We’re having a few more guest lecturers this semester on the following dates:

Adjunct Professor Nick Kwiatkowski on 3/14/2012 at 7:00pm during the regular meeting.

John Lynch of Reactor Zero on 3/16/2012 at 7:00pm in room 145 CAS.

Toby Sarnelle of Stardock on 3/23/2012 at 7:00pm in room 145 CAS.

Adventure Club Games on 4/3/2012 at 7:00pm during the regular meeting.

Eric Arnold of Volition on 4/11/2012 at 7:00pm during the regular meeting.

YETI Games on 4/13/2012 at 7:00pm in room 145 CAS.

So make room in your schedule to attend these talks, I'm sure they will be insightful and informative.

Love,

-Eric

From Adam: “It’s primarily about taking on design challenges in game types, platforms, and genres that you’re not familiar with.  While it is primarily a design talk, it’s heavily based in methodology and science, which the more technically oriented (i.e. programmers) may find interest in.”

Room 145 is reserved from 7:00pm to 9:00pm but the talk should not go much longer than an hour.

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.

-Eric Musser

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS JANUARY 15,  2012!

Teams must consist of 2-3 students (currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program and graduates of December 2011 or later) with at least one game developer with programming experience using Flash, XNA, OpenGL, PyGame, etc. You will be asked to provide an example of past creations of any form or level in order to qualify. All team members must be 18 years of age or over to participate, or be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times during their participation. Sorry, no professional gamers.

In the contact e-mail I received, the representative said that travel and hotel expenses would be provided and that it was free to enter. It’s March 23-25 in Arlington, Virginia.

Here’s a link to their website:

http://www.rosettastonegamejam.com/

This is an awesome opportunity so make sure you take the time to gather a team and apply!

-Eric Musser

1) The main source of information on the conference is www.gdconf.com

2) You can apply for the highly sought after Conference Associate position where helping out at the conference will get you a free all-access pass: http://gdconf.com/attend/volunteer.html

3) There is also an IGDA scholarship that you can apply for if you are an IGDA member: http://www.igda.org/scholarships

4) Spartasoft can potentially get some money reimbursed (up to 4500 dollars for the whole club), but you will need to turn in copies of your receipts to Alex Lockwood by Winter Break (or over Winter Break but no promises if you don’t get added to our request for funds). Save the original copies of your receipts as well, I believe we will need those to get final reimbursement if we are approved. You can send your stuff to Alex’s e-mail: lockwo66@msu.edu

5) If you fly into SFO at a reasonable hour, the most convenient way to get downtown is to take the BART train, which has a station at the airport, and will probably take you within walking distance of your hotel.

6) A lot of us are planning to stay at the Pickwick Hotel again. Rooms aren’t that fancy, but have internet and are close to the convention center while not being nearly as expensive as the others that close to the Moscone.

7) If people post some discussion of travel plans in the comments as far as trying to split travel/hotels, I will try to make sure they don’t get filtered/blocked as best as possible.

8 ) There is usually a game specialization current + alumni meet-up that happens in the Moscone center food court that is organized by Professor Winn. I’ll post details about that to the Spratasoft list when we know for sure when it is (might not be until week-of).

Tweet

http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercise/0

See you at the gamejam!

See you soon!

Jordan

Other resources

www.aigamedev.com  You can make a free account to get access to some great articles and other features

Programming Game AI By Example by Mat Buckland

*Game Engine Architecture by Jason Gregory  *You need this!

Masters of Doom by David Kushner

Don’t worry if you don’t have teammates or previous experience, just as long as you show up enthusiastic on Friday, you’ll fit into a group just fine.

If you’re looking to get a feel for Unity3D (one of the more popular game engines used by students at MSU), try to make it out to the meeting on September 28th at 7pm in Wells 213C where we’ll be covering the basics of using the engine.

Get Stoked-

Jon Moore, Club President