Today we woke up at a more reasonable hour. We met up with Volker
and bused it over to the Nixdorf museum. It was a really cool museum dedicated
to computers, calculators, counting machines, and robots. We got a nice,
somewhat quick tour of some pre-industrial counting machines and early
computers. Afterward we bused it back over to campus where we got to sit in on
a class on A.I which was mindbogglingly interesting. I loved the topic and learned
a lot about Basic A.I trees, coding behavior and Neural Nets. It only furthered
my budding interest in learning some code. Plus, I feel like I participated
well. We then grabbed lunch in the Café and headed back to the hotel for a
quick siesta before game night.
Rather than taking the bus we decided to walk to campus this
time to learn the route. It was nice day out and only about a mile walk. When
we got to campus, we started game night. I got to play more Q and get to know
more of the Germans in a couple games of Secret Hitler. We ordered some pizzas
for dinner and Amanda and I bused it home to prep to go out. Mike, Amanda, and
I went out for drinks and hopped a few bars before meeting up with Penny and
Josh. We told a couple riveting tales before heading home to pass out.
We spent our time in the morning resting / freshening up before we headed out at 10:45 to catch a train to Bielefeld. Maybe I’m just not paying attention to the scenery at home, but it feels like Germany is much greener. Being that green is my favorite color, I appreciate it.
The view out the train to Bielefeld’s window. I find that pretty clouds like this often spur me to take pictures.
When we got to Bielefeld, we found ourselves in the middle of a carnival. There were all kinds of typical carnival sights to see, like ferris wheels, spinning contraptions I usually refer to as “X-Treme Merry Go Rounds” (I don’t know what they’re actually called), and numerous places to eat food of all sorts. Nothing much struck me except a hot dog stand with american flag designs all over it (which I regrettably didn’t take a picture of) and a neat drink stand of sorts with a medieval, high-fantasy motif.
Beerenweine, a fantasy themed beverage stand, presumably alcoholic by the name. They’re evidently well stocked on potions.
But we had no time to dabble in the carnival. (That’s a lie, but just go with it.) We had a castle to siege—The Sparrenburg, Bielefeld’s landmark—and a big hill to climb. I’m no stranger to walking up hills, and it was no less difficult walking up this one than any other respectable hill. I must have gotten stronger since my summer camp days, though, because I wasn’t completely knocked-the-hell-out by the time we got to the top. I was, however, tired enough to stop and admire the castle from the outside.
Just outside The Sparrenburg, before the bridge to the front entrance.
And so, we breached the castle walls by walking into the wide open front entrance. It was completely serene inside, and awoke my usually dormant desire to wander and look at things. Look at things I did, and many a picture did I take.
Map of The Sparrenburg, from www.sparrenburg.info.Map of The Sparrenburg, but in English.
Just outside The Sparrenberg’s entrance, to the right.
On top of Schuster Bastion.
The courtyard / visitor center, just inside the inner walls.
The view from St Mary’s Bastion.
The view of the bridge to the front entrance, from St Mary’s Bastion.
Looking up at the central tower from behind.
Inside the courtyard, looking out to the right.
A statue of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg. Lighting is hard.
Then we started our tour, the guide unsuspecting of our scheme to take over the castle. We first looked at a very old well not too far behind the central tower, originally 60 meters deep if I recall correctly (partially filled with debris from hostile occupation and time). After some more looking around the edge of the inner walls, we descended into the catacombs, which dated back to the 1600s.
The living quarters of the soldiers during the Thirty Years’ War, and likely other times. Complete with a large oven, very little light, and a cannon or two. (The original cannon[s] are no longer here.) Looking up and out of one of the openings in the catacombs. The alcove on the right was used to store logs, tar, and soldier residue to dump on foolish invaders.
Unfortunately, it was here the guide got wise on our plans, and put us in the soldier’s disciplinary prison, a fairly small featureless room with a lumpy floor and no light besides an electric light installed on the wall in the modern day (which was operated by a switch outside and out of reach, might I add!).
We were promptly let out because I’ve been lying to you all this time, we were never actually sieging anything, as far as you know. Emerging out of the impressively cold catacombs (so cold you could see your breath!) and into the sun once again, we made our way to climb the central tower. After our gracious hosts paid for everyone’s access, we made our way to the central tower’s entrance, but not before I took a picture of some flowers.
Miscellaneous flowers to the right of the old well. You can see it on the right edge. Why didn’t I take a picture of it?
The climb to the top of the central tower, as to be expected for a 37 meter tall tower, was a long one, with three different flavors of staircase; metal, wooden, and metal spiral.
One of the central tower’s staircases.
Getting to the top however, was worth it; from there, we had a view of all of Bielefeld, just as the brochure boasts.
Looking down on the courtyard from the central tower.
Misc. scenery from atop the central tower.
The flag atop the central tower.A picture of the sky from atop the central tower.
After coming down from the tower and leaving The Sparrenburg, we went on a quest for the fabled “spaghetti ice-cream,” something I initially thought was going to be spaghetti noodles hanging off a vanilla ice-cream cone. I was wrong, but not disappointed.
A menu displaying various Spaghetti Ice Creams. I ordered the Spaghetti-Tris di Pasta, despite my carbonara affinity. (It looks like there’s nuts in the carbonara one.)My order of Spaghetti-Tris di Pasta, chocolate, fudge, and chocolate. I forgot to ask for no nuts, so the left heap went uneaten. (I was full anyway. It’s a lot of ice cream!)
We intended to go out to a bar after returning to Paderborn by train, but most of us didn’t feel up to it, including me. An eventful day, and one that went by quickly, even despite all the walking.
We started off the first proper day of the trip strong with a trip to Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum, a museum of old and new technologies ranging from cuneiform tablets to VR headsets.
Heinz Nixdorf from the outside.
The entrance to Heinz Nixdorf.
A neat statue in the Heinz Nixdorf lobby.
I feel like a lot of the more historical exhibitions went over my head, but I could at least appreciate them. We got to see some very old machines, but few of them were ugly or clunky looking; quite the opposite, really. So it’s only natural that I would forget to take pictures of the pretty ones and only have the mind to take a picture of this really old apple brick and some vintage computer mice.
The Lisa I, an old Apple PC.
An array of old and odd computer mice.
There were also some very unsettling robots, prime examples of the Uncanny Valley.
A robot I don’t remember the name of. Its eyes seem to follow you.This robot is frightening and I don’t like looking at it, so I naturally took a video. Feel my pain.
Afterwords, Jörg talked to us about AI, its role in games, and the potential role of games in AI. Since the event afterward was canceled due to rain, I stayed in GamesLab, and almost purely by accident played Q, a game by one of our german hosts, for more than three hours. I got all of the collectibles, though, so it was obviously worth it.
One of the gameplay images used on Q’s steam page. Finding said steam page wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it’d be.
Finally, to end the day off, we played some board games and Jackbox games. A good time was had by all, except Stefan, who was dropped into a pit of spikes via trap-door.
To help ease us into the swing of things, we had plenty of time to sleep in on Monday. After 11:00am had rolled around, we went out and took a small tour of the city as me made our way to the bus stop.
Paderborner Dom, the local cathedral.
After that, we rode the bus over to the university and toured the campus as well. We—or rather, everyone else—also had lunch there, and after some more time spent in GamesLab that we’d been shown not too long ago, I headed back to the hotel to chill out some more.
One part of the University of Paderborn. It’s quite green.
There’s not that much to talk about, but that’s to be expected for an introductory day. It’s for the best we don’t leap right into the fire right away.
Tuesday began a bit earlier in the morning than I think most of us would have hoped, but we had a good start at the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF), the world’s biggest computer museum. Exhibits covered topics from the beginnings of number systems, to the invention of the first computer, to the future of computing. They have a lot of old hardware on display, and it’s fun to track the changes in design throughout the years.
Our next main event was a presentation on artificial intelligence at the university. We talked about the application of different kinds of AI for games and discussed how it might develop in the coming years. When the talk ended, we all had a few hours on hand until the scheduled board game night. When most of our group returned to their rooms to nap, I wandered out into town to find Welt der Steine.
Welt der Steine, or “World of Stones,” is a cute little store that sells pretty rocks. I noticed it on my way to the hotel on Sunday and took a note to return. I bought four very nice rocks.
We opted to return to the university at night by foot, and it was very nice out. There was a light drizzle, with the sun just barely peeking out from a single corner of cloudless sky. I stopped a few times to take some rainy day pictures. Of course, board game night was pretty wild too. We stayed up a lot later than I expected, and I got really good at a game called Tichu despite still not understanding how it works.
A final note before the pictures: Germans don’t have Italian sausage or pepperoni on their pizzas, but they do have tuna.
HNF had the fabled “PainStation,” and no, I didn’t try itThat Wet Cobblestone Aesthetic
Fortunately, this morning I was able to wake up early enough to eat a decent breakfast served in the hotel… unlike yesterday. We started the day with a tour of the Heinz Nixdorf Museum to see computer-related exhibits.
One way to visualize counting in binary. Drop a ball at the top, if there is already a ball in the slot next to the ramp, it will flip a switch, dropping the existing ball, and letting the new ball roll down to the next slot.Visual representation of how computing efficiency grows exponentially. After every 1 1/2 years, computers can perform twice the amount of operations with 1/2 the volume of space (If I remember correctly).
One of my highlights during my visit at the museum was when I took a stroll by a facial recognition screen.
Apparently I look much older with my glasses, 31 years old……and much younger without my glasses, 19 years old. Not too far off, though, 24 is roughly in the middle.
Later that night, we went back to the University of Paderborn to hang out with and play board games with the students. Some games we played were a German version of the card game Fluxx, where the rules constantly change depending on how the player play, as well as Jackbox party games.
After getting settled in the In Via hotel, and trying to recover a little from get lag, we toured the University of Paderborn campus, as well as toured the city of Paderborn.
Some examples of the architecture
We also had lunch at a nice cafe in Paderborn with the German students. We talked a little more about differences from the USA. For example, most Bachelor’s degree programs require a minimum of 3 years, contrary to 4 years in the USA. I also found it interesting how in some shops, hot drinks can be served in glass cups.
Later in the day when we visited the University of Paderborn, we were also fortunate enough to see a game that the students were working on; A 2D puzzle game called Q.
Steam page
The German students were kind enough to let me and a couple other students play their game for a while. We found it to be a lot of fun, and we even discussed some ways they could go forward with the game.
The day was a welcomed slow day. After a breakfast at the hotel where the language barrier nearly left me soy-milk-less, we met up with our professor friend who showed us around town. I loved touring the area around Paderborn; I saw so many cool buildings and carvings and areas that I would love to 3D model, so I took a lot of pictures to add to my reference library. Although, looking back through the pictures it’s obvious that I like the industrial look, so I’ve got a lot of construction sites peppered in with old buildings and pretty parks.
After that we went exploring the bus station to get tickets and took the bus over to the university. We toured the facilities and got to see the games lab the students work in. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Comparatively, it was lacking in the decorations and posters that our labs had, though their seats were much more comfortable.
Once formal introductions were done we got to spend time with the students and see what they’re working on and what games they’ve made in the past. To be honest, I was kind of blown away at how polished and innovative all their past games were. I feel like compared to us, they had really solid, viable products and we just had… school projects. I don’t know what makes us different, but I was a little intimidated by how creative and knowledgeable they were. I still had a really good time talking to them about their processes and what programs they use and how they did the things we saw in the game. Everyone seemed to get sucked into their current project, Q; a lot of time was spent just watching the American students playing this game that had an amazing concept and an even more amazing execution. It was the exact kind of game Alex plays, so he had a really good time. Secretly I was disappointed to leave.
We also went over to the mall near the university to pick up supplies. I expected there to be more English then there was, so I was stumbling through trying to order food and read labels. I did get a happy cat mug that changes with heat at the GameStop. 🙂
I miss my cat so much, but meeting the German students has been such a great experience so far.
Yesterday we did some introductions, saw the local tourist stuff, and toured of the Game Lab facilities. We saw some cool German homes and buildings and a huge church followed by a much smaller church. We learned how to use the public transport and cruised over to the main campus. We met some of the German students who are super cool, started learning their names and got to play a couple of their games. I was particularly good at a game they made called Q. They showed us the University Campus and took us to lunch. Most of us were still pretty jet lagged so we stopped by a local mall for an early dinner where I got a German copy of Halo Reach and my first of many German schnitzels. We bused it back to the hotel and I went to sleep real early.
Today began the first of many days traveling around Germany and becoming immersed in the culture and gaming scene. The day began with a light breakfast provided by the hotel, then a quick tour around the general area near the hotel while going to get bus passes. We also stopped at a small coffee shop for some quick beverages for those who needed an extra boost to start the day off (Jet lag is a boss no one wants to face).
After acquiring our bus passes and learning the general guidelines for using them in the public transportation system, we then continued our journey and took a bus to Paderborn University. At the university, we were given a general tour of the campus and shown where some of the cafeterias are, and enjoyed lunch with the people that had been showing us around. During this time I took the oppertunity to further introduce myself to our German counterparts, and showed off some of the side projects I had been working on for video game addons/mods. After that we went to the Gameslab on the campus, where we discussed various details of our trip and the general scheduling. After those discussions were through, students within the lab showcased a platformer they had been working on called “Q”, a game where you navigate a block to various destination points throughout different levels. This showcase turned into various play-test sessions where we all tried our hardest to get as far as possible through the game, as well as discussing projects we have worked on in the past and our experience as students at RIT. Particularly, I discussed Virtual Reality games with some of the students from the university, and talked about some of the projects I have already had the opportunity to work on using this technology.
From then on the trip diverged, with some of us returning to the hotel to try and catch up on many needed hours of sleep while others opted to go shopping. I personally decided to go shopping, as I decided on acquiring an external hard drive for storing games and various files for the Game Jam for this trip. After all the shopping was done, the rest of us returned to the hotel to try and rest before the adventure continues tomorrow.
Overall, the day was light on intensive activities but set a good foundation for the rest of the trip in Germany to build off of, giving us a good idea of what to expect in the days ahead.
