This week I participated at the summer youth activity pilot project hosted by the youth meeting point in Dinklage. Located at the Dümmer See I supported the organisation as a media educator. According with my photography knowledge it was a pleasure to give the participating kids the opportunity to fulfil their imagination of the perfect photo.
Due to the sunny weather, with extreme temperatures above 30°, we avoided to shoot indoor. On the one hand a pity because the understanding of proper lightning could be taught. But on the other hand we had much fun taking pictures at the beach and in the water.
The overall feedback was astonishing. All the participants were happy with our approach of outstanding youth-education.The climate with the kids and along the organisation-team was really calm and relaxed.

Also the local press and politicians were spellbound as they has a look at our work. I hope that encourages them to support the youth-work even more.

• http://www.duemmerheim.de/

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Like every year during mid june the Hurricane Festival serves us all with the finest selection of good music. And like every year I’ll provide you a proper printable map of the campsite. With this clear map you won’t get lost during your dizzy times and you can easily coordinate your meeting points with your companions.

According to this map I recommend you to check out Koeckis Hurricane Timetable to have a clear overview of the upcoming bands.

Enjoy your stay at the Hurricane Festival 2010 in Scheeßel.

• Download Hurricane Festivalmap 2010 (PDF, 705kb)

Related posts:

1. Hurricane Festival | Camping-Ground Map

Perform! Big performance on January 30th, 2010 from Janko Hofmann on Vimeo.

The second performance of the bachelor project “Perform!” from the University of Bremen at the celebration of the graduates of the university on january 30th, 2010, filmed by students of the bachelor project “ImageFilm” from the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven.

This is the follow-up of the bachelor project I participated in. I assume, that this is the mid-term presentation, because the only improvement is the multi-touch performance interface. I’d love to see both projects interacting together in the future, but I’m quite sure, this will happen.

Perform Website: http://medien.informatik.uni-bremen.de/perform/

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Emotional. Depressive. Unpredictable. Heavy Rain is one of the few compelling games I completed straight. I was really bound in this dense atmosphere, according with the thrilling story. Actually I didn’t intend to buy this game. However I was meant to import it from the UK for my brother. In the end I didn’t regret that I gave it a try. Frankly, the controls are crap. Reminds me more of a racing game (R2 for acceleration) than an adventure but the rest of the game is just brilliant.

Encouraged by the story, you’ll be tempted to keep on playing. But that should be compulsory for a game that is acting like a movie. The final outcome is determined by one of the many interactive decisions you can make. Those consist basically of certain combinations you have to nail. But if you nail them perfect, you get honored, at least, with a trophy (which are almost secret, though).

You can’t really tell, if the previous choice was good or bad for the story. In total there are over 20 endings and if you make a “wrong” decision, it could alter the whole storyline and lead to a good, a bad, a weird, a strange, a happy, a sad, …. ending.

This is definitely a must-play for every gaming enthusiast out there. And I can imagine that this is one of the few games, which can be enjoyed by just watching it being played by a friend.

Even if you die, the story goes on, so do your best to survive.

• Personal Rating: 5/5
• www.heavyrainps3.com
• Heay Rain – Gametrailers.com Review

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• What I did: Gamedesign
• Brief: To devise, design and refine an original Game System to be used in a non-digital card game.
• Download the GridGrind card game

This was the first time I devised a complete card game. I came up with the grid-based idea quite early. My aim was to achieve a simple game with basic mechanics and a good balance. However, the factor chance should also be included.

I started playtesting with prototypes. Initially I planned to add more rules, but it appeared to be way to complex. So I ended up with less rules and an easier learning-curve.

Feel free to download the game and play it. If you do so, please leave me a comment about your experience.

Related posts:

1. Brainstorm – Card Game

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp7BP00LuA4

A company called Zebra Imaging introduced holographic 3d sheets at the Autodesk University. The highlight is, that you are able to “print” them out of any Autodesk application. However the angle of the image is more or less fixed. But keep in mind, that this is only the start of 3D without any glasses. Even though this technique is old fashioned, it’s different to the commercial bric-a-bac you can find every now and then in the malls.

Considering visualization this could become an obligatory step in architecture.

(via openmedi.de)

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The SkyPort has been chosen for my Fantastic Airport Viszualization. I have loads of ideas, which will get me into learning useful new techniques (f.e. clouds) and use already known sophisticated techniques. I desire to achieve a massive airport to the stars, with a dense and convincing atmosphere.

• Above the clouds
• Port to space on a main route via massive spaceships
• Apartements and offices in the staves
• Several layers of floating traffic in stave area
• CargoPort for regional logistics
• Duty-Free, Waitinghall, Shopping, etc

Scribbles on Blockout

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1. Uni Assignement – Airport visualization

Task: Design the environment, site layout, buildings and vehicles for a futuristic airport, able to transport people not only worldwide but also to the upper atmosphere or lower oceans, whether set at the top of a mountain, crater of a volcano, out at sea or whatever.

Approach: I started with scribbling some ideas and researching scales from common airports. I’ll start blocking out a rough design for both theme-ideas (see below) to get inspired and to start thinking about stuff that could happen on, in and around the airport.

Theme: Either I’ll choose a setting above the clouds to serve spaceships or a coast-themed airport to serve ships, planes and (maybe) spaceships.

Heathrow scale research and side view scribble

SkyPort Blockout

CoastPort Blockout

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1. Fantastic SkyPort Visualization
2. Rollercoaster – Key Elements: Launch
3. Rollercoaster – 1st thoughts

Just copied all files to the root. That means two things. I decided for WordPress and I’m finally online. Now I have to figure out, how to implement my own theme and get the intended functionality working. Just couldn’t wait anymore to release something proper.

Update: Still working on an alternative version of this design. I’ll add some content during the integration processing.

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1. The battle between Drupal and WordPress

I’m still working on my new website. I finished the design a couple of days ago, so I had time to check out a suitable backend. I considered to use Drupal, due to some experiences I made with it in the past. The other opportunity is to use WordPress. Without any experiences, though.

My website should be based on blog entries with separate categories for regular- and portfolio blog posts. I want to focus on the content, so the most important thing is to have a clean backend with a good usability. Right now I’m testing WordPress and can’t really complain about how things work in here. I’ve tried several  themes and can estimate, that I could achieve my desired functionality with basic stuff.

However the main downside is, that I’m not familiar with implementing WordPress themes. And I don’t really want to put effort in it to learn it. So the big question is: Is it worth to put blood, sweat and tears into WordPress or is it smarter to stay with familiar stuff and use Drupal?

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1. Finally Online!