08 Apr 2013
Click on the image to go play Voting Day
May I present you a new game this week. It’s called Voting Day and it’s my contribution to encourage all Venezuelans to go vote on next April 14th. The game is based in the old Game&Watch series of games, so the way to play is simple. Share it with your friends. For web browsers in desktops, cell phones and tablets.
Credits
Design and programming: Ciro Durán.
Graphics: Alexander Hass (@Gagz9k) and Ciro Durán.
Thanks to: Yole Quintero, Julián Rojas Millán and Saúl González.
01 Apr 2013
Click on the image to play
Tele is the only product made by Televisión del Milenio, a Venezuelan regional TV channel that started by buying old equipment to a national TV channel, but never could get on air because of all the red tape. Instead of going live, the only production team at the TV channel did a videogame that reflects on the team’s sentiment regarding how a party, or a group of parties, can compete agains the State’s powers to be able to broadcast their message.
I invite you to play this game, product of the One Game a Month challenge, and a way to give something to the politics discussion in the country.
29 Mar 2013
For March’s issue, DirecTV’s magazine Access (you may know it as Sky in your country) interviewed me as part of a series of interviews to professionals of several areas, including Consuelo Di Carlo, from Instagramers Venezuela, Gustavo Jimenez, a 3D animator, and myself.
You may read the interview by journalist Daniel Rojas in this PDF (Spanish only, sorry), or receiving the magazine with your subscription to this satellite TV system.
The screenshot you’ll see inside is from our May 2012 game HeliTaxi, a game for the BlackBerry PlayBook we did for the Reto BlackBerry contest, and for which we won a honorary mention for the Venezuelan leg. The team that produced HeliTaxi is: Yole Quintero at the design, Miguel Obando at programming, Adolfo Roig as the visual artist, Lenin Quintero at sound and effects, y and myself at programming and producing.
04 Mar 2013
This is the first post I’m writing in English. This is one of the first changes I’m doing to my personal site. Before this, the site was a collection of static pages that showcase my work. This is still true, but now I’m using the site to publish my writings in English.
If you’ve never visited me, well… hi. My name is Ciro Durán. I code. I make games, and I encourage people to make games. I live in Caracas, Venezuela, and I dedicate to things related to videogames around here. I love to write about videogames and programming in my other blog, but until now I did not have a more personal space, being Tumblr a bit inadequate to express longer thoughts. I also plan to write videogame-related stuff here, but at least I don’t feel bound to the subject nor the language.
It’s funny. I’ve had a videogames programming blog in Spanish called El Chigüire Literario (translates to The Literary Capybara), in which I have been writing since more than 7 years, but I feel like starting anew with English, with a lot of possibilities, all of them at the same time. In these matters, I usually tell an anecdote of the time I was made aware of how subtle are language translations, and more importantly, how can you “translate your personality” from your native language to a new one.
In 2006 I had the second opportunity to travel by myself outside of Venezuela (the first time being in 2005). I went to Boston, U.S.A. to attend SIGGRAPH, and I stayed in a very nice hostel. This hostel was very active, and always organizing all kinds of activities every day, including a meetup for the guests in the top room of the building. These guys organized some kind of open mic night, and having a sudden rush of bravery, I stood up and told a joke. It was one of the “Mama! Mama!”-style jokes that in Venezuela are so popular to the point of being rather stupid. So when I come up in front of a very diverse audience from lots of places in the world, I say this:
Mom! Mom! Dad's gone crazy and he's throwing everything through the windoooooooow...
With that last word elongated, as if I had been really falling to a really large hole.
Once I said this, all the audience, including the hosts of the hostel, started laughing really hard. As if I had told the funniest joke in the world. I’m not sure if they were laughing because of the joke, or my deliver. But at least the rest of the night some people asked if I had some similar jokes.
At this moment, I gave a serious thought on what constitutes your personality. Even if you memorize a lot of vocabulary and grammar of a second language, there comes a point where other speakers of that second language judge you by the way you use that vocabulary and grammar. Even if you think of yourself as a formidable speaker, when two or more locals start talking, their speed and inside jokes can be so overwhelming that you have no choice but to stand there, staring and smiling, with no idea of what they’re talking about.
So, in short, personality could be defined as the thing you do with the language you are provided. Because different languages have different approaches to the various subjects of life, you could develop different personalities, depending on what you choose to incorporate in your thoughts in the language you’re using.
I’ll just wrap up this post. There are certainly many things I’d like to discuss with other non-Spanish speakers, and that’s what this space is for. I still plan to write stuff in Spanish in El Chigüire Literario, and I will feel good about both languages not interfering with each other.
24 Feb 2008
Originally written on February 24th, 2008.
SIGGRAPH is the premiere international computer graphics event. I had written previously in my blog about the SIGGRAPH 2007 student volunteer program, and being near the SIGGRAPH 2008 deadline for applications makes me think of writing my own experience as a member of this program.
What is SIGGRAPH?
SIGGRAPH is an event organized by the ACM computer graphics special interest group, called ACM SIGGRAPH. The best of the computer graphics academy and industry meets at SIGGRAPH.
The conference usually lasts 5 days, and it has a great variety of activities: courses for all levels, including the traditional introductory OpenGL course, to the most complicated optical effects optimized to computer execution; there are the sketches, where different people from the industry show how they did certain scenes and effects. The exhibition is one of the biggest events, with a lot of space dedicated to the stands of each company showcasing their newest products.
Where does a student fit in this conference?
Students are a fundamental part of the event logistic. The Student Volunteer program was created to ease the access of students to the conference. Dozens of students are chosen to help in simple tasks such as orienting people, check badges or watch places. In exchange of this, students have complete and free access to the whole conference.
For a student of any computer graphics-related field the conference has great value. The amount of knowledge you can get, so much you have to plan with time where you do want to go. It has value because you will meet the most valuable people you will ever meet: your own colleagues, which are also Student Volunteers. It’s the best time to meet people and exchange industry contacts.
Each SIGGRAPH edition has its own site (2006, 2007) and announces with the the conference program, which makes easier to plan.
How do you apply to the program?
To apply, you need to be a full-time student enrolled in a high school, college (undergraduate or graduate) for at least a semester in an academic year, and older than 18 years old. You can choose to work between 18 hours or 30. Those who pick 30 hours can opt to receive free housing from the conference. In my experience, the hotels they pick are really good, close to the conference center, or at least with free transportation arrangements.
You can apply to the program between January and February of each year, when they open the registration. The form consists in a series of questions with basic information, in which you must include a contact in your institution that confirms that you’re studying there. Then you must fill 3 short essays (300 words or less) where you must answer some questions related your perspectives in the computer graphics industry. Through these essays they can find out who is really interested and wants to collaborate with the conference, so it’s important to write well these answers.
In April, at most, they finish choosing the students and send the acceptation letters, and a letter to the United States embassy if you need to being the visa procedures. In case of having a visa, it’s important to carry this letter, for it’s well received by the inmigration agents.
For all the students, it’s possible to apply for a Travel Grant, which is a financial help that is given to students after they have checked out of the conference. This will cover some costs for the travel and maintenance. This money is given after the conference, in the conference center, so you must count with the money for your travel in the first place. Grants are in the range from 50$ to 400-500$, something that won’t make you rich, but will help you a lot. You apply to the Travel Grant when applying to the program, and you must fill one more question. The conference has the final answer in giving you or not what you requested.
So that’s the way to assist to one of the best computer graphics conferences in the world. It’s really a great experience, and I recommend it to all those who are interested in this industry. Good luck!
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