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Cave Drawings

This last weekend, I had one of those once in a lifetime opportunities you get to see your work recognized in public. I got to fly out to Washington, D.C. to see a video game I helped develop as a student project, being displayed in a museum exhibit in the Smithsonian. Another developer, Paul, met up with me there, as well as my brother Tim.

I met Paul outside the S. Dillon Ripley center where the MathAlive exhibit was located. My brother had already gone inside to hunt down Scurvy when Paul arrived and we headed inside. We arrived to see my brother helplessly trying to play the game on the cumbersome keyboard. I had been told by my parents who had visited the week before that the custom-built controller was clunky, but it turned out to be much worse. One of the buttons was not functioning at all. The most important button: the button to shoot Scurvy’s claw. I started to get frustrated, then it happened.

The screen went black. And there was my face on this screen in this exhibit in the Smithsonian. The company that built the exhibit had done a Skype video interview with me a few months prior. I was convinced the interview had gone terribly, and that that it wouldn’t be used in any way in the exhibit. But there it was. Thankfully, they found a way to cut a twenty-minute awkward moment down to about fifteen seconds of interesting sound bytes. Next to my own talking head were the reaffirming words: “Jon Ross – Game Developer.” I was ecstatic.

However, I didn’t fly across the country to see my name on a screen. This wasn’t what I was looking forward to for weeks. Since I first heard that Scurvy was going to be in the MathAlive exhibit, there was one thing I could not wait to see – people enjoying something that I helped create. The look on kids’ faces as they connected with Scurvy the crab and his story. I wanted to see the happiness that he brought them. This comes from my innate desire bring joy to others, something that I believe I’m meant to do in this life. So, to rather see frustration and anger on kids’ faces as they smashed the broken button, hoping that additional force would somehow increase the likelihood of it working, it absolutely killed me. To be so close to something that could give my life more significance, and  yet so far away at the same time, was a nightmare.

I stayed positive, quickly seeing how awesome this moment still was. We joked that that Scurvy was in fact a true work of modern art, showing the helplessness of Scurvy trapped in his underwater trash pit, void of his super-crab abilities of stretchy arms and seaweed spitting; and everyone who tried and failed to save him would leave deeply moved with a new sense of environmentalism.

A different exhibit that was currently being featured at the Smithsonian was The Art of Video games exhibit. Very fitting, I know – we had to visit. Right from the start, I was moved by this quote posted on the wall:

Video games combine graphics, sound, story, and interaction to create meaningful and immersive experiences. Imaginative artists and designers use their medium to create worlds and tell their stories. None of this is possible, however, without the participation of the player. Everyone who plays a game puts a little of themselves in that experience, and takes away something that is wholly unique. This conversation among the game, the artist, and the player is critical to understanding the art of video games.

I almost laughed out loud while reading this. It is indeed a conversation. A conversation that can come to abrupt halt when a single button fails to work.

This exhibit was divided into three rooms. In the first one, videos looped with interviews with some of the pioneers of the game industry, reminiscing about the early uncharted days of game development. Back then, hardware engineers would tell the developers and designers what the limitations of the game were. In turn, the designers would push the system the best they could, getting the most out of every pixel and beep of audio. Moving on, I found that the exhibit seemed to conflict with itself, on one hand saying that game development has evolved over the years to allow more visually detailed and immersive stories to be told, but on the other hand saying that this is something that developers have always done regardless of the physical barriers. Either way, everyone agrees that video games are dependent on technology.

The second room was set up like an arcade, and I couldn’t agree more with their choice of games here. Among the classics was my favorite, The Secret of Monkey Island, some of the best story-telling seen on a computer screen. Being the least crowded game in the room, I decided to play it. I noted how difficult it was to navigate Guybrush around with the provided scroll ball and button arrangement. Nevertheless, I was still entertained by the genius of Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer.

The final room featured the history and forward progress of the industry, from Atari to PS3. All I could think the whole time was that I had to remember this. That twenty, ten, even five years from now, I’ll look back and laugh at what we considered to be progress compared to the technology that will come. Game development is a new and crude art form, and I was looking at the cave drawings of interactive entertainment. And not only that, but I myself have the opportunity to be a part of this emerging art.

I came to D.C. to see the fruit of my past work. I wanted to sit back and marvel at my accomplishments and at the enjoyment that I was giving people. But instead I would be coming away with a sense that maybe my time has not come yet. Maybe that button was meant to be broken. If I had been given the satisfaction of having produced something great, then what would propel me to keep moving forward? Nothing is more motivating than to be inches away from your dream, close enough to know that this dream is something you are capable of attaining, but not quite able to reach it. Yet. I was hoping to take a shortcut there, and it almost worked, but there is still more road to travel ahead of me. I know now that I must keep moving forward, as a pioneer, as an artist, and as an innovator in this industry.

One final note. In this final room, I also began to have a bit of an existential crisis. Each of the displays featured one game console and four “works of art” created for that console. So of the thousands of games created for the Nintendo 64, someone deemed four of those, Super Mario, Star Fox, Ocarina of Time, and Worms Armageddon, worthy to be preserved in the minds of men. As a gamer who has been moved by so many games, this obviously feels wrong. Which humans made these decisions for the rest of us? While this “atrocity” is so obvious to me for an art form that is so familiar and modern, it’s not quite as obvious at the buildings across the street, the art galleries, the history museums. Who is filtering what we see, deciding what is to be remembered and what is to be lost to the sands of time? What did I do to deserve for my work to be seen and remembered? Nothing really, other than being in the right place at the right time.

Maybe this was my one chance to be remembered. Who is to say that I’ll pass the arbitrary filters of worthiness or relevance in the future. Maybe the game industry will soon die altogether and become a lost art? No. Actually, it won’t. As long as I’m around, it won’t.

 
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I Visited a Real Gold Mine

Published on March 5th, 2012 by in Gaming

 
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A Dream

I’m not big into either interpreting or sharing dreams, but after waking up this morning from one of the most vivid and emotional dreams I’ve ever had, and especially after looking up what the main element in my dream means, I thought I would share.

From dreammoods.com:
To see balloons in your dream indicates declining hopes and disappointments in your search for love.

I was sitting in a house that sat on top of a small mountain. I sat with my friends, me facing a large window that looked out onto the land that spread into the distance. Through the window, I see one of the most magnificent clouds I’d ever seen. It was one of those ones you see near sunset, where the cloud eclipses the sun, creating glowing edges and heavenly rays. It was so beautiful, that I was instantly on my feet and outside to truly experience this fleeting work of art. One of the first things I notice while staring at it is that it wasn’t moving like a normal cloud. It was undulating. I look even closer and see that it’s not a cloud, but rather a massive cluster of balloons. Millions of balloons just floating there. I then start to notice that the ground around me is covered in balloons as well. The ground, the whole mountain, and everything in sight is now made of balloons, floating in place, not rising or falling. More balloons keep appearing, and the house has become an island floating in an ocean of balloons, and the tide was coming in. A feeling of unease was in the air. Others inside the house were calling me to come back inside where it was safe, but I stayed, fixated on what was happening. Right before the house became completely engulfed, I see another giant cluster of balloons in the sky, these ones moving downward. They’re moving faster and faster, and I quickly realize that they’re not balloons at all. It’s a meteor, the size of the valley it is heading towards. There’s no question in my mind that I’m about to die. I brace for the impact and watch as the meteor pierces the surface of the balloon ocean. You’d expect the balloons to be scattered everywhere like water splashing, but they all held in place as earth would. I’m still watching as a deep endless tunnel is formed in the balloons. I feel a tremor when the meteor reaches the end of its journey, waiting for some sort of explosion to take me out. It stays quiet. I’m alive. Something else is happening though. All the balloons are now being sucked down into the crater, revealing the normal landscape. The crater remains, but all the balloons are gone.

 
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Minecon: How One Game Led to One of the Best Weekends of My Life

Published on December 12th, 2011 by in Gaming


In the days following Minecon, a two-day convention in Las Vegas featuring the release of the prolific game Minecraft, I noticed a handful of people around the Internet voicing their complaints about the convention. A lot of these complaints revolved around the large crowds and lack of content. Some referred to the convention as “Linecon”. I personally had a wonderful time, which is why I’m writing this, to share my positive experience. A friend, Will, who I actually met that weekend, said it best on Twitter, “Cons aren’t a buffet of entertainment. They’re a pilgrimage for the faithful. You meet other worshipers and maybe touch the Pope’s robe.” A convention is what you make of it, and like the game Minecraft itself, the joy in the end comes from the vastly different and unique experiences that all the participants have in the end.

I was attending Minecon alone, so a few days beforehand, I decided to post on reddit and see if any other “forever alone” redditors were interested in meeting up and hanging out during the con. There was a good response, and I ended up meeting some cool people on Friday morning. Shout-outs to Janet, Will, and Ryan! Throughout the whole weekend, I met dozens of friendly, interesting people. The great thing about attending a two-day event dedicated to a single game, is that you know for a fact that the stranger standing next to you at any moment has something in common with you. Many great conversations were had, as well as business cards and server IP addresses exchanged.

Hanging out with some fellow redditors!

The Exhibit Floor

The first place to where the crowds flock, and really the only option for the first few hours, is the exhibit floor. I had low expectations for this, since I really couldn’t imagine how many exhibitors they could find for a single game. I ended up being impressed by all the vendors offering swag, the booths advertising servers, the independent game developers being featured, and my favorite, the giant gaming pit. There was a huge pit with rows and rows of Alienware PCs, all linked up to a single Minecraft server, where you could play the game after they released it. Hovering above this pit was monolithic screen with one of the current player’s view of the game they were playing. When I got my turn, I was praying that I would not be put up on the screen. But sure enough, after I break one of the biggest taboos of Minecraft, digging straight down, I look up and see that my computer is the one being featured. Hundreds of eyes were watching me play. I fumbled around and I heard some people laughing at me as I tried to figure out how to get back to the surface. So humiliating.

One of the great things about a relatively small convention is that you end up seeing a lot of the notable members of the community, as you wander around. On the convention floor, I ran into Brent Copeland from The Shaft, had a great conversation about the show, which led to meeting and having lunch with Joe Hills and Kevin Loper. I’m now even more convinced of how awesome the Dead Workers community is and hope to maybe make it out to Alabama in the future for one of their conventions/parties.

The Panels

A great selection of panels were offered for breakout sessions on both days. These are some of the panels I attended.

API for Game Developers:  Based on the title of this panel and that it was part of Minecon, one would assume that it would be about using the Minecraft API. So I get all excited, get there early, and sit in the second row. It starts, and the first thing they say is that the panel is in fact about the “Youtube API”. They said they wouldn’t be offended if people who were not interested left. I was in the second row, though! I couldn’t just leave. It turned out to be interesting. They demonstrated the capability to upload videos using their API, specifically from within a game. They’re hoping more developers utilize the technology to record game content and let players upload without middleware.

Making a Difference:  This panel was the highlight of Minecon for me. It was moderated by Lydia aka MinecraftChick, and the speakers on the panel were all amazing individuals who are using Minecraft in some unique ways. One of them, Joel Levin, is a guy I’ve been following for a few months. He is known in the community as Minecraft Teacher. He had modded Minecraft to be suitable for use in a classroom setting, and has had amazing results using it in his own classroom. I had been skeptical about this, but one point that he made that really hit home for me was how he uses the game to teach students about online etiquette. Cyber bullying is a real problem, everywhere from online games to social networks, all fueled by the fact that kids feel “safer” being cruel to other kids, when they are behind a computer, usually anonymous. Joel explained that when a student mistreats another one in the game, if for example they steal from another player’s chest, he will stop the class and use the opportunity to teach. He compares this cyber vandalism to breaking into a friend’s locker at school. His students see the connection, they get it, and the lesson sticks with them.

Also on the panel were two mothers of sons with Aspergers syndrome who told of the positive effect that the game has had for their sons, particularly in helping them communicate better. Mats Hultgren spoke about his project My Blocks, which is using Minecraft to allow community members to help prototype housing projects and parks in Sweden. Another speaker, Heather shared about the many diverse friendships she has formed through Minecraft. She contrasted it to games like World of Warcraft, where players are all in constant competition for power with each other. In Minecraft, everyone is playing as themselves, and Minecraft tends to be more collaborative than it is competitive, which leads to stronger social connections. Coincidentally, I’ve kept in touch her post-Minecon and have played with her on the Mau5Ville server.

The Shaft Podcast Live Recording: This podcast has really been the window into the Minecraft community for me. I have a blast tuning in every week to hear Eric, Brent, and Wes casually chat about the latest happenings in the Minecraft world, usually bringing in some big name guests. I ran into them all a couple times at the con, and they are some of the nicest people I’ve met. Brent even let me bum a cigarette off of him on Saturday night. Thankfully, I made the smart decision to leave the Yogscast panel early and got a good seat for The Shaft. The panel was pretty chaotic, the room was packed, and it was a ton of fun just sitting there with all the fans. They have one section called Excavation Station, where they take listeners’ ideas for Minecraft, and I gave one of mine. The crowd liked it, and I won one of the prizes they were giving away! A wolf hat!! (Picture below.)

A secret confession: the idea I gave was stolen from Joel from the Making a Difference panel. Sorry, Joel!

I think there were also a couple parties at Minecon, but for some reason I don’t remember those too well.

Looking back, what made the weekend so memorable is the people. Creative, passionate, fun-loving, sometimes-nerdy people. My kind of people. I drove out to Vegas alone and not knowing anyone personally who was going to be at Minecon, and I left with many new connections and have continued to meet more awesome people through this community. I’m excited to see what the future of Minecraft will bring, and I’m thankful that I was able to witness this part of its history.

 
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I Haven’t Changed Very Much in Eighteen Years

Published on December 8th, 2011 by in Gaming

When I was your age, we didn't have fancy video games for digging holes.

 
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Scurvy Returns to Travel the World

Almost two years ago now, I worked on a five-month-long game project at Full Sail University.  You can read about the game and even download it here: Scurvy the Seaweed Slinger.

Recently, one of our team members was contacted by someone from Evergreen Exhibitions, a company that puts together museum exhibits that tour around the world. They’re in the process of making one called MathAlive, an exhibit that showcases “cool” ways that math is used in everyday things, like video games and skateboards. They asked us if they could include Scurvy! And of course we all agreed. I did a Skype interview with them a couple of weeks ago and am now in the process of making some minor modifications to the game for them. I don’t have have a full schedule yet, but I know that the exhibit will be at the Smithsonian in March – looks like I’m due a trip to the east coast next spring.

 
 
© Jon Ross
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