaches next time and avoid some of the pitfalls.
Lightmaker (Australia) will unveil two major new Silverlight enabled experiences currently under development.
Time: 2-3pm Monday
See you there.
June 14, 2007 at 12:14 pm· Filed under Work, Tech News
Business Week has an interesting article that talks about my neck of the woods… here’s an excerpt regarding what it takes to make a good “Advergame”:
It’s a fine line, because the company doing the game has to understand branding and be able to sit down with a company like Pepsi and talk their language, but they also have to build a state of the art game. Then, in building the game, they have to keep the game within the stated goals: If it’s fun but the users don’t have the ‘brand experience’ then the client has wasted their money. On the other hand, if you listen too much to a brand management about the message, savvy gamers will take one look and pass. So fundamentally it’s all about the integrity of the game experience.”
It’s worth a read - check it out.
Link: The Secrets of Advergaming
June 8, 2007 at 4:41 pm· Filed under Flash, Tech News, Interview
Here it is, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the third and final chat with your friend and mine, Sean Cooper.
For those of you who have arrived late to the party, Sean is the developer behind the BoxHead online game series and has been gracious enough to answer some of my questions. Make sure you’ve checked out my post covering the game in question, and the first and second posts in this interview series.
To cap off the adventure, I asked Sean to fill us in on some of his development secrets and reveal what he thinks the future has in store for us. Something here for everyone…
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June 6, 2007 at 7:04 am· Filed under Flash, Tech News, Interview
OK, you can stop holding your breath! Here is the second installment of the Sean Cooper interview.
In this section, I was interested in finding out a little more about what makes Sean tick. Which development tools he uses, what he thinks of the competition and how he monetises his creations.
If you haven’t caught the first edition, grab it here, otherwise read on for some words of wisdom.
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June 4, 2007 at 11:05 pm· Filed under Flash, Tech News, Interview
I often wonder what percentage of my visitors are budding game developers (perhaps I should conduct a survey?) - from the interest in some of my recent posts, my guess is that the number is quite considerable.
Well, for those amongst you who want to pick the mind of someone who has walked-the-walk… someone who has experience in producing games across platforms, genres and budgets, then today I have something special for you.
After my recent BoxHead post, I invited Sean Cooper to share his thoughts on all things related to Flash and online gaming. Not only has he been very generous with his time but his comments are informative and some are particularly insightful!
I’ve divided my interview into four sections which will be published here over three posts during the course of the next week (some of the sections are quite in depth). I have no doubt that you’ll find it an interesting read and hopefully there are thought-provoking tidbits for the novice and professional alike.
Today we learn about Sean’s background, future posts will cover his take on topics such as the online gaming industry, game development advice and predictions as to what the future has in store for us.
So without any further ado, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Sean Cooper…
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May 11, 2007 at 9:10 am· Filed under Play, Tech News, Flex
When they’re not playing/watching/talking about the All Blacks and Rugby Union in general, New Zealanders can actually come up with some interesting stuff! Don’t believe me? Check this out…
Outsmart is a NZ-based RIA development studio that has just given us a peek into their new 3D rendering platform in Flex. More info and pics are just a click away…
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May 10, 2007 at 9:40 am· Filed under Play, Tech News
Here’s a quick follow-up post to something I’ve mentioned earlier - the WoW VISA Credit Card is go! Nerds can now impress their nerdette dates by paying for both Big Macs with an Orc encrusted badge of merit.
Last time I checked, WoW had something like 7 million registered users all paying AU$10/month to get their virtual thrills… and it’s not hard to see why. The game is totally impressive both visually and technically and is overwhelmingly immersive and addictive. The only problem is that players have to regularly venture out into the ‘real’ world and put their latest quest on hold whilst they visit the loo, get a sandwich or, God forbid, go outside.
Well, unplugging from one’s virtual self just became a little easier now that groceries translate into free game time…
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May 8, 2007 at 9:15 am· Filed under Play, Tech News
Just when you thought all conferences in our field were expensive, US-based affairs… along comes Remix07 and restores my faith in humanity.
It’s a Microsoft-inspired adventure (Dr Rees will be so proud of me!) which means that I’ll finally get some closure on my Silverlight concerns… for better or worse. Tickets are only AU$140 and it’s on for two days, 25th and 26th of July in the heart of Melbourne.
I’ve chosen the ‘Web Developer Track’ which is a bit annoying as I’m sure there will be some design presentations that I’ll be interested in. Regardless, you’ll get a few posts from inside the lion’s den and hopefully I’ll find some inspiration for new games and experiments.
So, let me know if you’re going - especially if you’re into Flash… we should meet up for a beer and make fun of the Microsofties. Strength in numbers!
Link: Remix 07
May 5, 2007 at 12:00 am· Filed under Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News
Now here’s a research project that wouldn’t have any trouble finding volunteers! Jennifer Chowdhury’s investigation into controlling computer games via intimately positioned touch sensors appeals on many levels… even works as a spectator sport!
Inspired by research into new interfaces for video games and by the Widows of World of Warcraft support group, Intimate Controllers is endorphin inducing goodness which takes half of the game off the screen.
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May 3, 2007 at 8:39 pm· Filed under Flash, Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News
Hey bandwagon, wait for me!
I was thoroughly amused and entertained by the anarchy that transpired over at digg.com yesterday… (if you haven’t heard the goss, catch it here and here)… and perhaps more interesting than the legalities of the issue is how we’ve witnessed that the digg community is essentially one massive organism. The owners pulled the leash too tight and the dog bit back! I also learned a new term - the “Streisand Effect”: where the act of trying to cover up leaked information actually achieves the opposite as a result of the publicity that such activities receive - more here.
Another of the more interesting aspects is how people decided to disseminate the information once the can of worms had been opened. As I was strolling through my RSS feeds today, I noticed that people are now making t-shirts where each of the numbers has been converted to a colour… essentially making a bar code of the key. This ‘in joke’ is the sort of thing that really appeals to the geek crowd (me included!).
The next step was a logical one for me - you guessed it - my Analog Binary pattern has found a new purpose!
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