Misplaced Pages

#282717

49-863: The PC Gaming Alliance was announced during the Game Developers Conference 2008. In 2014, the PC Gaming Alliance changed its name to the Open Gaming Alliance and now focuses on all mainstream non-console gaming platforms, including Windows, OS X , SteamOS , Linux , desktops, laptops, and tablets . The OGA is among other things working to develop marketing for PC games, combat piracy , developing new business models beyond retail sales, and establish minimum hardware requirements for computer games, along with guidelines for developers to make games work for those requirements. According to former president Randy Stude,

98-473: A butt foundation, which is held in the palm of the hand when cracking, and can have a wrist loop, used for hanging the whip at the end of the day, not for putting around the wrist during use. Nylon handles usually have a Turk's knot at the end and may have a loop; they also might have a pattern thanks to nylon being available in many colors. Some handles swivel, making it easier to do certain types of unsophisticated cracks but making it harder to do others, or to use

147-707: A game. The goal of the 4th annual Game Design Challenge was to create a game which was a religion , or which could become one. It was won by Jason Rohrer who designed a one-player at a time multiplayer game named Chain World contained entirely on a USB flash drive . The Experimental Gameplay Workshop is an influential 2-hour game presentation session held annually at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco . The event showcases experimental video games and game prototypes. The workshop

196-409: A hook. Aesthetically, it finishes the handle. The main portion of the bullwhip's length is made up of a braided body or thong . Made of many strips of leather or nylon, the number of braids or plaits is an important factor in the construction of the whip. Often the thong is multi-layered, having one or more "bellies" in the center. Quality whips have at least two bellies, made of braided leather like

245-416: A small sonic boom . The bullwhip was rarely, if ever, used to strike cattle, as this could inflict damage to the animal. Instead, the whip was cracked near the animal to startle and guide them, encouraging movement in the desired direction. The cracking sound is of a sonic boom. This is most likely the first item used by humans to go faster than the speed of sound. The bullwhip should not be confused with

294-404: A stylistic coincidence but a depiction of a design of whip in current use at the time the articles were made. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as rural economies became increasingly mechanized, demand for all types of whips diminished. By the middle of the 20th century, bullwhip making was a dying craft, with only a few craftsmen left making good quality whips. In the later half of

343-415: A whip causes wear to the cracker, and well-used whips frequently require new crackers. Crackers can be made of horsehair, twine, string, nylon, polypropylene, silk, polyester or any number of materials. There are several methods of tying the cracker to the fall, usually using a lark's head knot as the basis, since it tightens on itself when the whip is cracked, reducing the chance the cracker will slip from

392-432: Is a section of panels dedicated to a sub-segment of the game industry, also usually held on the first two days of the conference. Past and current summit topics include mobile games, independent games, game education (for students aspiring to join the industry), serious games , social games , artificial intelligence , and online games. Regularly, Sony Computer Entertainment , Microsoft and Nintendo deliver keynotes at

441-424: Is a single-tailed whip , usually made of braided leather or nylon, designed as a tool for working with livestock or for competition cracking. Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. A bullwhip's length, flexibility, and tapered design allows it to be thrown in such a way that, toward the end of the throw, part of the whip exceeds the speed of sound —thereby creating

490-498: Is an annual conference for video game developers . The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival , and a variety of tutorials , lectures, and roundtables by industry professionals on game-related topics covering programming , design , audio, production, business and management, and visual arts. Originally called

539-402: Is much harder to work with. Simon Tookoome , a Canadian Inuit and expert bullwhip handler, was known to have used one to hunt ptarmigans and caribou , and to kill a wolf : Tookoome took the advice to heart and began hunting bigger animals [than ptarmigans] with the whip, even after his family acquired a rifle and a snowmobile. He took down several caribou, and once even used it to kill

SECTION 10

#1732798702283

588-701: The Seumas McNally Grand Prize . The ceremony is typically held as the lead-in to the GDCA award ceremony. alt.ctrl.GDC is an exhibit taking place in the GDC Expo. Visitors can play games using alternative controllers and meet the developers behind the projects. One of these games win the alt.ctrl.GDC Award, which includes a $ 2,000 prize plus a special trophy, at the IGF ceremony during GDC, with judging taking place on-site. Bullwhip A bullwhip

637-770: The Spotlight Awards from 1997 to 1999, the Independent Games Festival since 1999 and the Game Developers Choice Awards since 2001. The GDC is also used for the annual meeting of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is the first and largest competition for independent games, and highlights the innovative achievements of developers ranging in size from individuals building PC titles to studio teams creating console downloadable titles. A pool of judges from

686-497: The stockwhip , an Australian whip also used to control livestock but having a somewhat different structure. The origins of the bullwhip are also a matter for debate and, given the perishable nature of leather, are likely to remain so. Difficulties in tracing its development also arise from regional and national variations in nomenclature. There are claims that it was developed in South America where, like "cow-whips" during

735-419: The "rant" panel has been one of the most popular sessions at the conference. Moderated by Eric Zimmerman and Jason Della Rocca , a selection of notable industry figures are invited to speak on industry-related subjects they are passionate about. According to Zimmerman, the idea of the panel "is to really take those grumblings and mutterings and bring them out into the light, speak truth to power, cut through to

784-479: The 2021 event, the organizers dropped the in-person portion in February 2021 due to continued concerns from COVID-19, maintaining the virtual events. UBM TechWeb brought its flagship event to Shanghai in 2007, where GDC China was held annually until 2015. GDC China hosted the annual Independent Games Festival China (IGF China) from 2009, calling for entries developed by independent game studios and individuals in

833-623: The 20th century, attempts to preserve traditional crafts, along with a resurgence of interest in Western performance arts and the release of films featuring whips, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark , led to an increased interest in whip cracking as a hobby and performance art, as well as a competitive sport. Whip cracking competitions focus on the completion of complex multiple cracking routines and precise target work; although other whips are also used in such competitions. Whereas, in times past,

882-888: The Asia-Pacific region. IGF China includes the Independent Games Summit, the Independent Games Festival Pavilion, and the Independent Games Festival Awards Ceremony. About half of the time during the first two days of GDC are given over to tutorials, one- or two-day-long sessions on a given topic. Tutorials take the form of hands-on workshops and cover a variety of technical subjects such as game design, audio, topics in computer programming (such as physics, graphics programming or web technologies), production and business management. A summit

931-624: The Austin Game Developers Conference. The 2020 GDC notably was the first to be fully postponed from its planned March 2020 dates, as a result of several companies having pulled out due to fears from the COVID-19 pandemic . Organizers ran the 2020 GDC as a virtual conference and announced GDC Summer as the next live event to take place in August. While initially planning on a mixed in-person and virtual conference for

980-882: The Computer Game Developers Conference, the first conference was organized in April 1988 by Chris Crawford in his San Jose, California -area living room. About twenty-seven designers attended, including Don Daglow , Brenda Laurel , Brian Moriarty , Gordon Walton , Tim Brengle, Cliff Johnson , Dave Menconi, and Carol and Ivan Manley. The second conference, held that same year at a Holiday Inn at Milpitas , attracted about 125 developers. Early conference directors included Brenda Laurel , Tim Brengle, Sara Reeder, Dave Menconi, Jeff Johannigman, Stephen Friedman, Chris Crawford, and Stephanie Barrett. Later directors include John Powers, Nicky Robinson , Anne Westfall , Susan Lee-Merrow, and Ernest W. Adams . In

1029-642: The Education Summit, or rants during the Indie Game Summit). Eric Zimmerman created the Game Design Challenge. "The idea of the challenge, he said, was to give everyone a sense of the process behind game design, and to attempt to get everyone thinking about new kinds of games." No actual game needs to be built, just designed. The goal of the 2nd annual Game Design Challenge was to create a game based on Emily Dickinson . It

SECTION 20

#1732798702283

1078-504: The GDC in recent years. At the GDC Expo, developers display the latest techniques useful in game development. "GDC Mobile", first held in 2002, focuses on developing games for mobile phones . Starting in 2004, the GDC partnered with Game Connection to present Game Connection @ GDC, a live matchmaking service for developers and publishers, which in 2007 expanded to include Game Connection Services for outsourcing and other services. Starting in 2006,

1127-446: The GDC moved to the new Moscone Center West , in the heart of San Francisco 's SOMA district, and reported over 12,000 attendees. The GDC returned to San Jose in 2006, reporting over 12,500 attendees, and moved to San Francisco in 2007 – where the organizers expect it will stay for the foreseeable future. Attendance figures continued to rise in following years, with 18,000 attendees in the 2008 event. The 2009 Game Developers Conference

1176-436: The GDC partnered with Video Games Live to feature their symphonic performance of videogame music as the closing night event. In addition, the GDC has hosted a number of conference-wide game experiments designed by GameLab. The 2017 GDC included a Board Game Design Day, featuring talks from developers and publishers of tabletop games on their design processes. UBM TechWeb has also produced several spinoff events. For example,

1225-946: The Hollywood and Games Summit in conjunction with The Hollywood Reporter first held in June 2006. Additional events include the Game Advertising Summit, the Game Outsourcing Summit, the Game Career Seminar, GDC Russia, the China Game Summit, GDC London, the London Games Summit, the London Game Career Fair, and many others. In late 2006, UBM TechWeb acquired The Game Initiative, and now produces

1274-520: The PC Gaming Alliance is to "help make certain that the PC game industry had a public voice and a pulpit for accurately communicating the size, growth and overall popularity of the single largest gaming platform worldwide." They also perform market research for their members and the public. This organization-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference ( GDC )

1323-437: The audience. Crawford also founded The Journal of Computer Game Design in 1987 in parallel to beginning the GDC, and served as publisher and editor of the academic-style journal through 1996. During the late 1990s, the conference expanded from its original strict focus on game design to include topics such as marketing and legal issues. The CGDC changed its name to "Game Developers Conference" in 1999. The GDC has also hosted

1372-418: The bullwhip was designed for one basic, main purpose, modern whip makers design their whips for different specific purposes and to suit different throwing styles. Regardless of their intended end use, all bullwhips have certain common features. A bullwhip consists of a handle section, a thong , a fall , and a cracker . A wrist loop may also be present, although its chief purpose is for hanging one's whip on

1421-437: The computer. The latter occurrence allowed for the simulation to delete itself. The 3rd time, the task was to create a game worthy of a Nobel Prize . Harvey Smith won with his PeaceBomb game. It would utilize wireless devices to organize flash mobs to engage in random acts of charity. For the first 3 challenges, Eric Zimmerman has always ended the challenge by indicating that all the contestants' ideas could really be made into

1470-520: The conference showcasing upcoming products and technologies. Next to the Electronic Entertainment Expo , GDC keynotes are one of the more significant sources of news about upcoming console hardware and platforms, but with a focus on the developer audience instead of the wider press. A number of games in development or upcoming releases are also showcased, but generally far fewer than at traditional gaming conventions. Since 2005,

1519-453: The construction of bullwhips because they were readily available. They tend to be quite thick and sturdy and are good for harsh conditions. Some whip-crackers doing target work prefer a whip made of kangaroo skin and kangaroo hide is preferred by whip makers because it is many times stronger than cow hide and can be cut into fine, strong laces allowing for more intricate braiding patterns that could previously only be achieved with rawhide, which

Open Gaming Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue

1568-549: The early years the conference changed venue each year to accommodate its increases in size. Attendance in this period grew from 525 to 2,387. By 1994 the CGDC could afford to sponsor the creation of the Computer Game Developers Association with Adams as its founding director. Miller Freeman, Inc. took on the running of the conference in 1996, nearly doubling attendance to 4,000 that year. In 2005,

1617-434: The end of the flexible fall is an even more flexible piece called the cracker , popper or "cat-tail". Some sources state that the cracker is the portion of the whip that makes the loud noise known as the sonic boom . A whip will create a cracking sound without a cracker, but the sound will be much less loud. It has been suggested that the frayed end of the cracker may cause more fibers to move at supersonic speeds, increasing

1666-423: The end of the plaiting of the thong. The thong typically terminates at a fall hitch—a series of half hitches that neatly tie the (replaceable) fall (or tail) to the whip. Bullwhips range in length from 1 metre (3 ft) to very long bullwhips of 6 metres (20 ft), with some examples being even longer. A fall is a single piece of leather or nylon cord between 25 and 75 cm (10 and 30 in) in length. It

1715-628: The fall and fly off. Bullwhips come in many different weights, materials, and designs. Some light whips use shot-loading or lead weights for balance. While usually made of strips of leather, nylon whips (often using paracord ) have become popular; they were initially developed for use in the wetlands of Florida, where leather is difficult to maintain (hence the name "Florida Cow Whip"), but have recently gained in popularity because they are less expensive than leather. Formerly in America, regular cowhide, rawhide and oxhide leathers were most commonly used for

1764-623: The first GDC Europe (GDCE) was featured at the European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) in London between August 31 and September 1, 2001. Other GDC-related events include the Serious Games Summit, first held in 2004 as a GDC tutorial, and spun off as a standalone event in 2005, focusing on developing games for practical purposes, such as education, corporate training, military, and health care applications; and

1813-504: The game development community. The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an event held during the main GDC in the early part of the year, open to games from small independent studios and from students at universities. The IGF culminates with the presentation of several awards to games which have been nominated and voted on in the months prior, and which are given space at the IGF to showcase their game. These awards have cash prizes associated with them, ranging from US$ 1,000 to US$ 30,000 for

1862-455: The game industry selects the finalists and winners, and the individual creators are named as the recipients of the awards. The IGF is managed and developed by UBM TechWeb , the organizer of the GDC. The Game Developers Choice Awards is the game industry's only open, peer-based awards show. Any member of the IGDA may nominate games, and then the membership votes on the finalists. As with the IGF,

1911-474: The game released in the US. In a 2009 interview, he however expressed some criticism of the format, saying the games chosen felt gimick-y and the presentations being uninteresting. Held at the main GDC event in the first part of the year, the presentation for the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) is held. The GDCAs are available for any game made in the previous calendar year, nominated and voted on by members of

1960-567: The individual creators are named as the recipients of the awards. Specialty awards such as Lifetime Achievement and First Penguin are determined by the GDCA committee, and all are revealed at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony at the GDC. The IGF and the GDCA are presented back to back, in an awards show produced by UBM TechWeb, typically on the Wednesday of the GDC. UBM TechWeb has added several other events to

2009-402: The likelihood of a sonic boom. It has also been found that when a whip is cracked, the cracker moves in an arc at the end of the whip. Instead of moving smoothly as the end of the whip up to the cracker does, the cracker suddenly flips around the end of the whip, amplifying the acceleration experienced there. This flipping motion is necessary for a sonic boom to be produced by the cracker. Cracking

Open Gaming Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue

2058-426: The real s***, and talk about what is going on in our industry—what's wrong and what we can do to change it." Many rants inspire controversy, discussion and a good deal of media coverage in industry press. Most rant sessions focus on a particular segment of the industry to draw their speakers from: The Rant panel has inspired similarly structured sessions, with more specialized topics (e.g., "Game Educators Rant" during

2107-456: The slave trade, it was used as a weapon, or that it arrived there from Spain, but Roman mosaics and earthenware dating to around the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD show what appear to be tapered drop-lash whips, rather than the two-piece whips often associated with the Romans and other ancient cultures. Given that the same basic design appears in several primary sources, it seems likely that this is not

2156-667: The surface of the whip, although with fewer plaits. Lower-quality whips may have no bellies at all, and are sometimes stuffed with materials such as newspaper or electrical tape, which will break down with use. Unlike in the Australian stock whip, the thong connects in line with the handle (rather than with a joint), or sometimes completely covers the handle. The handle is usually short, being between 20 and 30 cm (8 and 12 in) long. While some whips have an exposed wooden grip, others have an intricately braided leather- or nylon-covered handle. Leather-covered handles usually contain

2205-400: The whip for any type of accurate targeting. The Australians introduced a longer-handled bullwhip to the US, where the bullwhips traditionally had shorter handles. The longer-handled whip, with a handle of 25–35 cm (10–14 in), functions like a cross between a stockwhip and a bullwhip, and is referred to as a "Target Whip." Bullwhips are usually measured from the butt of the handle to

2254-462: Was founded by Jonathan Blow , the developer behind the game Braid . As of 2021, it was headed by Robin Hunicke and Daniel Benmergui . The session generally showcases 20 titles from over 250 submissions each year. Keita Takahashi showcased his title Katamari Damacy before it was released in the US at the workshop in 2004. At lecture at the GDC in 2005, Keita credited the session for helping get

2303-469: Was held in San Francisco, on March 23–27, 2009. The IGDA awarded 25 scholarships to send qualified students to attend the 2009 GDC. Crawford continued to give the conference keynote address for the first several years of the conference, including one in the early 1990s where he punctuated a point about game tuning and player involvement by cracking a bullwhip perilously close to the front row of

2352-468: Was traditionally made to be replaceable due to the extreme stresses the very end of the whip was subjected to as it was "cracked". In lesser-quality whips, the fall can also be a continuation of one of the strands used in plaiting the overlay, or it can be an extension of the core of the whip, with the strands from the overlay tied off, and the core continuing on as the fall. But these types of falls aren't replaceable, and thus are seen as impractical. Tied to

2401-406: Was won by Will Wright who designed an Emily Dickinson personality simulator contained entirely on a USB flash drive . The personality would interact with the player by sending Instant Messages and email . The goal was to maintain a stable relationship and avoid the two extremes: romantic obsession with the player or suicidal depression. The first occurrence meant constant interruptions when using

#282717