Simulation & Game Development

Following two years of research and development and extensive collaboration with industry leaders and sister colleges in the North Carolina system, Farhad Javidi has developed the first AAS degree program in "Simulation and Game Development" in nation. The Program was approved by North Carolina Community College System on October 24, 2005.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

CAPTCHA

"CAPTCHA," a "gotcha"-inspired acronym that means Completely Automatic Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.

A CAPTCHA is a program that can generate and grade tests that most humans can pass, but current computer programs can't pass. For example, humans can read distorted text as the one shown below, but current computer programs can't:

WATSON by INTELLEXT

Why go searching when you can have results found for you?

Watson understands what you are working on and brings you the information you need – from anywhere – web search engines, desktop search applications, blogs, news sites, subscription services, even your company's information systems. In real-time, without being asked. It’s like having a personal research assistant you don’t have to micromanage.

http://www.intellext.com/index.html

Monday, January 30, 2006

Torque Engine

A tutorial site for Torque.

AppleGeeks

This is a great site for all of the Apple computer lovers in all of us.

Also check out Frappr.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Disney Buys Pixar for US$7 Billion

Steve Jobs Becomes Largest Shareholder

Pixar Animation Studios, whose films have garnered critical acclaim with both domestic and overseas audiences, is being bought tomorrow by Disney for $7 billion. Steve Jobs, as the CEO of Pixar, will become the largest shareholder in Disney.

In contrast to Pixar's remarkable success, Disney have struggled in the last decade to release original and financially successful productions; recently, many of the studio's films have been sequels of earlier successful works, a good portion of which have been released direct to video.

The buyout very much parallels Apple's purchase of NeXT ten years ago. Because so much of NeXT's advanced technology essentially displaced Apple's own struggling and dated codebase for the Mac OS to become Mac OS X, and Steve Jobs' own idea of a trimmed and stylish product line replaced the beige box Power Mac (insert four-digit number here), many industry analysts joked that 'NeXT had bought Apple for negative $400 million.'

Like NeXT (one of Steve Jobs's projects) was bought by Apple, and its technology incorporated into the company to revamp its product line, Pixar (again a project of Steve Jobs's) may very well save Disney. For those that either fear that Disney's long-lived traditional animation techniques will be completely replaced by computer 3D rendering, or believe that Disney will mishandle Pixar's talent and resources and bring an unfortunate end to the latter studio's successful run of films, consider two facts: the executives at Pixar, Steve Jobs included, believe that this will be as good for Pixar as it will be for Disney. No one at Pixar would be going along with the purchase if they thought that Disney was going to ruin them. Secondly, it is noteworthy that Steve Jobs is the largest shareholder at Disney. Steve Jobs has a reputation for getting what he wants, and it's doubtful that he made this deal without knowing he would have a significant say in Disney's direction. There may well be a rehash of the old joke, as 'Pixar buys Disney for -$7 billion.'

Additionally, with Steve Jobs's field of influence closer to executives as Disney, there may soon be a much larger amount of Disney content available on iTunes in coming months.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Creative GameMaker Games

You can find some old but creative Gamemaker games here. You might have to rework the codes to make them work on the new version of the Gamemaker. Just get the ideas.

Very Creative Site

http://www.homestarrunner.com/

Sunday, January 22, 2006

14 Reasons Why Artists Keep Visual Journals

Keeping a visual journal helps the artist develop a sense of self–discipline.
The chronological nature of the journal means that you are automatically recording your personal improvement.
A journal can become for you a ‘place’ where you can work out themes as they develop on the journey.
It is always good when you are presenting your work to be able to fit it into a theme.
Style is a process of evolution.
As you develop the 'habit of creativity' you will also develop an intuitive awareness.
Regard your journal as your personal safe place.
It is also a means of communication, a holding place for ideas to share with other artists and students who wish to learn.
Your journal is your note-takers paradise … a place where ideas can be kept in the written form as well as visually…
Keep technical notes - make sure you are learning about mixing colours and learning theory.
Set your self - 'paced learning tasks' of a specified nature.
Have a particular learning outcome in mind.
Your journal is a safe place where you can experiment with abstractions. It will facilitate an unveiling of ways to express emotions and feelings.
Above all this safe haven of personal expression can become for you (if you let it) a source of relaxation.
As an artistic venture your journal will naturally evolve into your precious planning tool.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Two Good Articles

Trading Card Games As A Social Learning Tool
by John Lenarcic and James Mackay-Scollay
Online Games And Reforming Intellectual Property Regimes
By Christopher Moore

Video Game History

Video game history sites:

If you want to see old video game ads, go here.

If you want to play some of the old video games, go here.

VB at the Movies

Microsoft has 101 short films to provide everybody from the beginner through the advanced developer with an opportunity to amp up their Visual Basic skills.
Grab your popcorn and soda, sit back, and enjoy!

The Gaming Zone & PLCMC

The Gaming Zone is the name given to the gaming programs sponsored in the Main Library of PLCMC's (Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County) in Charlotte, NC.

http://thegamingzone.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Math and Physics for SGD

A good site to find articles and tutorials on Math and Physics for SGD.

Watch This

I am sure you have seen it before. Watch it again.

Sending big files?

Are you trying to send a bif file to someone and your mail server doesn't allow you. Use YouSentIt.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

On-Line Project Management Tool

Basecamp is a unique project collaboration tool. Projects don't fail from a lack of charts, graphs, or reports, they fail from a lack of communication and collaboration. Basecamp makes it simple to communicate and collaborate on projects.

Good Site to Visit

3D.Artist
http://www.raph.com/3dartists/

GameStop - Major Troubles

One manager at leading video games retailer GameStop claims that the company is having trouble, which has made this person "nervous about the welfare of the company." Reportedly, managers have been told that they must get huge reservation numbers and Game Informer subscriptions...
Read the Full Article

Microsoft Now Says Blu-ray Not a Possibility for 360

Following the news of the external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 and reports that Microsoft would consider Blu-ray if necessary, the company has now flip-flopped on Blu-ray, reaffirming their 100% committment to the HD DVD format.
Read the Full Article

Monday, January 16, 2006

Free Game Programming Resources

This is a resource site for free game development tools.

Gimp

GIMP is a great free software for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.

GIMP Totorial
URL: http://gimp.org/tutorials/
These are the tutorials at the gimp.org site. They are arranged into categories including Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, Photo Editing, Web, and Script Authoring.
Grokking the GIMP
URL: http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html
This is an entire free GIMP book that is available to read online or download in html format.
GIMP User Group
URL: http://gug.sunsite.dk/?page=tutorials
The GUG contains tutorials for various versions of the GIMP.
Basic GIMP Tutorial
URL: http://www.ufocomes.de/files/basegien.html
Draw a stickman in GIMP. This tutorial is also availabe in German (Deutsch).
A Tutorial for Perl Gimp Users
URL: http://imagic.weizmann.ac.il/~dov/gimp/perl-tut.html
Perl as a language is probably more familiar to the web-literate users, as it is the major language for writing CGI scripts. Now, Gimp scripts may also be written with Perl. This tutorial will describe how to write such plug-ins and scripts for Gimp.
Beginners Guide to The GIMP
URL: http://bachue.com/alejo/gimptutorial.html
This guide covers the 1.3 version of The GIMP.
Gimp Tutorials
URL: http://tigert.gimp.org/gimp/
Some GIMP tutorials and resources.
Getting Started with The GIMP: an informal tutorial
URL: http://www.gilesorr.com/papers/gimp-tutorial/gimp.html
This tutorial is highly informal, and is a walk-through of some fairly basic things that can be done with the GIMP
Gimp-Tutorial
URL: http://www.linuxnetmag.com/en/issue4/m4gimp1.html
A two-part gimp tutorial that uses an animated banner as an example.
The Gimp Tutorials - Phillip Riley's Homapage
URL: http://www.geocities.com/phillipriley/comptutgimp.html
Buttons and backgrounds tutorials
How to Use GIMP for Photo and Image Editing
URL: http://www.mozillaquest.com/OpenSource04/Gimp-Photo-Edit-Tutorial-01_Story01.html
A tutorial from LinuxNetMag that focuses on the basics of using GIMP's cropping, scaling, brightness adjustment, and contrast adjustment tools. You will learn how to use these tools by editing a digital photograph.
GIMPguru.org
URL: http://www.gimpguru.org/
GIMPguru.org is a resource for those using the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) to edit photographs. The site includes tutorials and a forum.
Photo Touch Up and Enhancement in the GIMP
URL: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Haven/5179/
The purpose of this tutorial is to explain how the GIMP can be used to touch up and enhance your photos.
The RRU Gimp Tutorial
URL: http://www.rru.com/~meo/gimp/Tutorial/
N/A
GIMP Tutorial
URL: http://members.cox.net/wcommerc/the_gimp/the_gimp.shtml
A pretty short tutorial series with some basics about photo editing, text effects and drawing lines.
GIMP User FAQ
URL: http://www.rru.com/~meo/gimp/faq-user.html
Answers to about a hundred commonly asked questions about the GIMP.

A nice Blog

http://simblob.blogspot.com/

U.S. Video Game Industry Achieves Record-Breaking Year

Naysayers thought it couldn't be done, especially with the terrible sales performances during the fall/winter period, but thanks largely to portable gaming the U.S. video game industry has set a new record of $10.5 billion.
Read the Full Article

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Tutorial ...

Pixel2life is a nice tutorial porta. Specially, check the Blender tutorials.

Looking for good sprites?

G4TV

Watch many of G4TV shows on-line.

How To...

GDC Conference Videos

Make sure to watch GDC conference videos.

Fraps

Fraps is a universal Windows application that can be used with all games using DirectX or OpenGL technology. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as:
Benchmarking Software - See how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in a corner of your screen. Perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points. Save the statistics out to disk and use them for your own reviews and applications.
Screen Capture Software - Take a screenshot with the press of a key! There's no need to paste into a paint program every time you want to capture the screen. Your screen captures are also automatically named and timestamped.
Realtime Video Capture Software - Have you ever wanted to record video while playing your favourite game? Come join the Machinima revolution! Throw away the VCR, forget about using a DV cam, game recording has never been this easy! Fraps can capture audio and video up to 1152x864 and 100 frames per second!

Today's Links

Check the following site:

For OpenGL:

For Flash:

For Physics:

U.S. Video Game Industry Achieves Record-Breaking Year

Thursday, January 12, 2006

1980's Interview with the designer of Pac Man, Toru Iwatani

Excerpt from Interview with Toru Iwatani:

INTERVIEWER:

What kind of skills or philosophy must a game designer have to be successful?

IWATANI:

You must understand people's souls (kokoro) and be creative enough to imagine things that can't be thought or imagined by others. You must he compelled to do something a little bit different than the rest of the crowd and enjoy being different. You must also be able to visualise the images that will make up the game, and you shouldn't compromise with the first easy idea that comes to mind. In the last analysis, you must enjoy making people happy. That's the basis of being a good game designer, and leads to great game design.

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/5874/iwatani.htm

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

RTI Systems Modeling and Simulation

RTI is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation with a distinguished history in scientific research and technology development. RTI has developed a wide range of computer simulation models.

http://www.rti.org/page.cfm?nav=284

Artist Mods - Your Favorite Artists Get Animated!

Yahoo Music Artist Mods brings you the Music Modmaker – a creative software application that lets you remake music videos. Its 3D engine puts you in the director’s chair making music videos for today’s top musical artists.

http://music.yahoo.com/promos/artistmods/

Blender Tutorials

Books/Papers: Math for Games

I exraxted the following list of books/papers from "Essential Math for Games Programmers " site:

General References

Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, by Foley, van Dam, Feiner and Hughes (companion source code)
Real-Time Rendering, by Akenine-Möller and Haines (companion web site)
3D Game Engine Design, by Eberly (Geometric Tools site)
Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers, by Gullberg
Jim Blinn’s Corner: A Trip Down the Graphics Pipeline, by Blinn
Jim Blinn's Corner: Dirty Pixels, by Blinn
Jim Blinn's Corner: Notation, Notation, Notation, by Blinn
Game Programming Gems, by DeLoura (editor)
Game Programming Gems 2, by DeLoura (editor)
Game Programming Gems 3, by Treglia (editor)
Game Programming Gems 4, by Kirmse (editor) (contains an article by Jim)
Game Programming Gems 5, by Pallister (editor) (contains an article by Jim)
Game Developer magazine source code Chris Hecker's home page Jeff Lander's Game Developer articles Jonathan Blow's home page

Mathematical Background

Elementary Linear Algebra, by Anton and Rorres (earlier editions can also be found)
Linear Algebra Done Right, by Axler
Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics: A Coordinate Free Approach, by DeRose
Matrix Computations, by Golub and van Loan
Numerical Analysis, by Burden and Faires
Scientific Computation and Differential Equations, by Golub and Ortega
"An Introduction to the Conjugate Gradient Technique Without the Agonizing Pain", by Shewchuk
MathWorld

Curves and Animation

Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques, by Parent
An Introduction to Splines for Use in Computer Graphics & Geometric Modelling, by Bartels, Beatty, and Barsky
Mathematical Elements for Computer Graphics, by Rogers and Adams
An Introduction to NURBS: With Historical Perspective, by Rogers
Inverse Kinematics and Geometric Constraints for Articulated Figure Manipulation, by Welman"
Real-Time Inverse Kinematics: The Return of the Jacobian", by Meredith and Maddock
"Real-Time Inverse Kinematics Techniques for Anthropomorphic Limbs", by Tolani, Goswami, and Badler

Quaternions

On Quaternions, by Hamilton
Using Quaternions to Represent Rotation A Proof of the Quaternion Rotation Representation
Computational Geometry
Computational Geometry: An Introduction, by Preparata and Shamos
Computational Geometry in C, by O’Rourke (source code - in Java, as well)
Geometric Tools for Computer Graphics, by Schneider and Eberly
Source code for Graphics Gems I-V GeometryAlgorithms.com

Physical Simulation and Collision

Game Physics, by Eberly (Geometric Tools site)
Witkin and Baraff's SIGGRAPH Course Notes Fundamentals of Physics, by Halliday, Resnik, and Walker (earlier editions can also be found)
Collision Detection in Interactive 3D Environments, by van den Bergen (SOLID website)
Real-Time Collision Detection, by Ericson (companion web site)
Eric Weisstein's World of Physics "Advanced Character Physics", by Jakobsen
“Impulse-Based Simulation of Rigid Bodies”, by Mirtich and Canny
"Real-Time Fluid Dynamics for Games", by Stam
Research papers by David Wu and others at Pseudo Interactive
Team Gamma at UNC (collision detection research)
Berkeley Computer Animation and Modeling (deformation and fracture research)
GPU Programming and Architecture (course at University of Pennsylvania)

Monday, January 09, 2006

Government & Military Links

Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC)

Under ASC, computer simulation capabilities are developed to analyze and predict the performance, safety, and reliability of nuclear weapons and to certify their functionality.

http://www.sandia.gov/NNSA/ASC/

The Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO)

DMSO is the catalyst organization for Department of Defense (DoD) modeling and simulation (M&S) and ensures that M&S technology development is consistent with other related initiatives.

https://www.dmso.mil/public/

Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation (JCATS)

The JCATS program, managed from U.S. Joint Forces Command’s (USJFCOM) Joint Warfighting Center/J7, is an interactive, entity level, data-driven, multi-sided simulation tool.

http://www.jfcom.mil/about/fact_jcats.htm

Essential Math for Games Programmers

Home Page: http://www.essentialmath.com/
Blog with Interesting Links: http://www.essentialmath.com/blog/

Friday, January 06, 2006

Web Sites on Game AI

Creating Games Under 7 Days

4 grad students made over 50 games in 1 Semester. Their "Tower of Goo" was downloaded over 100,000 times within months of hitting the net. Here's the crazy game idea: Drag trash-talkin' gobs of goo to build a giant tower higher and higher. They squirm and giggle and climb upward over the backs of their brothers, but be careful! A constant battle against gravity, if you build a tower that's too unstable, it will all fall down.

I know that I have mentioned this over and over again, but once again, make sure that you check this site frequently:
http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/

Make sure to visit their forum.

And, read this article.