It’s alive!!!

Aw Shucks Free-Times

An amazing article from the Free-Times!  However, there’s still a lot of work to do, but the momentum behind making SC a gaming destination continues to grow! I’m surrounded by many passionate and talented people that is going to make everyone Up Your Game!

http://www.free-times.com/arts/more-than-boombox-guy-jj-shepherd-key-columbias-thriving-video-game-051816

How may I help you?

Thank you all

Recently a new boombox friend Kathryn Duggan wrote an article about me citing this was the 10th and final year of the boombox guy.  After that article was written a few of my friends started showing me posts from random people where they were sad this was my last year; some of which was very heartfelt.  Then people on the street stopped me and told me thank you and congratulations.  It was a little jarring, but it was nice to hear from so many supportive people.  In response to this I wrote the following on my Facebook account:

“The out pouring of posts, some very emotional, about this being my 10th and final year as boombox guy has been humbling. It is true that I am finishing up my PhD, but the song is not over yet. I will be around until the fall. I have no idea what the future holds, and you never know maybe I will end up being here for years to come. One thing I know for sure is I will always be your boombox guy, because the spirit of the boombox will always live on. Everyone of you has that spirit. The side of you that stops caring about what others think, and can fearlessly walk to your own song. The part of you that can pause, forgot about your troubles for a moment, and make another person smile. The piece of you that chooses neither right nor wrong, but chooses what is awesome. I expressed these by hoisting a boombox on to my shoulder, and carrying it around week after week for years. I encourage all of you to express that part of yourself in your own way. That is the spirit of the boombox, and that will live on forever. BD>”

I don’t think I understood the gravity of all of this coming to a close, but on that day it really hit me.  It comforts me to know that despite some of the bad that I have made a small positive change in some people’s lives.  This is why the spirit that I have displayed with this persona will always be alive, and I will always proudly be the boombox guy of UofSC.

Programming Anguish

The nightmarish hellscape of coding a game in c# that uses libraries written in c++ whose data is marshaled in shared memory by code written in C.

Indie Bits 2014

We’re back and better than ever!  For the last couple of years I have been working hard to get an indie game festival started up, since we don’t have one in the south east.  Thanks to the Nickelodeon and Indie Grits we have slowly but surly began to grow the community.  We even have support and sponsorship!  Here’s the run down for people who would like to submit a game.

First, it can be a new game that you’re developing and need feedback, an old game you want to promote, or something strange and unique that may test the boundaries of what a game is!

Next register and submit the games here.  $10 for students and $25 for professionals.  Once you’re registered and your games are submitted we will send you all the information you need including passes to get into the exclusive after party.  Trust me you’ll want to come to this.

Finally we will judge the games and awards will be given out at the festival.  Here’s the break down:

• “Yottabyte,” Best of Show, $750
• “Gravibyte,” Humanities Gaming, $500
• “Exabyte,” Experimental, $250
• “Megabyte,” Student, $250
• “Prettibyte,” Best Art, $250

Submit, play, win, and party!  Let everyone know and let’s make this a big deal!

Boombox Guy’s 10 Year Anniversary!

I honestly can’t believe I have been carrying a boombox around on my shoulder for 10 years.  I am always honored and humbled by the overwhelmingly positive responses from people that I meet.  I never mind stopping and chatting for a minute and answering questions about why I have done what I have done for so long now.  Though there have been some rough times through out the years, I would have never changed a minute of it.

On this momentous occasion I would like to announce that starting today every Friday (hopefully) for this rest of this year I will be updating this blog.  I will share stories from the past, present, and even some of my future plans, so stay tuned because there are many big events happening this year!

I felt it was appropriate start by to going all the way back and tell you all the story of how the Boombox Guy came to be.  It was the Spring semester of 2004, and it was the second semester of my freshmen year.  I was a young, trouble-maker who caused problems with my RA’s, played video games instead of doing my work, and also looked very different.

50 lbs heavier in fat. 30 lbs lighter in hair

Those honey combs behind me was the signature of one of the most notorious dorms at USC called Douglas, which we affectionately referred to as “The Dirty D”.  It was room 605, a corner room, and I lived with my best friend Charles.  Beside us was my other friend Elliot, and Chris lived a floor below us.  Also I wouldn’t recommend looking for that dorm anymore, since it doesn’t exist.

I can see my old room!

One day Elliot burst into Charles and I’s room, like he usually did, but this time he had an old boombox with him.  He thought it would be a hilarious idea to make mixed tapes and carry it around campus to annoy people.  The problem was he didn’t know how to make mix tapes from CD’s or from Mp3’s.  He thought the only way was to go flea markets to find old cassette tapes and hope they worked.  Also the fact we had to duct tape the batteries into the back of it didn’t help out either.

I had some prior knowledge of mixing music, since I use to make movies in high school, so I told him to let me mess with it and see if we could make our own mix tapes.  Sure enough I figured out the correct levels and the proper set up to take songs that I had on my computer and record to tapes using the boombox.  It was a long process that had to be done days in advanced, but at least it worked.

On one early Spring morning, me and Elliot set out to do our first run carrying the boombox.  We decided to always travel together as, we sort of figured we would get a less than warm reception.  Eh… Let me be honest, I figured we were going to get our butts kicked, so at least we sort of had numbers.  The first run was short, as it was only from the Dirty D to the Russell House (which is our student union at USC).  Out of the entire mix there were only 3 songs I distinctly remember from that mix.  They were:

Stomp to my beat by JS16 (Yes I’m a Dance Dance Revolution nerd)

Super Rad by the Aquabats

I Ran (So Far Away) by Flock of Seagulls (Just in case we had to run!)

Much to our disbelieve we received an incredibly positive reaction!  We decided to keep doing it, but there was no way we were going to be able to keep this up every day.  It took so long to come up with new ideas for mix tapes, and then create them.  We decided that we were only going to carry the boombox on Friday’s.  This way it would give us enough time to make the tapes, but also so we wouldn’t wear out the joke.  From then on this was the tradition.  “Only on Friday’s”, was our slogan.

Elliot carried the box for the most part, while I did the mixing.  We traded off who carried it from time to time to change it up, and had some crazy adventures.  A few times we were threatened by USCPD.  Many administrators and professors hated us and we were cursed out a few times.  Once we were chased down by a group of angry students.  Another time we were banned from the Russell house for “inciting a riot”.  Occasionally we would bust in to parties a la the Kool Aid man.  Then there were sometimes we were actually invited to crazy parties.  It was a blur.

We carried the boombox consistently until the end of our freshman year.  At the end of the semester we had a party called, “The Weekend of Sin” (which actually lasted an entire week).  I remember the last day walking to my English 101 class with the entire crew with boombox in-tow.  It sort of funny after the fact because I had fill out an evaluation in not the greatest mental condition… Yeah we’ll go with that.  On that final day I remember all of us walking to Capstone, since that’s where we were going to be starting Fall of 2004.  Well… Not everyone. Many of my friends ended up not coming back to USC after freshman year, and this was due to either academic reasons, being caught up in drugs, or for personal reasons.  Elliot was one of them.  He realized that mechanical engineering was not for him, so he decided to go elsewhere to pursue something different.  It was sad for the fellowship to break, but we all had to carry on.  Now I had a tough decision at the end of that year.  Was I going to let the boombox tradition fade away, or would I carry it solo from now own?…

I suppose you already know the answer to that question, but I will tell that story later in more detail.  From then on I have been the boombox guy, who has went on to cause trouble and mayhem, while also giving back whenever I can.  A mix between an academic, and a mad performer, who no matter what always tries to bring a smile to people’s faces.

I imagine many of you are wondering what is Elliot doing now.  When I started writing this I was unsure as well, so using the power of the interwebs I looked up his phone number, and had a chat with him.  Turns out he’s doing well, and as crazy as ever.  Don’t ever change man.

Mostly, I talked about Elliot and I, but to be fair the start of Boombox Guy was really a team effort.  Charles, Chris, Ivan, Ben, and Daniel were integral parts of it’s formation, and I thank them too for all of the opportunities this has brought me.

The boombox team

No I was not the original, modern boombox guy, and it was not my idea.  However, I helped create it happen, I was an integral part from the beginning, and eventually I made it my own.  I will readily admit that I don’t create, but I do innovate.

Until the next post!

New Student Games 2013!

I just finished up my Fall 2013 media arts video game design class, and I want to share a few select games with you all.  I’m very proud of all of my students, but there were a few exceptional games that came out of this year.  Also remember most of these students have had no programming experience let alone game design experience, and they were tasked to create a game in a month and a half.

Neve:

Enter a dying world where you must explore the last remnants of society in order to find your child.
Created by Tonya Holladay
Platform: Windows
Resolution: 1280×720
Size: 97Mb
Link

Peppermint Story Classroom Edition:

Play as Pickle Boy as you run, jump, climb, and defeat various enemies in this fast pasted 2D action game.
Created by Kevin Kempsy
Platform: Windows
Size: 41Mb
Link

Resurrection Man:

In this historic serious game, assume the role of a slave tasked to rob graves and return them to the medical school that owns you.  Make sure to avoid the guards!
Created by Jess Tompkins
Platform: Windows
Size: 11Mb
Link

Additional Notes: Q to Dig and E to open coffin

Thank you for a wonderful class!

Get Well Soon Kevin

Game Show Case at Indie Grits!

I know it’s been a while since I have posted but I have been extremely busy working on many different events including this one.  This marks the first official year that independently developed games will be shown at Indie Grits!  Here is a list of the games to be shown:

Lost in the Middle Kingdom
Renaldo Doe, JJ Shepherd, Will Hoskins, Matthew Arnold:  2:00-4:00pm
A serious games that teaches the user to speak, read, and understand Chinese.  Think “Rosetta Stone: The Game”.

Cannon Crew
Renaldo Doe:  2:00-4:00pm
Shoot targets and score the most points in this mobile game.

Divide by Zero (/0)
Will Hoskins: 3:00-4:00pm
Difficult platformer, great music, and a robust level editor best describes this Android Mobile Game.

Hamster Ball
Vitale Zheltov, Michelle skipper, and Brandi Palmer: 2:00, 3:00, 4:00pm
Guide an adorable hamster through difficult mazes and around tricky obstacles.

Say It!
JJ Shepherd: 2:00, 3:00pm
Experience the therapy that teaches stroke patients how to speak again through this serious game.

[threshold]
Cecil Decker and JJ Shepherd: 2:00-4:00pm
Experience noise through play or non play with this thoughtful avant gard game.

Lost Sol
Richard Walker: 2:00-4:00pm
Solve puzzles using light in this mysterious game.

No Child Left Behind
Christine Cannon: 2:30, 3:30
Rescue children from a burning science lab to obtain the highest score in this witty and dark game.

Poker Smash
Drew Card: 2:oo-4:00pm
Shift cards to create hands in the fast paced puzzle game for the Xbox 360.

Don’t Be a Dick
Cecil Decker: 2:00, 3:00pm
Experience the dull and the mundane with this thought provoking and sometimes violent text-based adventure.  IN HD!

Guild of Mercenaries
Paul Park and Terral Patel: 2:30, 3:30
Venture forth, buy items, and slay enemies in this Governor School of Math and Science made game.

Lucy Heart of Gold
Susie and Jake: 2:30, 3:30pm
Guide Lucy through this platforming adventure to find happiness in this Governor School of Math and Science made game.

Defeat the Enemies 4: Into the Grid
Karl  Schober:  2:30, 3:30pm
Defeat your enemies in a surreal grid space.

Kinect Pong
JJ Shepherd: 2:00-4:00pm
Play the classic game Pong in a new way… With your entire body!  This fast paced game has all the charm of the 70’s with the controls of the future… Today!

Koy Button
James Sutherland Jr. : 2:00-4:00pm
Beautiful environments and tough gameplay await in a platformer game where you must collect and master the four buttons needed to power up a weapon that can destroy the ultimate evil.

These are a few that will be feature but there may be a few that may make a special appearance.  Hope to see you all there!

TEDx Talk

Here is my talk I gave at TEDx Columbia!  Enjoy BD>