Bill Blogged - Do you have a better name for it?
8/17/11 Bill Blogged - Do you have a better name for it?
Good Afternoon Teams,
The GDC met in Manchester this past weekend and were able to winnow the pool of potential 2013 games down to the top three choices. (Which is a lot harder than it sounds. A lot of these ideas have the potential to be really good.) Next month we’ll gather to face the challenge of turning the top idea into a functional game head on.
Work on the 2012 game is progressing as planned. We’re finalizing the game manual, procuring game elements and constructing updates to the game fields. We have a short list of three possible game names and Marketing is vetting the options. With any luck we’ll have a game name this week and can start ordering branded material.
Because the GDC members would be traveling home on Sunday night at the same time the i.am.FIRST show aired, we were able to show the group a copy on Saturday during a break. It was a lot of fun watching the show with such a dedicated group of FIRST fanatics. If you didn’t see will.i.am’s show about FIRST, I’d point you towards an online link for the video, but the i.am.FIRST production team has made it very clear that an official copy has not been posted yet. All copies of i.am.FIRST Science is Rock and Roll currently on line are unauthorized. When I can point you towards the official version, you can be sure I will.
We are gearing up for the annual Suppliers’ Summit occurring later this week. Our generous suppliers are coming in from all over the country to meet with our Kit of Parts team, provide feedback on their experience, make suggestions on the future Kits of Parts, and have dinner at Dean’s house. They will also have the opportunity to meet with a few local teams to get feedback directly from some of their end users. I plan to slip in and out of the events as my schedule allows.
We are also expecting a visit from the 2012 Dean’s List Award winners this week. They will be visiting DEKA (Dean’s Research and Development facility), touring FIRST (no they won’t be given any hints about this year’s game), and participating in the Supplier’s Summit dinner at Dean’s home. I’m looking forward to my chance to meet with them. Last year’s DLA winners were full of good ideas and valuable insights. I expect this year’s group will be just as articulate and well informed. You can follow Lydia @deanslist2011 and Tina @tina_dutra
What is your team planning to do this fall and winter? We need FRC teams to Beta Test the 2012 software and new hardware elements this September through December. If your team is interested and has the time, fill out the application online here. Feel free to share this announcement with teams you know may be interested. An email blast to all teams will go out probably later this week.
I want your opinion. We’re going back and forth on what to call the new qualification events. The Michigan District Pilot is over and this year we will introduce a qualification structure based on lessons learned. Michigan and a second region will be hosting 2012 qualification events that lead up to a State/Regional Championship. The problem is, we can’t agree on what to call the events. Michigan used the term “District”, and technically the events are “Qualification”, but neither term seems just right. Do you have a suggestion? Please vote/make suggestions in the comments section. I’ll tally them up and take the results back to the staff discussions.
I see the question on last week’s blog about when will the new cRIO FRCIIs be available for purchase, but I can’t give you a date yet. Frank Merrick (the Deputy Director of FRC) is discussing the time line with NI right now. When we know, I’ll share with you.
143 days until Kickoff
See you then!
