Mods and Machinima

HALF LIFE
- Half-Life 2, Prima Official Game Guide
- Half Life 2 - Raising the Bar, Prima

NARRATIVE
- If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino
- Cybertext, Espen Aarseth
- Hamlet on the Holodeck, Janet Murrary
- Afternoon, Michael Joyce (CD)
- Victory Garden, Stuart Moulthrop (CD)
- Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones

GENERAL VIDEO GAMES
- The Ultimate History of Video Games, Steven L. Kent
- Smartbomb - The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution, Heather Chaplin and Aaaron Ruby
- From Sun Tzu to Xbox - War and Video Games, Ed Halter
- The Video Game Theory Reader, Mark Wolf, ed.
- Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics, Eric Lengyel
- Art and Video Games
- Understanding Media, Marshal McLuhan
- Countergaming - Essays on Algorithmic Culture, Alexander Galloway

0910 - 1155 in FA 538

1. Complete Black Mesa Employment Application
2. Introductions
3. What is a mod?
4. Mod software to be used in the class
5. Class Blog twcdc.com/mods
6. Curriculum
7. Expectations and Grading

1310 - 1555 in FA 119 computer lab
1. Play Half Life 2 and frag some headcrabs

Normally, the class will meet all day in FA 119 computer lab

http://www.bth.se/tks/lkdm.nsf/(WebFiles)/FF79464BD0DFCD2FC125734D003716F2/$FILE/diggame_1202.doc

Download file (pdf)

Read the Introduction to Videgames and Art. Download reading (pdf).

Select one of the games described. Post an image of the game and a description. Discuss why you think the game is, or is not, "art"?

You will present you game briefly in class on Friday, February 8, and we will discuss videogames and art.

This assignment is worth approximately 2% of the final grade.

0910 - 1155
- Play Half Life 2 if I am late

- Recommended texts and links

- Announcemnts: open lab hours, free masters degree in Sweden, health and safety form

- This week's assignment

- Introduction to blogging

- Half Life 2 and narrative. In terms of how you experience the story, how is playing HL2 different than reading a book or watching a movie?

Blog at lease one screenshot and write one paragraph on this topic. (There won't be much writing in class, this is in part to practice blogging.) This exercise should take no more than 30 minutes.

- Presentation on the basic principals of 3D graphics and animation.

- Demonstration of the basic elements of XSI Mod Tool

1310 - 1555
- Watch and complete the exercises in the Noesis Quickstart Mod Tool Overview video. Uploade your .scn files of the head and the lamp. This should take about 3 hours.

SPACE BAR selection
S navigate Left button = Track (pan) / Middle = Dolly (zoom) / Right = orbit
R reset view
V translate
X scale
A frame all
F frame selection
ALT ENTER object properties
Ctrl Z undo