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This Friday, May 10th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Kyle Gomboy of G23D Studios who will present about his latest work involving virtual spaces, 3D printing, Unity3D, and the “No School or Good Cause Left Behind” initiative underway to produce a set of 3D tools and cloud based web services to allow non-profits, teachers and students open source, free access to create and innovate their own ideas pertaining to the use of 3D as an educational and innovation tool. 

About Kyle Gomboy:

Kyle “G” of G23D Studios is a former aerospace test and measurement engineer for RF Microwave/Millimeter wave components that have been used on such platforms as the Cassini space probe, F22 Raptor Superfighter, Space Shuttle and geostationary satellites such as GPS to name a few.

For such projects as deep space probes, military applications such as phased array honeycomb radar systems and similar complex electrical and electronic systems he found 3D visualizations to be crucial and universal in understanding such information and educating users on assembly, purpose and functionality.

About G23D:

G2 was launch in early 2000 as the modern internet was forming in order to facilitate global access to such information by anyone needing remote (telemetric) control and data acquisition from all manner of sensor and control (SCADA) devices. Starting with a project that implemented ultrasonic, radar and mechanical bulk fuel monitoring devices integrated with ESRI GIS mapping and route planning software, Kyle found a distinct need to combine physical world data with centralized visual display software for efficiency and security of fuel distribution companies in Florida USA.

Today G23D pioneers and combines the same concepts of touching the real world from the virtual with 3D tools and platforms such as Unity3D and LabView. Hospitals, manufacturing plants and even moon and galaxy based rovers are on our virtual RADAR for merging with 3D worlds and ad hoc applications.

Currently G23D has four major in-house projects underway including the Virtual Manufacturing Plant, Virtual Hospital, Virtual Engineering and The Telemetric Robot. These projects have caught the attention of other similar companies and individuals who have brought G23D their own ideas to produce and thus revolutionize the way we interpret and analyze data using 3D.

• www.3dg2.com
• http://3dg2.azurewebsites.net
• https://www.facebook.com/G23DS
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/virtualpioneers/

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, May 10th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

AGENDA

• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central  
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation: Kyle Gomboy
• 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements 

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Below is an edited transcript of the May 3rd, 2013 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring 

the Israeli game development team SLGTeam who discussed using Second Life as a game development platform, and the process behind their recently released game Blow ‘Em Up.

You can view the full transcript at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PUdKUz2xNVPr-FO-S3BvBkE8Txu7txjVYJWZ9PnG-Rk/edit and photos at: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cdkf9f4cn54t0ebnvrbiceolpes?authkey=CI_u_8LC0KLOngE.

Today for our featured presentation we are happy to feature an Israeli game design and marketing team SLGTeam: Sapir Chodorov (TallSap), Eran Zolotov (Eramos), Dudu Nissim (GreenDrake), Yoav Shoshani (Cerebi), Maor Nachmias (MaorBigM).

They are going to chat with us about using Second Life as a game development platform, and the process they did behind their recently released game Blow ‘Em Up. 

• http://www.blowemupsl.com
• https://twitter.com/BlowEmUpSL
• Google+ :http://goo.gl/JOrP8

Let’s welcome them all up, please take a seat and start whenever you are ready, you are all welcome to come up and sit on the presenter chairs up here

          Buffy Beale: Cheering loudly!

          Zotarah ShepherdZotarah Shepherd applaudes

          Red: Welcome!

          Red: applause

          Gentle HeronGentle Heron waves to our student presenters.

          gganesha: welcome

          Lynne: We’re not going to be blown up are we?

          LynneLynne is worried.

          Andy Evans: Ma Neesh Ma?

 

Eran Zolotov: hurray

Sapir Chodorov: we have new website http://blowemup.info

Eran Zolotov: thank you very much

Yoav Shoshani: Sorry its a bit laggy

 

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: and yes, with all of the avatars here, it can get laggy

          Skylar SmytheSkylar Smythe smiles at Rhiannon

          Coughran Mayo: ooh a hovering spacecraft!

          Yesha Sivan: lag – not sure what it is I will have to look it up someday (Linden Lab)

          Beth Ghostraven: or something!

 

Eran Zolotov: no worries no one will be blown up today

 

          Zinnia Zauber: hehe

          Tori Landau: lol

          Coughran Mayo: Linden AND Lab AND Lag all start with the letter “L” Coincidence? I think not!

          Beth Ghostraven: except that we’ll put off telling them to you, Gentle! 

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: so I know you mentioned it during the main introductions, but it would also be good to have all of you reintroduce yourselves and your roles too

          Gentle Heron: I can tell I’m going to listen to procrastination jokes ALL DAY now!

 

Eran Zolotov: alrighty .we are all students in the academic college Tel Aviv Jaffo

Yoav Shoshani: Hello everyone, I am Yoav. I’m responsible for the Design of the product and all the finance.

Sapir Chodorov: Hey i’m Sapir CEO of Blow ‘Em Up

Dudu Nissim: i’m dudu nissim and i’m in charge of the marketing and sales of blow em up game

 

          Beth Ghostraven: Sapir, that’s the best job title ever

 

Yesha Sivan: Beth +1

Yoav Shoshani: Of course we all help each other 🙂 Team work is very important.

Maor Nahmias: hi iam maor and iam the technical support guy

Eran Zolotov: My name is Eran Zolotov ,25 from Tel aviv israel, im VP and product manager here at BlowEmUp

Maor Nahmias: and marketing assistant

Eran Zolotov: so lets start a bit about why did we create this fantastic game!

This course is within our bachelor degree for information technologies. We work on the project with the help of a professional moderator. The goal is to give the student tools for real life and to be able to do independent work, to simulate a real life project and managing it.

We created the game after research we did in world and found an idea that will have a wide target audience, will be slightly addictive and competitive. Our goals are to create a game that will work and will be attractive to people, interesting, easy to use and competitive. All this within our somewhat basic knowledge in programming. 

We were introduced to the world of SL last semester as part of an “Intro to virtual worlds” course by Professor Yesha Sivan. The SL world is a good simulator to the real world in this aspect. In SL as the real world it is required to work as a team, Managing projects, dealing with difficulties in project, working with people from around the world, marketing experience and outsourcing.

so how did we work as a team, how we planned it all together? 

We get together twice a week at college to work on the project and we have regular meeting with our moderator each week. At the start of the project we sat down and brain stormed on how to create the work process, creating a work plan and a schedule. Each person on the team works on his own part and of course we also share workloads with each other. 

Seeing as the SL world is new to us it took us a while to understand the ins and outs of the world, the way it works, the social manners. The other big thing we needed to learn was the technical part of the world: Objects and the way they work, the SL programming language and the whole and connecting it all to create a working product.

We’ve learned that team work is extremely important. Being able to accept and use constructive criticism while working under a tight schedule. Being prepared and researching information about the platform you will use. Knowing that selling a service or product will require work even after the sell itself as customer support and keeping in touch with costumers. Researching what will sell in the world, what it has or doesn’t have already.

 

          Oronoque Westland: important lessons…some students are resistant to group projects

          Yesha Sivan: resistance is futile

 

Eran Zolotov: as part of the marketing effort, We market the game in a number of different ways which include a verity of social platforms such as: Facebook, Twitter and Google plus. We also share videos of the game on Youtube. We try to use forums to promote the game (those who allow advertising). We make sure to keep all the social channels fully updated on the game.

We create different versions of the game to accommodate each game owner, be it a free to play game, or a pay per game style.

We advertise our sales on our website and social media in order to advertise the product and attract people to the places where it’s up and running where they can try the game themselves and have fun doing it.

Yoav Shoshani: That is true, some students are resistant, but the real world offers little choice in the matter. and that is what students need to learn.

Eran Zolotov: +1

Dudu Nissim: +1

Sapir Chodorov: +1

Eran Zolotov: We track our channels using Google analytics in order to see which channel is the best way to market. According to what we have seen so far, Youtube and Facebook are the leading channels right now. 

Our Facebook page has approximately 60 followers and our advertisements get about 160 views (as a result of shares and likes).

Maor Nahmias: i want to apologize to everyone but i have to leave. the Shabat is coming and i must go to kidush with my family

 

          Jen: shabbat Shalom Maor

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: good starting momentum

          Oronoque Westland: gut shabbos

 

Maor Nahmias: thank you all 🙂

Eran Zolotov: This is your chance to join us 🙂 now when the game is all done our main issue is currently, after completing the game, is to market this product. Our aim is to have in up and running in as many sims as possible. If you want to know more please contact us via our website: http://blowemup.info, Or follow us on Facebook/Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/blowemupsl, https://twitter.com/BlowEmUpSL

Yoav Shoshani: We will do the demo and answer questions after if you guys have any 🙂

Yesha Sivan: wowowowow

Eran Zolotov: so lets get to the moment you’ve all been waiting for, everyone got a good view?

          Lynne: He he.

          Beth Ghostraven: Wow! I don’t think this game is going to fit in my pub

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: that works

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: lol Beth

          Frans Charming: put your pub in the game

          Yesha Sivan: +1

          Buffy Beale: lol Frans

          Beth Ghostraven: haha yes

          Beth Ghostraven: very Victorian, lol

 

Eran Zolotov: we can costumize it, well il explain what im doing in the game, actually better yet, Yoav will explain

Yoav Shoshani: The games size can be modified. You rez the game, click the crossbow and wear it after, you click the Start button and the game will start there are 8 different levels. Each level has more balloons then the one before

The players gets whispers about his progress and the points he has so far, the game comes with sounds and and is extremely fun

 

          Frans Charming: Is there a time that you need to shoot them before they disappear?

 

Yoav Shoshani: yes, you have 30 seconds each level and 3 misses each level, if you miss 3 times or 30 seconds have passed the game ends.

 

          ChingALing Bling: Is it a solo game or can you play against others?

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: you could have chosen many types of game play mechanics, what made you decide to make it a shooter?

 

Yoav Shoshani: currently it is a solo game. However anyone can play it

Yoav Shoshani: The scoreboard keeps track of the scores of everyone who plays it

 

          Gentle Heron: QUESTION- What physical skills are necessary to be successful at this game? Must you use a keyboard or a mouse, for example?

          Lynne: How easy would it be to modify it into a learning game?

 

Yoav Shoshani: We wanted something competitive. in addition, we wanted a game with levels. and the game does not exist in the world that we’ve seen so far. You play the game using the M mode of Second life. A little aim is required.

 

          Gentle HeronGentle Heron HATES Mouselook!

          Beth Ghostraven: M = mouselook?

          ChingALing Bling: Maybe Mouselook in the Oculus Rift will work for people bettter than the screen version

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: Lynne, how could you see the game mechanics of the balloon popping translated to a learning game?

 

Yoav Shoshani whispers: yes. mouselook. The game can be modified. we can turn the ballons into letters or numbers. you can have a math question on the board. 2+2 = ? and you will need to shoot the balloon with the 4 on it

 

          Lynne: Lots of ways.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: maybe as a way to do a multiple choice or pick the correct words/topics?

          Moundsa Mayo: Or words that must be selected in correct order to form a sentence.

          ChingALing Bling: Or the baloons could have numbers that are parts of equations

          Moundsa Mayo: Or logical premises that lead to a valid conclusion

          Lynne: Maybe true or false. Students grab hold of the balloon T or F and only the correct ones don’t pop. 🙂

          Lynne: (I’m evil.)

          Gentle Heron: it could be a multiple choice quiz

 

Yoav Shoshani: Question and multiple answers is a great idea. whispers: There are many valid ways.

 

          Gentle HeronGentle Heron nods to Yoav

 

Yoav Shoshani: We finished the version which is the first version and are working hard on it

Moundsa Mayo: Key is to maintain engagement while leading through the learning experience.

Yoav Shoshani: our main issue right now is to market it. we want it to be available to people who likes to play 🙂 and learn 🙂 would you like to try the game out?

 

          Tori Landau: Yes, lots of potential for fun learning in this °͜°

          Gentle HeronGentle Heron agrees with Moundsa

          Lynne: Question – is it available on other VWs, like Open Sim?

          Zotarah Shepherd: This looks a bit like the Avilion target game.

          Lynne: I’d love to.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: what happens after your college course is over? Will you still continue as a group to work on game development of this and others?

          Skylar Smythe: I think it has potential. Let’s say for instance it was used for education and every time you burst a balloon, you got a point… and a local message. Say… for health education? Smythe smiles gently.

 

Yoav Shoshani: If you do not own an island you can get the game anyway and use it on open sim areas. Second life is a great platform to learn.

 

          Gentle Heron: I know I harp about this, but one thing I wish game developers considered is accessibility. What physical (and mental and sensory) skills are necessary to be able to play this game? Can a person use it who can’t use a keyboard or mouse? I will warn you that a person using an onscreen keyboard who goes into Mouselook loses the ability to STOP being in Mouselook because the onscreen keyboard disappears! We plan to keep going as a team after the course is over.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: great

          Skylar Smythe: Heron, it would be good if line of sight could be automated wouldn’t it? Zoom in at the point of action?

          Gentle Heron: It sounds like you learned more than game development in this class.

          Skylar Smythe: and of course closed captioning in local chat.

 

Yoav Shoshani: ah i understand the problem accessibility.

 

          Beth Ghostraven: How many prims does it take up? (or Land Impact)

          Gentle HeronGentle Heron smiles at Skylar. Yes, there are many modifications that could be made to make things more accessible.

          Skylar Smythe: 😉 agree

          Stahl Bertrand: I apologize if this was covered earlier, but why did you choose SL over other environments/platforms that would deliver a better gaming experience?

 

Eran Zolotov: Good job frans!

Yoav Shoshani: our current level of knowledge allowed us to do it this way. i do now know if a different way is possible

Dudu Nissim: beth , the game is 6 prims and the scoreboard is 39 prims

Sapir Chodorov: Gentle you are more than right the process is similar to the real world and learned to manage a project for everything

 

          Beth Ghostraven: oh yikes

          Beth Ghostraven: ok

         Eran Zolotov: we are looking for ways to reduce the prims, but of course the game works fine without the scoreboard aswell.

 

Yoav Shoshani: We chose SL because it is a great simulator to real life. We work like a real world company

Eran Zolotov: 280 points! really nice 🙂

Yoav Shoshani: Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: I know we have some other SL game developers in the audience, so am sure you can get useful feedback

          Skylar Smythe: While the technology compared to other games isn’t anything new, it is very refreshing to see new interest in building games in SL.

          Gentle Heron: Good job Frans!

          ChingALing Bling: Do you all expect to make $$$ with this game, or do you have other goals.

          Skylar Smythe: I think it has potential as an information delivery game.

          gganesha: ok bye sorry i have to go………………

          Buffy Beale: bye gganesha thanks for joining us!

 

Yoav Shoshani: We offer the game for L on the market, but we would like to give it free to any island owner who wants it. in addition, any one who wants the game can contact us and we will give it for free

Eran Zolotov: thanks for listening gganesha, have a nice day 🙂

Yoav Shoshani: as part of our studies. We are not here to make money that is not the point, we are here to learn

Sapir Chodorov: thnx gganesha bye 🙂

 

          Lynne: I noticed you said “don’t touch the game”, does it cause issues, and would there be a workaround to this, (for busy areas).

          ChingALing Bling: Maybe you can take this into making custom games for owners of sims

gganesha: bye everyone…………. In 2006 and 2007 I taught a game design class at UCLA where all the games had to be within SL

          Moundsa Mayo: Learning best marketing practices might result from actual selling though B^)

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: and, for those who have done game dev here in SL, what sorts of projects have you worked on – always good to hear/share

          Beth Ghostraven: I’ve been searching for low-prim games to put in my pub, and they’re really scarce

 

Yoav Shoshani: we are still working on bugs . but the game is working great and is stable.

 

          ChingALing Bling: There is a need for really engaging games in the virtual world

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: ahh ChingALing – you beat me to that 😉

          Buffy Beale: yes I agree ChingALing and this one seems engaging

          ChingALing Bling: esp for education and also do consider the accessibility that Gentle espouses

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes to both ChingALing

          ChingALing Bling: I would love a copy for my healing island

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: 🙂

 

Yoav Shoshani: The game can be modified to fit other places. like the pub.

Yoav Shoshani: the textures can be modified and the size as part of a learning experience it can be modified to be not balloons but letters, or numbers

 

          ChingALing Bling: or magical items

          Frans Charming: Answering Rhiannon question, I have worked on several games with Vesuvius. We made gameshow, race games and lately been working on small interactive objects that earn you points towards badges.

 

Dudu Nissim whispers: Don’t forget to follow us on http://blowemup.info Or follow us on Facebook/Twitter : https://www.facebook.com/blowemupsl, https://twitter.com/BlowEmUpSL

Yoav Shoshani: the strength of the crossbow bolt can be modified as well you can add a prize if someone manages to get a high score

 

          Gentle HeronGentle Heron thinks points/badges are the next “in” thing for these games

          Frans Charming: Skylar, gentle we have been workings towards such things. Making small scavenger hunts and fishing games that work with a hud that keeps progress of your score and gives you badges and prizes.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes to badges/points Gentle        Skylar Smythe: I think avatar creation is the barrier. I think if you could click on a link in Facebook that would automatically log in to SL as a standard alt… and allow you to play the game…

          Skylar Smythe: I would like to see more inworld games developed that would allow people to gain points and prizes or incentives to download (i.e., mp3’s ebooks). Come in. Learn. Get points. Have fun. Bring your friends back with you 😉

          ChingALing Bling: How so Skylar?

          Skylar Smythe: That fluidity… we’d have no problem.

          Beth Ghostraven: pre-made alts are used for some college classes

          Skylar Smythe: Click. Log in. Avatar. Drive. Engage. Log out.

 

Yoav Shoshani: We thank you for listening 🙂 if you know of a SIM that will want to have this game there, please tell us so that we can spread the fun around. they can contact us through our website http://blowemup.info or contact our official company avatar SLGteam

 

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: if anyone is interested in the game, who should they contact Yoav?

          Stahl Bertrand: if you’re only coming to SL for the game, why come? why not use a browser-based platform?

          ChingALing Bling: Good point Stahl

          Skylar Smythe: Because

          Skylar Smythe: Tell someone to try a new game that they have to spend 3-4 hours learning and setting up their “avatar”

          Skylar Smythe: or

          Skylar Smythe: let them try it with a preset avatar… LOVE IT then come back and make their own and engage with the platform and community.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: I think collaborative games that are worked into a community or immersive learning experience work well

          Skylar Smythe: nods.

          Beth Ghostraven: could be a good way to get more people into SL

          Tori Landau: agree Beth

 

Yoav Shoshani: I agree, the issue of learning the platform before you can play is a problem. it took me a while to get a hang of SL

 

          Skylar Smythe: LL needs to develop a way to seamlessly log in alts… so that people can “try before they buy”. Ideally these avatars should be in a quality, populated sim so that they can begin speaking with and meeting people right away.

          Skylar Smythe: Not wandering the pixel wasteland looking for signs of life and giving up. 🙂

          Andy Evans: Maybe LL could make playing this game an option in the orientation

Items successfully shared.

          ChingALing Bling: Games in Orientation is a great idea! Get the engagement up front

          Stahl Bertrand: why would LL care about that when they’re not making money from people?

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: when I was working with Global Kids, we did a huge immersive game on here in SL where we created a complex serious game that focused on incarceration/prison environment and had people play through decision based game choices that raised issue awareness, etc

          Skylar Smythe: Or a game that auto logs avatars… play the game that is a Q&A … teaching them what they need to know to CONNECT. And then awarding these TRIAL players with some free lindens to spend to equip their avatar. Creates call to action.

          ChingALing Bling: Great ideas Skylar!

          Frans Charming: Yea I like that idea

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: so lots of options, to learn, orient, raise awareness, and have fun with game play

          Skylar Smythe: The Lindens can’t afford me 😉 I just want it to work.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: lol

          Stahl Bertrand: I’d rather see LL work on the fundamentals; get the frame rate up and the lad down

          Stahl Bertrand: *lag

 

Eran Zolotov: first priority imo.

Eran Zolotov: some really nice advices and ideas everyone 🙂

 

          Skylar Smythe: It is indoctrination that needs work… try it (and make that easy)… connect them to social (and make it a positive thing)… and they will come back.

          Stahl Bertrand: right now, I can’t play your game because SL only gets about one frame persecond on this laptop

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks to the whole team on presenting today

          Dancers Yao: @Rhiannon…is your work with Global Kids game still on SL anywhere?

          Skylar Smythe applauds. Very much enjoyed todays meeting.

 

Eran Zolotov: thank you everyone for listening.

Sapir Chodorov: thnx for listening

 

          Moundsa Mayo: Lag can be minimized by architecture, design, and coding techniques in your game design. It is not necessarily a game-stopper (no pun intended).

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: no Dancers, but I still think there is a copy in inventory somewhere

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: it is big!

          Dancers Yao: thank you

          Lynne: Was it a scripted game Rhiannon?

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: please reach out to them if you want to try their game or have any feedback

          Gentle Heron: Thank you students. Very interesting presentation.

          Skylar Smythe: You are the future Yoav. Keep creating and conceptualizing.

          Skylar Smythe: Good work.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes 🙂

          Buffy Beale: Great presentation and love the game! thanks

 

Sapir Chodorov: don’t forget follow us : http://blowemup.info/, https://twitter.com/BlowEmUpSL, Google+ http://goo.gl/JOrP8

Yoav Shoshani: Thank you guys 🙂

Sapir Chodorov: thnx again! 🙂

 

          Frans CharmingFrans Charming applauds

          Gentle Heron: I think it’s way cool that your team worked so well together that you think you can stay together after the class has ended.

          Skylar SmytheSkylar Smythe applauds

          Lynne: Yes, thank you.

          Tori Landau: Applauds! °͜°

          ChingALing Bling: Thanks for presenting guys !

          Lynne: Is there anywhere inworld that people can try the game out?

 

Sapir ChodorovSapir Chodorov agrea Gentle

Yoav Shoshani: 🙂

Dudu Nissim: thnx for listening

Eran Zolotov: Lynne on our website there is a list of islands where the game is available

 

          Lynne: Cool. 🙂

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: your welcome and glad to have you

          Beth Ghostraven: .-‘`’-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-‘`’-.

          Moundsa Mayo: Great results, and more to come, I’m sure!

          Zotarah Shepherd:      {`’•.¸{`’•.¸ ♥ ¸.•’´}¸.•’´} 

          Zotarah Shepherd:    ´•.¸¸.  A p p l a u se  .¸¸.•`

          Zotarah Shepherd:      {¸.•’´{¸.•’´ ♥ `’•.¸}`’•.¸}  

          Zotarah ShepherdZotarah Shepherd applauds

          Chayenn: bravo

          Skylar Smythe applauds

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If you took pictures today, please share them on our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons or G+ Community: https://plus.google.com/communities/114212078390326305687, that would be great. Otherwise, tag them #NPSL

And tag your avatars in any photos posted!

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

This Friday, May 3rd, Nonprofit Commons is happy to welcome the Israeli game design and marketing team SLGTeam: Sapir Chodorov (TallSap), Eran Zolotov (Eramos), Dudu Nissim (GreenDrake), Yoav Shoshani (Cerebi), Maor Nachmias (MaorBigM), who will present about using Second Life as a game development platform, and the process behind their recently released game Blow ‘Em Up. 

 

About the Team & Game:

Blow Em’ Up, is an easy to play game, where you pop balloons in a fun and colorful arena located in the virtual world of Second Life.

 

The game was created by five students from the Tel-Aviv Yaffo Academic College, who as part of an independent marketing study course started a company to create and sell products in Second Life.

 

Team members include: Sapir Chodorov (TallSap), Eran Zolotov (Eramos), Dudu Nissim (GreenDrake), Yoav Shoshani (Cerebi), Maor Nachmias (MaorBigM)

• http://blowemup.info/
• https://twitter.com/BlowEmUpSL
• Google+ http://goo.gl/JOrP8

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, May 3rd, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

 

AGENDA

• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central  
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation: Game Development in Second Life
• 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements 

 

 

http://nonprofitcommons.org

 

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Below is an edited transcript of the 4/26/13 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring Bernhard Drax (Draxter Despres in SL) who discussed the storytelling, process and making of latest machinima series The Drax Files: World Makers, that focuses on people who are creative in virtual worlds.

About Berhard Drax 

Bernhard Drax aka Draxtor Despres creates interactive audio/video content and devises new media concepts for corporate and academic clientele. In addition to producing music for film, television and the web Bernhard has a solid background in radio news production and print journalism.

The Drax Files World Makers will be a semi bi-weekly show who examines the creative people behind the avatars who make the virtual world of Second Life what it is & move it forward with their passion and persistence. Mixed reality interviews form the basis of a reportage that profiles designers, game-makers, role-players and fashion aficionados, musicians, artists and social-issue activists for whom the Second Life avatar is not a separate entity but a true extension of themselves with which they navigate the digital space. 

The show utilizes real-life footage as well as machinima from within Second Life and feature self-taught hobbyists to dedicated pros from all walks of life, from all over the world and cuts across gender, ethnic and generational divides. A world solely made by its residents – truly only their imagination can be the limit! 

• http://draxtor.com/
• https://www.youtube.com/user/draxtordespres

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          Rhiannon Chatnoir: ready when you are Drax – thanks for being here today!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): hey guys, thanx for having me and now Rhi posted ALL what i had to say already hahahah…sooooo

          Glitteractica Cookie: hi drax!

          Zinnia Zauber: Rah Draxtor!

          Beth Ghostraven: YAY!!

          Zinnia Zauber: Thank you for joining us today!

          Buffy Beale: Cheering for Draxie!!

          Shaun Altman: well hello

          Adrianne Lexico: THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          Adrianne Lexico: Draxtor! Draxtor! Draxtor!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): a few folks here might know me from the Flufee show, the narrative comedy and i LOVED doing that. But as 2012 came to an end I realized that NOBODY, nobody is doing documentary about SL creatives

like I had started doing crudely 6 years ago. If i watch my first machinima from that era I crinch!

          Jen (jenelle.levenque): Yay Flufee

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: are you saying Flufee was narrated :O

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): No no no FLufee of course WAS documentary!

          Harlequin Rhode: Flufleas!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): what am I saying, it is ALL TRUE! He is a living being full of flesh. I mean MESH.

Anyhow…I talked to Kriss Lehmann from Botanical about how the mainstream media is ignoring SL and if they write something they pepper badly researched articles…with images from 2006.

          Shaun Altman: why should the mainstream media care about SL?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Shaun I address this later!

and I realized that I do have some skills that could benefit

          Shaun Altman: well i hope so if you’re going to bring it up now

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): burt briefly: they should because open ended virtual environments that enable users to monetize their creativity is a revolutionary thought IMO…anyways

          Shaun Altman: well but open ended virtual worlds are kinda 2008.

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): soooo, I did the first show about Kriss who is a marvelous example. He derives his entire income

from selling BEAUTIFUL digital trees and that first episode was really well received. Now to understand my GOAL with this series…. these are NOT ads for linden lab, these are ads for creativity! and passion. I focus SOLELY on individuals and groups….that day in day out [without whining]…color this 3D piece of blank paper that we are given! They push the world forward. They DO something. 

To me as an immigrant to the US, it is a very apt comparison – the can-do spirit of America and the can-do attitude of these creatives a few people have accused me of not focusing on the ISSUES of LL etc. That is not the goal of this series. I am not taking any sides other than that I am highlighting the best of SL. Many have pointed out LL should be doing these and i am very grateful that they promote it, however i am GLAD they are not playing me because I have total freedom!

          Shaun Altman: or maybe they only allow u to belive that

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): So anyhow, a little behind the scenes, these episodes are geared towards the OUTSIDE towards people who have never HEARD about SL/VW’s or dismiss it for whatever reason. These episodes are TOOLS, for us enthusiasts, to show our mom our dad..our friends who think we lost it!

So I usually do a 1-2 hour conversation with the interview partner to REALLY get behind what they do, why they do it, where they come from. From that 1.5 hours raw audio footage i distill the narrative. Then I think about how to sustain that narrative and enhance it with visuals, only THEN do i shoot in SL. i shoot about 1-2 hours of footage per episode. Now you get a sense of the workload hahahah 🙂

But it is NECESSARY – why?

Because i need to understand the story myself! I need to really get in there and although I am familiar with SL, i am NOT familiar with each and every individual. So these are just simple journalistic principles.

What is VERY IMPORTANT is the format. We start with a quick Skype video shot – ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL! This ties in RL with SL We end with Skype video – this is the FRAME and it seems to work!

i got tons of feedback from RL friends that NOW they FINALLY understand SL a bit better 🙂

So this week is Fantasy Faire as some know and I did a piece about Relay for Life and how they use FF to fundraise the content sold there and the sims design are MIND BOGGLUING! This is the best of SL, but of course there is lag hahaha..anyways I did a piece on this

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: in the case of remote people you are interviewing, who is filming the footage sometimes seen of them in their RL places, homes, area where they live 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): good question Rhi

So the interview subject films at their home. Sometimes if they do not know how to do it; i do screen sharing via Skype and polish the footage a bit. But in general they film it.

Upcoming is a piece about music in SL and these guys over in Spain sent me AWESOME footage! Sometimes it is a bit difficult managing this hahahaha, because u need to nag people all the time so they deliver on deadline~! But no different than any other job. And i used to work in public radio, so i am USED TO THE WORST )_))))

So questions?

Oh one more thing, i would LOVE to do one of these every three days…which i could…BUT i cant coz I have a LIFE hahahah :O)D

What is important to understand is that I have laid out 20 episodes, specifically showing the ENTIRE range of activities in SL

activism, animation, role play, games, politics etc. It is ALL COMING

          Alfonso Perfferle (alfonso.perfferle) raises his hand

          Adrianne Lexico: your final product is pure art

          Harlequin Rhode: How do you deal with folks who what to keep their RL private?

          Adrianne Lexico: big fan of yours since I heard of you

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes, production takes time

[09:11] Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Adrianne: THANK YOU!!!!

Harlequin, good question. Now i am very mindful, mindful and respectful of privacy and I have had MANY people decline to be interviewed. BUT what i do say and that seems to work is to nominate a spokesperson, so they got Zander who was great.

          Glitteractica Cookie: i love the machinima Drax did for the NPC a few years ago

          Buffy Beale: me too Glitter

          Adrianne Lexico: THANKS YOU!

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: do you have already lined up those you will be interviewing for those episodes, or are you still actively looking for stories, and if so, what is that process like

          Adrianne Lexico: that’s a good question: how do you choose who you will interview?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Adrianne – i choose based on the long view, i want in the first 20 episodes to have an overview of SL

          Harlequin Rhode: Will you also feature adult related content?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): i will NOT feature adult content. Why? Not because I have issues with it personally [i am from Germany mind you! BUT a side goal of the show is…to destroy STIGMA. There is a stigma attached to SL and i am circumventing it, i am avoiding it,  i am ignoring it. There is plenty of coverage of adult material – please watch Login2Life hihihihi

          Andy Evans: LOL

          Harlequin Rhode: There are many creative adult related folk in SL.

          Zinnia Zauber: This series has been wonderful to share with the general public and has made more people curious about what we do inworld. More people have asked me to bring them in world. I think showing the actual people made them feel like like they could be those people behind the screen then.

          Harlequin Rhode giggles. 

[09:14] Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): sooo, to what Glitter said about my old NPC video, what is so important to me as well is that SL has GROWN so much in terms of sophistication of content, with the right machine, SL can be displayed in a WONDERFUL way and so visually I am trying to be SUPER PERFECTIONIST, not so much with the Skype stuff – that is totally DIY and raw, and good that way. But when it comes to SL i tweak the windlight. i do TONS. 

          Alfonso Perfferle (alfonso.perfferle): what kind of software do you use to record in SL?

          Adrianne Lexico: will you have an episode about yourself?

          Harlequin Rhode: It’s pretty awesome when I can share your vids to my sons in RL. Makes me proud! Thanks, Drax! 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Alfonso, i use Fraps, then convert to edit on a Mac in Final Cut.

Adrianne – NO – there is enough out there about me! 

          Alfonso Perfferle (alfonso.perfferle): thanks 🙂

          Adrianne Lexico: come on! that would be fun! 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): so it is so good to hear from folks, who tell me things like…i showed this to my dad, my kids, my co workers and all of a sudden they understand! THAT IS THE GOAL! This is GREAT when SL folks like them, BUT much more important to me is that stakeholders OUTSIDE, folks who could benefit.

          Beth Ghostraven: Yes, that’s what’s missing in trying to use SL for education; educating outside stakeholders about SL

          Alfonso Perfferle (alfonso.perfferle): could you share us what kind of hardware do you use to get that kind of quality, plase?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): alfonso i can send the specs of the computer. it is a PC with Windows 7 OS on a solid state drive, 2 RAID drives for capture and the NVIDIA card i have to look that up – but it is PRICEY!!! This one came a 2.5k two years ago. 

          Alfonso Perfferle (alfonso.perfferle): Great! 🙂

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: I can even post that to the blog after this, any specs, settings tht you use

          Alfonso Perfferle (alfonso.perfferle): 😉

          Zinnia Zauber: You are worth it.

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): the big frustration for all of us of course is…that SL does NOT run on an average machine. BUT, good news is that it changes every other month. The new MacBook Air runs PERFECTLY!

More questions?

Again, the visuals = window dressing! i work hard on them, BUT the STORY, the authenticity of the story, that is what resonates!!!!!

          Frans Charming: really on a air, that’s awesome.

          Shaun Altman: im on the macbook pro and it won’t run things maxed

          Shaun Altman: which is sad for a 2004 game

          Shaun Altman: macbook PRO. quad core sandy bridge! 8 cores total

          Harlequin Rhode: *loves her Mac*

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): last year Macbook AWESOME, i actually shot some great footage. So sorry Shaun – you are missing out 🙂

So anwyay, i am in AWE of the creatives in here and like i said earlier, there is soooo much whining and complaining and the weird thing is??? The folks i profile…they DO NOT WHINE! Yes they are frustrated at times! But they soldier on!

          Shaun Altman: i do not whine! i just tell 😀

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): THAT IS THE SPIRIT!

          nɐıʌɐp ʎuʍɐp (dawny.daviau): Is there a type of story you would like to do but never had the change to?

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: do you do any pre-interview beforehand or send out questions you will be asking during the itnerviews, or is most of that the first time they are being asked those things by you

          Andy Evans: Anyway to make the machinima interactive, e.g. the user can personalize their experience by choosing which creative they want to see events from a menu withinin the machinima ?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Rhiannon GOOD question, so post that question again in case folks did not see?

I do NOT do pre interview, I do a conversation that i tape, sometimes 2 hours

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: I said – do you do any pre-interview beforehand or send out questions you will be asking during the itnerviews, or is most of that the first time they are being asked those things by you

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): sometimes the first hour is unusable because people need to warm up. That is TOTALLY NORMAL!

Once we get into the flow, i keep going until i KNOW that i have everything i need for the story!

Andy i do not understand the question?

          Andy Evans: the machinima might highlight at first some SL events or people and the user chooses which they want to see

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: your overall goal is to show their creativity in these spaces, do you have any standard questions you ask everyone, in your interview

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Andy are u suggesting to open up who to profile?

Rhi – absolutely yes, but they change all the time, and it is like i said a conversation. A lot of it is dictated by where it goes and what personality the person has. But standard to warm up is how did u discover SL – what is your RL background, etc and also I always want to hear how people would explain what they do to their MOM 🙂

          Andy Evans: Not who only… the user could be seeing a SL mall or art gallery and choose which rooms are more intersting to them

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: Andy, are you meaning some kind of interactive ability to ‘choose your own story’ … not sure you have seen the web application Zeega, comes out of a MIT media project, but people are experimenting with it to tell interactive stories with photos/video

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Zeega = dio from Linden Lab in a way.

Andy – I am sticking to the format. What you are suggesting sounds interesting. If someone pays me I might work on it..hihihihi. Like i said the luxury I have is FREEDOM and do it the way I feel works best

          Andy Evans: If I find someone to pay you do I get a commission?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): If Linden Lab were to hire me for this, I would consider it, but keep it separate. I would not want them to “buy” my show!

          Andy Evans: LOL

          Andy – NO 🙂

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: so that brings up the question, how are you financing this project?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): I finance this project by my day job, just like any other hobby. 

          Frans Charming: Andy Youtube itself allows you to make pages, and reels with videos that people can select from.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: labor of love?

          Zinnia Zauber: You have more freedom of expression without the pay. 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): the cool thing is = i HAVE NO HOBBIES – hahahahaha – no i do.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: lol

          Buffy Beale: lol 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): i play piano, i volunteer at school, i have a family, but i do not go to baseball games and I do not play golf [Zinnia knows what i am talking about!].

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: time is always the enemy for those with passion interests

          Tizzers (sassypantsu): Drax, would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?

          Beth Ghostraven is cracking up laughing at Tizzer’s question

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: I am intrigues by tiny horses myself 😉

          Zinnia Zauber: lol Totally! 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): yes time is the enemy. 🙂  Sassy I am a pacifist!. Ok more questions?

          Adrianne Lexico: I know there is a lot about you out there Drax, but I would like to see Draxtor interviewing Bernhard for the final episode of the Drax Files series. Would you give this a second thought?

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: does your ‘day job’ align with your media / documentor interests… curious

          lolli Sapphire: ok for a moment I read that question completely different

          Beth Ghostraven agrees with Adrienne

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): yes it does, sometimes

          Frans Charming: Adrianne, maybe you could interview him!

          Adrianne Lexico: I WOULD LOVE TO!!!! 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): my day job is broadly speaking audio/video editing. I just finished another music video where i did the recording arrangement and sound design. Now, these things are FUN – BUT, there are MANY MANY COOKS and ENDLESS discussions and so my show is soooo different in terms of again FREEDOM to do what i feel is best [in a semi dictatorial way], also finished a 2 hour radio show for NPR about California History. Been doing that for years and same thing, yes – creative BUT too many cooks! 

          Shaun Altman: who’s music video is it?

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: I like that idea of almost this meta conversation between your avatar and self … who here remembers Drax’s days of going out in the real world with his Draxtor Despres mask on 😉

          Shaun Altman: i don’t remember that

          Tizzers (sassypantsu): Drax didn’t have the mask at the last SLCC :[

          Adrianne Lexico: yes, please help me convince him! meta conversation of avatar and self! That is my point!!!

          Shaun Altman: no such thing as too many cooks

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): The Drax mask was fun in 2007/2008 and i love the idea of the meta conversation. i could change perhaps and have an interviewer, interview me. in terms of the mask real quick, because u may have noticed that i upgraded with new skin and accessories. i was reluctant to do that but when i realized how SL had grown content wise with mesh and textures and now materials are here. 

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: so this and your other machinima work allows you to have that creative freedom

          Frans Charming laughs out loud

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: I think right now, we are all doing that to you 😉

          Adrianne Lexico: why not have one interviewing yourself for the final episode?

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes, love the animated shirt

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: you trademarked your avatar name, correct?

          Shaun Altman: Oo we can TM our av’s?

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): it would BE SAD and RIDICULOUS to look like 2007 🙂  …so there ya go!

          Frans Charming: Yea Drax, I updated myself recently as well for the same reason.

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): to each their own. Frans – it is hard to let go, but just like in RL, sometimes it is GOOD to get a hair cut and a new shirt!

          Frans Charming: Indeed!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): yes I trademarked and updated the TM office as well with the new visuals. 

Adrianne, there IS NO FINAL EPISODES  🙂  if i keel over and am no more than the episode prior to me dying would be the final one 🙂 Other than that i shall continue hihihihi.

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: so your avatar is your brand and in that way.. even these comments about changing the look of that are big if you think of it that way

          Adrianne Lexico: ok but please consider having one with Drax and Bernhard!

          Adrianne Lexico: Please?

          Adrianne Lexico: LOL

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: by then, an AI bot can live on of you Drax

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): i will! good idea

         Adrianne Lexico: thanks and greetings from a fan in Argentina!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): the band i profile for next week is from Argentina. They are REAL artists! Not only is the music awesome but they build a different stage every single show! They use SL to the fullest IMO

Ok i think i have to head out soon. i have to reshoot some stuff at 10am. i want to thank folks for showing up so often when i last minute ask for background actors really really appreciate it! i see quite a few here, hahahah – they have been in many movies and some on the cutting rooom floor sorry 🙁 

          Adrianne Lexico: cool!

          Adrianne Lexico: OMG! this has been awesome!

          Adrianne Lexico: Thanks Rhiannon! Thanks Drax!!!!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): please share the Fantasy Faire video and visit the Faire!!! It goes on through this weekend, the sims are BEAUTIFUL! seriously magnificent – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjzG9g8PNFs

          Lynne (yt.upsilon): Done – Done 🙂

          Beth Ghostraven: Thank you so much for speaking here, Drax

          Cadmus Tyrellium: Drax thanks for all that you are doing. its so great to see all that positive energy

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: thank you Drax!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Cadmus thanx! i did not take my downers this morn hahahahah  

          Buffy Beale: you’re a rocker Draxie I love what you’re doing for SL, bringing out the good news stories

          HazelDazel (hazeldazel.haystack): Thank you Drax

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): maybe u should!!!

HAZEL!!! thx for coming. Hazel -0 thank you for keeping the CRAZIES at bay on my FB page hahahah

          nɐıʌɐp ʎuʍɐp (dawny.daviau): It was very informative, thank you Drax!

          Andy Evans: any one have a link to the Fantasy Fair?

          Glitteractica Cookie: yes, thx

          Frans Charming applauds

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: any last thoughts before we move on to Open Mic

          Shaun Altman: let’s be SL friends drax

          Gentle Heron: Thank you Draxtor.

          Harlequin Rhode: Awesome interview!

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): Go to the Fantasy Faire guys!!! It is AWESOME. Link is in the YT description, very very uplifting story about battling cancer.

          Zinnia Zauber: Thank you so much, Drax! You are amazing!

          Andy Evans: Great, Drax

          Zotarah Shepherd applaudes frf

          Adrianne Lexico: THANK YOU

          Mercia Merlin: Thanks a lot Drax

          Alfonso Perfferle (alfonso.perfferle): it is indeed!

          Dancers Yao: Thank you…

          nɐıʌɐp ʎuʍɐp (dawny.daviau): 🙁 So many around me in SL have lost that battle… it is worrying!

          Stranger Nightfire: Fairelands Junction (128,128,23) 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): u look good Frans!!!! 

          Frans Charming: Haha, Thanks,. so do you Drax! 🙂

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: this is all good food for thought too for anyone thinking of working on their org’s digital story for the TSdigs challenge

          Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks for letting us peek into your process Drax and for sharing

          Adrianne Lexico: WOW! 

Draxtor™ (draxtor.despres): oh and if anyone has specific questions IM me directly, always glad to share the bug for making films in SL!

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir