Halo and Kinect

It’s been another crazy, high-pace month at Full Sail. Amongst the odd schedule which arose from GDC Austin, we had some guest speakers from Bungie and Microsoft. Kerry Allen and Christopher Willoughby presented their game, Kinect Adventures, which is going to be bundled with the device. It was cool seeing Kerry present because I had the pleasure of working with him in a game jam back in my first month. Josh Hamrick, a Bungie developer who worked on Halo: Reach, came and played with us in the auditorium.

Chris and Kerry showed us how a game utilizes Kinect with the tool program for skeleton tracking. They also showed us a demo of the technology with Kinect Adventures. They played through an adventure which consisted of mini-games like water rafting and an obstacle course. They also showed us how players can jump in and out of the screen and Kinect will sensor their body and bring in their avatar and even take pictures while the players are in funny poses. They also spoke about the importance of networking in the industry, a value which every speaker I have heard cannot stress enough.

Josh Hamrick spoke at the school but a lot of students had class during his presentation so he made it up to us by playing Reach with us the night before in the auditorium until early morning. We brought in huge televisions and Xboxes. We played many matches and fought bravely, but alas the mighty Hamrick (iamtylerdurden) foiled our attempts. Playing with my fellow classmates and teachers was a blast and a very rewarding experience. It was an awesome night I won’t soon forget and the most fun I had at school.

A Note on GDC and Networking:

Rob Coble held a meeting to brief students who were going to GDC. I attended the meetings because I plan on going to GDC at some point. He gave a lot of good tips on networking at huge events like GDC.

1. Ask Questions
2. Be Confident
3. Talk about yourself and connect with people
4. Socialize
5. Practice Professionalism and Respect
6. Don’t be a Swag whore
7. Don’t Linger and Hover around the same people
8. Don’t be dumbass and piss people off
9. Don’t be Shy
10. And most importantly, Have Fun