Demo Day - February, 2008

We met at a relaxed environment in Cambridge called Tavern in the Square. A few of us brought laptops to show off our current creations and projects, others spoke about their hurdles and hopes for their next steps.


Fred wasn't able to attend, but he left a message for me to relay to the group, and beyond. He is an AI programmer at MIT, and if anyone is looking for someone to help design or write any artificial intelligence for a game or application, he may be a good resource. As for what he is seeking, he says he is currently interested in RPG work.


Segway into Ben, he spoke in detail about his new idea for an RPG game he is currently developing. He told a great anecdote about how most fantasy and RPG games, back from the days of Zelda, Dragon Warrior, and Final Fantasy, all rely on a kingdom expecting you to save them from ultimate doom. The King or the towns folk all request your help, but yet you are giving nothing more than a small dagger, and some leather hide for armor. Why is it that in stpory telling, most of these games shoe horn in the story, to explain game play? Why is it that the weakest creatures are always around your "starting village" or hometown, and all monsters get progressivley more difficult, the farther you travel from home? Why do rabbits take 10 swings to kill, then drop gold pieces to be acquired?
He hopes to write a story that fills in a lot of these plot holes, bring the playing time down, and increase replay-ability. He'd be happy to tell you his ideas sometime.


Fahri has been using a physics and mechanical design tool at his job, but has been recently using it to create interactions, real world movements, and a highly expandable frame set for others to build off of. The basics of it, is a GUI interface, which makes it really easy to drag components and shapes onto the screen, give the properties, such as weight, motion and friction. He makes linkages very easy for anyone to pick up, even non-modelers. He was able to whip together a human-like framework in under a minute. This "character" could be tethered to other objects, and moved around. He demoed how this application could be used to build everything from simulating animals and motions for biology classes, to teaching students how to program and create events and interactions, to even 2-D games, and leave the physics behind. And to top it all off, all the objects he creates with the gui, and the behind the scene's physics, has autogenerated code written, that you can then change as you see fit. Write code; design in a GUI; skinnable shapes and objects; animations and paths; something for everyone.


Rob programmed Solitaire.
Solitaire? Yeah, 31 different versions. Who knew, and growing. It is very fluid, well designed and played by millions. How could he get millions? His version is considered the best one out there by many, but don't buy into the hype. Find out for yourself. At the time of this writing, his site comes up as NUMBER 1 in Google if you search for 'solitaire'. Suffice to say he probably has many people very interested in his game. Very customizable, smooth animations, done entirely in Javascript, so you don't even need Flash plugin or similar. Play from nearly any browser, for free, and no ads. You can register for free to keep your stats across games, compare it with others across the globe, and he is always updating it and informing his fan base of frequent improvements and modifications. Go play at worldofsolitaire.com, or heck, just search solitaire.


I demoed my two player game called Quadradius to the others from a single laptop. It is normally played over a network connection. Many join into a lobby, and then you can join up for 2 player action in what some call "Checkers on Crack". It is free to play as a guest. There are no time restrictions, unfair advantages, or external ads. I tried to build a business model into the game that could generate some funds to further its development, but also be able to get a wide audience, and keep them coming back for more, whether for free or as a member. It has been working so far. (shameless plugs) It won Best Multiplayer of the Year for casual games at JayIsGames.com, is a finalist in the SXSW Interactive Games Competition, took 3rd place in the Wizards of the Coast's Gleemie Awards ath the IGF in San Francisco, rope din some cash, and a sweet trophy. As of this week, it appeared on the homepage of what some consider a great gaming web site to be given props on; penny-arcade.com. It is done in Flash, no installs, and you can jump right in. Go check out www.quadradius.com


Thanks to everyone who came out to this Meetup and demoed or spoke of theri interests. It is a great group. If nayone has any thing they would like to show and tell, we would love to see it and hear you speak about it. Hope to see some new people at one of the meetups.

-Jimmi