Monday, October 26, 2009
Philly Game Jam Results
Haze-man here. I just got back from the Philly Game Jam. It was a great experience. We didn't win any prizes, but we made a game. More on that in a later post. For now, here's some pic of the action.
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Saturday, October 24, 2009
More Philly Game Jam
This year's quote was "The Dark age is not called Dark because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it."
We're almost at the 24 hour mark here. The game is going rather well, We have an engine set up and have some visual designs that look good. Anything can happen in the last quarter, so stay tuned!
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We're almost at the 24 hour mark here. The game is going rather well, We have an engine set up and have some visual designs that look good. Anything can happen in the last quarter, so stay tuned!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Philly Game Jam
I'm off to one of the most important events for the year for me. Here me and my team will be locked in a room for 48 hours and we need to make a complete video game. It's a great challenge! Last year I came up with Trace Bug. What will happen this year?
Philly Game Jam Site
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Philly Game Jam Site
Monday, October 12, 2009
VGexpo in Philly, PA
I had some ebay related things to attend to on Saturday, so I had to make the VG expo this year a day only trip on Sunday.
Sunday being the most important to me because there is a "breaking into the industry" seminar. I attended this last year and it didn't help, but I'm a sucker for punishment
I managed to get there early and stood on line until 11am. I was happy to see that the whole convention is centrally located, with the
exception of the anime rooms and the speaking rooms for the aforementioned seminar.
"retro-con", my fav part, is again in the main expo hall. This is where you can get used retro games in a bazaar like setting.
Back when this was called the "Philly Classic" this was the whole convention. They have a full arcade on display and some expo tables
on retro-developers. The hackers have left the con, and left only the uprights and vendors. Still, it's better than nothing.
I saw some old friends and industry contacts, and that's great. Seeing new people and making new contacts is what it's all about.
As for the seminar on breaking into the industry, I'll keep my thoughts on that to myself.
Sadly, the only thing that matters about breaking into video games, is... actually breaking into video games.
The only way I could properly judge the seminar is to track all of the attendees and take statistics on
how there fare in the game industry. I don't have time for that.
Nothing great in the Arcade this year. I got some killer stuff from the vendors. More on that on my youtube page.
What I did take from this? Gleam of Force. Google it.
Also, Nintendo had a killer display and I got to play Zelda: Spirit Tracks.
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Sunday being the most important to me because there is a "breaking into the industry" seminar. I attended this last year and it didn't help, but I'm a sucker for punishment
I managed to get there early and stood on line until 11am. I was happy to see that the whole convention is centrally located, with the
exception of the anime rooms and the speaking rooms for the aforementioned seminar.
"retro-con", my fav part, is again in the main expo hall. This is where you can get used retro games in a bazaar like setting.
Back when this was called the "Philly Classic" this was the whole convention. They have a full arcade on display and some expo tables
on retro-developers. The hackers have left the con, and left only the uprights and vendors. Still, it's better than nothing.
I saw some old friends and industry contacts, and that's great. Seeing new people and making new contacts is what it's all about.
As for the seminar on breaking into the industry, I'll keep my thoughts on that to myself.
Sadly, the only thing that matters about breaking into video games, is... actually breaking into video games.
The only way I could properly judge the seminar is to track all of the attendees and take statistics on
how there fare in the game industry. I don't have time for that.
Nothing great in the Arcade this year. I got some killer stuff from the vendors. More on that on my youtube page.
What I did take from this? Gleam of Force. Google it.
Also, Nintendo had a killer display and I got to play Zelda: Spirit Tracks.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Movie Reviews for Halloween
Gearing up for the season, I have rented a bunch of horror movies, and thought I'd share my thoughts with you all.
The Burrowers
This is one of those rare horror movies that you can only see at film festivals. I had read much about it, and was intrigued. If for no other reason that I'm a fan of Tremors, seeing another movie about underground monsters was interesting. And setting it in the old west would give it a new edge as there are no concrete or steal structures to hide above.
The movie has many strong points like good acting, settings and great monster effects, but ultimately it falls flat due to pacing. I have never seen a movie with worse pacing than this one. Even after all the good monster stuff happens, you're left pondering whether it was worth sitting through all of that stuff.
If it does work, this movie works as a "heart of darkness" tale. The characters keep venturing deeper in the monsters territory and further from civilization and aid, and their party keeps dwindling in number. It succeeds at giving you a sense of dread.
Re-Cycle
When I see a Pang brothers movie doing a dark take on an "Alice in wonderland" story, I had to pick it up. I'm a huge fan of the original "The Eye". So much in fact, that I purposely avoided seeing the remake, because I didn't want it to spoil the memories I had of the Asian horror classic.
This movie has much twisting and atmosphere, but is more story driven. There is a lot of great imagery, but I just wasn't feeling it. Normally, I love a movie with lots of puzzles to solve, but this just wasn't speaking to me.
If this movie does have strong points, its in the reveals. I'll leave the review at that to avoid spoilers. If you want some surprises, check this out. If you're just looking for another "The Eye" or "The Ring", perhaps you should pass.
Trick 'r Treat
I've been watching trailers for this for years. When I first saw the trailer, I thought "this has got to be the worst horror movie ever made". But when I learned that the release was pushed back more than 2 years, I started to get some sympathy for the film. When I started reading rave reviews about it online, I was interested. Now I find myself rushing out to Best Buy and getting it on the day of its release.
This is a good movie. I wouldn't catagorize it as a classic, but It's a must have for a Halloween Party. It reminds me of the scary stories they used to show on Nickelodeon on "Are you Afraid of the Dark?". Only they don't suck. Mixing the innocent motifs of Halloween like candy and costumes with real horror elements like monsters and murderers makes for a great mix. I highly recommend this and I'm sure it will be the cult classic it deserves to be.
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The Burrowers
This is one of those rare horror movies that you can only see at film festivals. I had read much about it, and was intrigued. If for no other reason that I'm a fan of Tremors, seeing another movie about underground monsters was interesting. And setting it in the old west would give it a new edge as there are no concrete or steal structures to hide above.
The movie has many strong points like good acting, settings and great monster effects, but ultimately it falls flat due to pacing. I have never seen a movie with worse pacing than this one. Even after all the good monster stuff happens, you're left pondering whether it was worth sitting through all of that stuff.
If it does work, this movie works as a "heart of darkness" tale. The characters keep venturing deeper in the monsters territory and further from civilization and aid, and their party keeps dwindling in number. It succeeds at giving you a sense of dread.
Re-Cycle
When I see a Pang brothers movie doing a dark take on an "Alice in wonderland" story, I had to pick it up. I'm a huge fan of the original "The Eye". So much in fact, that I purposely avoided seeing the remake, because I didn't want it to spoil the memories I had of the Asian horror classic.
This movie has much twisting and atmosphere, but is more story driven. There is a lot of great imagery, but I just wasn't feeling it. Normally, I love a movie with lots of puzzles to solve, but this just wasn't speaking to me.
If this movie does have strong points, its in the reveals. I'll leave the review at that to avoid spoilers. If you want some surprises, check this out. If you're just looking for another "The Eye" or "The Ring", perhaps you should pass.
Trick 'r Treat
I've been watching trailers for this for years. When I first saw the trailer, I thought "this has got to be the worst horror movie ever made". But when I learned that the release was pushed back more than 2 years, I started to get some sympathy for the film. When I started reading rave reviews about it online, I was interested. Now I find myself rushing out to Best Buy and getting it on the day of its release.
This is a good movie. I wouldn't catagorize it as a classic, but It's a must have for a Halloween Party. It reminds me of the scary stories they used to show on Nickelodeon on "Are you Afraid of the Dark?". Only they don't suck. Mixing the innocent motifs of Halloween like candy and costumes with real horror elements like monsters and murderers makes for a great mix. I highly recommend this and I'm sure it will be the cult classic it deserves to be.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Gamestop and Honesty
I stopped into Gamestop today just to look around. As usual it go expensive, as I realized I needed a copy of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Kingdom Hearts 365/2 days, both for the DS.
The clerk rang me up and forgot to add the Zelda game and rang me up without it. I was about to leave when I noticed his error. I went back and had him charge me for the other game.
I considered just walking out with it, but I'm really not into that. I consider the clerks at Gamestop to be my people and I couldn't get one of them in trouble by walking out with a game.
I realized later that a lot of people don't like Gamestop because they take back games as such low prices. I never exchange games, I horde them. It's just how I live my life. I can't help but wonder if peoples' disdain for a corporation might lead them to take advantage of this situation. What do you all think?
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The clerk rang me up and forgot to add the Zelda game and rang me up without it. I was about to leave when I noticed his error. I went back and had him charge me for the other game.
I considered just walking out with it, but I'm really not into that. I consider the clerks at Gamestop to be my people and I couldn't get one of them in trouble by walking out with a game.
I realized later that a lot of people don't like Gamestop because they take back games as such low prices. I never exchange games, I horde them. It's just how I live my life. I can't help but wonder if peoples' disdain for a corporation might lead them to take advantage of this situation. What do you all think?
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