Caleb Ferguson's Blog – Portfolio & contact info @ www.calebfergie.com

Smosh Ultimate

Sure, playing video games is fun, but what if we could have even more fun with it?

I’m using MaxMSP/Jitter to modify the output of the Nintendo Switch. More specifically, I’m messing with the video output of the console while playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The goal of this project is to modify the video output in fun ways á la data moshing and audio-visual feedback.

Check out some more smosh videos on Instagram.

So far I’ve managed to create a nice system for capturing the switch video, mess with it’s chroma- and alpha- levels, and sync them up to some brutish sound detection triggers.

The Max ‘control panel’ of the video manipulation looks like this:

You may be able to see there are a few setup steps, then some controls for switching color planes, selecting colors for chroma-blending, as well as music controls.

Stay tuned for more updates as I progress with this project!

Technical Setup

Here’s what the setup looks like:

…and here’s a diagram of exactly what’s going on there:

If you want to try this out for yourself, you can start with project’s Max patches from this GitHub folder.

Building NCP – Concept & Design

Note: This post expands on the process of design & creation of my thesis project. Further technical details can be found here.

I knew I wanted to make a text adventure game from the very beginning. Below is the first iteration of my idea.

⏩ Fast forward four months and…

Thesis Project – North Central Positronics

North Central Positroinics (NCP) is a sprawling online text-adventure game.

This game is set an post-apocalyptic world dominated by an authoritarian collective called North Central Positronics.

Evil Corporate Stairs Lighting Design

LED Umbrella

Classmates Dom Cheng, Terrick Gutierrez attached an LED array to an umbrella because… why not?!

☂️💡

Tribute in Light

The Tribute in Light memorial to 9/11 is an awe-inspiring light installation. As an NYC native, I find it powerful and provocative.

Seeing this every year, I’ve always wondered – how do the beams of light stay so straight?

Thesis Project Update

Note: Until completion, my thesis project documentation is mostly contained within NYU networks. This post is designed to provide some current project information to family, peers, and resources outside of the NYU community.

Last updated: April 16 2019

Since starting my thesis project earlier this year, I have completed a Beta of the project (a game) which you can play here:

thesis.calebfergie.com

Give it a try! A single play-through takes ~5 minutes.

Pupil Tracking with Rocket League

Inspired by this video of eye tracking while playing video games, I used a Pupil Labs’ pupil tracker while playing one of my favorite video games – Rocket League.