Make your own rules (and games!) with Game Maker

Noah's Mr. Mullet game for Adult SwimEver wanted to grow a mullet or start your own hemp farm?

You can—virtually—with these games designed by 3rd Ward instructor Noah Sasso, whose clients include Adult Swim, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

When Noah isn’t designing avatars like this menacing blue barber, he also produces the podcast, Another Castle, a series of interviews with innovators in the gaming industry. Listen here for an illuminating discussion about the intersection of games and art.
 
Got an idea for a game of your own? Learn how to conceptualize and build games in Noah’s upcoming class, Making Games with Game Maker, where you’ll use the popular development software to construct your own game from start to finish (check out the class syllabus). With little to no programming knowledge, incorporate backgrounds, animated graphics and sound effects to create your own world (even in 3-D). Game Maker can even be used to create games for iOS and most recently Android.

See the versatility and possibilities of Game Maker (think gnome carnage, ancient ant battles, and swinging by grappling hook) by watching this super-slick, super-fun video, 100 Game Maker Games in 10 Minutes.

Registration for Game Making with Game Maker ends February 1st—sign up today by clicking here.

Carrie & Zach // Film Noir Bears in Jacuzzi Heaven

Yet another strange and wonderful cinematic telegram from Carrie and Zach has arrived at our (virtual) doorstep.

In this inexplicable installment of their art-making adventures, Bates Motel-meets-film noir, with Carrie as the masked femme fatale lounging poolside.

Check out these photographic outtakes from their adventures in New Mexico and Arizona.  We can’t wait to see what animals they’ll be by the time they reach California.



Carrie & Zach: Day 3 from 3rd Ward on Vimeo.

Saturday // Members Help Fill a Convent with Creation

 Rabid Hands Presents Sequence of Waves

Saturday, January 29^th

EXHIBIT: 2pm – 9pm // St. Cecilia’s Convent, 21 Monitor St, Greenpoint, Brooklyn

AFTER PARTY: Union Pool back room //484 Union Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

40 artists. A 2-week residency. One night to transform narrow hallways and cordoned-off rooms into a collaborative architecture of artwork that influences and enhances one another.

Ben Simon (Member since ’10), Phil Stearns (Circuitry Instructor since ’09), Steve Ma (Bike Maintenance Instructor since ’10), and many other 3^rd Ward friends will be participating with the artist collective, Rabid Hands. Works will vary from a “red carpet” of bubble wrap; microphone cords winding up a 3-story stairwell; a robotically controlled symphony blossoming inside the chapel, as well as many other collaborative multimedia projects and performances.

For more information, visit http://sequenceofwaves.com/ or email rabidhands@gmail.com



Carrie & Zach // Notes from the Road: From the Magic School Bus to Last Chance Liquor

Carrie Shaltz and Zach Hyman have sent us another visual telegram all the way from the open road. So far their travels have taken them to Tucson, all the way through Las Cruces, New Mexico and back up to Flagstaff, Arizona. Soon they’ll be heading down to the Salton Sea, California's largest and strangest lake…

Stay tuned for more photographic clues in this evolving and unsolved mystery of art and adventure...



Sweet Chihuahua Found Outside 3rd Ward

Do you know this dog? We found her outside with a frostbitten belly, and a leash still attached. She's warm and safe now and will be taken to Sean Casey Animal Rescue, a not-for-profit, no-kill shelter in Brooklyn, tonight. 

If you know this dog, or would like to help her, please contact Sean Casey at 718-436-5163. We'll be taking her there around 6pm tonight.  

Carrie & Zach // Another Video from the Road

Open Call winners Carrie Shaltz and Zach Hyman have stumbled upon the first of many strange treasures on their Southwestern journey. Best of all, they recently sent us another wonderfully peculiar video postcard dressed as their animal alter-egos, all the way from a motel room somewhere…



Carrie & Zach: Day 2 from 3rd Ward on Vimeo.

Help HiTOPS win $25K to Help Adolescents Make the Right Decisions

Adolescence is short time with a big impact. 

HiTOPs helps adolescents clarify their values and make responsible decisions, and gives parents, teachers and caregivers of adolescents the tools they need to best support and guide the young people they nurture. 

Now, HiTOPS could be awarded a $25,000 grant from Pepsi with your (daily) help. Bookmark http://hitopschallenge.org and click “Vote for this Idea” every day until the January 31, 2011 deadline! Please share with your friends and help create a world where today’s youth has the right knowledge and resources to set them on the best track in life.



Quick and Easy Web Design with WordPress

Who ever said you needed to be a coding whiz to create your own streamlined, personalized website?

These 3rd Ward students (a print graphic designer, yoga instructor, and videographer respectively) built their own sites – each with its own customized aesthetic and site architecture – using skills from 3rd Ward’s very own WordPress Workshop. Whether you want to sell your wares, blog your thoughts, or share your work, WordPress provides a quick and easy platform for you to do so. Take a look at these useful, imaginative (and beautiful!) sites by Alfie Cooper Designs, Luke Simon and Sejan Yun to get an idea of the endless possibilities.

Taught by innovative designer and Arrow Root Media founder Jaki Levy, this workshop teaches you everything you need to know to get your website up and running with the web’s most popular content management system.

Cutting-edge Crochet with Kim Kotary

With hundreds of types of crochet and knitting techniques, each yielding fabric of a different look and texture, where is a novice to begin?

Well...you can do both. 3rd Ward instructor Kim Kotary (teacher of Intro to Crochet and Intro to Knitting) gives us the skinny on a unique and popular stitch that fuses knitting and crochet. Called Tunisian crochet, this technique “is worked with what looks like a knitting needle with a hook on the end,” explains Kim. “It can produce a very thick fabric. The evenness of the stitching makes it great for felting (fulling) or counted embroidery.” (Check out the Tunisian throw she designed at right).

Tunisian crochet can also take on a whole new life when you work with color and shaping, and with a finer yarn and a larger hook, the fabric can drape well, too. Kim recommends checking out the innovative designs of Dee Stanziano, and Dora Ohrenstein of Crochet Insider magazine, who have designed some beautiful garments using this addictive technique.

Students in Kim’s introductory classes make their own blanket, hat, or scarf (all perfect for this winter’s blizzardy weather). For some high-fashion inspiration, check out what fashion houses like Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana are creating with crochet—from shoes, to jewelry, to lingerie.

Ready to needle up and make your own handmade, snuggle-worthy gifts and accessories? Kim’s introductory crochet and knitting classes fill fast—sign up now to get on the waitlist or find out about future sessions!

Carrie & Zach // Mysterious dispatches from Phoenix

Got some photo updates from Carrie Shaltz and Zach Hyman's new adventure. Still have no clue what they're doing, but they've certainly piqued our interest...

Click here to learn how 3rd Ward enabled Carrie and Zach's journey.