game development - New Mexico Technology Council

Early Adoption for the Win

Albuquerque iOS developer Andrew Stone has often talked about being in the right place at the right time with the ideas, skills and connections necessary to take advantage of the iPhone when it was first launched (his “Twittelator Pro” has been one of the best and most popular twitter clients for the iPhone and iPad).

Both Andrew and Rio Rancho game developer Sean McCracken are now among the very limited first set of Google Glass ‘explorers’ – and it seems to be paying off. Sean’s only had his pair for less than a month, but already his first game for the platform – “Psyclops” – is getting noticed by the national press.

His story was picked up by the tech/gear/gadget site, Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/09/google-glass-space-aliens/):

“The premise of the game isn’t new — alien ships are attacking our home planet and it’s our sworn duty to protect Earth by blowing them up — but the method is: use Glass as your viewfinder, line the baddies up with the center of the display and hold for a moment to lock your position and fire. Sean thinks of the game as a “3D Space Invaders mixed with Missile Command,” which sounds like a perfect mashup.”

And also by Biz/Tech site, GigaOm (which also gets distributed by CNN Money). The full game isn’t out yet, but knowing Sean, it’ll be great. Catch a video here:

You can find Sean and other local game developers at this year’s NM Game Jam: “Circle of Iron” taking place in Albuquerque and Las Cruces the weekend of August 23rd (more info here: http://circleofiron2013.eventbrite.com). And we expect to see both Sean and Andrew among the speakers/participants at ABQ Tech Fiesta during the “TechRevABQ” panel day on Friday, September 13th.

Organizations Team Up for Technology Weekend!?

School’s back in session, the monsoonal rains have returned and we’re glad to be part of an upswing in larger events involving the technology community.

Among them are two we’d like to highlight, taking place the weekend of August 24th – 26th.

NM GAME JAM (8-24-26)
The 4th annual New Mexico Game Jam from the Rio Grande IGDA Chapter is one of two annual development sprints or ‘Jams’ for game designers and developers in New Mexico in partnership with the Rio Grande ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter (and some help from us at the NM Tech Council). Each year at this time, they gather in multiple locations (this year in Albuquerque at UNM’s Interdisciplinary Film & Digital Media program offices in Mesa Del Sol and the Creative Media Institute at NMSU in Las Cruces) to receive the challenge, build teams and create a functioning game in 48 hours. Want to know how it works?

Visit http://nmgamejam.wordpress.com/rules/ for frequently asked questions and other information – and sign up at: http://nmgamejam2012.eventbrite.com/ And check with your local site about stopping by!

WORDCAMP ALBUQUERQUE 2012 (8/24-26)
We’re proud to be a returning sponsor for this year’s WordCamp Albuquerque and one of the partners in their WordCamp Hackathon! But more about that below.

The Albuquerque WordPress Meetup Group is one of our favorite meetup groups, growing nicely and serving both those new to WordPress and experienced designers/developers alike. Last year’s WordCamp was a wild success and this year promises to be even better (check out their fantastic line-up here). WordPress has been the Content Management System (CMS) of choice for a wide variety of developers, businesses and organizations for its mix of great capabilities, plugins and community as well as its relatively gentle learning curve. If you or your organization is launching a new site or changing what you already use, WordCamp is an excellent opportunity to learn more about many aspects and meet some key professionals – at an extremely reasonable cost. Visit http://2012.albuquerque.wordcamp.org/tickets/ to register!

But that’s not all… We’ve been working with our friends at the Meetup Group and ABQ Sprout to include a WordCamp Hackathon focused on helping a few local organizations in the Albuquerque community – it’s part of our shared commitment to connecting people, organizations and acting as a catalyst to cultivate a thriving creative ecosystem. While some hackathons are fairly open-ended, this week’s is intended to focused on creating or taking a handful of sites to the next level with a Friday evening sprint, check-ins and tweaks, and a wrap-up on Sunday. While we’ve had great interest and numbers of people signing up, there’s a chance we could still use you – visit http://2012.albuquerque.wordcamp.org/schedule/wordcamp-hackathon/ for more information.