joe randel's art dump

I’m currently playing through Mega Man ZX Advent on expert. It’s hard. Really hard, bit not impossible. I actually have been through all the Mega Man Zero games on GBA on the hardest settings and loved it. It all boils down to watching the enemy patterns and being in the right spot to avoid taking damage and attacking at the proper times. It’s even possible to do boss encounters with out taking a hit (I’ve done it).

I don’t usually do the hard modes of game as I find them cheap rather then hard but I do enjoy the Mega Man difficulties. They seem more planned out rather then just jack up enemy damage.

So what about you? Do you bother with the higher difficulties in games? Do you just play the normal settings and that’s it? Or do you jump right in on the hardest setting as soon as you start up the game?

Or are you a wuss that only plays on the easy settings so you can rip though a game and give yourself a false feeling of accomplishment.

That’s right, I said it…

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.

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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.

Out of all the games you own(ed), which one hoe you put the most time in to?  I know the last time I played Final Fantasy III on the SNES it was at 88 hours, but I know I played the crazy hell out of Mario Kart DS as well.  I’m not sure which one wins out but those are the ones that have gotten most of my time.

With some Crazy Taxi bringing up the rear.

^_^