Author Archives: TheUser

Lithium Network Conference Part 1 – The Work

Lots of interesting things at LiNC this week. I couldn’t cover all of it, but here are some highlights.
The “Me too” button was discussed a little bit. It’s a button on posts that allow people to say “me too,” like “I have that problem too” or perhaps “that solved my issue too.” I’m not sure how you’d educate forum members to use it if you get a lot of forum members, but it’s an interesting idea.
Someone brought up the idea of losing control of your brand due to social media. The response was that opinion always existed even before social media. Social media gives brands control and data on opinion.
Ipsos
Andrew Leary, Executive Vice President of Ipsos, discussing having overlaid their social network on other applications and automated escalations based on popularity. Someone could grab a tweet and publish it on the forum. When it reaches enough kudos, it would automatically be escalated to e-mail and sent to people who relate to the tweet’s content. It’s interesting, but it doesn’t exactly apply to a support forum like ours. It also would require heavy text analytics it would seem.
giffgaff
Vincent Boon, Head of Community for giffgaff, a mobile phone company in the UK, discussed how giffgaff uses social networking for all marketing. It’s kind of amazing. They have a forum, and they payback community members with points that can be used for products, donated, or redeemed for money. People create or change banner, design fliers, pass out fliers, and even create websites to get people microsim cards. giffgaff gives all fonts and logos to anyone who needs them but doesn’t hold onto the brand tightly. If people want to create their own logos, that’s fine. It’s interesting to me how responsive and willing to help giffgaff’s community is. Their forum escalation time is set to 24 hours (if a post doesn’t get a response after 24 hours, an employee is e-mailed), and it’s never been triggered.
Sephora
Bridget Dolan, VP of Interactive Media for Sephora gave a talk about the cool things Sephora is doing in the mobile space. Of all social networks, Facebook has been the most useful for them. No real surprise them. Following Facebook is Pinterest. What? Yeah, Pinterest didn’t get a lot of attention at LiNC, but it’s apparently working well for Sephora. When they relaunched their desktop site recently, they created a whole new mobile site as well. They also have iPhone and iPad apps, each with a different purpose. While Android overtook iOS last year among giffgaff users, Sephora is seeing the vast majority of mobile users on iOS, so all their focus are on that OS. The mobile site appears to focus on a similar thing as the desktop site – sales, product information, tutorials. The iPhone application focuses on being able to scan products to find more about them. Every product sold within any Sephora store can be scanned using an iPhone.
For Sephora, the iPad isn’t just a larger iPhone. It’s more for shopping and entertaining because most iPad users aren’t using them on the go. It features more rich materials, for example. It also has a “Today’s Obsession” section, showing trends as well as the latest Facebook and YouTube posts. The iPad app is designed to look like a flipbook or magazine.There’s also a promoted question, pulling people in to answer it (Beauty Talk). They also run contests, such as asking the community for nail looks. One of the coolest ideas I heard all weekend was what Sephora calls the Beauty Studio, which is like a virtual mirror. The iPad is held in portrait mode. After finding a makeup tutorial, a video is played in the bottom half showing you what to do. The top half of the screens shows what the iPad’s front-facing camera is viewing – in other words, it shows the viewer. This allows you to follow along with the tutorial video while putting on makeup.
The iPad isn’t just for use at home. Sephora is experimenting with iPads in store, both for customer use and cast member (employee) use. In-store, you can e-mail yourself steps, product lists, and YouTube videos to ensure you can replicate what was done to you in-store if receiving help. They’re also beginning to use mobile point-of-sale in stores (like Apple Stores I suppose).
Cisco
Joe Clarke and Gonzalo Salgueiro gave a talk about their implementations at Cisco. They’ve done extensive customizing that’s very cool. They wanted to create an exchange of information between internal and external support that would appear seamless to customers. They didn’t want to have solve the same case multiple times, so they focused on how to reuse solutions. They call their forum and knowledge base Tech Zone. My favorite quote of the day? “This lustful union (of Cisco and Lithium) created the love child that is Tech Zone.” Keep in mind that Tech Zone is for internal, Cisco use only. First, to promote sharing of information, they’re pushing reputation hard on the forum. There are many ranks, and when mousing over the rank, you’re shown exactly what that person did to earn the rank. That doesn’t mean saying simply “2000 posts.” It’s in full paragraph form and specific to that user. Besides rank, which is using the out-of-the-box system, they’ve also introduced a separate scoring system used for leaderboards. The reputation worked so well that when they offered their top contributor the role of moderator, he was excited but turned them down when he realized he’d lose his reputation.
When the two speakers traded off, Clarke said, talking about the PowerPoint clicker, “I won’t need this because I, like any mad an, am going to attempt a LIVE DEMO!” Very entertaining guy, and the live demo was impressive as well. Because Tech Zone was designed engineers for engineers, they didn’t want to make it look pretty. They wanted to contain condensed information. They use an expandable tree structure to browsing the forum with short sub-forum titles and mouse-over descriptions. This wouldn’t be good for a customer-facing site in my opinion because mouse-overs aren’t very helpful on touch devices, but can work well internally. To save space and get things above the fold, they use tabbed viewing.
Their very ugly case management tool for support agents uses fuzzy logic to take the call notes and determine the primary and secondary categories of the case. If the tech needs help, they can click “Post question to Tech Zone.” This takes the information from the case and creates a post on the forum, automatically populating the correct fields and placing it in the correct subforum. It doesn’t submit, however, so that the tech can make changes if he wants. He needs to set his own subject. As soon as stops typing in the subject bar, a list of related threads is shown below. This helps decrease redundant threads. It uses metadata as well, like kudos and linked cases. What are linked cases? Well, if the tech decides that some other thread is related, he can press “Link your case” to show that it helps him as well. This also makes a note on that post that it helped another case. If the thread doesn’t help, the tech can return to the form with which he was working, and everything’s still populated.
To help get things answered, there are easy to use filters showing questions without replies and questions without solutions. They also added a “raise hand” feature. The raise hand button isn’t available right away, but after a certain amount of time, the original poster of a thread can click “raise hand” to indicate that he still needs more help. This is used for the same reason bumping is but has the benefit of not increasing the reply count, making it look like the thread is already being considered. This sounds like a great tool, but I think the community would need to be educated on how it works. It probably wouldn’t work for a community that gets many people who sign up, post a couple times, and never return.
Cisco is also using Apache Wave (Google Wave) for collaboration before publishing to their knowledge base or forum. Because their KB is internal, they’ve also added a “Flag for external publication” and can pass the data to their external publishing system. It’s not all about exporting either. They have a content import feature that takes a link and will take the site, formatting, images, and call, and pull it into the knowledge base. It’s all very cool, and Cisco shares all their code. It was all created by the two speakers present at LiNC as well!
Jane McGonigal
Jane McGonigal, game researcher and developer, also gave an interesting talk. She discussed how the majority of both boys and girls now play games, and how even 92% of all two-year-olds now play video games. Video game usage can even be used to fight depression in moderation. Studies have shown that children who play video games are more creative than their non-gaming counterparts. Take that, non-gamers!
Conclusion
I’m sure I’m missing a ton of stuff. I know I have notes that I didn’t discuss here, and there was plenty of interesting conversations that didn’t end up in my notepad. However, that does provide a nice segue into another topic. I had an iPhone and an Android tablet with me. I could have brought a laptop. My note taking was done with a pen in a pocket-sized notebook. Of course, that isn’t to say that I wouldn’t use electronic devices if they were adequate. With all the advances, what happened to Palm’s Graffiti (and I’m thinking of Graffiti, not Graffiti 2). I miss it. Many other people were using devices, although I don’t know if it was for note-taking. It’s no surprise that at a conference about social networking, I saw a lot of Facebook and Twitter on computer screens!

Cinco de Mayo

Today was a busy day. We started with some less exciting mount and pet hunting in WoW. This quickly changed though. We went to the Irvine Regional Park to celebrate Carrie’s birthday. We did have to leave again to get and then come back, but the woman let us in the second time without making us pay again. Yay us.
We met some of Carrie’s friends, and everyone seemed nice. Then we headed to the Orange County Zoo that’s in the park. We had no idea it existed. There were a few boring animals, a bunch of animals we thought we were cool, and two SUPER COOL BEARS. Why do zoos even keep other animals once they get bears? I don’t know. They were adorable. Sadly, can’t hug every bear.
Then it was lunch time. Burgers, potato salad, and fried rice. Delicious. Once our lunch time was done, it was time to go back to the zoo because 3:00 was lunch time for the bears. Some zoo employees gave a talk about bears while they were being fed. They got some tasty assorted fruits and vegetables. The bears were so excited to be fed! Their names were Nacho and YoYo, and they munched everything happily.
After we said our goodbyes, we headed to a family party. A lot of Pete’s family members were there, many of whom I had never met previously. Those I had met before I didn’t remember. The meal starred tacos but had a huge supporting cast. I’m quite full now. We also got a few rounds of horseshoes into the evening. The game’s very fun!
The full moon was the biggest and brightest of the year tonight, so we took a look at that too. It appeared large and bright, sure, but not amazingly so. Then again, I guess it was only supposed to be 14% larger and brighter.
All in all, a great Cinco de Mayo.

Portal 2, Hoard, Sequence, and Shatter

I’ve been playing a handful of Steam games lately.
Portal 2
gem and I began working on the co-op chambers last week. By the time she had finished the single-player game, my computer die, leaving us unable to play co-op. We just not got back around to trying it. I’m really enjoying it. Like all the other mechanics in the series, there’s that initial figuring-it-out phase, and then things just start clicking. I also like that sometimes I don’t even know what’s happening; I’m just doing what gem tells me and finding myself who-knows-where.
Hoard
Hoard is a fun game I reviewed for Game Boyz but never beat. There’s no story mode or anything like it. Rather, there’s a large number of independent maps. The game looks sort of like an RTS, but you control only a single dragon and are tasked with burning towns, kidnapping princesses, and increasing your gold hoard. While there’s a lot of replayability, I did manage to complete every map.
Sequence
This seems fun so far. It’s a little corny and lacks some polish in the graphics and voice-acting, but it’s still enjoyable. It’s sort of an RPG or dungeon crawler in which combat is done through keyboard or controller DDR. It’s a neat concept, but it’s grindy. I’m going to keep playing it for now, but I doubt I’ll finish it.
Shatter
OMG EXTREME BREAKOUT!!1!one! At least, that’s what it seems like. It’s fun but not groundbreaking.

Draw Something

Draw Something for iOS and Android | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, iPhone

I can’t stop playing Draw Something. It’s far too addicting. Created by omgpop, which was later purchased by Zynga, Draw Something tasks you with drawing things for others to guess and guessing what others draw. You can have multiple games going at the same time, allowing you to maximize your drawing fun. At the start of each turn, you watch your partner guess your last drawing. Then you guess his or her drawing. Finally, you draw something for your partner again!

Wayzgoose and Golfing

I had another fun and eventful weekend. On Saturday I went to Wayzgoose at UCI with gem, Collin, and Edward. Mostly I ate a ton – horchata, spam musubi, horchata, a chicken quesadilla, horchata, a schawarma, horchata, and a bacon-wrapped hot dog. And horchata. Seriously, I drank a lot of horchata.
We didn’t really spend much time at the medieval part this year. When we went over there, everyone was sitting around tired rather than fighting. Oh well. Collin went to buy an icecream sandwich from a little tent with one simple sign when he noticed it was being sold by the American Marketing Association. He pointed out that they should have better marketing. I have to agree with that. We spent three hours or so there, and the skin on my neck was mildly upset about this for the next couple days.
On Sunday I went golfing at Casta del Sol. Joseph cancelled, so it was just Pete, Jim, and me. While I was still terrible, I was doing much better than the first time I golfed. Too bad I still miss the ball a lot (and can’t get the ball to go far). The league is going to be quite embarrassing next month!
Speaking of next month, I’ll be going to the Lithium Network Conference in San Francisco next week. It should be fun!

Chuck Sommerville Interview

Chuck’s Challenge 3D Interview | Blog | Game Boyz
Chuck Sommerville, creator of Chip’s Challenge and Chuck’s Challenge, answers some of my questions about him and his games. There’s currently a Kickstarter for Chuck’s Challenge 3D, the PC and Mac port of the iOS game. Normally I only link to my articles on Game-Boyz, but I’m going to cross-post it here. However, check Game Boyz for some of my other writing or for game coverage from the rest of our staff.
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Do you know Chuck Sommerville, my favorite game developer? Perhaps you’ve heard of his game, Chip’s Challenge, or his new game, Chuck’s Challenge?
Chip’s Challenge is a puzzle game originally created for the Atari Lynx by Chuck and later ported to Windows. Most people who know it played it on the PC. Fast-forward to the era of iOS games in 2010 to find that Chuck has created a game called Chuck’s Challenge in the same spirit as Chip’s Challenge. Like Chip’s Challenge, it’s a fantastic puzzle game. Now there’s a Kickstarter to raise money to create a 3D version of Chuck’s Challenge and to port it to PC and Mac.
In Chuck’s Challenge, like Chip’s Challenge, levels are tile-based. Your task is simple – get to the goal. To unlock the goal you’ll have to collect certain items, including power-ups that allow you to travel across various obstacles such as water and fire. New to Chuck’s Challenge from Chip’s is the ability to “rewind” and undo your mistakes; this is a huge feature! The game includes a level editor as well so you can share your creativity.
For a $5 pledge to his Kickstarter campaign, you’ll get the game for free when Chuck’s Challenge 3D releases. For $25, you’ll get a digital copy of the soundtrack as well. For $50, you’ll get all that and the chance to beta test! Looking for something physical? Pledge $100 and you’ll even receive a hardback copy of the Chuck’s Challenge v1 book autographed by Chuck Sommerville. (I pledged $100.) Of course, you can pledge more as well.
Chip’s Challenge was a major part of my childhood. It was one of the earliest games I played and has always been one of my favorites. I loved my Atari Lynx, and I played with my father, grandfather, and uncle. In fact, I still have the box with game on display by my TV.
Chuck’s received a lot of questions from fans since starting the Kickstarter project. To answer some of them, he’s created the following video. (If the video fails to load, try refreshing.)

That wasn’t quite enough for me, so I asked him some additional questions. He took the time to answer, and I’m very thankful to him for that. Care to read the interview?
PA: Have you ever ran into a fan that recognized you (or your name) in person?
CS: No, that’s never happened. Once I was having my computer repaired, and we were talking about programming. I told him I wrote Chip’s Challenge, and he didn’t believe me. I had him Google my name, and he said he had to eat crow. That was funny.
PA: Were there any games that inspired you to get into game development?
CS: Only early arcade games like Pong. There really weren’t any games when I started. I wrote my very first games before you could even buy a computer, on a college mainframe they used to let me use. I always loved making games. When the first Apple II computer came to the market, my parents bought me one. It had serial number 364. My first games were released on cassette tape by a company called SDL. I was still in high school. My first major published game was Snake Byte, when I was a student at Georgia Tech.
PA: As a child, my family had three Lynx consoles. I played a handful of games with my father, grandfather, and uncle. Chip’s Challenge was by far my favorite. Are there any games of which you have fond memories playing with loved ones?
CS: My dad and I used to play a game on the 3DO called “Return Fire”. [It] was a great PVP tank game. We could only play it when he visited, because I had moved away from West Virginia where I grew up, so I could live in California and be part of the game industry.
PA: Do you have any favorite levels from Chip’s Challenge or Chuck’s Challenge? Personally, I enjoyed Nuts and Bolts because it was an early level that incorporated a lot of different ideas. When I returned to replay the game years later, I found that I could solve the room filled with ice just with muscle memory!
CS: My favorite level from Chip’s Challenge, because of its simplicity is South Pole. It seems frustrating at first, until you “Get it”. It was designed by a friend of mine named Scott Nelson. It was the only level he designed for me.
PA: How was the development of Chuck’s Challenge different from the development of Chip’s Challenge?
CS: The development was extremely different.
On Chip’s Challenge, I was the only programmer, but I had a team of about 10 level designers and 10 testers to speed me through the process. All those engineers and testers had just finished the rest of the initial Lynx games set, and were available to help finish my game. After finishing the game code, my job consisted mostly of bug fixes, and being an editor, selecting and arranging the levels into a sequence I liked.
On Chuck’s Challenge, since I didn’t have the experience developing for the iPhone & Unity, we have a very talented development team to do all the heavy lifting. My job is to oversee the design to make sure the game has the same flavor as Chip’s. It

God Bless America


Over the weekend I watched Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America, a black comedy and satire of modern America. After a series of negative events, including discovering he’s dying, Frank, played by Joel Murray, decides to take his own life. However, he sees a spoiled brat who’s upset that she received the wrong car as a gift on a TV show about sweet sixteens and decides to take her life instead. He eventually teams with a young girl named Roxy, played by Tara Lynne Barr, and they proceed to battle meanness and rudeness in the United States by killing people that Frank believes deserves to die.
Despite some unbelievable parts, especially at the end of the moving, it’s a very funny reflection on our society. And as a perk, after you watch it, you can point out people in everyday life and say “God Bless America” as a way of noting to your companion that Frank wouldn’t stand for that person.
God Bless America premiered at a film festival last year and is currently available to be streamed. It’s currently available from Google Play for $9.99 and will be in theaters May 11.