Problems

I have this problem where over the last few years I've picked up way too many games. More games than I have time to play. So many games in fact, that when it comes time to play something I'm completely paralyzed by choice.

I also have this problem where I hadn't really done any file I/O in GameMaker yet, or tried out the new internal font stuff, Or indeed made anything of note in it recently.

Then there's this problem where I've missed out on a few potential jobs I'm pretty sure I could've gotten if I had any experience in video editing. Well maybe, maybe not... But I've been thinking about learning the basics for a while now at least.

In addition to these three, I have this other problem where, due to my current circumstances, I don't really talk out loud that much anymore. Especially when it comes to critical discussion about game design.

That last problem is kind of solved by this podcast I do with frequent collaborator Drew Fellows, that I'll totally post about next time we record it, but I need more. It's not at all original but for a while I was thinking about the possibility of doing some kind of Youtube/videogame thing. Not something as banal as Let's Playing but maybe something more about discussing and critiquing game design, while also clearing through the pile of shame that is my game library.

I'm not at all deluded into thinking this is a great idea. I don't expect, nor want, to be the next PewDiePie. Nor do I plan to be able to sit back and rake in that sweet Youtube partner money. I want to treat this as a learning experience and build new audio visual skills that I'll probably need some day anyway. I also want to get better at finding what does and doesn't work in games, and get better at effectively communicating that to people. I'm going to be spending the time to play these games anyway (eventually...) (probably.), so why not record it and then use that to make something new?

So... in an attempt to fix some of those problems, that's what I'm going to do. They will probably suck, at least at first, but everything always does when you start something new. This is not going to be my main focus either, I'll only be spending a set amount of time per week on them. I'll just be happy if I can get on some kind of schedule and get the videos to a level I'm happy with.

What does this have to do with the todays pic? As I stated before, I have so many games, I don't know where to start. I was originally thinking of using Steam Roulette, but my library of unplayed games goes back to at least the original Playstation. What I decided to do was to hit that 4th problem and make something to pick my games for me.

It's a pretty simple thing, but I've learnt a few more aspects of GameMaker that I needed to check out anyway, plus it was a good warm up project to get back into the swing of things. All it does at the moment is read in a file of games and platforms and then pick one for you, all while playing out some simple bells and whistles to make it more interesting to watch in a video. I might add on a couple of things in the future like a game count, ability to filter by platform/genre/whatever, or listing functionality.

It works fine for the moment, but for some reason the HTML5 port doesn't want to show images so I haven't put up a link to check it out yet. When I work out what's up I'll make another post. At the moment though, it's useless for anyone else, unless they want a sneak peek at what's in my library. Maybe in the future I'll add the ability for people to upload their own libraries so they can use it themselves...

Barred Lines

There was already a couple of things I realised I was doing badly (the boot top clips through the pants, hair specifically made for 1 face type alone) so I thought before I continue on I'd better think about what layer is going where.

I think also this means I've gotta start on the layers closest to the body first, so I hope you like shoes because there's probably going to be a few of them in the next few days.

Underwater's where the activator is.

And so, Automajune ends. Not with a bang, but with a seahorse. With hope that it balances out all the skulls.

It's goal has been met with great success, although the first post appears to be marked from last month, I can guarantee it indeed came from this month, but due to some kind of internet time displacement went back in time a day. As a bonus not only is this my most postiest month so far, I've almost already beaten my post count from last year and "ROBOTS" now takes its position as the largest word in the label list at the bottom of the page.

Whats next? Well it's not going to be another month of things because it takes so much time and doesn't really get me anywhere. What is will be is something that can hopefully get me on the path to actually making some money. It's probably going to start with some webpage renovation...

Ok.... So it's a little late. I've been busy.

But this metaphorical 40' I'm tipping out goes to Drew, a comrade in arms taken from us and the blogs all too soon. Without him around, I no longer have a blog rival, and I feel I'm a lessor man because of it.

(I know his blogs continued now elsewhere, but it's just not the same :P)

So meanwhile, having entirely failed at my last reinvention almost a month ago now... what's going to happen here now?

The answer: We've come full circle. Due to ... uh... "certain circumstances" that "happened" things have changed (yet again) and so now, I'm happy to say this blog is turning back into the project blog it was always meant to be! Exciting and cryptic! Yay!

Never-the-less, I'm still a little unsure what exactly is going to go up here, but I will be aiming for at least something every week. Lastly, as proof I am actually doing something (anything), I've given the project a codename. So be prepared to be wowed (or at least moderately perturbed) by...

PROJECT VOLTRON!

Exciting new format!

So I still feel lousy about hardly posting at all last month. Plus... I haven't been drawing nearly enough lately as it is. So under the guidance of my No. 1 fan, I've decided to try and draw something every day for the next month.

Since actual good stuff always takes multiple nights (or at least it does with my schedule) what I'm also going to do is start doing warm up sketches every night.... limit myself to only like 30-45 mins and try and learn to accept it if it isn't all that great. At least that way, I'll have something to put up on top of any actual planned stuff I do.

So will this actually happen? Survey (and previous history) says no, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

This one goes out to Drew, currently over in the UK, who very well may be getting beaten up by a punk similar to this right now.

Also, I ran out of time to draw the legs (I imagine this will happen a lot) so it's your choice as to what's going on here. Are the legs just kinda, tapered out of the picture, or is he in fact rocking a pair of bloody stumps? What kind of terrible accident has rendered him that way? Can his insurance cover it? Mysteries.

I didn't really know what to draw tonight, but it was just one of that lucky 25% that wasn't featuring a samurai/sword. Instead you get a sword-lite baseball bat. If you have anything you'd like to see me try and draw (and most probably fail to meet your expectations) leave a comment with your suggestion!

Big Stompy Variety and Cabaret Hour.

In an effort to keep up the apparent rivalry between my blog and Drew's (He is the Ken to my Ryu), I've been considering what I can do about this blog to keep up the pace. I unfortunately don't get the chance to do stuff at work, usually because I'm kinda a little busy working. Furthermore, anything I do at work is officially property of the company and that includes ideas and thoughts. Naturally, I try to think as little as possible at work.

So anyway, my days mid-week are massive drains. I'm tired of pushing out rushed things for the purpose of getting out a post, but I'd still like to post as much as possible. Sure, I can sketch on the train on the way in to work, it's way too bumpy on the way home to do anything. What I can do is type though, so I imagine what I'm going to start doing is maybe re-occurring column-style-glossy-magazine-topical-nonsense posting. And by that I don't mean trash (hopefully) I mean interesting things (also hopefully).

I've been thinking for a while I should really be testing all of my skills as it stands with BSR. I'm not just about the drawing. I'm about writing. I'm about sound. I'm about volleyball. I'm about a lot of things. So this isn't going to be like posting personal stories about what I did on the weekend and what I'm going to wear to the prom; I'm going to try and keep it relevant. What I need to do is learn to be more opinionated, pick my beliefs, stick to them and savage people who don't agree with me. I'm mainly talking in regards to video game design, etc, of course. Mainly. But look at the post that's got me the most comments so far, the one where I cry at Hollywood for ruining Max Payne. Sure, one of those posts was mine but I'm still counting it. All the famous video game designers are bastards. John Romero want's you to suck it down. Cliffy B demands to not be called Cliffy B anymore. Ron Gilbert's stance against April fools day is both legendary and terrifying. Sure Sid Meier was relatively placid but the man's an encyclopedia. He defines bastardry (cue rimshot).

So what does this mean for this blog really. It probably means more blogs where I get obsessed about stuff for weeks at a time, which I know Drew hates, but fuck him... I hate circles and there has been a hell of a lot of circles in his last couple of posts and you don't hear me complaining...



(I'm sorry circles, you know I love you... You're so round and shapely... Please take me back.)

So two robots walk into a bar...

... Merge together and then transform and roll out.

Just a couple of other things I've drawn on the train recently. Could also be in relation to previous posts, but it's still very up in the air.

The weekend wasn't as productive as I was hoping. I may not beat Drew's blazing post lead after all. Sure, there's still 2 more days, but I'm not made of miracles.

What else is new? The site's had a couple of minor changes made to it. Very minor. Minuscule. See if you can spot them. I'm thinking of making that an actual game: "Spot the recent changes". Failing that I could always start something like "Where's Stompy". I can smell the success now.

This week? More of the same hopefully. I have a feeling we'll be taking a pretty random departure for first part of it at least.

So these 2 guys walk into a post-apocolyptic bar...

So it turns out I can sketch on the train. Not that there was a rule against doing it or anything (well... aside from actually sketching ON the train), but I just figured it would be too bumpy/crowded. It turns out it's neither of those things.

Well.. it is a little bumpy. And I still feel a little gumby drawing in public. I guess that's all part of the challenge. But if I don't push myself with pointless and retarded exercises like this I'm not going to get anywhere.

I've decided to take a leaf out of Ryu from street fighter's book (who in turn took leaf out of Mas Oyama's book) and engage in some kind of personal version of mountain training. I'm not entirely sure what that's going to entail, but it'll surely be some kind of drawing equivalent of punching rocks and trees and fighting bears. Failing that, it'll probably mean focusing hard on the stuff I know I'm pretty weak at... Or trying to draw underwater or something.

These two guys are just some preliminary sketches for the thing I mentioned last post. There hasn't really been that much discussion at the moment. All I really know is that it should be a little Phillip K. Dick and a little like the old game Syndicate. Also, I decided to add a little Equilibrium, cyberpunk and a hint of nazism, just for flavour.

Robot Rock

Those of you playing at home will notice that there's been a few minor changes over at the main site. I've actually properly implemented the php, so now I just have to make a couple more quick menu assets. Oh... and get around to finalizing that template. Oh... and maybe putting up some stuff.

The picture to the left is a thing that may have relation to stuff I may be doing next, in a very cryptic way. Obviously, there's a robot. As I was drawing it, I began to realise it looked a little X-men Sentinally. Later on, I realised the colour scheme was the same as Eva-1 in Neon Genesis. In honor of this, I have decided to name him Sevat1nal.

So what else is new? Everything thing is about to get very very busy. And it's probably only going to get more so. I'll have to reconsider a lot of what I want to do and prioritize. Also, I'll need to find a way to make better use of the time I have. Since I always seem to have so much time during the week on the train, this may mean more texty posts, since my lappy is hopeless for arty stuff.

So once again, it all comes down to discipline, something I seem to be sorely lacking. I think I need to go on some kind on spiritual adventure of self-discovery. Maybe find out what my spirit animal is. Except in a way that sounds a little less dirty.

Baby did a baaad baaad thing.

Well... Today was a lot busier than I was expecting, and fraught with danger at every turn, so I'm only just getting around to posting properly here.

So this is another piece of concept art for that thing I did that time. Once again, I cant really give too much away about it, aside that a) it's a game and b) they are trains. Draw your conclusions from that. Even better: write how you think those two facts come together and what details I'm omitting. Bonus points if you force me into replying with "No comment."

In relation to this, I remembered another lesson I learned from this: Don't count your chickens until they hatch. I think I got a little too excited that I'd "made it" when in reality I hadn't made anything yet.

In a similar vein, I saw this list of advice everyone should know when they are 18. I can't remember where exactly, it was some right-wing newspapers website, so some of the advice was probably thinly veiled racism and bigotry. I did know some of them pieces of advice, but one that struck me, and that I'll now recreate with heavy paraphrasing, is: Don't mistake being active with being productive.

It kinda struck a chord with me, since that's what I've being doing. I keep off putting off projects because I don't have enough faith in my skills to complete them to a state I'd be happy with, so Instead I keep either starting new ones or just doing random things and then I don't really end up with that much to show.

I think I've got enough ideas that I can safely burn through some and maybe not focus too much on making them as perfect as I envision in my head. Even if I'm not happy with theme, I can always go back and remake them again as something else later down the track I guess. It's so common to see people revisit (and sometimes never leave :S) the same basic themes they started with in pretty much all of the creative arts so I don't think there's a massive amount of shame in doing that if I feel the need.

So the current plan's going to remain a secret for the moment, but mainly because I'm trying to sort out exactly what I want to focus on. Well that's not totally true, I'm going to properly finish off my site and tart up this blog first, but after that it's all a-mystery.