Anyone go to Seattle Sputnik meetings?
by Matt W · in General Discussion · 04/16/2002 (3:49 pm) · 7 replies
I meant to go last month, but couldn't.
The next is Thursday the 18th from 6:30 to 10pm at Digipen's campus.
Now I really want to go this month, and they're having Gabe Newell of Valve speak on how he's God (same speech as at GDC) and Bruce Dawson of Humongous talking about uses of Python as a game scripting language.
Of course, there's free pizza!
I'm just wondering is this is going to just be a big Digipen ad. Afterall, it's at Digipen and they're "showcasing" a digipen student game (which I've yet to see one even worth downloading. If someone here made one of them, then uh... I'm lying here.)
Any info would be great, and hopefully someone out there in GG land might be attending!
Oh, and if you haven't gone but want to go:
This month's meeting information
The next is Thursday the 18th from 6:30 to 10pm at Digipen's campus.
Now I really want to go this month, and they're having Gabe Newell of Valve speak on how he's God (same speech as at GDC) and Bruce Dawson of Humongous talking about uses of Python as a game scripting language.
Of course, there's free pizza!
I'm just wondering is this is going to just be a big Digipen ad. Afterall, it's at Digipen and they're "showcasing" a digipen student game (which I've yet to see one even worth downloading. If someone here made one of them, then uh... I'm lying here.)
Any info would be great, and hopefully someone out there in GG land might be attending!
Oh, and if you haven't gone but want to go:
This month's meeting information
#2
Maybe I'll wind up checking it out...we'll have to see. You do know that resfest is this weekend too?
-=myk=-
04/17/2002 (1:10 pm)
I actually just found out about Seattle Sputnik, Ive been going to the XYZandYou user group for a little while now. Maybe I'll wind up checking it out...we'll have to see. You do know that resfest is this weekend too?
-=myk=-
#3
I'm also a member of Sputnik. You might be interested in attending this Thursdays, August 22nd. Everyone's meeting at Microsoft, and we're getting a show from the developers of Halo. Here's the info:
Date and Time: August 22nd- 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Location: Microsoft Millennium Campus, Cafeteria - Building E (see below for
directions)
*From FASA Studio*
MechAssault vs. Xbox Live -- FIGHT!
MechAssault is an Xbox Live launch title and this is one of the first public
showings of the game's network capabilities. Mitch Gitelman, MechAssault
producer, will show you how MechAssault takes advantage of Xbox Live. Jerry
Edsall, FASA Studio Networking Engineer, will do a technical overview of
network development for low-broadband services like Xbox Live.
MechAssault lets you pilot a 30 foot tall BattleMech walking tank through
fully destructible urban environments in a story-driven campaign or against
human opponents via Xbox Live. MechAssault is the first Xbox game set in
the legendary Battletech Universe and is being developed by FASA Studio and
Day 1 Studios for holiday '02, published by Microsoft.
Members of FASA Studio will be around afterwards so stick around to talk and
play MechAssault yourself.
*From Bungie*
Title: Creating the Illusion of Intelligence:
The Integration of AI and Level Design in Halo
Description: As game players' standards and expectations for Artificial
Intelligence continue to rise the distinct roles of AI and Level Design have
started to overlap. It has become crucial to use designers as part of the AI
and to tailor behavior specifically for game situations. Some games have
achieved this successfully through extensive scripting, however this session
will offer an alternative that uses designer authored hints to create an
emergent AI that responds to players and provides realistic unscripted
behavior.
This session is an explanation of the development of Halo's AI, including
our initial design goals and how they changed over the course of the
project, the consequences of those designs on the implementation of the AI
technology, and how the level creation process emerged from that
implementation. It will also include descriptions of how playtesting
affected our decisions, an in depth look at how the AI operates during a
single encounter and a demonstration of Halo's production tools.
Directions to Millennium Cafeteria- Building E
From Downtown Seattle:
Head North on I-5 and then East on 520.
Go East on 520 over the floating bridge, towards Redmond.
Continue along 520 until you reach the end of the freeway.
Take a right on Union Hill Road.
We are in a business park on the left hand side
From Sea-Tac Airport:
Follow the signs to the freeways.
This will put you onto the 518 East.
Take the 405 towards Redmond.
Go East on 520 and drive until the end of the freeway.
Take a right turn on Union Hill Road.
We are in a business park on the left hand side.
From the North (Lynnwood) or South (Renton):
Take I-405 to 520 East towards Redmond, and follow the directions mentioned
above.
As usual pizza and soda will be provided and all members of the game
development community are welcome.
Detailed information about the IGDA Sputnik and how to sign up for
the mailing list can be found at:
http://www.seattlesputnik.com/
08/21/2002 (10:08 am)
Hi guys,I'm also a member of Sputnik. You might be interested in attending this Thursdays, August 22nd. Everyone's meeting at Microsoft, and we're getting a show from the developers of Halo. Here's the info:
Date and Time: August 22nd- 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Location: Microsoft Millennium Campus, Cafeteria - Building E (see below for
directions)
*From FASA Studio*
MechAssault vs. Xbox Live -- FIGHT!
MechAssault is an Xbox Live launch title and this is one of the first public
showings of the game's network capabilities. Mitch Gitelman, MechAssault
producer, will show you how MechAssault takes advantage of Xbox Live. Jerry
Edsall, FASA Studio Networking Engineer, will do a technical overview of
network development for low-broadband services like Xbox Live.
MechAssault lets you pilot a 30 foot tall BattleMech walking tank through
fully destructible urban environments in a story-driven campaign or against
human opponents via Xbox Live. MechAssault is the first Xbox game set in
the legendary Battletech Universe and is being developed by FASA Studio and
Day 1 Studios for holiday '02, published by Microsoft.
Members of FASA Studio will be around afterwards so stick around to talk and
play MechAssault yourself.
*From Bungie*
Title: Creating the Illusion of Intelligence:
The Integration of AI and Level Design in Halo
Description: As game players' standards and expectations for Artificial
Intelligence continue to rise the distinct roles of AI and Level Design have
started to overlap. It has become crucial to use designers as part of the AI
and to tailor behavior specifically for game situations. Some games have
achieved this successfully through extensive scripting, however this session
will offer an alternative that uses designer authored hints to create an
emergent AI that responds to players and provides realistic unscripted
behavior.
This session is an explanation of the development of Halo's AI, including
our initial design goals and how they changed over the course of the
project, the consequences of those designs on the implementation of the AI
technology, and how the level creation process emerged from that
implementation. It will also include descriptions of how playtesting
affected our decisions, an in depth look at how the AI operates during a
single encounter and a demonstration of Halo's production tools.
Directions to Millennium Cafeteria- Building E
From Downtown Seattle:
Head North on I-5 and then East on 520.
Go East on 520 over the floating bridge, towards Redmond.
Continue along 520 until you reach the end of the freeway.
Take a right on Union Hill Road.
We are in a business park on the left hand side
From Sea-Tac Airport:
Follow the signs to the freeways.
This will put you onto the 518 East.
Take the 405 towards Redmond.
Go East on 520 and drive until the end of the freeway.
Take a right turn on Union Hill Road.
We are in a business park on the left hand side.
From the North (Lynnwood) or South (Renton):
Take I-405 to 520 East towards Redmond, and follow the directions mentioned
above.
As usual pizza and soda will be provided and all members of the game
development community are welcome.
Detailed information about the IGDA Sputnik and how to sign up for
the mailing list can be found at:
http://www.seattlesputnik.com/
#4
08/21/2002 (12:54 pm)
actually, in my opinion, this month's meeting looks quite boring.
#5
It would be nice to talk with you.
08/21/2002 (1:38 pm)
Four people from our team will be going this month (and hopefully all in the future), and should be a lot of fun. If anyone else from the GG community is going, drop a line! It would be nice to talk with you.
#6
Then FASA showed Mech Assault. They had about 6 machines set up around the cafeteria all playing cooperatively. The game is very fast paced and includes exploding buildings and fantastic explosions. Their presentation was much less memarable but it was a good demo.
There was alot of requests for resumes here. Microsoft was hiring for both groups.
-Keith
08/29/2002 (9:30 am)
Just for everyone's information. This meeting was really good. The guys from Bungie showed off alot of information on how they developed the AI for Halo. They also shared results from lab tests they ran and showed in real time, how their marines and aliens make decisions on how to attach and retreat. Very cool stuff. Then FASA showed Mech Assault. They had about 6 machines set up around the cafeteria all playing cooperatively. The game is very fast paced and includes exploding buildings and fantastic explosions. Their presentation was much less memarable but it was a good demo.
There was alot of requests for resumes here. Microsoft was hiring for both groups.
-Keith
#7
The testers at Bungie found that the vast majority of players will feel AI is better if the computer controlled creatures have quicker reaction times and better armor and body health.
I also liked the in-game demo that showed the AI debug information, so you could see the AI decision-making occur at run-time. Of course, it screwed up the first time since the elite soldier kept going in the opposite direction, and couldn't be killed.
The Mech Assault game was pretty neat, I especially liked how the buildings could fall on other people and the explosion effects were pretty nice as well. The best part of that presentation was their project lead, who was a bit sauced and well... loud. Heh, right as they started the demo the game crashed, and he was pretty funny...
"This is our loading bar. I have a white paper out on it."
Overall, the meeting was fun. As I predicted, Microsoft replaced the standard pizza with catering (I still wanted some pizza!) and this event also attracted quite a few new people to this month's meeting. I got to talk with a person from Wizards of the Coast about Magic Online, which is one of my favorite games at the moment.
Great time, and yep. Both companies giving presentations had a mad rush of resumes and portfolios. A few folks even had their portfolios in print form, showing them off as they got to the front of the line... erm, mass of people.
08/30/2002 (10:18 am)
The Halo AI design and implementation presentation was very interesting, but the most interesting thing I found was their test results.The testers at Bungie found that the vast majority of players will feel AI is better if the computer controlled creatures have quicker reaction times and better armor and body health.
I also liked the in-game demo that showed the AI debug information, so you could see the AI decision-making occur at run-time. Of course, it screwed up the first time since the elite soldier kept going in the opposite direction, and couldn't be killed.
The Mech Assault game was pretty neat, I especially liked how the buildings could fall on other people and the explosion effects were pretty nice as well. The best part of that presentation was their project lead, who was a bit sauced and well... loud. Heh, right as they started the demo the game crashed, and he was pretty funny...
"This is our loading bar. I have a white paper out on it."
Overall, the meeting was fun. As I predicted, Microsoft replaced the standard pizza with catering (I still wanted some pizza!) and this event also attracted quite a few new people to this month's meeting. I got to talk with a person from Wizards of the Coast about Magic Online, which is one of my favorite games at the moment.
Great time, and yep. Both companies giving presentations had a mad rush of resumes and portfolios. A few folks even had their portfolios in print form, showing them off as they got to the front of the line... erm, mass of people.
Torque Owner Jeremy Noetzelman
I'm hoping to go this Thursday, though.