2 Week Update

Well, internets, it's been 2 weeks since I announced I'd be attempting to make a game in 2 weeks. And guess what, no game yet. But, I am not discouraged. I've moved locations and started my summer job during that period, so things have been a little demanding in the real life department.

However, progress has been made on the first episode. The code framework for the game has been almost completely written... there shouldn't be too many more technical hurdles to wrap my mind around. So, most of what's left to be done is just pumping out content: all the sprites and background art, level design, dialogue, and half of the audio files need to be created. Whew. Sounds like way too much when I write it out... I need an artist slave.

Anyway, time tables shmime shlables. Having fun and learning, and it will be finished relatively soon!

Jason's First Episode

And so, it begins. In the previous post, I gave promises of starting a new game development project and pumping out the first episode in 2 weeks. I'm confused to announce that.... so far, so good! Please, hold your gasps of shock.

Brainstorming began on Sunday, promptly followed by beginning to code on Monday. Since then, there have been the usual bashings of head against wall (I am no programmer... it's more like stumbling drunkenly down an alley filled with horny, territorial stray cats), but so far, any technical obstacles have been overcome. And soon, it will be time to start producing the crappy art content. I also need to acquire the singing voice of a female.

So, what are these games about? Well, I don't want to go into too many specifics regarding the individual episodes, here's the general theme: Life rarely lives up to our hopes and expectations. Our 'real' selves and our 'virtual' selves are two separate entities, and they are often almost completely disconnected. In this case, by virtual self, I mean our vague sense of our dream identity...what we dream of being, what we picture ourselves and our life as. But sometimes, these two worlds can seem to cross wires, so to speak. Sometimes, our life can seem so surreal that we wonder if it's a dream... and sometimes, our dreams seem so real that we swear they are. In short, those are the moments I'm interested in. When the line between these two halves is blurred, interesting experiences and questions arise. Our virtual and real selves impact each other, and when they merge together, interesting creations and epiphanies can surface. Can we trust these thoughts? Are they completely ours?

The things that we dream... those things just don't happen. Unless they do. 

And just as a teaser, here's a brief glimpse of what each episode will contain:

Epsiode 1: stars, a girl, and making music
Episode 2: waffle and dialog
Episode 3: death

Penguin Progression

Well, it's another quiet time on the blog. BUT fear not...INCOMING TEXT!

The scoop: just finished another semester of school. Whew. It was a fun but quite crazy and eventful semester. That's reason #1 for not posting progress of the previously mentioned 'Curse' project. Reason #2 is that I lost a lot of my data for that project and haven't felt the urge to get back into it because A) that's a pain that I haven't felt motivated enough to endure yet, due to everything else going on and B) I've decided that although I really want to move forward with that game, I don't feel that I can do it justice yet.

Instead, I hope to make a bunch of small games (most likely using Flixel, once again) over the summer. The first batch of these will be a trilogy (codename 'Lucid') of small games, following a guy name Jason in three unrelated yet thematically connected episodes. They will be brief, slightly cinematic, and hopefully stirring in some way.

To accomplish this goal, I have given myself a challenge: each of these first three mini games will be produced in a 2-week period. This sounds (key word being sounds) like a good plan for several reasons. First, it will motivate me to focus on one project at a time, for a relatively brief period. Second, it will force me to limit my ambition and scope of the project to something simple and doable. Third, it's a surefire way to gain some experience in a short amount of time, whether I fail or not. 

I plan to start the first of these on Monday. Stay tuned!

As an aside... if you check my youtube channel, the 3 most recent videos are short videos created for an animation class this semester...check 'em out.

The Curse Begins!

So, as hinted to before, welcome to my blog, v. 3.0...at least, I think this is its third incarnation. Anyway, since my life is fairly boring, this place will serve more as a convenient place for more to randomly throw out updates, pictures, rants, etc. on what I've been working on. In the past, this has happened more sporadically with my posts on music, etc. But this will be much more frequent, as this site is much too convenient a place for accumulating interest and showing the internal workings of such projects.

And now, without further adieu, my new current project:
Codenamed "Curse" until a final title is set in tone, "Curse" is a fledgling project whose aim is to morph into a small video game. It will be a role-playing game, played through a 2D top-down perspective, set in a fantasy universe. With this project, my goals are simple:
- Deliver a game based on a popular, classic genre (and one of my favorites) but with a significant twist on genre standards
- Increase my knowledge in experience in the various areas of game development
- Through story, dialog, and gameplay, explore a theme that is central to all of our lives
- Release a game on both the PC and XBox360 platforms

To achieve these goals, I'll be working with a very small, poor, and inexperienced development team....me. I am no programmer nor artist, just a student with a passion for making games in his free time. While I'd love to work with one or two others on this project, I don't see that being a reality. However, at the least, I would very much like to acquire an artist to produce 2d art assets for the game....someone is willing to do so for free  =)  I'll be using the FlatRedBall engine for development, based on the XNA framework.

Development has just recently started (as I have just finished a few nagging projects), so more details will be trickling in very soon.

Animation Appreciation

Title has a nice ring to it, I'll admit. Anyway, our first project for our animation class was to pick an animator and present him/her to the class via any form of media: a paper, presentation, etc. The goal of this project was simple: to show our appreciation for animation and to educate the rest of the class on a particular animator.

As such, I chose David Hellman, who is the artist that did all the graphical work for an indie game called 'Braid', which I may or may not have ranted about before on here. Anyway, I did a short video for my project:

Why I chose to do an elaborate project instead of simply pumping out a 2-page paper? I have no idea. For some reason, the day before the assignment was due, I had a change of heart. Instead, I wrote over 500 lines of code, recorded the ending music, recorded voiceovers, captured video from the custom game output, and spliced all the audio and video together.

Notes: all of the actual Braid artwork (the character on screen, the backgrounds, all the good stuff) has been released for free by the artist himself...because indie game developers are awesome like that.

For everything else, I used Flixel, Debut Video Recorder, Cakewalk Sonar, Adobe Premiere, and SFXR.

What Have We Here?

Greetings again webfiends,

I haven't posted lately. You didn't notice? Ah. That's okay....because there's been nothing to read anyway!

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, that's going to change. Expect more frequent content. The bad news is, you're not going to like the new content anyway.

Following this post, this blog will become an outlet for any musings, screenshots, updates etc. regarding one of my current hobbies: independent game development. More on that in future posts...but expect a change in format soon. I'll still be blathering about my life in between, most likely.

But on to life.current! A quick update on what you may or may not have missed:

- Yep, I'm still at IUP. I haven't flunked out again...yet. Actually, last semester my grades were tip-top and returning to good academic form

- Yep, I'm still doing pretty much the same old stuff: theater, music, frisbee, physical training, class, friends.

- On the recent side of theater, I'm involved with the theater department (in addition to the usual TOST stuff) for the production of 'The Crucible'. Yes, I'm a crazy old man... life accomplished.

- On the recent side of music, I recently finished my 2nd album (much different from the 1st...mostly in a good way, I think.), which can be downloaded freely here: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/82940 . In addition, you can click on any of the song titles from that page to read my thoughts on them, as well as the lyrics.

- On the recent side of games, as mentioned above, I finally started dabbling in developing my own last semester. The first published result of that was a brief, crappy flash game to accompany one of the songs on the album

- That's pretty much it. Things have come, things have gone, but I am quite content with life right now.

Here's hoping you're all in good spirits and health, or at least one of the two.

Till next time

The Academic Aquarium

Hello vast, empty shell that is my slice of internet. This is my first post in quite a few months. I would apologize, but I doubt there is anyone still out there to apologize to. Obviously after my return from Taiwan, the writings have been slim pickings, for several reasons. However, I will perhaps use this space more regularly... for the rare news in my life, random musings, as well as a place to display any creative works I've done. But now, on to life (current)...in bullet format.

-I am back at college, at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where I previously spent two years.
-I am passing classes again. It's a new feeling for me.
-I am living in a small house with a buddy of mine (and his two rats). It's excellent.
-I am playing lots of ultimate frisbee. I opted to be on the 'B' team (the lesser of the two), which put me in the position of co-captain. It's great fun.
-I am once again involved in theatre, via TOST n Turned, the all-too-familiar community service theatre group. New faces, new lines to learn, but still fun.
-I am still dating Josie. It's been a little over 3 and a half years, to date.
-I am still working on a new music album, which will be titled 'Pasta Prevails'. I have finished 9 of the 10 songs, the last of which will be a collaboration with Corey.
-I have successfully completed my basic firefighter training and passed an optional national certification testing process, which grants me the title of Firefighter I, the most basic national certification level.
-I'm continuing to learn, practice, train, grow in various areas. This diversity has become such a fundamental part of my life.

That's all for now...hello again and goodbye!