Tag Archives: iphone

Ninja Nuggets: Kamikaze Kapers — a strategic, turn-based puzzle game developed by Arts and Technology students Steven Foskett and Chris Krueger — has been released on Apple’s App Store.

The game features a scientist captured by a clan of sentient chicken nuggets and forced to undergo rigorous training to help them fight a war against their ancient rivals. The player’s job is to deploy the clan’s secret weapon: honorable kamikaze warriors who explode into highly volatile sauce, “the deadliest substance known to nugget-kind.”

The project began as a class assignment in spring 2011. “The process of development started very informally,” said Steven Foskett. By fall, Foskett and Krueger had designed the core game — although some refinement was needed.  “I asked Dr. Monica Evans if Chris and I could use it as our capstone, and she gave us the green light,” notes Foskett. “Most of my free time that semester was spent frantically programming, fixing bugs and implementing new features like a store to upgrade your character and the explosive nuggets he lays.”

The game was released on Feb. 17, 2012 on the Apple’s App Store and requires iOS 3 or later.

The team also has Ninja Nuggets t-shirts, bumper stickers, keychains and pillows available on Zazzle.

A social media platform for mobile devices created by Emerging Media and Communication (EMAC) students is creating buzz at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin.

Placethings is one of 32 finalists in the second annual Accelerator Competition at SXSW Interactive, which has become the world’s premier emerging technology event.

Placethings beat out hundreds of other companies to become a finalist. Its EMAC student creators will present before a live audience and panel of judges at SXSW on March 15 at the Hilton Austin.

“Placethings creates personal, shareable layers of media on top of real-world locations, connecting places with stories,” according to Dean Terry, director of the UT Dallas EMAC program.  “Tell people about your trip, guide them through a city, tell stories about where you’ve been, what happened, and what is important with video, pictures, sound, and beautiful, shareable maps.”

Placethings was developed in EMAC’s MobileLab research group under Terry’s direction.  It was co-created by Terry, undergraduate Arts and Technology student Nicholas Spencer and EMAC graduate student John Syrinek.