July 2009
4 posts
Having Thai breakfast in Berkeley!
RT @bbrathwaite: RT @EvilKimau: RT @IanSchreiber: Wow. It’s like CafePress, for board games: http://www.thegamecrafter.com/ Awesome Find!
Just got out of an awesome So Many Dynamos show. Rock history will remember them.
First day back to school @AI. Mad artworks to do.
June 2009
3 posts
Hiding in my hotel room, reading Ian Schreiber’s Summer Game Design class that just started today: http://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/
Transferred my tumblr blog to WordPress. http://andershoward.wordpress.com will host new game art and design commentary.
1 tag
Artwork: June 1-7 2009
I realized how little artwork I’ve been doing lately and decided to rectify the situation. Been drawing and sculpting and this and that. I’m going to try and leave behind a few distracting projects and focus on my art through to graduation. Here’s a few I did this week.
My first sketch from a collaborative art project I started up (I’ll be posting more on this as it begins...
May 2009
1 post
Game Design Review: Pandemic
As my first discussion of game design mechanics, I have chosen a game that I recently purchased called Pandemic, a board game designed by Matt Leacock.
Image by BGG member “basilmichael”
Overview First I would like to give an overview of how the game works before I dissect it further. The goal of Pandemic is to work cooperatively with your team of 2-4 players to contain and then...
April 2009
2 posts
Web Game of the Day: Scary Girl →
I found Scary Girl to be both beautiful and entertaining. Production values through the roof!
Installing Visual Studio and taking my first stab at learning a program language.
March 2009
18 posts
New Year's Resolution
By the next GDC I want to:
Learn enough scripting that I can create my own prototypes by myself. Selling people on my weird ideas is getting harder and harder.
Have worked on at least 2 serious indie projects.
Have at least one entry of mine get into the IGF.
Shape up my environment portfolio.
Post-GDC 2009
GDC is over, it was a blast - I am still exhausted.
I networked much more than last year. I was nearly out of cards by Wednesday - I’ll be sure to buy a hundred or twoo next time.
Played some games, made some contacts, made some friends. Love the CA program, will do it as long as they let me =) I was hoping I’d score a job on the spot, but it looks like it is extremely tough to get...
Aug. Still slightly hung over from the IGDA / Zynga parties last night - open bar is a blessing and a curse. Sleeeepy, but soldiering on.
GDC - Day One
GDC has begun and I have already had an interesting day.
Played Darkroom Sex Game with Wiimotes - hilarious.
Played some 5 player games of Pandemic - review of mechanics forthcoming!
Attended the Game Design Improv Workshop, designed some actually cool games. Probably helped that Jane McGonigal - creator of the incredible i love bees ARG - was in our group. Seriously, if you click only one...
Blogged over at the Full Moon Manor devblog about the music: http://fullmoonmanor.tumblr.com/
Listening to http://www.ninja2009.com/. Finished French. I have the Full Moon Manor build in my possession (SWEET!) Working on animation.
Signed up for the IGDA (finally!) but was tackling this godforsaken French final paper and couldn’t make the meeting last night.
Just got some new board games. Will try to play a game of Pandemic today with the girl to ease the pain of finals. Will review mechanics..
FLOAT and Full Moon Manor at SXSW - Postmortem
I got back from SXSW late Monday night, and my head is still spinning trying to put together the sequence of events of what happened in Austin. I’ve been reading some of the press and trying not to feel too bad about not winning the first annual SXSW Screenburn Game Design Competition.
My thoughts on the event:
I wish that I could have heard more from the judges, I didn’t like that...
Getting around to responding to post-SXSW Game Design Competition networking contacts.
Full SXSW Game Design Competition Slides Posted ! →
Check out the presentations for both Full Moon Manor and FLOAT. Wish me luck - I’ll be in Austin tomorrow evening and then presenting on Sunday !
The Three Cardinal Rules of Game Artists
Link: The Three Cardinal Rules of Games Artists.
I haven”t finished the article yet, but a lot of this is sounding familiar. Whenever I have to work with someone who is breaking some of these rules, I tend to file them away on my mental blacklist.
Its all going according to plan...
Ding! Both Full Moon Manor and FLOAT are finalists in the SXSW competition as of today. Holy crap ! We might actually win this thing ! That was never my intention - I just wanted at least one of my projects to make finals for a little recognition. In fact, I had started to convince myself I wouldn’t make it at all - I think to soften the blow when I didn’t make it. But SHAZAM...
The Crunch is Upon Us.
I am in crunch mode, the quarter is nearing its end and I am trying to complete final projects in 4 classes as well as get Full Moon Manor prepared for SXSW and GDC. Then I will be attending both of those conferences one after the other, trying to corner people and pitch them our game.
I am quite pleased with the way my creature sculpt is turning out, here’s a preview:
Oh ! I got my...
Its a TRAP!
Over the last few days I’ve been teaching Steff (gf) the basics of Photoshop so she could create a logo and edit photos for her very own Etsy shop - Spun Sugar Knits - open today for business !
Yesterday she bought a copy of Watchmen, and today I had her playing some boardgames with me (Dominion). Yessss….its all going according to plan…
SXSW Plans
So today Debbie (FMM Art Director) and I gave our presentations to the Executives and PR people from my school, then were dragged into a game design class to present again.
I don’t mind the attention, or the practice =)
I have made travel arrangements for Debbie and I to go to the SXSW Interactive Festival. We will arrive the afternoon of Saturday the 14th and leave Monday evening. Hope...
Web Game of the Day: Blush →
BEHOLD ! The power of UNITY ! (Unity is the game engine my senior project is using - we will eventually deploy the game to web, just as you see with this game).
Web Game of the Day: Pixeloids 4k →
New Rule ยป Context is King →
“The context is indivisible from the game. Killing monsters is somehow so integral to what makes Doom exciting that it cannot be changed without destroying it. So what makes Doom different from Chess and Poker?”
February 2009
6 posts
1 tag
FLOAT IS GOOOOOO!
I just sent off my final Powerpoint presentation for my game design “FLOAT” to the SXSW competition organizer. I will not post it here or on my website for another two weeks though.
You know…
Competitors.
=)
But I’ll put it up eventually, or if I know you personally I’ll track you down and force it on you.
BTW I just installed the comments system.
-anders
1 tag
Full Moon Manor Development Blog >> →
Today I setup a development blog for my Senior Project - a game called “Full Moon Manor.” We already have a few posts and I expect that we (the team) will stuff it full of development info. Hopefully we can use it to gain some exposure, and turn it into a real classy professional looking blog.
Check it out! Tell all your friends !
1 tag
The Judges for the ScreenBurn at SXSW Game Design... →
I am cranking out my game design presentation, due this Friday.
I got the PR department of my school involved so now they’ve OK’d a travel stipend, and they want to interview a team mate and I. Very exciting stuff.
Hopefully one of my projects will make it into the final round ! Wish me luck !
Setting up the tumblr.
Yes, I am setting up blog-central right here to annoy you with the little things that I wish I could annoy you with but never justify a big long blog post. Woohoo!