I still have to come up with a good title..

Spring 2007, the young codewarrior Lucas gets ready to face his Electronics and Telecommunications highschool exam..

Well, good memories about that project! Practically we had this robotic arm (ARMDROID) in the laboratory, and as it often happens with laboratory goodies, nobody was using it. Few people knew of its existence, even less knew how to make it work. Great occasion to dive into that and make it work by brute force

Using Visual Basic I developed a graphic user interface which consisted in a buttons board, each one controlling a separate motor on the machine. Visual Basic was actually not taking care of the automation: When the logic of the program required a movement of the robot (or better said, a stepper motor to activate), VB would output a package of information via the RS232 data interface using a custom communication protocol. On the other side of the cable a microprocessor would be waiting to be fed info..! After having translated the information received according to the communication protocol, an Assembly program running on the micro would manage all the logic needed to set the state of the pins of a parallel socket, only way to connect to the robot (yeps, it was THAT vintage!).

Long story short, Visual Basic -> serial -> Assembly -> parallel -> something unknown going on in the robot itself.
And that’s how the magic happens.

With time the project began to grow in scope, including a virtual representation of the robot itself (always in VB).
This was actually the power horse of the whole thing: Having been too lazy to study the maths required to do matrix calculation (i wanted to drive a robot, not study maths.), I ended up having to do all the calculations required to show a pseudo-3D object in an orthogonal view using basic trigonometry.
Pretty funny stuff, here how the calculation of one coordinate of one extreme of one line would look like:

Line15.X1 = Line3.X2 + (Cos(mano * Kmano * pgreco / 360) * Cos(polsoA * KpolsoA * pgreco / 720) -- Sin(mano * Kmano * pgreco / 360) * Sin(polsoA * KpolsoA * pgreco / 720)) * (Cos(mano * Kmano * pgreco / 360) * Cos(base * Kbase * pgreco / 360) -- Sin(mano * Kmano * pgreco / 360) * Sin(base * Kbase * pgreco / 360)) * LungDito

But hey, it got the job done!

So, having had this virtual representation of the robot running, I implemented a new control mode: It was now possible to pilot ArmDroid using a multifunction joystick.
Last goodie? How about having a “Learn mode” that would allow an operator to record “waypoints”, and having the robot automatically follow them? Yes we can!

When time for the exam came, ArmDroid was capable of executing a prerecorded program, while also granting manual control via a buttons board or using a joystick.

Now I’m awaiting for Skynet to become self aware, to crosscode it with ArmDroid and finally have a cute little robotic arm pet.
Like a handicapped puppy, with only one arm. A big orange metallic one.

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Another Lukasz/Lucas collaboration! Wooldees.com

This is gonna be the portfolio of a fellow compañero.
Designed by himself, and implemented by myself, in a 6-hours performance of speedcoding and caffeine-driven-drum’n'bass-flavoured day of work.

The site is thought as a fast and clear way to show what this is all about, his works. No literal mambo jambo, no history of his childhood. Read the rest of this entry »

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I just stumbled upon a website that we made a while ago with a compañero:

Designed by Lukasz Wolniak, implemented by Lucas Gabriel.. a Lukasz-Lucas collaboration!

Visit Bieguni.com

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Well, now we begin to roll.

You can finally try the first version of the latest prototype of the Sea Shepherd advergame.

As my original concept dictated, the game will be a side scroller, with focus on the navigation aspects across iceberg mazes, and highlights in fast paced zodiac pursuits.

At this initial stage, you can try the feel of navigating the Steve Irwin vessel across what should resemble a very ruff iceberg field..

I tried to balance realism in the dynamics with certain more unrealistic elements, such as exagerated buoyancy, excessive speed and manouevre capabilities etc.

The game should have a high level of realism, yeah, but I also want it to be fun and entertaining for a casual gamer.

My favourite quote.. ‘Inaccurate, but it will blow your fucking mind..!’

So, in the hope of blowing some fucking mind up, here the link to the prototype.

The more feedback you give me, the more chances to see the issues solved in the next version..!

Controls:

• Up/Down – Forward, Reverse
• Left/Right – Steering wheel

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..and I’m finally satisfied with this model..!

The MV Steve Irwin is the flagship of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a non-profit marine conservation organization that operates to protect ocean wildlife, enforcing existing regulation against poachers, and much more.

I’m going to use this model in an advergame that for long time i’ve been planning on developing, and that will probably evolve from the existing Overfisher prototype.

But for now, enjoy the show..! Read the rest of this entry »

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I finally decided to start working on 3D Studio Max..

This will give me the flexibility to build the low polygons models that i’ll need for the Overfisher game.

..and yea, it’s also for fun.. how cool is that plane?!

Read the rest of this entry »

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Click to play the game!

Second version of the game concept “The Overfisher”.

..Still in a prototype stage, this version of the game differs from the previous one on the following characteristics:

• AI vessels now sail following smooth courses, resulting in less robocrappy trajectories.

• The player can collect Boosters pickup, or jump on ramps to gain a bonus speed, for a certain amount of time. Read the rest of this entry »

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..Taaantaatarataantaantaaaaa… (ad libidum, it should be a literal representation of the Imperial March, Star Wars style baby!)

Ouu yeah, it’s finally ready to go!

Read the rest of this entry »

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..originally thought as an academic project, the production of this game became something different, something real.

The main idea, when i started, was a vague “to study Advergaming“.
..Suddenly I realized that if I wanted to brand a company via a game, I had to have a very deep understanding of the organization i was dealing with, to efficiently identify which values and which messages to communicate via an interactive application.

..This process brought me through a long period of analysis of the history and identity of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the organization chosen as topic of the advergame.

This allowed me to create a campaign motivated by a real issue, pushing me towards the necessity of finding a concrete solution to the problem I chose to face.

What fascinated me about this project was the nature of Advergaming itself.

I consider this marketing strategy to be an often misunderstood and underestimated one, which can reveal itself incredibly powerful, if developed properly..

The Issue

Most of you have just heard of these guys on tv news, without paying to much attention.. You know, those gangs of punks, driving inflatable boats at near-miss distance from whaling vessels, holding banners representing “eco-terrorist thoughts”..? Ok, the guys I worked for (..or better said, worked with) are the evil cousins of them. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-violent no-profit organization, who aims at protecting marine animal wildlife via direct action. In the case of the issue concerning this project, this direct action takes the form of physical obstruction of whaling operations, justified as enforcement of the international commercial whaling ban disregarded by the Japanese government.
Using a loophole in the treaty, in fact, year after year the Japanese whalers carry out whaling operations under the false pretense of being “researching” the cetaceans. Where diplomacy and international pressure fails in enforcing the international moratorium on commercial whaling, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society takes a stand to protect biodiversity, and to face the illegal poachers.

The Game

The player will play the role of an anti-whaling activist, opposing the whaling operations. Initially she will be asked to document the situation but, keeping faith to the real course of events, when faced by the ineptitude of governments and their games of power and economical interests, the goal of the game will pass progressively from the will to Expose the poachers, to the will of Confronting them. This can be seen both as challenges the player will face, and also with the fading mood of the history, fading towards a more and more dramatic struggle. This progressive deepening of the intensity of the story will essentially provoke emotional immersion in the game, enhancing the possibilities of successfully communicate a message embedded in the story.

Converting a game into an AdverGame..

..and this is where the magic happens. Emotional immersion will hopefully ease the chance of having the player embracing the set of values pushed by the game (carefully chosen to communicate a message positive to the brand). Moreover, interaction with the game will enhance the retention of this message, in a much more powerful way than other more classy forms of advertising. A last attempt to make this application useful for the organization, is the idea of embedding a last playable level unlockable only on the main Sea Shepherd website. This will close the gap between the casual gamer and the organization, in a situation in which the player will suddenly realize that the history she is immersed into is actually real, and that action and information is at one click of distance.

Technicalities..

Bababa the game was developed in Actionscript 3, putting particular effort in developing a program with a flexible and pondered architecture.

Working alone, I preferred to organize my available time into multiple sprints, with the recurrent production of prototypes widely tested in both quantitative and qualitative manner by relevant representative of my target group. This allowed me to focus on the usability of the game, in the intent of enhancing it’s entertaining potential, improving the chances of both a viral effect and the retention of the message due to the repetition, seen as replay value.

And yeah, i had some kickass good time doing this stuff..! ..handed in wanting for more!

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