This site is under construction. Sort of. I recently deleted all my past blog posts so if you've been to this site before and wondering where everything else went, the answer is: they're gone. (They're still on Facebook, though.)

IGDA Monthly Meetup for November ‘09 Report

November 11, 2009 Caroline Dy 5 comments

IGDA Manila’s first monthly meetup last night at Mag:Net High Street was, in my opinion, a big success. We had around 20 attendees coming from Kuju, Gameloft, Boomzap, and Anino Entertainment, as well as freelancers, game enthusiasts and hobbyist developers. A big shout out to Mr. Sony Valdez who came all the way from Baguio just to attend the meetup (Shame on you guys who live much closer and didn’t attend! j/k, please attend next month!)

Julius Cebreros, our speaker of the night, gave a very entertaining postmortem on the game he created for the Biomodd project. For those of you unfamiliar with Biomodd, here’s the description of the project from their site (alternatively, just click on the link):

Biomodd is an interactive and collaborative art project that integrates nature and technology. One of aims of the project is to create an art installation in which different forms of plant life coexist with a fully functioning computer system. This system is built almost entirely from recycled computers, and plant growth is stimulated by the excess heat of the working electronics. Visitors can interact with the art installation by playing a multiplayer computer game that runs on this hybrid system.

Biomodd Game

Biomodd Game screenshot

I can tell you all about his presentation as best as I can remember it, but upon further research, I’ve discovered that the game development process was pretty heavily documented on their site. You can read it at http://www.biomodd.net/game-development-subteam-wiki where it will be better explained. What I personally found most interesting about the game itself is it’s integration to Twitter. According to their blog, the game “will tweet about the people who logged in to play the game and also their game progress”. It will also recognize key words in @ mentions that can affect the game world. I find the ability to control a game remotely via Twitter to be highly entertaining, mostly because of the potential massive damage I can render to the game world/the ability to fuck up someone else’s gaming experience in the comfort of my living room.

The Twitter integration also ties in nicely with the objectives of the project of making it community/cooperation based. (OT: I am beginning to wonder if the BangonPinoy hashtag project, had it been tied to a game, would be more fun and fulfilling for Tweeters/Tweeple/Twitterers/whatever.) The Twitter account of the Biomodd game is, apparently, still active as I write this. You can check and follow the account at http://twitter.com/maria_makiling.

For those of you who’ve missed last night’s postmortem, Julius has an online version of his talk at his blog.

Next month, IGDA Manila Chairguy Ryan Sumo will be talking about life as a freelance game developer and Chester Ocampo will be sharing with us some insights to his creative process (announcing it now so he can’t back out) so don’t miss it!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures of the actual event, I forgot to bring my camera.

Categories: IGDA Manila Tags: , , , , ,

Taxi Cab Tales: Meet the Preacher

November 9, 2009 Caroline Dy 3 comments

Ever since I moved into the city, I’ve decided that the only forms of transportation I can still take are cabs and the occasional trike and train. On most occasions, I would get a cab where the only piece of conversation I would have with the driver is him asking me where I want to go and me giving him directions. Sometimes, though, I would get myself a ‘chatter’. Most of the chatters I encounter are harmless enough and mostly talk to themselves.

Tonight’s taxi cab tale is of a particular type of chatter that I hope never to encounter again. Though I have to admit, it was mildly amusing.

I had a coffee date with my friend Rory at Greenbelt and since I was already running pretty late, I decided to take a cab instead of the original plan of taking the LRT-MRT route to Makati. I managed to get a cab right in front of my apartment building and when I hopped into the cab, the driver kissed the rosary hanging from his rearview mirror and uttered the words “Salamat po, panginoon, nakakuha po ako ng papuntang Greenbelt.” (trans: “Thank you, Lord, I’ve got someone who’s going to Greenbelt.”)

I thought to myself, “Okay, maybe that’s just his ritual.” I didn’t think it was going to get any weirder, until he started singing to himself. Not only was he singing to himself, he was singing… inspirational songs, like the ones you hear in church. At first, he kept his voice to a level which I can still shut out. Halfway to Makati, a homeless person (I’m assuming) walks up to the taxi and asks for some change. The cab driver gives the guy a few coins, and says “Merry Christmas”, then turns to me and says “Sinabi ng Holy Spirit na dun sa taxi humingi.” (trans: “The Holy Spirit told him to ask the taxi for change.”) He then proceeds to quote verses from the Bible, and lectures me on how doing good things for others is good for your soul, etcetera.

Throughout his sermon, all I did was nod my head in pretentious agreement. After his lecture, though, the cab driver starts singing again. This time, much louder and with more gusto. In between songs, he shares tidbits from his life, how his 17-year-old son died of gunshot and his wife passing away from sickness (I felt a little bad about this). He tells me how he learned to never lose hope, and how singing helps him to stay awake. After another song, he pretended to thank the crowd for the silent applause, which, I admit, made me laugh.

It’s not everyday that I meet a cab driver who can double as a preacher/entertainer, but I still prefer cab drivers who just turn the music up (even if it was a bad radio station) and don’t bother to talk to me unless they need to ask for directions.

I ended up tipping him Php25, though.

Categories: Taxi Cab Tales Tags: ,