Hello, old friend! Let's collaborate.

Lately I have been thinking about the people I already know in the health care industry. Therapists. Researchers. Nurses. Maybe we were in high school musicals together. Maybe we dated. Maybe we went hiking last month. Would any of these people like to use game design to help the sick or injured, change patient behavior or explore a new approach to healthcare? Maybe they have not even considered such an idea. Or maybe success stories like Wii Fit intrigue them. I'd like to talk to them.

I'm really looking forward to the Games for Health conference here in Boston in May. But rather than starting up a games for healthcare project with someone I don't know, maybe somebody right under my nose would like to pursue a STTR grant with me? Reaching this conclusion might not seem like a big deal... (although preparing a grant application seems like one of the 12 Labors of Hercules!) but it feels like a glacial shift in my approach to my game design consulting. I suspect my dabble with the latest social media tools this past year (and all the reconnections I have experienced) have nudged me to build something amazing with the connections I've already got.

Need to go read more about STTR grants.

Not Your Average Music Game

Last week, I attended an evening of good food, generous raffles and game design presentations at Mt. Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts. Great Eastern Technology sponsored the event, dubbed Not Your Average Game Night. I actually won a seat of Craft Animations software, and that blew me away. It's been a long time since my days as an Indigo 2 jockey on WaveFront, Alias and Vertigo software! This should be fun, tinkering. Thank you, GET and C2i!

Speakers for the night included:

Yuris Mangolds, from C2i Studios. He demonstrated his Craft Animations Director Tools workflow.

Jason Arnone, Art Manager, from Harmonix. Jason shared the role his art department played in creating the new Beatles Rock Band game.

I loved seeing the glimmers of life inside Harmonix as told by Jason. The poor guy had one of those dry, tickling coughs at the beginning of his presentation. But he hung in there and the audience was entranced by his stories, visuals and behind the scenes Beatles Rock Band stories. I would like to share some of what he told us.

Mandatory Band Practice for ALL EMPLOYEES

His opening slide featured a montage of band shots from employee gigs. Many coworkers have formed their own bands, and they take full advantage of the free studio time in the evenings, after the official business of designing music games leaves the tasty sound studio empty and up for grabs. This is, after all, a music company that happens to make games. Not the other way around, Jason clarified.

Blow it Out

Beatles Rock Band was originally conceived as a simple reskin of Rock Band 2. But once they got into the two year project, they realized that they needed to "blow it out" and create something unique. Of course, they kept the schedule the same! That sounds so very familiar. ;-) The need to bring in lots of project partners to hit their epic 9-9-9 release date probably accounts for some of the noticeable stylistic changes in different areas of the game's visuals. Passion Pictures in the UK did the intro for the game. MK12 did the chapter movies in the career mode.

A Very Touchy Game

The user interface team is comprised of Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Illustration, Typography and Interaction Design. "It's a very touchy game," Jason explained. I was especially enthralled by the simple storyboards that he showed, trying to explain how they tied the camera's movement to the user interface. Those rollercoaster swoops of motion as you select different parts of the Dynamic 3D Environment... and your cloud scape banks dramatically to one side to reveal another level of the UI. These are the first things that I loved about Beatles Rock Band. And I wanted to see more storyboards explaining their technique.

A Very Dangerous Decision

The Environment arm of the company is made up of Concept Art, Story Boards, Lights, Cameras, and Special Effects. It was decided to create Historical Venues where the Beatles played *and* create Dreamscapes. These dreamscapes evoked the look and feel of key pieces of Beatles music and were a great challenge, Jason said. "It was a very dangerous decision to create dreamscapes," he admitted. I love when creatives share honest feedback about their creative process. He must have been referring to the schedule and artistic approvals. But I think he mentioned something about the new techniques that the team was inventing to deliver on these fantasy environments --> a far cry from the simple club or stadium venues of previous Rock Band game incarnations. He played the full Yellow Submarine dreamscape "video" and it was wonderful to experience all of its beauty and wonder without needing to concentrate on the notes streaming down the screen!

The Joy Filter

To bring the Beatles and their world to life required Animation, Sequential Art, Skin Shaders, and Special Effects. They used motion capture (or "mocap" as Yuris from C2i Studios called it!) on a really good Beatles tribute band. The faces and hands were built to accommodate any Beatles song, so that the animators could match the artists computer models to each Beatles tune. The intentional asymmetry of the facial modeling was impressive. Such dramatic eyebrows, all around! We viewed giant computer models of Paul's head, then Jason clicked to show John. Then a giant floating head sang an entire song. To make the singing faces look less somber, the animators used what they dubbed "the joy filter" or... an over-exaggeration of the many small movements in your face as one sings. The final touch, which really intrigued me, was the addition of tiny eyeball animations, so that the members of the Fab Four darted glances around the stage, audience and at each other, almost as if they were aware of what was happening. Jason said he was astounded when he watched a flawless animation of the band go to an unimagined higher level with the simple inclusion of these gracefully darting eyeballs! A company called Curious Pictures in NYC used Motion Builder to work on these animations.

Personal Touches

Character Art included Character Illustration, Fashion Design, 3D Modeling and Texturing. The stack of fashion design sketches for all the costumes that were modeled for the game was staggering. All those rocker accessories! The Beatles and their families opened up their homes to share personal stories and photographs of the Beatles years. Yoko Ono, an artist herself, was instrumental in the design process and she provided great feedback, Jason said. Apparently, there is a part of the game where the Beatles are chattering with each other in the sound studio before the game play starts. This "background conversation" is based on a never before heard track of Beatles audio. Actual audio from the Beatles! How cool is that? Such passion and attention to detail should be commended and celebrated. I can't wait to visit my friend Dave in the Berkshires and play some more of the Beatles; this presentation by Harmonix gave me an even greater appreciation for this musical game masterpiece. Or is that a gaming musical masterpiece?

Don Marinelli's GES Keynote

Last month, I attended a seminar about games for education. I expected that we'd hear and discuss the many uses, challenges and advancements in games that teach. I was also excited to visit my hometown, Pittsburgh, and see family, friends and design colleagues. After two days of listening, wonderment and sparks of discussion at the ETC, I returned to Boston thinking in much grander terms.

Keynotes on Twitter

Billy Cain, self professed Geek / Catalyst did an outstanding job Twittering the two keynote addresses and I will not attempt to recreate his efforts. I encourage others to review Billy's rapid-fire tweet coverage of the presentations given by Don Marinelli, Executive Producer and Cofounder of the Entertainment Technology Center and Richard Hilleman, Chief Creative Director Worldwide of Electronic Arts.

Billy's reporting accuracy matches my own notes.

Do a Twitter search for "#GES BillyCain" to find his good stuff.

Background: my Game Design Game

A few years ago, I gave a couple presentations to first year ETC graduate students about game design and that is where I met Don Marinelli. I created a game about the process used to create games based on my experiences as a senior game designer at Parker Brothers and Hasbro Games in the 90's. The attendees played the game; I facilitated. It was a huge success.

Don Marinelli

Don exploded into his keynote with a booming greeting and a brief description of the ETC. And statistics. Some highlights from his talk:

• Our schools are still based on 18th century modes of thinking, so that children could spend the summer home with their families to help with the summer farm work!

• "Preaching to the choir?" Don asked, "Or a call to arms? We need a plan of attack. It is close to the time when kindergarten kids go on strike. Marching with little signs, 'Hell no, we won't go!'"

• In 1963, television was heralded as the technology that would transform teaching. As a young child, Don remembers marching into the gym to watch a beautiful woman on a single TV instructing everyone to listen and repeat phrases in Spanish. "This is a sham!" Don soon realized. "She said, 'Muy bien!' regardless of what you said or did. It was a technological solution that failed."

• Don is convinced that videogame technology will transform teaching.

• Games are games. The word itself has done us in. Hide or disguise the term. All attacks on games are focused on the extremes, he said. "The media loves a clear cut villain!"

• Education should be the essence of change. How can we make teaching and learning relevant to a changing world? "We could now get along fine without knowing Latin!" Don effused, much to the chagrin of the classical language academics in the room! LOL

• Angrily: "When Jurassic Park cleared 325 Million in sales, the movie was on the cover of Time magazine. That same year, a hedgehog named Sonic cleared 400 Million in sales. "There was no mention," Don growled. "Who is writing the news?"

• "When the home provides more cutting edge technology than what school can offer, things are bass ackwards!" So true.

• "Lawyers run companies and governments. Why not videogame students? Andrew Ender Wiggins, anyone?!" Great point, Don! (Referring to the oft-quoted science fiction story,

Ender's Game. Read it, if you haven't...)

• The secret of the ETC? Don said simply, "Let students teach each other."

• Share the fun, Don exudes!

• H.G. Wells began his writing career as a social class author. One of Don's favorite books by H.G. Wells is called Star Begotten. It is about a race of people waiting for The Enlightened Ones to return from the stars. Eventually, the people stop waiting and realize that they themselves are the Enlightened Ones!

More to Come...

Watch for additional short reports on my experiences at the following talks at the Games in Education Summit.

1. Games Across Media, a talk by Drew Davidson. He runs "the mothership" of the ETC in Pittsburgh, PA.

2. Building Northeaster University's Game Design Curriculum From Scratch, a presentation by Terrance Masson, Director of Creative Industries, Northeastern University + Siggraph 2010 Chair.

3. Should Game Writing Be a Part of the Curriculum? A panel discussion with Sande Chen, writer, Lee Sheldon, writer/producer in Hollywood, and Elisabeth Nonas, teacher of screen writing.

4. Creativity, Constraints and Compromises, a project discussion with Sande Chen, writer and Dr. Ricardo Rademacher, physics teacher and creator of Futur-e-scape, a fantasy MMORPG that teaches physics.

5. Making Serious Games Seriously Fun, a look at games by Aaron Vanderbeek, Long Distance: a board game and Todd Waits, VP of Product Development at Skill Life, an online game that aims to teach financial literacy.

6. Buddhist Death in Second Life, a fascinating and immersive experience created by Beth Davies-Stofka, teacher of religion and philosophy in Denver, CO. This was so amazing --- and was an "Aha moment" for me regarding the positive power of online worlds.

7. Physical Gaming: Beyond Mini-Games, a thought provoking and fun look at 6 games by Andrew Hieronymi's (SCAD) and his "deconstruction of a game." Brilliant stuff.