Seats still open for GET LAMP documentary showing this Saturday!

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Quick note: FAMilab has reached their laser-cutter goal, thanks to all who contributed! Project is still open for a little while if you wanna push ’em beyond 101%.

Fans of text adventures, newbies and addicts, it’s time! In conjunction with HacDC, we’ll be showing GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary this Saturday. Doors at 2:30, movie at 3. Afterward, we’ll have a video chat with producer Jason Scott, and then a workshop on creating your own interactive fiction, hosted by Matt Arnold. Seats are still available, reserve yours now!

Background: Text adventure games (aka interactive fiction) are like a “choose your own adventure” book on steroids. They’re some of the oldest computer games, and they’re a great way for fledgling game designers to write a story without spending forever on graphics and physics. This means YOU! If you’re participating in the workshop, please bring a laptop.

What makes this movie extra-special is that it’s Creative Commons licensed. Like open-source software, this means that anyone can change it, use parts of it, remix it, et cetera. There are some basic conditions, such as your changed version must be similarly licensed. This model allows producers (working in any copyrightable medium) to deliberately encourage creative reuse of their content, rather than locking it up forever in traditional copyright. Obviously, it’s something hackerspaces are interested in!

ATTN DIYers: Maker Mixer happens this Saturday, 2pm-6pm.

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It’s almost upon us! Here’s what you need to know:

Everyone’s invited. Originally conceived to connect busy Maker Faire exhibitors who didn’t get a chance to talk during the event itself, i3Detroit’s first Maker Mixer is open to anyone with a passion for DIY and a desire to meet more of their peers. Do you know of an individual or group who should be part of it? Please invite them!

There will be snacks. Also fire and burgers, probably. Feel free to BYO, as well! The party is free but donations help us defray costs and are always graciously accepted.

Parking will fill up. You might have to go down the block a bit to find a spot.

We don’t have a big sign. Haven’t tackled that issue with the city yet. So study the map before heading out, and note that Wordsworth doesn’t cross through the train tracks — you’ll probably come down Wanda from 9 mile. We’ll have balloons on the corner to guide you in.

There are more events around the corner. If you can’t make this one, consider the DIY Filmmaker Meetup on the 9th, the Get Lamp documentary screening on the 11th, or the Needlecraft Gathering on the 14th.

Lathe, Rinse, Repeat

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i3 saw its latest addition to the tool shop Tuesday night with the addition of a massive Bridgeport mill as well as a honking 14×40 Acer 1440G lathe.Ā  While both were pre-loved, with the lathe needing a great deal of “rinsing” before use, they are both in excellent condition and will make for a wonderful expansion of our machining capabilities. The lathe also had the added bonus of coming with a good deal of tooling, finally making viable my plan of creating a 4 foot candle holder. While I don’t currently have a problem holding 4 foot candles, or any 4 foot candles at all for that matter, I’ll be the only one prepared the next time a giant birthday cake shows up!

Meanwhile, as the literally tons of tools were being “gently” maneuvered into place, many of our other members were engaged in some decidedly less brute force pursuits, participating in the evening’s papercraft meetup. Rather than one of our usual classes with an instructor leading the group, this was run much more as an open forum, with several people taking the reigns and teaching the rest of the group various crafts from origami to paper star beads. The meetup also served to improve the aesthetic qualities of the space by hanging origami cranes and other creations from the floor of the loft area.

For more pictures of Tuesday’s fun, check out the Flickr stream from the event. Also, keep a lookout for other upcoming events such as our inter-hackerspace viewing party for “GET LAMP” on Sept 11th, as well as this weekend’s opportunity to live out your “White and Nerdy” fantasies by mowing someone else’s front lawn with the mowergang!

Also this weekend:

Mower Gang Kicks Grass

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The do-gooders of the Mower Gang http://www.mowergang.com are at it again! Last time it was reclaiming a bike racing track from nature, this time it’s about cleaning and mowing a Detroit public park and saving the whales… well, one whale… made of cement. Member Matt Switlik will be heading out for the 1pm event from i3Detroit around 12pm on Saturday with a self-propelled push mower and electric trimmer. Come by to grab a ride or bring your own equipment and help out! City budgets and red tape be damned! Let’s cut some grass!

Inter-Hackerspace showing of GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary, Sep. 11th

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Join i3Detroit for an evening of computer history, interactive storytelling, and more! On September 11th, in conjunction with other hackerspaces, we will beĀ screening GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary. After the show, we’ll have a video chat with filmmaker Jason Scott, and a brief workshop on how you can get started creating your own interactive fiction game. (Reserve your seat now!)

Long before 3D-accelerated video cards, or even graphics of any sort, there was text. Letters on a screen, a blinking cursor, and you. Imagine the mother of all “choose your own adventure” books — the text adventure game (neologized as “interactive fiction“) takes place as much in your imagination as in the computer.

With thirty-plus years of history, the stories about the games are sometimes as interesting as the games themselves. Independent documentarian Jason Scott (also of Textfiles.com and BBS: The Documentary) has interviewed dozens of people behind this fascinating scene, distilled their stories into an engaging film with its own interactive section, and released the whole package underĀ a Creative Commons (“copyleft”)Ā license.

Come visit i3Detroit (or your own local hackerspace, if you’re not in Michigan) to explore the past, present, and future of interactive storytelling. Bring a laptop, and we’ll get you started writing your very own game.Ā  Seating is limited, so reserve your spot!