Jumpin' Jack Flash (It's a gas gas gas)...

Day 2 in the saga: I fixed up the centre a little more... I tried having white highlights around the knot but it didn't look that great so I settled with what I had and then just tied up so of the stray lines left around. I was happy enough with it so I moved on to phase 2.

This was the annoying part, since I switched to another program so I could get everything the right size. Apparently the Tshirt place needs an A3 sized thing at 300 dpi. Anyway, I had to use a different program, so I took the tongue from flash and went about doing the words in Fireworks. The arc of words wasn't as hard as I'd previously imagined, but I experienced a fair bit of difficulty adding new fonts, so I had to settle with what I've got here. They'll change before the final shot though.

The last issue was that it wouldn't let me save...:S I imagine that it was because the file was too big, but whatever... I managed to at least export this jpg, so all was not lost.

Tomorrow... I'll probably start work on the back, or maybe iron out the last few things with this.

I can't get no satisfaction.

My attempt to make up for last week is as follows:
I'm pretty sure I have something thats going to keep me working pretty much every night this week, so every night, I'm going to post what I've worked on, whether its finished or just an update. This is in no way going to be my new plan (although I think maybe my plan needs some tweaking), but it's just going to be until I feel comfortable making up for dropping the ball. It's like punishment :P

So projecto numero uno is something my sister asked me to do, and then I forgot about it, but then got reminded. Her speech pathology buddies are going on a pub crawl and she wanted the make sure they had the 'Bestest Pub Crawl Shirts Ever'(tm) so naturally, she turned to her talented and totally not overworked (and currently pretty sick) brother. I naturally obliged, even though I wont get anywhere near the pub crawl, or the speech pathology girls (as they are all in Adelaide) (and mostly taken) because that's just the kind of hero I am. I hero who does things for people over the internet.

So anyway, Esther's given me the basic design... I've started, and mostly finished the logo for the front. They work with speech defects so its supposed to look kind of tongue tied. I'm not too happy with the knot in the centre.. the whole outlining thing doesn't match the rest of the logo and the mass of dark lines doesn't work either, but it's enough for me to happily retire for the night.

Seeing as this is the only thing that really has a deadline, expect me to be knocking over this before moving on to other things later in the week. See you tomorrow!

Boring post Monday

I had meant to have something better and more interesting go this post, but things got out of hand... and other things came along (*cough* No more heroes *cough cough*) so I was forced to rely on something I'd already done.

I mean, I was planning on using this eventually, but since I already did a map post a few posts ago I felt I should mix it up a little. Maybe I'll do an extra post this week or something, but right now it was more important to actually make a post.

So here is my second map for CnC: Generals.... Crater. It's not really a map I would've considered making myself, it's only really because a friend of mine wanted a massive map with a ridiculous amount of resources. I couldn't willing just make a big flat map though, so instead I made a big depression. All the map is passable, so there is no choke points or anything like that. I felt I had to add something, so I put a bunch of derricks in the centre and and a few on the outskirts of the bases, so at least there are some soft targets to go for at the start of the game, but considering the stupid amount of resources available theres really no need for them. Well... accept maybe as a perimeter monitor.

This is also the first map I added AI waypoints for. It was a lot easier than I expected.

The really funny part is that we wont even get a decent game out of this map, since these big ones where you build mass units always seem to lead to early deref nulls. Oh well..

Whoa, close one there...

So... I'm desperate not to fail my self imposed schedule of death, and despite my transgressions so far, I've done pretty well. Admittedly, it's been two weeks, but its totally the minor victories that count.

So here we are, friday night, I've been having 'A good time(tm)' and it's almost like I don't have anything to show for it. It's not like that though, not at all. I mean, since my last post I've made another map for Generals, I've worked on the script for Johnny a little more (but still not enough that I'm comfortable showing other people) and I've tried to draw character studies for the characters in Johnny but to no avail.

I put in the effort, dammit.

But still, that doesn't make for a good post, and the character studies didn't turn out, so here we are, with me scrambling with what I've got, attempting to make it seem like It's all part of the plan....

And with that heady admission, the plan for this post is to analyse one of the only good things I've seen on TV recently, and try to work out why its good, and how I can apply that to my future endevours.

So, behold this thing of L from Deathnote I drew sometime. I think I drew/painted it after seeing the live action movie, and I've gotta admit, it's ruined the anime for me (thank you, Tasha). It's really (REALLY) out of character, but I was pretty happy how close it looked without reference material.

Anyway, the greatest thing about this anime is the back and forth between the main character, Light, and his would be foil, the enigmatic L. Seeing the live action version, with surmises the anime in ~4 hours has ruined the suspense, but for a few weeks there I was willingly tuning in weekly to see just how things were going to turn out.

I mean, originally, I was willing to ignore Deathnote. The fans were rabid, and there's nothing that ruins anything like rabid fanboys, but this series went above and beyond my expectations.

I mean, for a start, It's played out from the perspective of the villain (well, misguided hero) of the series, which is something I consider to be an important consideration for every story, i.e. proper motivation for the antagonist must be examined. It's something thats ignored by most games these days, the villain is simply the villain because he happens to be on the opposite side of the hero, but, as the old science show states, 'Why is it so?'

Secondly, the difference between the hero and the villain is trivial at best. I mean, both have similar goals and beliefs, it's merely the execution that differs. Neither is truly bad (ok, that's a lie... :S) but the point is, they are equal. They are both mere men (albeit extremely intelligent men) that are pretty evenly matched. It's not like Superman, where its an unstoppable force of good versus an incredible mind for evil (which in itself conjures so many issues regarding brains versus brawn... that's right kids, being smart is bad :P) It's a battle of wits, with constant shifting of power and redrawing of the battlefield.

This specifically is what I feel is missing from video games of this generation. It's never just a guy who's better at applying himself who is the bad guy of the game, its an infinitely powerful (and bad ass) demigod, only interested in something as base as destroying the world for reasons that only sound plausible to an angsty 12 year old amped up from listening to linkin park, or whoever angsty band of the moment is.

It's hardly ever (and there are exceptions here) a bad guy who could technically be right. Games, and gamers have progressed through the age were such petty actions are justifiable. I hate to bust out buzzphrases and crap like this, but if games are ever going to be considered a justifiable art form, this has got to chance.

And now, it's time for bed.

Zero hour, 9 AM...

No, nothing to do with that song 'Rocket Man'...

I'd been playing a fair amount of Zero Hour recently, and considering that a) It comes with a free mapmaking tool, and b) I am really sick of the standard 8 player maps my friends only seem to want to play, I thought I might try my hand at making my own. After all, its the game designer thing to do.

So after a first failed map (the supply docks were off the map, the start points were half off) I made this one. Its hardly a masterpiece, but it still plays fine and I did put some thought into it's design. The primary thing here is that you'll need to expand into the centre, but doing so will put you into direct conflict with your neighbor. Furthermore, do you rush for the supplies, or attempt to take the artillery and use it too secure the centre early?

To be honest, I have no idea. I've tested it in game, but I haven't put in AI waypoints yet, so it wasn't that much of a challenge. I've also realised that for three players, as is the way we play at the moment, its going to be awfully unfair on who ever gets stuck in the middle.

Maybe I should focus more on only three player maps?

Arrrgh... quick quick... before anyone notices!

So I'm a day late.. I have my excuses. I mean, it *was* done and I *was* ready, but then I got sick. And then I though I needed to colour it up a little considering how much of my stuff is black and white. And then I realised I really need to work on my colouring.

But here we are; Part man, part machine, all whisk. When I was drawing it I was pretty happy with it, but now looking back on it I see so many errors. It's always that way though.

Little time to talk at the moment because I managed to pick up a few games cheap on the last day of the EB bigtime saleathon, but I might see if I can fit in one tomorrow.

Everything else is going swimingly.

Triumphant return!

Life has been busy, what can I say...

To the left, you will notice a screen shot from the upcoming Starlight game I've been working on. Co-incidentally, the same screen shot I promised some month ago. My dog ate my computer, OK?

Admittedly, I haven't really been doing as much of my own stuff as I had planned. I have been getting valuable insider experience, which is great because I'm learning new things everyday and piecing together old stuff I didn't understand from before, but I still feel like I'm letting myself down by not running my own show as well.

So about Starlight then?

It's a sci-fi puzzle type deal, inspired in a game sense by Portal and in a musical sense by Muse, loosely tied together by a tale of intergalactic love and exploding stars. In all realism, I'm just one guy. I'm not expecting this to rival Portal, or indeed any game. That's not the point. The goal here is to produce something I'm proud of and learn from in regards to game design.

The basics that I want to learn, and emulate with this game revolve around guided thought. Each puzzle, or star system, is supposed to build on the last. The puzzles aren't supposed to seem random, there should be some logical link between them and previous ones. This in itself isn't remarkably tough, but I do think that also having a balanced difficulty curve on top of that will be the kicker. More on that later though, no doubt when I'm finishing up levels I'll have learned a little more and have a more informed view.

My reference to 'Eastern Game Design' in the previous post might have to wait a little longer to be explained. It's cold here and my hands are starting to freeze up. Basically, it's in regards to control scheme. Take Super Mario Bros for example; in the old ones all you had was movement and jump (and shoot I guess). The game required you to take these basic moves, and slowly increase your understanding of them and use them in progressively difficult ways. That's the kind of aim I was taking when I was thinking about Starlight; simple base control system that gets employed in different ways as the game goes on. But as I said before, thats a bedtime story for another night.

Meanwhile, my current plan will be to update this blog on Mondays and Fridays. I've got two different projects on the go, my nights divvied up and a brand new determination to ROCK ON THRU.

Bets on me keeping that schedule are currently sitting at 15:1.