NHS Social Innovation in Salford Competition

Before leaving to go on my trip I entered a competition being run by the NHS called "Social Innovation in Salford". The intention of the competition is to find people with ideas for how to solve some issues currently facing the NHS in the Manchester region.

The competition is split into several parts with the brief for the first part being:

How to give older people greater control and enable them to have more meaningful and fulfilling lives and in so doing reduce demand on the health and social care system

Its a really nice idea and a clever way to try to bring in new ideas to solve challenging problems that the NHS currently faces.

To enter you had two write a short (300) word proposal. If your proposal was short listed and you participated in the subsequent meetings you would win £1000.

My proposal was predictably related to technology and games. I suggested that mobile devices with games loaded on could be given to the elderly so they could keep their minds active by playing games. I also suggested that if tablets were used then other apps could be installed such as Skype that allowed the elderly to keep in contact with relatives.

During the early part of my trip I received an email announcing that I was short listed and invited to attend the meetings in Salford. Unfortunately because I was in North Carolina at the time I couldnt attend physically, instead they asked me to attend via Skype and create a video which details my proposal in more detail:



As a follow up, I was asked to create another video that answered some questions:



The leaders of the competition now have the option to select mine or one of the other proposals to take further and potentially develop it into an actual scheme.

Ludum Dare Hour 408 (15 Days later) - Results!

Well the judging is now finally over for the Ludum Dare competition I entered 17 days ago.

So overall I placed #21 which is just outside the top 20. Not bad for a first time entry but I thought I would of done better considering some of the game ranked higher than me but oh well.

I actually game second in one category.. Community? Not entirely sure how I managed that but oh well :P

I think I may have received the most number of votes out of any of the games, it certaintly seems like a lot take a look:

Ratings

Inn	Fun	The	Gra	Aud	Hum	Ove	Com
3	2	3	2	1	1	3	-
3	3	3	3	2	1	3	5
2	2	4	3	-	3	3	-
4	4	4	5	3	3	4	4
3	4	3	5	3	4	4	5
4	3	5	4	3	3	4	3
4	3	1	4	3	3	2	4
3	2	2	3	3	2	2	-
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	5	5	5	3	4	4	2
3	3	4	4	4	4	3	-
3	4	4	4	2	3	4	5
5	5	2	5	3	-	4	4
3	3	4	5	3	3	3	5
3	5	4	4	3	3	4	4
3	3	3	4	2	2	4	5
3	2	3	4	1	3	3	-
3	5	3	4	2	3	4	4
3	3	3	4	2	5	3	5
4	3	5	3	2	-	3	5
3	4	4	5	2	-	3	-
2	3	4	4	3	4	4	4
4	5	5	5	4	5	5	4
3	4	3	4	3	4	4	4
3	3	4	4	3	4	4	5
3	3	3	4	3	3	3	5
4	5	4	5	4	4	4	5
4	4	4	5	3	5	4	5
3	2	3	4	2	3	3	-
3	4	3	4	3	-	3	-
3	4	4	5	1	4	3	4
4	4	4	4	3	-	4	5
3	4	4	5	3	4	4	5
3	3	4	3	2	3	3	-
3	2	4	3	3	-	2	-
4	4	3	5	3	4	4	-
2	5	3	4	3	1	4	4
3	4	4	5	3	4	4	4
2	3	3	3	2	2	3	4
2	2	4	4	3	2	2	-
3	4	5	3	3	4	3	3
4	4	5	3	-	3	4	-
3	4	5	5	2	3	4	5
3	2	3	4	3	3	3	5
4	4	3	5	3	3	4	5
3	3	2	5	3	4	4	-
3	3	3	5	2	4	3	4
2	2	3	2	2	1	2	-
3.17	3.45	3.57	4.09	2.64	3.20	3.43	4.38

So my overall scores in the various categories were:

Innovation: 3.17
Fun: 3.45
Theme: 3.57
Graphics: 4.09
Audio: 2.64
Humor: 3.20
Overall: 3.43
Community: 4.38

The winners in each category are as follows:

Innovation: Switchbreak 4.21
Fun: Invicticide 4.17
Theme: TomBom 4.36
Graphics: NialM 4.63
Audio: Greasemonkey 4.07
Humor: Deps 4.06
Overall: Invicticide 4.07
Community: HybridMind 4.52

Oh well, I enjoyed the competition. Im planning on polishing the game a little more now the competition is over then im going to release it to the wider world.

Ludum Dare - Hour 31

Well its been quite a while since my last progress report. I have mostly been sleeping (well 4 hours of it anyways).

So progress is coming along nicely STILL no gameplay tho :S

So far you can shoot and destroy the enemies and then collect thier giblets before they become part of the terrain. The idea is that you can then shoot those giblets back at the enemies. Take alook if you are interested:



Oh I just noticed I left some debug sliders on there I was using to try and hone the bloom levels. Have a play with them if you want.

Right. Gameplay.

Ludum Dare - Hour 22

Okay, im starting to get pretty tired. Its not very late (midnight) but I think the lack of sleep last night is catching up with me. Im gonna get a few hours kip now then back up early to start again I think.

As for progress. I have a basic enemy type in, it doesnt do much except bleed, and it doesnt look too good (I really cant draw!) but oh well.

As before I have done a build that you can "play":



So the next task for me when I wake up is to add some sort of scoring mechanism and ofcourse to add the ability to use the "Enemies as Weapons" :P

Ludum Dare - Hour 0

Okay its 3:31am the competition started 31mins ago. I had originally intended to wake up at 5-6am then start coding but I couldnt sleep so I thought I would get cracking early then catch a nap later on when im tired.

The theme for the competition is "Enemies as Weapons" which is actually a better theme than what I was expecting "Technology in the wrong time period". I havent got an idea yet but im sure something will come to me :)

Anyways, here is where all the magic will be happeneing over the next 48 hours:



I have ChronoLapse setup to capture a screenshot every 60 seconds so hopefully we will get a nice video at the end showing my progress (or lack of :P).

I will be updating at regular intervals throughout, mainly to break up the dev process a little as 48hours is a long time!

Wish me luck!

Ludum Dare 18 this Weekend!

Dont think I have blogged about this yet, so im doing so now.

Im planning on entering the 18th Ludum Dare compo, starting this sat. This will be my very first entry and im quite excited!

For those not in the know the Ludum Dare competition is a competition for Indie Games Developers. You have 48 to make a game (practically) from scratch. Its a solo competition so I cant call in my partner in crime olip.co.uk to do the artwork for me.

Rules are as follows:

1. You must work alone (solo).


2. All game code and content must be created within the 48 hours.


3. Games must be based on the theme.


4. All libraries, middleware, content creation, and development tools are allowed.


5. Source code must be included.

The themes for this edition of the compo are currently being voted on here.

I doubt I will be able to come up with much in the 48 hour limit, but im hoping to get at least something remotely playable!