Featured Game -Cannonballs
When you think of pirates do you think of plundering, pillaging, and skee ball? Of course you do. Cannonballs is a game that combines them all into a 3d iron ball blasting shooter. Read More
Featured Illustration
Two things I love; LEGOs and Left for Dead. So when Danielle and I were joking about how cool it would be to play a LEGO L4D I couldn't pass up the idea for this illustration. Read More
Exploring the Wild Side...
The kids and I have started a new game. It's a mobile game on the Android called "Aniballs". We'll be tackling a little physics and endangered wildlife.
Follow the link below to head over the to Aniballs Facebook page and give us a 'like'. We'll be posting frequent updates on the game's development as well as videos and other information we discover interesting about the world's endangered animals.
Balls of Steel...or Iron
I've decided on a theme for my first Unity game...pirates. Yeah, yeah I know it's been done, but at least it's not zombies.
In this game, the players will man a cannon on their ship to perform a variety of pirate inspired activities. They'll plunder passing treasure ships, defend against the Royal Navy, assault seaside fortresses, and...play skee ball. Yes, pirates played skee ball. The whole time they'll be tracking down a treasure map of untold fortunes piece by piece. So, grab your cannonballs and join in.
Finally, a SmartPhone
So, I finally broke down and got a smart phone. Ok, to be more accurate, Danielle finally got tired of waiting for me to choose one so she got one for me. It's very much a "Todd" phone. It's not just a Droid 2, it's the Star Wars Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary R2D2 Droid 2. Yes, so I will feel THAT OLD every time I look at it.
In all seriousness, I have to admit it's pretty darn cool. It's got a flip out full keyboard (which was definately a requirement because I'm not all that keen on the on-screen keyboards). That, and it makes R2D2 sounds. :)
Flag Football Season is Over
Well it was fun and definately educational but the 2008 season for the Grand Prairie Seahawks has come to a close. It was my first attempt as head coach and I think it would have probably been better to focus on a sport I have more experience with, but hey I think most everyone had a good time even if our record was a little less than stellar.
Special thanks to all the parents, Coach David, and Coach Casey for hanging in there with me and especially to the kids for giving it their all.
Austin Game Developer's Conference '08
This year's Austin GDC continues with just as many changes as last year. The biggest of which was the scheduling. For the past six or so years the Austin Game Conference has been a Wed-Friday event. This year they decided to make it a Mon-Wed event. While that does mean there's not a rush as the bars on Thursday night, for the Texas football game it also means people have to get back to work the day following the event. At around 1:00 on Wed the event was a ghost town, and there was still the "big party" scheduled late that night. I'd really like to see photos of that event to see if ANYONE actually showed up.
Another big change, and it's most likely a sign of the economic times, was the people that did and didn't show up on the expo floor. You could always count on big developer names like Lucas Arts, SOE, Midway, Blizzard, NCSoft to have a booth. This year it seemed like 70% of the developers were a no-show (at least on the floor) and in their place were schools of game design and other back end system guys. What does that mean? The verdict's still out, but it was a little odd to see.
Grand Prize Winner - Gametrailers/Toyota Machinima Contest
8 Baller, one of my City of Heroes characters, has done it again! This time he is the winner of the GameTrailers/Toyota Machinima Contest. The machinima I created for the contest features 8 Baller and his arch nemisis 8 Brawler fighting side by side against an incredibly powerful common enemy.
I've always had the urge to try out machinima, but never had the proper motivation...or time. When GameTrailers and Toyota threw in an xBox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS, and just about every superhero game on the market...and then they crammed it all in the rear of a brand new Toyota Matrix. Well...I couldn't pass up at least taking a shot at it.
The cool thing about sticking with 8 as a character is that it gave me a chance to tell a little more of his story. The contest was fun, the competition was awesome. There was a ton of outstanding entries.
8 Baller Gets His Own Site
He's got his own comic book, his own movie trailer, and now his own site. 8 Baller is one of my early City of Heroes characters. Thanks to various City of Heroes contests he's become...you might say...well known in the City of Heroes community. So I decided to create him a small website to stick all the information about him in one place.
At the site you can download his comic, the follow up story, watch his movie trailer and even download a 8 Baller desktop (yeah, I was bored).