MFADT Spring Fair 2012!

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Robert Yang

Come to Parsons MFA Design and Technology’s first ever “Spring Fair” — basically we’re just going to show all the different wacky things we’ve been working on for the past year. There’ll be interactive installations, robots, games — it’s basically just some plain cool shit.

I’m planning to show my first person sex education game CondomCorps XXLL, fellow student Andy Wallace is going to have some Doodle Defense going, and we hear Ramiro “Hokra” Corbetta has something up his Brazilian sleeves. Also, meet a bunch of cool people who use technology for something other than video games! (yeah, I don’t get it either)
Sunday, April 15th.
1 – 6 PM. Stay as short or long as you want.
6 East 16th Street, 12th floor. (map)

A Weekend of Anthropy

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Robert Yang

This weekend, famed game designer / book author Anna Anthropy is bringing New York City to its knees. There’ll be a lot of Parsons / NYU Game Center / Babycastles / NYC indies hangouts and events. Don’t be a stranger; come say hello!

THURSDAY:

Anna Anthropy @ NYU Game Center (RSVP req.) (7 pm, 721 Broadway, 9th Floor Lobby)

FRIDAY:

Molyjam NYC, Day 1 @ Parsons (team formation + Anna Anthropy talk) (6 East 16th St, 12th floor)

SATURDAY:

Molyjam NYC Day 2
Social Game Design Pitch Workshop @ NYU Game Center (RSVP req.) (10 AM, 721 Broadway)
Playtech @ Parsons (we’ll pay you in pizza to test our games!) (1 PM, 2 West 13th St, 10th floor)
Babycastles presents “Harpy Diem” @ Secret Project Robot (curated by Anna Anthropy) (8 PM, 389 Melrose St., Brooklyn)

SUNDAY:

Molyjam NYC Day 3, presentations + awards

What Would Molydeux? NYC game jam @ Parsons!

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Robert Yang

http://www.whatwouldmolydeux.com/

48 HOURS TO CHANGE GAMES FOREVER
NYC site hosted by BABYCASTLES & THE NEW SCHOOL GAME CLUB
BRING ABOUT THE VISIONS OF @PeterMolydeux!

LOCATION:
12th floor lab of 6 E 16th St. (map)
(Tell the FRIENDLY front desk guards you’re there for the game jam on the 12th floor)

SUBWAY:
Union Square (4,5,6,N,Q,R,L)
14th St. (F,M)

!?!?!? SPECIAL GUESTS ?!?!?!
Probably!!!

======================================

MARCH 30 @ 7PM: kick-off & team formation
MARCH 31: work
APRIL 1: CHANGE THE GAME INDUSTRY FOREVER

GDC 2012 Party Patrol

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Robert Yang

Parties are an important part of networking and GDC — just don’t get too carried away, or else you’ll wake up in a gas station bathroom on Friday afternoon. That said, as a public service to our community, here’s a curated list of GDC 2012 events, though there are undoubtedly many more that we missed. A longer crowdsourced list is here at “The Fellowship of GDC Parties.”

> TUESDAY

IGDA Party, 6 – 10pm, 1015 Folsom Street.
The IGDA functions are nice because you inevitably get a mix of business / industry / academics / students / everyone. Also, there are going to be acrobats or something.

POW: Indie Music & Developers Collide, 8pm – 1pm, DNA Lounge @ 375 11th St.
($5 w/ GDC badge). I’ve only ever known the DNA Lounge as the site of “Bootie” on Saturdays. Nonetheless, chiptune / electronic has been known to be awesome.

PixelJunk’s 4am, 6pm – ???, Super 7 Store @ 1427 Haight St and Masonic.
If you’re a PixelJunk fan, this’ll be the first public demonstration of 4am. They will also let you purchase t-shirts. Continue reading →

Parsons @ Indiecade 2011: “Well Played” with Zach Gage and Nick Fortugno

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Robert Yang

It’s an oldie but a goodie… At Indiecade 2011, the “Well Played” sessions have a critic and game developer engage in dialogue about a specific game’s aesthetics and experiences. Here, Tracy Fullerton presented on Parsons alum / instructor Zach Gage’s game “Halcyon,” and Parsons faculty Nick Fortugno presented on Doug Wilson’s “JS Joust.” The insights will stun you into silence.

Retro Games Round-up + how to make your own Zelda.

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Robert Yang

So we had a Retro Games Arcade event last Friday that was pretty sweet. Even a Virtual Boy was there; he had, um, a really good personality, that nice boy. Also, the Vectrex caught my eye — it had one of those extremely convenient and easy-to-use multi-games-in-one cartridges, where you had to switch the pins on the circuit board to choose which game to play. You have to see these vector CRT games in-person, the brightness is so intense, and it just makes you realize how LCD screens are destroying America.

Sometimes I miss the weight and feel of game cartridges… as I walk the mean streets with my Walkman, saying “23 skidoo” to hoodlums and whippersnappers. Beef, it’s what’s for dinner! Let’s watch M*A*S*H!

More importantly, I’m writing this post to tell you something extremely important: you can make Zelda mods and new levels for the original Legend of Zelda.TIGSource has the scoop on “Zelda Classic” and its bevy of custom dungeons and stuff. You can thank me for changing your life later — less talk, more playing custom Zelda mods! For FREE!

Retro Games Arcade on Friday, Feb 3rd.

Posted on February 2, 2012 by kanyangli

Featuring Atari 2600, Vectrex, NES, N64 Disk Drive, PC-Engine, Virtual Boy, Japanese Wii + Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Setup.

Friday, February 3rd, 2012.
7:00 PM
6 East 16th Street, NYC (map)
12th Floor MFADT Lab

Play for Nonprofit, Panel Talks

Posted on February 1, 2012 by New School Games

A little while back, we organized a lovely panel discussion that explored the interplay of games and the non-profit sector. It was hosted by the New School Game Club and the Association for International Development on Dec. 2nd, 2011 at Parsons. Speakers were:

Daniel Osgood, PhD – Columbia University (above)
Naomi Clark – Game Designer/Producer, Brooklyn Game Ensemble
Karen Sideman – Games For Change
Nick Fortugno – CCO/Co-Founder, Playmatics
Katherine Isbister – Research Director, Game Innovation Lab at NYU-Poly