Emerging Products

This is a very interesting time in the Interactive media class as products that have been in planning and development for months begin to emerge. A case in point is Dustin's first game preview...



Download the demo yourself and play it - Dustin is looking for feedback. Apologies to Dustin for my game preview - and spoiler :-)

On another topic I've recently added Not Possible IRL to my Google Reader - it's a great blog with lots of ideas for potential interactive projects for 2009.

One entry I found fascinating was the area of art and photography done in virtual worlds like Second Life. I followed the links to Lano Ling's Flickr page and checked out 'chakryn wolves' and several other sets of work done in SL by Lano and others.

Creating scenes with prims and scripts rather than brush and paint, and taking digital portraits of avatars creates some extraordinary work. I'm tempted to give it a try myself...

Finally, just a brief mention that the UTAS School of Computing is offering a Games Technology Degree from 2009. Some of the units and electives look like exciting options.

Virtual Work - Real Money

Mike, one of the high school designers in Skoolaborate has made it to the Wall Street Journal.

Have a look at the projected monthly incomes for these guys working part-time in Second Life and Entropia - up to $4,000.

With Gartner Research predicting 80% of active internet users will be in virtual worlds by 2011 there are great opportunities here for enterprising students with the right skills mix.

The kind of skill mix that one might develop in SDI: Interactive Media :-)

You can read more about why Mike got the job here.

Feeling green with innovation...

Check this out! My mind is spinning with possibilities already :-)



Blended Reality: A look at bringing Second Life into Real Life

I had fun last year with the ads for Interactive Media - what could we do this year?

Ideas anyone?

Students Get a Life

Eight students have chosen to get a 'second life' in Skoolaborate - a collaborative Web 3.D project involving a number of Australian and international schools. They are going 'in-world' for a number of reasons... to do architectural design, to make machinima, to organise a game, to design clothes...

But before any of that begins the avatars have serious plastic surgery and wardrobe schedules... then makeup and deportment... then they learn to walk and fly! Above is some early body work by Aletia, Joshua and Ira.

Check out these avatars...



And this fashion... (which has made some people a lot of $$$)



Skoolaborate began as one island in 2007 but has now grown to six - and it's getting easy to get lost.

Click graphic for larger view

Most locations are still in the construction phase but there is an impressive range of landscaping and architecture with several sites nearing completion. 2008 promises to be an exciting year in Skoolaborate with more students joining each week.

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