We did a live production today, the annual Shark Tank game that I can only presume NBC or Mark Burnett haven’t heard of. This is a streaming program for the game design students, and it is is a key moment in their curriculum. Their showing their work to game design professionals. Getting challenged on their choices, and feedback on their efforts. The judges will ultimately vote — we don’t see that part, or the outcome — and some of these games will continue on. This is an even more part of the curriculum, as they eventually form LLCs, bring these games to market, and so on.
It seems like every year we change something about this show. And every year I have a different task. That part is fine. I spend a lot of time in our studios, and I’d much rather let everyone else call their shots — especially when we have students on the production crew. Last year I ran a manual camera for the interviews. This year, I was just the guy getting participants in the right order and doing whatever other little thing I could to help things run smoothly.
And, thankfully, the program ran smoothly. The game design students seemed to enjoy themselves, the little bumps that you encounter in a live production were merely little bumps, and, presumably, the faculty liked it a little.
Now watch these six presentations, and pick your winner.
(If it won’t play here for you, for whatever reason, you can join the dozens of other viewers on Facebook.)
The best part of it was, each time I went to the green room to call up the next set of presenters, everyone else was cheering them on. They’ve got a lot of camaraderie in that program. It is always nice to see that whole group pulling for each other.
