[Liverpool] Any geeks available to help some schoolkids build computer games at FACT?

[Adrian McEwen]

Morning,

I was down at FACT yesterday, and met Jeff Crouse, who's over from 
Eyebeam in New York to do a residency here.  As part of that they want 
to get some of the local kids involved with things and are going to get 
them to build their own computer games and then repurpose an old PC into 
a MAME-style arcade cabinet to run them.  However, Jeff is concerned 
that there'll be too many kids for him to deal with all at once, and is 
looking for some volunteers to help out.  That's when I thought maybe 
some LivLUG members might be able to assist...

It's short notice, I know, but if anyone can spare some time between 1pm 
and 4pm tomorrow afternoon at FACT in the centre of Liverpool then I 
know Jeff would be most appreciative and we might get a whole set of 
kids interested in building games rather than just playing them.

There's some more info from Jeff below, and it's probably easiest to 
reply straight to him (jeff at eyebeam.org) as I'm about to disappear into 
a meeting for the morning.

Thanks,

Adrian.


Here is the description of what we are doing:

"Friday, Gallery 1 - As part of Climate for Change, Eyebeam Senior 
Fellow and FACT's current artist residence, Jeff Crouse, will work with 
students and staff of The Academy of St Francis of Assisi (a school that 
specializes in the environment and is committed to sustainable ways of 
living) to design and produce PC games around the theme of 
sustainability in Liverpool.  Using free game-making software called 
Game Maker, the students will learn basic programming principles while 
using the language of video games to communicate a message about issues 
that are important to them. The final products will be installed in an 
arcade-style cabinet, which will then be customized with the help of 
SLamJam.  The games will remain on display and available to play in the 
gallery during the students' residency on the 5th- 7th of May. This 
event is open to the public, but in order to participate in the 
game-making, you must bring your own Windows computer."

What I need are geeky types to help the kids brainstorm and then build 
the games.  The software we are using is called Game Maker 
(http://www.yoyogames.com/make).  I chose it because 1) it will run on 
the crappy PCs that we took off the school 2) the authoring environment 
ramps up in complexity, so you can engage with it on several levels 
depending on your skill, and 3) it's free, so if they want to continue 
working on their games after the workshop, they can.

I am not expecting anyone to have experience with that particular 
program.  I had never used this software before Monday, and I am half 
way through my example game, so it is easy to pick up quickly.  I'd just 
like to add a few more savvy people into the mix who can help the kids 
plan and figure things out.

We are just about done with the mini MAME cabinet.  It looks great.  The 
other thing I might need help with is creating a skeleton application 
that will allow people to choose which game (basic .exes) they want to 
play.  If you know any Windows hackers who might be able to implement 
something like that and would be available some time before Monday, 
please let me know.

Thanks so much for your help!

-Jeff