Hull Digital Windows Phone Fun

I didn’t actually shout out “Look ‘Thoughtful’ Folks”, but it looks as if I might have done….

Had a great time at the Hull Digital Group meeting tonight. The topic for the night was mobile development. First up was John Connolly who gave a smashing talk on the pitfalls and potential of mobile development.

Then there was me. I gave a “Biased Overview of Windows Phone 7” where I extolled the virtues of the platform and very nearly showed my Windows Phone Twitter reader working. The audience was great, with some lovely discussion and very thoughtful questions at the end.  You can find the presentation and code files (including a version of that video game grate “Cheese Lander”) here.

Stay at Home Rob

I’ve spent the day working from home. I got a lot done, but I don’t really recommend  it much. There isn’t anyone to talk to. Not that I could have said much if there was. I’ve had this bad throat for a couple of weeks now, and my theory is that if talk a bit less it might get better. We shall see.

Broken Voice Blues

I felt fine first thing this morning. I even had enough energy to take some pictures as I walked from the car park to the university. But then I started talking. And realised I might have a problem. By the start of the first year lecture in the afternoon things were not great, and by the end of it I was really croaking. I think the combined strain of a cough and the Mad Development night have done for my voice.  At the moment I’m trying to run my life with hand signals, which is not going that well to be honest. But I have managed to get some ice-cream, which was lovely.

I think I’ll try to spend a day not talking tomorrow.

XNA Mad Game Development Ends

Compare this with the original picture……

Well, that was some wild ride. I feel like I’ve been to a really good, but really long, party. And in a way I have. We started yesterday at 11:00 with a game idea, some assets and some partially finished game engines. We ended today with 14 teams showing off some polished and workable game programs that I hope you will see on XNA Indie Games real soon. In between we’ve had pizza, snacks,  chocolate, a whole bunch of fizzy drinks and a lot of development. A lot.

I kept going into the labs thinking to myself “They must be ready for a break by now” and finding everyone working flat out. At three in the morning, four in the morning and five in the morning.  I watched teams get stuck, get inspired and finally get it working. Amazing stuff. Not everything went as planned,  but having that happen is just part of the development experience….

There is nothing quite like debugging somebody else’s code at 3 in the morning.  Peter and Sarah from 360 magazine were taking notes and pictures and getting into the spirit of the whole thing. Peter was even producing artwork for one team.

This morning we had the judging and the awards and then everyone went home to collapse. Especially me.  Congratulations to the winners:

• Judge’s Choice: “Team Ice Cream”
• People’s Choice: “Unhandled Exceptions”
• Technical Flair Award: “Left 4 Dev”
• Look and Feel:  “Who needs to go outside?”
• Cheesiest Game: “Generic Game Developers”

The judges also wanted to make a special award to team “Rusty Spoons” who came in on Saturday as First Year students who have only been coding for a few weeks and produced a fully working game by the end.

We then had a bunch of further awards and then headed off to bed. Best bit for me? When I asked if they wanted to do it again and everyone looked up with sleep deprived eyes and said “Oh yes”.

Great fun. Thanks to Peter Gothard from 360 Magazine for the idea and the swag. Microsoft UK for the extra swag, Warren for paying for the food and our two other judges, Jon Purdy and David Miles.

I’ll have a full list of all the awards and winners later, and there are some more pictures on Flickr. But I’m off to bed now…

Mad Game Development Gets Going

This was the scene at the start of the day. Quite a few folks have turned up since then.

Thanks Simon.

More pictures as we we go through the night.