Some of the news and things discussed at the meetup:
Unity for Playstation Mobile Vita and TV notes:
Thanks to Dylan Wolf for breaking down tabletop game mechanics and how these mechanics can be used in video games.
Some of the things mentioned at the meetup:
Shows playing tabletop games: Tabletop | Watch It Played
Some of the games mentioned (not all of these are done by the above shows, so I found the best video I could!):
A big thanks to Zack Parrish for visiting the group and sharing his experiences creating music for video games. You can check out Zack’s work on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
One of the places mentioned by Zack was TIGSource Forums which is a good place to find or offer help with other indie game creators.
Group member Devon Campbell has launched a new site called PowerUp Games which ultimately aims to help indies get the exposure and coverage for their games. Currently the site has an active blog featuring interviews with gaming journalists like Konstantinos Dimopoulos and Patrick Klepek giving advice on getting your game coverage. This site also has a reddit-style news portal, but at the time of this post was down. I said it was a new site!
A big thanks to Christopher Rathgeb for stopping by the group and sharing his experiences making games for mobile devices! You can check out the games and apps Christopher mentioned at Zippz Studios.
Some of the things mentioned at this meetup:
Levi has posted his Programming the NES talk on YouTube & Slides in case you missed it at CodeStock:
Welcome to the first Hearthstone Open hosted by Knoxville Game Design and the Technology Cooperative!
Just The Facts:
Registration:
Tournament Details:
We will be running two different brackets, you can choose to enter either or both:
Open Bracket – A double elimination, best of three, bracket where any deck is allowed and both players can change decks between games. Break out your best golden legendary cards or play a special constructed combo!
Basic Bracket – New to the game and look for a level playing field? This bracket will be a double elimination, best of three, bracket where players much choose a deck from the “Basic Decks” in Hearthstone. Players can change decks between games, but all games must be played from the Basic Deck list.
Other Information:
This is the first event of this kind hosted by us, so things will be kept loose and simple.
We will have water available and may have other beverages and snacks, but no guarantees.
There may be an attempt to record and stream some of the games (in particular the finals) and by attending you agree you are okay with being filmed and/or photographed and that these videos and images may be used by the event royalty free.
About Hearthstone:
Hearthstone is a free to play fast paced strategy card game that’s easy to learn and massively fun. Start a free game on Battle.net and play your cards to sling spells, summon creatures, and command the heroes of Warcraft in duels of epic strategy.
About the Hosts:
Knoxville Game Design is a Knoxville, TN based meetup group that encourages people young and old to get involved with game design and development. The group welcomes all levels of designers, from veteran indies to new hobbyists.
The Technology Cooperative is a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization founded to create a technology-focused community that will provide computer-related technology access and awareness.
Unity Links
100 Things Every Game Student Should Know
MindSweep – Video Game Makeover
NES Tutorial (How to make an NES game)
Game Jam: THE RETRO CHALLENGE!
One Game a Month Challenge – Levi’s Page
Levi’s Knox Game Design Twitter List
Knoxville Game Developer Twitter List
Clara.io (Free web modeling tool)
Josh described a tool for brainstorming a game’s characters and story. I’ve found a site “StoryStarter” that sounds very similar you can read for more details.
First, you start with a table:
| Character | Setting | Motivation | Obstacle 1 | Obstacle 2 |
For each character you complete the columns using the following template sentence:
It is a game about [character] in [setting] who is motivated by [motivation] and must overcome [obstacle] and [obstacle]
Last meetup I mentioned we would be announcing a Techco AppCamp for teens, and we have!
Learn to build an application for your android phone or Tablet in one day. We will use the MIT Android App Inventor system. The App Inventor uses programming “blocks” to teach the concepts of programming. No earlier programming experience required!
If you or someone you know is interested, check out all the details on the TechCo Blog announcement for AppCamp.
Game jam:
MIT App Inventor:
Project Spark:
Look for a local Knox Game Design dev in a bundle at Indie Gala soon!
OpenIAB Information:
GameJam Entries: