The Magi and The Sleeping Star

Latest MSS mentions

2009-11-18T19:56:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! We know its been a while since there has been an update but we return to you with more impressive MSS news mentions!

First off, Adam's interview with News OK

This interview led to mentions on both Game Politics and Kotaku

A special thanks to News OK and James Tyree for conducting the interview from all of us at Game Equals Life!

More MSS Media!

2009-08-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Since we announced MSS, a lot of articles have been released talking about it. And here's one more!

"Playing the young magic-user, named Oz, you dodge heat-seeking missiles, bombard a giant robotic dinosaur with spells, and freeze foes in gleaming blocks of ice. To win you’ll need quick wits, lightning reflexes and, perhaps most importantly, a solid understanding of diabetes management.

What? An understanding of how to keep blood sugars stable?

You see, in the upcoming video-game, The Magi and the Sleeping Star, your character isn’t just the descendant of a long line of magical heroes, he also has Type-1 Diabetes...

Game Equals Life, an independent design studio funded by private partnerships and investment, has yet to announce a release date for Magi. However, the project has already caused some buzz on various blogs and message boards. In an industry where young gamers are savvy and selective, Magi’s pedigree and polish are just as important as the health content itself in conveying a message of responsible diabetes care."

Full link to the article here.

New Prototype Demonstration Video!

2009-07-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

Game Equals Life added a new video to the site! It's a prototype demonstration video narrated by CEO Adam Grantham where he explains the blood sugar system and its relation to magic in game.

Click here to view the demo.

Enjoy!

MSS on Facebook and Twitter!

2009-06-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know that The Magi and The Sleeping Star is now on Facebook and Twitter! Links are below:

MSS Facebook page:

Link

MSS Twitter:

Link

Add us!

Also, make sure to check out a local JDRF group based right here in OK:

Link

Articles about MSS are so Sweet

2009-06-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

Another article about MSS was released this week from Oklahoma entertainment magazine, Metroglow:

"It’s not everyday one gets to write about a game being developed right here in Oklahoma. It is also not everyday that one gets to write about a game that features Type 1 Diabetes as one of its primary game mechanics. Today is a day for both."

Click here for the full article.

Something else we want to make sure to mention this week is a site called Sweet:

Sweet is a Diabetes Transition Program. Sweet was developed by Eunice Land CDE of the Department Paediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes of the Master Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. Sweet has been designed to help you understand what is involved in making the transition from paediatric to adult diabetes care, whether you're the one making the transition, or you're helping someone to make it.

See more about Sweet and all they offer here!

Sonia Sotomayor and Type 1 Diabetes

2009-06-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

Some of you may not know that the recent nominee for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, is a fellow person with type 1 diabetes, making her the first Supreme Court Justice to have type 1! The New York Daily News, in an interview with Sotomayor, reported:

"As a child, Sotomayor became enamored with Nancy Drew stories and wanted to be an investigative detective like the female heroine of those popular childhood mystery books. At age 8, she was diagnosed with diabetes and was told detective work wasn't in the cards.

"'I became very disappointed about not having a life plan,' she told The News. 'At the time, 'Perry Mason' had become a very popular show, and I loved Perry Mason. If I couldn't do detective work as a police officer, I could do it as a lawyer.'"

Click here for a link to the full article!

What people are saying about MSS

2009-05-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Since our press release was sent out back in April, we've seen quite a few positive comments from gamers across the world regarding MSS! Some of the highlights include:

"I really like this, people are learning how to deal with something that could easily be quite depressing, but it makes it rewarding and fun for them instead. Also I think the blood sugar mechanic is really good, and wierd as it sounds I'll be searching wikipedia today for health issues that might make for unique gameplay." Link

"This is why I was so impressed with MSS, the diabetes is background to the game and someone with no interest can still play it. Those of us who have diabetes or know someone who has, can perhaps take a little something else away with us." Link

"It doesn't get any better than this!!!!!! My son will not want to do anything else but play this game!!! Awesome idea and thank you to the designers who recognize a need for game therapy like this!!" Link

"My boys would love this game! And I would feel good about letting them play it. A hero with type 1 d? I can see that." Link

"Amazing stuff. I am really looking forward to this. And that is not only because i am diabetic myself." Link

"I think this is a really good idea! It'll certainly help to raise awareness of the disease." Link

Send us your comments and tell us what you think! Send a comment to: letsplay@gameequalslife.com

DiabetesMine Design Challenge

2009-05-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, we let you know that MSS entered in The 2009 DiabetesMine Design Challenge. The contest has officially closed for new entries and the winners will be announced Monday, May 18.

The details -

Three winners will be selected to receive the following prizes:

$10,000 in cash for the Grand Prize winner;

- plus a mini-workshop with Health and Wellness experts at the global design and innovation firm IDEO;

- and one free access ticket to the “innovation incubator” Health 2.0 Conference planned for October 2009 in San Francisco, CA

$5,000 cash for the “Most Creative Idea” category winner;

- plus a consulting session with IDEO design experts

$2,000 cash for the winner of the Kids’ Category

The Magi and The Sleeping Star entered with the official trailer for the game and it can be viewed here. Make sure to check out all the entries to see new ideas for type 1 for diabetes!

Good luck to all the entries and a huge thanks to DiabetesMine for hosting the contest!

MSS in the news!

2009-04-24T16:26:00.001-07:00

Over the past few days, MSS has gotten a lot of recognition in the news! Below are a few of the articles. Make sure to check them out:

IGN
Game Industry Biz
Serious Game Source
The Escapist
Indie Games
N4G

Be sure to keep checking back for new MSS news! Make sure to check out the main site and sign up for the newsletter!

OEGE wrap-up

2009-04-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday (April 11), Game Equals Life was a sponsor for the 2nd Annual Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo where we also had a booth for The Magi and the Sleeping Star. The event was great and we were thrilled to see so many attendees!

Thank you to all the people at Oklahoma City Community College for putting this together!

MSS Trailer is LIVE!

2009-04-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

Just a short post to let everyone know that the official trailer for The Magi and the Sleeping Star is officially live!

View it on the official MSS site! Enjoy!

New screen shots!

2009-03-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

Below are some new screen shots for MSS. Enjoy!

Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo - April 11, 2009

2009-03-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Game Equals Life is going to be an exhibitor and sponsor at the second annual Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo!

About the Expo:

Oklahoma Electronic Game Expo (OEGE) is a day of video-game revelry. Our 2009 Expo will mark our second annual gaming destination in Oklahoma, where gamers come together to celebrate video games. Attendees come to OEGE to experience the newest games, encounter game enthusiast, compete in tournaments, buy games, and meet with friends.

The goal of OEGE is to highlight Oklahoma as a creative outlet for not only video games but all forms of digital art. Oklahoma is an ideal location for developing gaming and other digital art productions and the Oklahoma City Community College offers degrees in a variety of areas including, computer animation, multimedia, game design, web design, graphic design, film and video production; providing Oklahoma with the creative and talented workforce for these various industries.

This event is made possible by the hard working students that make up the Computer Arts and Technology Society [CATS], a student organization of Oklahoma City Community College. These students work endless to promote, network and organize this event in hopes of putting Computer Arts and Oklahoma on the map!

OEGE is free and open to the public, all event funds come directly from the exhibitor fees and fees for entering the game tournament. A portion of the game tournament fees will be donated to Child’s Play Charity (www.childsplaycharity.org) while the rest of the fees and that of the exhibitor fees will be used to build next years event, and hopefully pay for our students to attend international computer graphics and game conventions such as ACM SigGraph.

Make sure to stop by and see our booth! See you there!

PAX 10 Indie Game Competition!

2009-03-12T14:45:00.001-07:00

It's almost time for Penny Arcade's rapidly growing game convention, PAX! From their faith in indie developers comes a competition known as The PAX 10. This concept was introduced last year at PAX 2008. Check their site for rules and good luck to those who enter!

From their site:

The PAX 10

The PAX 10 is a showcase of independent games to be exhibited at the Penny Arcade Expo. Taking submissions until May 9th, our group of 50 industry experts will cull the selection of games into what they collectively feel are the ten best in regard to gameplay and overall fun-factor.

What Happens If You Make It Into The PAX 10:

Announcement on Penny Arcade as being selected for The PAX 10!
Announcement on the Penny Arcade Expo site as being selected for The PAX 10!
Four Exhibitor Hall Badges for PAX 2009, giving you access to everything exhibitors receive.
A kiosk in the PAX Exhibition Hall for you and your team to demo your game to tens and thousands of gamers, media and industry-folk. This kiosk will include a monitor and speakers however will not include any additional hardware for your demo to play on.

Eligibility For The PAX 10:

You are an independent developer without a traditional publisher-developer relationship in place.
You cannot be funded by an outside party.
All games must be in at least beta form.
All games must be electronic in nature.
No mods or levels are allowed. What does this mean? It means you can't require the installation of other software to run your game. The only exception to this is if you submit a game that uses a 3rd party game engine (like Torque for instance) and you have all the rights to use the engine. In that same vein, middleware can be used for development, but the external software used has to be disclosed with the appropriate copyright and credits assigned.

Submissions will be accepted through May 9th, 2009.

Guardian.co.uk tells you how to "make indie games with the minimum of technical know-how"

2009-03-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

From guardian.co.uk's games blog:

"In this week's Technology section of the paper, I celebrate the flourishing public-access game development engine scene, user-friendly templates, languages and tech that allows anyone to put their game design ideas into practice with a few clicks. I discovered the trend last week when in Chicago, helping judge the MacArthur/HASTAC Digital Media and Learning Awards . The primarily US-based educators, VCs and digital entrepreneurs around the table were familiar with this trend, which was, frankly, rather new to me.

So, if you've got a brilliant idea and don't have the capital to build it yourself - or the inclination to pimp it to your local Big Name Publisher, create a proof of concept with these recommended game engine kits and let us know when you've got something we can play!"

The site lists engines such as DevFacto, GameSalad, GameStar Mechanic, Scratch and ChallengeYou. Check the link for more info!

The Behemoth announcing a new title - "Game #3"

2009-03-12T14:29:00.001-07:00

Indie developer The Behemoth (Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid) are getting ready to announce a new game simply dubbed "Game #3".

Ars Technica reports:
"Little is known about Game #3, a working title (we think), but the released teaser image would suggest the game will follow in the visual footsteps of its predecessors. In January, Behemoth's lead artist and co-founder Dan Paladin said, 'We are off to a very strong and solid start. The game has proven to be a lot of fun for the people that we’ve shown... it’s like two games in one!'"

Apparently a trailer is going to be released next week so stay tuned!

Indie Game Competition

2009-03-04T17:29:00.000-08:00

Zoo Games is tired of the same titles being released over and over in the gaming world. They feel indie developers hold the key for change and they have 10,000$ to give away to prove it!

Indie Games reports:

"Zoo Games Inc. today announced the launch of an indie game competition called 2Bee Games. Open to all independent developers, the contest will run from now until the 15th April 2009, with the grand prize set at a lovely $10,000 and 2 runner-up prizes of $2,500. Not only that, but every entrant stands the chance of bagging themselves a publishing deal - not bad, eh?

After 15th April, the 2Bee Games judges will pick their top 10 - these 10 finalists will then be put up to public voting and each week the lowest scoring game will be eliminated until 1 stands victorious!"

Check out the official web site for details: 2beegames.com

Xbox Live Arcade Awards

2009-03-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Microsoft announced the second annual Xbox Live Arcade Awards and voting starts today!

And the nominees are...

Best Overall Arcade Game
Braid
Castle Crashers
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2
Street Fighter II HD Remix
Portal: Still Alive

Best Original Game
Castle Crashers
N+
Braid
Penny Arcade Episode 1
Schizoid
Age of Booty

Best Family Game
Boogie Bunnies
Roogoo
A Kingdom for Keflings
Lost Cities
Meteos Wars

Best Co-operative Multiplayer Game
Castle Crashers
Schizoid
Bionic Commando Rearmed
N+
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2

Best Competitive Multiplayer Game
Street Fighter II HD Remix
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2
Soul Calibur
Meteos Wars
Age of Booty

Best Solo Game
Braid
Mega Man 9
Penny Arcade Episode 1
Rez HD
Portal: Still Alive

Best Innovation in XBLA
Braid (time travel)
A Kingdom for Keflings (use of Avatars)
Fable II Pub Games (retail game integration)
N+ (level sharing)
Duke Nukem 3D (dynamic replay)

Best Graphics
Street Fighter II HD Remix
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2
Braid
Castle Crashers
Bionic Commando Rearmed

Best Classic/Remake Game
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Street Fighter II HD Remix
Mega Man 9
Galaga Legions
Rez HD

Starting March 3, 2009, gamers around the world will be able to vote for the best XBLA games of 2008. Votes will be accepted until March 10, 2009 11:59PM GMT. Gamers can participate through Xbox Live or Xbox.com.

Make sure to vote for your favorites and tune in for the winners!

Indie Spotlight: American McGee's Grimm

2009-03-01T20:15:00.000-08:00

Hey all!

We've decided to select a few indie games and spotlight them as we feel necessary. This week's spotlight: American McGee's Grimm!

About Grimm:

American McGee (Alice, Doom II, Quake) invites you into an incredible adventure built around the world's best-known fairy tales. As Grimm, you will transform the classic tales of Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and more of your favorites into darkly twisted Grimm versions of themselves in 24 all-new game episodes.

Each game episode is centered around one of the world's best-known fairy tales and provides 30 minutes of gameplay. Each episode is a complete, standalone experience and the episodes can be played in any order. New episodes will be released weekly beginning July 31, 2008.

Features:
Transform classic fairy tales into darkly twisted versions of the stories!
Highly accessible gameplay style with each episode designed to be completed within 30 minutes!
The first weekly game series - new episodes released weekly!
Experience all-new slants on beloved fairy tales from the mind of American McGee!
Distinctive art style with unique "light" and "dark" versions of every game asset!

Grimm is an episodic game so make sure to check out each new installment.

Humana Games for Health

2009-03-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't already know, Humana has started their own division of games for health aptly named Humana Games for Health. Their mission is simple:

At Humana Games, we believe video games can be more than just fun and entertaining - they can serve as a catalyst to a healthier lifestyle. Our vision is to create ways for people of all ages to reach new levels of health and well-being through the use of games and game technology. We invite you to join us as we explore, research and develop video games that make people healthier.

See their site for more information!

Independent Games Summit

2009-02-18T17:34:00.001-08:00

It's almost time for the Independent Games Summit 2009! The Summit is part of GDC and will take place March 23-24, 2009. Info on the Summit:

The Independent Games Summit represents the voice of the independent game developer at GDC. It features lectures, postmortems and roundtables from some of the most notable independent game creators, including many former and current Independent Games Festival finalists and winners. The 2009 Independent Games Summit seeks to highlight the brightest and the best of indie development, with discussions ranging from game design philosophy, distribution, business, marketing, and much more.

The list of speakers include:
Rod Humble from EA
Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler from 2D Boy

Visit the site for more info!

KidCare Kit

2009-02-18T17:14:00.000-08:00

Sanofi-aventis US recently partnered with Children with Diabetes to promote their KidCare Kit. KidCare Kit is a "multimedia resource that will provide children and their families with valuable tools and information to help guide them through the difficult but crucial first 30 days following a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes."

The Kit includes:

A detailed brochure with information on understanding and using the kit
More than 60 diabetes "Quick Cards" for parents, containing basic information about diabetes, how to monitor blood sugar levels and how to measure and administer insulin for their child
Themed "Give One" cards and brochures for teachers, babysitters and other caregivers, which can be customized with personal details by hand or online, before they are given out. The cards contain information about what to do and who to contact in a diabetes emergency, as well as common symptoms of high blood sugar and low blood sugar
A DVD featuring testimonials from other families of children with diabetes, their caregivers, and diabetes nurse educators and physicians, to help frame their experiences and offer advice and emotional support to families of newly-diagnosed children, letting them know they are not alone and there are others who understand the challenges they now face
A "Calorie King" carbohydrate counter book to help families plan meals and anticipate insulin doses based on calculated intake of carbohydrates

Get more information in the Official Press Release.

Children with Diabetes 2009 conferences

2009-02-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

Children With Diabetes is a site dedicated to helping children and teens learn to care for themselves after being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

This March, CWD will start hosing conferences around the globe that present fun and interesting ways for Type 1 children to learn how to better manage their diabetes. The list is as follows:

CDW Focus on Pumping
March 6-8, 2009
Marriott Toronto Eaton Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

CDW Focus on Technology
April 24-29, 2009
Renaissance Chicago North Shore Hotel
Chicago, Illinois

Friends for Life Conference and Expo
July 7-12, 2009
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Friends for Life UK International Conference and Expo
August 14-16, 2009
Beaumont House Hotel and Conference Venue
Old Windsor, Berkshire, England

Be sure to check out CDW's Family Scholarships!

MSS screen shots and concept art

2009-02-10T18:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a little taste of what G=L has been up to:

Song selections:
(Right click target and choose "Save Link As...")

1. The Sleeping Star
2. Facing the Stone King

Games for Health

2009-02-10T17:22:00.000-08:00

The Fifth Annual Games for Health Conference has been announced for June 10-12 2009 in Boston, MA. Registration is already open!

It's great to hear that the conference is on it's fifth run, but with video games for health still emerging into an already busy industry, they can often be forgotten. Games for health is a rapidly growing market that includes a variety of games that range from disease awareness to doctor and surgeon education.

For example, Re-Mission, a title dedicated to cancer awareness and education, launched in 2006 and has received positive remarks on it's amazing ability to help those stricken with cancer to better deal with their disease. Gamasutra reported that patients who played Re-Mission "maintained higher adherence to their prescribed medication regimes" and "maintained higher levels of chemotherapy in their blood and took their antibiotics more consistently".

Check back soon for more info!

The Magi and the Sleeping Star Production Blog!

2009-02-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the production blog for The Magi and the Sleeping Star! The Magi and the Sleeping Star, or MSS for short, is an educational game dedicated to teaching adolescents and adults with type 1 diabetes how to better manage their condition through interactive gameplay and imaginative story-telling.

Here on the MSS blog, we'll be giving you weekly updates on production of the game along with news related to the treatment of diabetes. We'll also be posting news on games for health and Indie game development!

Again, welcome to the blog from the G=L team!