New Years Resolution: Update this thing.

This year I want to actually keep this thing updated. I don't have much to say today, but here's some links to the productive things I've been up to:

My first stab at stop-motion animation prettied up with effects.

A typographic animation of some dialogue from My Little Pony: Friendship is magic.

I've been given press access to some of the extra paid features of a little game called Gobbowl. I wrote some impressions, and a review is incoming.

I wrote an article about Sonic.

Moral choices can be silly . . .

I threw these together in my spare time with some friends the other day.

I entered one of Cracked's photoplasty contests.

On a sunny day in the Green Hill Zone, Sonic was enjoying a morning run. The blue streak sped by, dashing across the checkerboard landscape without a care in the world. Suddenly, Sonic tripped and landed into the deadliest trap he'd ever encountered...two springs facing each other. He tried jumping to safety, but the disorientation caused by the impact of the springs proved too much for the blue hedgehog and he lost consciousness. When Tails found him, it was too late...

It's on page 4.

Busy busy.

My nonexistent readers,

I won't be updating this writing exercise in which I pretend I have readers and comment on video games as consistently after all because I'm currently involved in three game projects! This is fantastic because these projects will be better portfolio pieces than whatever I write on here.

I designed genre seperators.

To celebrate moving in with my girlfriend I designed genre seperators for our combined DVD Collection.

 More after the jump!

Halo

Unsure of what to write about this week, I was browsing through a few videos I had favorited on Youtube when I came across this little gem. It's really worth watching to the end if you've got a moment as a true testament to the time and effort put into crafting the worlds we regularly stain with alien guts and zombie giblets. This video inspired me to speak on a subject that has been a long time coming for me.

I'm a big Halo fan.

Halo has become somewhat of a punching bag among gamers. The series has been accused of being stale, unoriginal, milked, and responsible for the rise and domination of first person shooters we see today. There are plenty of good arguements on this side and I'm not here to try and disprove or devalue any of these opinions/accusations. I'm just here to defend one of my favorite franchises to the best of my ability.

The Player-Funded Development Process

If this were a popular blog with readers and not a personal writing exercise/portfolio, I'd apologize for the lack of recent updates due to end-of-the-semester projects. This summer I should be updating once a week on Wednesdays.

If you want to develop a game independently with no intention of seeking out a publisher, any expenses are likely going to come from your pocket. It can be a great investment, especially if you manage to create a huge hit like Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Hell, now you can apparently get a grant for your game. Even still, independent game development is a tough business that can easily result in lost time and money.

The good news is that with more and more professional development tools becoming easier to access, the indie games scene is growing every year. Indie developers are finding new ways to fund their development. Two developers have taken a new approach to getting the funding they need by allowing players to pay to play early builds of the game before it's released. It's basically beta testing that requires a credit card instead of an application with your computer specs attached.