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My most important Twitter Messages #6

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:13:36 +0000

A small summary of my Twitter messages from March - June 2010:

Allgemein (General)

Reading 'How To Market Your Mobile Application' (via @smashingmag)
175 free woodworking ebooks
the Pop Sciences Archive is opened and for free!
Free Paper: The Internet of things: Networked objects and smart devices
really cool project! http://openmaterials.org/about/ and maybe helpful for some future projects (installations and tangible devices?!)
RT @ben_fry is higher education a bubble that's about to burst? http://j.mp/cjf4Nh (via @humphd)
RT @apolaine New on Playpen:: Interdisciplinarity vs Cross-Disciplinarity
Adobe Story: A Collaborative Tool for Screenwriting - maybe useful in some future projects?!
Interesting: Slow Media Manifesto
Ole #Kristensen Homepage is a perfect resource for #stage-based #animations and #installations http://bit.ly/aHxX6T | http://bit.ly/d4a8Hn

Generative Art:

Mathematical Art and sculptures
Really great particle experiment with good potential for generative art projects
such a nice gallery: Complexification | Gallery of Computation #Generative #Art #Drawing

Info Design and Visualization

RT @DesignerDepot: 14 Visually Stunning Animated Infographics
Tim Berners-Lee: The Year Open Data Went Worldwide (TED Talk)
Nice use and explanation of Jeff Heer's horizon charts (http://is.gd/a1MhQ ): "Hoe de kredietcrisis de beurs besmette" http://is.gd/a1Mfm
Launch: The Google Public Data Explorer makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate
A Tour through the Visualization Zoo - Great article!!! via @moritz_stefaner
http://wefeelfine.org/book has included some very nice data generated graphics - nice inspiration for info visualizatzion and generative art
RT @moritz_stefaner Put my presentation from Kassel last week up to slideshare: Information Aesthetics
RT @seb_ly how did I miss this? London underground trains' live position on a map!

UX and Interaction Design:

please welcome our new and growing project compilation on vimeo (via @idpotsdam)
Nice talk: Mike Kruzeniski-Poetry & Polemics in Creating Experience
MultiTouchGesture stuff: Talk | Icons#1 Icons#2 Icons#3
Reading all the paper of Organic User Interfaces http://www.organicui.org/
Designing Kinetic Interactions for OUI is a great article and it mentioned why interactive art is and was important
Some good thoughts on "natural" user interfaces by Don Norman: Natural User Interfaces are not Natural
Two nice talks about #EMOTIONs and #HAPPINESS in #Design processes. Perfect for the afternoon break

Projekte und Experimente (Projects and experiments)

TouchDesigner, an authoring tool for building interactive 3D art, visualizations
RT @creativeapps toneglue is a nice Music band visualization App [WebApp, Flash]
Nice list: 11 Killer Apps for Microsoft Surface
Mobile physical-digital dial interface - Tangible Controller for your next generation mobile?!
Water-based touch screen interface - nice experiment-Dont know if it is helpful,at least it has a physical feedback
Interactive cookies for AR Applications http://tinyurl.com/yd9et59 and http://tinyurl.com/333odbr via MultiModal Interface Lecture
very nice media facade visualization
great audio visual based drawing project: Nodal Genesis- I almost fall in love with the vis techniques

Neue Technologie (new Technologies)

Skinput: Appropriating the Body as an Input Surface
RT @quasimondo: Awesome puppet locomotion paper & video
boah shit sick face capturing. Much room for manipulation, like in the politic movie #WagTheDog
More information how this sick face capturing and scanning works
nice new PSD painting tools , especially in combination with http://bit.ly/2LcGnM and Coolpaint
New Material: Programmable Origami - reminds me on nano technology or intelligent textils

Programmierung und Software Design (Programming)

Xuggler is the easy way to uncompress, modify, and re-compress any media file (or stream) from Java to a red5 server
Live Screencast in Flash mit Red5 und Java Streaming Library
VH Java Screen Capture SDK looks nice... Hopefully it will not become so expensive...
Freeware: VH Screen Capture Driver supports C++, C#, Java, Delphi, etc
Pogg: Processing Theora Ogg Videos - Working with ogg (Streaming) Videos // thx @david_bru
kooaba’s image recognition web services API is public and their Query API is free! you can check
Great tool and lib for web harvesting / scraping to extract data from web pages
crazy Peter from Slovakia is an awesome visual animation programmer #processing. He rocks!
RT @jensfranke Benedikt Gross just released vers. 1.2 of his Processing Animation/tweening Library ANI. (via @CedricKiefer)
Very good resource for processing! http://wiki.processing.org/w/Main_Page

Physical Computing

Crazy LED clothes.... maybe hackable for something
nice website with tutorials in wearable technology http://lilypond.media.mit.edu/ via @popkalab
Hmm... this Amarino Project (Android meets Arduino) sounds interesting
Arduino is now flexible- seems perfect for fashionable projects?!
First Steps with Arduino - nice video tutorial for beginners via @make

Game Developing:

Flash Game Developer: Announcing Mochi Social & the Mochi GAME Developer Fund
Updated my FLash Game Lib Blog with some Links: PushButton Engine vs. Flixel Game Engine and other tutorial links

Flash and Flex

ASSURF by Eugene is an impressive image-based pattern recognition library for Flash
Two great tutorials for particle effects with flint: Introduction | Flint in a Game
RT Stevehoward999 nice bunch of Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder 4 tutorials from Adobe TV
RT @mchaize: Yes ! Adobe Flex is open ! The AdvancedDataGrid and Charting components are open source
Flash Builder 4 is still FREE for students and teachers
Introduction to Flex 4 videos --> Good video links
RT thibault_imbert Blogged : Optimizing Flash Ads whitepaper and some XFL Gourmet
„Optimizing Performance for the Flash Platform.” Tipps für Flash Player 10.1. (pdf)
Optimizing web content for Flash Player 10.1 - a nice video talk
very cool article for MySQL + PHP and Flex Projects
Added http://www.flashscope.com/ on my blogpost for selling and buying flash components
Hm, I dont know why I found this http://flexbookmarks.com/ not ealier... But it seems to be a cool flex blog collection

My most important Twitter Messages #5

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:15:37 +0000

A small summary of my Twitter messages from Januar - February 2010:

Allgemein (General)

Alexis Milant is a great video artist. Especially this video I like very much
RT @golan: Just discovered that Ars Electronica is putting their archives on Vimeo
Nice list of demos and good points for #creative #visual #flash prorgramming. Thx to @mrdoob http://mrdoob.com/blog/post/685
Sehr coole Auswahl von Videokunstwerken - Arte Video Art Night Marathon
Funny interactive (media) installation Moving Mario thx @Bager for the link
Nice Project. The Sand-Printer via @make http://tinyurl.com/y8fhz4f
Interesting Master Program: European Masters in Ludic Interfaces
One of the best stage-based animations I have seen yet. Chunky Move's Mortal Engine
Interesting book puplished: Interactive Architecture Book Homepage
iFreeTablet the free alternative from ipad much cheaper and all open source. http://www.ifreetablet.com/ via @mcanet
Open source hardware - feature story in Wired - In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits
Cool Java-based circuit simulator. a good helper for physical computing experiments
Hm is this an interesting master study or just a trend study for getting new students: MA Social Media
puredyne - USB-bootable GNU/LINUX OS for creative media via @shervinafshar
Sehr guter und informativer Artikel zum Thema #Wissensmanagement (3.0). Nur der Schluss ist ein wenig schwach..

Generative Art:

Ich bin nun überzeugt und werd mir das Buch kaufen. http://www.generative-gestaltung.de/ Visual Programming Lernen vom Feinsten
RT @rafiqelmansy Fractal Art: Inspiration with Equations http://bit.ly/8UblDj
Really great generative art experiment - Alice in Wonderland, which worked with text as material and flash

Info Design and Visualization

RT @grumplet: 7500 words by Henry Hadlow in one image. Reviews Eigenfactor.org, Photosynth, wk.com, SeadragonCool info design project: Knowledge Cartography http://www.knowledgecartography.org/ via MStäbler,other nice project http://eigenfactor.org/
COMPUTATIONAL INFORMATION DESIGN (PHD Thesis) or Book from Ben Fry available as a PDF download
Choosing Colours for Data Visualization (.pdf) - prostheticknowledge
RT Upcoming later this year: O'Reilly's "Beautiful Visualization" http://is.gd/6Zlt9 featuring a chapter on "X by Y" http://is.gd/6ZlCr

UX and Interaction Design:

RT interaction design history slideshow (via @ighfggmuend)
PhD Thesis: An Exploration of Multi-finger Interaction on Multi-touch Surfaces by Shahzad Malik as a PDF Download
Nice list and maybe useful for some research papers... A DIRECTORY OF SOURCES FOR INPUT TECHNOLOGIES by Bill Buxton
Nice system!! MultiTouch Cell is the first multitouch LCD for fully scalable display arrays
Again,I highly recommend this book for Mobile Interface Design.It is old but many interface concepts are still upToDate
Now I am convinced about the advantages of http://sikuli.csail.mit.edu/ for Interaction Designer. Rapid Prototyping Tool for Remote Devices
Disappearing mobile devices - a paper and concept by Hasso Plattner Institut Potsdam
50 Free UI and Web Design Wireframing Kits, Resources and Source Files via @smashingmag
RT @fuelinterface Amazing Alternative Interfaces That Will Change Our Lives | Fuel Your Interface ->Interesting overview
scalable actuated shape display from MIT's Tangible Media Group
Physical Gestures to Document Design Research
Dan Saffer's Talk: Researching and Designing Interactive Gestures

Projekte und Experimente (Projects and experiments)

Nice Project from MIT: High Low Tech http://hlt.media.mit.edu/
Wearable Technologies and other High and Low Tech Stuff from the MIT via @make interesting video report!
Secret handshake of the future from the tangible Interface class of the MIT via @make
RT “Notput” is an interactive music table with tangible notes, that combines all three senses of hearing, sight and touch:
LED Galaxy Dress by CuteCircuit is World’s Largest Wearable Display
Great use of Augmented Reality! LEGO Manual With ARToolKit
That is a really crazy map-location-based mash up demo - augmented-reality maps by microsoft
EKG-controlled Game of Life hoodie via @make
TouchDesigner, an authoring tool for building interactive 3D art, visualizations

Neue Technologie (new Technologies)

A Dynamic Facade
Nice examples and nice #augmented reality SDK for common #mobile Devices http://tinyurl.com/yz6hny3 | SDK www.metaio.com/products/mobile/

Programmierung und Software Design (Programming)

Let Arduino communicate with each other. Arduino control the other Arduino.Maybe the new Adruino Virus?!via @make
Xuggler is the easy way to uncompress, modify, and re-compress any media file (or stream) from Java to a red5 server http://www.xuggle.com/
Live Screencast in Flash mit Red5 und Java Streaming Library
VH Java Screen Capture SDK looks nice... Hopefully it will not become so expensive..
Freeware: VH Screen Capture Driver supports C++, C#, Java, Delphi, etc

Game Developing:

Playyoo is an interesting plattform for Flash Mobile and Flash Lite Game Developer http://blog.playyoo.com/ and http://playyoo.com/
Interesting report: Indie Flash Game Development: A 2009 Year-End Retrospective
Blog article: Best Selling Augmented Reality Games of 2009
Flash Game License: Looking Back at 2009: Trends and Statistics
Very cool styles for Casual Computer Games: Skateboard // Jump N Run Adventure
RT Getting Started: PushButton Engine recording from #SeaFlex last night: http://bit.ly/74jCHc (via @jnbeck)
Wow! a big Graphical User Interface Collection of Games. Useful for research in interaction design in Games http://gamegui.net/
Fast statistic consumption... RT @dotmick: Videogame Statistics
Cool game design prototypes for tangible interfaces: DaVinci (Microsoft Surface Physics Illustrator)
SurfaceScapes 2.0 demo - A further nice tangible Game Interface idea!
Nice article about creating a MMO browser game with Flash (Game: zOMG)
RT Addressing color blindness in (game) design http://is.gd/8HWrQ (via @elsassph)
Looks good: Flash Gaming on NVIDIA Tablets
Two great tutorials for particle effects with flint: Introduction Flint in a Game

Flash and Flex

Brain Computer Interface ActionScript 3.0 API library released by Sean Moore
RT New #Processing book by Ira Greenberg, The Essential Guide to Processing for Flash Developers, is here!
RT @_sandro Highly interesting! Jangaroo - Actionscript 3 to Javascript Compiler! http://www.jangaroo.net/home/ - i think i'm in love
Nice list: 5 useful Flash applications listed by Mihai CORLAN
xmoovStream PHP video server for Flash. Not real Streaming, but progressive download with seeking functionality
RT Red5 Developer Series videos from @newviewnetworks look awesome! http://bit.ly/4KJBu2
RT We just released ASDocr, an AIR 2.0 app for working w/ASDoc. Makes documenting AS3 code much easier!
RT Here it is: @matthbooth's excellent webcam light-painting tutorial - http://bit.ly/4sipE5
This Controlling the rain project with Arduino and Flash gives a nice introduction into physical computing
Good introduction video tutorial for the Flash Gaia Website Framework
Whitpaper about Flex (Slider) Framework and mobile devices
Great resources for optimizing your content for flash mobile devices
A really useful set of ActionScript classes and utilities "to get you coding faster and more reliably": http://casalib.org
Pixelwave, framework for iPhones Games/Apps, based completely on the Flash AS3 API #iphone #flash (via @fplag)
You can monetize your Flex Components, Flex and Air applications with FlexDen.net http://www.flexden.net/
FlashSURF by Eugene is an impressive image-based pattern recognition library for Flash

My most important Twitter Messages #4

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:03:16 +0000

A small summary of my Twitter messages from November - December 2009:

Allgemein (General)

Great homepage with top-level talks for creative coders, designer and other artists
Very interesting media facade project. Partly based on Adobe Air Sorftware
Nice article: Media Facades: Fundamental terms and concepts
International Symposium on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization, and Imaging
Very interesting designer: http://www.waldemeyer.com/ especially for the domain of wearable technology fashion. Also his blog
Some inspiration for your wishlist? Physical Computing Ahoi!
Very cool!! Real SVN Functionality for Photoshop with PixelNovel
Wiigee is a nice java library for working with gestures and the wiimote. a port for ActionScript would be nice
Reuters open MetaData (Semantic Web) Database looks interesting for webservice and information experiments
Wow! The New York Times began to open their Information Archives! http://data.nytimes.com/
Nice Geo coding API for Web 2.0 services
Interactive installations wanted for the FITC Amsterdam
Found an archive database for Media Art. Maybe it could be useful during my studies in interactive art
Nice Graphic about Qualities of Information Design
Great slides about a good business culture in a creative environment
fascinated by the Theremin Music instrument and tv documentation (deutsch)
Yale University's Psychology course on Youtube. **OFF TOPIC**
Holy shit that is the best parkour action I have ever seen!! **OFF TOPIC**
Ziemlich interessante Präsentation über die Kombination von Mobile Art und Urban Displays von Jürgen Scheible
Nett zu lesen: Digitale Nachhaltigkeit – ein Konzept mit Zukunft

Generative Art:

Interesting blog entry on 'Generative Art' via @Natzke
Generative Art Tool - out of the box via @generatorx
Ich bin nun überzeugt und werd mir das Buch kaufen. http://www.generative-gestaltung.de/ Visual Programming Lernen vom Feinsten
Umfangreiche Artikel Sammlung zum Thema Generative Tools für die digitale Medienkunst

UX and Interaction Design:

Free Sketching & Wireframing Kit via @fplag
Great blog about interaction, architecture, space, user experience etc.
Marking Menus are a very good concept for mouse gestures and menu navigation issues
Must read article: Open for Business - Designing Social Interfaces -> degree of openness from a technical view
Wow, very nice idea of a physical computing interface: VoodooIO
Nice video list of Tangible User Interfaces
Nice Blog and very good articles: Designing Kinetic and Organic User Interfaces
Two great articles about User Experience in an Agile Development process (or in Scrum) http://tinyurl.com/ycj5a32

Projekte und Experimente (Projects and experiments)

Amazing sound sculptures from motors & more via @make
Stumbled again about the lego Time Tracking thing. I really like this nerdy idea
Should I really try it? http://suicidemachine.org/ a nice net (art) project idea
Nice project: Ego search visualizer from MIT Lab: the project page
MIT gestural computing makes multitouch look old hat - Interesting Project
Looking for SenseWare: My Examples -> funktionide // LiquidWall // Poken
Pimp your iPhone for RFID
Wii remote for MAME on iPhone
Nice experiment! iPhone controlled Arduino tank
DIY accelerometer controlled USB gamepad
wow, a 45m long multitouch wall via @jensfranke, @CedricKiefer, @memotv / Don't know if this useful...
itsme the next generation of personal computing?! I don't know...
Very cool idea or app for an eyetracker approach
Microsoft "Courier" secret tablet

Neue Technologie (new Technologies)

Wow the City Engine Software looks great for Science Fiction and other Urban Movie Post Production stuff
Transform your real pictures into nice drawings: Research Project GradientShop

Programmierung und Software Design (Programming)

Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering
Uh nice topic for Computer Scientist in Media: Opportunistic Programming

Game Developing:

Blog article: Best Selling Augmented Reality Games of 2009
Interesting report: Indie Flash Game Development: A 2009 Year-End Retrospective
A must read for all Flash Indie Game Developer: Badim's Total revenue from last 2 years blog post
Playyoo is an interesting plattform for Flash Mobile and Flash Lite Game Developer http://blog.playyoo.com/ and http://playyoo.com/
Adobe starts "#Flash Platform #Gaming Technology Center" (Center) via @flashforum
Some nice and useful video tutorials for the Flash Push Button Game Engine
Thoughtful article from @GregLoire on Achievement Design 101 via @mochimedia
Nice Blogpost: Creating a Game Design Document
Nice article: Running a Game Studio: From Start-Up to Sustainability

Flash and Flex

Brain Computer Interface ActionScript 3.0 API library released by Sean Moore
Blog post: 34 cool ActionScript Libraries by Sean Moore
Great Voronoi open-source library for AS3 published
Harmcrest is a nice Form and User Interface Input Validation Library and Framework for Flex
Adobe #Flash and search engine optimization (#SEO): Techniques, issues, and strategies: (via @marcthiele)
Maybe the Flash Plattform gives P2P a new chance to establish in the area of network (streaming) technologies?!
Tweetr AS3 Library 0.95 Released by @_sandro check out:

My most important Twitter Messages #3

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:03:47 +0000

A small summary of my Twitter messages from September - October 2009:

Allgemein (General)

Wow! nice black-white photography compilation
Sadly... but it is so true... the hierarchy of digital distractions - nice info graphic
Nice Blog Post: How I find good folks to collaborate with
Readin the paper: What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory
RT @scene360 Is it made with Paint or Code? — Illusion 360 - World's Most Amazing Art, Design, Technology, Video
Freaky pictures on Nikon Small World Gallery
Wow!!! Bullet impacts at 1,000,000 frames per second
I like the web app Tilt-Shiftmaker! http://tiltshiftmaker.com/
Tracks on a Map - A nice data visualization example http://www.tracksonamap.com/
Emperor's Castle amazing papercraft and here more amazing photos
Nice essay for dealing with the topic of interactive art: FEEDBACK: FROM OBJECT TO PROCESS AND SYSTEM
Another nice essay: Interaction, Participation, Networking: Art and Telecommunication
really nice! Combo: A collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis
Nice talk: The Wizard of Data Art, Aaron Koblin
Please read the important words from Jonathan Harris: World Building in a crazy world! and think about it
Interested in generative drawing?! watch this
(Reading: Swarm Theory Article)

UX and Interaction Design:

Really nice presentation Slides: Interacting with the Semantic Web
UX topic: understanding experience of social-network-sites nice article
How to Understand Your Users with Personas - A nice comic explanation
Nice blog article: Creating a Timeless User Experience
interesting interview: Drawing Ideas and Communicating Interaction
Reading the paper: Emerging Frameworks for Tangible User Interfaces

Projekte und Experimente (Projects and experiments)

Delta bot a nice roboter for mouse interaction via processing and arduino
Very nice Flash Augmented Reality Experiment Idea: Augmented Reality Texture Extraction
very nice vector-based drawing tool with very nice brushes!! http://www.livebrush.com/ via @fplag
ACME – Augmented Collaboration in Mixed Environments - Impressive project!
G-speak The Spatial Operating Environment - Minority Report Interface System Yeah the future has begun
2d Sketches Become 3d Reality
Could be a nice interface for games -> electric stimulus to face
Video: Strategy Game R.U.S.E. with Multitouch Interaction
Nice product for ubiquitous blackboard installation: IdeaPaint!! Maybe also nice for hack the social space
The piece was created to explore a sense of connection and playfulness in multiple urban open spaces" via @jensfranke

Neue Technologie (new Technologies)

Parallax Photography: Creating 3D Cinematic Effects from Stills
Amazing!!... Reconstructing Building Interiors from Images
WOW!!! ILoveSketch, a gesture-based 3D sketchpad. Amazing!
Markerless camera tracking (via @alexmilde) via @jensfranke
Amazing Mobile AR Videos from Graz
PhotoSketch as new compositing and photo search engine tool for pictures looks unbelievable!
Totally insane, crazy, nuts, mad and anything else. The CryEngine 3
Shape Recognition and Pose Estimation for Mobile (!) Augmented Reality
Next generation of image manipulation!!! Content-Aware Fill from Adobe - more info
That AR stuff rocks! Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition
Hi-speed robotic hand - impressive: via @Quasimondo
Muscle-Computer Interfaces (muCIs) from Microsoft

Programmierung und Software Design (Programming)

The Duct Tape Programmer - the new programmer boheme?!
I really like the idea of: Fifth-generation programming language

Game Developing:

Great news. The unity Game Engine is now free for Indie Game Developer
Do you need sounds for your (Flash) Game? Then check this cool app Thx to 8bitRocket.com

Flash and Flex

Away3d released a very lite version of their Flash 3D Engine.
nice generative sound library for Flash. Looks greate for some interaction stuff like games etc!
I think Flex Charts for data visualization is yesterday, Axiis will become the new tool! Read this and try
Almost all Max 2009 presentations on AdobeTV thx @_sandro
New post: Eclipse Plug-in: Download AS3 libraries straight to your Eclipse/Flex Builder/FDT project http://bit.ly/10egz0 (via @Powerflasher)
Reading: AIR 2 Enhancements Complete Overview... Sounds nice for Software Developer and maybe also for digital aritists
Watching Advanced Data Visualization with Flex at Adobe Max 2009
Fall in love with http://www.liquidjourney.com/ such a greate resource for creative visual coding!
watching the talk: What is new in Flex 4
Found a new great blog about physical computing with Flash and Flex!!
FLash Particle Engine Stardust Video Tutorials!
Nice Flash Framework Hype for creative coding is in progress. The first examples looks very great

Meine wichtigsten Twitter Messages #2

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:51:21 +0000

Hier eine kleine geordnete Zusammenfassung meiner wichtigsten Twittermeldungen:

Allgemein (General)

Here are 192 of the best creative, smart and clever advertising messages (link via Philip Fieber)
Gartner Hype Cycle 2009 - a Technology Trend Chart
Nice words about Joseph Weizenbaum (link via @david_sch)
Wow! Very nice list -> Massive Compilation of Designer Tools
very nice blog post about the concept and idea of information visualization via @jensfranke
Unbelievable COLOR photos from Tsarist Russia, recently restored by Library of Congress: via @make

Projekte und Experimente (Projects and experiments)

nice idea of a visual-based music instrument - The tablet guitar
uh ActionScript Painter is a very nice Flash app for creating abstract graphic effects http://painter.grootlicht.com/ I like it very much
I would love a combination of this and this for a google maps racing game
Uuuuhhhh ahhhhh. Nice Projection on buildings. Is this a new trend?! via Adrian Koch
Latest @evoflash AS3 demo: http://bit.ly/19xu5Q. Impressive!! (via @mrdoob)
nice interaction design idea for 3D shooter games or nice simple technology for interactive media installations
Nice 3D-augmented realtiy Marble game
Also a nice flash demo from evoflash: Proof of Concept
NICE!! -> AR navigation system for Andorid
WOW. If you are bored, please do this kind of stop motion

Neue Technologie (new Technologies)

Bokode the new generation of barcodes and tracking tags?! Created by the MIT lab:
I have seen this laser tracking at the ars electronica in linz. Has someone a more information about this project?!
Research: Carnegie Mellon University developed a system for Inflatable buttons for touch screens.
New generation of gamer keyboards:Pressure sensitive computer keyboard

Programmierung und Software Design (Programming)

Object Oriented Software Design Article #1: Is Inheritance overrated ? Needed even?
Object Oriented Software Design Article #2: How to Use Design Patterns A Conversation with Erich Gamma
Object Oriented Software Design Article #3: Erich Gamma on Flexibility and Reuse
Object Oriented Software Design Article #4: Erich Gamma Design Principles from Design Patterns

Game Developing:

Paper for Virtual Worlds Economics Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier
Downloadbare Masterarbeit: Die Makroökonomie einer virtuellen Welt
nice article: Top 10 Tips on How to Improve a Game Quality Assurance Department
Game Article round up #1: Learning from Games: A Language for Designing Emotion
Game Article round up #2: Party crashers! iPhone/social games make old-guard casual game companies envious
Game Article round up #3: Social game companies light the way for old-guard casual game makers
Interesting article on the making of World of Warcraft : via @mesh
Two nice must-read articles for Indie Flash Developer or for newbies in this subject http://tinyurl.com/kqb6cw and http://tinyurl.com/nawrta
Game Design: Nice list of enemy types in casual games
diploma thesis for Game Developers: A Unified Framework for Rigid Body Dynamics

Mobile and Flash Lite

Nice UI Components for Flash Lite Apps and Games http://bit.ly/mbDMz
New adobe devnet available: Extending Flash Lite for the Digital Home Entertainment
New Flash Lite Tutorials for List UIs and Touch Events available on the LG dev center

Flash and Flex

Flash Media Streaming: New RTMPe content protection white paper http://bit.ly/Pu3Jl
YellowBird - Flash Video in 360 degree from netherlands - nice! http://bit.ly/qf2dN
Joa released a nice Tool for reducing the file size of a swf File, when you use the Embed Tag for graphics
Grape Animation Library is a very nice Library for path-based Animations in Games and Animation Movies
FlexPMD is a tool for improving your code quality. Now it is OpenSource and it looks nice
Bitmap Animation API Released – Ginger from Cheezeworld - Very useful for Bitmap Based Games
Neues Buch im Bookstore: Flash Engineering: Agile Ansätze zum Bau von RIAs mit Flash, Flex und Actionscript
Free Flash & Flex Mag Issue 05/2009 to download
yeah found this ActionScript Library for physical interaction with THE adruino board!
Robert Penner started a new AS3 Event System, wich is inspired by C# It sounds interesting
Stardust Particle Engine is a nice ActionScript Library for Particle Effects in 2D and 3D!

Flash Game Frameworks, Classes and Libraries

admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:30:13 +0000

More than 2 years ago I wrote a blog post about Flash Game Programming. Since this blog post until today a lot of actions happens in the Flash Game Community. Some Flash Game Developer created great classes, libraries and frameworks, which makes our life as a Flash Game Developer so much simpler. In this blog post I would like to give a short overview which tools are available at the moment.

General Frameworks & Classes

In this category you can find tools, which solve some common problems like resource management, loading processes, screen management, level management and so on

Push Button Engine (all in one Solution for all kind of games) | Video Tutorial | YouTube
Flixel (all in on Solution for 2D Games) | Tutorial 1 | Tutorial 2
Bold Pixel Engine (all in on Solution for 2D Games) | Review | Tutorials
Glaze (physics, AI,Screen Management, UserInput)
Citrus Flash Game Engine (all in one Solution and Box2D) **NOT FREE**
Flash Punk (collision detection, bitmap-based rendering, User Input, ...) | Tutorial
PixelBlitz Engine (collision detection, bitmap-based rendering, User Input, ...)
AS Data Structures for Game Developers
AS HIVE (Loading Media and XML Assets, Screen Management, MVC Structure)

Rendering and 3D Libraries

This topic handles the issues of visual renderings. Some renderers delivers nice editors for creating game levels

Papervision 3D (Editor)
Yogurt 3D | Tutorial
Away 3D
Sandy 3D
as3isolib (Isometric) (Editor)
FFilmation (Isometric) (Editor)
OpenSpace (Isometric)
diesel blitting engine (bitmap based)
PixelBlitz Engine (bitmap based) | blog
Flash Punk (bitmap based) | Tutorial

Physic Engines and Collision Detection

You want to add almost realistic behaviour to your game. Here are some engines which helps you

JigLib (3d Physics)
WOW Engine (3d Physics)
APE 2D Physic Engine
Box2D (Tutorials)
Motor2 (very powerful 2D Physic Engine)
Glaze (2D Rigid Body Engine)
Foam (2D Rigid Body Engine)
Collision Detection Kit - Examples (just for collision detection)

Animation, AI and Particle Systems

Some tools for animation and game objects behaviour in your game. Very nice for defining motions of your game objects

BetweenAS3 (Tweening Engine) Tutorial
gTween (Tweening Engine)
Grape Animation Library (path-based Animations) Examples
AI Steering Behaviors Library
Ginger - Bitmap Animation API
Josh Particle Systems | Examples
Flint Particle Engine | Presentation | Tutorial
Stardust Particle Engine for 2D and 3D
Fluid Solver Class

Dynamic Sound Generation

Every Game need sound to deliver a complete user experience. Luckily there exists some nice libraries and tools to realize this kind of programmatic sound effects.

SiON (AS3 library) | Examples
Standingwave (AS3 library)
Sonoflash (component-based-system)
Audio Processing Library for Flash (ALF)

Multiplayer Tools and APIs

For creating Multiplayer Games you have two different approaches. Manage an own server or use web-service. Here are the most common tools and services for multiplayer experiences. For more information please read this blog post

SmartFox (Server)
Red5 (Server) | Tutorials
Flash Media Interactive Server (Server)
Union Server (Server & Service)
Come2Play MultiPlayer API (Service)
Nonoba Multiplayer API (Service)
Pulse (Service) *** UPDATE 2009-11-14 ***

Other APIs

In the last 1-2 years there was a real hype about Monetizing Flash Games. Because of this hype a few API around Flash Games appeared to deliver better game experience for the Flash Casual Gamers.

Nonoba (Highscore API, Achievements API, MicroPayment API, Analytic and Tracking API)
Come2Play (Highscore and other community based API, MicroPayment API)
MochiMedia (Highscore API, Game-Ad API, MicroPayment API, Analytic API)
Kongregate (HighScore and Challenge API, Analytic API)
Social Gold (MicroTransaction API) | Review
GamerSafe (SaveGame API, Achievements API, MicroTransaction API)
heyZap (MicroTransaction API, Analytic API)
Whirled (MicroTransaction API and ???)
Games Chart (Analytic API and Publishing API) | Interview
Flash Ad Manager (Library for the different services)

That is all what I know about tools, libraries and services for Flash Games. If I have forgotten one, please write a comment and if anyone of you have already some experience which the libraries and service I mentioned above, please write comment. Thanks a lot! So and please take care of the used open source license before your integrat the code in your projects! Grant Skinner wrote an nice article about open source licenses. At last here is a nice search page for game tools indiegametools.com , if you would need some other cool stuff.

Meine wichtigsten Twitter Messages #1

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:28:05 +0000

Hier eine kleine geordnete Zusammenfassung meiner wichtigsten Twittermeldungen:

Mobile:

New Book! AdvancED Flash on Devices: Mobile Development with Flash Lite and Flash 10 from Friends of ED
New Flash Lite UI Components. A Flash MXP package for Flash and Project Capuchin developers
Inspiration: Mobile E-Learning Kit
Mobile Augmented Reality Map Application Layar looks nice

Flash:

Search engine for Flash Developer Content which is called HexoSearch. It looks very cool!
Interview: Future of TV with Flash Technology ...I don't like the idea, because they forgot the lean back mentality
Flash Love Letter 2009. A very interesting Blog Post for all Flash (Game) Developer!
Nice Blog for Flash SEO Optimizing Experiments http://www.flashnseo.com/ and here nice FAQs for Flash SEO
Flash Content and Google Search Engine -> Flash and some new SEO improvements
VideoStreaming Lösung für Flash und(!) iPhone von OnlineLib
REally nice slides about the whole Flash development process from gSkinner
nice presentation. Google Analytics for Flash. Know what our users do!

Flex:

uhh the Axiis Core Functionality Video Tutorials looks really nice. Maybe a very good alternative to the Flex Charts
Blueprint a PlugIn for centric Programming in Flex and Flash Builder. It looks very nice!
Parsley 2.0 - Application Framework für Flex/Flash/AIR released.
Reading Overview of Flex 4 (Gumbo)
Migrating from Flex 3 to Flex 4 (Gumbo)

Interaction Design:

Interesting article: Is Interaction Design a dead-end job?
IDEO puplished their Human-Centered Design Toolkit
Johnny Holland TV is an online video channel digi-broadcasting material around the subject of interaction design.
microsoft explores extreme augmented-reality
Very useful Map: Map of European interaction design education
Nice list of Augmented Reality Games
Really great blog post about "resources of helpful interface design patterns"!!
Wow Sony PSP Augmented Reality Game INVIZIMALS rocks! Do AR Games introduce a new Era?!
Nice Article: selling what we do

Sonstiges:

Open Softwear is a free pdf-book about fashion & wearable technologywith adruino
Ein wirklich schönes Essay von Armin Medosch über den Fetisch Soziale Netzwerke
Interactive LED wall in Montreal - Nice thing for night clubs or something similar
Wow... I like this idea of printing or should I say hacking the urban environment
Open SourceTwo Player Portable Game Console on Make
Design in Germany - ein nettes Portal für alle Designer Typen
Nice stuff from denmark: http://www.artrebels.com/
If you must take a hard decision, ask http://www.hunch.com/ for a solution
Nice Stop Motion Movie DEADLINE post-it stop motion
Indie-, Low-Budget- und Guerilla-Filmer Camp im August. Für Filmemacher sicherlich interessant
Eben gerade einen netten Artikel über Digital Natives gelesen in der Page. Ausgabe 07/09-Gute Website zum Thema
Really nice Stop Motion Clip -> Sorry I'm late
cool item list for Jump n run games or other games
Speichern des Papers: Intelligente Objekte – klein, vernetzt, sensitiv
The Ultimate Motion Graphics Tutorials Round-Up
interesting article: In Defense of Distraction In Defense of Distraction
Stunning laser art light

Flash Indie Developer Part 5: Geld verdienen mit Flash Games

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:08:31 +0000

Arbeiten als Independent Game Developer hört sich immer cool an und hat sicherlich auch bei dem einen oder anderen Kindertraum Status. Umso besser für uns, dass es jetzt seit jüngerer Zeit auch für Flash Game Developer eine Art Businessmodell existiert. Da dieser Bereich ganz schön umfangreich ist und man sicherlich damit ein Buch füllen könnte, werde ich nur die grundlegendsten Einnahmequellen und Distributionswege für Flash Games inkl. Vor-und Nachteile erläutern.

Independent Game Developer Mind Map

In-Game-Advertising

In-Game-Advertising funktioniert ähnlich der Bannerwerbung für Websites. Mit Hilfe eine API können wir Werbung an beliebigen Stellen in unserem Game platzieren. Preloader, Highscore Screens usw. bieten sich dafür sehr gut an. Abgerechnet wird meistens, wie bei Google AdSense per Klick. Eine ganz gute Infrastruktur für dieses Erlösmodel liefern MochiAds und GameJacket Ad4Game.

Vorteile:
•    Stetige Einnahmen über einen längeren Zeitraum
•    Volle Freiheit der Werbungsplatzierung
•    Volle Verfügungsfreiheit über sein Game

Nachteile:
• Es müssen extrem viele User das Spiel spielen. Das heißt man muss sein Game auf sehr vielen Gamesportalen veröffentlichen. (Hoher Zeitaufwand)
• Nicht so hohe Einnahmebeträge

Lizenzierung und Sponsoring

Bei dieser Erlösform verkaufen wir bestimmte Nutzungsrechte von unserem Spiel an einem Käufer. Welche verschiedenen Formen der Rechteabtretung existieren lässt sich sehr gut auf dem Blogeintrag "Choosing Sponsor wisely" durchlesen. In der Regel kann der Käufer bei dem erworbenen Game sein Branding integrieren. Das kann von einem einfachen Einbinden eines Firmenlogos bis hin zur Integration eines ganzen Corporate Design Konzepts geschehen. Wie umfangreich diese Änderungen ausfallen werden, wird direkt mit dem Käufer abgesprochen. Am Ende kann der Käufer das Game für seine Marketingkampagne einsetzen oder was auch immer vereinbart wurde. Eine sehr nette Plattform, die Game Developer und Käufer zusammenführt ist FlashGameLicense.com und wer noch neu in diesem Bereich ist, erhält eine sehr gute Einführung zum Thema auf FlashGameSponsorship.com

Vorteile:
•    In der Regel hoher Einnahmebetrag
•    Relativ schnelle Abwicklung
•    Wenig Distributionsaufwand (kaum oder kein Aufwand für die Veröffentlichung seines Games auf Game Portalen)

Nachteile:
•    Zum Teil nur ein einmaliger Ertrag
•    verminderte Verfügungsgewalt über sein Game aufgrund der Rechteabtretung
•    Kleiner Kundenkreis mit evtl. Extrawünschen (Anpassungen am Games für das Branding)

Verkauf von virtuellen Game Items

Der Verkauf von virtuellen Gütern wird schon seit längerem in einigen MMORPG eingesetzt. Dabei kaufen unsere Spieler unsere virtuellen Spielgegenstände gegen echtes Geld. Damit dieses Erlösmodell funktionieren kann, muss unser Game Design genau dafür angepasst werden. Bei bestehenden Spielen ist diese Erlösform nur schwer umzusetzen, da sich das Game Design so gut wie gar nicht im nach hinein verändern lässt. Jedoch beachtet man dieses Erlösmodel direkt bei der Erstellung neuer Spiele, so lässt es sich relativ gut einsetzen. Einige kleine Tipps für das passende Game Design liefert der Blog Freelance Flash Games. Für die technische Infrastruktur (von MicroPayments) können die APIs von Kongregate, Nonoba, MochiCoins, GamerSafe, HeyZap und/oder whirled.com benutzt werden.

Vorteile:
•    Stetige Einnahmen über einen längeren Zeitraum
•    Hohe Kundenspektrum
•    Volle Verfügungsgewalt über sein Game
•    Volle Freiheit über die Entwicklung des Games

Nachteile:
• Game Design muss speziell für dieses Erlösmodell angepasst werden
• Das Game muss einige Anforderungen von Social Games erfüllen. Daher höherer Initialaufwand

Wie man mit seinem Game auf diese 3 Arten sein Geld verdienen kann, spiegelt das Game Kyobi von Photon Storm wider. In seinem Blogeintrag beschreibt er sehr schön auf welchen Plattformen das Game veröffentlicht wurde und was man dabei beachten musste. Auf dem Blog von elite-games.net werden in regelmäßigen Abständen Erträge von dem Erlösmodel In-Game-Advertisment veröffentlicht. So dass man dort einen guten Eindruck bekommt, welche Einnahmen ungefähr mit diesem Ansatz möglich sind. Eine weitere sehr schöner Einnahmequelle kann auch das Verkaufen von Merchandise Produkten sein. Ja richtig gehört! Verkauf von realen physischen Produkten. So dass bei einer guten Aufmachung eines Games diese Erlösquelle auch einen beachtlichen Erlös liefern kann, damit haben selbst die Entwickler des Games „Dino Run“ nicht mit gerechnet.

Mehr möchte ich zu diesem Thema nicht schreiben, weil das schon sehr viele andere schon sehr gut gemacht haben. Deshalb hier eine kleine Liste interessanter Beiträge, die zum Thema passen. Ich empfehle euch einige dieser Berichte kritisch zu lesen, denn teilweise ist die Stimmung ein wenig übertrieben positiv dargestellt.

Wie zu jedem Thema gibt es auch hier einige interessante Blogs, die einem wirklich sehr gut weiterhelfen in Sachen Independent Game Development. Deshalb die "must-read" Blogs für uns Independent Game Developer.

•    Freelance Flash Games News
•    Flash Truth …about flash gamedev and business
•    Flash Game Monetization
•    Mochiland
•    Emanuele Feronato » italian geek and PROgrammer
•    Merlin’s Dev Blog
•    Photon Storm

Kleiner Nachtrag in meinem Text. Falls man gar nicht soweit kommen sollte ein eigenes Spiel auf die Beine stellen zu können. Sei es weil einem die Design oder Programmierer Skills fehlen. Dann schaut mal auf der Plattform FlashGameArt.com nach. Es ist zwar nicht die schönste Seite, aber der Ansatz Developer und Designer zusammen zubringen ist sehr löblich! Auch Kongregate verfolgt mit Collabs einen ähnlichen Ansatz

Das war eigentlich alles was ich zu diesem Bereich zusammentragen konnte. Mehr Infos bzw. mehr Links gibt es nur auf meinem delicious account unter den Tags gamedev, business und monetize.

Zu guter Letzt zu euch. Seht ihr das Game Development unter den erwähnten Erlösmodellen als gute Einnahmequelle oder ist es eher Träumerei? Was meint ihr? Ich würde mich über ein Kommentar sehr freuen.

Sammlung und BackUp der letzen Newsmeldungen

admin — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:57:18 +0000

Aufgrund meines Umstiegs auf WordPress wird es von mir keine seperaten Newsmeldungen mehr geben. Stattdessen verfolgt am besten meinen Twitter Status, dort werde ich in regelmässigen Abständen interessante Links posten. Damit aber nicht die alten News komplett verloren gehen, poste ich Sie hier noch einmal:

Büchersumpf für den Winter 08/09

admin — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:33:14 +0000

Der Sommer ist vorbei und die damit verbundenen Grillsessions am Fluss oder See oder andere tolle Sachen, die man draussen so anstellen kann, gehören somit der Vergangenheit an. Dazu kommt dann noch die ach so tolle frühe Dunkelheit und die schöne (Nass)Kälte, die mir persönlich so gut gefällt, dass ich mich meistens gerne abends ins Bett verziehe. Wer sich dabei langeweilt, dem kann ich nur empfehlen zum alten Printmedium Buch zurück zugreifen. Aus diesem Grund ein Blogeintrag die drohende Langeweile und Inaktivität im Winter für neue Inspirationen und Ideenentwicklungen zu nutzen. Die hier aufgelisteten Bücher aus den Disziplinen Generative Grafik, Informationsverarbeitung und Game Development können einem dabei gut unterstützen...

Generative Grafik oder Kunst

Rund um Informationsverarbeitung

Data Flow (Visualisierung)
Visualizing Data (Visualisierung)
Information Architecture (Struktur)
Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications (Informationsverarbeitung)

Physical Computing

Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects

Game Development

3D Game Engine Design (Architecture)
Engine Architecture (Architecture)
Game Physics Engine Development (Technik)
Artificial Intelligence for Games (Technik)
Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media (Design)