Still Reaching

Daily Drawing 2-13-12

2012-02-13T17:02:00.001-08:00

Wanted to try and be more consistent with my art. So I decided to start sketching every day (at least every day that I'm not working on an art project). The last 2 days was the Christopher Walken sketch so I thought I'd bridge the time till the next one with some sketching.

So here's a little alien and an arrow to the back of the head.

Rust Belt Monsters Week 5: Max Schreck

2012-02-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

Click here to see the finished product: Rust Belt Monster Collective

It may be hard to believe now, but a long time ago, Tim Burton was kind of awesome. Batman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands all had a singular vision and a respect for art direction that a lot of other movies didn't have. Looking back at those first 2 Batman films reminded me of when you had to design and build a set that represented Gotham instead of finding a location that could pass for it. Don't get me wrong, I think the Nolan Batman is light years better, but there is a certain charm to Burton's Batman that still resonates with me. With that in mind, I decided to draw an homage to Christopher Walken as Max Schreck.

And now for a little bit from my process.

Feeling the burn from my last piece, I decided that I needed to get the pose right first. I put together some tests in Sketchbook Pro. Once I found one I liked (and was nice and warmed up) I took a shot at the face.

Happy with how the head turned out, I then composited the head, body pose, and window together in photoshop. Then I blew it up and brought it back into Sketchbook Pro and started to ink.

Once I had completed the inks, I brought them into Photoshop. I put down all of my flat colors on a separate layer using the pencil tool. Having my flats down on one layer lets me select the areas I want to work on one at a time with the wand tool.

Then I start a new layer and start laying some purple into the shadow areas. I select one area at a time by its color and just render within the selection. I then did basically the same thing for my highlight areas with an orange. Then, I drew a small cat face and used it as a wallpaper texture in the BG.

Next, I looked up some Hugh Ferris architecture pictures and then masked off some shapes and rendered the lights hitting the buildings. Some rim lighting on the edges and I was done.

Zoobilee Zoo Sketch: Mayor Ben

2012-02-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

Just under the wire, I finished my piece for this weeks Rust Belt Monster Collective theme. We were tasked with choosing a character from a children's show and making a drawing of it. I don't love everything about it, but enjoyed working with the simulated markers (courtesy of Premium Pixels).

See the finished piece here: Mayor Ben

Developer Vlogs and Research

2012-02-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get the itch to try creating a game again in no small part to the ease of use of Construct 2. With this new found fascination, I've been looking at developer blogs again, listening to the occasional developer podcast, and looking for books on game design. On the book front, I'm finding it difficult to just find a book that breaks down how games are designed without focusing too much on the coding. Construct makes coding unnecessary so I don't need to be bogged down with the technical side of it. I'm just looking for a kind of superficial look at how some games work. Might have to be a little more active on some forums to get the answers I want.

I am, however, reading "The Making of Prince of Persia". Its a collection of journal entries from Jordan Mechner during the development of Prince of Persia. While I admit I never finished the game, its visuals and play style had a huge influence on me when I was younger. Its a fun read and gives you some nice insight into Mechner's frame of mind coming off of the success of Karateka.

Another fun resource has been Indie Chatter. Its a vlog (video blog) by Ben Kane of Going Loud Studios (DLC Quest) where he discusses pretty much every corner of being an independent game developer. The most admirable part is that he is cranking them out at 3 per week. He's got some editing in there too so I can see that probably taking him more time than he'd like. The series is only about 5 episodes deep, but I'm looking forward to seeing more. Here is were you can follow it:

Indie Chatter Twitter
Going Loud Studios

Sketchy Sketchness

2012-02-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

Thought I would take a queue from a couple of my Rust Belt Monster cohorts (Tim and James) and include the rough sketch versions of my pieces for the collective. All 3 were done completely digitally so this is all from the Cintiq in Sketchbook Pro. See the finished pieces here or on the Rust Belt Monster Collective Blog.

"Rust Belt Monster Collective" Week 3: Galactus

2012-01-24T03:45:00.000-08:00

I'm actually not much of a Marvel guy. I enjoy it, but I definitely prefer the DC Universe. People who know that about me usually try to debate the comics and its not really an argument that I can engage in. See, I grew up on the Superman and Batman movies, transitioned to the Bruce Timm led DC Animated Universe, and have kind of gone from there. Maybe if I had spent the last 20 years with a better handle on the comics, I might have a different opinion.

Either way, this weeks subject was picked by Randolph Crider. All I really knew about Galactus is that he is a devourer of worlds. That was pretty much my jumping off point and I kind of went with it from there. I started with my usual minimalist animation style, but soon got lost in all the little details he has in his suit. Also, I decided to go with a colored line. Looking at it, I kind of feel like its giving it a softer look. Will probably go with this again, but might try a darker shade.

"Rust Belt Monster Collective" Avatar

2012-01-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

After a week of false starts and general dragging of the ass, I finally created my entry to the Rust Belt Monster Collective. Something about the open ended nature of this made it extremely difficult. I've had a long standing problem with drawing something and then halfway through, realizing that I was drawing something I had already seen. It even started happening on this one, so I added some details to change it up. Frustrating, but done. This weeks assignment is to draw a deity. I already have any idea for it and am just hoping that I can pull off the picture that I already have in my mind.

Milestone!!!

2012-01-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

...in the loosest sense of the word. I've finally achieved what I was never able to in XNA: Making a guy run both right and left. I know...lofty goals. But through the idiot proof interface of Scirra's Construct 2, I was able to import the art that I made last year. Really has me excited about making a small platformer.

Click on the link to try it. I will understand if you are underwhelmed. Also, I would recommend running it through Google Chrome. Its really choppy on Firefox.

Running Guy Running.

So Long 2011!

2012-01-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

At the end of every year, I have a habit of saying, "Wow, that flew by." And while I instinctually blurted that out the other day, some quick reflection reminded me that, no, 2011 did not fly by at all. In fact, 2011 was a year of big things. New art was created, new relationships were formed (one huge one in particular), and all around growth was achieved.

On The Art Front: Dr. Sketchy Cleveland has remained a big part of my life and, through the friendships made there, I've participated in my first 2 art shows. June's show was big because it was my first display of my art to people outside my social circle and because I was putting my work next to many a talented artist. I know it may seem small, but it was a huge step that I wished I had taken much earlier in life. Big thanks to Randolph Crider for organizing both shows and giving me the opportunity to be a part of them.

Concerning Game Development: I've finally come to the realization that I don't have the time or brain capacity to take on C#. While that depresses me greatly, having discovered the tool Construct 2 by Scirra has made it possible for me to do much of what I wanted to anyways. So I call that a victory. I'm just now starting to toy with it, but am excited by the possibilities.

And on to the Future: Looking towards 2012, I'd like to continue the path that I started in 2010 and 2011. Recently, I told a friend of mine, that at a certain point, I just got tired of being jealous of highly motivated people. In 2010 I decided to finally put myself out there. I joined a local art community and surrounded myself with people that were doing what I want to do. In 2011 I finally built up enough confidence to say that I belong with the artists I was associating with. And as for 2012, I've decided to up my production.

I've known for a while that I'm at my happiest when I'm creating, but my overwhelming laziness has slowed my progress. The 2 art shows this year proved to me that I need to be accountable to someone if I'm going to get off my ass. With that in mind, me and 5 other extremely talented artists formed the "The Rust Belt Monsters Collective". Our intent is to challenge each other with weekly themes that we will all take part in. I have often heard the term "Steel Sharpens Steel" and I'm sure that we will all work to challenge and strengthen each other through our participation. So please take a look and be sure to follow.

Rust Belt Monsters Collective.

Construct 2 Video Tutorials

2011-12-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

Full disclaimer: This is not my video. But I thought it was important that people looking to create games in Construct 2 see it (especially beginners). I've still been dabbling with the program here and there, but haven't found too many video references which tend to be the easiest way for me to learn. Ayzhong does an excellent job of showing you how to construct a game using the event system as well as getting around any peculiar bugs you may run into. I'm hoping to put some time into a small platformer in the coming weeks. I'll be sure to post any tips I may find.

Dr Sketchy: Frazetta

2011-12-21T05:06:00.000-08:00

Had a great time with Dr. Sketchy Cleveland last night. The theme was Frank Frazetta and with a great model (and the Conan soundtrack), the night turned out to be a lot of fun. It really just felt like the perfect way to end a year of Dr. Sketchy's.

Work In Progress

2011-12-19T03:50:00.000-08:00

The Winter Soiree is over and a great time was had by all. I was honored to be included with so many very talented artist. Seeing everyone's stuff together made me particularly excited about some group collaborations that should be starting next month.

Looking back at my "Love No Longer Lost" piece, I see it as a kind of milestone as its the first piece was started and ended digitally. Normally I'd do all of my preliminary sketching on paper and scan that in. This time, I started on the Cintiq and would just do layer after layer of sketching. It added a certain freedom that helped me to try new things. Though, if you look at the above picture, you can see that sections of the girl went through a number of revisions: hence the other colors. Finally, the background was created in Cinema 4D and used as a base for my layout. Hope you enjoy this, look at my preliminary work.

Love No Longer Lost

2011-12-15T07:12:00.000-08:00

My most recent piece was created for an art show (Winter Soiree) out in Cleveland. After failing with a couple of other ideas, I decided to go back and rework a concept that I was never truly happy with.

I had drawn the picture many years ago for the AWN.com forums and had always wanted to take another shot at it. The basic concept is a man that lost his wife spends his life trying to recreate her as a machine. Not sure if that translates, but it was the general idea.

Also, kind of happy with the way it turned out considering its my first all digital piece. Normally I'd do at least a little sketching on paper and scan it in for a base. This time, I did all of my sketching in Sketchbook Pro. Worked out pretty well.

Dr. Sketchy 11-29-11

2011-11-30T05:45:00.001-08:00

Just some life drawing from last night's Dr. Sketchy-Cleveland meeting. Had a nice "James Bond" theme going last night and great model to go with it. Each drawing was done on my iPad in Sketchbook Pro.

Scirra's Construct 2

2011-11-29T08:33:00.001-08:00

I wish I could remember how I happened onto it, but yesterday I came across a game development engine geared towards HTML5 called Construct 2. I may have previously heard of the original Construct, but this was my first time trying one of them out. I have to say, even though I've spent only a couple hours with it, I'm kind of amazed. Blinded by aspirations of developing for XNA, I'd never really looked at creating anything for HTML5. This program is a godsend.

The interface is extremely intuitive and based mostly on "events". Like most early software, documentation for using it is pretty scant, but the community seems more than willing to pick up the slack. Their probably just grateful to the small team that has created this amazing tool (I think its only two guys...craziness).

Looking back at the time I spent, trying to learn C#, I can't totally feel like it was time wasted. A lot of the "under the hood" stuff that I learned really informed me how to best design. Being able to look at a game as a bunch of boxes that collide with other boxes seems to be key in all of the designers I've read up on. If there is one bad side to this, its that its awoken a need to work on my game again, which I was doing my best to bury in favor of my video work. Maybe it will be easier with Construct 2. Maybe I can just focus on gameplay and stop pulling my hair out over code that I may never understand. Time will tell.

Animated Conan and Death Proof Sketches

2011-11-27T19:55:00.001-08:00

Just some late night sketching. Watched Death Proof the other night and wanted to draw Kurt Russell. Doesn't look anything like him, but I liked inking the hair. The other one started as an attempt to draw some crazy Frazetta posture. Somewhere along the line it turned into an animated version of Conan. All of it done in Sketchbook Pro on the Cintiq. As soon as I remove the blue, I stop liking it. Not quite confident in my inking yet. Need more work.

Cinema 4D Luma Matte Work-Around

2011-11-21T15:43:00.001-08:00

Maybe it was all of the talk in one of Grey Scale Gorilla's lighting tutorials, or maybe its because I've had to do this before, but I finally decided to treat the seen like a real life studio and solve my luma matte problems that way. So, in order to remove the area where the picture is supposed to go and get rid of the white matte line, I chose to deal with it like it was a green screen. I made the picture area a solid green in Cinema 4D and then removed the area in After Effects. The luma matte still works decent enough for things like coloring (which I will be using later), but I've spent too much time trying to remove that white line and my research shows no one has solved it. Until the day comes that Maxon addresses it, I will have to use my green screen trickery.

Late Halloween

2011-11-15T03:00:00.000-08:00

Not sure how successful I was with this one. Ultimately I was just trying to make up for not drawing anything Halloween-ish and not facing my inability to draw a Turkey. Continued my new found love of unnecessary rim lighting.

Put It In Your Ears To Keep You Inspired

2011-11-14T16:42:00.001-08:00

Not sure how many people out there are as easily lead astray as I am, but I've learned that I need to limit my outside inspirations to what I want to accomplish. Its just getting too hard to focus on one thing when I'm so easily pulled in different directions. One of the things I like to do is listen to podcasts that either teach about the work I'm wanting to do or motivate me to get out there and do it myself. Recently I came across the Paper Wings Podcast.

Hosted by Chris Oatley and Lora Innes, the show focuses on, but is not limited to, visual story telling. They often go over tips for taking on personal project as well as divulge the history and struggles within their own work. Both are currently working on web comics and are definitely worth checking out.

Chris Oatley: Greg the Megabeaver's Prehistoric Slideshow
Lora Innes: The Dreamer

I've become a huge fan of the show. It just has a calming and informative feel to it without acting like a talk at a seminar. The hosts are extremely likeable and are constantly providing tips which can only help improve your work. It also helps that they are so involved with their community and willing to answer questions posted in the comments.

Another podcast that's definitely worth a listen is the Sidebar Podcast. The easiest way to explain it is if you ever hang out with a group of friends and they're all in to something way before you are. The more they talk about it, the more you want to dive in and do it with them.

That's what Sidebar is for me: A group of friends talking about artists in a way that makes me excited about artists. The hosts (Dwight, Swain, and Adrian) will normally have a guest on and proceed with a line of questioning that really just feels like catching up friends.

This show has done so much for exposing me to different artists as well as styles of art. But, more importantly than that, its humanized the people I had already looked up to. While its sometimes depressing when these more accomplished artists reveal themselves to be younger than me, its worth it just to find out that we have the same influences and struggles.

Personal favorite episodes are with Lauren Montgomery, Shane Glines, and Skottie Young.

So hopefully that helps you as much as its helped me. Just some fun and informative chatter to help you get through your projects. Feel free to comment with any shows you might think I'd like. I'm always looking to add more.

Colors On Zombie

2011-11-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

Was getting ready for bed and had the urge to color something. Having recently watched The Walking Dead, I had zombies on the brain. Seeing as I've struggled with drawing zombies, I decided to appropriate my friend's sketch. You can see Craig Worrell's original pencils here. Be sure to check out Craig's personal site and follow him and a bunch of other extremely talented Cleveland Artists at the Sketch Of The Day blog.

Sketch of the Day blog
Craig Worrell's Portfolio Site

New Art! Madness!

2011-11-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

Finally got a chance to sit down and just draw. What started as a warm up sketch ended up as a Hellboy picture that got away from me. I'm starting feel like I'm finding my style (in my 30's. Ugh). Not quite painterly, but a lot of those principals go into my coloring. To round out the night, I drew some Ninja Turtle action. Basically, I just wanted to continue drawing but couldn't decide on what. That sequence of events usually ends at a Ninja Turtle. Last night was no different.

Dreaded White Lines

2011-10-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

It always seems that the parts of a project that I assume will be the easiest will inevitably bite me in the ass. I'm really enjoying my time with Cinema 4D, and getting back into After Effects has been like visiting an old friend, but combining the two hasn't been as smooth as I would have liked. Specifically, I'm having a little trouble with compositing into After Effects. I think I have it narrowed down to the matte that's being created by Cinema 4D. Currently, I'm setting up an object buffer that is cutting out the area where I want to place my photo into, but its a little too big and producing a white line around the image. I saw the same thing happen in the tutorial I followed at GreyScaleGorilla.com, but thought I could get around it. I'm going through a similar tutorial on Lynda.com that doesn't seem to have the problem and keeping my fingers crossed that I find a solution.

Unblurring: Twice as much fun as Blurring

2011-10-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

Was just sitting here going through the Adobe Max 2011 Sneak Peeks and my mind is being blown. While I'm impressed with the conversion of 2D images to 3D images in After Effects, I'm most impressed by the "unblurring" of photos in Photoshop. I'm constantly impressed with the strides that technology is making in software packages that a common person can buy (admittedly with some saving). Check it out:

More Sculptris

2011-10-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

Just some more tinkering with Sculptris. Started as some kind of cute monster, then became an ugly monster, then got a little too close to a California Raisin, then ended here. I really need to start sculpting the eyes. I keep telling myself that I'll add them into the model and then animate them. Then I remember that I don't know how to do any of that yet and move on. Either way, I'm moving along in Cinema 4D. Its going pretty good so far. Hoping to have a couple of test shots done by the end of the month. Should be sped up now that I've realized that I can buy a lot of the virtual props I need for some pretty reasonable prices. Hoping to update again soon.

Halloween Flash Animation

2011-10-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Was rooting through some old work (pretty embarrassingly bad stuff) on an old Photobucket account and came across this old Flash Animation I did about 4 years ago. Thought it would be appropriate for the season.

Turning My Focus Elsewhere...For Now

2011-10-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

So I've been thinking a lot about my current time constraints and it seems I have another problem: filtering inspiration. I understand if that doesn't make sense or is some kind of contradiction. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I get too easily lead away into different projects and find focusing to be increasingly difficult. If I see a good piece of art, I want to draw. Some interesting new visual effect and I want to dive back into After Effects. The wind blows a different way and I want to work on something new. Recently, I've made an effort to stay away from the podcasts, websites, post-mortems, and developer interviews that I used to devour on a regular basis and turn my ear to the places that inspire art and film. It really just keeps me in the right frame of mind and helps me stick to one project.

That's not to say that I've given up on the game, just that I need to prioritize my time right now and work on something till completion. I get far less accomplished when I'm trying to do it all so I've decided to put the game on hiatus for the next 6 months. I've been working on an idea for a new business venture dealing with video and I really need to pool all of my free time into that. Its something I've been excited about doing for a while now and am confident that I have the ability to pull it off.

This was definitely a difficult decision to come to as I was finally diving back into XNA and C# and feeling that I was really understanding it. With any luck, I'll be able to pick up where I left off at the end of March. I will still be posting the occasional art and assets for the game, but will probably step away from the coding for a while.

Till my next post, here is a rough model I created in Sculptris. Its a free sculpting program from the makers of Zbrush. I bumped into it when I was pricing Zbrush and Mudbox. After getting depressed over the price of each, I found Sculptris. Its hugely beneficial because you can export the models and use them in Cinema 4D. Definitely worth checking out.

Getting Back On the Horse

2011-09-22T05:23:00.000-07:00

A couple nights ago, I attended another Cleveland Game Developers meeting and it really inspired me to get back into learning C# and XNA. Life has finally gotten back to a manageable pace so fitting in the tutorials should be easier. I took the first step last night by popping in my 3D Buzz tutorial DVD's and getting wet. When I last left off, I was towards the beginning of the second disc. Also, I've decided that this time I will keep a notebook and start jotting down things in the hopes that it will help me retain what I'm learning. Perhaps treating it like an actual class will keep it in my head and on schedule.

Also, really need to add some art or something to this blog. Its so drab looking. Kind of bums me out.

Star Command

2011-09-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Came across a pretty cool new iOS game that mixes Game Developer Story with Star Trek. I'm pretty sure that combination sells itself, but I've attached the Kickstarter trailer to help. As someone that really enjoyed Game Developer Story, I can't help but be really excited for this one. Take a look: Star Command

As far as my own work goes, a recent move has occupied a lot of my time. I'm hoping to get life and furniture situated so that I can jump back into the 3D Buzz videos. At this point, I'm a little worried that my hiatus will keep me from remembering everything I've leaned. I might have to make a schedule and dedicate myself to spending the necessary amount of time to continue. At the very least, I'd like to continue with the asset creation. With any luck, I should have some more of that posted soon.

Cute Things Dying Violently

2011-08-24T19:27:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to take a quick moment to point out a great game (in my opinion) that was just released on Xbox Live Indie Games as part of the Indie Summer Uprising. I actually don't buy too many indie games, but wanted to make a point to at least try all of the ones coming out with the Uprising. Normally, the 8 minute limit is all I need to get my fill of a game (which may be more my fault than the game), but after the time limit ran up on Cute Things, I threw down my dollar to continue. I'm really enjoying the puzzles and sense of humor and hope that this game does well for Apathy Works. Do yourself a favor and download the trial. This game at least deserves a shot at your precious dollar.

Cute Things Dying Violently at Xbox.com

Incredible Hulk Sketch 8-23-11

2011-08-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

Was playing around on the Cintiq tonight and threw this together. Sketched it in Sketchbook Pro and then put some quick color on it in Photoshop.

As far as the game is going, I still have every intention of continuing it, but my scheduling is getting a little side tracked at the moment. I'm hoping to resume my normal way of life here pretty soon, but I'm seriously starting to consider trying to take someone on that is already a programmer. Not really sure what is the best way about finding someone. I'm probably going to have to spend some time on the XNA forums and twitter to get a feel for the landscape. We'll just have to wait and see.

Pin Up Art and Update

2011-08-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked by a friend of mine if I wanted to participate in a small art show for the Tremont Art Walk in Ohio. Our small section of the walk will be based around Pin Ups. Having avoided drawing pretty girls for most of my life, I took it as a welcome challenge. After a failed attempt, I rethought my approach and came up with a fake Pulp Magazine Cover. All and all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm kind of nervous about people seeing it, but it fits in nicely with my "try new things" attitude.

In other news, I recently finished the book I was reading on better time management. It helped me to take a hard look at how I use my time and places where I can be more effective. Hopefully, I should be able to rework my life to include XNA and Cinema 4D (a new obsession).

I started working on the online tutorials at Lynda to get me more comfortable with C4D. I'm hoping to work with it 2 or 3 days a week as I find time and also get in 2 or 3 days with XNA. Just typing it seems like a ridiculous feat, but I'm determined to make it work.

Inking Test

2011-07-28T05:35:00.001-07:00

Wanted to Practice inking with the Cintiq and had drawn this guy in my sketchbook the other day.

Spider-Man Fan Art

2011-07-25T20:01:00.001-07:00

I had been more than a little obsessed with the art of Skottie Young and felt like drawing a more cartoony version of the super hero.

I also, i realize I haven't updated much on the game. Its been kind of hectic as I try to reorder my schedule. I'm trying to jump into Cinema 4D and start a new business venture, but really don't want to give up on the XNA project. I know I should better prioritize my time, but I'm convinced that its scheduling and procrastinating which is keeping me from my goals.

So right now I'm reading through Time Management from the Inside Out, Second Edition: The Foolproof System for Taking Control of Your Schedule -- and Your Life by Julie Morgenstern. So far its pretty good. I'm hoping it gives me the tools I need to figure out my schedule and get everything in order.

In the mean time, I have an art show coming up that I need to submit a piece for. Going to have that finished soon so I should be able to post that.

Couple of Warm Up Sketches

2011-07-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

Sketchbook Pro Practice 7-11-11

2011-07-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

7-11-11: Just playing around. Have a project that I needed to start working on soon and wanted to try and do it with the digital marker tools. Just trying to get comfortable. Don't know why I picked a mushroom.

Ipad Robot Sketch

2011-07-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

Just some more iPad sketching.

Character Poses & Cleveland Indie Devs

2011-06-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Got to make it to my first Cleveland Indie Developer's Meetup. It was interesting having a serious discussion on games between people with such varied levels of experience. Some had released games and others were working on their first (Like ME). I don't think anyone else there was using C# or working in XNA, but it was nice to see some of their projects. Though I had to leave a little bit early and didn't get to see as many as I'd like. I'll probably travel to the next one and see if I can see more of their work.

Above are some sketches and character poses. I'm going to try and get back into my 3D Buzz videos soon, but learning Cinema 4D will probably cut into it. Also having the itch to animate. Damn my lack of time.

Indie Game: The Movie

2011-06-21T04:24:00.001-07:00

Indie Game: The Movie Official Trailer from IndieGame: The Movie on Vimeo.

Even as someone that doesn't watch a lot of documentaries, this movie looks amazing.

Idle Animation Test & Meetup

2011-06-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Put together a test tonight using After Effects's puppet tool to animate and bend the arms. While I don't think it will work for the majority of characters in my game, I can definitely think of a few opportunities for it. Pretty happy with the result.

In other news, tomorrow night I will be attending my first Meetup with other Cleveland area Game Developers. Hoping this will be an opportunity to pick the brains of other developers with more experience than me.

Robin Williams & The Legend of Zelda

2011-06-15T10:30:00.001-07:00

Really looking forward to the Ocarina of Time 3D game and thought this video was pretty cool. I never finished it when it originally came out for the GameCube (and didn't finish it when it was a pre-order bonus with Wind Waker), but I'm sure this will be the time I make it all the way through...maybe.

Jet Foot Sprite

2011-06-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

Definitely not the final name...or is it. Did a color test on character design. Going to my first Meetup with the other Cleveland Game Developers and wanted to have some assets to show. Wish I would have some actual code to show, but that is definitely not my strong point. Going to give Torque Community Edition a try. Its becoming more and more apparent that I need something to help me along as my free time is becoming more and more scarce.

Mentor Character Sprite Art

2011-06-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quick art progression on the Mentor character in the game. Hoping to do a couple more of these this week.

Quick Character and Villain Sketches

2011-06-11T07:59:00.001-07:00

Quick Sketch 6-8-11

2011-06-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick sketch from Dr. Sketchy last night. Drawn on my ipad.

Has it been 2 months?

2011-06-07T05:44:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe its been so long since I touched this thing. I've been pretty busy with work and a couple of video projects I had been working on. Both were labor of loves...that eventually turned into giant pains in the ass. Either way, I'm hoping to get back into the whole XNA/Indie Games thing.

In addition to teaching myself programming, I'm hoping to meetup with other local programmers. The hope is that I can meet some people that can help walk me through the more difficult parts and possibly collaborate with. I've joined up with "The Cleveland Game Developers" over at Meetup.com. I've had great success with the art group, Dr. Sketchy, and am hoping for a similar experience.

Also, the top picture is a potential robot design created on my ipad. Hope to update again soon.

Quick Sketch

2011-04-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

Probably not even game related, but I was tinkering with Sketchbook Pro on the Ipad and thought I would post it up. Been a long time since I've been able to practice programming. Have a deadline on Wednesday that should free up some time. If not, then definitely in June.

Art Update

2011-03-27T18:18:00.001-07:00

Wow, I haven't touched the blog in a while. A video project has my pretty tied up, but I'm hoping to have it done soon so I can get back to the 3D Buzz DVD's. Tinkered with some art last night. Also got to play around with the trial version of Sketchbook Pro. Really liking the markers on that thing. Might have to pick it up down the road.

Design Insight

2011-03-10T12:09:00.000-08:00

I know I already posted something this morning, but I watched this video today and thought it might be interesting to my fellow game designers. Over at David Jaffe's blog, he uploaded a video and touched on certain design decisions that he was struggling with in the multiplayer section of Twisted Metal. First off, its fascinating to listen to someone outline the problems they're facing and the consequences they may have to the game play. Also, it really seems to put in perspective the challenges that come along when trying to innovate in the multiplayer arena. Really is worth watching.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

2011-03-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

I know I had just mentioned the incredible work of effects animator, Michael Gagne, last month, but I had to post the new trailer for his game, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. I am extremely excited about this game and completely smitten with its design and use of silhouette. Really amazing to look at and a nice translation of his style.

As far as my XNA studies, I'm right at the end of the first 3D Buzz disk (literally 2 hours left) so I'm really hoping to knock that out soon. Keeping my fingers crossed for Sunday as my weekend has already filled up with prior commitments.

Trenched

2011-03-09T04:52:00.000-08:00

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2011 - Trenched

Double Fine games has been a huge influence on me and once again, their use of story and interesting characters has grabbed my interest. Loving the back story on this.

500 Visitors!..

2011-03-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

...Well, sort of. Looks like my little ticker is saying that 500 individuals have made it to my little slice of nothingness. In actuality, some of them are me before I turned on the IP Exclusion feature, but I'll take it anyways! Just wanted to drop some sketches up on a couple of villain ideas I had been working on. I'm starting to get mad at myself for neglecting my XNA studies, but "grown up" (ie: house) problems have thrown a temporary wrench in the works. I might take a Saturday afternoon and just power through to the end of the first disk. Here is keeping my fingers crossed.

Love Girls, Hate to Draw Them

2011-02-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

I'm almost 32 and still struggling with drawing girls. I'm making some strides, but its just not something I do enough to lock down a specific look. I think part of it is my tendency to draw small, and occasionally re-size for details. When I'm drawing a girl, the pencil lines can be too fat for some of the more delicate areas (mostly the eyes and brows). This morning, I put together some stuff that I liked and plenty that I didn't. Also, I came to the realization that I'm going to have to draw 2 different angles for all of the people that will be carried by the Player. It shouldn't be too hard, considering I'm going to repeat the bottom half of the player's body and the cape animations, but the transition animation when changing directions might prove difficult. I guess it just comes with the territory.

Player Sketches

2011-02-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

Went on some what of a drawing binge last night. To get more comfortable, I decided to go through a book I have on comic book poses, Comic Artist's Photo Reference - People & Poses, and draw the player using it as a reference. I'm pretty happy with most of them and finally feel like I'm getting the character down.

Mentor

2011-02-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

Planned on inking and painting this in the computer tonight, but the snow belt is getting hit tonight and my electricity is being unpredictable. So rather than suffer through a night of lost saves, I thought I'd just post the sketches I mocked up today. The idea behind this character was to provide the player with a mentor, someone at the end of their career (possibly past it) that can give some insight into what it is to be a hero. I wanted to create someone with a strong physical stature, but was a nice contrast to the player's thicker, beefier shape. I'm hoping to have them guide the player through the tutorial section and possibly pop up through out the game to offer hints.

Rough Flight Sketches...Very Rough

2011-02-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

I know, if this is what I'm posting, I must not have much. Well, these were the sketches that I mentioned earlier in the week showing the positioning for carrying female and male citizens. I'll probably design other ones for criminals and the elderly. Also, I'm right at the end of disk one of my 3D Buzz tutorials and should have that finished by this weekend. With the start of a couple of commissions, I'm hoping I can keep on track with the XNA project.

Also, I came across an interesting video of the animator that creates those toilet paper commercials with the bears. The video shows Joana Quinn's work area and process for animation. I absolutely love this video. Just seeing another person with a disheveled work area, making sound effects as they flip their pages, and concentrating so intently when trying to draw hands, really comforts me. Its nice seeing someone at her level going through the same things as I do. It makes me feel like the gap isn't as far as I thought (if that makes any sense).

I originally got the link at the Academy of Art Animation blog. Definitely check it out if you are a fan of animation.

Cannon 1 is done.

2011-02-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

Tonight I completed the first of 3 Cannon Game tutorials on the 3D Buzz disc. The whole thing was created withing Visual Studio's "winforms" creator and went pretty smoothly. The ironic thing is that there are really no cannons anywhere in the game. Its basically just a shooter. There are about 5 hours left to the first disc before I'm done. I'm feeling pretty confident in what I've learned so far and really feel like everything is sinking in.

Earlier today, I was sketching some rough ideas for how I will visually represent the player carrying citizens. For the women, I've pretty much stuck to the traditional "flying with the damsel" look so often seen in comics and film. I started working with an "under the armpit" style for picking up men, but realized that I might have to rethink their falling animation. Where as the women can fall facing upward and then naturally transition to the carried position, the men would be flipping over. I'll need make sure that they are falling face down for that positioning to work.

Also, I read an article today showing the early design doc's for Aero-The Acrobat. I'm not sure if I've ever played it, but I distinctly remembered its ad campaign. Either way, it makes for a pretty interesting read and a fascinating glimpse into how some programmers design their games.

Superman Fan Film

2011-02-07T16:46:00.000-08:00

Holy crap do I love this! Robb Pratt, a Disney animator, did an amazing job with this Superman fan film. Great old school, Fleischer feel to this and I catch myself re-watching it just to analyze the cape movement. Definitely give it a look.

Back in the Saddle

2011-02-06T20:01:00.000-08:00

So life got a little crazy since my last post. Without being too specific, there was a week where I couldn't work on anything (even non game related) and was unable to continue on the game. Things have calmed down a bit and I have been able to continue with the 3D Buzz tutorials. I'm right at the end of the first disc (the 3 cannon tutorials) and things seem to be going well. A lot has been reiterated from the XNA Book I was working on, but that is to be expected. I'm very happy with the way things are going and feel like I'm on the right track.

Also, this weekend, my brother and I finished Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I have to say, I was extremely impressed with the art style and animation in the game. It is definitely inspired me to add a certain visual flare to my game. The studio that created it, Wayforward Studios, also created Justice League Heroes: The Flash, which directly influenced the game I'm working on. Its top notch animation and execution of the whole comic book/superhero feel fueled my urge to create my own game. Finally, continuing my love of high quality, hand drawn animation: Michael Gagne released I HD version of his film "Prelude To Eden" on Youtube. He is the world's premier "effects" animator and I'm sure people will see a direct influence in my game as I aspire to have my destruction match his quality.

Effects Animation

2011-01-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

Raspail from raspail on Vimeo.

Saw this online at Lineboil.com and thought it was pretty cool. Interesting effects animation exercise. Check out the LineBoil link for the credits.

Final Body and XNA Buzz

2011-01-17T17:38:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to drop a quick update in order to keep myself active on the blog. First off, I have been working through the 3D Buzz videos and loving them. I'm finished with the first section, The Hyperion Project (text adventure), and am thoroughly enjoyed the teaching style and banter between the 2 teachers. I'm starting onto the C# portion now and am excited by the possibilities. I'm a little disappointed in myself for not figuring out a schedule to make sure I get the videos in, but I've been on them enough to not be too upset.

2nd, I've finally nailed down the final proportions for the player character's body (above). I know that seems odd considering I have already animated his run cycle, but I was struggling with figuring out an idle animation and needed to see how he looked standing. I understand if that doesn't make sense. In typical "Me" fashion, I drew it extremely small and then scanned it into the computer. I superimposed one of the head poses from the run cycle and had my rough. My next step will be to do a larger, tighter version on top of the rough and then create a complete model sheet for the character.
Finally, I picked up Batman: Brave and the Bold for the Wii and am shocked to say I really enjoy it. Sure, its easy as hell, but its a pretty fun 2-player beat 'em up. Granted, I bought the game for $18, so its ease and meager length doesn't sting as much, but I would recommend it. I think it might be the art style that is really pulling me in. That, and its throw back to the 60's era of super hero. Just a real "tongue-in-cheek" homage to the Dick Sprang era. If you are looking for a fun rental for some 2-player action, its worth a rental.

Anger!!!

2011-01-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of months, my computer has been making an extremely annoying, buzzing sound. I cracked her open and discovered that it was the fan on my graphics card (Nvidia GeForce 9500 GS). Turns out the card still worked fine, it was just the fan. So, after putting up with the ever increasing clunking noises, I eventually looked into fixing it. Now, I'm not the type of person who likes to open up my computer and tinker, but I was at the point where installing a new fan seemed like a good enough idea. Sadly, you cannot buy a fan for that model graphics card, so I was pretty boned. Luckily, I came across some guys tutorial on how to put sewing machine oil inside the fan: Link.

Now this is where the anger happens: After resetting the computer to see if the sound was gone, I quickly turned it off so I could reconnect the monitor cables. I think this is what bit me in the ass. The computer went into repair mode and back to its last safe point. All the while, it assured me none of my files would be deleted. I foolishly believed it. This morning I wanted to jump on and continue the Hyperion Project tutorial and for some reason it had put me back about 3 videos worth of work. What the hell. So I guess I'm going to resist just watching the last few videos and just redo the missing work. I'll just hope this heightens my understanding of the information.

Card Sagas Wars

2011-01-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

I was browsing through the posts on Kotaku when I came across a fan project called Card Sagas Wars. The game is being created in the Mugen game engine, but all of the artwork is new and based on popular franchises. Watching the videos on the developer's Youtube page really inspired me to start thinking about my effects animation and how I want it implemented into my game. I might do some tests this weekend, just to see if I can hit on a style I like.

Quick Sketch

2011-01-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Just a quick sketch during lunch today. I've been trying to get some ideas down for characters and enemies. This one will be for a rocket pack enemy that the player will have to chase down. I think I was inspired by the intro to GI Joe with Duke's part at the end. That would also probably explain the Cobra Commander-esque helmet. I should probably change that. Hmmmmmmm.

Art Progression and Coding Fixed

2011-01-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

I think I'm getting close to figuring out a system for getting my art to look the way I like in the game. I'm starting out with real loose sketches that I scan into the computer. Then I import them into Toonboom (any coloring software would work) and trace the image. I prefer Toonboom only because I can tinker with the palettes quickly without having to refill everything in. Then I take the art into Photoshop, use "Save for Web" in the File menu, shrink the image, and then start limiting the palette. In the past, I would just drop the colors to a max number and see what photoshop gave me. Now I'll take it down to 64 or 32 and then start deleting the colors that I don't want. The program will compensate with pleasing results. I'm trying to achieve a sort of classic Lucasarts/16-bit/Arcade look for my game, so these extreme measures might not work for you. I'll probably still have to go into the final art and delete a block here or there, but after I save each character's distinct palette, I should be pretty close. If the "Save for Web" feature has one draw back, its that the "undo" function doesn't really work there. So if you delete a color and realize you didn't want to, you're kind of out of luck. It happened to me when I accidentally deleted the transparent channel.

In other news, the previous hiccup in my 3D Buzz XNA studies is already over thanks to the help of their community. Turns out I had placed some temporary code in the program in order for it to stop returning errors. I hadn't corrected it by the end and it kind of bit me in the ass. I'll be sure to stick around their forums as the users there were quick to help me get past a very "noob" mistake.

Working on my Buzz

2011-01-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

I know...witty. So I bit the bullet and ordered the XNA Xtreme 101 bundle from 3D Buzz today. I've been making my way through the introductory portion that they have up on the website and am really enjoying the host's teaching stile and really feel myself grasping the information in a way that I hadn't before. I guess I'm just one of those people that learn better by following along with a video, rather than reading in a book. I did, however, hit one snag. Not one hour after ordering the videos did I run into a problem that didn't let something display the way I wanted it to...or at all. I've posted on the forum so I'm hoping the community will be able to help me out with that.

In other news, I was trying to figure out a simple punch combination for the player character and it wasn't working out the way I wanted it to. I think my problem is trying to keep the "wind up" and punch interesting while keeping the character in profile. Its just not a real dynamic angle to draw in so everything looks weak. I might have to go pull some reference to figure out what I want to do.

In the Goop

2011-01-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

I wish I was one of those people that drew every day. Now that I think of it, I know plenty of people that have said they'd do it, but none of them pulled it off. I wanted to post on here that I was going to put some kind of sketch up every day, but even has the idea appeared my brain, I knew it would only lead to defeat. I guess I just get hit with too many mental blocks and run of the mill "bad art days" to commit to that schedule. Also, I've never been very good at keeping a sketch book. If I carry it with me, I never want to draw. If I set aside time for it, it intimidates me. Inspiration hits me when I least expect it and most times I will simply have a yellow bad and an ink pen with me. And normally, its my favorite stuff.

Big Things In 2011!..at least I hope

2011-01-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

When I last posted, I had finally finished the XNA book and was looking forward to starting the next book in my studies. That's right when the holidays hit and my schedule got kind of crazy. I'm hoping to pick things up now and make some real strides on the game. In fact, I think I found another avenue that might help my understanding of the C# language and XNA.
While perusing the internet for any video tutorials on XNA, I came across a site with volumes dedicated to teaching XNA called 3D Buzz. While it mostly deals with an older version of XNA, I'm hopeful that it can still be a useful addition to my resources and finally give me enough knowledge to start my game. It also has a series where one of the teachers shows how to make a beat 'em up similar to the classic TMNT Arcade games: link I'm really hoping that this over the shoulder approach to design will prove helpful, much in the way Video Copilot helped me to learn Adobe After Effects.

On the game design front, I quickly jotted down a couple of ideas for a tutorial system within a vintage comic book. I want it to read kind of quirky and old fashioned while showing the player some strategy to employ during the game. It will probably read more like a pamphlet for "How To Be A Superhero" than an actual comic though.
Also, tonight I designed another enemy that will probably be in the same level as the the robot character from earlier posts. This time, I really toyed with the "render for web" feature in Photoshop and deleted colors I didn't want in order to limit the pallette more. All of this will hopefully keep my file sizes down and achieve that 16-bit look I want, without actually have to "sprite draw". I find converting my art to be way easier.

Book 1, Finally Done

2010-12-19T21:11:00.000-08:00

It took a lot of stopping and starting, but my first book of tutorials, Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0: Learn Programming Now!, is finally finished! I looked back and saw that it took me 6 months to complete, which is pretty gross. The last six months have been pretty strenuous so I'm not beating myself up too much about it, but I'm definitely farther behind than I thought I'd be. It was definitely a long ride with this book. There were times that keeping all of the lessons on objects, methods, classes, structures, variables, etc seemed impossible. Hell, I'd be a liar if I said that I had completely understood all of it, but I think I learned a lot.

Sadly, I still don't feel like I have enough knowledge of XNA to create the game I want to make, but I'm pressing on. While the book was a wonderful teaching tool, it didn't teach me anything about animated sprites or creating a "platformer", which are 2 things that will be vital to my game.

From this point I'm going to move forward with Learning XNA 3.0 by Aaron Reed. While the previous book focused a lot on C#, which I definitely needed, it really only showed how to apply C# to some very simple functions. I'm hoping Aaron Reed's book will help me apply that knowledge to game creation in XNA. While part of the book is dedicated to 3D games (which I will not be using), the first 160 pages are dedicated to 2D topics such as sprite animation and artificial intelligence.

Also, a while back I picked up James Silva and John Sedlak's book "Building XNA 2.0 Games". While a good portion of it is used to explain how to make your own level editor and skeletal animation system, the book supposedly shows the process in creating The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. I'm hoping this will fill in some of the holes in what I've learned.

All in all, I'm hoping that 2011 is a big year for my game. If I have one New Years resolution, it will be to better manage my time so that I can work on my different projects and not let so much fall between the cracks. Hope to update again soon.

Quick Update

2010-12-17T18:52:00.001-08:00

First off, every once in a while I will see something so brilliant, that I am consumed with jealousy for hours. This set of re-envisioned Star Wars posters by Olly Moss is a prime example of that. Simply amazing.

In other news, I'm ready to start programming again, but my graphics card's fan is buzzing like crazy. Seeing as there are no compatible fans online, I am sort of at a loss as to what I should do. Would hate to spend the money and take it in, but that might have to happen. A real bummer.

Either way, I'm going to try and take a few hours in the morning and not out the last couple of chapters in my first XNA book so I can move onto the one I just got in the mail.

Quick Picture

2010-12-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Going to an art function on Tuesday night and wanted to practice drawing with my Faber-Castell pen. Decided to practice drawing the player's character and, of course, converted it into a sprite. Really feel like his design is starting to click with me.

Oops. Video Repost

2010-12-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

Just realized that I had my privacy setting on for the video that I posted a few days ago. I suck.

Further Education

2010-12-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

So I got blind sided by some insane computer problem that doesn't let my computer receive the internet through my router. Pretty frustrating but I'm hoping to have it fixed soon.

In other news, I've decided that I'm going to power to the end of my current book and start on the next one. My book of choice is: Learning XNA 3.0: XNA 3.0 Game Development for the PC, Xbox 360, and Zune . I read up on a lot of the books through Amazon, and thought this one might be the best at helping me apply the C# stuff I learned in my current book. Keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out...and that I can get this damn computer fixed.

Hand Drawn Animation

2010-12-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

I recently came across a beautiful short film by Ryan Woodward. The website for the film has a short "Making Of" documentary that shows his collaboration with a dance choreographer for its creation. It really is a stunning piece of work and makes me excited to animate something that has a little more change in speed and easing in it, rather than the cycle I've done so far.

Thought of You from Ryan Woodward on Vimeo.

Refresher

2010-12-06T05:42:00.000-08:00

I was really struggling to remember some of the things I'd learned in my XNA book so I decided to sit down and refresh myself. Reading through the chapters really jogged my memory and I feel confident that I can get back into programming in the next few days. I looked and I'm actually only one and a half chapters from finishing. Looking at the book as a whole, I realized that it is really geared towards helping you with learning C#. Seeing how I had no prior knowledge of C#, this has helped tremendously.

At this point, my game making experience has been limited to "Break Out" clones offered by the book. So I've decided that I will go through the creator's club's video tutorials or perhaps pick up another book aimed specifically at the XNA framework to better prepare me. Right now I'm leaning towards Learning XNA 3.0: XNA 3.0 Game Development for the PC, Xbox 360, and Zune.

I also tinkered with Torque X and was running into a multitude of problems. I'm probably going to have to run through that book again too, because the problems I was having were just bizarre to have not been my fault. I also don't remember if I had any problems like that when I was running through that book the first time.

Player Run Cycle - Finished

2010-12-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

I seemed to have messed up my foot (hope its not broken) and all of this time sitting has inspired me to finish the run cycle. Right now I'm trying to get Torque to work so I can see him running across a stage. I've attached my sprite progression.

Player Run Cycle

2010-12-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

So I was working on a job and had to wait for a video to render...for 19 hours. So I decided to stop putting off some art for the game and worked on this. Its just a first pass, but its also the first run cycle I've ever done. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. I need to fix quite a few things, but I'm sure most of that will come through in the clean up stage.

On the XNA front, I'm starting to get a little anxious to start working on the game. The frustration in not having all the coding answers is starting to get to me. I'm at the point where I want to see my character run across the screen. I'm not exactly discouraged, but I need a little pick me up to keep going. I think I'm just having a hard time finding the answers I want.

At this point, I'd just like to have some video tutorials or something so I can see these things working. Plus, Torque X is not as intuitive as I'd like, but I may have jumped in too quickly on it. I'll go back and go through the tutorials and hopefully that will help with some of the problems I'm having.

Hoping to have some results soon, but will probably have to continue learning the frame work before I can get any where.

Oh How Time Flies

2010-11-30T19:14:00.000-08:00

It has definitely been too long since the last time I've posted. Since my last entry, I have started up a side business (still in the development stages) that has taken up the largest percentage of my free time. The new business is more "After Effects" related, so I had to shut off the part of my brain that was thinking about the game constantly.

It was just recently that I realized that, perhaps I'm not as bogged down as I think and maybe I don't have to choose one over the other. I'm starting to realize that I'm just really bad at managing my time and I need to make a change. So, hopefully, I can start doing both and see how long before I eventually break.

Another thing worth mentioning to those that read this (if there are any): I recently became obsessed/fascinated with a particular web series on Youtube. The series is called "Making a Great Retro Game" by the guys at Sucker Free Games. I stumbled upon it when I was searching for Torque X tutorials and was instantly hooked. Its not in any way a series of video tutorials, but more of a "fly on the wall" situation as you watch a small group of friends creating a game.
Beginning with their first game, Dungeons, I was blown away to see the strides they made and their problem solving skills when it came to the coding. I'm still early in my studies, but I found it interesting to hear the programmer explain his thinking behind his design choices and watch them be implemented in the game. If there was one thing that bummed me out, it was seeing the moments when they were stumped by something in the coding or in Torque X itself. These guys clearly know more than I do and its intimidating to think of all the unforeseen bugs that are sure to arrive.

All in all, I have to say I'm extremely jealous of what they have accomplished so far and that they were able to put together a small group of friends around a singular vision. I really wish that I had a programmer that could just answer my questions and help execute my ideas, but that's probably the best reason to start networking. Either way, can't wait to see the finished product.

I've attached a couple of videos to show the game in its early stages and another further in development. Pretty impressive.

Ugh, Away Too Long

2010-10-13T10:12:00.001-07:00

I had no intentions of taking as long a break as I had, but here I look and its been about 2 weeks since my last post. Disgraceful. I've really been meaning to jump back into my learning, but my motivation has been waning a bit. This usually happens to me in waves, but I feel myself bouncing back.

Since my last post, I tried to convert the News Anchor character into a sprite form, but didn't love the results. I think I need to find some more reference for his clothes so that the colors don't seem so out of place. If photoshop's natural conversion doesn't work, I may try to draw it in pixel form from the get go.

I'm definitely going to try and get back to work on the game this weekend. In the meantime, I saw that Konami is releasing "Hard Corps: Uprising" on XBL and PSN and it got me back in the mood to make a good sprite based, 2D game.

Also, I've never played "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night", but watching GameTrailer's retrospective on the entire Castlevania series really instilled me with a great appreciation of the artistry in that game. Definitely need to check it out.

Video Games | The Castlevania Retrospective | Part II: Resurrection of Evil

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

News Anchor, Spritesheets, and Animation

2010-09-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

Ugh, what a crazy week. Luckily, I was able to sit down and design a character that I had envisioned early on in brain storming. I wanted to have a news anchor that pops up in a window in the corner of the screen and mentions new developments. He'll probably have a guest in the studio with him, but I'll reveal them later. During the drawing of the character, I noticed I was having a pretty hard time nailing down the look for him. I guess I never really gave "character design" a fair shake and wasn't as good at it as I would have liked. I found that by looking through photos of actors that I would have play them in a movie, I was able to find a jumping off point and that would carry me through.

Also, I'd like to treat the News Report Window as an homage to the host in Smash TV. I remember really liking the charm and character in that. Its probably going to necessitate a lot of scripting in order to make the window pop up when certain events are taking place. I'll probably animate it like I would in Flash/Toon Boom - recycling mouth shapes and certain body movements to add life to the dialogue. This will keep file sizes smaller and help me achieve that "Lucasarts Cut Scene" look that I so enjoy.

This brought me to my newest problem, how to get XNA to sequence all of those frames of animation for display. Admittedly, I'm still a little fuzzy on how animated sprites are implemented, but I think I figured out how I can transfer Flash or Toonboom's time line into XNA. Of course it won't be a pretty/programming way, but it might be less intimidating than normal. Once I've tested it, I'll probably put a tutorial up so that animators can apply some of the things they already know.

Other than that, I've been brainstorming how to make the score in a game important again. It will make more sense when I've revealed the exact play style, but for now I'll just tease.

Metal Frogs and Post Mortems

2010-09-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

First off, the metal frog will not be in the game (no matter how much I love him). Second, he did give me an idea for an interesting mini game to play between levels. Luckily, I think it should be pretty easy to implement once I get the engine up and running.

On an unrelated note, I really like Gamasutra. If you want a crazy specific rundown of the games industry, that is definitely the site you should be reading. It really goes deep on an industry level...having said that, I wish I was smart enough to read it all the time. But when my comprehension level does bob over a fifth grade level, I check out their postmortems. Postmortems are basically a chance for a developer to look back at a game's creation, release, and success (or lack there of). They write their own synopsis of what worked and what didn't and hopefully it imparts some knowledge on to other developers.

I've read a few, but I have to say that I was most impressed with the one by Dan Brainerd, Leo Jaitley, and Ichiro Lambe. The guys at Dejobaan Games crafted a compelling and fun read as they recount their process of creating "Aaaaa! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity". I was most interested in the importance of being able to step back from your project to get a better perspective on its quality, as well as taking better advantage of focus testing. Being the sole creator of my game, I often wonder if I've become so close to my idea that I can't objectively look at my own ideas.

It really is a great read, especially for indie developers, and is worth checking out: article

For more developer postmortems, check out Game Developer Magazine.

8BITS

2010-09-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

I'm seeing this posted everywhere, but if you still haven't seen it, here you go. Pretty amazing.

8BITS_hd720 from 8BCREW on Vimeo.

Learn the Faces

2010-09-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

Giant Bomb has a nice video up showing all of the PAX 10 entries from this year's show. Interesting to see the people behind the newest wave of indie games. Some of them seam more uncomfortable being interviewed than others, but I'm sure its an awkward situation. Either way, a lot of good games and interesting concepts to be inspired by.

Here is a listing of all of the entries along with their information and websites: PAX 10 2010

Applying What I Know

2010-09-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

Read an interesting article over at the Develop-online.net website (article) comparing indie developers with indie film-makers. I think the most relevant comparison is the creativity that comes from direct limitations placed on the creator. Not being able to film the big shoot out at the jewel heist in Reservoir Dogs didn't hurt its impact on the story, and that use of implying the incident seems like an interesting alternative to the filming. Another great example is in "Let The Right One In", but that movie isn't nearly as old so I don't want to spoil it. Needless to say, its another case of what you don't see is scarier than what you do.

I guess the real reason I bring this up is because, since I've started working with After Effects, I've learned that it isn't as important to literally pull off a feat as long as it looks like that's what you're doing. To be clearer, I was thinking about some of the particle effects, force fields, and general effects I want to put into the game, and started to consider what that would take to code. I started to plot out how I might be able to pull these off, and my mind drifted to how easy it would be in After Effects. It dawned on me that I could simply animate these elements in After Effects and import them into the game. I've made the design choice to keep my assets at a low resolution, so the memory use shouldn't be too taxing. I guess its my way of trying to apply what I know to what I'm trying to do. Hopefully it will lead to interesting results.

Chapter 13 Finished!

2010-09-12T17:01:00.001-07:00

Ugh...I took a beating on this one. Out of all the chapters (so far), this was the most "throw him in the water and he'll learn to swim". There was a lot of background code that just wasn't even alluded to in the text that I had to go in and enter. A lot of it I figured out myself, but a few things (like him adjusting method titles without telling you to) had me searching through the example files on the web site to find out what I had done wrong. A real pain, but it left me with a bit of confidence in that I can see how the program is working and know where to look for these errors.

Sadly, there were a couple things I couldn't get working that I just had to power through. For instance, this chapter dealt with "game states" which is pretty much jumping from title screen to game play and back. Very interesting stuff, but I couldn't get the "game play" background to update to the new one once the game started. Very frustrating, but probably something silly that I just missed. If it remains a problem in the future, I'll revisit the chapter.

Also, if you get the chance, GameTrailers.com is showing an extremely interesting round table discussion with Ed Boon (Mortal Kombat), Warren Spector (Epic Mickey, Deus X), and Jeremiah Slaczka (Scribblenauts). Week 2's discussion focuses mainly on game design fundamentals and the importance of keeping your failures early in development. I really enjoy watching people in the industry "talk shop" and feel like its a part of games reporting that is missing with most of their discussions used to promote their newest projects.

Finished Design and First Flight Sprite

2010-09-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to forgo any type of logo on the chest for a jewel/medallion/crystal that will be referenced in the story. I also thought of a new play mechanic that could be explained through use of it's power.

I also sat down this morning and decided to ink, color, and animate the first flight position in Toonboom and with my Cintiq. I'm still not finished, but I'm pretty close. At first, I tried a more haphazard approach that was inspired by the whole "flag in a windstorm" look of the cape in Superman Returns. In the movie, that thing was kicking all over the place and you got a real sense of speed with it. Sadly, that looked like crap. So I decided to go to a more fluid, "cartoony" look which seemed to work out better. I still need to adjust the part of the cape that curls in, but its almost there. Also, each flight position has two stages: a normal speed and a faster speed that is achieved by flying longer. The faster speed will be signified by the player pushing his fist forward. I know its more to animate, but I feel like the effect will be worth it.

Chapter 12 Done! and More Sketches

2010-09-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well, chapter 12 is all finished. I think the most useful thing I took away from it was the creation of "structures", which is basically a way to set up a list of variables that you know you are going to have to enter for a number of the same type of thing. For instance, if I know I have to reference a sprite's texture, location, size, color, etc for every sprite in my game, I can set up a structure that will ask me for those specific things every time. This way, I just have to fill in the answers, rather than write the code for every one. Pretty handy.

At this point, I only have 4 chapters left and am really starting to get the itch to start working directly on the game. I know I'm not anywhere near a full fledged programmer, but the thought of seeing my character start to move around a screen is getting pretty enticing.

I've also been thinking a lot about my game's backgrounds and am starting to get worried about the whole "tile based" building structures. I'm afraid that it will limit me artistically and the overall style that I'm going for will ultimately suffer. Looking at some of the assets that I've created so far, the file sizes are pretty low as it is. I'm just starting to think that fully creating the buildings (or at least large sections of them) might be the way to go. Still pondering.

Also, more character gestures and poses. Really getting comfortable with drawing him now and might blow one of these up and do a more refined version this weekend.

Nothing Inspires...

2010-09-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

...quite like blue-lined paper. Can't explain it, because I own sketch books/carry sketch pads/admire other people's sketch pads, but I am always happier with stuff I do when I'm doodling on ruled paper. It's probably because its hard for me to schedule time to draw, but when I get the idea for something, a pad is usually near by.

But anyways, got some nasty viruses on my computer and decided to sketch out some character poses. I did this, mostly, to get me used to my character design. I've drawn so much other stuff for the game and really only had one or two sketches I really liked of the player character. I think I pretty much have the design where I want it, but I still need to figure out how I'm going to design the glass on his chest (circle area).

Also, I've been playing with the idea of having the cape and body being two separate elements in the idle animations so that I can pull off a couple of neat tricks. I'd like to get an idea of it now, because one of the lynch pins of the game is based on the layering of art for the character. I could probably do it all with new art per changed instance, but it would mean a lot more work.

The following is a rough for an attack pose followed by a design for a street criminal/goon.

Indie News - Monaco

2010-09-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

While I don't have as much time as I'd like to check out games on the indie scene, I do like to keep my toe in their waters. I can't claim to be an authority on that side of gaming, but when I see something interesting, I like to spread the word (at least to the scant few that may read this). The above video is from a Kotaku article posted today showing the game, Monaco. From what I've read, its a 4-player co-op heist game with simplified graphics and different character classes.

I've been extremely curious about this game, but haven't seen too much information on it. I was excited to see the game play video with the updated graphics. What I really like is how the designer, Andy Schatz, hasn't reinvented the wheel, but has combined a lot of fun concepts into an engaging game. I really wish he had some kind of development blog because I'm really curious about his process, but there isn't much to his site. In the Kotaku article he says its coming to PC and at least one console, which I'm guessing is XBLA or the Xbox Indie Channel. Not having played it, I would have to say it looks like Gauntlet meets Commandos. Really excited to get my hands on this one.

If you are looking to learn more about the current indie games scene (which I'm trying to do), you might want to check out these sites:

DIY Gamer

Indie Games

And here is an extremely good developer podcast with Infinite Ammo's, Alec Holowka (designer of Aquaria), interviewing Adam Saltsman (creator of Canabalt):

Podcast

Asset Creation

2010-09-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I was tinkering around with the idea of all of the people having these bluish "Mortal Kombat" shadows. I had been reading up on 2d shadow creation in XNA and it shouldn't be all that difficult. My only real problem is getting it to cast on certain areas: namely, the platforms. I'll have to go on the forums and ask how to limit where the shadows land. I'll save that for further along in the development.I decided to start creating some textures to use in the game. Thought it might be a fun little side project while I'm learning the program. Hopefully, I'll be able to throw together some building designs quickly in a Sim City-ish, fill in the squares sort of way. In my quest to make things harder than they need to be, I started tinkering with the idea of adding some value transition in the tiles.
I don't think a static tile would be too bad at street level, but when the player is flying (and the camera pulls back) the patterns could get ugly. In the hopes of mixing it up, I tried to add some transitions in the light and dark areas. I'm thinking this will look better when windows and signs are added to the buildings. Also, I'm probably going to go back and make the value differences less drastic. Also, worked on and awning and was hoping to finish some random art (tree, bench, parking meter, etc). I'll post those if I get them done early.

Mayor Pixelated

2010-09-05T09:26:00.001-07:00

Sitting at home on a cold Sunday morning and felt like tinkering with my Mayor character. Did a quick color job and shrunk it down to see how it would look. Had to eliminate the forehead wrinkles because they were just transforming into a blob. Didn't look good at all. I might sit down here soon and start working on some random background elements just to give the characters something more interesting to stand against then the white backgrounds.
In other game news, I started working on a little back-story that will play into the game. It was kind of fun to put together the legend of these super powers and how that might play into the story. I'll probably try and put together some illustrations and narration too. I found this video of Neil Gaiman's book, "Instructions", and found it really inspiring:

I really love the feel and cadence of this. It sort of harkens back to those old Jim Henson's Storytellers show. Ultimately, I think it will serve the particular section of my story nicely.

UPDATE: Added new Size Chart with make shift background.

Mayor and Stuff

2010-09-01T19:05:00.001-07:00

Kind of got hit with the drawing but today, and of course it happened at work during lunch. Still haven't figured out the appeal of yellow legal pad, but that's where most of my ideas start. Anyways, had wanted to work on a couple of NPC's (Non Player Characters) and the idea of having a "Mayor" of the city had been floating around in my head for a while. I jotted down a quick design that I'm ultimately pretty happy with, even if he does bare a striking resemblance to Wilford Brimley.
The image of seeing an animated mayor standing at a podium in front of city hall get's me excited to do more with it. I'll probably add a few more city officials, so I should start including them to my design doc before I forget.

On the subject of animation, I've been thinking a lot about the look I've been wanting to achieve and I'd love to emulate the blocky, low-res style of the old Lucasarts adventure games.
I need to start researching exactly how this was done. I assume it was with giant sprites used basically as layers in the animation. I wonder if setting up these scenes would be similar to how a time line would be set up in Adobe Flash. Having different layers designated for separate sprite animations would help the mouth phonemes and eye expressions. It would also maintain the pixelated look I want. My general fear is that the WMV movies that XNA allows would look blurry when blown up, while I would prefer keeping the hard edge.

I'm close to the end of my book, so I'm hoping some of these answers will be settled by then. I wonder if there is a book dedicated solely to 2d sprites?

Back To Programming! Chapter 11 Finished!

2010-08-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe it had been a month since I had picked up my programming book, "Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0: Learn Programming Now!", then I took stock of the last month and realized that it isn't all that hard to believe. Lucky for me, my bathroom and drain situation is under control and I think I can start getting my schedule back in order.

Tonight's chapter was Chapter 11: A Game as a C# Program. I learned a little more about "classes" and "methods" and how the a program initially starts in its code. More importantly, I learned about working within the television's Safe Zone so as to prevent graphics from traveling to the outer area not normally shown on older "tube based" televisions.

More than ever, my time away from the book affected me tonight. At this point, I'm not sure if its the general nature of the author to not include things or if I'm constantly missing them. I can forgive the instances where he is expecting me to place certain text in that you automatically do for every project (namely the information under the Draw Method), but its getting harder to let slide the situations where he is changing variables in the code and not telling you to do the same. Once again, it has resulted in my cross referencing my code with his finished website samples to find the differences.

Even with the frustration, I'm down to the last 5 chapters with only a little over 100 pages to go. I know that sounds like a lot, but the end is finally in sight. I'm probably going to look into a few other options to continue learning, but haven't decided which ones yet. I'm hoping to figure that out soon.

Something to Listen to

2010-08-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

Recently listened to an interview with Brad Rigney conducted by the Sidebar podcast. As much as I hate that I let my digital painting fall by the wayside, I still like to dabble and keep up on artists in the field. Listening to the podcast, I couldn't help but get really amped up about working on my projects, just by listening to his enthusiasm. Here's a guy that went from an extremely low point in his life, picked himself up, and through sheer determination became one of the most renowned artists in the field. I wish I saw more of that in my daily life, but know too many people that prefer to line up excuses as to why they simply "can't." It was striking to hear his "get off your ass and just do it" attitude and it really put things in perspective as he talked about "giving up on" other things in your life to dedicate to your craft.

It really is an amazing interview and he seems like a really decent guy that you could just pal around with. To be completely honest, he reminded me a lot of Twisted Metal's David Jaffe with his very frank and open opinion on creation.

Podcast Link

Brad Rigney's DeviantArt Page

Also, you might want to check out the rest of the podcasts on the site. If you are an artist, I'm sure you'll recognize many of the names they've interviewed. And even if you aren't an artist, the interviews offer tons of insight into other people's creative process.

He-Man: Blade

2010-08-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

Finished my little test with my new Cintiq. Might have to callibrate my monitor and tablet because I painted it to be a bit browner than it may appear here. Who knows, my normal monitor is a bit on the bright side also. Anyways, happy with the Cintiq. Hoping to do more of the rogue gallery.

Update

2010-08-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

I must not have been too bummed out from my last delay because its been another week without programming. I have been adding to my design doc, but the last week has proven pretty difficult as it relates to free time. In my defense, I had to do some remodeling to my bathroom, fix a basement drain that left me without water for a week, continue my new workout schedule (down 15 pounds in 3 weeks!!!), and I got my Cintiq. In fact, the above pencil sketch is something I threw together to test my Cintiq out on (I will be inking and coloring on it).

I was inspired by an amazing artist named, Dapper Dan. I was a big fan of his stuff when he would just post on the AWN forums (at least that's when I first saw him). He would do these great Rogues Gallery collections that I couldn't help but stare at. Anyways, it inspired me to do one of my own, at least for practice. Looking for something unconventional, I'm going to try and do the rogues gallery from the Masters of the Universe movie. First up is Blade.

Dapper Dan's Blog

His Moleskin Blog

His deviantart page

Where'd I Go?

2010-08-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Just looked at my blog and am a little upset that it has been so long since I've updated and more so since I've picked up my coding book. I feel like I'm so close to jumping into the beginning stages of the creating my game, but life has become real hectic.

First off, I saw this really cool video on IndieGames.com:

Adam Atomic Talks Canabalt - IndieGame: The Movie from IndieGame: The Movie on Vimeo.

Its basically another interview with an indie game developer (Adam Atomic) discussing his project, Canabalt. While his game looks great, annoyingly only taking him 5 days, I was most interested in his discussion of whether or not sound needs to contain the same retro feel as the art work. It was a topic I had spent some time thinking about in the past and was glad to see it addressed in this short.

In game news, the more I look at the blob in the previous post, the more I want to change it. It doesn't exactly have the transparent feel that I'm looking for so it may end up getting reworked. I have a tendency to stick with the first design that comes together, mostly because I struggle sometimes getting a workable piece together. I'm trying to use my new "Get it right, instead of Get it done" philosophy that I promised myself I'd do for this game.

Also, I recently purchased a used Cintiq 12WX on Ebay and am still in that half way point of excitement and buyers remorse. I've wanted one forever and finally broke down and got one. It should be in the mail soon so I'm anxious to play with it.

So, what with Madden out this week, my need to paint my bathroom, and a new work-out regiment, free time has been sparse (Yes, I understand Madden IS free time). I'm going to try and make it a point to pick up the book tomorrow.

Superhero Game - Sketching

2010-08-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Got the urge to sit down with the sketch book and jot down a few ideas. Here are a few rough sketches and poses of the main character as well as a new "Slime" type enemy for the game. Of course I could resist down-rezing it to see how it will look. Here you go.

Dustforce

2010-08-02T20:59:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to post this video that I saw over at www.indiegames.com. Not exactly XNA related, but I like keep up with what is out there on the indie scene and this has a fun look to it and clever animation. The direct link to the original story is here.

On the "Superhero Game" front, did some sketching earlier today and found a couple of poses that I really liked. Of course they are drawn about the size of a nickel so I will have to blow those up and see if I can translate them to finished art.

Also, been thinking a lot about the logistics of the buildings and some of the things I need to take into account when designing them. I'm probably going to continue to "fudge" the perspective, but I may have to rethink how I originally had planned the top of the buildings. Previously, I was just going to have the top edge flat (not seeing the platform at all). But now I realize that you can't have the wall of the building in front of the character when he lands on it and also behind him when he's flying in front of it. So the perspective change should help that, but I'm a little bummed I had to change it.

Hopefully I'll post some sketches soon as I wanted to really buckle down and start drawing the main character a lot. I'm hoping the repetition will help me get really comfortable with my design for him.

Feature Creep

2010-07-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it was last night's coding session, but I've been hit with a new found excitement for working on the game. This morning I decided to sit down and write down some of the newest ideas for my game into my Design Doc so I wouldn't forget them. My Design Doc has now grown to 3 pages (doesn't sound like a lot) and I'm starting to fear my game might be suffering from Feature Creep. For those that don't know (and I hadn't heard the term till about a month ago), Feature Creep is when you keep adding new ideas to your project until you over complicated its design and ultimately dilute the original intent.

I carefully reread my document and realized that it wasn't so much new features I was adding, but more like references to the style and look that I wanted for the game. I'm trying to be mindful of not making my first game too big, but I still contend that nothing I'm doing is more complicated than things I've seen way back on the SNES. I'm just piecing together things that I like and trying to bring a fresh spin to a genre that I've always enjoyed. Looking through my Design Doc, it's obvious that I'm an artist jumping into programming because all of my "style" notes come with descriptions on how I would do it in Flash, Photoshop, or After Effects.

Well, just wanted to get that out while my mind was running crazy. On to the busy weekend.

Chapter 10 finished

2010-07-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

Seeing as my Saturday is going to be busier than usual, I thought I would stay in tonight and catch up on some programming (seeing as I haven't done any in 2 weeks). This evening was "Chapter 10: Using C# Methods to Solve Problems" and was exciting because it was the introduction to the final third of the book (Part III: Writing Proper Games). This chapter was mainly about adjusting the rectangle for drawing 2D textures, creating your own Methods, working with "floats", and using breaking points to help debug your code.

Had very few problems with this chapter, which was a nice change from the last few where I'd been absolutely stumped by some unforeseen problem. I remember opening the book and dreading the threat of having to post on the forum with another problem that was clearly my own fault. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

Once again, he is not terribly clear on where to be putting code, but more alarming are the instances where he adds code without telling you. There is one section where you are starting with a picture that is much larger than the screen. You are to gradually shrink the picture, but only to the point where it matches the screen size. He explains a bit of code that works out pretty well and everything comes together. Later, you add a bunch of new code and, without any inclination, the previous code is replaced with an entirely new one. Now, I'm not sure if this is by design, but its a little annoying. Oddly enough, all of this searching for the differences in my code and the book's online examples are probably teaching me a great deal.

All in all, it was a fine and I was relieved that everything I had learned hadn't flown out of my head during my 2 weeks of neglect. If I'm lucky, I'll try and do the next chapter on Sunday night.

Book: Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0: Learn Programming Now! (Pro - Developer)