joe randel’s art dump

I totally called it…

/facepalm

Oh PETA… why do you hate Mama so…?

Some of you might have heard that this Thanksgiving (at least for Americans cuze we Canadians had our turkey day over a month ago) the PETA is getting all kinds of press with their parody flash game Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals. In it you get to pluck a turkey, remove the entrails, cut off the head, make stuffing and cram it in the bird and make gravy.  Mmmm… mmmm… tasty.  The game is done pretty well in all honesty with unlockables like turkey clips, turkey facts,  wallpapers and a secret Veggan recipie if you don’t do the first turkey challenges.  If you play really well you can get the rank “Meaner then Mama!”.  It’s a lot of bloody fun ^_^

I know this is parody, but what I don’t care for is how PETA puts Majesco on some of the things in game.  Mejesco isn’t killing animals… they make games.  I’m sure that the people over at the PETA would argue that Cooking Mama supports and promotes the slughter of animals to kids but come on now…  let’s be realistic.  Majesco even issued a statement about the Mama slaughter game from Mama herself.

“I would never put rat in my Ratatouille,” said a feisty Mama while beating some eggs. “Like any accomplished cook, I create my recipes to appeal to a broad range of tastes and preferences. My only goal is to ensure you leave the table well fed.”

But I’m sure the PETA won’t be happy unless Majesco releases Cooking Mama: Veggan Delights.  I know I get my meat from free run, organic farms when I can.

Sigh…

Once long ago I reviewed a MAME game.  Not just any MAME game though… a saucy adult one called Sexy Reaction Pachinko.  I said I was going to do more reviews of sexy MAME games but never did…  until now.

This one is for a game called Dancing Eyes.  Released in 1996 by Namco, it’s a game that’s sort of like Qix if I had to make a comparison.  You control a little monkey character and you run him around a grid layout cutting out block pieces until the whole grid is clear.  What’s so naughty about this?  The grid is overlayed on the clothes of an anime girl (most times) and as you clear out sections the clothes fall off her until she’s left with nothing but her undies.

So this game is a bit old so the girls are pretty low poly, but they still look pretty good I think.  Not super hot, but good.  After you beat each level you’re treated to a little in game dance n’ prance show of the girl in question.  Sometimes though it’s not a girl… but I’ll leave that as a surprise. ^_^

The game gets hectic pretty quick and then after a while just down right cheap.  You’ll find yourself wanting to yell at all the enemies running around the grid trying to stop your peep show.  But maybe thats because I kept trying to cut HUGE sections out of the clothing rather then playing it safe with just smaller parts.  The controls are okay, nothing jumped out as trouble some as I played.

Oh, and there are power ups (and downs) too if you cut out the flashing sections of clothes.  Speed up, time extend and such but the best/worst is the one the reverses what you’ve done already.  So if you’re almost done the one grid and you get this power down, be prepared to play the grid again because as it will fill in all the empty cells you have.  Grrrr!!!

I can’t possibly see anyone shelling out the quarters to see the end in the arcade as you’d be broke in no time.  Not only that but you’d totally feel ripped of if you get one of the non sexy characters too.  But spending nothing but time on a quirky strip arcade game?  Yeah, I’ll do that ^_^

Don’t worry, not me… but 1/3 of my studio currently is.

Suck…

It’s really scary when this come down.  I’ve been in a studio when the announcement is made that they have no more money and that everyone should go home.  Yeah, that was a bad day.  Is was pretty close but not quite.  The studio is hoping and pushing to have everyone back in January, but if I’ve learned anything from my time working is that you can never put your faith 100% in you employer.  If you do… well, lets just say that you shouldn’t.  So today, after the meeting this morning I started to hit up my friends and contacts in the industry and see how things are everywhere else and if anyone is, or will be, hiring.  I do know some people that have told me that I’ll have a job in their studio if I want one, so that’s good to hear.

The other huge problem is having to move to another city.  When you’re a single person, picking up an moving sucks but it’s easier to do.  But when you’re a family of 4 and a dog…  you really have to sit and make hard decisions as to what’s going to happen next.

The whole thing sucks.

Stupid crappy economy…

Feeling better today.  Thanks to everyone that sent well wishes ^_^

So today for lunch I made some of my famous (in my house) orange pancakes.  They’re soooo good.  Wife and kids love them.  It made me think of all the other things that I make well.  I make the best damn sandwiches out there and I also make damn good raisin, cinnamon bread and orange, craisin bread.  At Christmas time I make orange and chocolate cookies too.  Yes… I do love working with oranges.

I don’t cook much but sometimes I wonder if I could have gone culinary school.  Not that I really know anything about cooking but sometimes it’s nice to think about you life in a different direction.  Maybe in a another life time…

Do you have any culinary treats that you and only you make/cook?

It was bound to happen… now I’m sick.  I’m getting hot and cold from one moment to the next and generally just feel like a turd sandwich.  No puke though, just feeling run down.  Which is crazy because I’ve been home with the sick kid for one day… my wife has been home with her all week and is doing fine.

Suck…

I’m going to finish watching Survivor and then go to bed…

Being sick sucks.

My daughter is sick.  A bit of a stomach bug and a fever too.  Poor kid.  She’s been throwing up a number of times during the day since Wednesday.  Although, I have to say… she’s a puker.  Any little cold or slight fever she gets, she guaranteed to throw up at least once.  She’s been like this way since she was really little.  My son on the other hand isn’t like this at all for some reason.  I hope it’s something she grows out of as she gets older.  That would be a suck thing to bring with you as you grow up.  Also when ever she gets a fever, it usually a high grade fever.  It’s not uncommon for her to be 104/105 F.  It used to be scary but now we know it’s normal for her, although we still have to watch and be careful it doesn’t get too high.

It got me thinking about how often I get sick.  Well, I do get sick now more then I ever did thanks to my kids.  But I used to hardly ever get sick.  Maybe once a year…. maybe.  I think it’s been about ten years since I’ve even thrown up.  Seriously.

I actually knew a guy that had a phobia of throwing up.  Now that’s something I’ve never heard of before.  I also knew someone that used to be given medicine in a drop of caramel as a kid.  Now he can’t have caramel with out the urge to toss his cookies.

How about you?  Are you prone to getting sick often?  Are you a puker?

Recently scientists in Japan have successfully cloned a mouse from a lab mouse carcass that was frozen in permafrost (-40 C) for 16 years.  The new technique was demonstrated to show that cloning is now possible on severely damaged cells due to deep freezes from dead animal specimens.  Several mice where cloned in this fashion and they even mated and had healthy babies.

So what animal is at the top of the list for scientists to clone using this new method?  Yup, the great dead woolly mammoth.  Woolly mammoths have already been found in well preserved in the ice and experts believe that there are as many as 10,000 more trapped in the frozen wastes.  Why, there is even plans to make a “Pleistocene Park” in northern Siberia.  It would be twice the size of Japan and be the new home of woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, Siberian tigers, steppe lions, giant deer, ancient foxes, and ancestors of the Siberian horse.

Crazy eh?

So what’s your take on all this?  We have the opportunity to bring back long lost animals and really see and study what they where like.  To be able to touch a real woolly mammoth would be awesome.  But is it something we should be fooling with?  Is it our place to do such a thing?  I’m not sure where I stand.  On one side I think it’s amazing and on the other I think it’s down right scary.  I don’t think it’s right but I’d love to see a real woolly mammoth…  I just don’t know…

Discuss!

I received a note asking for some advice in working in the games industry.  I though about it and wrote down all I could think of that I’ve discovered in my career.  I liked it so much that I though I would share it with the rest of the world…  ^_^

I’ll tell you this about the game industry, it can be a tough job so make sure that you want to do it, and be prepared to work on games that you might not want to be a part of, it’s all a part of the industry.  You have to cut your teeth on the crappy stuff before you can be a part of the larger projects.  Be patient and don’t let issues with your current project eat at you.  Talk to your producer, talk to your studio director about what’s on your mind.  That’s what they are there for.  Push forward.  Never settle for being a grunt worker.  Learn all you can with in your studio and listen to what people say and keep that info in the back of your head, it will come in handy later.  Ask questions, ask all the questions you can.  If something doesn’t make sense, bring it up to your producer or at a meeting and then try to be proactive in solving it.  Have fun… your making games.  Play games, good ones and bad ones.  Especially bad ones.  You’ll learn so much from others mistakes.  Be your biggest critic but never trash your work.  Always know you can do better and then push to be better.  Don’t be afraid to walk away from your current studio to go to a better one.  Being too dedicated to your studio can kill you and your career.  Learn 3D.  Being 2D we have an advantage to learn 3D and then play for both teams because not all dedicated 3D people can draw.  Study design and layout, not only in games but in photography.  It will help you balance out your interface design.  Be comfortable with interface design.  Don’t be afraid to start over if it isn’t working.  Learn to paint.  Learn good colour theory.  Learn how light and colour effects moods and direction.  Push your ideas/animations/designs further then you normally would because you can always bring your ideas back if they go too far, but you’ll never know far they can go if you don’t take them there.  Finally, a good resume should only have 10 pieces of art.  5 pages or good life drawing, 3 design or work related pieces and 2 pieces of your fun work.  No anthro or goth/skull pieces should be in your portfolio.

I think that’s about it.  If any one has any other questions feel free to ask.

^_^

Little Big Planet seems to be a hot thing right now. Honestly, if I had a PS3 I’d go buy it. A new take on a old school platforming sounds so sweet, but in all honesty this more a packaged level editor then game. Now I haven’t played it. I’ve only seen clips and such online, but it’s so refreshing to such a product come out. Why? Because it’s literally a game teaching tool. Media Molecule are helping the game industry build more game designers with this release. Players get to build levels and share them with everyone. They’ll make first crap levels and then learn though mistakes and trial and error what makes good game design. Challenge and reward, choke points, difficulty curves, they’ll learn it all. All just for the price of a game and a little of their time.

It’s games like this that make me proud to be in this industry. It’s games like this that help promote, thinking, planning and creativity in it’s players. Now I just need to get involved in such a project.