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Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com and now it's time for the AFLAC BusinessMakers Flashback, brought to you by AFLAC. Ask about it at work. And for this morning's flashback, we're gonna roll back to earlier this week when I sat down with Hilary Pike, Academic Developer Evangelist with Microsoft and we talked about Microsoft's Imagine Cup, the global competition focused on challenging young software developers to apply their imagination to make a difference in the world. And we were also joined by two University of Houston teams that are finalists in the U.S. competition for this cool, cool event. We enter the discussion where I ask Hilary to tell us about Microsoft's Imagine Cup.
Hilary: Microsoft Imagine Cup student competition creates an environment where technical students can develop technical skills that will help them succeed in the marketplace. They take real-world challenges and find real world solutions to solve the world's toughest problems.
Russ: Well, that sounds like a nice mission for sure. And now how long has this been going on?
Hilary: So we're approaching eight or nine years.
Russ: Okay, eight or nine years, woo. But tell me a little bit more. What's an academic development evangelist do for Microsoft?
Hilary: So what we do is go out into the community and work with faculty; work with students; and break down any barriers to engage students with Microsoft technologies. There's a lot of opportunity for jobs around Microsoft technologies and we're ready to help students gain those skills.
Russ: Okay. But I might assume that this has something to do with the perception that we don't have nearly enough developers and people that understand this part of the world for the future today and this is one of Microsoft's initiative to help that out?
Hilary: Yes, so Microsoft is very interested in developing science, technology, engineering and math majors. It's a place where a lotta people are needed and we don't have enough students coming out with those types of skills.
Russ: Okay. Now the Imagine Cup competition is a global competition?
Hilary: It's a global competition. So students compete around the world and then in the U.S. we host our own finals for the software development competition and the game development competition. So we'll be holding those at the end of April and bringing the top 20 teams together in Washington, D.C.
Russ: Okay. And I understand you have a couple of the finalists in the game competition with us right now?
Hilary: Indeed we do. We have Reggie Tye here from the Level 13 Team at the University of Houston.
Russ: Reggie, welcome to The BusinessMakers Show.
Reggie: Thanks, Russ. Great to be here.
Russ: Why don't you tell us about your team, what it's called, and what you guys are doin' and what your product is gonna be called.
Reggie: Our team came together. We're all students in University of Houston's Game Development class and we came together to develop a game to enter into this competition. The goal of the competition is to solve one of these eight different problems that is plaguing society. So we chose to tackle the problem of pollution. We did some research and found out about this process called bioremediation where you can plant different types of plants, different types of algae, things like that, and they actually react with this pollution and change it into something that is less harmful to the environment. That's the basis for the game that we developed.
Russ: Okay, so it's actually a game that does this bioremediation?
Reggie: Yes it is.
Russ: How does it do it? Does it award people that are out there doing it? How's it work?
Reggie: Well, well the story starts out mentioning that the world is too toxic, so no research can be done to even start the process. It invites two scientists to go out into the field and start doing this. It gives them some test seeds to use and they walk around and plant these seeds and the pollution runs into it and the pollution either dies or doesn't die. Maybe you have to have a stronger seed. These plants grow. As the plants get stronger, they do more damage and the goal is to clean all the pollution off of the level and advance to the next level.
Russ: Okay. And what's the name of this game?
Reggie: Name of the game is Antitoxin Squad.
Russ: Antitoxin Squad. Okay. Now what's the status of it, Reggie? Is it built? Is it out there? Or is it still in a design stage?
Reggie: We are trying to finish up development before the end of next week.
Russ: Okay.
Reggie: Because that is when we have to present it at this competition.
Russ: Okay. So you actually qualify for the competition which I understand's in Washington, D.C.?
Reggie: Yes, sir.
Russ: You can qualify for the competition without having the product completed.
Reggie: Right. In order to pass the second level of competition, we had to submit one playable level.
Russ: Okay. Does your team perhaps see continuing this effort even beyond the competition?
Reggie: I would have to talk to them but I, myself, would be interested.
Russ: Okay. That's real cool. Well, lemme wish you good luck. Do you think you stand a good chance of coming out well in Washington?
Reggie: I hope so.
Russ: All right, well thanks a whole lot and we hope you do well, Reggie.
Reggie: Thanks, Russ.
Russ: Okay, Hilary, now who else do we have? We have another winner, here, right?
Hilary: Yes, we also have Daniel with Ifrit Salsa, also from the University of Houston.
Russ: Daniel, welcome to The BusinessMakers Show.
Daniel: Thanks, Russ, it's great to be here.
Russ: Your team name is Ifrit Salsa, right?
Daniel: Yes sir.
Russ: Kind of a cool name. How did you guys derive that?
Daniel: We figured to foster team spirit, we needed a creative name for the team and so we kind of tossed all these ideas together. One of our teammates was putting in some ideas and she mentioned in her email that she hadn't included the name Ifrit. And so I knew immediately we had to include the name Ifrit.
Russ: Okay. [Laughter]
Daniel: Then we came up with the name salsa, of course, because it's Texas and you know, you have a lot of ingredients in salsa and so there's a lot of ingredients that go into the game.
Russ: You bet.
Daniel: We came up with this idea for a salsa that's so hot that only a fire demon in Ifrit could eat it.
Russ: [Laughter] All right. That's cool. All right, now - so is it reasonable to assume that your game that you guys are developing is also aimed at this environmental sustainability category?
Daniel: Yes sir. Ours is focused on recycling.
Russ: Okay. Tell us a little bit about your game.
Daniel: Absolutely. So our game is centered around the idea of sometime in the future developing a recycling robot and so the characters actually play this recycling robot that goes around and collects paper, glass, plastic and metal and sorts it into the appropriate bins in different venues, the idea being that we want to focus on the behaviors in game and rewarding those ideas and then maybe translating that out of game, so people will recycle out of game as well as in game.
Russ: Okay. And what's the status of RoboReycler?
Daniel: We're also feverishly working before the end of next week for the final competition.
Russ: Okay and what happens if you show up there and you're not finished?
Daniel: Well, I think with game development specifically, you can never really be finished -
Russ: Okay.
Daniel: - and so at some point you're done but I don't think it'll ever be really finished.
Russ: Okay. Now lemme ask you the same question. Is your team Ifrit Salsa - do you guys talk about perhaps doing this beyond the competition?
Daniel: Actually, yes, absolutely. And we have some other ideas about possible changes, of future technologies. Microsoft is coming out with Project Natal which is a controller-less controller and we think our game would be a good candidate to play around with that.
Russ: Okay.
Daniel: Where you actually take the part of the robot and do the physical action of picking up and recycling items.
Russ: Okay. So I guess it's just reasonable to assume that even if we weren't doing, you know, this real cool Image Cup game that you guys still might be in the development business of gaming, right?
Daniel: Probably. I think it brings in the ideas of fun and having fun making the game. It's enjoyable but it also is a real technical challenge and so it's probably just as difficult as maybe coding a website or coming up with any kind of application.
Russ: Okay. Well I really appreciate you guys sharing the descriptions of your company and I hope I didn't take too much time out of your day to hit your end target of having your games ready but man, Hilary, this is somethin' else. So at the Washington, D.C. competition, I mean, is it a big venue event or is it just sort of quiet with a bunch of people sitting around looking at computer screens?
Hilary: No, no it's very active. So Microsoft put on the Image Cup finals and we bring in the students, they go through a day of different types of opportunities, including presentation training, talking with experts in their field. Then they go through and present their applications to a panel of judges and the best teams bubble up to the top and then they present to all of us. So in front of everyone, they will present the top three or four teams.
Russ: And when they present, do - are you like actually a judge?
Hilary: [Laughter] I won't be a judge. There will be a panel of judge but the top three teams will just present and we will all get to be in audience so that we can see the games that they've developed with X&Y Game Studio and to see the software projects that they've put together. So it's great fun to see their enthusiasm and the skills that they've developed.
Russ: Cool.
Hilary: If anyone's interested in finding out more about the Image Cup, they can go to the website which is imaginecup.com.
Russ: Well, Hilary, I really appreciate you sharing this with us.
Hilary: Thanks.
Russ: That's Hilary Pike, Academic Development Evangelist with Microsoft and Daniel and Reggie, thank you both as well.
Reggie: Thanks, Russ.
Daniel: Thank you very much.
Russ: Okay and that wraps up this morning's AFLAC BusinessMakers Flashback, brought to you by AFLAC, ask about it at work. Stay tuned in for our featured guest segment with Bill Connor, President and CEO of InTrust. That's the company that's addressing the threat to the security of online banking, targeted at small business. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com.