Archive for September, 2009

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The Offering Premieres for Cogswell Community

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

The_Offering

On Thursday, October 1 at 12:30 pm in the Dragon’s Den, we will premiere the Cogswell-produced short animated film: The Offering. This animated short film was produced on campus by Cogswell students! The film has never been played before an audience, so the Cogswell community, including a few VIPs, will have the privilege of being the very first audience

Assistant Professor Michael Huber and the Special Project/Senior Project students worked tirelessly for three semesters to produce this studio-quality short film. They were supported by a massive collaborative effort from faculty, staff, visiting artists, industry professionals and alumni. This film is sure to attract the attention of studios and inspire prospective students everywhere.

Please pass the word: lunch and drinks will be provided. Come and see the premiere of this ambitious and artfully constructed film. Come celebrate the immense efforts of your friends and fellow Cogswell students.

This is a campus only event, so only current students, faculty, staff, and a few VIPs will be admitted. There will be a formal public premier at a later date.

-Michael Martin, Dean of the College

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Game Demo Night Update Three

Monday, September 28th, 2009
Demo Night 2008

Demo Night 2008

GAME DEMO NIGHT IS THIS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH AT COGSWELL COLLEGE IN THE DRAGON’S DEN!

1175 Bordeaux Drive, Sunnyvale www.cogswell.edu

Bioroid Studios

Martin Robaszewski
Martin Robaszewski has been a professional video game developer for over 9 year before releasing Cyborg Mice Arena, his first independent game. He has previously worked on games published by Atari, Ubisoft, Midway, Sega and the US Army.

Terathon Software
Terathon Software LLC was founded in 2001 by software engineer and computer graphics author Eric Lengyel. Terathon began in Cupertino, California, but now calls Roseville (just outside Sacramento) its home. The company’s goal has always been to provide a strong technical platform upon which it would be possible to create great games. To achieve this goal, Terathon continued development of a project that had actually been begun by Eric Lengyel in late 1999, the C4 Engine. At first, the technologies contained in the C4 Engine comprised a set of low-level systems that were licensed on a component by component basis to companies having specific needs. As the technology grew more advanced and the large-scale architecture of the engine took shape, it became clear that C4 should be licensed as a complete game technology solution. The C4 Engine as a whole was first made commercially available in May of 2005 and has enjoyed astonishing popularity ever since.

Eric Lengyel
Eric Lengyel (pronounced LENG · el, with no Y) holds a Masters Degree in Mathematics from Virginia Tech and is the best-selling author of the book Mathematics for 3D Game Programming & Computer Graphics (Charles River Media, 2002). He is also a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Graphics Tools and a major contributor to the successful Game Programming Gems series. Eric previously worked in the advanced technology group at Naughty Dog and is now credited on several PlayStation 3 titles based on technology that he developed there. Long ago (in programmer years) he was the lead programmer for the fifth installment of Sierra Studio’s popular RPG adventure series Quest for Glory. When he’s not engaged in multiplayer deathmatch, Eric can usually be found running somewhere in the mountains surrounding Silicon Valley.

Mixamo
Mixamo gives you the power to create production-quality character animations in a fraction of the time that traditional motion capture and keyframing require. It’s as simple as 1-2-3:

  • Explore: select from a vast collection of high-quality character motions
  • Customize: use your own skeletons and skins, along with our intuitive motion parameter sliders, to create personalized character animations
  • Download: after creating the perfect motion for your needs, download it straight into your art pipeline, seamlessly

Available 24/7, Mixamo makes life easier for 3D character animation professionals. We are a Silicon Valley venture backed company based in San Francisco.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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Game Development Club Unveils Fall Plans!

Friday, September 25th, 2009

GameClub

In their first meeting of Fall 2009, Game Development Club has put together plans for activities for the semester. The always popular Game Nights, Game Club’s bi-semester late night gaming extravaganzas were the first events added to the lineup. PC Game Night will take place in mid September and might coincide with an Andrew Fest. Console Game Night will take place in mid November, before the Thanksgiving break.

The Game in a Month event is back and will begin on September 10th. During Game in a Month (GIAM), small teams of club members collaborate to create a simple game, or at the very least, a proof of concept. Often times, teams of club veterans use Game in a Month events to iron out their past projects. Game in a Month also pairs seniors with freshmen, to give the freshmen help and insight.

This year the club will also start doing workshops to help those new to game development. Workshops will be lead by club officers and will be held on Fridays. The workshops include board game design, hard surface modeling, how to use Photoshop, how to use Game Maker and Construct, and low poly modeling.

With so much excitement going on, all students should join Game Development Club! See the club President, Brody Brooks, if you have questions.

~Rachael Reisdorf, Design Coordinator

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College Connections That Last a Lifetime

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Steph_Bryce

College can provide much more than the skills and experience to begin a career. Just ask Stephanie Zhu (DAA class of 2005) and Bryce Gunkel (DAA class of 2004). They met while studying Digital Art and Animation at Cogswell, and decided to make their relationship official this September. They join more than a few couples who started their relationships as well as their careers at Cogswell. Congratulations Stephanie and Bryce

-Michael Martin, Dean of the College

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Game Demo Night Update Two

Monday, September 21st, 2009

IGDADemoNight3Don’t miss this great event on Wednesday, September 30, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Cogswell College!

Lazy 8 Studios:
Lazy 8 Studios, LLC, was founded in 2008 by Rob Jagnow. While finishing his Ph.D. at MIT, Rob got his start in game development by working on flight simulators for companies in Switzerland and Japan. He worked on a variety of projects with Demiurge Studios, Gearbox, Kaos, EA and WXP before deciding to take a chance on his own in the casual game industry. Puzzle games have always been Rob’s passion and Cogs was brewing in his mind for years before he finally had an opportunity to make the game a reality.

PlaySpan:
PlaySpan™ is the leader in monetization solutions for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social networks. PlaySpan’s patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users. PlaySpan offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCa$h® with 80 payment methods in 180 countries and ULTIMATE GAME CARD® available for 300 games in over 21,000 retail locations across North America and thousands more in several key markets worldwide. Social network payment solutions are available through Spare Change. Acquired by PlaySpan in April 2009, Spare Change is the first and leading payments platform designed specifically for social networks. Featured on over 700 applications, across Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Spare Change empowers developers to successfully monetize their applications through micro payments. The Spare Change platform enables users to make safe, convenient, and friendly 1-click purchases through a variety of funding sources.

PlaySpan is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mumbai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures.

Karl Mehta
Co-Founder & CEO
Karl Mehta brings over 16 years of experience to PlaySpan in founding and building high-tech businesses in the US and international markets. Prior to co-founding PlaySpan Inc., Karl was part of the founding team at MobileAria Inc. (acquired by Wireless Matrix) and co-founder/ CEO of OmniLabs Inc. Prior to that, he held executive positions at Hughes leading new business and technology development. Karl is Charter member of TiE-Silicon Valley and board member of Ecosystem Ventures.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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Friday Night Magic Kicks Off Cogswell Student’s Weekends!

Friday, September 18th, 2009
Friday Night Magic club president William Natarajan, shows off his mad skills.

Friday Night Magic club president William Natarajan, shows off his Magic skills.

Every Friday night starting at 5:00 pm, students gather in the Student Lounge to participate in Friday Night Magic! The club, started by President, Will Natarajan, is dedicated to playing the popular card game Magic the Gathering and welcomes anyone of any skill level – from complete new comer to seasoned vet!

The club, now in its second year, has a completely open format on most nights. Students can battle each other one on one or get as many people around a table as possible to play. They also do draft nights where the club purchases a large box of the cards and each player is given 3 card packs to assemble a brand new deck from. Prizes are given to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

Officers include the President Will (a 12 year Magic the Gathering vet), Vice President, Shane Finley (another 12 year vet), Treasurer, Kevin Speers (who has been playing for 2 years) and Secretary, Justin Bretschneider (9 year vet). Will encourages everyone to come and give FNM a shot!
“We’re chillax people, come join us! We make things go boom!” ~ Will Natarajan

~ Rachael Reisdorf, Design Coordinator

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Game Development Club Gets a New Look!

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
Game Club President, Brody Brooks

Game Club President, Brody Brooks, painting the room. See more photos below!

Every few years, Cogswell’s Game Development Club likes to change the look of its room to match the tastes of the current members. In preparation for the Fall 2009 semester, Game Club President, Brody Brooks, brought together a group of the members to change the colors from stripes of blue to a dark grey with bright orange stripes.

“We wanted to give it a clean look and keep people’s eyes looking around the room,” says Brooks of the new design. And there’s plenty to look at around the room!

The new layout has been streamlined to define the various sections. Along the walls are desktop workstations, loaded with the programs needed to create games and available to all members at any time. One corner of the room is dedicated to resources such as game development and software books, tutorial videos, games to play for reference and files from past Game Club projects.

In the opposite corner, an entertainment section is stocked with various game consoles, a large TV and a chair and sofa set. In the center of the room is a new conference table for laptops and board games with industrial power strips mounted underneath for easy access.

The conference table was, literally, the biggest furniture change in the room and replaces the “space age” oversized table that preceded it. The desks that the workstations are on are also new and replace the previous set up of cubicle walls.

The final touches, which included having the floor waxed, hanging wall decorations, room organization and furniture moving took another week. Brooks says that the room is nearly finished, they just need one more desk and to sort out the old computers that have been lying around. He hopes that room will encourage students to come in and enjoy!

Read our other blog post about what Game Development Club is here.

~ Rachael Reisdorf, Design Coordinator

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Fall Orientation at Cogswell

Monday, September 14th, 2009
New students hanging out in the ASB Office - See slideshow below!

New students hanging out in the ASB Office - See slideshow below!

On August 20th, Cogswell welcomed 32 new students entered to the campus during. The morning started with placement tests and ended with a delicious lunch from Boston Market in the Dragon’s Den. The room was packed full of faculty, staff and returning students, all there to meet and greet the newcomers! After lunch, the new students were split into teams and sent on a scavenger hunt to help familiarize them with the campus. For each item on the list, they had to take a picture of the item with one of their teammates in the photo. Everyone had a great time running up and down the halls trying to beat the other teams.

In the afternoon students received important information about how to access the Cogswell email and student portal systems, the campus judicial system and financial aid. Afterwards, everyone was treated to a Pasta Pomodoro dinner and Laser Tag! The 38 new and returning students, family and staff that attended had a great time at LaserQuest in Mountain View.

We talked to a group of new students, Maya Sundaran (MS), Aaron Weingarten (AW), Alex Hendowski (AH), Miles Philippe (MP) and Ed Fentiman (EF) about their experience at Orientation.

(more…)

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Short Animated Film “The Offering” Trailer Now Online

Friday, September 11th, 2009

The_Offering

If you have been following Cogswell news, you know that we are close to premiering the Cogswell student-produced short animated film The Offering.

Project X is a one-of-a-kind, project-based class – unparalleled in its scope and study as it incorporates every component of animation film production for the big and small screen. This class, under the direction of Animation faculty member and long-time professional animator Michael Huber, is only available at Cogswell Polytechnical College. Project X has no competition with regard to the quality of instruction it provides or the standards it sets for animation production value. Student participants have the opportunity to integrate all the disciplines of CG production including animation, modeling, texturing, effects, rigging, lighting, rendering, compositing and production management.

Take a look at the trailer, and keep an eye out for more updates on where and when to see The Offering.

To learn more about the multi-discipline project-based curriculum at Cogswell College, visit our website or better yet, arrange a tour of our campus and see where you can begin your career in video games.

-Michael Martin, Dean of the College

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Game Demo Night Update

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

More information about the Silicon Valley IGDA Game Demo Night coming September 30 hosted by Cogswell Polytechnical College. Presenters Information:

Cogswell Game Development Club
Game Development Club is the largest club on campus where students work together to create games. Students from every major participate in the club from creating graphics to making music and sound effects for each game. Club participants compete in “Game-of-the-Month” challenges in which they do just that- create a game in a month! At the end of the month, participants see who came up with the best concept and best game-play experience. When you visit campus, make sure to check out their Game Development Club room.

Trinigy
Based in Southern Germany, and with an office in Austin, TX, Trinigy is a privately owned company committed to selling groundbreaking game engine technology and first-class support to video game and serious game development studios across the globe. Engineered to provide more creative and technical freedom, the company’s Vision Engine is currently in use in more than 100 commercial game productions by well-known companies such as Ubisoft, Take 2, Dreamcatcher, NeoWiz, Spellbound, Nitro Games and more. The Vision Engine has proven its versatility in a multitude of game genres, including real-time strategy, racing, first-person shooters, role-playing games and massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. It is available and optimized for performance on PC (DX9, DX10), Xbox360™, PLAYSTATION®3, Nintendo Wii™, XBLA™, PSN™ and WiiWare™.

Danie Conradie
President & CEO at Trinigy, Inc.
Danie Conradie’s track record in the games industry dates back as far as 1990. He developed South Africa´s first commercial computer game, a jump ‘n’ run called Cyril Cyberpunk, won multiple gold and silver medals at national and international programming competitions, and graduated in computer science with distinction. After working as Head of Tools Development for Vulpine GmbH 3D Technologies, he co-founded Trinigy. Starting as the company´s Director of Development, Danie Conradie relocated to the US in 2007 and is now serving as President & CEO at Trinigy, Inc.

-Bonnie Phelps, Dean of Institutional Advancement

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