Messages

51

Accessibility Game Contest / Re: --> Results of the Accessibility Game Programming Contest Are Now Posted !!!

« on: January 23, 2007, 10:05 PM »

Yes, VRGrrl is "Michelle Hinn" of the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG...and that's me!

I really, really want to say what an honor it was to see how much work clearly went into every entry and how excited I am to see game developers -- even if this was a first crack at creating a game -- take up the challenge that came with what some might at first say "limiting" rules. Some of the most creative designs can come from a rule such as "one switch" or "audio only" -- and I think that clearly we had some amazing examples of creativity from, hey, INSIDE the box. Add in a constraint and the human spirit can really rally to find solutions in new ways -- and this only results in games that open up game play options!

Did you know, for instance, that many experimental game play groups I've seen at GDC's over the past few years are still striving towards that audio only game and wouldn't it be amazing if such a game existed? Contests such as what DonationCoder has helped bring about helps demonstrate that it's not only possible (and amazing) but that it exists and has existed (some of our entrants have already had some experience in this area even!). And one-switch games? They are the new "one button games" that the mobile gaming industry is salivating over. Look up my last name at www.gdconf.com (hinn) and you can see the variety of game accessibility sessions I'll be running at the conference a few of the winners will be attending! I look forward to meeting you all there and to give you all the grand tour if you are first timers -- it's a big conference but it's also "home" for me. It's my favorite conference of the year!!

I'll soon be in email contact with all the winners to let them know more about the IGDA SIG and how to join in the community of developers creating games that are fun for all!

Again, congrats to all!!
Michelle (vrgrrl)

52

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: PhinisheD

« on: September 23, 2006, 07:59 PM »

lol, lilly -- yeah i'm in the same boat with the teaching a course/new faculty while still working on the dissertation and my therapist tells me i'm gonna have a breakdown. GREAT!!! so wtf do i do to prevent that? "oh, time's up for this week. see you monday." THANKS!

yep, i'm a grad student and i think i qualify for tenure by now. ok, i took some breaks from the program but still. i've been at this a ridiculously long time and -- get this -- i keep thinking that every new mp3 mix i make is gonna be *the one* to help me through the dissertation. bargaining...is that the stage i'm at? it's definitely irrational thinking...but so was starting this whole phd thing.

53

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: PhinisheD

« on: September 23, 2006, 03:09 PM »

ah...well of course there's my favorite site:
http://www.phdcomics.com/

that guy's GOOD! it's like what lilly said...at 3am when things feel hopeless it's good to have a laugh and know it's not just you.

the site mouser is talking about is:
http://www.abdsurvivalguide.com/

i like their newsletter but they do stress their mentor coach system which is $$. i only know of one person who used it and she did finish and she found a good coach. i think, though, that it's therapy focused only on the things blocking you on the dissertation and it's also long distance (via phone). BUT there's nothing wrong with therapy focused on things blocking you from finishing -- it's just another option out there. i like the idea of having those suffering with you help you out rather than a coach. but people need different things so there ya go.

michelle...a.k.a. vrgrrl...a.k.a. abd...

54

Living Room / Re: Congrats to vrgrrl - Named One of Game Industry's 100 Most Influential Women

« on: September 19, 2006, 02:25 PM »

rofl...spore. then we have 6 more years to complete it because that's how long i've been hearing about it. hehe. so, yeah, check out forever flash in the meantime.

thanks for the congrats, everyone! i opened my email that morning and was like WTF???? pretty cool!

55

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« on: September 11, 2006, 11:12 PM »

rofl. well, come on mouser...can't we give dc members a 4% off break? 

56

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: GETTING ORGANIZED EXPERIMENT - WEEK TWO ASSIGNMENT (SEP 5, 2006)

« on: September 11, 2006, 10:54 PM »

i went shopping with mouser yesterday to get my supplies and, as you may or may not recall...i HATE systems. but! this makes so much sense and so far is so exciting.

now i just have to watch for my old nemisis...the "fear" reaction. sometimes i feel so overwhelmed that i'll avoid looking at to do lists, etc so i don't have a panic attack. but so far, no panicking...so far so good!

57

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: What is the Great DonationCoder.com GTD Experiment of 2006?

« on: August 18, 2006, 06:06 PM »

well i *really* hate systems but...uh, maybe that's my problem too? 

i'm in!

58

Living Room / Re: wanted: thoughts and ideas about blogs - bloggers join in!

« on: April 20, 2006, 04:35 PM »

yeah, i've tried livejournal, blogger, myspace, xanga, moveable type...the whole works and the only thing that i've stuck with is blogger (for five years now!). i'm not sure if it's more of a matter of "oh, well, this was the first one i used so it's not worth investing in learning another system" or what. but i just find blogger super easy to add something to, it works really well with flickr, and, yeah, i've gotten used to copying my text before i hit "publish" to avoid the long blog post loss that sometimes happens (i know that frustration all too well!).

i've also used it in classes i teach -- i've used it as a collaborative blog where everyone in the class has access with their own account and they put their homework on the blog. that's worked "ok" -- mainly because all sorts of online forums only tend to work "ok" for any class because students just don't want to check back to see what others wrote and comment on it.

michelle

59

Older Newsletters / Re: VRGRRL Blogs In Live from the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose

« on: March 23, 2006, 02:18 AM »

nintendo is the only company i have any respect for at this point in the conference. at least they give a shit about creating accessibility features for the blind, deaf, mobility impaired. and they are all really nice.

more gdc info at my blog at http://vrgrrl.blogspot.com...i'm soooooo tired.

btw, sony had one suck ass keynote today on the ps3. look forward to TONS of advertising in their next gen games...fuckers.

60

Older Newsletters / Re: VRGRRL Blogs In Live from the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose

« on: March 21, 2006, 12:41 PM »

day one of the gdc is over and i'm soooo tired it's insane and there's four more days! but i must run, run, run because i'm running late!!!! ps3 is unvealed tomorrow!!!! woooooot!

61

Older Newsletters / VRGRRL Blogs In Live from the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose

« on: March 19, 2006, 11:27 AM »

hey peeps!

long time no chat but mouser asked me to keep you posted about happenings at the GDC (http://www.gdconf.com).

well, so far it is OFF THE HOOK. really. i'm not there yet. i was supposed to arrive last night and finish my presentations at the hotel before the marathon that is gdc starts this afternoon. well, thx to the illini women's tennis team and the men's golf team who bought up all the luggage room on the fucking plane, i got bumped...to 6-fucking-am this morning.

so now it's 11:22am and i'm am sitting on the floor of the dallas airport where the weather is shitty and planes are getting delayed all over the place and this place has the most fast food chains per capita that i've ever seen at any airport and you can feel the grease entering into your skin the longer we sit. i'm supposed to arrive around 2pm (san jose time) so i have a good four hour-ish flight ahead to finish my ppt. why start too early to do something that will be finished at the last minute anyway?

my hair is gdc red so it matches my icon more closely now. and i'm wearing my helvetica shirt (yeah, a brown shirt simply with the word helvetica...you know, the font?), my ipod, this laptop and getting weird stares from military returning through this airport...ok, i *am* a little noticeable with bright red hair.

ok...more from GDC...once and if i get there!

62

General Software Discussion / Re: Gamer Dad website

« on: March 12, 2006, 08:18 PM »

super cool! thanks for pointing this out to us mouser! 

63

Older Newsletters / Re: Columnist Central

« on: December 16, 2005, 04:26 PM »

hey vegas, yeah i liked the blog format too -- maybe we can bring them back after a short trial with forum blogs instead. mouser's always up for a new experiment on the site. maybe we can all figure out something new that will be easy to follow along with? there seems to be pros and cons with both but maybe there's a solution that will be something new and fun?

blorum? fogger? lol...ok, maybe we shouldn't start with what it might be called...

64

Older Newsletters / Re: Columnist Central

« on: December 10, 2005, 02:57 PM »

cool, thanks mouser! yeah, nudone, i'm missing everyone's columns now too! i think that this is a good way to bring them back. i know that people never knew when in the day we'd post the column entries and that was frustrating for many. now people don't have to check two places and can see when we've made a new comment more easily.

65

Older Newsletters / Columnist Central

« on: December 10, 2005, 12:38 PM »

Hi all! I thought that since we've archived the old columnist central that we could have a columnist central forum. Mouser said I should give it a shot...so in the DC spirit, let's give it a go and see what happens!

VRGrrl

66

Find And Run Robot / Re: TalkAboutShareware thread

« on: December 09, 2005, 02:25 PM »

this is so interesting to me -- i've been friends with mouser for many, many years and he's just as honest and nice face-to-face as he is here on donationcoder. so i share nudone's enraged feeling and i can't think of a calm post to put on that forum. his zen approach to the situation makes me (even more) proud to be his friend!

67

Living Room / Re: Belated Happy Thanksgiving to all our US friends

« on: November 27, 2005, 05:22 PM »

thanks carol -- sometimes it's hard to remember that we all don't have the same holidays but i'm glad to hear that hallmark hasn't moved its wares over to your side of the world. at least, for us, thanksgiving is an actual holiday rather than the other hallmark created faux-holidays like "sweetest day" that is an attempt at giving us a double valentine's day... 

68

Living Room / Re: video game design classes

« on: November 27, 2005, 05:17 PM »

thanks momonan! video game design classes are definitely becoming more prevalent. next semester i'm teaching a science in children's museums class for my community of undergrad women scientists-to-be and reworking my video game design class for next fall. lots of lessons learned this semester -- even though these courses are "new," there are some advantages to keeping your co-instructor from making things "too" experimental. eventually the semester does end and i'm not a big fan of incomplete grades that end up bringing the class into the next semester. so "structure"? not a bad thing. lol. but the students have been pretty good sports and good student "colleagues." too many times instructors don't give students enough of a role in shaping courses...

69

Living Room / Nice story about a canine "cat of the year" award winner

« on: November 10, 2005, 08:48 PM »

ok...i know that this is WAAAAAAAY off topic. but i thought this was a nice story. the ap just reported about a dog who won the 1998 cat of the year award</url> at the Westchester Cat Show for her work at rescuing endangered cats. sadly, she died in august at age 17, but left quite a legacy. it's a nice story for our time where we are at war for oil, killing each other in the name of religion, and hatred for those who are different than us seems to be increasing every day. if the dog and cat world can do it, why the f*** can't we?

check out ginny the rescue dog's memorial website at http://www.ginnyfanclub.com/

70

Living Room / Re: A thank you page for our donators.. Link Inside

« on: August 27, 2005, 02:33 PM »

and come up with something snappy too. i'm getting a total kick out of the comments so far!

71

Living Room / Re: I love this idea so much: www.etsy.com - buy and sell homemade stuff

« on: August 23, 2005, 12:26 PM »

ooooooooh....i need to sell some of my crazy fiber creations on there! i just bought two skeins of hand dyed and spun yarn in zesty and varigated greens...fun to buy from a new source and support the individual crafter versus the big companies. i am so sick of ebay for buying crafty items -- so many so-called "small businesses" on there have really made it less enticing to buy and sell those items on there. i'm not talking about the honest small business sellers...i'm talking about all the faux businesses out to scam.

btw, venus mag, which i love, is holding a craft off for their winter issue: http://venuszine.com...es/you_contests/1392

they are looking for the best, most crafty gift creations UNDER $25. cool.

72

Living Room / Re: This is cool - post it notes on a web page?

« on: August 23, 2005, 12:21 PM »

whoa...nifty nifty nifty. have you tried it, mouser?

73

Living Room / Re: Gmail Invitations — for anyone who still doesn't have one

« on: August 23, 2005, 12:19 PM »

ah gmail...it has been a great addition to my life! thanks for the offer zaine -- google has sure been generous with their account giveaway...the cynic in me wonders what the eventual catch will be but for now...glorious!

74

Living Room / Re: SourceForge - can we have some more clicks please

« on: August 23, 2005, 12:17 PM »

lol. i think mouser's onto something with his list of suggestions for making websites more, uh, challenging. yes, that's the word i was looking for. after all, when we look at trying to improve the usability of games, we have to make sure we don't wipe out the challenge factor. because challenge, done right, equals FUN! maybe all software should be concerned with that. i mean imagine making excel more "fun" by adding more challenge!

on a random but somewhat related note, i wish that authors of papers would let us know if their academic papers are actually published somewhere or are really just "thoughts in progress" -- i'm sick of looking for papers in journals that have never been published...

mouser? any idea about how we can cite "thoughts in progress" using your best friend procite?

75

Living Room / Re: ZAOT: zaine's avatars over time

« on: August 23, 2005, 12:11 PM »

  ahhhh...thanks you guys!

ok, mouser -- i'll write more about flickr. maybe not for tomorrow -- i'm on another serious dissertation deadline but for the next column i will!