computer-generated – ARC Design Hub

May 14, 2018September 10, 2018

Holiday Wars: Battle of the North

Here at the Design Hub, we don’t play games.

We design them!

Brought to us by the creative mind of Design Hub intern Daniel, we have a game that has been slowly brought to fruition titled “Holiday Wars: Battle of the North”. The creative team behind the development of Holiday Wars also consists of 10 Design Hub interns including coders, visual artists, and designers for website management that have collaborated on the project. While at first the goal for the project was for all of the interns to gain experience in making a shipped game for their portfolio, it has evolved into something so much more. “The main goal of the game was to keep it simple, accessible, easy to pick up and play, while still being casually hard to master,” Daniel tells us. He also mentions that the game has had a few different iterations and developments, but it has now evolved into the RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game that it is today.

Inspiration for this game included games such as World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2, and the game’s design aesthetic is very cute and fun, but with a subtle, dark undertone that’s sure to give players chills.

The game is being designed for publishing on Steam with roughly 9-10 playable levels. As Daniel puts it, it is like chess but without the turns. Players play as an army of Christmas Elves, commanded by a popular figure like “Santa” or characters like “the Snow Queen”. While players explore the gorgeous snowy landscape, they come across other characters as well. Enter the Woppletingers-

Woppletinger character design by Daniel Todd

These mythical, beastly creatures were originally designed by Daniel and the Design Hub’s creative team, striking fear and awe into players as they encounter them. Everything players experience in the game was designed on programs including Blender for 3D modeling, Unity for the actual engine of the game, and Photoshop for art and concepts.

The game, taking place in a chilly terrain surrounded by mountains, is essentially a giant epic snowball fight between Santa’s Army and the Woppletinger tribe, along with other armies lurking in the cold as they fight for supremacy. While players are gathering resources to build their base, they are producing and controlling an army in hopes to defeat the enemy with the very same objective. Daniel mentions that both sides are planned to be balanced, so it’s really a matter of skill who determines the victor in a fair environment.

Design Hub intern Daniel, working with team member on Holiday Wars game

Daniel has been working as an intern for the Design Hub for one semester, but has been nursing this project for the last few years. He tells us, “any game project requires a lot of work, and I’ve learned that the hard way over the years. We couldn’t have done this alone, and I’m happy I met a ton of interns excited about the future of the game, and passionate for game design”.

Amazingly enough, the Design Hub has also actually helped Daniel start up his own company, Phoenix Ready Games. He is graduating this term, and unfortunately leaving the Design Hub, but he plans to to cooperate with the Design Hub as an external business as he expands into other projects.

He tells us he would love to have this opportunity be available for students in the future; as he would’ve loved to have an opportunity like this when he first started ARC himself. And we at the Hub couldn’t agree more.

All the creativity, collaboration, and hard work from Daniel and his team that went into this game is truly remarkable, and is something that our Design Hub Team is extremely proud of.

Anyone interested in playing the game can send us an email, or keep checking our website and social media pages for updates on the game’s release on Steam. Thank you to everyone involved, and everyone who has supported the game thus far.

As the war rages on, which side will you fight for?

April 30, 2018September 11, 2018

Dieselzilla

A project currently in progress in the Design Hub of American River College is called the “Dieselzilla vs. Drones” Project. We start with interns Kevin and Sean, who are collaborating along with James Mullerleile on this project in the Design Hub. Kevin is the programmer, and Sean is the 3D Designer behind this project. When we first hear the word, “Dieselzilla,” of course we are left wondering “what in the world is this, and what does it do?”

Well, Dieselzilla is the huge metal sculpture in the front of the Student Services and Cafeteria area (the huge glass building behind the American River College Library).

Every day on the way to class, students who walk past it are seen doing double takes. Most can’t take their eyes off of it- as mesmerizing as a well-crafted, fantastically massive Godzilla sculpture can be. Most students on campus pass Dieselzilla every day and have no clue as to how or why it got there. Even our photography intern, Angelique, told us “Ever since I started attending, I wondered what it was and why it was there- and now I had the chance to find out,” before she captured some pictures of the magnificent metal beast.

Parts of Dieselzilla. Photo by photography intern Angelique Doty

The Design Hub interns discussed the structure of the sculpture. It actually moves around with the use of a hydraulic system within the Dieselzilla! To the right, we can take a look at what goes inside of the massive metal body.

These are the parts that were designed and put together by our interns, and this is what makes the magic happen. With everything in place, Dieselzilla comes to life!

This is a very cool, collaborative project, as well as an impressive and intriguing presence everyday on our campus.

April 18, 2018September 10, 2018

Design Hub Interns Work to Save Our Water Systems

Here we meet our Design Hub interns, Dave and Melissa, to explore their new project titled, “Constant Monitor Backflow.” Dave and Melissa, as well as our Design Hub team lead Randy are involved in the fulfillment of the project. Randy was asked by a former co-worker, Bernie Clark, who does field research for Watts, Aims, Fab Co, and most of the back flow companies.

Pictured: Dave, Melissa, Randy, Bernie. Photo by Intern Angelique Doty

This project has to do with our water systems, where the industry today is faced with a challenge. From time to time, our potable water sources can come in contact with contaminants, and the problem our population is faced with is detecting when exactly this happens. Currently, there are annual tests that detect problems, but this is a cause of concern because they are not only costly, but we have to wait a year to see a problem. By the time any problems are detected from these annual tests, damage could already be done, and even more time and money would have to be spent in order to fix these problems.

Of course, our interns saw a challenge, and came up with a solution: blackflow prevention monitors! What the Constant Monitor Backflow project is setting out to do is to eliminate this scenario by implementing a new system where we monitor the backflow prevention to detect problems before they happen. These backflow monitors detect the contamination of the pure water with the sewer lines quickly, providing data that is easily accessed. Now it can be constantly monitored, which will help to detect problems sooner so that they can be fixed in a timely manner. This will increase productivity, and they do not need to turn off the water for the constant monitoring, unlike the annual tests, where the water has to be shut off.

Pictured: Intern Dave, hard at work. Photo by Intern Bailey Wineland

Without the hard work of our dedicated interns, this project would not have been made possible. It began about two years ago, and as this project has unfolded, Design Hub intern Dave has been responsible for the many hours behind the creation of these backflow prevention monitors. He tells us that everything that lies in place now within the confines of these little boxes, all started in his head. He coded the device in our Design Hub lab, making sure it would properly collect and display data, and hand-crafted the circuitboard, complete with all of the wiring and placement within the device.

Pictured: Intern Melissa, hard at work. Photo by Intern Bailey Wineland

Alongside Dave we have intern Melissa, who has been learning the ropes of this project and training as she assists in implementing these monitors. She will one day have the torch passed on to her as this project continues to evolve. Our interns predict that this project won’t end anytime soon, as it is constantly growing and they continue to brainstorm new ways to improve its productivity.

We are hoping that by the end of the summer, there will be monitors set up all over the entire campus. Currently, we have one monitor backflow. By the end of the summer, the interns’ goal is to have one monitor per backflow all over the campus. By increasing the number of monitors, this will help increase the prevention of problems.

In the long run, we are seeking to collect enough data to prove that these devices, though small, are actually quite mighty. As our interns work to fine-tune these monitors, our hope is to have the opportunity to impact an important industry in a vastly positive way. Few things are as important as safe drinking water, and we are setting out to keep it safe in a clean, efficient, and budget-friendly way.

April 17, 2018September 10, 2018

Constant Backflow Monitor

We sat down with Dave and Melissa to explore their new project titled, Constant Backflow Monitor. Interns Dave and Melissa, along with Prof. Randall Schuster worked on this project. Randy was asked by a former co-worker who works in the industry for this project. The Constant Monitor Backflow project is a new system where we monitor the backflow prevention to detect problems before they happen. The purpose of the backflow preventers is to prevent the contamination of the pure water on campus with the sewer lines.

Backflow Monitor Preventer — Constant Backflow Preventer Monitor

Now, it can be constantly monitored which will help to detect problems sooner so that they can be fixed in a timely manner. This project was ordered because the annual tests would only detect problems once a year, but now it can detect problems to be fixed quicker which will increase productivity, and they do not need to turn off the water for the constant monitoring, where with the annual tests the water had to be shut off. The project began about two years ago, and the interns predict that it won’t end because the project is constantly evolving and they are brainstorming new ideas to improve its productivity. They hope that by the end of the summer, there will be monitors over the entire campus. Currently, they have one backflow moinitor. By the end of the summer, the interns’ goal is to have one monitor per backflow all over the campus. By increasing the number of monitors, this will help increase the prevention of problems.

Backflow Monitor - Guts — Backflow Monitor – Guts

Backflow Monitor - More Guts — Backflow Monitor – More Guts

Design Hub interns, Bailey Wineland and Angelique Doty, were responsible for documenting this project with photographs and written articles from interviewing them.