March 17, 2006
Phosphor Beta: Nick Kang shows us how it's done!
So it's been a while since I posted a good content link and I think it's high time I got back to that, especially because this week saw Nick Kang of Rasterwerks posting a link to the beta version of his Shockwave 3D first person shooter game called Phosphor. I've known for a while now that Nick was a talented developer, this just proves the point. This is a title that to me appears to offer PlayStation 1 or better rendering quality from our admittedly long in the tooth 3D engine. Give this a look and enjoy:
Note: Please understand that I continue to push for 3D updates and content like this helps solidify Director's stance as a premiere games development tool, one that would be made significantly better were we to offer a robust set of improvements to our 3D engine. I don't want discussions about our 3D engine to cloud this post though as I'm here to recognize and congratulate Nick for his hard work and to me stunning result. Kudos Nick!
Posted by thiggins at 11:45 AM
September 29, 2005
SnowBall Warfare
Just a heads up on a great 3D game that's come up on some of the Director mailing lists recently, it's called SnowBall Warfare and if you've got a machine that can handle it then it's well worth giving it a go! The game is a bit resource hungry so those viewing it on lower-end machines (those without robust 3D cards likely) may have performance issues, but here on my ThinkPad T30 (WinXP) it runs like a champ. Have a look, it's quite fun:
SnowBall Warfare
by David Skoglund (www.monsterland.se)
Posted by thiggins at 03:51 PM
September 06, 2005
Video Jigsaw Jam
Yet another awesome example of what's possible using Macromedia Director is the Video Jigsaw Jam available from Nickelodeon's Nick Arcade. This piece, produced by Blitz Digital Studios and programmed by Lucas Meijer and Ullala, allows kids to assemble puzzles that aren't still images but rather playing videos. Of course the videos used are all Nickelodeon videos featuring their regular cast of characters (Spongebob Squarepants for example :) ) and so I can see that many young children, my nephew included, will want to download and play this game. It's a Windows-only downloadable projector and it's available for free as timed-out trial or you can go ahead and purchase it if desired for ongoing use and enjoyment.
If you have chance then give it a look, it's worth the download and install as it's a very well put together and visually appealing bit of content. Kudos to everyone involved, nice work!
Posted by thiggins at 12:51 PM
July 27, 2005
Welcome to [the] joeZONE - Interactive Digital Photos
In my recent travels about cyberspace I've come across a few nifty applications created in Director that deal with the display of digital images, I'm referring to things like Aldo Hoeben's SPi-V (say it "spiffy") panoramic viewing engine, or DigitalStage's wonderful tool called LiFE with Photo Cinema (please also read my June 9th blog for more info on LiFE). On par with those in terms of how they piqued my interest is some work I was directed to in the "Joe Zone". All I know about the creator is that his name is Joe and that he's tinkering with some interesting ideas related to interactive digital photo displays.
It seems that Joe wants photos to be interactive such that they truly enhance the viewing experience, and it's not about neat ways to navigate through piles of photos, rather it's about neat ways to interact with the photos themselves to allow you to bring out different views of the same scene, to bring you into the image a bit more so you can see the same scene in multiple ways. Unfortunately for us web-viewers the content available is small compared to the total volume of work available on CD, but no matter, what's available for Shockwave viewing on-line was more than interesting enough to keep my attention for a while. Have a look for yourself, hopefully you'll find Joe's work as interesting as I did.
First step into [the] joeZONE:
[the] joeZONE
Then, have a look at these two projects in particular:
landscopes and collidoscopes
And for you cheaters wanting to jump straight to the projects that offer Shockwave content for on-line viewing here are some direc links:
"Here comes the sun" - Ayguesvives, Canal du Midi (landscope)
"Possession" - Jerusalem, Old City (landscope)
"umbrellas" ("parapluies") - Paris (collidoscope)
I definitely think it's some interesting work and we've already placed ourselves in the queue for a CD with a more complete body of work so we can take a deeper look into Joe's ideas about interactive digital photography.
Good stuff, enjoy.
Posted by thiggins at 09:50 AM
July 26, 2005
Watch Me Change
The Gap has released a new viral ad campaign called Watch Me Change that allows you to configure and dress a 3D character (in theory you configure and dress them to be you) which you then send along to a friend who can watch your character do a dance and a strip tease. Don't worry, there's no nudity folks, this is a Gap ad after all and they're not looking for that kind of press and attention. The content was developed by Crispin Porter + Bogusky in conjunction with Fuel Industries.
Anyway, just a heads up on another interesting ad campaign that makes use of the real-time 3D capabilities found inside Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player. Enjoy!
Posted by thiggins at 09:49 AM
June 09, 2005
LiFE with PhotoCinema
Oh... my... god... I've seen some incredible examples of multimedia authoring using Macromedia tools over the years, but today I was absolutely floored by something I saw called LiFE with PhotoCinema. The folks at DigitalStage came to visit us here at Macromedia today and they are responsible for a number of incredible applications all developed in Director as the primary tool with heaping amounts of Flash used to bolster functionality and visual appeal. LiFE with PhotoCinema is an awesome example of how developers can use Macromedia tools, Director in particular :) , to create applications that offer end users incredible experiences that they will not only enjoy but actively seek out and then share with friends, family, whoever will listen. This is more than a photo slideshow tool, much more, the phrase they use (and quite appropriately) is "photo cinema" as this is a one stop tool for composing photos, text and videos into cinematic slide shows in ways I haven't seen in other tools. The ease of use and flexibility while authoring combined with the output options (Shockwave, stand-alone executables, to QuickTime video or straight to DVD) are incredible. I can't even describe it all, hopefully your Japanese skills serve you well enough as the product is currently Japanese only, but for some it's still worth a look:
They also have other tools, like Motion Dive (for those needing info in English: Motion Dive - English), which is the world's leading VJ software in use by the club scene for audio/visual presentations, yet another application authored primarily in Director. All in all I was very impressed by their presentation and their applications and I personally cannot wait for my copy of LiFE with PhotoCinema to arrive, even though it's a Japanese products the UI is intuitive enough to be easy to use by me, someone who can't read a single character of Japanese.
I hope others find their work as inspirational as we do.
To Hirano-san and Kantetsu-san (and everyone working at or with DigitalStage): domo arigato, we are impressed!
Posted by thiggins at 03:34 PM | TrackBack
April 21, 2005
3D in the Bathroom
I'm often surprised by the types of content that get produced and here's one of them. It's a, well, interesting use of 3D to help sell AXE Shower Gel via a bit of viral advergaming:
AXE Shower Gel - Is Your Shower Hottie Ready?
I dunno, it just struck us (folks here on our team) as a funny use of our technology. Enjoy it, ignore it, do what you will with it.
Cheers!
Posted by thiggins at 03:34 PM | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
UN's World Food Program (WFP) Uses Director to Educate
Among today's flurry of news is this tidbit...
The United Nations' World Food Program (WFP) has released a downloadable projector game, created with Director, that is meant to help teach young kids about the efforts involved in fighting world hunger. The download is rather large, in excess of 200MB, but that's largely due to the sheer volume of video involved in the game. If you have the bandwidth it's an interesting look at how Director, QuickTime video and a wee bit of 3D can be used to create edutainment content.
The game is called Food Force and it can be found here:
Enjoy!
Posted by thiggins at 05:57 PM | TrackBack
April 05, 2005
It's Spring and 3D is popping up everywhere!
There are two new bits of content out that I think are worth mentioning. The first is an on-line 3D game that goes along with Sony Pictures XXX movie site and it's called "The Mission". You must enter the site, either skip or endure the intro animation and then choose to play "the mission". To cut to the chase here's the direct game link:
Sony Pictures XXX - The Mission
The second piece of content that I wanted to mention is another 3D game but this one is created as part of the Esuvee Safety Campaign and it's a 3D game in which you drive one of the "SUV beasts" around a closed course and be taught about various SUV-related safety issues. You can either go to the Esuvee Safety Campaign website and click the link to play the game or you can jump directly to it at the following link:
Go give them a look, both are worthy of a bit of your time, heck, it just might be some welcome R&R during a workday. ;)
Posted by thiggins at 01:10 PM | TrackBack
January 28, 2005
Kaptein Sabeltann: PS1 quality 3D using Director!
Ok, wow. While I find that tons of folks are out there making impressive content using our tools I find that there are occasional gems that really stand out head and shoulders above the rest. One of those is Kaptein Sabeltann, a real-time 3D game developed by Lucas Meijer in conjunction with the folks at ArtPlant that's being sold as boxed-product on the shelves of Norwegian stores. But never fear, Lucas has managed to provide folks an on-line version where you can try it out for yourself and see what's possible using Macromedia Director and it's 3D Asset Xtra. Take a peek:
Please be aware that it will be an approximately 10MB download to view the demo so be patient. The game was never intended for web-distribution, rather it's targeted at boxed-product delivery, therefore it's rich with media that add to the overall file size (like all the voices!). The game is slick and very professional looking and from my perspective demonstrate's the fact that Macromedia Director, in the right hands, allows one to develop 3D titles whose render quality is on par with the first generation of Sony Play Station's.
I'm suitably impressed, well done guys. Kudos to Lucas and ArtPlant for creating such an awesome piece of content.
Posted by thiggins at 01:51 PM