A while back I found great enjoyment in playing a simple flash game called Colour My Heart. It was a release for valentines of 2009 on Newgrounds, and ranks right up there with several of the other artistic games I have posted about in the past. Instead of being a challenging game, it is more of a piece of interactive art with a simple story. As SilverStitch, the author puts it, "This is not a 'hardcore gaming experience'...its just simple and more artistic". I was blown away by how well the simple pencil like graphics and backgrounds could come together to be as immersive as it ends up being. See Example Below...
I was very happy to recently find out see that the author has continued the Colour My - Series with several other titles all with a similar poetic twist on a deeper love and relationship theme. However, what is truly nice about the series is that you do not need to be a hardcore gamer, instead some basic platforming ability and the ability to figure a few puzzles is all that is necessary to enjoy it. I strongly recommend taking a look at the series by visiting the links below.
I stumbled upon Alice a song by the artist Pogo. To quote him, 'Alice' is an electronic piece of which 90% is composed using sounds recorded from the Disney film 'Alice In Wonderland'. It is rather interesting to listen to, and although at first I did not love it, it has grown on me. Check out and download for free Alice and three other songs like it (Lost is also quite good) at Pogo's Last Fm page
While mindlessly surfing the internet I stumbled across a rather strange video (watch here), which left me at first amused and slightly confused, then after that I was left wondering what this was based off of. So like may of my other great discoveries, I looked up the game Yume Nikki which the video was based on.
Yume Nikki is a rather strange game, where you are a girl who lives in a small apartment, which you can not leave, at least not while you are awake. You go to sleep and then are able to wonder through the very strange dream world that exist, assumed to be in the characters mind.. You pick up various effects as you explore the areas, which range from a getting a bicycle to turing into a stop light. These effects can help you do things, though so far only the bike and lantern have been helpful.
The imagery of the game itself is what makes it unique, as you travel in dreams of a girl that obviously has some mental issues, it is hinted that she will not leave the room in the real world due to some physiological reason, so what ever caused that, has also twisted her mind, or at least the dreams that she has. Most of the areas are bizarre, in the fact that they mirror a twisted reality or just have creepy backgrounds and NPCs running around, such as a world with grasping hands jutting from the floor. However what I find far creeper is that you will enter a door in one strange area and all of a sudden be in a forest or someplace more normal, which in turn leaves you waiting for something to appear that will make the normal far less normal, which on occasion does indeed happen. It is these "normal" places that seem the most out of place and odd, which I give credit to the creator for pulling off so well.
I must say that this, like other games I have posted are a great example of how 3D does not always make for games better. Yume Nikki is what I would consider a work of art, as it lets the player judge for them selves what purpose the events and reasons behind the game hold, as there is little to no back story or help in the game. If you have time, check out Yume Nikki, there is an english version (Get it Here), which is for windows, but runs well under Crossover Games on the Mac.
Check out this video if you want to see more without actually playing. (Contains spoilers!)
UPDATE: After getting very annoyed about the game crashing in the eyeball area, I did some forum searching. It seems that the 0.10 version of the game cannot play mp3s, so to fix the problem find the music folder for the game and rename the eight or so mp3 files and everything will work correctly.
Check it out, a while a go I made a Quicktime VR movie of my room at home. Room VR. Making the movie was easy, apple released for free a simple application called MakeCubic, which takes a panoramic photo and twists it into a VR movie. The hardest part was getting a panaramic photo to use, luckly I am decent at photoshop and could blend the photos together, though the difference in lighting is quite apparent at some points. The settings also took a bit of work, but was not all that hard to figure out.
Sorry internet viewers not spreading this movie around, so on campus viewers only.
While doing research on icons for project that I have to present rather soon I stumbled upon this flicker album of images for use in liturgy programs, which must be close to a hundred mostly black and white medieval religious images. I was rather impressed as you rarely find so many in one place ready to be used. It would be a good resource for any one teaching religious education or doing a project of the medieval church.
A very cute example of how even a very short flash game can be awesome. It is little flash games like this, that are going to take game creation from simple entrainment to form of art. It is not about how hard the game is, or how complex it is, it is how the game effects the users and after playing this you have to tell friends about it. Check it out You have to burn the rope.
A amazing in-depth look at the art of the game is here at 1UP.
UPDATE: Found the ending song! Can be download here.
Normally I might laugh a little when I see the "Get a Mac ads" from Apple, however I have never been too fond of them. We all know that they tend to over hype Apple and shoot down Microsoft for things that, in all honesty, no power user really cares about. Even most of us that do have a intel based Mac put Windows on it through boot camp for those time that you just need to use Windows.
Still I found my self laughing rather hard when I saw the new Pizza Box skit. PC is hiding in a pizza box waiting for college students to be attracted so he can "get them!" The ad is rather cute, still I wish they would drop the Apple hype part. We all know that Window's PR is at an all time low right now, so instead of kicking a dead horse, Apple should focus on displaying their innovation in other ways.
I love finding awesome things online just by random coincidence. Today I stumbled upon Dad's Home and Dad's at work, both featuring a grinning guy in business casual attire that goes on a "friendly" rampage at home and then at work. The home one was goofy, especial the bizarre end, however the at work one had me laughing so hard that tears where coming out! I still crack up when he leaps and spins in the air then lands in a rolling chair that speeds away after exploding. This has to be the funniest animation I have seen is a great while. I have added the youtube versions below, however the original flash version are better in quality.
After fixing an iBook, my next plan was to change it into a digital picture frame. This is something that many people have done with every old laptop you can imagine. So I took the stripped down iBook, and completely disassembled the lcd screen, down to just the panel, and took some measurements for a frame. The closest frame I could find to the screen size is a 8.5 x 11 inch with a nice looking border. The screen fit well in this, but it would need a bit more room to fit the rest of the iBook. So a box that fits inside the frame was made and attached with screws to the sides. Small wood dividers hold the lcd in place, while adding some space for air flow. I also cut out the holes for various connections, air vents and for the optical drive. It all just perfectly fits snugly inside. The back cover is attached to the sides of the box by small blocks of wood, and puts some pressure on everything below it with. All it needs a quick paint job, probably black to match, but that is for another weekend.
The end result looks amazing. Another successful project, completed!
I randomly stumbled upon Blik Surface Graphics who carry a set of wall decals that look like Space Invader sprites. Space invaders for the video game challenged is a simple game where you shoot aliens, using a little mobile cannon, before they get too low and invade the earth, or shoot you. There have been many renditions, but Space Invaders still remains one of the first arcade shooters.
I thought the decals where very cool, but I am a poor student and did not feel like paying the $12.50+ so I set out to make my own. Firing up AppleWorks I went to town with a bunch of black squares. They ended up looking like the real thing, so I was happy, and printed out the same number as the decal set would have. If you are feeling lazy and do not want to make your own, I have uploaded my set here for anyone to use.
The end result turned out rather nice, but now Matt says we need a Mario wall too, sounds good to me!
