l.a. times: apps evolution
DESCRIPTION
MDP thesis work from Alex Braidwood ('11) and Scott Laio ('11) are featured in this article on mobile gaming. "Apps evolution: A new wave of digital artists is adding whimsy to mobile gaming," by Hugh Hart, Brand X, L.A. Times, 06.03.11TRANSCRIPT
Apps evolution: A new wave of digitalartists is adding whimsy to mobile gamingJune 03, 2011 | 1:01 p.m.
Mobile phone app designers Alex Braidwood, Blade Olson and Nisha Pan. (Kirk McKoy/Los
Angeles Times)
Last month, 21-year-old Blade Olson took the stage of a darkened USC auditorium dressed in a
three-piece “Saturday Night Fever”-style suit complete with spread collar. As disco music
pounded through the speakers and a crew of disheveled technicians hunched over computers in
the wings, Olson tried out a couple of dorky dance moves in front of several dozen video game
fanatics, but the real action unfolded on the big overhead screen. There, two fingers performed
like legs, sliding, tapping and hopping across the surface of an iPad.
The annual GamePipe demo day, hosted by USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, usually
showcases student work modeled on big-budget video games that boast the production values of
a Hollywood feature film. But Dance Pad is cheap to make and easy to master. As Olson and his
team demonstrated, the virtual dance floor allows couch-surfers to record “moves” and share the
resulting videos on YouTube with like-minded hoofers.
Olson, a recent graduate from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts’ Interactive Media
Program, says he and his Dance Pad partners cranked out a completed iPad app in just 10
months. By contrast, he says, “It can take three to five years to make a big-budget 3-D game with
maybe 200 people working on it. You get one bad review and that might mean $23 million down
the drain. To make what we made, you don’t need much time or money. You just churn it out and
if the game does bad, OK. We didn’t waste that much money. But if it’s huge, you make tons of
money like an Angry Birds.”
2 30 32
« PREVIOUS POST | NEXT POST »
E-mail Print Read Later
Latest
MOVIES‘Superman’: Richard Donner onChristopher Reeve’s daredevil spirit »
TV‘True Blood’ star Alexander Skarsgard onEric: ‘There has to be an elementof danger’ »
COMICS‘Death of Spider-Man’: An ultimate losslooms, at least in one universe »
GAMESX-Men: Destiny game allows players tobuild their own mutant »
Search
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
@LATHerocomplex
Jim Lee and Geoff Johns look forDC’s heroic future http://lat.ms/mA1boN -7 hours ago
X-Men: Destiny game allowsplayers to build their own mutanthttp://lat.ms/iyygwG -16 hours ago
‘True Blood’ creator Alan Ball:‘Vampires are just a hugemetaphor for sex’ http://lat.ms/mtituy-16 hours ago
Ok Twitter, what Marvel ride
Apps evolution: A new wave of digital artists is adding whimsy ... http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/03/apps-evolution-a-n...
2 of 7 6/24/11 11:26 AM
Angry Birds (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)
Olson refers to the addictive Finnish iPhone game that pits wingless birds against green pigs.
Created by a tiny team of Rovio Mobile designers and priced at 99 cents, Birds has been
downloaded more than 100 million times, establishing a new paradigm for DIY tech wizards.
Instead of trying to find fresh spins on elaborate, console-based shoot-’em ups targeted to young
male gamers, independent-minded digital artists are embracing iPhone, iPad and other
lightweight devices as platforms that expand gaming well beyond the confines of boy-centric
virtual violence.
Anticipating the emergence of “lite” gaming back in 2007, Stanford University’s Persuasive
Technology Lab introduced a course in Facebook apps. In Los Angeles, Otis College of Art
and Design is following suit by launching its first class in mobile game development this fall.
Otis Digital Media chairman Harry Mott says: “Students flocked to the course in droves. We
didn’t have a course description, but the class filled up immediately.”
Eddo Stern, director of UCLA’s Game Lab, agrees that apps have become a “huge” topic among
students in his school’s Design-Media Arts department. However, he worries that young
designers may overlook artistic substance in pursuit of immersive brain candy. Stern says, “I’m
interested in games that have a point of view and go beyond the time-waste, or ‘casual gaming’ as
the industry calls it. To me, there’s a big question: Is it possible to make games meaningful and
closer to other media in their potential to reflect the complexities of life rather than smashing
zombies all day?”
would you put in Disney themeparks (after rights switch over)?Best answers go onHeroComplex.com #marvelride-21 hours ago
‘Superman’: Richard Donner onChristopher Reeve’s daredevilspirit http://lat.ms/iSBxD0 -22 hours ago
Comments
timelessmoviemagic on ‘Superman’:Richard Donner on Christopher Reeve’sdaredevil spirit
Collin on Matt Damon and JakeGyllenhaal turned down ‘Avatar’
Xian on ‘True Blood’ creator Alan Ball:‘Vampires are just a huge metaphorfor sex’
Jessica on ‘True Blood’s’ StephenMoyer: Sookie and Eric romance will be‘great for the show’
Jessica on ‘True Blood’s’ StephenMoyer: Sookie and Eric romance will be‘great for the show’
3D 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 300 2011preview A-Team Aaron Eckhart Activision AdamHines Addams Family Adrianne Palicki Adult Swim Akira
Alan Moore Alexander Skarsgard Alex Kurtzman
Alex Pham Alex Ross Alice inWonderland Alien Aliens Amy AdamsAmy Kaufman Andrew Garfield Andrew
Stanton Angelina Jolie Animation animeAnime Expo Anne Rice Ant-Man Anthony Daniels
Anthony Hopkins Archer Archie ARG ArnoldSchwarzenegger Artist at Work ArtSpiegelman Asterios Polyp Astro Boy Auctions
Avatar Avengers Back to the Future Barbarella
Barefoot Gen Batman BattlestarGalactica BBC Bela Lugosi Ben FritzBerkeley Breathed Berni Wrightson Betsy SharkeyBill Watterson Black Panther Black Swan BladeRunner Bodyworld Boom! Studios Brad MeltzerBrad Pitt Brady MacDonald Brenda Starr Brett Ratner
Brian Azzarello Brian K. Vaughan Brian MichaelBendis Broadway Bruce Timm Bruce Willis Bryan
Hitch Bryan Singer Buck Rogers Buffy Buffythe Vampire Slayer Bugs Bunny Cannes
Capcom Caprica Captain AmericaCaptain America: The First Avenger Carol Tyler
Cars Channing Tatum Charles Burns charles schulzCharles Solomon Chloe Moretz Chris Carter
Chris Columbus Chris Evans Chris Farnsworth
Chris Hemsworth Chris Lee Chris PineChristian Bale Christopher Knight
Christopher Nolan ChristopherReeve Chronicles of Narnia Chuck Jones Clashof the Titans Claudia Eller Clint Eastwood
collecting Comic-Con ComicBook Store Clerks of America comic strips
Apps evolution: A new wave of digital artists is adding whimsy ... http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/03/apps-evolution-a-n...
3 of 7 6/24/11 11:26 AM
USC's student game designer project, Spectrum. In the
side-scrolling platformer, players become Spectra, a girl who wakes
up with no memory and soon discovers she needs color to survive,
but color is vanishing from her world. (Team Spectrum)
Up-and-coming designers Blade Olson, left, Alex Braidwood and Nisha Pan. (Kirk McKoy/Los
Angeles Times)
Media artists such as Alex Braidwood, 32, are in fact harnessing smart devices as the means to
a more aesthetically nuanced end. The Art Center College of Design graduate programmed
the iPhone’s built-in camera to function as a sensor that detects blue, red and yellow tones.
The Synesthetic Din program then translates the colors into an ever-shifting electronic
composition that plays into a user’s ear buds as he or she walks down the street.
“To me the most interesting things about smart phones and iPads is that they have all these
capabilities that are just waiting to be glued together in new ways,” says Braidwood. “I like
turning these devices into little performance machines.”
Braidwood, who last month earned his master of fine arts in Media Design, notes, “Most apps are
commodities that people get either because it helps them do something or it’s some kind of
novelty game. But there’s this space in the middle where it’s not about guiding you to the best
sushi restaurant in town but more about helping you wander around and discover something
new that you did not see or hear before.”
Art Center graduate Scott Liao has similarly toyed with the innards of iPad tablets to create
what he calls “enriched narrative.” His Anonymous Triangle piece allows viewers to aim a
sensor-rigged iPad at projected short films to trigger back-story texts about the various
characters. “With current tablet technologies,” says Liao, 27, “we have the chance to change our
viewing behavior from passive to active.”
Spectrum, produced by a
five-student Computer
Science team from USC,
hews to the “quest”
conventions common to
many games but takes a
kinder, gentler and more
cinematic tack than most.
Artist George Nelson
scanned in archival
images of Aztec ruins and
combined them with
original photography to
create scenic backdrops.
“I wanted to draw upon
this rich cultural heritage
for the visuals,” explains
Nelson, 28. In place of
violent missions,
Spectrum challenges the
user to steer its heroine
through a black and white
landscape. Her mission:
Bring colors back into the
world.
For artists armed with
high-end computing
skills, conventional game
structures can serve as an
entry point to more
ambitious experiments.
Consider When Pigs
Fly, produced by 29-year-old Nisha Pan. Six months ago, Pan had never played a game in her
life but needed a project to complete her master’s in science degree at USC. “I went to the
farmers market and saw this guy selling a trinket pig with propeller wings. My friend said, ‘Oh,
look, when pigs fly.’ I thought, ‘That’s a great idea, I should make a game about that.’”
Conan Conan the Barbarian conferences/panelsconventions Coraline Cosplay Costumes
Cowboys and Aliens Creator-Con Creature from the
Black Lagoon crime Crime comics Curt Swan d.j.
caruso Damon Lindelof Daniel Craig DanielRadcliffe Danny McBride Daredevil DarkHorse Dark Shadows Darwyn Cooke Dash ShawDave Stevens David Duchovny David E. Kelley David
Eick David Gordon Green David L. Ulin David Mazzucchelli
David Ng David Tennant David Yates Dawn C.
Chmielewski DC DC Comics DC UniverseOnline Dead Island Deadpool Dean HaspielDeborah Vankin Dexter Dick Tracy digital
comics Discovery Disney Disneyland
District 9 Doctor Strange Doctor WhoDollhouse Don Cheadle Doonesbury Douglas Adams
Dr. Strange Dracula Drawn & Quarterly DreamWorks
drugs Duncan Jones Duncan the Wonder Dog DwayneJohnson E.T. E3 EC Ed Brubaker Edgar Rice
Burroughs Edgar Wright Ed Park Edward JamesOlmos Eli Roth Emily the Strange Emma Stone EmmaWatson Evil Dead Ex Machina fairy tales fans
Fantagraphics Fantastic Four Fast Five FireflyFlash Gordon Forbidden Planet Forrest J.Ackerman Frank Beddor Frank Darabont
Frankenstein Frank Frazetta Frank MillerFree Comic Book Day Fringe G.I. Joe G4 Gameof Thrones gaming Garry Trudeau Gary KurtzGary Larson Geek Gift Guide Gene RoddenberryGeoff Boucher Geoff Johns Geoffrey RushGeorge Lucas George R. R. MartinGeorge Reeves George Romero Gerard WayGerrick D. Kennedy Ghostbusters Ghost in the
Shell Gina McIntyre Godzilla GoreVerbinski Grant Morrison greatest american
hero Green Arrow Green Hornet GreenLantern Greg Braxton Guillermo delToro Guy Ritchie H.P. Lovecraft Hammer Films
Harrison Ford Harry Potter Harvey
Pekar Hayao Miyazaki HBO Heath LedgerHellboy Henry Cavill Henry Selick HeroComplex Film Festival Homefront
horror hp lovecraft Hugh Hart HughJackman Hulk Human Target HungerGames I, Spy I Am Number Four Ian Fleming IanMcKellen Ian McShane IDW ILM InceptionIncredible Hulk Indiana Jones Insidious IronMan Irwin Allen Isaac Asimov J. J. AbramsJ.K. Rowling J.R.R. Tolkien Jack BlackJack Kirby Jack Nicholson Jack the Giant Killer JakeGyllenhaal James Bond JamesCameron James McAvoy James McTeigue
James Patterson James Wan James Woodring Jason Bourne
Jason Momoa jason statham Jay West JeffBridges Jeff Lemire Jennifer Lawrence Jeph LoebJeremy Renner Jerry Bruckheimer jet li
Jevon Phillips Jim Henson Jim Lee Jim
Mahfood Jim Starlin Jim Woodring Joe Flint JoeJohnston Joel Silver Joe Sacco Joe Simon John
Buscema John Carpenter John Carter John Cassaday
John Horn John Lasseter John Milius John
Noble Johnny Depp John Williams JonahHex Jonah Nolan Jonathan Demme JonFavreau Joseph Kosinski Joss WhedonJoyce Farmer Jurassic Park Justice League Karate KidKarl Stevens Katniss Everdeen Keanu Reeves Keiji
Nakazawa Kenneth Branagh KennethTuran Kevin Bacon Kevin Feige Kevin SmithKick Ass King Kong Kristen Stewart Kung Fu
Apps evolution: A new wave of digital artists is adding whimsy ... http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/03/apps-evolution-a-n...
4 of 7 6/24/11 11:26 AM
Pan took a self-administered cram course in mobile game playing, then with two colleagues
created a pixilated platoon of flatulence-powered hogs that load up cans of pork and beans to
smash enemy birds. High art? Hardly. But Pigs got Pan thinking about new ways of stretching
the medium. “Apps attract people who are not into desktop games, which I feel are geared toward
teenage boys who like to shoot things. But everybody has an iPhone, so people who are not into
that kind of genre can develop creative ways of interacting with their phones.”
Nisha Pan's When Pigs Fly game led her to expand on the medium. The pig avoids lightning that
would zap it into bacon. (Nisha Pan)
Catering to this broader gaming market, more than 300,000 apps now vie for consumers’
attention on Apple’s App Store, which is vetted by a review team that tests games for content
and functionality. Google’s rival Android store offers thousands of other options. Dozens of
how-to books in the “Apps for Dummies” vein target do-it-yourselfers eager to enter the app
creation business.
While competition to create a hit app has become ferocious, those who craft a winning formula
reap rich benefits. Silicon Valley start-up Zynga, for example, earned a $10-billion valuation by
cranking out mass-appeal Facebook games like Farmville, which charges users to decorate
acreage with virtual cows and other rustic accoutrements.
Still, only a handful of established artists have tried using apps for art’s sake. David Hockney
produces most of his paintings these days on an iPad screen using the Brushes digital paint app.
John Baldessari designed his own download, In Still Life, which enables users to simulate the
style of 17th-century Dutch painters.
Pan cites classmate Noorussaad Armar’s Cosmopolis game as artistic evidence that
“contemplative” and “mobile phone game” need not be mutually exclusive concepts. “You propel
yourself through the universe a little bit at a time as you absorb matter and anti-matter. It’s really
slow, visually stunning and totally different from traditional game play. To me, that’s exciting.”
UCLA’s Stern views smart phone platforms as a wide-open medium for creative types willing to
embrace the limitations of a small-screen experience. “Apps are a total rewrite for the industry.
Students no longer think, ‘Oh, I’ve got to go intern for Sony Entertainment.’ The most positive
effect that apps have had is to inspire people with this idea of being more independent-minded. If
they don’t want to be one of those hundreds of people responsible for one leaf on one tree on one
level of a big video game, they can say, ‘I’m going to make something for iPad or iPhone and we’ll
see what happens.’ Now they can really get their own visions across.”
– Hugh Hart, Special to the Los Angeles Times
RECENT AND RELATED
Can Homefront stir fan movement?
Red Dead and “Rango”? Meet the new Old West
Military history: Black Ops now bestseller ever
Panda L.A. events L.A. Noire L.J. Smith
Labyrinth Last Airbender League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen Lee Margulies Lego Leigh Whannell
Leonard Nimoy Let Me In Liesel BradnerLimitless Lobo Lock Lois Lane Lon Chaney Looney
Tunes Lord of the Rings Los AngelesTimes Book Prizes Lost M. NightShyamalan Mad Magazine Malcolm McDowell mangaMarc Guggenheim Marc Olsen Marc Webb Maria
Elena Fernandez Mark Milian Mark Millar Mark Ruffalo
Mark Strong Mark Waid Martin Campbell
Marvel Mary McDonnell Mary McNamaraMatt Damon Matt Fraction Matthew VaughnMatt Reeves Matt Smith Megan Fox Mel Blanc Mel
Gibson Melissa Maerz Merch Merlin Metropolis
Michael Bay Michael Chabon MichaelFassbender Michael Keaton Michael Ordoña MikeMignola Mike Richardson Mike Winder MillaJovovich Milton Caniff MMORPG Moebius monsters
motion comics Muppets Music Namor Natalie
Port Natalie Portman Nate Jackson Nathan Fillion
Nathan Sawaya Neal Adams Neil GaimanNeill Blomkamp Nicholas Meyer NicolasCage Nicole Sperling Ninjas Nintendo
Noelene Clark No Ordinary FamilyNosferatu Olivia Munn Olivia Wilde Olivier Coipel
Orlando Bloom Pan's Labyrinth Panzer 88 PatrickDay Patrick Dempsey Patrick Goldstein PatrickStewart Paul Newman Paul Pope Paul W.S. Anderson
Peanuts Penelope Cruz Percy Jackson and theOlympians Peter Jackson Philip K.Dick Piranha 3D Pirates of theCaribbean Pixar Planet of the Apes
Pokemon Politics Pottermore Power Rangers
Predator Prince of Persia promo
promobox promobox-ledeQuentin Tarantino Quizzam R. Crumb R.L. Stine
Rachel Abramowitz Randomsilliness Randy Lewis Ray Bradbury Real
Steel Rebecca Keegan Red Dawn ReedJohnson Religion review Richard DonnerRick Baker Rick Riordan Ridley Scott RIPD Robert
Abele Robert Downey Jr. Robert Heinlein
Robert Kirkman\ Robert Lloyd Roberto Orci RobertPattinson Robert Rodriguez RobertZemeckis Robin Hood Rob Marshall RobotChicken Rocketeer Roger Corman Ron HowardRon Moore Russell Crowe Ryan Lee RyanReynolds Sam Mendes Sam Raimi SamuelL. Jackson Samurai Sam WorthingtonSandman Saw Scarlett Johansson Science channel
science fiction Scott Collins Scott Pilgrim vs theWorld Scott Timberg Scream 4 Scream Awards
Sean Bean Sean Connery Serenity Seth Rogen sexSgt. Rock Shawn Levy Sherlock Holmes Shia
LaBeouf Shrek Signature Series Sigourney Weaversilver surfer Simon Pegg Simpsons Sin City Six
Million Dollar Man Smallville Smurfs Source Code
Spawn special effects Spider-ManStakeland Stan Lee Stanley Kubrick Stan Winston
Stargate Star Trek Star Wars Star
Wars. 2011 preview Stephenie Meyer stephen j.
cannell Stephen King Steve Ditko Steve NilesSteven Moffat Steven Spielberg StevenZeitchik Sucker Punch Summer Glau Super
Super 8 Superman Supernatural Susan
Carpenter Susan King Suzanne Collins
Swamp Thing SXSW SyFy SylvesterStallone Tarzan Taylor Lautner Television
Apps evolution: A new wave of digital artists is adding whimsy ... http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/03/apps-evolution-a-n...
5 of 7 6/24/11 11:26 AM