About everything and the rest

Finally

2011-11-25T04:13:00.001-08:00

First impression: the art palette of this game looks good right from the start.But the jaggy edges destroy a LOT of atmosphere, making it look like a PS1 game in places, I am NOT joking.

There is a nice depth of field efect drawing distant backdrops and objects blurry and soft, which gives the impression of a loose pastel painting, but those jaggies...Nintendo, you guys should have dropped the blur effect and added antialiasing !

Good quote !

2011-10-30T03:08:00.001-07:00

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass

Plasma !!!

2011-10-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

Finally !

2011-10-14T00:20:00.000-07:00

Found

2011-07-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

Snail

2011-04-28T00:46:00.000-07:00

REVISION The Easterparty 2011

2011-04-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had the chance to visit REVISION The Easterparty here in my hometown of Saarbrücken.For those who dont know what REVISION is, its a so called "scene party", where people meet and work together during 3-4 days, creating so called "demos", "intros", "extros", "cracktros", which means basically multi-media artworks with graphics, animations and music. I had the chance to get a few photos of KATAKIS 2, the successor of one of the most popular Amiga shoot'em ups, developed by Denaris Entertainment Software using Unity3D and LightWave3D. There are still some problems getting LightWave objects into Unity, especially with two UV-sets, but all in all, the FBX-importer in Unity seems to get the job done.

Tick close-up

2011-04-24T02:26:00.000-07:00

On the road...

2011-04-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

I love my iPhone, especially with Hipstamatic...

Imperfection

2011-04-03T06:29:00.001-07:00

LightWave at work !

2011-03-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

The Making Of : Eye Of The Storm from Lovett on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Christopher Walken !

2011-03-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

One of the finest actors of our time !

Frozen

2011-03-26T07:06:00.001-07:00

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: John S
Flash: Off
Film: Ina's 1969

Graveyard Dogs (the Blog): If it has to be quick...

2011-03-08T04:33:00.000-08:00

Graveyard Dogs (the Blog): If it has to be quick...: "To all our fellow developers in germany, this is tested and approved if you need some quick lunch or dinner. Utterly delicious !!!!"

Kingdoms of Amalur Preview at RPG Fan

2011-03-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

RPG Fan has a great article about this fantasy epic in the making.

Banana Cup

2011-02-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: Lucifer VI
Flash: Off
Film: Alfred Infrared

Distant Spring

2011-02-24T01:44:00.001-08:00

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: John S
Flash: Off
Film: Ina's 1969

Quantum Split Cover

2011-02-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

I use to come up with catch lines and then imagine a cover illustration for those...

Sketch Out HTML5 game !Caution: addictive !

2011-02-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

Very addictive !

Target met !

2011-02-15T08:02:00.001-08:00

"Love App" pixel editor for iPhone

2011-02-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Now there is a pixel art app for iPhone !

Run, messiah studio, RUN !!!!!

2011-02-11T11:26:00.000-08:00

They are almost there !!!!

8-bit funding funds first project complete !

2011-02-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

This game has received its target fund !

2D Boy: all the DIRTY iPAD SALES SECRETS !

2011-02-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

2D Boy tell us how well WoG performs on all plattforms !

messiah studio animation quickie

2011-02-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

Just a quick YouTube find of mine, to remember You folks that messiah studio is currently
offered for an insane price.

7000 visits !!!!!

2011-02-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

I am speechless, thanks for dropping by :) !

And while we are at it, look who is back !

Back in business !Now kick some Unity3D a** :D

Photoshop Tutorial Rap ( Lyrics In Description )

2011-02-09T01:47:00.000-08:00

Bargain alarm !!!!

2011-02-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

project:Messiah is an excellent animation and rendering package, and this deal is SWEET ! This normally costs now between 500 and 1200 bucks, and currently they sell it for 10 and 40 bucks ! Check it out !

2011-02-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

Invasion Now

Scribbles

Captain Backwater

Automatic Powerbee

Egyptian HoverCam

Standard HoverCam

Vic Whamsey: The Curse of Floddlethrodt

Cool design/photo website

2011-02-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Click me !

Robot from the "Black Hole" found in Epic Mickey

2011-01-31T09:29:00.000-08:00

I love little cameos like that...

Colour Up Your Life

2011-01-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

Need some colour schemes ? Try this link !

Funding for Indie game developers

2011-01-27T01:15:00.000-08:00

Like Kickstarter, but with PayPal.Awesome stuff, its called CROWD FUNDING.Brilliant idea !

The Art of DARKSIDERS

2011-01-08T16:33:00.000-08:00

As gorgeous as they come, this artbook reflects the gigantic effort that went into the breathtaking and mesmerizing art of DARKSIDERS.

Demonic hordes, angelic legions and amidst of it all, WAR.

Fantastic book, a must have for the fans and anybody serious about game art.

New book cover

2011-01-07T14:03:00.000-08:00

In between work on our games, I was able to paint a little SciFi cover :)
I love doing that sooo much :)

Epic Mickey is here

2010-12-30T13:47:00.001-08:00

...and it looks gorgeous.

Merry christmas

2010-12-25T01:24:00.001-08:00

Merry christmas, love and peace to everybody !!!!

My wife's first exhibition

2010-12-24T01:26:00.000-08:00

My lovely and talented wife Anna had her first photo exhibition ("constructed reality") last week at T-systems in Saarbrücken ! I am soooo proud !!!

Great drawing book

2010-12-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

Its fantastic what awesome drawings with painting like quality can be achieved with coloured pencils...this book can teach You how and some tricks or two...

The Art of Dying

2010-12-23T02:02:00.000-08:00

It is interesting to see how a persistent feature like "collecting hearts, coins, bananas and puzzle pieces" actually can imply that the player can sacrifice a "life" to get more bonus symbols. This way, dying in "Donkey Kong Country Returns" can indeed be rewarded like any other gameplay challenge, and can be considered a game design success !

Sent from my iPhone

Animated backdrop element...

2010-12-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

Used some LightWave in combination with Grafx2 and ProMotion...working on more animated backdrop elements for our game...

More graphics for our new game

2010-12-21T12:40:00.001-08:00

Chain Animation plugin for LightWave

2010-12-21T03:21:00.000-08:00

Eurisko has a great plugin for animating dynamic tank treads and stuff like that.

Circlify for LightWave

2010-12-21T02:32:00.000-08:00

http://mentalfish.com/2010/12/circlify-is-free/

Great plugin from mentalfish to edit a SubD mesh so that You can extrude round elements from it :)

Donkey Kong Country Returns

2010-12-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

RETRO STUDIOS is the developer this time, and many of You will know them from the popular METROID PRIME series of First Person Adventures on Gamecube and Wii.
For those of You who played the Donkey Kong games on Super Nintendo, this new entry in the series is not drastically different in gameplay.

The original Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country Returns

For those who don't know any game of the franchise, this is a so called jump'n'run platforming game, where You control the ape Donkey Kong (in two player mode You also can play Diddy Kong, Donkey's young sidekick) in his adventure to get back all the bananas that have been stolen by mysterious creatures.
There are two control schemes, one with and one without nunchuk support, and they both work well after a short while of learning.
The game plays on an island and is divided into different levels, with each level subdivided into smaller stages.
To advance to the next level, You have to jump and run and climb Your way through the different stages and finally beat an end-of-level "boss" to unlock the next level.
Those levels are nicely shown on an animated map of the island, where You can progress from stage to stage, a bit like in Super Mario World's map.

The Stage Map of the Beach level

While running and jumping through the various beautifully done stages, You must avoid the enemies that walk along predetermined paths, or get rid of them by jumping on their head à la Super Mario.If an enemy touches You, You loose one heart, if You loose two hearts You loose one life and have to use a "continue" in the form of a balloon that slowly floats down from above.

Besides the enemies, You must overcome "natural" environmental obstacles such as spikey spears, lava and the like, and collect as many bananas, coins and puzzle pieces as possible. For 100 bananas You get one extra life (up to three max), the coins can be used in a shop to buy more balloons, hearts, keys (to unlock secret passages), and the puzzle pieces unlock bonus stuff like concept art and songs.

There is quite some variety in the gameplay, too, as Donkey Kong has often to use different "vehicles" to progress through the stages, each with its own way of handling.

Donkey Kong about to ride on an rocket barrel

The graphics in DKCR are really colourful,from the lush detailed tropical forests to the firey volcanic mountain tops, vibrant and vivid, each level has its own theme, and the environments and creatures You encounter are superbly animated and full of personality, the textures are sophisticated and the mood and look fit the Wii like only few other games.

Donkey Kong in "Super Guide" mode

The sound effects and songs are moody, jazzy and offer a lot of "whistling along" qualities.
The game also features Nintendo's "Super Guide" mode, which players can use to overcome difficult parts.The game automatically detects how many times You failed at a certain point and offers You kindly this mode.Of course, with "Suoper Guide", You can't collect any coins, bananas or puzzles.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a great platforming game with a great longevity, partly because of its higher difficulty, partly because its easy to learn, difficult to master and very rewarding through several playthroughs (bonus items, bonusstages, time trials for beaten levels etc...).

The cooperative two player mode is a blast and will keep You and friend busy for countless hours, I would say this is one of the best two player coop games out there.

Conclusion: If You like old school platforming games, don't mind a moderate difficulty, love finding bonus items and unlocking new content, have a friend to play with, enjoy great graphics and own a Wii, this is a must buy for You.Donkey Kong Country Returns is one of the best, most entertaining titles this year on ANY platform (no pun intended).

Wii rule the world...

2010-12-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

...at least for video games :)
Considering VGChartz chart, Wii is still selling more games and hardware than any other platform .
It has sold already 4 times more than the "Gamecube" and 30 million more than the "Super Nintendo".Next to beat are the "Playstation 1" and the "Playstation 2" (still selling 200,000 units per week worldwide), the latter will be pretty tough, but who knows what happens when Nintendo cuts the price of "Wii".
If the Wii keeps on selling like that, it beats the sales figures of the "Game Boy Advance".
"WoW:Cataclysm" is out for a week and kicked "Wii Sports" to the second place (although in the US, Wii Sports holds the top spot with almost 80k units more than Cataclysm).
The top five contain 3 Wii (first party) titles, with combined sales of almost 95 million units !
The Top 20 has only 2 third party Wii games :/
Interesting is that "Kinect Adventures" can be found there, with almost 4 millions sold worldwide, and no PS Move title in the Top 20, only one at spot 37.
Looks like Move looses against Kinect.
Personally I am happy for "Donkey Kong Country Returns" (1.7 million in three weeks) and "Epic Mickey" (more than 500k since launch).
And "Kirby:Epic Yarn" has also sold past the 500k point, great :)

Tickets ordered

2010-12-16T10:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday is TRON:LEGACY day, can't wait.I hope it'll be good, it better be.
I love TRON and its visionary style for the period, the pictures I saw from the new one seem almost too wanna-be cool, but I am open minded, and I like seeing Flynn again after all these years.Hopefully it'll inspire me like the first one.

Stop talking, start acting, for the PS3's sake..

2010-12-15T01:28:00.000-08:00

Most game comparisons of titles appearing for both the PS3 and the Xbox360 end with the box beeing da winna.
And every once in a while some developer stands up and states that their game (plese insert Your favourite hardware pushing exclusive) "only uses a fraction of the power of the PS3".
I am not the smartest person in the world, but even I start to wonder, if Guerilla state that Killzone 2 only used a fraction of the PS3s power, then why is this so ? Why didnt they give paying customers 100% of the console's power ?
Wouldn't we exspect that 4 years after the PS3's release, devs should be able to use all its power and thus fulfill the "next gen promise" of 30fps at 1920x1080 (which almost no game except for a handful ever achieved).
Slowly I start to think that maybe its all just masquerade and the PS3 has already been used to its fullest but no licensed developer is allowed to say so...

ALAN, WAKE me up, I fell asleep cause I am so bored...

2010-12-15T01:21:00.000-08:00

Well, so Time magazine crowned ALAN WAKE "Game of the Year 2010" because its oh-so "mature", and meta and whatever, because You have to use light against Your enemies etc.
My buddy Matze and I played it together, and we found it to be boring as hell, repetitive, disappointingly vague, without any interesting conclusion and pretty much a waste of time.
The graphics are splendid, and the atmosphere is great at the beginning, but the further You play, the more confusing and aimless the whole thing gets.
In Alan Wake, You basically run from lightsource to lightsource, kill enemies and push the occasional switch (aka "puzzles in Alan Wake").
It clearly aims to be something like "Silent Hill", and fails totally.
I played "Silent Hill: Homecoming" afterwards and half an hour with that game gave me more story, more suspense and more TO DO than the 10 hours or so of Alan Wake.
And please don't count on AW's "story", as it has none, at least nothing that merits a game.
I have been following AW's development starting back in 2005 or 2006, and I really wonder what happened in those 5 years...

John Carmack GDC 2010 Lifetime Award

2010-11-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

Commander Keen: Invasion Of The Vorticons

2010-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Just reading "Masters of Doom" again...

This guy is...

2010-11-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

....just too good, look at this:

This is sooo great...

2010-11-04T02:30:00.000-07:00

One of the best pixel art animations I have seen (click it to see it animated)...

Here is the artists gallery at pixeljoint and here is the artists website.

Really inspiring.

Shantae comes to DS via download !

2010-10-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

"Shantae: Risky's Revenge" comes to DSiware. Any lover of pixelart should check this out, as the most talented Henk Nieborg made it, and it looks GORGEOUS.Multilayer parallax scrolling, colourful sprites and fancy animations !

Prinny

2010-09-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Thats our cute little dog Prinny (10 months).

She has to undergo two more surgeries.But she is fine and happy and keeps us busy :)

Photokina 2010

2010-09-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

ben at photokina 2010 this weekend, really an amazing show, great atmosphere, great on stage presentations.
Had some fun with Luxology's own Andy Brown, loved my first experience with the Wacom Cintiq and learned quite a bit of tricks for the work.

Check my facebook page for photos from the show floor !

Great animated short from France !

2010-09-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

Now this is something really amazing: three guys, one year, and a hell of lot of work and talent.

WATCH THIS

Mega media output ;)

2010-09-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

posted some media stuff at our Graveyard Dogs blog, www.graveyarddogs.blogspot.com.
Enjoy, while I wait for our new living room furniture to be delivered.
Its 5 weeks now since I last played a game on any of my consoles...it's about fraggin time !!!!

Moving is hell

2010-09-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Four weeks in, and we are still merely scratching the surface and living with unpacked boxes...this takes forever it seems...

Colour Cycling is still awesome (check the link!)

2010-08-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

My buddy and development partner Ed showed me this (link) and I think its just great.Mark Ferrari really knows how to use colour cycling !

William Shatner and Dick van Dyke at NewTek booth !

2010-08-01T03:24:00.000-07:00

This is just great !!!

Alan Wake "The Signal", tip for early code redeemers

2010-07-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have redeemed "The Signal" right when I purchased the game.
By then I was told I would get an email with a new code.This email hasnt come yet, BUT I was able to simply download "The Signal", as it was titled as "free" to me.Probably because I had already redemmed the add-on.So if You have not received the email with the new redeem code yet, just try the traditional way, go to the download and see if its "free".

Green Lantern is coming

2010-07-19T02:54:00.000-07:00

Ride to Hell Xbox 360 Interview - Video Interview

2010-07-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

When, oh when ? This looks very interesting, very "Easy Rider Style"...

Monkey Island 2 SE in App Store !

2010-07-10T03:44:00.000-07:00

So I HAD to get my hands on the lite version of Monkey Island 2 SE for iPhone, and already after a few minutes with the game, I found two things: blurry graphics, and outstanding controls.
Bundled with great voices and the typical Monkey Island humour, this is a no brainer for anybody who can even REMOTELY appreciate a great, funny story, hilarious situations and weird characters.For adventures in sitcom style, it doesnt get any better than this !
Now if the character sprites were a bit sharper it would be the best iPhone game of the year for me !
Grab it now and start grinning along the ride !

William Shatner stole Leonard Nimoy's bike !

2010-07-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

Priceless !

Bruce Willis: Smell Hard !

2010-07-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, well, first Harrison Ford wears an earring, now John McLane has a fragrance...this IS armageddon....

Twilight: For Guys!!

2010-07-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Finally ! It was about time...

Looking for new display

2010-07-08T02:47:00.000-07:00

My old Samsung has bad problems with brightness variations in the corners, when I move a piece of artwork from center to corner, it gets darker and darker, very bad for judging.So I need input on what screens are good, and which ones have the best viewing angle and brightness values all across the panel.
Any ideas or suggestions or experiences are very welcome. I am tending to the HP ZR24W (with S-IPS panel)...but have doubts about the backlighting and brightness and stuff...

The Last Story Trailer

2010-07-08T01:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, now this looks just great, Wii is finally getting some mindblowing visuals AND gameplay !

Amiga - Fire and Ice

2010-07-08T01:39:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, Graftgold, IIRC.Stunning visuals and too cute gameplay :D

Lionheart

2010-07-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

Another technical AMIGA masterpiece, this time from THALION.

Back then, german games where technical leaders on the platform, a bit like Crytek today.

Mr. Nutz

2010-07-08T01:30:00.000-07:00

Mr. Nutz was just a TERRIFIC game on the Amiga 500, technically up there with the best.

Multilayer parallax scrolling, tons of effects and sprites, Mode7-style 3D zooming and rotating, really, really

technically amazing, and the gameplay was like a mix of Super Mario and Sonic, gorgeous !

This one made the AMIGA truly shine, thanks to the masterminds at NEON.

Awesome news site I discovered !

2010-07-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

Really well made and always up to date, I love it !

http://www.neocrisis.com/

(Contra) Hard Corps: Uprising Extended Gameplay Footage (E3 2010) - 2D-X

2010-07-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

Awesome !!!

Castlevania Harmony of Despair Debut E3 2010

2010-07-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this looks great, the pixel art is really cool !

Sonic Colors E3- Tropical Resort Act 1 Gameplay

2010-07-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

Thats some fantastic art there, could be one of the Wii's best looking titles....

Interview with Studio Liddell, Creators of iPhone hit "Slippy Feet"

2010-06-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

Today I offer You dear readers a special treat: I interviewed Pete Caddock from Studio Liddell, the creators of iPhone smash hit "Slippy Feet" (click here to see it on iTunes) !
Lets get behind the scenes...

Hi Pete,please describe Your company, how and when did You start, whats Your position ? Any prior game dev experience ?

The company I work for is Studio Liddell Limited, an independent 360 creative agency based in Manchester and London in the UK. The company started out as an illustration, design and finishing studio, progressing into 3D, animation and interactive areas over the last 10 years. I began working with Studio Liddell whilst running my own company "SmartScreen Digital Media Limited" and in 2004 we teamed up to develop a real-time 3D ship simulation for SS Great Britain. We went on to create a number of visitor attraction installations, culminating with our pride and joy (at the time) "Quantum Sheep and the Wonderful 'Wolds" - a 3D console game, styled into a PC based kiosk. This was a joint production with Stardotstar, and it currently tours the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to encourage kids to visit certain hsitorically interesting places in the Cotswolds. It's about a time travelling biped sheep who has to travel back to the prehistoric time period, the Roman age, the Medieval period, and / or the Victorian period (you can use any of the images on our web site under Interactive "Quantum Sheep") to rescue lambs which have gotten lost in time! My position at Studio Liddell is Head of New Technologies - I get to research new technologies and look for new ways of creating revenue streams, as well as developing some internally as test beds. I have been programming since I was at school in the mid 70's, I started in CESIL and moved onto BASIC, then 6502 and from there into STOS, AMOS, BlitzBasic 2, Flash, Director, Authorware, Scala, Blitz 3D and more recently Unity. My first commercial game was "Astrowarp" which was published by Page 6 on the 8-bit Atari in the mid 1980's. I wrote my first simple multiplayer games in 1989, using MIDI on the Atari ST. Most of my more recent commercial work has been for companies requiring interactive multimedia for visitor centres such as ss Great Britain Museum, the National Space Centre, the Royal Institute, the Science Museum, for whom I design and develop simulations and games both single player and multiplayer.

That's an awesome track record !How was the idea for "Slippy Feet" born ?

Studio Liddell adopted Unity in 2008, and with the iPhone version began looking into App creation. Slippy Feet was born out of a Flash game I designed when "Happy Feet" the movie came out, we wanted something which was simple and wouldn't take too long to develop from scratch.

How many people worked on it, how long ? Did You use any third party tools/engines, and why ? How did they perform ?

"Slippy Feet" actually underwent three major revisions during development, mainly because we were getting used to new tools and the Apple SDK. There were two people involved, myself (designer, coder, tester) and Lewis (a young 3D artist and animator). We used 3DS Max for the 3D assets, Photoshop for the textures and backgrounds, and Unity iPhone with the Apple SDK. There's a lot to learn with the Apple SDK and at that time it was very new, so newcomers had a bit of a struggle to get up and running from being a PC based developers, to learning a new OS and Apple SDK and Unity too, it caused a few headaches. All good for the soul though! :) The SDK and Engine performed really well together, making iPhone development much easier for 3D games than if you were to start with OpenGL. There's also a lot to consider and re-learning to be done, as the iPhone is a small device with limited power and graphic capabilities. Ligthing was very costly in terms of rendering, large textures had to be reduced greatly, amazingly with little overall quality issues, frame rates were slow to begin with as we found ways of squeezing more out of the little device. We designed 18 levels but only managed to get 12 into the final build, due to memory restrictions and the fact we wanted to make a small download.

What was Your "best moment" during

development ?

Getting the game accepted into the App Store was probably the best moment during the whole development period.

Hehe, I know exactly what You are talking about ;)
How do You like the iPhone as aplatform for game development ?

iPhone is so exciting as a platform to develop for and now as iPad begins to take it's place next to the iPhone and iPod touch the platform will just go from strength to strength. iPhone itself has a few limitations which get less and less with each new generation, but you still have to keep older units 'fed' with Apps so don't neglect them. It is exciting as there are so many different Apps for it, and as many possibilities for Apps as there are grains of sand on a beach.

Any special advice for the fans playing Slippy Feet, like a special gameplay tactic or a hidden gem ?
Yeah, whilst playing the game, stop for a moment and keep the device still. Watch carefully as the camera moves right into Slippy and have a laugh at the amusing, five different idle animations and blinking we programmed into this little chap. Also, whilst playing the game, double tap the screen. Another is tap the screen higher up for a bigger jump and lower down for a little jump.

Any advice for people starting out with game development (no matter what platform) ?

Yes, never give up, always keep going. If you get stuck on an issue, walk away for a few minutes or even come back to it with a fresh mind (after a sleep for example). Also play and test all the way - re-iterate and although you should mainly always keep to your design, never be afraid to ask "why?" am I doing it like that - if it works - it works - if it doesn't then change the design! Oh and Good Luck!

Thanks, Pete, and much success for your next projects !

Gandalf Goes to the World Cup

2010-06-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

Soooo funny !!!!

映画　SPACE BATTLESHIP ヤマト　TV-CM　TRAILER

2010-06-29T00:54:00.000-07:00

Animation: Run Mario, RUUUN!!! Icon, Pixel Art, Buddy Icons, Forum Avatars

2010-06-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

This looks waaaay cool !

Animation: Run Mario, RUUUN!!! Icon, Pixel Art, Buddy Icons, Forum Avatars

Grafx2 vid1

2010-06-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Its one of the top three pixel programs out there, if not the best !

iSculptor - How to Model a Chair

2010-06-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Awesome, this is a 3d modelling app for iPhone, also available for iPad !

2010-06-24T04:47:00.000-07:00

1Up has a great article about "Ni no Kuni" for PS3.Now THAT is the kind of awesome graphics I wished they would use for Zelda:The Skyward Sword.

NVidia - Hair Demo GPU Tessellation GT 200

2010-06-22T03:33:00.000-07:00

This could be future power of the next Xbox/Playstation/Wii...awesome step forward !

The GPU chip behind the 3DS revealed

2010-06-21T02:58:00.000-07:00

The GPU chip behind the 3DS revealed

Rain Splash Tutorial in NewTek's LightWave 3D

2010-06-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition LeChuck's Revenge E3 2010 Debut Trailer ...

2010-06-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

Rage Demo

2010-06-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

Deus Ex Human Revolution E3 2010 Trailer [HD]

2010-06-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Trailer - E3 2010

2010-06-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

PuckSlideHD is here for iPad !

2010-06-17T04:02:00.000-07:00

Finally, "PuckSlide HD" is available for Your iPad right now in the app store !
This is a classic game for two players that will probably pretty fast become one of the most popular iPad games, due to its ease of access and everlasting fun !
Challenge Your friends, hold tournaments, battle it out one-on-one !

Get it here: http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/puckslide-hd/id375680833?mt=8

Nintendo's E3: The Fall of Wii

2010-06-16T01:18:00.000-07:00

Well, that was it.While the 3DS will probably rock the handheld world, the Wii has been dropped like a hot potatoe.
I had big hopes for the console to show its power again in 2011, but it seems Nintendo gave up on it, degrading it to the basic party- and casual console it always was called and stepping back to sidecrolling platform wii-makes like DKCR (amongst sidescrolling things in Epic Mickey which sucks big time, sidescrolling in the new Metroid, sidescrolling in SMG2...hey Nintendo, wasnt that like 20 ago on the Super Famicom ?).
So if You (like me) had hopes for cool new games in the style of God of War, Darksiders, Resident Evil 4, TimeSplitters, which the Wii could handle without problem, You'd be disappointed: Mario Sports Mix, Wii Party, Wii-makes of classic Super Nintendo titles...that the future of Wii.
Cling to Your Monster Hunter Tris, as this is as far as the Wii could go, sadly enough :(
Oh, and whoever decided on the new (final ?) graphic style of the new Zelda should be fired: flat, undetailed, Mario Kart meets Zelda style graphics, which is like two generations behind Twilight princess.On the other hand, if You know one Zelda, You know them all...

The Force Unleashed 2

2010-06-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

What is good gamedesign ?

2010-06-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

As I have retaken my role as tutor in Heidelberg, teaching "Gamedesign and prototyping", and I want to ask YOU, dear reader, what You think makes a good game design, and what a game designer should be skilled in especially ?
Please let us discuss, let me hear Your opinions !

XCOM teaser

2010-06-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

StarCraft 2 teaser

2010-06-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

Next sculpting tool...in Blender...

2010-06-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

Unlimited Clay - test 2 from Raul Fernandez Hernandez on Vimeo.

iSmashem Galactic FREE for a limited time !

2010-06-06T01:44:00.000-07:00

iSmashem Galactic is now free for all, but for a limited time !
*CLICK*

Also awesome: Sculptris 1.0

2010-05-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

About everything and the rest

Finally

Good quote !

Plasma !!!

Finally !

Found

Snail

REVISION The Easterparty 2011

Tick close-up

On the road...

Imperfection

LightWave at work !

Happy Birthday, Christopher Walken !

Frozen

Graveyard Dogs (the Blog): If it has to be quick...

Kingdoms of Amalur Preview at RPG Fan

Banana Cup

Distant Spring

Quantum Split Cover

Sketch Out HTML5 game !Caution: addictive !

Target met !

"Love App" pixel editor for iPhone

Run, messiah studio, RUN !!!!!

8-bit funding funds first project complete !

2D Boy: all the DIRTY iPAD SALES SECRETS !

messiah studio animation quickie

7000 visits !!!!!

Photoshop Tutorial Rap ( Lyrics In Description )

Bargain alarm !!!!

Cool design/photo website

Robot from the "Black Hole" found in Epic Mickey

Colour Up Your Life

Funding for Indie game developers

The Art of DARKSIDERS

New book cover

Epic Mickey is here

Merry christmas

My wife's first exhibition

Great drawing book

The Art of Dying

Animated backdrop element...

More graphics for our new game

Chain Animation plugin for LightWave

Circlify for LightWave

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Wii rule the world...

Tickets ordered

Stop talking, start acting, for the PS3's sake..

ALAN, WAKE me up, I fell asleep cause I am so bored...

John Carmack GDC 2010 Lifetime Award

Commander Keen: Invasion Of The Vorticons

This guy is...

This is sooo great...

Shantae comes to DS via download !

"Shantae: Risky's Revenge" comes to DSiware. Any lover of pixelart should check this out, as the most talented Henk Nieborg made it, and it looks GORGEOUS.Multilayer parallax scrolling, colourful sprites and fancy animations !

Prinny

Photokina 2010

Great animated short from France !

Mega media output ;)

Moving is hell

Colour Cycling is *still* awesome (check the link!)

William Shatner and Dick van Dyke at NewTek booth !

Alan Wake "The Signal", tip for early code redeemers

Green Lantern is coming

Ride to Hell Xbox 360 Interview - Video Interview

Monkey Island 2 SE in App Store !

William Shatner stole Leonard Nimoy's bike !

Bruce Willis: Smell Hard !

Twilight: For Guys!!

Looking for new display

The Last Story Trailer

Amiga - Fire and Ice

Lionheart

Mr. Nutz

Awesome news site I discovered !

(Contra) Hard Corps: Uprising Extended Gameplay Footage (E3 2010) - 2D-X

Castlevania Harmony of Despair Debut E3 2010

Sonic Colors E3- Tropical Resort Act 1 Gameplay

Interview with Studio Liddell, Creators of iPhone hit "Slippy Feet"

Gandalf Goes to the World Cup

Colour Cycling is still awesome (check the link!)

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