Saturday, February 7, 2015

Hackathon Postmortem Part 1


Team Colladine, Maco & Karlo, wasn't able to win Globe Labs' Google Cardboard Hackathon. Now we are trying to close this chapter of our lives and move on, not by forgetting about it but by learning from it. What better way to learn from something than documenting a postmortem?


Content from this blog will come in slowly as I try to remember every important events. I also wanted to add pretty comics so you won't get bored with my banters. But be warned; I may have had some artistic liberties while writing, and there will be a lot of swearing (and probably a lot of grammatical errors)

I heard about Hackathon


I first heard about Globe Labs’ Google Cardboard Hackathon event after the Global Game Jam ended. The big nerds in the office were raving about Globe Labs' Hackathon event being moved. The hackathon was all about Google's Cardboard Virtual Reality (VR) gimmick, but I didn't mind it. One day, Karlo, the biggest nerd of them all, approached me asking if I can help him out on Hackathon because his first choice partner was already taken by another developer. I was hesitant because first of all, Cardboard App was new tech I don't understand. Secondly, I don't know shit about Unity. And Lastly, Karlo don't know shit about Unity. I threw him bullshit ideas, thinking he might leave me alone.
By lunch time, I tried hearing out his idea. It was something about the internet, going through lines like the ones on Wreck It Ralph VR experience, then calling it an educational application. Though it was not a bad idea, I thought, by the end of the day it's all just a gimmick. It can be replicated in a really big screen like iMax, or on a laptop in a dark room. Also, who's the target audience? Really old people? Will it be something you'll use again once you've experienced it?

I threw him more bullshit ideas so I can escape the conversation. I never really answered his invitation to the hackathon.

I came up with a concept


The day after, I think I convinced Karlo that I am a gold mine of ideas. He brought a Cardboard VR setup with awesome sample applications. Like the roller coaster simulator and that action space chick where you ogle at the main character's butt for 10 mins or so. I was in awe about the experience. So he linked me to the Goggle Cardboard Hackathon website. I wasn't able to sleep that night.
Even with all my conversations with Karlo and all the information from the Hackathon website; I still believed that Google Cardboard is a gimmick. When is it acceptable to pull a gimmick of sorts? What's the advantage of a mere cardboard that nobody will wear in public? Can I replicate that 3D chick's butt and use it interactively too? The next day, I asked Karlo to help me win the hackathon.
I told him that we should go for the tourism category. My thoughts were; tourists readily accept gimmicks like what we're planning to build. Heck, they would even look for it so they can get more from what they paid for. Another thing was, Google Cardboard and mobile phones are easy to carry around. It all fits in a bag! You can bring it to places where no monitor or sound systems can plug to any socket. The VR experience can be educational too because you separate users from reality leaving them vulnerable to whatever bullshit you'll throw at them. The last thing we need was a tour guide making sure they are absorbing that bullshit we're feeding them.
Karlo first thought of a scuba tour. I kinda agreed just because Google Cardboard looks like diving goggles (Google Goggles!) except it was made out of cardboard, all it needed was a snorkel. So I forced Karlo to engineer a snorkel into the program.
We registered and then started planning that night.


That's it for part 1! Hackathon Postmortem Part 2 will tackle pre-production and the actual hackathon event. See you next update!





Saturday, August 30, 2014

Game Asset Dump 1

I'll be dumping "Dead Game Art" in this blog in hopes this blog will be alive again. Dead Game Art is something I did as a proposal or as prototype asset for games that will never see the light of day. Of course, they must be deemed worthy being posted first.


Below shows my love for pixel art games.



...and customizable characters

stabbing weapons

...some staff

...usual swords

...obligatory huge weapons

...better swords

...brute items

...sticks with pointy ends

...hack & smash types

...long reach types

...and more!

Disclaimer; I guess it goes without saying, "Do not steal my artworks. Stealing is using it without permission, or claiming it as yours, or posting it someplace else without crediting me or this blog" That's all for now...

Thursday, June 5, 2014

June Status Update

I made it to my deadline for some magical reason... However, client had a points for revisions. So, I'm still not done.

On the brighter side;

I am currently formulating 2-3 webcomic idea. Of course, I can only do 1 at a time.

  • Macomics
    • Comic Blog Adventures of Maco (me)
    • Just daily life hilariousness
  • Republika3030
    • Slice of life comedy comic strips about post apocalyptic Philippines
    • Kind of comparable to Pugad Baboy
    • Except it has an ongoing plot
  • GameDev Thrones
    • Spoof of Game of Thrones
    • Daily Challenges of a game developer
    • But in medieval form
I'll leave these here to incubate for a while, then I'll get back to them when I'm ready.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Debut AVP: Day 7

I lost 2 days to just layout photos and animating them. I'm my final stretch and I need to deliver by tomorrow the final resolution render. I just have to fix the following stuff:

  • Segment 4
    • Lay-out photos and animate *sigh*
    • Animate text as per requested by the client
    • I should be done by 2 o'clock am
  • Introduction
    • On black background, add pictures *sigh*
    • Start Music
    • Add Voice Over
    • Align to Segment 1
    • I should be done by 3 o'clock am *gulp*
  • Credits
    • Add Text
    • Add Music
    • Pan upward
    • Doesn't sound so complex
    • Should be done by 3 o'clock am
I'm so abusing myself. This should be the last of this kind.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Debut AVP: Day 5

Man, I'm now a day behind... I wasn't able to finish segment 3 yesterday, now I'm going to rush segment 3 and 4 tonight and tomorrow. Oh sleep, how I must carry work through the weekends now.

Tonight's goal, finish segment 3... Then start segment 4. Call it a night, wake-up whenever... then start animating all day Saturday. Continue work on Sunday...

I hope, all I have to do is render on Sunday... as minimal task as possible. *prays*

That's all, amma straighten my goals tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Debut AVP: Day 4

I dedicate at least 4 hours each day to work on this AVP project, but not today. I can dedicate up to 12 hours today to finish as much as I can. Last night (Day 3) I was only able to layout Talking Heads for segment 1, and we have up to segment 4. I should be able to layout Talking heads for Segment 2 and 3 today.

Here's a list of what I think's gonna happen:

  • Create Segment 2 composition
  • Layout placeholder for segment 2 title card
  • Layout background for segment 2 composition
  • Layout proper introduction timing
  • Layout Song
  • Listen to talking heads
  • Layout talking heads
  • Chop proper timing for talking heads

  • Create Segment 3 composition
  • Layout placeholder for segment 3 title card
  • Layout background for segment 3 composition
  • Layout proper introduction timing
  • Layout Song
  • Listen to talking heads
  • Layout talking heads
  • Chop proper timing for talking heads

  • If I still have enough time; create name banners for the talking heads.
    • Intro
    • Loop (2 sec)
    • Outro

  • If I still have enough time; animate background loop.
    • Squiggly lines
    • Building loop
    • Title background

  • Call it a day


  • I'll work on Segment 4 on Friday.
    • If I still have enough time; re-work Segment 0.
  • Saturday Tasks includes:
    • Sorting pictures accordingly
    • Animate all segments
That's it. I now have a clear goal! Ciao.

Debut AVP: Day 3

From last update, I've only managed to accomplish a hand-full of tasks before dozing off. With that in mind, amma tackle the AVP a little differently now. Amma tackle it per module required rather than laying them out, hoping I'll figure a good animation per image/clip.

Here are the modules I've come up with:
  • Animated Background Loop
  • Talking Head Frames
    • I call them talking heads because that's what they are... A video of a person, usually staring straight to the camera, talking their hearts out.
    • Figure when to cut their talk to transition to a new frame.
  • Talking Head introductory banner
    • Insert name of the talker
    • Insert relationship of the talker to the debutant
  • Baby Picture Insert Timing
    • and based from the Baby Pic insert timing, layout in photo shop then figure animation.
Amma start with Talking Head Frames. Talking Heads are boring to watch. Period. Unless the talking head is trying to be funny. With that in mind, long talking head will have different frame cut out from them so we see interesting shapes!

The Whole Screen Talking Head
aka, "In your face! I'm talking!"
Self-explanatory title. One thing to note tho, I'll be starting all talking heads like so. No fancy animation of sort, just fade it in after they've started to talk after a few seconds or so.... Then add the talking head introductory banner.


The Framed Whole Screen
aka the not so in your face talking
Unlike the first whole screen, this one gets fancy intro and outro animation, but stays still while the person talks. It'll feature part of the looping background.


The Cropped Talking Head
This one features the talking head video cropped into a small square. This will animate creatively, even while the speaker is still talking. I'll just have to time how long it'll feature the talking head then animate it later on. I need all the time to layout the talking heads.

That's it for now. I have around 8 hours to spend tomorrow for this project... So maybe I'll use that time to sort pictures. Ciao!