November 2015 – DiG-iT! Games

Monthly Archives: November 2015

Getting to Know You: Steve Hunnicutt, Head Developer

Steve Hunnicutt is Dig-It! Games’ Head Developer responsible for bringing the coding to life. Steve’s father was in the Navy, so he grew up in lots of different places, including Honolulu, Hawaii for three years. After his father retired from the Navy, we moved to Jacksonville, Florida. He spent more of my childhood there than anywhere else, so he considers it his hometown. Steve moved to Baltimore in 1990 and has been living there ever since.

Steve sat down for a Q&A to give us more insight into his role at Dig-It! Games, what sparked his love of programming and how aspiring programmers can get started.

What’s an average day at Dig-It! Games look like for you?
I don’t really have an “average” day. One day, we’re working out the design for a new game and doing prototypes. The next day, we may start working on the code architecture. Sometimes, I do concept sketches to communicate ideas to the rest of the team. It’s always something different.

What got you interested in game design?
I love playing games. Board games are favorites, but I’m always playing some sort of video game. Also, I’ve been coding in one language or another for almost thirty years. So when I had the opportunity to work at a game studio, I grabbed it.

Any advice for kids who want to become programmers?
It’s easier than ever to dip your toe into programming. There are lots of different ways to get started. One of the easiest is to start building web pages; all you need is a text editor and a web browser. There are innumerable tutorials to get you started. Once you have a simple page, you can add interactivity with JavaScript. You can make a lot of simple games very easily, but the platform has the potential for very complex games. The only limit is your imagination and your skill.

What is your favorite video or digital game from childhood?
My family purchased an Apple //e computer about the time I was starting the eighth grade. I took to it immediately, playing games, connecting to bulletin board systems (BBS) and writing my own programs. My favorite game was one that I played with my mother. It was called Starlanes.

The goal of Starlanes was to build the most profitable interstellar company. Each player would place a star base each turn. Adjacent star bases connected into a single company. Companies that were adjacent to a star were more profitable. In addition, each turn the player could buy stock in any of the companies, even your opponent’s. If two companies touched, they merged and you could get a big stock payoff.

Once upon a time, I had the source code to Starlanes. I still hope that someday I’ll find it again and I could bring it back to life on modern computers.

If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce?
This is a tough question. I think I would institute a social welfare system that guaranteed basic income, healthcare, and nutrition to my citizens. Read Ernest Callenbach’s “Ecotopia” for a much more detailed vision of a society that I find compelling.

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Three Generations–One Educational Cause

Today, we’re proud to share a contributed blog post from our friend Mike Burke. We’ve gotten to know Mike through Dig-It! Games artist, Mikel Wellington–Mike’s son. He’s been a visitor to the studio and we were glad to have him with us on our field trip the Baltimore Museum of Industry last month. Read on to find out what Mike’s been working on behind-the-scenes…

Every successful business is the end result of a visionary CEO, Chairman or General Manager who takes their concept from an idea to a reality. Suzi Wilczynski is such a visionary. The vision? Dig-It! Games. They believe in the power of games to blend fun and learning. Suzi and her team of extraordinary artists, programmers, and producers have found a way to retain the interest in learning among all students, particularly at the middle school/junior high level.

I’ve had the good fortune to meet Suzi and to visit the Dig-It! Games studio, nestled in the heart of downtown Bethesda, MD. Attending one of their staff meetings (often referred as collaborations), I quickly learned this exclusive and non-traditional exchange of ideas fosters an unrestricted flow of thoughts, and concepts, “giving [the team] the opportunity to learn without the fear of failure,” according to Dig-It! Games artist (and my son), Mikel Wellington. This is the same opportunity that Dig-It! Games provides kids, with the use of game-based learning in the classroom.

Right now, Dig-It! Games is working to develop a long-term science adventure for students called BEAKER, expected to release in early 2016. The team is working with middle school teachers to build the game, which will focus on the Periodic Table and chemical reactions.

The storyline and characters are what help immerse students in any game. In Mayan Mysteries and the Loot Pursuit series, students empathize with Charlie and Fiona—quirky, similarly-aged kids like them. For a brand-new game, Dig-It! Games is creating brand-new characters.

Education has always been a part of my family’s fabric of Life. My dad, a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education and my mom, an M.A. in English. One of the main characters in BEAKER will be based on my father, Dr. Gerald Burke. Together, Mikel and I have been researching his life.

My father was born in the Ogis section of Miami, FL. During his early childhood years his family moved to Belle Glade, FL where they became migrant workers. Picking beans and cutting sugar cane in the hot South Florida sun was motivation for my father and his brother, Robert to graduate high school and college (Florida A & M University) with honors and degrees in Chemistry and Biology respectively.

After a couple of decades teaching in Palm Beach County Schools, he pursued and received a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education in 1971 from Michigan State University. He returned to Palm Beach County Schools’ Suncoast High as a classroom teacher. My father retired in 1991, having left a strong impact on the lives of his many beloved students—both inside and outside the classroom.

The character of Dr. Burke will be leading players through BEAKER from start to finish, providing helpful hints and direction within the game. I wish I could tell you more now—but stay tuned on the blog for more information behind-the-scenes as BEAKER gets closer to the finish line!

A friend of the Dig-It! Games studio, Mike Burke enjoyed a successful 30-year career in Washington radio working for United Broadcasting Co, Radio Broadcast Communications, Inc., Radio One, WHUR Howard University Radio, Metro Networks and Bonneville International/WTOP as a Traffic Anchor & Reporter. Currently, he is an on-air personality with WFLM in Florida.