He is the creative mind behind lead characters for both PC and Xbox 360. The animator, designer, video game developer and part-time digital art instructor at LSU shares his favorite design tools for getting his game on.
The Ouya is a nearly pocket-sized video game console, aka microconsole, that was recently funded on Kickstarter for $8.5 million. While it’s not as powerful as the PS4 or Xbox One, the Ouya console is designed to be easily modded, and every console doubles as a development kit. This means that Ouya players can also be Ouya developers.
ouya.tv
For anyone who already owns a Microsoft Kinect camera, there are some really interesting alternate uses for this piece of hardware. I’ve used two Kinects + iPi Mocap Studio for capturing 3-D animation of myself, and then applying it to video game characters as a means of rapid prototyping. Recently, I’ve also used the Kinect as a 3-D scanner, which feels like something out of Star Trek. For 3-D scanning, I used software called Artec Studio 9, which works with the Kinect to scan and generate 3-D objects, which you can clean up and potentially export to a 3-D printer.
xbox.com/en-US/kinect
artec3d.com/software/
ipisoft.com/download/
This open-source electronic board is capable of controlling just about any DIY hardware project. It’s surprisingly user-friendly, and there’s a lot you can do with it. It’s basically a little circuit board that you can modify and connect to all kinds of additional hardware attachments. We made an Arduino door chime for our office, which includes a small infrared sensor, an audio out that connects to computer speakers, and a USB port for uploading 8-bit sounds. It plays the sound effect from Mario Bros. when Mario travels through a pipe.
arduino.cc/
Alchemy is open-drawing software that explores sketching and drawing in very unique ways. It’s not intended for creating finished artwork, but rather for doing experimental sketching and idea development. It’s a means of visual brainstorming that can produce serendipitous results. Its features include randomized brush shapes that pull from images on your computer and the option to generate brushstrokes based on sound.
al.chemy.org/
This app offers a free way to distribute beta versions of your iOS applications before they hit the store. Whether you’re a Fortune 500 development firm or a hobbyist, Testflight lets you distribute your beta app across multiple iOS devices with an incredibly simple user experience, for testing and feedback.
testflightapp.com/
