uChoos Wins Twilio Prize at Game Hack Day

A couple weeks back I attended the NYC GameHackDay. The event is a 24-hour hackfest geared around creating games. Even though I was busy with other projects at the time, I love games and love meeting other game designers so I decided to go. The project I ended up building was an idea I had the day before. It was a simple concept: build a choose your own adventure engine for phones.

I felt it was the right amount of work to accomplish in the time given and I had promised myself that no matter whatever I ended up building, I would only work on it for that day (a promise I ended up breaking).  As I put the project together, I had a prototype fairly quickly but I soon realized that if I was going to present it in front of an audience, I would need to create some content for it. So I took the subway home and wrote out a quick story, recorded the audio and rushed back to the hack day. The demo came together just in time and the project was selected by twilio as their favorite game demo, which included a $250 prize.  So that was nice. I am a big fan of twilio, they make it really easy to build and launch applications that use Voice and SMS and they recently launched a slew of new features.

I called the project uchoos. You can visit the site here: http://uchoos.com.

The original demo story (Evil Mountain) is still live. Just call 917.338.3991 to hear the story.

As of now, I have no future plans for uChoos but I might work on it a little more once I take some other projects off my plate.

SHARE Conference Club Mobíle

Improv Everywhere - Disco Mobile - Share conference from SHARE Conference on Vimeo.

On April 7th, Robyn Sklaren and I spoke at the SHARE Conference on behalf of Improv Everywhere. It was a terrific experience and as part of the conference they asked that we also offer a 'workshop.' Typically this would be a freeze (a la Frozen Grand Central), but after a discussion with the festival organizers, we learned that there had recently been a similar event a week or two earlier.

After giving it some thought I remembered an idea I had while attending SXSW earlier in the year. SXSW is one giant party and it made me think about a roaming party that you could just jump into. But it needed to be 'cool and exclusive,' so it should have walls and bouncers. I pitched it to Robyn, she liked it and we decided to call it Club Mobíle, Belgrade's hottest moving dance club.

As you can see in the video above, it went really well and we had a terrific turnout. It was an adventure running around the city gathering the materials we needed to produce the piece. It was also surprisingly difficult to find a boom-box. Belgrade was a thrilling experience. It's evident that this generation of Serbians are shaping the world into something amazing and positive. I'm glad we got to be a small part of it.

No Pants and Belgrade

Sunday, January 9th, 2011 was the 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. There were over 3,500 participants. The full report can be found here. My photo set can be found here.

I'm also happy to announce I will be speaking on behalf of Improv Everywhere this April at the Share Conference. The conference is a 3 day event with lectures, workshops, exhibitions and concerts that will take place in 15 locations in Belgrade (Serbia). Needless to say, I am excited to have an excuse to go to Serbia. More details to come.

Custom Hardware: 4-Digit LED Display Box

Overview
Today I'm releasing the code and schematics for a new project I am in the process of completing. I call it the 'code box,' but it can be re-purposed for many other uses. The box is a hand-held device with a single button and a 4-digit alpha-numeric LED display hidden behind an IR panel. The enclosure also has an optional silicone boot to enhance the slick factor.

The integrated circuit I chose (the ATMEGA168) can easily be programmed using an Arduino bootloader, which should hopefully allow less technically savvy users to experiment more easily. Alternate ATMEL processors of the same form factor can be substituted if your application requires more processing power or RAM.

In an effort to save space, I designed the PCB with surface mount technology, which might be a little scary for some people. The parts are big enough to be soldered by hand though. Here's a cool tutorial to demystify the process. The advantage of using smaller parts is that the entire board is only about 2.12" x .77" which will make it much more embeddable.

The entire system is powered by 2AA batteries and can sleep for approximately 30 days.

Usage
I designed the box to serve as a fancy one-time pad. The box can be programmed with a series of codes that can be verified by an external server. Each push of the button displays a new code. The codes are for a game that I'll be announcing later.

The box can also be programmed to scroll a message or display a static message.

Code
In the zip file below I have included an Arduino sketch that contains the sleep function (courtesy MacSimski/D. Cuartielles); the library and associated methods for using the LEDs; and main program that iterates through an array of four digit codes (the purpose for which it was designed).

Files
The Zip file below contains

1. the Eagle files for the board and schematic
2. a parts list (most items can be found on digikey.com
3. a DWG file with the button hole placement
4. an Arduino sketch that includes an example application

Download Files: code_box_011811.zip

Raphael Abrams was an essential mentor to me on this project. Without his knowledge and guidance, this project would have involved many tears. Thanks, Raphael.

Schematics and source file are being released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Please credit: Brian Fountain / Raphael Abrams

Killgore sleeps… for now.

Here's a link to the opening song from this year's Killgore: Killgore Opener 2010

The show was well attended and really funny.

Song for Killgore

I recently created and recorded a new opening song for the Halloween play-turned-musical-turned-play slash fest known as Killgore. The show was written by Matt Walsh and is directed by John Frusciante. It's playing for two nights only. I'll add a link to the new song after the show debuts. Tickets can be reserved here.

I can assure you this show is like nothing you have ever seen.

The Mp3 Experiment Seven

The latest Improv Everywhere mission just went up. I took some photos of it. Enjoy!

New Side Project: Karoke Combat

I just launched a new blog to track a game I'm currently developing. It's called Karaoke Combat and its home is here: http://karaokecombat.com. The game is a work-in-progress and I thought it would be fun to use the blog as an open notebook to document my work. If you are into Karaoke or game design, check it out.

Improv Everywhere – Ted’s Birthday

Foursquare Needs Some “Personality”

My friend Mike and I were talking about Foursquare a couple nights ago and we decided that Foursquare needs to have a "starter" friend that you can choose to follow when you sign up. This person, we'll call her Lady K., is not some token-friend to make you feel better that you don't know anyone on foursquare. Rather, she's hooked-in and always knows where the party is at. She knows what you are into and she's always on the look out for what you like.

Lady K.

Here's a few example messages:

Lady K. @ Bueno "This place just opened in your neighborhood. Might be worth checking out. I'm told the brunch is awesome!"

Lady K. @ ACE Bar "I noticed you were at ACE Bar a week a go. They are giving away free Heineken till 9 tonight. Should be fun."

Lady K. @ Drop #15 "I heard someone left something valuable around here in a blue box. Noticed you were in the neighborhood and thought you might be able to find it. Good Luck. I give up."

Lady K. just shouted "Looks like you're in LA. If you're looking for something to do, add my buddy Scotty G. He knows what's what. I already miss you."

As long as it's opt in and the messages aren't too frequent, I think a lot of people would love to have a friend like Lady K. There are lot's of directions you can take it. I'd love to hear your thoughts.