How My Grandfather Won The War: The Art Of

For those who are still gritting their teeth in anticipation over the competition's results, you can rest at ease as they were revealed just a couple weeks ago! I happened to tickle enough of the judges' collective fancies and scored 3rd Place in the ArmorGames Award category! The prize is a generous monetary gift along with a front page sponsorship at ArmorGames.com. Much thanks goes out to the judges, the fans, my Facebook supporters (my one Twitter supporter), my testers, and especially those who enjoy a challenge (which in turn re-mentions people in the former categories).

The original game can be played here and the ArmorGames version here (though they're 99% identical, so you'll be getting roughly the same cardboard experience).

Also, there is a review (:D!) of my game available here.

I've gotten polar-opposite responses from people regarding the visuals and the gameplay, so I'll save the gameplay chit-chat for another day. In the meantime, let's take a look at some of the artwork for the game.

The whole idea of the narrative was not to tell too much, but to try and keep it from a familiar point of view. That's where I got the idea to tell it through a sort of 2nd grader's cardboard puppet show. I've been watching lots of awesome cardboard videos for the last couple years and even fitted my portfolio website using all cardboard, so I figured it would be fun to continue working on a cardboard world.

Here are a few of my inspiration videos, all very cool stuff: here, here, here, and here

I originally had plans for crazy moving parts and multiple layers of brown parallax, but factors of time constraints, Flash's limited power, and gameplay mechanics had me cut back unnecessary effects. The most important rule that I upheld as much as possible was to suspend the illusion that this game could actually be recreated in real life. That's why the plane you control is held up by strings, why duct tape is seen on seams, why explosions are held up by sticks, and generally why nothing simply appears out of nowhere.

So, where did I begin? Well, first I went to various wholesale clubs in my area and did some free box shopping.


Awesome. So then I ripped them up, scanned them in, and created everything digitally. That part took a few weeks.

The loading screen needed to be simple while also following my one rule, so I figured I could have a roll of masking tape roll across the screen, while simultaneously collecting a strip of tape. Doing so reveals the game within as the 4 panel flaps lift up for the first time. I ended up using them as the transition between any two screens for the sake of continuity.

The title screen was one of the last things I put together, mostly because I wanted to have a good feel of what the rest of the game would be like before I tried to design what the player would ultimately see first (excluding the loading screen).

I just wanted to show the Settings screen because those slider buttons took a while to get right and I love how they turned out. :]

The death screen shows up whenever you get hit by something bad. This happens a lot, so I wanted to have some sort of notation to let you know just what went wrong. Again, to suspend the illusion, the life display at the bottom is held up by metal dowel rods and change their graphic by flipping around.

As for the rest of the game, I thought I'd do you a favor and show every single asset in the game, namely the bad things and their counterparts underneath. Needless to say, if you're still interested in discovering what lies ahead as you progress through the game, the following image contains every single spoiler in the game... so don't click until you're absolutely ready. For the rest of us, this is a nice chance to not only see how things match up with their happy alter-egos, but you can also see them in detail without having to worry about dodging, charging, and shooting. And if you're wondering why some objects don't have an alternative form, that's because of gameplay design choices, which I'll touch upon another time.
I'd normally have some kind of concept art to show where the designs came from, but for the sake of a time-sensitive competition, I just kept messing around with the colors and shapes in Photoshop until I was happy with them. In general, though, the process for each asset was to:

• Draw the basic shape of the object
• Color & shade for volume
• Add cardboard texture behind and filter it through appropriately
• Readjust colors (as the brown cardboard can make things too red)
• Cut out a cardboard shape around the object (to make it appear like scissors cut it out)
• Fade the color out subtly in areas where the corrugation is exposed
• The drop shadows were added in Flash, with the exception of the planes' wings.
  

That's about it!

Ikaruga Pumpkin Carving: Halloween Harmony

I originally had two separate pumpkins planned for tonight, but I ended up taking a lot longer on this one and didn't have enough time before the trick-or-treaters would be bombarding my door this afternoon with fabric-softener-riddled pillowcases and fancy costumes that just begged for me to give them extra candy out of adorableness.

This sucker took about 6 hours from gutting to cutting. Though it needs no introduction, this is a depiction of the two playable ships in the 90s shoot-em-up Ikaruga. The game itself is based upon a balance between black and white, which I tried my best to replicate in the carving.

Out of the ~100 people that came to my door, not one of them recognized the fighters, though I really can't blame them, especially with less than 100,000 people [in the world] even owning it on XBox Live.

It's one of my favorite games ever, takes only 20 minutes to play from start to finish, and I've never beaten it, despite having put in hundreds of hours. Clearly, I do like a challenge. Below you'll find a YouTube video of it rotating, along with some other detail shots. Happy Halloween and eat that candy slowly!

How My Grandfather Won The War: The Game

After roughly 7 weeks of working on a Flash game from conception to completion, I can now finally show you my entry in the 6th Casual Gameplay Design Competition hosted by jayisgames.com, a game I lovingly refer to as How My Grandfather Won The War.

The game is hosted along with the other entries for the competition, and voting is open to anyone and everyone. If you happen to like my game, I wouldn't mind at all if you helped out and gave a helping vote. So, click below to go to the competition page and check out all of the unique games. My entry features a picture of a red airplane, which is placed randomly in the set of thumbnails.

--> Competition Page

And because I always make sure to post something visual, here are a few screenshots from the game:





So, in summary, I had a lot of fun making it, and I hope you enjoy playing it as well. If it seems a bit difficult, just keep on trying, and I'm sure you'll make it through. Afterall, the game takes about 5 minutes from start to finish.

Many thanks to my testers for helping me make the game playable (but not necessarily easier).

Oh, and voting is awesome, so go support indie games.

Enjoy!

Network is the Name of the Game.

So, during the first week of August, I traveled down to New Orleans to take part in SIGGRAPH's first ever gameJam! competition, willing to spend 24 hours in a chair to create a game out of thin air (with the help of my wonderful teammates of course). The experience was fantastic, the food delicious, and the game... experimental. We spent about 3 hours just coming up with what you do in the game, constantly throwing out ideas that had been done before. Our final result was something special (which is what you get when you toss out things you know were successful elsewhere). The good news is that we won the Committee's Choice Award, which effectively granted the three of us passes to next year's SIGGRAPH in LA. As for the bad news, there is none. Awesome, right?

I would be apologizing for the 2-month tardiness of this post (the competition itself taking place exactly 2 months ago today), but I was waiting for something special. That something finally arrived in my mailbox this week, which greeted me with some fantastic postage in the corner. I'm too used to Liberty Bells and Homer Simpsons on any packages I get, so this was a wonderful treat.


As far as what was inside, that would be September's issue of Animation Reporter, "Asia's leading Animation industry magazine." And inside on page 18? That would be my first ever appearance in a magazine, an almost full page feature on my team and our game Network. It was part of a larger feature that covered both the gameJam! and the FJORG! competitions from SIGGRAPH 09. A lot of my Ringling friends were featured in there, along with their own interviews, so go check it out!


And since you've been wondering this whole time, yes the game is playable right now. So go play and enjoy!

Also, there may or may not be a two-part behind-the-scenes video of the experience at gameJam... Okay, there is.

A Picture of My Face and a Faraway Place

Here's a self-portrait I threw together in about 6 hours. The hardest part was bringing myself to cut my glasses in half ;]

In other news, I'm off to New Orleans next week in a two-fold plan that involves both breaking my 22-year timezone curse and participating in SIGGRAPH's 1st annual gameJam! 24-hour game design competition. The awesome part is that by this time next week, I will have created and finished a fully functioning game (with the help of my two teammates, Jonathan and Drew). That's saying a lot, what with how many games I've finished otherwise this summer (official count: zero). The important part is that they're seeing progress, so rest assured that they will one day be available for the world to enjoy. I suppose playing other games along the way isn't necessarily helping get my own done, but it sure does allow me to see what else is going on out there. I warn you all to stay away from Kongregate. There are quite a few gems there that sneakily make time fly like no one's business.

Apparently I Make Miniature Houses, Too.

The project here was to make a Wizard of Oz-themed retirement cake that leads to a house with the phrase "There's No Place Like Staying Home." I was tasked with making the house and helping out a bit with the cake (grass and brick laying, below).

Working from memory rather than reference

Plans for the house made in Flash. I tried to create it
in as few pieces as possible, for stability's sake.

Pre-taping phase

Chimney, bushes, and Roosevelt

I don't even think people could get this low to the cake.

Sunroom located in the back. Windows were made
super tinted for lack of better materials
(we're talking 1/2 in. width for the whole thing)

Assorted views. Coloring done with Prisma Colors.

Beginning of cake. That lemon brick road was delicious.

Coconut grass. And lots of it.

Not as grandiose as Emerald City,
but it sure seems a lot cozier.

EDIFICE

So, my senior thesis at Ringling has finally been completed! Production started in December of 2007 and really hasn't taken a break since. I couldn't have done it without the help of my teammate, friend, and partner in crime Patrick Haskew, the other half of Team Bonesaw. Clicking the image above will take you to my website where you can (finally) watch it. And for those of you wanting a few more pixels for your pleasure, here's a link to the HD version on YouTube.

In other news, my second project for senior year is also completed, though it's of a much smaller scope (17 months vs. 4 weeks). It too is available to view on my website, under the Animation section.

Other than that, I'm off to graduate from Ringling in a few days. What I'll be doing after that, I'm not too sure. I have a few Flash games I'd like to polish up and finish, so look out for those in the coming months.

We'll meet again someday soon :]

Must go faster. Must go faster. (A bat's story)

Here's a few screenshots from my latest Flash game I've been working on for a few months. The idea came to me one day when thinking about cool things to escape from. An erupting volcano immediately came to mind, and our lovely bat friend followed shortly after. I'm not sure when the game will be available to the public, but I can assure you it's been a blast to work on so far.




Other than this, I have a couple other Flash games under production as well (yes, the heart game is still beating). I've also recently finished my senior thesis animation with my partner Patrick, so that should be available on my portfolio website in a few weeks. I'll of course make word of it here as soon as it's available.

Just a few weeks of school left, so hang in there. I have a few things to take care of first.

Parry Like You Mean It

This was done as a present for my good friend Berto, but it also stands for a few things - the recent release of Street Fighter IV, a glorified portrait of our virtual battles, how important it is never to give up even when you're down, and of course just how large the moon can become when fighting to the death in a sacred forest. Just something to munch on for now (as we all know my mouth is soon to be filled with a hadouken).

Cardboard Needs Love, Too

Looks like my portfolio website is all ready to go, for your viewing pleasure. I spent a couple months programming, designing, and basically getting the whole thing together, which has resulted in this little cardboard world where you can come see my most cherished pieces of work.

I'll keep putting work up there as I finish them in the coming months (the big update coming in May 2009 when I finish my senior thesis). Meanwhile, stick around these parts for some progress updates on my other side projects in life.

Enjoy,

Still Rockin On.

Hi all. I may not have been posting recently, but I assure you I've been working on fun things. To answer a few common questions:

- Yes, the Heart game is still in production and is coming along nicely.
- Yes, I do make hip-hop instrumentals as a hobby. You can find my finished beats at onemrbeats.blogspot.com.
- No, I won't be posting any animation from my senior thesis until sometime next year. It's a slow and loving process.

Recently, I've been working each day on my senior thesis with my partner Patrick, slowly bringing our vision to reality (I mean virtual reality, right?). I've also been putting together a senior portfolio of my work, so expect a nice little link to my portfolio website in the coming weeks.

Other than that, enjoy the self portrait posted above. I think I was excited to get laceless shoes for the first time. They're treating me mighty fine to this day.

Hearts Are Meant To Be Played With!

I've wasted no time this summer vacation starting work on a new Flash game. I have far too much sudden freetime and motivation to create something new to not take advantage of that dead space between school and a summer job. Production is already well underway in both programming and art direction. Here's some early work I did on deciding upon basic shapes. The colors may change, the shapes may change, but the general positioning of things is set in stone. I can't get too much into how the game works or even what kind of game it is. All I can say is that I'm excited to work on it and I'll keep you updated on any major progress points I hit along the way. Until then, enjoy the sunshine and be productive in your journeys!

Kinkaku-ji: The Golden Pavilion

I recently finished up work on a gaming level using the CryEngine 2 SDK. It was for my world and asset building class in the Game Art + Design minor. This is the first class of its kind, not just at Ringling, but in the world. That pretty much comes down to having the students in the class doing extensive research and trial & error in figuring out how to get things to work in this brand-new gaming engine. It's been a fun adventure learning how to create all elements of a world and make them work together.

My level is loosely based upon an actual building in Kyoto, Japan called Kinkaku-ji, or The Golden Pavilion. It used to be a retirement home for a shogun in the 1300s, but later became a Zen temple. It actually burned down twice, which is cool that it's still standing today. There's even a live webcam feed showing it off 24/7. I picked this building as my reference based solely upon the beauty of the building and the surrounding area during winter, when the snow falls enough to give a great contrast between the dark woods and the pond. The real challenge for this level was to build organic objects - like trees, rocks, grass, etc - from scratch, with no formal training in such a task. All in all, I like how it turned out.




And here's a shot of the temple at a different time of day, making use of a new color scheme to get a different mood.

I would have loved to get video of my level in action, but we're currently trying to work things out with video capturing software. It's pretty fun to move around in there, especially since the pond is frozen and you can run on top of it.

Three D Me

Here's a small taste of my Lip Sync caricature model that's being used for various exercises in Computer Animation this semester. We spent a while last semester planning out designs and storyboarding our animations, and this year we got to finally go ahead and build everything. Being an animation aficionado, I didn't start having real fun until a few weeks ago, so I'm glad things are in motion now.


And while we're at it, let's take a look at the full body, including a t-shirt I wish existed and some Superstar kicks. This also happens to be the stage used for my final Lip Sync animation, to be completed within a week. Take care and enjoy Spring, folks.

It's Animation Time!

And now it's time to show my work from last semester in my Computer Animation III class. We designed, modeled, textured, and rigged a character from scratch (mine being an alien with spikes named Prickle). Then we spent the rest of the semester making three 15 second animations, each one's production time lasting about 3 weeks. Click the images below to watch each one.




Expect some content from the current semester in my next update. In the meantime, enjoy these little guys!

Have You Blasted Your Metroids Today?

[located in the Games section]

It seems as if I had to have the semester end before I could make any progress on my Flash work. Thusly, this time of the year allowed me to finish working on Metroid Blaster, a game I started almost a year ago. The original purpose of the game was to take a beloved franchise (Metroid), change its genre (platformer/adventure to arcade action), change its controls (controller to keyboard/mouse), and see if it still functions.

As per usual with all of my Flash games, I always try to learn something new that could benefit me later. In this game, I finally dabbled in the world of stereo sound. Hopefully my effort in that department is working. Other than that, I had to cut a lot of content out of the game, for if I continued working on whatever I thought could be added, it probably would never get finished. Omitted items include missile powerups, various level designs, fusion Metroids, and a final boss Metroid that doesn't fit on the screen.

Many thanks to my beta testers that helped me out over the summer. And for those of you Metroid fans that feel the need to mention it, I'm well-aware that there were never any Metroids in Old Brinstar. That level simply has a fond place in my pixelated memory. Have fun playing and enjoy.

The Bean Bag, ver. 4. Finally.

The Bean Bag

I finally got around to updating the look of my website that showcases my work in Flash, including games, experiments, and animations from the past that I'm glad I've learned from. I went for simple this time around, making sure that it doesn't take too long to get to anything on the site.

The bad news is that there's nothing new on the site content-wise. The good news is that I'll be adding a game I've been working on for a few months relatively soon. I just have some things to tighten up before it goes live. I suppose more good news is that all of my games work in Firefox now, which had nothing to do with me. Firefox simply doesn't support a feature that naturally works in IE. It's been resolved on my end, though, so everything should be fully functional now. Enjoy.

Informal Introductions

Greetings Everyone,
As you no doubt have guessed, this is my blog. I thought I'd start things off with a piece from my Drawing for Animators class. The first image shows the general order of progression I went through to get the composition, while the second image is my final piece, after adding values, color, blurs, and other assorted visual candies. I rather enjoyed working on this piece.


And the final drawing:

That'll be about it for now. I plan to use this blog for school work - including animations, images, and gaming materials - as well as things for fun, such as Flash experiments and games. It should be pretty fun as I get more content here. Until then, enjoy yourselves.