http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/ en Copyright 2012, The Pickford Bros The Pickford Bros are veteran independent video game designers based in the UK. Their blog documents all their latest work. http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=666 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=666 Following up my post from a fortnight ago about getting back into drawing actual game graphics again (instead of admin, bizdev, marketing, planning etc. which usually takes up most of my time), here's work on another graphic, from clumsy sketch to finished... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=666#comments Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=665 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=665 It's a funny thing being a self publishing indie game developer. The 'self publishing indie' bit can take up so much time and effort that I sometimes forget about about 'game developer' bit. I still consider myself to be primarily a video game graphic ... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=665#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=663 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=663 Earlier this week my brother wrote a blog post about fairness in the video game business. One part of his post talked about how supportive and helpful indie developers are to each other, freely swapping information, tips, even code itself. It's always ... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=663#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=662 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=662 Over the last few weeks I've heard of a business practice amongst indie developers that I found quite shockingly unfair. This lead me to thinking about the concept of fairness in business. I suppose, along with my brother Ste, I've been a businessman ... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=662#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=661 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=661 Another lovely photo of a Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint Hall of Fame certificate landed in our inbox last week. This is certificate number 4, owned by ex-world champion Blueprint player, and creator of the brilliant Tap! Magazine tutorial video for th... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=661#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=660 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=660 Andrew Davies, the first member of the Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint Hall of Fame kindly sent us this beautiful close up picture of his unique 'number 1' certificate. It has pride of place on his wall now, I hope! http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=660#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=657 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=657 A journalist asked me last week if I had any photographs lying around of either me or John working on a ZX Spectrum for an article he was writing about the early British computer scene. I don't have any photos from when I was a kid so I give my Mum a ri... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=657#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=655 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=655 Andrew Davies, the world number one Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint player, sent us this brilliant, epic video last week. In it he explains in great detail his techniques for earning record breaking scores, and, using those techniques, he takes you throug... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=655#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=659 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=659 Here's an excellent Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint tutorial video made by Jim McCauley for the equally excellent Tap! Magazine. Jim reviewed the game for Tap! Mag (giving it 5 stars!) and was briefly the best player in the world, topping the Game Centre ... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=659#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=654 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=654 Andrew Davies is back! The top Magnetic Billiards player in the Leaderboards and the Hall of Fame has beaten yesterday's 84m scoring shot by Jim McCauley with an assured 98m shot. Surely the 100m barrier will be broken before too long? Keep the shot vid... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=654#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=653 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=653 Just after he gave us a video yesterday of a 50 million scoring shot, Magnetic Billiards: Hall of Fame member Jim McCauley sent us this follow up video, smashing that record with a shot worth 84 million! We think that's throwing down the gauntlet to all... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=653#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=652 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=652 Hot on the heels of the incredible 103 Buzz Multiplier shot posted yesterday that earned a staggering 26 million points, here's an even higher scoring shot from Jim McCauley, another member of the Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint Hall of Fame. While not qu... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=652#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=651 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=651 This is a video of possibly the greatest Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint shot ever taken, earning 26 million points in a single shot! It was sent to us by Andrew Davies, currently top of the game's Leaderboards, and the first member of the Magnetic Billia... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=651#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=650 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=650 This is the official BAFTA photo of the winners of the Online / Browser game award, Bossa Studios, developers of Monstermind. Oh, and that's me and John at either end. We felt a bit bad about this. All we did was give the award out, and obviously we had... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=650#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=645 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=645 Congratulations to Russ, the fifth member of the Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint Hall of Fame, shown here hiding behind his personalised certificate of achievement before it takes pride of place on his wall. We're now up to six members in the Hall of Fame... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=645#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=644 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=644 Squish is the second of the prototypes built into Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint v2.0. Unlike ISMMTTM, Squish isn't an entirely new game; It's a potential new arcade mode based on the MB game mechanic with a few key changes. History I've been tin... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=644#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=642 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=642 Before we had a chance to drown our sorrows we were whisked backstage to get ready to give out the award for best Online / Browser game. We had a script given to us in advance, which said a bit of guff about how great online browser game were, and finis... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=642#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=641 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=641 Before we got up to give out an award, there was the small matter of the category we were nominated in being announced. The BAFTA man told us that someone would come to our table and take us backstage in time for us to do our presentation, unless we won... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=641#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=637 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=637 Once the meal had finished, the actual BAFTA awards ceremony began, with everyone still sat at their meal tables. The show kicked off with the bizarre sight of The Saturdays performing to a room full of merry but mostly disinterested middle aged bloke... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=637#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=636 http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=636 We opened the Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint Hall of Fame with the release of version 2.0 of the game at the end of February. To enter players need to earn an S-Grade on all 80 tables in the game, including the two new sets of Tricky and Fiendish tables. ... http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/blog/view.php?post=636#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT