Posts Tagged ‘anicom’

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Projects Galore

October 25, 2009

Anicom’s going swimmingly. Plenty of memberships, a good choice of shows (although all Eastern, so we might have to work something out), and we have our Halloween party and another chiptune night hosted by Phil this week. Awesome stuff.

The final year modules seem to have settled in, working on a few things at the moment. Most of my concentration is going to the Games Development module, working with Allan to develop a 2D adventure game engine in XNA by Christmas. The creative guys are bringing some initial assets together well for our presentation in just over a week’s time, so I hope we’ll have something to show from the programming side. The other independent module that I can start working on now is Practical Project, and I’m still not sure what to do for it. Something graphics-wise probably, because I’m not doing any 3D modules and I’d like to learn Direct3D – Tyrone’s my project supervisor, so he’s helping me decided a project. I shoudl e-mail him about it, actually.

Having to learn Java in the Multiplayer Game Development module isn’t too bad, although the course tutoring seems a little rushed from Jean-Luc. For anyone on the module, I’d suggest picking up Core Java Vol. 1 – it’s on the Safari Books website if you’re a student, and it’s helping me tremendously. Games AI is going alright, although I need to read more LISP reference material to understand the syntax. I also need to do more GP2X research.

So… yeah. Busy. But I’m enjoying it, and that’s what counts.

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Final Year. Whee.

October 12, 2009

So here I am, back for my final year studying Computer Games Programming at Teesside University (not University of Teesside), and I’m glad that the summer’s over so I can get back into the swing of things. And although the work should be a lot harder this year, seeing as it’s quite independent, I’m looking forward to the modules I’ve chosen. I’ll be working with the GP2X systems (and maybe the PSP), learning a little Java and networking, AI, and some physics if I keep tagging along to the lectures. My independent projects for this year consist of a 2D adventure game, looking at LOD using DirectX, and on the side, I wanna try and code the card game Fluxx into a DS homebrew application – I think trying to implement all the rules would be pretty fun logic coding.

I’m looking forward to this year because I’m part of Anicom’s committee along with Bob and Morti. And it’s not just about the animu (although I’ve been running around frantically trying to get the show selection sorted the past two weeks) – It’s about making sure the first-years have fun, be social, and make friends. Most people are usually on games courses, meaning that sometimes they can’t be the most social people… so we try and help them along by introducing them to people with similar interests. And the more involved they get with the society, the greater the chance they’ll make more friends – yes, that means you, the fresher reading this. Join in and stuff. You won’t regret it.

The first few weeks of Anicom have gone surprisingly better than last year’s… well, disaster. We drew in plenty of people at during the stall, filled OL7 on the night, and ran a great games day on the Friday. Phil provided a great chiptune night in the second week, and the second session was just as popular as the first. So… yeah. Things are going very well, and I hope it stays this way.

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Auchinawa 2008… Jolly Good, Chaps.

November 22, 2008

Last weekend, I went up to Auchinawa, an anime convention in Glasgow. I’ve never been to an anime convention before, and the reasons are probably obvious – I don’t think it’d be fun to stay in a hotel for a weekend while being surrounded by flailing crazies ranting on about how Natuto is better than Dragonball Z, and so forth. Myself, I certainly do like anime, and treat it as an equal to any other form of visual media, but I’m not an obsessive otaku. So when Anicom decided they were going to go to the convention earlier in the year and I put my name down, I didn’t really know what to expect, or whether I was going to enjoy myself.

Turns out that I had a fantastic time over the three days. I was right about the whole crazed otaku thing, but it wasn’t really that bad. Nobody tried to stab anyone with a cardboard weapon or pretended they had super powers, so any disasters were averted. Most of my time was just spent socialising with the Anicom lot, or slowly melting on the DDR machine (Damn you, DDR:UK!), but the events were kinda fun. Here’s a few highlights that you won’t get unless you were there with us:

  • Elevators and alcohol bring out Rob’s bad side… apologies to the Canadian cosplayer.
  • Bunnies are bad. Very, very bad.
  • We’re very susceptible to advertising, and the Glasgow Airport area is now Pimms-free. Bolly good.
  • PBC is the society’s ‘drunken uncle’ when it comes to dancing.
  • Pictochat is sadistically hilarious at times when you’re in a room full of retards.

So, yeah, good times. Made a few new friends, did some animu-related things, and had a good time overall. But compared to everyone else attending, our society sucks when it comes to liking anime. Oh well, at least we know our drinks.

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