An announcement from Simeon Peebler, chair of Flashpoint Academy’s Game Design Department.

I am thrilled to share that two students from the Game Development program at Flashpoint are featured as winners in a recent Game Design Challenge held by one of the industry’s most important websites. First year student Emily Greenquist won as Best Entry, and Terumi Tamaki won an honorable mention. Follow the links to check out the full details!

From the article: “Results from Game Design Challenge: Literary Inspirations”
We have hundreds, even thousands, of years of literature to draw from — yet so little of it has been used for source material for games. Early next year, Electronic Arts will release Dante’s Inferno, a very loose adaptation of part of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem The Divine Comedy, written in the 14th century.

What follows are the best and most original entries we received. Here are our top picks.

Best Entries:

Emily Greenquist, Student, Flashpoint Academy (Year One Student)
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Greenquist takes a complex story and weaves it into a solid game concept. The Picture of Dorian Gray, as a horror-themed RPG, puts players in the role of an amoral protagonist who must eventually face the consequences of his actions. Though the experience would be a largely passive one for the player, the depth in narrative promises a rich payoff.

Honorable Mention:

Terumi Tamaki, Romeo and Juliet: Happily Ever After (Year Two Student)

Congratulations to both of these outstanding students on their accomplishment!

The following is a guest post from Game Development student Andrew Prete reflecting upon his experience at Flashpoint Academy’s Jumpstart session with Rich Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office.

Rich Moskal

My name is Andrew Prete. I attend Flashpoint Academy and I am “a gamer.” I am studying to become the greatest game producer that ever lived. Everything I do revolves around games, from seeing who can eat a giant piece of pizza (with pepperoni) the fastest, to driving down Lake Shore Drive weaving in and out of traffic because I can, or playing head games with my friends. Now, you might be asking yourself, how is this guy a film fanatic? Well, I will tell you.

When I am watching a movie I am emotionally vested from the very beginning. I experience what the character experiences. I laugh, cry and get scared. I am there in the thick of it every step of the way — even when the movie is not so great. I accept their reality and run with it. These things called “motion pictures” give me an escape I could have never imagined. They are my biggest muse and hold much power over me. I don’t criticize or look down upon them; I simply enjoy them like a baby discovers his or her own fingers: with wonderment and awe.

I recently had the pleasure to hear Rich Moskal talk at Flashpoint and give us his point of view of the film industry. Rich Moskal has served as the director of the Chicago Film Office for thirteen years, but before that he was a kid and a student — a student trying to find his way in the world not knowing what to do, say, or think. He attended Loyola for a short time and studied some form of medical mumbo jumbo. Trust me when I say he has done a ton of jobs both in and out of the film industry.

What I connected to most was the kindness and generosity Rich seemed to have. When he works, he does so not only for himself but for those around him. He wants to be the best he can be. Not the best producer or editor or actor. Not the best location scout or writer or camera operator. Not even the best director of the Chicago Film Office. He wants to be the best person he can be — a person who wants not only to see himself succeed but also wants those around him to succeed as well. All the stories he told and the things he accomplished boil down to just one thing: that this person came to Flashpoint, talked with the students, and answered our questions because he wants to see us have the success that we want.

I am thirty-two years old, newly married and have started my life over by coming to Flashpoint. I hope to have the same success that Rich has had but in the game industry.

On Tuesday, June 30th, 2009, Flashpoint Academy was proud to host the first ever IGDA Chicago Demo Night, an evening dedicated to what’s new and upcoming in the world of game development.

Headlined by Robomodo’s Tony Hawk: The Ride and Vogster’s Robocalypse: Beaver Defense, IGDA Demo Night also gave teams from Flashpoint Academy, DePaul University, Columbia College, Chewysoft, Entertaining Games, and others the opportunity to present works-in-progress and recently completed projects to an audience of their peers. Other presenters included Joseph Hocking, Charlie Hoyt, Zooptek, and Flashpoint’s own Simeon Peebler.

Turn out was great, and we’re so happy that everyone arrived early enough to enjoy some snacks and socialize a bit in Flashpoint’s Digital Garage before the presentations began. It was very cool to have so many talented minds together in one place and we’re very excited to participate again next year.

Flashpoint Academy’s own Simeon Peebler is featured in the NBC piece, “iPhone Gold.”

“Years ago [iPhone technology] wasn’t on the radar as game developers, and now look how central it is to our lives,” said Simeon Peebler, who recently published his first application, “Blip Bloink.”

The Tetris-like game costs $.99 per download, of which he gets to keep 70 percent.  Apple keeps the rest.

As the Game Development Chair at Flashpoint Academy, Peebler said the opportunity to make money is what attracts many to the application-building business.

Read the full story here.

I came across this really great piece — it is short — but there is part of it that is in my view rather important for game developers in training and indeed anyone working to prepare for tomorrow’s digital media careers — “…the nature of the game industry [is] one that requires DaVincis — not in the sense that only geniuses of DaVinci’s caliber can succeed, but that like DaVinci, successes in the industry are people with a diverse group of interests who are constantly working to master and refine their singular core skills. This was as DaVinci did with painting throughout his life. He also pointed out that DaVinci was not an overnight success, but a man who began his career with years of apprenticeship. ‘What is presented to us about games and game designers are little sound bite moments that only talk about went right,’ said Daglow. The stories of long years in the trenches, like medieval apprentices had, and public fumbles, strikeouts and errors of judgment and moments of doubt like those borne by professional athletes are also part of a long career — unless, of course, you quit. ‘If you quit,’ Daglow joked, ‘you won’t have a long career. I can prove that to you mathematically.’ He also emphasized the need for team skills…”

For the full piece, click here.

One of our second year game development students, Patrick Mousel, has won yet another game design challenge from the Game Career Guide !

This is an important, highly visible industry competition, and is part of http://www.gamasutra.com, THE central website for the game industry. This work was executed in conjunction with the second year Focused Game Design course lead by Richard Coons.

Recently, a Game Design Challenge asked you to create a fantasy game for game development. Fantasy sports are one of the biggest games around, and what’s interesting is many people don’t consider them games or their players to be gamers.

The heart of fantasy sports lies in tying real-world performance of something (such as an athlete) to points. Players of fantasy sports have to gauge the real world in some way to win with their game, and that’s what the best entries did in response to this challenge.

There are multiple ways to tie real-world performance to a fantasy game in the game industry. One way is to draft actual developers, and they can be rated by history. For example, Shigeru Miyamoto could be rated 10 in game design, where as Manveer Heir may be ranked 1. To get at these ratings, we can consider factors such as titles shipped, years of experience, and quality of titles (based on Metacritic scores, for example), to name a few.

(more…)

Flashpoint Academy Hosts State of the Industry Panel for the IGDA with Key Industry Leaders

(ABOVE) Some of the panelists with Simeon Peebler, Chair of Flashpoint’s Game Development Program

Panel of Experts Included:

Matt Booty, Interim CEO of Midway Games
Andreja Djokovic, Founder of Babaroga
Eugene Jarvis, Founder of Raw Thrills
Tom Kim, Executive Producer for Gamasutra Podcast on GDC Radio
Scott Herrington, Lead Producer at WMS
Alex Seropian, Founder of Wideload Games

Game Design Challenge: Make Monopoly Fun

Results from Game Design Challenge: Make Monopoly Fun[10.02.08]
- Manveer Heir and GameCareerGuide.com staff

Recently, The Parker Bros. asked you to come up with three new rules to help make Monopoly, one of the most successful games of all time, more fun.

The three major issues to correct were that 1) the game takes too long, 2) there is too much luck, and 3) players who go bankrupt have nothing to do while others finish the game. Many designers abhor the game Monopoly and are amazed that it has been so successful, in spite of these flaws.

The goal of this challenge was to make you think about the flaws of existing games and ways to fix them within the framework. Oftentimes, as a game designer, you cannot make major changes to the way a game works. For example, if you’re working on a sequel to a well-known franchise, usually you can’t get away with implementing a fundamentally different style of play.

However, there are still ways to help fix some of the flaws that may exist in the game, and that’s what this challenge was all about.

The submissions varied from very basic rule changes (game ends after X number of trips around the board) to extremely complex (variable tax rates).

There are three flaws identified, and optimally the three rules would address the three flaws in some way. In reality, only a few entries were able to do that. Many entries addressed two out of the three (or one) but few hit three out of three.

Additionally, there were many rules that, while interesting, seemed overly complex and tough to understand. Clarity and simplicity are important. Reading the rules multiple times in order to understand them is a bad thing, especially for a game as casual and family-oriented as Monopoly.

On to the best solutions to the Monopoly challenge!

Best Entries

E. McNeill, Dartmouth College, Front Loading Capital (see page 2)

E. McNeill’s entry was the only one to come up with three solid rules for making Monopoly a more enjoyable play experience. By front loading capital in the game, the process of acquiring properties is sufficiently sped up.

Will Armstrong IV, Fame and Fortune Edition (see page 3)

Will Armstrong’s version of Monopoly is as much an update on the theme as a series of additional rules.
Webster Chang, Editor, Monopoly Malice (see page 4)

Many readers submitted ideas for how to allow players to wreak havoc on one another, but Webster Chang takes his the furthest.

Honorable Mentions
Jeff Koerber, game design student, Flashpoint Academy, Chicago, Pressure to Trade

1. Once every property has been purchased an “inflation multiplier” will take effect. Each time the owner of Boardwalk passes Go, the multiplier will increase by 1 and with it the rent of each property will be multiplied accordingly.

Players who are reluctant to trade property can keep a game in a stalemate. With Inflation the $200 for passing go will slowly become insufficient for merely surviving in the game. This will possibly encourage trading earlier but definitely end the game sooner.

2. Players do not collect rent while in Jail. When the board is littered with hotels Jail seems like a safe place to be; especially since you can benefit from others landing on your properties. Why are we making imprisonment a reward?

3. Players may choose to roll one or two dice. This adds a minor level of strategy without interfering with the inherent design. Odds will prevent you from ever being able to avoid an opponent’s property every time but you can still benefit from tipping the scale a bit.

Last week we wrapped up the first year at Flashpoint Academy in Chicago, a new digital arts and sciences school redefining education for professionals — training them in skills vital for modern entertainment and business in today’s world. In the game department, dozens of game students, guided by several seasoned industry professionals, have worked hard in building games and creating game designs, 3D models, original game levels, game music, and learning the production and workflow behind today’s game efforts. Most of these projects have been conducted within team settings where communication, leadership and personal responsibility are keys to success. And like getting pushed out of a nest, nobody seems quite ready for the shock of it all. When things go wrong, there’s plenty of blame to go around. When the dust clears, the birds in flight are the ones who relied on themselves, listened to directions, and worked hard to deliver what was expected and even beyond. And for those whose achievements were not so great, we are patient and guiding, pushing you to get off the ground. You can do it. You will do it. Persist and work hard. For everyone, in collecting materials for the end-of-year portfolio gathering assignment, ultimately there is a collective gasp. Wow. What we’ve done. What we’ve learned. For some, perhaps, who are farther along in the learning process, they know that the next thought should be: Even with all that we’ve done, what can we do better? What more can we do now? So, now that this first year is complete, we’re ready to face tomorrow with the experience and knowledge that will most ensure victory at the end of the journey – at the end of the two years, each student will have new skills and industry experience that will make them ideal leading candidates for positions in a variety of areas in game development, visual effects, film, sound engineering, and broadcasting. Let’s get to work.

As a part of this industry, it is a requirement that I play current games. Mostly I want to capture the essence of the experience, to appreciate the play mechanic or technology or story, and so playing a game for 100 hours is really not necessary. As a game creator, it is vital to do this on a regular basis for a variety of reasons.

In the last six months I have only fully completed a few major console games (in campaign mode – Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Portal, to name a few), and I am well on my way to completing Crisis Core on the PSP. Many games have gone unfinished (an hour or two in, or maybe five or six hours in). But in the last week I have taken a side step into Grand Theft Auto IV’s Liberty City and I want to talk about it, because I think I am going to try to finish this one.

So far, I have about six hours of game playing time. There are a hundred points of statistics that the game captures while you are playing (but these aren’t important for you as you are playing, just sort of interesting all the same). The game says I have completed %12 of the missions. If this is true, it will take me a long time to get to the end because I only play a few hours per week.

So far, here’s why I am living a few hours per week in Liberty City:

This game is the single biggest entertainment launch in history across all mediums.

This game has a very high metacritic score — the quality of the game is the pinnacle of today’s marketplace in terms of technology and user experience.

The writing is amazing. Among the best dialogue written yet in this medium.

The physical mo-cap acting is really great.

The universe is realized in stunning detail. One word: EPIC.

The music is perfect.

The player’s sense of power over the environment and over “people” absolutely impacts real-world self-esteem and stress in a more powerful way because of the high level of “realism” in this generation of game technology. This is really fascinating to experience personally.

Employing this power over the environment and over “people” is a choice. Do you randomly kill “people” or do you simply play the story line?
Game developers at Flashpoint Academy are discussing this product daily right now, sharing experiences and discussing how the game could have been improved. One thing we all agree upon: young people should absolutely not have this game. This is purely adult entertainment — 18+ for sure. If you know anybody with an Xbox 360 or PS3 with children in the house, lock this game up!