GDC
So I went to GDC last week out on the west coast (SF) and saw some cool stuff. I picked up a bunch of swag for my students and got some neat swiss chocolates and a Wizards of the Coast travel mug for Moran. One of the coolest things I saw at GDC was a talk about destructible objects and how it affected AI for a new game from Relic called Company of Heroes.
After I got out of the talk I sat down to eat lunch and the guys giving the presentation sat down next to me. A table full of Relic programmers! I was star-struck; at least internally. Externally I made some good contacts and learned some cool stuff. Later that day I also ran into a graphics programmer from the Spore team during a lecture about level design and it's ability to affect dramatic game play.
All in all it was a pretty good week. Consequently my class this month is crunched into 3 weeks instead of 4. On top of that, I swapped locations in the program with another class... which means I am teaching double-sized classes for the next 7 months. Since I moved earlier and they moved later, this also means I am now teaching a more freshman class of programmers. I will have to slow some stuff down. Luckily there was an extra day added to the class when we swapped, which will help facilitate a slower pace.
After I got out of the talk I sat down to eat lunch and the guys giving the presentation sat down next to me. A table full of Relic programmers! I was star-struck; at least internally. Externally I made some good contacts and learned some cool stuff. Later that day I also ran into a graphics programmer from the Spore team during a lecture about level design and it's ability to affect dramatic game play.
All in all it was a pretty good week. Consequently my class this month is crunched into 3 weeks instead of 4. On top of that, I swapped locations in the program with another class... which means I am teaching double-sized classes for the next 7 months. Since I moved earlier and they moved later, this also means I am now teaching a more freshman class of programmers. I will have to slow some stuff down. Luckily there was an extra day added to the class when we swapped, which will help facilitate a slower pace.