All posts by wertle

Games and Game Development

Educating the Youth

5 Comments

Yesterday and today I went back to my old high school (an all-girls school) and spoke to several classes about game development. They were really into it and asked really great questions, so I’d call it a success for sure.

One of the theories about the low number of women working in games is that it’s just not on a lot of young girls’ radars as a possibility. I found that to be the case here, as during QA time I turned it around and asked what about my presentation surprised them the most. Every single time, for the 8 classes I presented to, they said it was that they had no idea how many different people and roles it took to make a video game.

Seed planted. Mission accomplished!

I also learned a bunch of interesting things myself, which I will share. For the most part, each of the classes I spoke to were freshmen and sophomore girls (with one group of seniors thrown into one class). Usually the groups were between 20 and 30 girls, and I presented to 8 groups. Early on in my presentation, I polled them about who played video games and what sorts. Here are my findings:

1) In general, 99% of the girls played video games (maybe one or two groups had like 1 or 2 girls who didn’t)

2) The majority of the girls played console games

3) PC games (like the Sims and MMOs) came in second for most show of hands

4) iPhone and cell phone games came in 3rd

5) Very VERY few of the girls played facebook games, even though they used facebook. This was probably the most startling finding for me, as I assumed that teenage girls would be big on facebook games. Not necessarily, it would seem! (in fact, many groaned in distaste when I asked if anyone played facebook games)

I was really impressed with how interested they were. My presentation was 2 parts, one was a summary of the general roles in game development (artists, programmers, designers, audio, producers). I explained the jobs and what they did, then showed a clip of Ratchet gameplay and diagrammed out where everyone had a hand in it.

The second part was about how I wound up as a game designer and my path after graduating high school. The theme of this section was “if you have no idea what you want to do with your life, don’t worry, because it might take you 8 years to figure it out.”

They asked really perceptive questions, the most popular being “how long does it take to make a video game” and “what’s your favorite game,” but a good variety of other ones. Again, I think my visit was a huge success, and maybe I’ll make it a regular thing to go back and speak every few years.

Now to enjoy the rest of my vacation (and hopefully get rid of this cold!)

Conferences

BlizzCon Wrap

1 Comment

So, I had a really great time at BlizzCon, even though I did not go see any panels (I hear I didn’t miss too much on that end).

I got to try Diablo III (I like the Monk), StarJeweled (BEST STARCRAFT MOD EVER), Left 2 Die, (probably would have been more fun if we’d had more time), and Cataclysm beta (<3 Goblins). I enjoyed seeing all the costumes, and of course seeing Will's epic dance contest entry. On the downside, Jay Mohr is teeeerrible, how is this his 5th BlizzCon? His humor is off and his jokes are tasteless and he nearly ruined all of the costume/dance contest for me, bleh! The most surprising part of the event was how much I enjoyed watching the Warcraft III and Starcraft II matches, and the WoW Arenas were great, too. I think I spent most of my time there at one of the two stages, watching the epic battles unfold. I suppose this seals in a new layer of geekdom that I never thought I would have acquired. My favorite part about the matches was how positive the audience was. One annoying thing about watching sports for me is how much team support can override and diminish the experience of just watching a good game. For example, watching football or watching the World Cup, when "the other" team makes a good mood, it is impossible to acknowledge without scorn, and I haaaaaate it when the non-home-team makes a great play and is met by booing from the home fans. So annoying! With these tournaments, the audience just wanted to see people who play really well. Sure there were favorites, but all in all, if either player made a fantastic play, the entire audience erupted in cheers. The atmosphere was fantastic! It's a shame there aren't many Starcraft II tournament viewing venues in the US. Anyway, I have a long layover before getting back to Kentucky, but I can't wait to see my family!

Games Played

15 Games

Can’t resist a meme, sometimes.

The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. 15 games you’ve played that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I’m interested in seeing what games my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your 15 picks, and tag people in the note — upper right hand side.)

1. Super Mario Bros. 2
2. Doom II
3. Sonic the Hedgehog
4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
5. Gemfire
6. Shining Force
7. Okami
8. World of Warcraft
9. Spyro the Dragon
10. Final Fantasy 7
11. Silent Hill
12. Warioware (the gamecube one)
13. MarioKart: Double Dash
14. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
15. Halo

You’ll notice I didn’t tag anyone. That’s how I roll.

Personal Blog

Benedictine Spread

The Benedictine Spread was a big hit at the beach firepit party last night, so I’ma share the recipe! Of course you can find recipes just by googling the term, but they all have some variation in them, so this is specifically the recipe that I used last night.

(Extra info: Benedictine Spread is a Louisville, KY recipe, so if you make it that means you’re all cultured and stuff)

Ingredients
– 16 oz neufetal cheese (the original calls for cream cheese, but neufetal is just sliiiightly more savory, so I used it instead)
– 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and grated
– 1 medium onion, grated
– 1 Tablespoon mayonaise (some recipes use more of this to the point that it becomes a more dominant flavor, but I think mayo is gross, so I just use a very small amount for a creamier consistency)
– 2 tsp salt
– dash of cayenne pepper

Directions
1. Grate the cucumber and onion, then drain and dry with paper towels. This is an important step, otherwise the spread will get too watery
2. Mix all the ingredients together in bowl
3. If you want, you can add a drop of green food coloring so that it turns bright green and looks like the lost boys’ food from Hook. I just didn’t have any handy last night
4. Serve cold on chips or bread or whatever

Personal Blog

Cat Field Trips

2 Comments

I need ideas for field trip locations for Mr. Davis

When Josh’s cat-allergic roommate was in England for months and months, I used to take Mr. Davis over there for day trips. He enjoyed it very much, and I think it started the trend for his thinking of “car trips are okay.” But alas, Ryan has returned to the states, so a new venue is in order.

I did take him to our soccer park once, but he did not like the wide open space, and we crossed the street to the residential sidewalk instead. I’ve also taken him on a few errand car rides (he’s a star in the In-N-Out drive through line when we go for milk shakes).

He does pretty well in the car, but he seems unsure of how he feels about it from time to time. Often he’ll stay up in the front seat, paws on the windowsill, watching outside. If I leave his crate open in the back seat, he’ll sometimes climb back there and do repeated short, soft meows. I’m not sure what they mean, they aren’t his “scared” meow. Josh’s theory is that he wants me to know where he is.

Anyway, I’d like to keep up the trend of car trips, just because exposure to new places and people and experiences is good for him. Any ideas? Anyone want a cat visit?

Personal Blog

Why I hate voting-based internet contests

Attention humans! This is a public service announcement. Oft times on our internets, there are contests that involve voting. Inevitably, someone involved in the contest will send a link, asking all their friends to vote for them so they win the contest. Pretty common occurrence, yes?

I just want to make sure everyone knows that these drive me mad. There is nothing worse than “hey here is an organized competition on which people really should vote on the criteria of the content itself but instead it’s really just how many people you know you can get to vote for you without considering what the contest is even about.” It’s an insult to the people who organize the competition hoping that people will treat it legitimately.

If I am linked to a contest, I want to treat it fairly. That means I would want to review the applicants and vote for the best one, not just vote for the person I know. Usually, the thought of having to go through all the applicants and judge them fairly is exhausting, especially if I’m busy or not particularly interested in the contest subject or whatever. So, I just don’t vote at all.

Be aware, that when you send me these things, and I do not vote for you, it is not because I don’t love you. It’s because IT DRIVES ME CRAZY WHEN PEOPLE DO THAT.

It would be easier, I think, if all content were stripped from the contest, and the criteria were simply “see how many people you know you can get to vote for you, for no reason, really, other than that they know you.” Then whoever rallied the most people would win! And really, that’s how these contests tend to work, right?

Personal Blog

in2books

Ben showed me this awesome volunteer program he’s doing, and after looking it over, I signed up right away. Basically, you act as an e-mentor and penpal to a 3-5th grader. The kid reads books throughout the schoolyear, and you read the same books. Then you write letters to one another discussing those books.

The idea is to both get the kids excited about reading, as well as help them improve their writing and vocabulary by modeling it through your letters. It sounds great!

I’d been snooping around for volunteer opportunities because I feel like that is one area of my life that is lacking these days. It is difficult, though, with the busy and often erratic schedule of a game developer to create time for a regular commitment. This is something that I can slide right into my life and keep up with.

I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about it until now, and I wonder how common it is in grade schools across the country. I will have to suggest that my teacher friends look into it.

Hey! Teacher friends! You should look into this.

Games Played, Personal Blog

Todayborday is Labor Day

This weekend was fun-busy and restful all at the same time, as any good Labor Day weekend should be. There was lots of Starcraft II, some WoWing, some Magic, some Critter Crunch, and some Halo: ODST Firefight mode. I sadly missed Rich when he was in town (sadface) but I did snag a lunch with Bryan Cash on his brief stopover (happyface).

The Starcraft phenomenon is baffling to me. Could it be that I wasn’t ever as bad at RTS games as I’d thought? Or was it the privileged one-on-one (or one-over-one’s-shoulder) coaching I received in the beta? Somehow or another, I’m enjoying this game, and hold my own well enough that Nick and I moved up to Gold League in 2v2 (I remain convinced that this is 90% Nick, but I do feel I am improving!)

I am still skulking around in the practice leagues as far as 1v1, though. Every time I muster up some courage to do my placement matches, it fleets away before I can go through with it. Right now I rely on Nick during 2v2s to help me identify stuff when scouting if the other guys are playing Protoss or Terran. At work at if I’m lunchcrafting and doing my practice matches, I do the same thing with Nick and Ben, yelling “you guys what is this that they are building what does it meeean??”

In theory, I should play some Protoss and Terran myself so I can at least have an idea of what the strategies and structures are. But, I don’t wanna. <3 zerg. Ah well, I'll figure it out eventually!

Games Played

Mario Galaxy 2 and Scott Pilgrim

Upon entering Nick’s apartment last night, we discovered that Nathan was playing Mario Galaxy 2, and the two of us immediately had an epic battle to see who would get the privileged position of Bit Collector. With a sigh of resignation, Nathan dug out a second Wiimote, and Nick and I settled to take turns collecting Bits.

Like its predecessor, the game is an absolute delight, but it took me awhile to realize that the role of Bit Collector had been expanded somewhat. I could now pick up coins and 1up mushrooms in addition to grabbing bits, and if I chose, knock down and kill enemies in addition to just holding them in place for Nathan to stomp. These were nice additions, but still didn’t put too much pressure on the Bit collector, which I liked.

Will and I had this conversation about the last game, about how it was very clever for Nintendo to acknowledge that gamers have friends who are not necessarily as good of gamers as them, but would still like to be involved, and accommodate that role. And not just that role, but the role of the Watcher, which is one that I often adopt, even though I do enjoy playing games.

Watching other people play games takes me back to my childhood, and the times when I would sit and watch my brother play games. This is a comforting experience, though confusing to some when I deny their offer to play as well, and insist that I would just like to watch. Bit collecting is just enough sideline opt-in engagement to involve me a little more in the game without overwhelming the brother-watching comfort feeling.

Third on my list of “Lisa’s indie games that she’ll make someday” will be a hard core shooter that has a casual opt-in support role for the players’ less skilled or watch-savvy friends. I’m not sure what that would be, but I have fun brainstorming about it.

ANYway, after collecting the Bits, we gave the Scott Pilgrim game a go. It is a good time, as one might expect, even though I am terrible at 2D beat-em-up games (I have a really hard time figuring out if I’m on the same horizontal layer as the enemy I’m trying to attack).

Games Played, Personal Blog

Cats, Vets, and Starcraft

1 Comment

I am so proud of my cat! He did really well at the vet, wasn’t scared at all (though he was grumpy about being restrained to get his heartrate, and was absolutely affronted by having his temperature taken). He’s also in great health, so I feel reassured as a cat mom.

He had a little tartar buildup on his teeth, but the vet said we could safely wait until next year for a teeth cleaning, so I have a new goal. See, the vet offers a service where they can clean the teeth without putting the cat under, which would be ideal. But, Mr. Davis isn’t keen on having his mouth handled right now, so he wouldn’t be a candidate for that.

My goal for the next year is to train him to accept handling of his mouth, so that he wouldn’t have to get put under for the cleaning. Can it be done?? Only time, clicks, and a lot of treats will tell.

In other news, I’ve been playing Starcraft II 2v2 and occasionally 3v3 versus the computer with Nick and Nathan, and having a fantastic time. We’ve worked out a way to play that is great fun for me, but I don’t think it’d work very well against human opponents.

I’m not very good about dividing my attention between base management and then microing my units out on the field of battle, so I just give Nick control of the units and churn out dudes and send them his way, whiles’t he lays waste to the opponent with the ever increasing army. I’m like Hydralisk Depot over here, which is fine, because base management is fun for me. When Nathan plays with us, he does his signature move of “build a ton of expansions.”

We rocked the computer’s face for the most part, but after a faulty mouse incident, it was clear that Nathan and I are as defenseless as newborn puppies without Nick leading the forces. Oh well, it’s still a fun time!