CAGD Blog

 AR Self-Guided Tour - Sprint 2      My name is Kyle Ramser, and I am currently working as a 3D Artist on an AR self-guided tour being developed for The Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux. We just finished our second sprint, and as a 3D Artist, the process has not been very different from my usual experiences in game development, apart from a few key differences. However, the few differences that there are have made the experience a bit more difficult than making video game assets.      As for the work that I completed during sprint two, I was able to complete the models and UVs for the sacred stone and the refurbished, or “restored” stones. This included high-poly models and normal stamps, mostly to be used on the sacred stone to show damage and stone mason marks. I feel as though I could have for sure done more this sprint, but with the spring break being dead in the center of the sprint, and with some unfortunate personal events occurring during the...

 Inclusivity in the Gaming Space and How It Has Advanced in Recent Years     As a game design major myself, this is a topic I am extremely familiar with and all around completely fascinated by. For some people, using a controller or a mouse and keyboard with the controls the game designers intended is near or completely impossible. Whether it be issues with the use of fingers for trigger, button, or stick inputs, sometimes disabilities can completely stop a player from being able to play the game as intended. That is why I am amazed and proud of the wide variety of control changes that more modern games can make to adapt to different players' needs, allowing essentially anyone to play games, no matter what issues they have with using common controls.     I actually have a great personal example of this through the experiences of one of my close friends. One of my friends has a deformity in both of his hands, which makes it difficult to use the triggers, sticks, ...

 The Digital Divide      In this day and age, the digital divide can be detrimental to those without access to high-speed internet or any devices. With how necessary the internet is in the modern age for things as important as jobs and school, not having a computer, phone, or access to the internet can make it extremely difficult to maintain a job or do well in school. Putting public WiFi in places like libraries and giving students access to laptops and tablets is helpful, but the problem of not having access to these at home still remains.            I think one of the only ways to close the digital divide, or to at least make it better, is for WiFi and digital devices to become cheaper, which they have been over the years as technologies improve. Now, even the slower speeds of the internet that are on the relatively cheaper side are much faster than the top-of-the-line Wi-Fi in previous years. The only issue with this is that it ...