Geek Saint Louis

Jun

2013

The 3 Latest Reasons to Get Excited About St. Louis Startups

There have been a whole lot of exciting announcements recently in the St. Louis startup scene.

First there’s the Regional Enterpreneurship Initiative, supported by a number of local public and private organizations, intended to invest a total of $100 million into the local startup ecosystem over the next five years. Techli reports:

“A year ago, I asked what we needed to provide the best environment to help our best startups grow,” said St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley. “The answer came back with a resounding, ‘Get them more money.’ So, today, we are saying we need the money, and we are putting an aggressive plan in place to raise that capital. This guarantees the best new companies will stay in St. Louis and thrive for years to come.”

This comes just days after the St. Louis Tech Startup Report was published by ITEN, highlighting the current strength of the St. Louis startup ecosystem. We’re already doing pretty well, according to the report, and hopefully the REI will only cause the St. Louis startup scene to get bigger and better.

And proving there’s a cool new St. Louis startup launching every day, just yesterday we saw the launch of St. Louis startup Muzio, a social media curation app that “allows users to organize photos, videos, audio clips, notes and quotes in a simple and elegant package.”

Co-founders Reshma Chamberlin and Elizabeth Buchanan were featured in the St. Louis Business Journal.

Apr

2013

Peanut Butter and Game Jam

Another April, another STL Game Jam at local game design firm Simutronics.

For those of you just tuning in, a game jam is a 48-hour event where you divide up into teams and create a playable game of some kind — video game, board game, card game, mobile game, etc — from beginning to end. I’ve been doing game jams for the past year or so and they are always a lot of fun.

At the game jam last August, my team created a Wherigo game, which is a located-based GPS-driven mobile app game based on geocaching. We had so much fun that we’re doing it again, and the word spread and long story short, we’ve got about 25 geocachers here on-site creating about four Wherigo games:

Ch-Ch-Chain — a Wherigo based on the Chain of Rocks bridge

Meet Me in 1904 — an augmented reality game where you visit the sites of the 1904 World’s Fair exhibition halls and stage a rescue

And a couple of other games just taking shape.

We’ve had geocachers from as far as North Carolina fly out to our game jam for this event. I can’t wait to play all the games.

For more info on what all the other teams are working on, check out the STL Game Jam website, where Simutronics intern Chelsea is liveblogging the event.

Feb

2013

The Top 1 Way to Improve the Performance of your Startup

“Starting a company is hard. It’s not easy. It’s not for the faint of heart. There’s a million ways to fail, and only one way to succeed,” said Tom Cox of Coolfire Solutions, as he addressed a room of St. Louis startup entrepreneurs at the February meetup of StartLouis.

There’s a ton of advice out there for would-be entrepreneurs just getting started, and a lot of it’s confusing and contradictory. Cox, on the other hand, offered his audience what he called the Top 1 ways to improve performance of your startup: “Build something great that people love.”

That’s what Cox did at Coolfire Solutions. Coolfire Solutions is a software development shop dedicated to creating simple and functional technology that directly improves the lives of the people who use it. Coolfire makes solutions that are easy for anyone to use, not just techies.

The best way to get people to love your product is to make it very easy to adopt, hard to forget, and impossible to live without, according to Cox. “Don’t write a user manual for your product. If you have to create a user manual, you’ve already failed. Make sure when people pick up your product, they already know how to use it,” said Cox.

Back in 2006 when he founded his company, Cox gathered a great team of technologists and artists, or as he put it, “My goal in 2006: Create a team of people who can change the world and then get out of their way. My goal in 2013: Lead a team of people who can change the world, and then get out of their way.”

Some products the Coolfire team has created are Viewpoint, a simple and easy to use iPad reader for SharePoint; RONIN, a real-time tactical situational awareness app for the military; and Reconn, a mobile SATCOM toolkit that weighs 10lbs.

In addition to advising that St. Louis entrepreneurs create great products that people love, Cox also emphasized how important it is for entrepreneurs to love what they are doing. “Find what you’re passionate about. Come up with a way to make it amazingly better. Figure out how to monetize it. Do it in that order. Don’t skip any steps,” said Cox. Because finding something you believe will make money, and then trying to get passionate about it later, won’t work.

“I’ll leave you with this question,” said Cox to the St. Louis startup community. “What are you going to build? Is it going to be great? Is it going to be something people will love? And if so, why aren’t you already building it?”

Jan

2013

The Geek’s Guide to Surviving the Global Game Jam

Welcome! If you are reading this, you’ve probably heard about “that Global Game Jam thing”, and think it sounds cool and maybe you want to try it. You have chosen wisely! It is cool and you will enjoy yourself. That said, I’ve compiled a list of tips so that you can make the Global Game Jam an even better experience.

What is the Global Game Jam, exactly?

The Global Game Jam is a weekend of 48 solid hours of game-making awesomeness. You arrive on Friday, watch the keynotes, learn the theme, and divide up into teams and spend the weekend creating a game around that theme. The 2013 Global Game Jam will start at 5pm (in your time zone) on January 25th and goes for ~48 hours through January 27, 2013. For more detailed info, check out the STL Game Jam FAQ and Global Gam Jam FAQ.

What kinds of games can we create?

All kinds! I’ve helped create a traditional platformer in the spirit of the original NES, a flash game about kitties catching rainbow scales, and a geocaching Whereigo smartphone game about zombies. And it’s not just limited to video games — you can also create a board game or a card game during the Global Game Jam.

I’m not a programmer.

You don’t have to be! I’m a writer, and I help with story concepting, character creation, and dialogue scripting. Artists and animators, both 2D and 3D, are always in demand to create a sleek-looking game. And if you know sound, you are golden — EVERYONE will want you on their team. But you don’t have to know any of those things. The Global Game Jam is about learning new skills and having fun.

Now, onward to tips on how to survive the Global Game Jam.

Breaks

Take them. Go walk around outside for 10 minutes. Take deep breaths. Do something not related to video games for 20 minutes. Call your mother. Go on a food run. Watch cat videos on your phone. Game Jam is a totally intense and rewarding experience. Emphasis on intense. You are going to be in a confined space with a bunch of other people, and all of you will be short on sleep, energy, and privacy. There’s no shame if you have to unplug your brain for a few minutes so you don’t go on a rampage.

Food

Eat it. Game Jam is the kind of intense experience where it’s easy to put your head down and keep working and then surface for air and realize you haven’t eaten for 12 hours. Game Jam will often feed you some meals, but you should also bring some supplies of your own. Protein bars, fruit, beef jerky, trail mix, and peanut butter are good for protein, and you’ll want some of that. Sugar crashes are no fun, and less so during Game Jam.

Fluids

Drink them. Coffee, tea and energy drinks will give you a quick hit of energy, and that’s useful, but be sure to drink some actual water to stay hydrated. Also think about packing actual fruit juice and vitamin water. Soda does not count.

Sleeping

Do it. Four hours at the minimum. Six is better. Or at least try to take 20-minute power naps every few hours.

Bathing

Do it. Put soap on a washcloth, get it wet, and rub it all over your body. Brush your teeth, put on deodorant, change your clothing a few times over the course of the weekend. You’ll feel better, and your teammates will thank you.

Packing Suggestions:

– Laptop, netbook, tablet, or some kind of portable computer with WI-FI enabled
– Power cord and/or extra batteries
– Paper and pencil to write and draw with
– Other art supplies
– bottled water
– snacks
– caffeine (Protip: individual instant packs of coffee are amazing)

So, that’s it! Otherwise, show up, work hard, have fun! We’ll see you in a week at the 2013 Global Game Jam!

Caitlin Moriarity is a technology, pop culture and web content writer in St. Louis, MO. This is her second global game jam. You can find her at her website. Crossposted to the STL Game Jam website.

Jan

2013

2013 Is Already Booking Up Fast

I just updated my my Google calendar for the next three months, and I’m already exhausted just looking at it. In addition to my monthly meetups C4: Comic Creators Coffee Club and StartLouis, there are also a lot of local and regional events I’m interested in attending. We’ve got comics, anime, video games, and startups:

24-Hour Comic Crunch, Jan. 12-13, STL
Global Game Jam, Jan. 25-27, STL
KawaKon, Feb. 8-10, STL
Wizard World STL, March 22-24, STL
Planet Comicon, April 6-7, KC
Anime STL, April 12-14, STL
C2E2, April 26-28, Chicago

Plus, we’ve got the C4 comic anthology deadline on Feb. 6, and then I have to edit that book and get it printed. Rocketbot has a comic anthology that I want to submit to, with a deadline in early February as well. And I’ve been wanting to start going to the STL WordPress Meetup (I keep missing it, and WordCamp was so fun).

Clearly I need to find a way to clone myself.

Oct

2012

Declaration of Internet Freedom Bus Tour Visits STL

So last night the founder of Reddit was in town and gave an epic talk on freedom on the Internet. Where were you?

A little background: Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, has been campaigning for Internet freedom in the Declaration of Internet Freedom Bus Tour: From Denver to Danville. Internet freedom has recently come under fire in the US from the proposed SOPA and PIPA acts. The Bus Tour is intended to visit a number of cities, including sites of the presidential and vice-presidential debates, to talk to people about the importance of a free and unrestricted Internet.

The Bus Tour’s visit to St. Louis was hosted by StartLouis: The St. Louis Startup Circle; and BuildGuildSTL, at the T-REx Incubator in Downtown St. Louis. The Bus did a tour of small local businesses that grew from the Internet before coming to the talk at the T-REx.

Erik Martin, general manager of Reddit, kicked it off with a slideshow of the Internet Bus Tour so far. “One of the things we wanted to do on this tour was get as many people as possible to physically sign this beautiful document of Declaration of Internet Freedom. It might be the first magic marker signed document in the Library of Congress,” joked Martin.

Martin and Ohanian talked about all the people they’ve met on the tour so far — each and every one of whom has a story about how a free and open Internet has improved their lives.

“The Silicon Valley myth — the idea that this kind of innovation is only happening there, needs to go away,” said Ohanian, when discussing the vibrant startup communities in Boulder, Colorado, and other cities.

Alexis Ohanian went off on a short tangent in the middle of the night. “Does St. Louis have an official song? A jam,” Ohanian asked the crowd. “Nelly!” came the reply.

So that’s how over 100 people mangled the chorus to “It’s Getting Hot in Here” to a poor woman on speakerphone, whose only crime was supporting Internet freedom — she was a donor to Reddit’s crowdfunded campaign to pay for part of Declaration of Internet Freedom Bus Tour, and won a “drunkdial” from the Reddit team.

Martin and Ohanian talked about their next idea as well — Geek Day, a scheduled “flash mob” where geeks representing every district in the country would set appointments and go see their state senators and representatives in Washington, to talk about issues important to the tech/geek/startup communities across the country.

“You should have every politician representing you in DC on speed dial. Because they work for you,” said Ohanian. He then told us about how a group of school kids in Nebraska peer pressured him into actually making that call, when Ohanian made that statement to those students. There’s an app for that, apparently.

After the talk, everyone was invited to Urban Chestnut Brewery, where Ohanian and Martin sampled St. Louis microbrews and played the locally-created iPhone drinking game, Circle of Death, designed by IDC Projects.

The Bus Tour left this morning for their next stop, Louisville, Kentucky. But not before having breakfast at St. Louis landmark Uncle Bill’s Pancake House. I’m curious to find out what stories about St. Louis the reddit team will tell at their subsequent stops. Because we’re doing some cool stuff here in town with our startup community and our tech community.

Aug

2012

The August 2012 St. Louis Game Jam: Let the Games Begin

Another third of the year, another game jam. Woo!

We kicked off with our new and improved team sorting method — the programmers divide up by language, then they grab the artists, then teams recruit designers so teams are balanced by skill.

Once again, we were short on audio/sound people, so the three guys with that skillset grabbed a corner, dubbed themselves “The Sound Department” and set up a workflow and went around to all the teams to find out what sounds and music they would need.

I’m on a team doing a geocaching location-based text and image game built on Whereigo, for smartphones. We are still hashing out the “spine” of the game, but when that’s ready, I will be writing a LOT of descriptions — characters, items, locations and actions.

I’m super pleased to see that way more fellow ladies showed up for this game jam as compared to previous game jams. More ladies in game development and tech, always a good thing.

This post was crossposted to the STL Game Jam blog here.

Apr

2012

St. Louis Game Jam Fun But Needs More Lady Game Devs

The Saint Louis Game Jam this weekend kicked off with a bang. After arriving at the Simutronics offices, all the participants (about 60 of us, all told), crowded into the conference room for the ritual drawing of the theme. The noun picked was “Justice”, and the adjective was “Light” — so our theme this weekend was “Light Justice.” Sounds like an Internet meme to me. 🙂

We then divided ourselves up by specialities — programming, art, design, and miscellaneous (where I, as a writer, ended up). Then we put together our teams for the weekend.

(Photo credit by Dave B.) The team I was on, led by Simutronics staffers Elonka Dunin and Jen Patton, tossed around ideas and came up with the bare bones idea of a platformer, where a cat finds scales scattered by a rainbow trout god, which we presented to the Game Jam (under the name Team Rainbow Killer). And then we buckled down and got to work.

We further refined our game idea. We went with a Japanese motif, and you control a white cat that is catching the rainbow scales that are falling off of the rainbow trout god, and restoring the scales. Periodically, a black cat will run across the screen and knock more scales off of the rainbow trout god, for the white cat to try to catch.

The name we came up with for the game is Scales of Justice.

I will quote you the game intro text, which yours truly wrote:

“In the dawn of the world, legend tells of the rainbow trout god, Nijimasu-sama, who controlled all the colors of light, keeping each color safe and tucked away in his scales.

Until one day, the trickster cat Fusei, stole away Nijimasu-sama’s scales, scattering them across the land.

Fusei’s sibling, Kouhei, swore to recover Nijimasu-sama’s scales, and restore justice to the world.

You are Kouhei, seeking out and collecting the missing scales of each color, returning them to Nijimasu-sama.

But beware! Fusei is not through making mischief! He continues to attack Nijimasu-sama, scattering more scales for Kouhei to find.”

Our team coded the game in Flash. The game has nine levels, since cats have nine lives. 🙂

And now it’s Sunday morning, our game is up and running, our team is play testing it and tweaking the game play. In a few hours, we’ll show off our finished game to the rest of the game jammers.

This is my second game jam, and I enjoyed it more this time around, since I knew what to expect. I like the game, Mobius, that I worked on at the January Global Game Jam, but I like Scales of Justice more — it’s a more fun game, and has better gameplay than Mobius, in my opinion.

Overall, I like game jams and intend to do more of them in the future.

One thing I did find disappointing, though, was that there were not many other women participating in the Game Jam. It was the same at the January Game Jam as well. I would love to see more fellow women get involved in events like this, and in the game development industry in general. Part of it might have been the timing — this Game Jam was scheduled for the same weekend as Anime STL. I actually attended Anime STL on Saturday and talked to the staff of Happy Badger Studio, an indie game and app development studio here in town. The two staffers, both women, admitted that they would have attended the Game Jam if they hadn’t already been committed to presenting and manning a booth at Anime STL. (Happy Badger Studio did the official Anime STL app for both iPhone and Android.)

So yes, I’m hoping to persuade more women to participate in future Game Jams.

Otherwise, I’m looking forward to the next St. Louis Game Jam, in August!

Crossposted to the STL Game Jam website.

Feb

2012

Another one bites the dust

The Sci Fi Lounge at Crestwood ArtSpace is officially closed forever.

Yet another fantastic venue here in town is gone. I hosted my monthly comics meetup, C4: Comic Creators Coffee Club, here for about a year. We loved meeting here, the fantastic ambience, the way owner Coyote went out of his way to welcome us. Not to mention that he joined us as well, since he’s a comic artist himself.

I will miss you, Sci Fi Lounge. You introduced me to the weird, can’t tear your eyes away from it, Indian sci-fi epic movie, Robot. I could always wander in on a Friday or Saturday night, and be assured of something fun and interesting to do — a D&D night, themed movie night, a performance by local bands, Draw Club with sci-fi themed models, the list goes on.

Owner Coyote has said he’s not planning to reopen in a new location. I can’t blame him, he’s not going to find rent as cheap as ArtSpace was offering anywhere else. I only hope in a few years, he might change his mind.

Jan

2012

Shameless Grounds

If you are a nerd and you have not been to Shameless Grounds yet, you are missing out.

Shameless Grounds is a sex-positive coffee shop one block west of the intersection of Jefferson and Gravois. It’s located in the same building as Koken Art Factory, the venue that puts on the yearly Naughti Gras erotic art show.

Shameless Grounds hosts a variety of great events in their own right: the monthly Literary Nudes figure drawing event, Off the GRID (Genderfuck Retro-Alternative Indie Drag Show), PJs and Movie on Wednesdays, Tenacious Trivia on Mondays, Rope Bite chapter meetings, Kinky Bingo, Kinky Book Club, and more.

At the center of the shop lies Shameless Grounds’ lending library, which contains a variety of material that relates to human sexuality, both to educate and to entertain.

In addition to being a welcoming area for many of St. Louis’ alternative lifestyle groups, and a great place to hold meetings, Shameless Grounds is also a pretty damn good place to get coffee and some food. The menu is small but tasty, and includes a variety of vegetarian and vegan offerings. The shop also often has lunch specials for around $6.