Orange County Library System opens 1st game jam

The Orange County Library System on Thursday hosted the opening of its first-ever video game jam, as roughly 15 local gamers and developers opened the four-day event.

The group will spend the weekend through Sunday morning building a video game from scratch at the library’s high-tech downtown Orlando Melrose Center.

Melrose Center’s Juan Rivera said he launched the game jam after attending others in the city, including one hosted by the independent video game group Indienomicon.

“The idea of everybody working together to make a game within 48 hours, that builds the community,” he said.

Overall, six games were pitched on Thursday, with those in attendance splitting into teams that will work on them throughout the weekend.

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Orlando video game group Indienomicon leads charge to advocate for dev industry

The independent video game community in Orlando has been seeing a growth period pushed along by organizations that advocate for and support it.

Indienomicon, which will celebrate its seventh year in April, has become one of the most prominent.

The group hosts a monthly meetup that helps keep the organization top-of-mind for the community.

In 2020, it hopes to expand that presence, with plans being crystallized and details expected soon.

It’s a way to continue to grow the industry and, more importantly, keep businesses here.

“If we want to help cultivate the best developers and projects, we need a ‘scene’ where people can feel comfortable sharing, learning and having fun,” founder Kunal Patel said in an interview with The OVG. “We are social creatures. Ideas cannot grow in a vacuum.”

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Watch: Rapper Mega Ran Performs Final Fantasy VII song ‘Avalanche’ at Ongaku Overdrive

It was a night of celebrating Final Fantasy at The Abbey.

Hundreds of die-hard fans swarmed the venue Saturday to check out live music related to the classic series.

Rapper Mega Ran kicked off his set with one of the signature songs off his “Black Materia” album, “Avalanche.”

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‘Ratchet & Clank,’ ‘Spider-Man’ vet to video game developers: Innovate, don’t emulate

Shaun McCabe first became interested in video game development when he was playing Final Fantasy VII in the late 1990s.

But to turn that spark into an actual career, he looked to Full Sail University in Winter Park.

The classes there would prepare him for a career that has taken him to Insomniac Games to work on the Ratchet & Clank.

Ratchet & Clank lead a Full Sail hall of famer

Now a Full Sail hall of gamer, McCabe returned to Orlando this month for a series of appearances at the school and around Orlando.

After he did, he shared three tips with The OVG that he said could help up-and-coming game developers.

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Full Sail grad, ‘Ratchet & Clank’ vet Shaun McCabe sought chance to explore amazing worlds, characters

When Shaun McCabe joined Insomniac Games near the end of 2003, shortly after he earned a degree from Full Sail University, he jumped into a game that the company hoped would recapture the magic it had discovered with its popular “Spyro the Dragon” series.

McCabe became the sound programmer on the adventure game “Ratchet & Clank,” the story of a Lombax named Ratchet who traveled around with a robot companion named Clank.

Several “Ratchet & Clank” titles later, McCabe continues to build video games for the studio as its head of technology.

“On the technical side, our good friends at Naughty Dog offered to let us use components of the ‘Jak & Daxter’ engine as a foundation for a demo,” he said. “The rest, as they say, is history. It speaks to the true nature of creativity. Great products are often the result of constraints and culture rather than resources and strategy.”

McCabe was recently named to Full Sail University’s Hall of Fame and granted The OVG an interview to talk about his career and his time in Orlando.

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Call of Duty league to come to Orlando for Mutineers home game

One of two events hosted by Florida’s Call of Duty League franchise, The Mutineers, will take place in Orlando, the league announced on Monday.

On April 11 and 12, the league’s Week 10 will bring the Seattle Surge, Atlanta Faze, Paris Legion, Toronto Ultra and New York Subliners to Orlando for in-season clashes.

Each team will play 22 matches during the regular season, which will conclude in a postseason tournament sometime after the final July 25 and 26 weekend, which will be hosted in Miami.

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Watch: Final Fantasy VI medley by The Returners at Ongaku Overdrive

Want to hear a rock band perform a medley of Final Fantasy VI songs?

Of course you do.

The Returners are a rock band from Austin, Texas, that specializes in covers of video game songs.

They have done their treatment on game music from titles including Legend of Zelda and Ico.

On Saturday, they were one of four bands to perform at The Abbey in Orlando during Ongaku Overdrive, a salute to Final Fantasy music.

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‘Nerdcore’ concert in Orlando a Final Fantasy homage

Lauren Liebowitz was perhaps destined to be in a band, since her mother was a piano teacher.

But the lead singer of The Returners likely couldn’t imagine as a young girl that her dad’s video game obsession would also play into her music career.

The Austin, Texas, based band specializes in “nerdcore,” playing cover songs of the music in popular video games like Majora’s Mask, Ico and the Final Fantasy series.

“Everything we play is because one of us loves it,” Liebowitz told The OVG on Saturday. “We are doing this because we love it.”

Watch: Final Fantasy VI medley by The Returners at Ongaku Overdrive

The Returners were one of four bands to perform at The Abbey on Saturday for Ongaku Overdrive, a celebration of performers who specialize in video game music covers.

Continue reading ‘Nerdcore’ concert in Orlando a Final Fantasy homage

Watch: the Orlando guy who builds video games into wine caskets

Darrin Yesbeck’s idea for a video game machine embedded into wine casks was popular on Saturday, when the Orlando entrepreneur showed off Barrel of Kong at Maker Faire Orlando.

His exhibit saw a steady stream of visitors and passersby couldn’t seem to pass by without at least commenting about how cool they thought it was.

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REPORT: Orlando man makes video game machines out of wine, whiskey barrels

Donkey Kong would be proud.

An Orlando man will be part of the annual Orlando Maker Faire this weekend showing off video game machines he has made out of wine and whiskey barrels, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Darrin Yesbeck, 45, got the idea after staying up late with his daughter while on vacation playing Pac-Man.

He enjoyed the bonding so much, he built his first cabinet when he returned home.

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