I OH U

Wither

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:13:00 +0000

Led by a Promise~
An interesting experience to be sure, Wither was created by Rastek, and is probably one of the most morbid RPGs you will have ever played.

Unlike most games made using the RPG Maker series, there are no battles in Wither. Without spoiling too much (hopefully), your main objective will be to fulfill a promise made to your brother (now deceased) by collecting 12 flowers.
One thing I really appreciated about Wither was that, instead of standing around complaining about irrelevant nonsense, the NPCs really play a role in helping you to acquire each flower.

Just to play it safe, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone struggling with depression, but if you're looking for something different, Wither is one of those unique titles that really stands out among other games made in RPG Maker, which is often looked upon in a bad light.
Download or check out more information about Wither here.

Deharmonized

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:48:00 +0000

Follow the Bouncing Ball~
The word "tranquil" came to mind as I worked my way through one of Elektron's latest offerings, an experimental one-button game.

Being a rather brief experience, I won't spoil it by going into detail, but I found it to be a pleasant break from a hectic day.
Download Deharmonized here.

Generica

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:04:00 +0000

Grind Grind Grind~
Generica is an old-school RPG thrown together in RPG Maker 2003 by Kentona in approximately 10 days.
Choose from eight classes to make your winning team of four heroes, go in search for the Gladius Generica, and bring an end to the evil Slayer King's rule once and for all!

This is not a very lengthy RPG, but still contains a surprising amount of content (secrets, side-quests, collectibles, etc.) and provides the player with many team customization options that could either make the game easier, or give a bit more challenge for those that like to test themselves.
There's quite a bit of grinding involved, in fact, I actually recommend that players grind a bit before moving on to each new area (at least during your first time through the game), not only for the level increase, but for some extra money so that you can afford the expensive equipment in the next town you reach. Battles are often speedy, so I didn't find the grinding to be much of a problem.

I appreciated the fact that, even though Generica was made within a short period of time, it did not come without a sense of humour. The title of the game itself is a joke, implying that this is yet another generic RPG, and while that may be true to some extent, there's something about Kentona's games that I find very appealing, keeping my interest more than many other indie RPGs available.

There is one thing I would like to warn everyone about, and that is the "evil" equipment you'll find throughout your adventure. Perhaps I missed something, but I don't recall any information in or out of the game that told of the negative affects that come along with evil equipment.
First of all, once you equip something evil, you'll never be able to get it off again (to my knowledge).
Second, while each evil equip has tremendous benefits, they also give unspecified side effects.
Just as an example, I used an evil equip on my soldier that wound up giving a massive boost in strength, but made him miss often, and put him in a permanent state of "berserk", which prevented me from controlling his actions and selecting the enemy he'd choose to attack.
Mind you, the evil equipment was a great addition to the game, and provided yet more options for players, but I wish the risks involved had been made a bit clearer. Beware!

For those interested in knowing, my team consisted of a soldier, warrior, thief, and paladin. Felt like a pretty solid group to me, but see what you can come up with!

You can find the latest version of Generica (make sure you also download and apply the ever important v1.2 patch found on the same page) here.

Pixel Artist Feature

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Wicked Pixels~
Sometimes, it's just nice to take a minute to appreciate the work of others. Gives one a break from planning/creating, and levels up that inspiration meter.

Here are several pixel artists more than worth keeping an eye or two (or perhaps even three) on:
Badassbill
Neoriceisgood
JinnDemonEvil
jnkboy
Blanco-Pantera

Enjoy!

Griefer

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Capture the Gem~
Terry Cavanagh has released a new multiplayer "experiment": Griefer.

Griefer is actually a hack of his chatting-as-a-cat-with-other-cats simulation, ChatChat, and started as a project for the 48-minute NanoLD game jam.

So what is it about? Simply put, it's capture the flag placed in a setting reminiscent of top-down 2D action RPGs.

After spawning in a world, you search for gems with other players. Once you find a gem, you must take it back to the nearest town to level up, but beware, other players can (and will) stop you in your path and claim your gem if you fail to reach a town safely!

I had quite a rousing session of Griefer already.

First, I started out in a world all alone, which was good, because it gave me a little time to figure out what was going on.

Soon after I finished a round on my own, another player spawned in my world and the fight began! Once my character got to level seven, the other player seemed determined to steal my gems; they stalked me relentlessly (creepy), but I prevailed and won the round.

Griefer is not a game for the solo-gamer, so if you find yourself alone in the world, make sure to invite a friend!

Swing by Kongregate and give it a go!

Misdirection

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Frustrating is the Word~
Elektron describes Misdirection as 'a frustratingly difficult platform game which aims to greatly limit player movement'. That pretty much sums things up, but there are a couple points I'd like to bring out.

Let's start with the limited movement.

The goal of the game is to guide the square, marked with a directional arrow, to the end of the level; simple. However, the square can only be moved in the direction it is currently pointing. In order to change direction, you'll have to touch the square to designated walls while avoiding traps like spikes and bullets.

Just to make things harder, the game later introduces keys that must be collected in order to advance.

Now, while I rather like the concept, I believe there are some things that could have been improved (and hopefully will be).

The level of frustration isn't solely created by the above mentioned challenges. This is obviously my opinion, but it seems to me that (1) the control mechanics could have been tweaked a bit more, (2) level design (placement of map structures) could use improvement at times, and (3) the walls that change the player's direction could have been made to stand out more. With a timer that's constantly counting upwards with every second of playtime, visually locating the walls one is required to reach wastes a little too much time for speedrunning.

Despite its weaknesses (which are fixable ones at least), Misdirection should be given a shot.

You can download the game here.

TowerClimb

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

Beta & More~
TowerClimb isn't dead! For that matter, neither is Davio, thank goodness (been wondering how you've been, buddy).

We will hopefully soon be seeing a new website made for TowerClimb, as well as the latest beta release made available to those that pre-order a copy of the game (the current planned price for pre-orders is $5.00, which comes with access to the full game when it's released; when the game is finished, the price may increase, so you'll save yourself some mula if you go with the pre-order).

Read all the details from Davio's (soon to be defunct) blog, and listen to a track from the game here.

Alter Ego

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:56:00 +0000

Phantom Twin~
Alter Ego is a puzzle platformer by the Russian one-man development team, RetroSouls.

Through each level, you'll attempt to collect all the scattered pink and blue pieces of who-knows-what while avoiding enemies that seek to block your path. Your transparent alter ego can switch places with you to help solve each puzzle, but only a specified amount of times, so think carefully before you make that switch. Also, only your alter ego can pick up the blue pieces.
Later levels introduce new challenges, such as falling platforms and moving pieces.

There's quite a bit of polish here; great mechanics, pixels, and music.
Give it a go!

Download the PC, ZX-Spectrum, and NES versions from this page.

Like the music? You can download the OST here.

Bear With Me

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Formatting~

I've been toying with various formatting styles for my blog submissions, so bear with me everyone; articles may be set up a little differently at times.

OUTt

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:37:00 +0000

Underground Fortress~
OUTt is a browser-based puzzle platformer that was created by Mike Inel in a period of 12 days.

You take on the role of an individual out for a walk with a friend (or perhaps a rival); both of you unexpectedly fall through the ground into what looks like some kind of abandoned base, inhabited only by lethal drones. The goal is to find your way out.

While, visually speaking, OUTt is beautifully ambient, making your way to the goal will not be a walk in the park. The game consists of three increasingly complicated puzzles you must complete to unlock a series of doors leading to a final, and rather hectic, escape sequence (surprise included).

During your adventure, you'll come into temporary possession of three different powers. Red floor tiles give you the ability to create a mirrored version of yourself that you can control to reach otherwise inaccessible areas, yellow floor tiles let you rotate the world around you, and blue floor tiles enable you to deactivate enemies for a short amount of time. None of these abilities feel like useless gimmicks, because they play a big role in solving each puzzle. Sometimes, you're required to use more than one at a time.

I would like to warn everyone that the numbered puzzles should be completed in order, because it is possible to get stuck in the game and have to restart if you try to complete, say, puzzle 3 before 1 or 2.

Play the game here.
Stuck? Watch the walkthrough.

Zebalooz

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:03:00 +0000

Extreme Littering~
Amidos has released a new browser game that makes a humourous statement regarding the amount of garbage being thrown around (literally) today.
You take on the role of a helpless citizen, trying to avoid the many dangers of the street. It's not just cars that you need to worry about; look out for falling bags of trash! Who knows what people are stuffing in those things, but they're heavy enough to kill you with one blow!
Ultimately, the protagonist must suffer a gruesome fate as the challenges become increasingly difficult. While playing Zebalooz myself, I managed to avoid all the garbage, but some crazy driver finally got the better of me...
Overall, Zebalooz is a perky little time-killer (good job, Amidos). It includes music by Easyname and bold pixels by Tomas Barrios.
Check it out from Amidos' original blog post; it's playable on several different sites.

Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 15:54:00 +0000

Back Home~

Had a great time visiting friends and family in Colorado. Took about four days to drive out there, but it was totally worth it; so many artsy places around there that are right up my alley, and the scenery was pretty much always inspiring. It seemed as though wherever you were to look, there was yet another photograph-quality scene in front of you.

Friends took me to Arches National Park in Utah, which was amazing, and I got a new hoodie that says "Utah rocks!" on the front, with various pictures of famous rocks in the park; corny, but fun.

While visiting my family on the top of the Rockies, I caught some virus they were kind enough to share with me, so the trip back home took longer than I was hoping, but I finally did make it back, and it really is nice to be home; when you're ill, being away from home is the pits, really.

Devotion~

Chanced across this little game by a DeviantArt member; hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere, but I thought it was pretty good considering it was their first finished game, so give it a play and see what you think, because it really only takes a couple minutes to complete.

It's certainly more than I can make with Flash.

Beautiful Games~

Being a fan of 2D fighters, I can't tell you how much I'm drooling over Card Sagas Wars, well, actually I have been for quite a long time now, but it seems like every time there's a new gameplay trailer, it looks even more amazing, so the wait is starting to become almost painful.

Seriously, have you watched the latest trailer? Watch it. Now. Or else.

Also being a rabid shmup fan, Jamestown, though I find the name a little weak, looks like it's going to be a dream come true for some of us. The visuals are stunning, the combat looks challenging, but most of all, the option of up to four-player co-op play is the cat's whiskers and more.

I remember my brother-in-law and I used to have a lot of fun playing an old PC shmup called Demonstar, because it had two-player co-op, but after some time playing, it got to be a little monotonous. There really wasn't all that much variety, but for its time, it was rad.

Anyway, Jamestown looks as if it'll more than make up for anything that old PC clunker lacked, I mean, just look at it.

Recently, one of my favourite developers (Konjak) released an unfinished game, Iconoclasts. Not surprisingly, it has some of the best pixel art I've seen for a long time, and it's a shame that Konjak probably won't be finishing the game as it is now, but not all that surprising at the same time since he's been using Construct 0.X. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a total Construct fanboy, but it is very difficult using Construct 0.X for anything major, because there are a lot of bugs still that have to be worked around, so it's really better for shorter projects (unless you're amazing like Davio).

However, we can hope that he'll finish the game some day using some other language or software if he gets enough support, because it really is a gem.

If you haven't played it yet, you should head on over to his website and try it out, for the inspiration if nothing else.

Game Jolt~

So I left the Game Jolt team, as many of you already know, and no, it wasn't an easy decision to make, because Game Jolt had really become a part of daily life for me, and I've always enjoyed trying to help where I can and having a share in something I believe in. My dealings with Game Jolt have given me some good experience, and I've learned a lot from it.

However, one person is only able to do so much (especially someone with rather limited abilities like me), and I guess I feel that Game Jolt has grown to a point where I'm not really able to help people much anymore.

It's not like I'm gone forever though, I'd just rather not be staff anymore. To me, Game Jolt is still the best place for me to host any silly games I happen to make, plus, I've befriended so many people while there (the rest of the GJ team goes without saying; those dudes have practically become brothers to me).

Anyway, I'm sure the site will get along fine, as well as all the regulars that visit GJ, so keep up the good work everyone!

FireFruitForge

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:50:00 +0000

After Dark~

While checking my messages on DeviantArt (and being lazy by not answering them just yet), one of the daily deviations at the bottom of the page caught my eye. It was a pixel art tutorial on how to draw a tree, created by Kiwinuptuo, and it's a rather nice tutorial at that, so I was checking out the artist's gallery and very quickly came upon some game screens of a project they're involved with. The project is called After Dark, and it's looking promising. The game seems to borrow some similarities from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, especially the object-throwing targeting system, but of course, going along with the game's title, it definitely has a darker feeling to it. There will first be a freeware release of After Dark for PC, and then it will later be released for iPhone. Let's hope the gameplay manages to live up to the pretty pixels.

More information and updates can be found on FireFruitForge's website.

Art Geekistry

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:25:00 +0000

New PC~

So I've finally upgraded, and I have to say, it feels swell. I loved my old PC, but when it came to high-res imagery/print editing, it was like placing bets on a snail in a horse race. Everything's working smoothly so far; lots of speed even when I'm working on ridiculously large prints.

To go along with my new PC, I bought myself a SAI license (can't tell you how much I love that program), so I'm hoping to get started on a lot more digital painting, or at least practicing for a while anyway; always good to work to improve, huh?

Society6~

Just joined Society6; it's a place that offers art, tee/hoody, and electronic device skin/shell prints. Feeling pretty excited about it, though in all honesty, I still prefer RedBubble for shirt prints, because they offer more options to their customers, but the stuff that Society6 offers is at least good quality anyway, so that's what really matters.

Check out my Society6 store (only one design up at the moment) here.

New Job~

So far my new little part-time job has been interesting, nothing I can't handle really, but I'm definitely green in the field. At times it gets a bit frustrating and I wind up working till late hours with almost nothing to show for it (bad days), and since I work from home, in those kinds of situations it can be a bit hard for my boss to tell how hard I'm working, but hopefully as I get better at the job itself, that kind of stuff will clear a bit.

Doyora~

One of my DeviantArt pals recently uploaded his current brush set (will link below), and in my opinion, his landscapes/scenes are pretty amazing. I don't think SAI will use PS brushes without them being converted and such first, but for any PS users out there that would like to check them out, hey, they're free, and most likely pretty dang rad.

Doyora is also apparently working on an indie game project with a friend.

Check out his latest journal entry on DA for a download link to the brush set and more info on other stuff here.

Game Jolt Absence~

I know some of you have been wondering what the heck's going on since I haven't been on GJ for a little while now. Well, junk happens, and it's been happening a lot just lately in my personal life, as well as in the lives of some of my very close friends, and I've just needed a break. GJ isn't the only thing I've been taking a break from, so don't get paranoid or anything.

I appreciate all the "miss you"s I've been receiving, so thanks everyone. The GJ community matters to me, in fact, sometimes I think it matters a little too much! Please continue to support GJ and help it to thrive.

While I'm at it, I'd just like to add that my fellow MODs are almost too good to be true, and they've really been a support to me during the low times. Keep it up guys.

Indie Fighters

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:34:00 +0000

Battle Capacity~

I don't know, maybe I'm just looking in all the wrong places, but indie fighting games (I'm talking about games that work similarly to Street Fighter here, not Streets of Rage.) seem to be rather few and far between; bring in the question of whether an indie fighter is good or not, and the list of games becomes even shorter.

I found an indie fighting game that may be of interest, but first I'm going to ramble on for a bit.

Most of us have seen what MUGEN devs have brought to the table... Garbage. I'm not saying all of the projects are, but a lot of them, yes, very much so. That being said, most don't even want to get involved with using MUGEN even though it is capable of making somewhat decent fighting games (especially since development has continued somewhat on the MUGEN engine itself), because they don't want their names tied to the rest of the junk that's been created with the engine, which is understandable. However, other game-making engines are rather difficult to use for this particular genre, so a lot of people just give up completely on the idea.

Another option is Enterbrain's 2D Fighter Maker 2nd, but due to lack of understandable translations and tutorials, not many have been able to put that to good use outside of Japan. We've seen that it's certainly more than capable of making good fighters; Vanguard Princess, for example, is just about the best freeware indie fighter I've ever played. However, games made with 2D Fighter Maker 2nd do tend to be quite massive in file-size for some reason, and can be a bit hoggish with resources depending on how it's used.

Now, coming to the game I recently tripped over while taking a stroll through the interwebs, the game is Battle Capacity. Being a fighting game veteran (Bahaha!), I took it upon myself to try this one out, so get ready for some more rambling.

Battle Capacity appears to have been built using the 2D Fighter Maker 2nd engine, but there also seem to be some extension files I'm not familiar with in the package, so I don't know what that's about.

The idea has been based around a forum community project that invited people to create their own Pokemon-like characters, so none of the playable characters are human. There's a lot of variety in the character roster; no two playable characters are too similar, and they all have their own stories as well (Colossoil has to have the funniest story in the game by far). One thing that caught me by surprise first thing was the fact that the hand-drawn animations for each character have been put together rather nicely; this tends to be a common downfall with a lot of indie fighters, so it was refreshing to see that some lively animation had been put to use in this title. There are a couple little things that bother me with some of the character designs though... Syclant's main colour selection is a bit ugly in my opinion, and Cyclohm's heads are rather difficult to see.

As far as the combat goes, some characters are a bit tighter than others, and it can be hard to tell if you're hitting the opponent with a few of the moves, that is, without having to look at the hit counter. I'd say that, out of the characters I've used, Colossoil and Fidgit have some of the tightest combat going for them. The selection of moves to choose from for each character seems to be varied enough, and already, there should be at least one character that matches any player's fighting style.

The menus and HUD really could use some polish, but as the developer has said he will continue to improve this game, hopefully we'll see some better looking stuff in that department eventually.

There are three different modes, and two difficulty settings. You can play solo (story mode), with a friend (and it is possible to play online with a friend via lunaport), or use the training mode to try out some moves, though I haven't figured out how to get out of training mode without having to close the game itself.

So overall, I'd say this indie fighter offers some fun, which is more than most of them can offer, but it could still use some improvements of course. It's worth a play if you like fighting games (and if you do try it, you've got to play through story mode as Colossoil, I'm telling you), but I think it would also be a good idea to stay tuned to further development for needed improvements that will make the experience more enjoyable.

CO dot CC

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:05:00 +0000

Heads-Up~

I'm thinking of switching back to the standard blogger URL. Why? Well, I don't want to have to think about renewing the domain once that time comes around, because knowing me, I'll probably forget and then not know what the heck's going on, so it'll be a little extra load off my mind. If any of you have iohu.co.cc bookmarked, you may want to switch that to iohu.blogspot.com for when the time comes.

Indie Game Demake~

So I actually managed to make something for Game Jolt's Indie Game Demake Contest, but most probably wouldn't really consider it to be a game. I chose to demake a "game" by Yaruhara (aka Dong), namely, Soup ver 0.9.

Soup ver 0.9's simplicity was a bit of an inspiration to me back when I first played it, because it's just a great example of how laid back one can be with game design; creating something interactive that gives off various moods or feelings, but doesn't necessarily have an understood goal.

My contest entry is entitled Broth ver 4.5 (Totally clever, right?), but I must admit that while it was supposed to be a demake, it went a little in its own direction. For example, in Soup ver 0.9, the player doesn't look like anything in particular, because the camera is placed in first-person perspective, but since I gave Broth ver 4.5 a top-down 2D view, I had to represent the player with something visual, or else no one would know where they were going. Another rather large difference is that while Soup ver 0.9 had set themes for each room, Broth ver 4.5 is randomly generated from 100 available sprite icons, 11 room textures, optional noise texture, 30 (Or so... I can't even remember now.) walking sounds, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting about, so it's kind of unlikely that you'd see the exact same visuals coupled with the same sounds two times in a row.

The most unfortunate thing is that I really wanted to create a selection of short tunes/rhythms to be chosen at random, but I didn't have enough time before the deadline to do so, and I don't consider it to be a finished project due to this fact. I haven't even tried making music in such a long time as it is, so it would have taken me a while to even come up with anything anyway.

Whenever it is that I manage to finish Broth ver 4.5, I'd like to send it off to Yaruhara as a little gift to show my appreciation for his inspiring experimental games, though it would be a rather weird gift I'll admit...

T-Shirts~

It had been quite a while since I uploaded a new t-shirt design, so when Ashley mentioned how much he liked my old Happy Squiggles design that I threw together for Drawing Day, I decided to work on a new design with happy squiggles, and this was the result.

As you can see, I made two colour variations so that the design would work on every shirt base colour available on RedBubble, and I'm thinking of doing the same for some future designs as well.

I'm very pleased to say that the RedBubble staff featured the white version of my design, and it has now become my most popular shirt design on the site so far.

You can check out the black version here, and the white version here.

On a final note, I'd like to thank everyone that supported me while I was working on that particular design; you guys are (get ready for this really hip saying) the bee's knees!

Such a Mystery

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:21:00 +0000

DeviantArt~
So I just noticed recently that I have a premium subscription on DeviantArt till December 2010... I have absolutely no clue how it happened. Either some super nice person gifted me the subscription anonymously, or I qualified for a deal that I didn't even know about.
Anyway, whatever the case may be, it's awesome to have another subscription!

While I'm on the subject of DeviantArt, one of my pals finally got a little feature in someone's news article; she deserves it.

Also, the amazing extvia will apparently be creating a tutorial on how to paint with GIMP; can't wait to see his process and tips. I don't personally use GIMP, but I know it's a very good program if used by the right people, so I may look into it a little more depending on what I think of extvia's little walkthrough.

T-Shirts~
I finally got around to uploading some Game Jolt t-shirt designs, and it was a good time to do it since I finished designing the new Game Jolt logo and all. Check them out and see what you think:
Game Jolt logo:
#1
#2
#3
Character:
PandaC

I also made a little fake logo design I guess you could call it, and have uploaded it as a t-shirt design here. Just made it for fun really.

Sister~
My sister recently went through major surgery on her sternum, which has been keeping me busy to say the least. She was in a hospital rather far from home for a while there, so I was at home taking care of my niece and nephew, making sure they got to school and such. Of all the times it had to happen, my nephew had several nasty asthma attacks, so I was simultaneously trying to get him well while keeping up with all the other household duties; it wasn't easy. My sister's back home now though, and she's recovering.
Most likely due to all of the confusion caused by the above events, I haven't really been as inspired to create new artwork. I certainly have plenty of ideas still, but I've just been too worn out to really do anything with those ideas. I'm sure I'll get over it at some point.

Laid Off Games~
My cartoonist buddies Py and Teben are now part of a new indie game development team called Laid Off Games, and they're working on their first project, namely Apple Cyber. Check out their site and join the forums! Py and Teben are a married couple in reality, and they're just about the nicest people you could meet, not to mention talented. Py created the character design for Apple Cyber, which you can check out here, and Teben also made his own rendition here; gives you an idea of what their styles are like.

Games Games Games~
The Blockbuster near me closed down, so they had a big clearing-out sale. I got there a bit late in the week, so most of the good stuff was already gone, but I managed to find a copy of Animal Crossing: City Folks for only $15, and it works perfectly. Great game, and a great deal at that!
It doesn't stop there though! Some survey site I've been a member of for a while gradually gave me enough credit here and there that I was able to get a 2000 point Wii card; I already had 200 points in my account, so I chose to download the WiiWare version of Cave Story, as well as Blaster Master: Overdrive. Both of those games were totally worth the points; very enjoyable.

People~
That word is becoming more and more of a dismal saying along the lines of "blech" and "ugh"... Why? Very simply, it's because people can just be a real drag at times, seriously. There are quite a lot of pleasant people we can meet and relate to, but once in a while some of the more discouraging people manage to creep in and cloud out our motivation and will to accomplish things we enjoy doing. I'm very fortunate to know as many kind and supportive people as I do!
However, if you ever feel down because some gloomy person is really starting to get to you, just watch this video, and the skies will clear once again (it makes me laugh every time)!

Still Among the Living

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:03:00 +0000

Pneumonia~
As most of you know, I've been battling pneumonia off and on, so updating the blog has been a bit tricky/impossible, but hopefully the worst of it is over now and I can continue to present some items of interest to you all.

Wacom~
Thanks to a friend and some advice from several pleasant and talented cartoonists I've met (Teben, Py, and Keith -- Check out their galleries!), I will finally be receiving my first wacom graphics tablet in the mail. Let me tell you, I can't wait to get my hands on it! It'll probably feel very weird at first since I've been creating digital art with just a mouse for such a long time, but I'm sure I'll get used to it and have a lot of fun in the process.

Not Just Another Flywrench Copy~
Axcho on DeviantArt asked me to test his game entitled Flydrill; I was actually quite impressed. I was, of course, just expecting another rip-off of Flywrench, but while Flydrill is somewhat inspired by Flywrench, the two games have very little in common.
Y'all should definitely give it a try and see what you think.
Axcho has also written up a pretty lengthy article on what he's learned during the process of creating Flydrill which you can check out here.

Jammed Out

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:15:00 +0000

Twitterfied~
Yeah yeah, that's right, I succumbed to Twitter. I have yet to test its ability to increase my design sales, but I must say I'm actually enjoying Twitter so far, which is something I didn't expect.
You can find me on Twitter here.

Game Jolt Weekend Jam: Part 2~
Well, I wound up participating after all. Davio invited me to help him with character spriting/animation, and although we didn't finish our game before the jam deadline, I really had a lot of fun. We'll be continuing work on the game now that the jam is over, and I'll update you guys on any notable progress that you might find interesting, without giving away too much of course.
There were some really great games as a result of this jam, so head on over to the official jam page at Game Jolt to see the list of uploaded games.

New Look

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:39:00 +0000

Fashion~
So I finally updated the graphic layout of my blog so that I can let you all know what's going on without feeling guilty over my blog looking so shabby. Talk about a weight off my shoulders!
15 of my watchers on DeviantArt said that a pixel art layout design would be good, while 9 said that vectors would be nice, so I went with a pixel art style that has somewhat of a vector-ish look to it to hopefully win the majority over.
So what do you think of this new look?

Game Jolt Weekend Jam~
So wow, the jam is starting later today (I'm up way too late right now, what's wrong with me?). I never actually signed up as a participant, because I haven't been sure as to whether or not I'd be able to, well, participate... A lot of stuff going on in life as usual; just recovering from pneumonia to mention one recent notable event. If I get the chance to help one of my buddies with their jam project at that last minute, I will definitely do so, but otherwise, I will be happily attending the jam at times to see how much progress everyone's making, and I hope you'll attend too if you're able!
The official starting and ending times of the game-making event can be found in the first post of this topic.

A little bird told me~
I must be one of the only guys my age that acts like an old man by refusing to jump into the new web-trends; trends like Twitter. A friend of mine was recently telling me that I could increase my t-shirt print sales through RedBubble by signing up with Twitter. Now, I don't want to be worrying about money a lot, and I don't want to look like that's all I'm interested in either, but to a sickly artist that pretty much has no money, Twitter sounds slightly attractive to me now. The question has suddenly shifted from "Who needs Twitter?" to "How long will I be able to resist Twitter?" I'll be doing some thinking over this.

Findings and Goings

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Snails = the new cars?~
Found an interesting little game called Tipp, and though saying too much might spoil the game since it's on the short side, I will say the following:
Snails = Yes please.
Random TV screens = Definitely.
Speakers playing gentle melodies in an eerie grey-toned world = Heck yeah.
Certainly worth a look-see if you want to play something that's on the strange side.

Jumble~
Been a while since I've had the chance to update my blog; a lot has been going on. In fact, so much has been going on that I really don't even think I could write about all the latest happenings, so I'll just mention one item of interest for now.

Lokijki and I were working on a project together, but that has recently come to a halt, and he's now working full-force on his upcoming game The Weather. He started up a website just for his game here.

Pixelinvoke

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Where did this come from?~
A team that goes by the name Pixelinvoke just released the first playable preview of their work-in-progress platformer game called pixelProject, and boy is it looking good so far! Very smooth gameplay mechanics already, and more than enough visual charm to go around, that's for sure.
The artist and founding member of Pixelinvoke posted the news on DeviantArt, which is where I found out about this project. Check out his artwork while you're at it; great style.
Anyway, you should definitely give this a shot and let the team know what you think so far; I'm pretty impressed myself. Download the game here! (PC only)

Shmup Love

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:10:00 +0000

Shoot 'em down!~
If you like shmups, here are some sort of recent ones that you shouldn't miss:
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Mouse No. Probably A Rat.
This is a parody of the game Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! (which is also a great shmup), and a good one at that. It was made within a few hours for a competition hosted by The Poppenkast.
I recorded one of my playing sessions in this game (quality turned out a bit bad, so I had to speed it up by 2x and add different music) which you can watch here if you'd like.
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StopHappyMonsters
This shmup is super hard and a bit unfair (in my opinion anyway), but the colours and style are so cheerful, and I get so much satisfaction from blasting the happy monsters, that I just can't help loving this one.
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How My Grandfather Won The War
Scattle had me check this one out. Another entry for Casual Gameplay Design Competition #6, this shmup has a very appealing visual style, and the concept/gameplay is interesting. You can splash water(?) on the playing field to change the surroundings and hazardous objects. The presentation is incredible for a flash game really, and I just love the real-life cut and paste style.

New Playthrough~
So I did a new playthrough vid and uploaded it to Youtube, this time for a game called Streambolt Desero. Great little (apparently unfinished?) run and gun platformer with a nice variety of skills/moves. Check it out here.
The game itself is a little hard to find since the owner seems to have removed the hosted file from his site, but you can find it available on a few other sites if you google it.

Casual Gameplay Design Competition #6

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:10:00 +0000

Drop your sord(sp?)!~
Earlier today, indiegames.com pointed out a short art game called Small Worlds (great game; check it out) that was made for the Casual Gameplay Design Competition #6. While I was playing that game, I noticed that the other entries were very conveniently placed at the bottom of the screen, and one in particular caught my eye.
If you like retro platformer/adventure games coupled with subtle comedy, you should definitely check out this game entitled The Fantasy of the SORD. The pixelated graphics are charming and humorous, the character selection is diverse (though as far as I can tell so far, all the characters act the same, but look different, so it's really just up to you what kind of creature/thing/person you feel like being), the class names are funny (i.e. White Hero, Magic Wizard, Ancient Tree Boy, etc.), the grammar is bad on purpose, there are lots of weapons and skills to find and unlock, and the in-game world is vast and holds many dangers. Convinced yet? Well you should be!
Kudos to Klint Honeychurch for making the game, and Bert Chang for making the music. This is a real gem in my opinion.
Here's the link once again just in case you somehow missed the first one.

Feathered Audio Editor

noreply@blogger.com (KniteBlargh) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Myna~
I haven't seen anyone mentioning this editor yet, so I figured I'd spread the word as it looks like it could be quite useful for some.
Myna is a sort of FL Studio-ish music-making/audio-editing platform (made by the amazing people of Aviary) that runs in your browser. You can easily import/edit sounds and audio clips of your own to use as building blocks for your new project, but if you're feeling rushed and just want to have fun making something right away, they've already provided an extensive library of clips to mess around with.
Once you're finished with your creation, you can upload it to the Aviary site to share, or you can save it to your desktop.

I personally still prefer LMMS since it has a sweet Game Boy chip and VST compatibility (plus it's always improving since it's open-source), but Myna is definitely a high quality tool worth checking out.

Take a look here, and don't forget to watch the helpful introduction video!