Alright, this may sound strange, but when someone commented on my last post warning me of something...



I got curious, so I clicked on Y0j1mb0's profile and saw amazing pieces of his alter-ego (on his banner and sidebar) from many artists in Dtoid. So I got an idea and started drawing right away (directly in ink, forgot to bring pencil to work yesterday):



This unsolicited, unasked-for piece is a 'thank you' note for putting my last post in cblogrecaps' Top Sauce (10/2).

EDIT: Seems like photobucket messed this one up yet again; anyway, you can find a higher res copy here

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Been playing Need for Speed: Shift for a couple of days now. I realized the racing genre hasn't advanced in years other than shinier, more realistic cars and environment. Gameplay-wise, we've all seen this in the PlayStation days. Racing, Fighting, and to some extent the FPS genre -- they're all getting a bit stale. And no, online multiplayer is not a gameplay revolution.

Just a random art very (and I mean very) loosely inspired by Mario's underwater adventures. This was done yesterday (all ink!) when I can't power-sleep during my lunch break. It's a slightly different style from the usual stuff I did before.



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I'm kind of worried for the Final Fantasy franchise, and probably for all the wrong reasons, but you've got to hear me out:

I'm getting sick of Tetsuya Nomura's art -- there, I said it.

The FF franchise could do some freshening up where art style is concerned. But this guy's clout over Square Enix is too enormous that his style has become some sort of pseudo-mascot for the company's contemporary games. Hell, even Yoshitaka Amano and Akihiko Yoshida's character designs (for FF9 and 12, respectively) both were forced to emulate Nomura's, not to mention a lot of unknowns inside the company. So much for individuality, I guess.

I think Nomura's character designs are becoming a bit bland, similar to Akira Toriyama's increasingly boring output. Or maybe their works have been overexposed and we're just getting tired of seeing familiar styles over and over again.

Wouldn't it be great if they get a new artist every installment? Since official FF titles are not directly related and are basically standalone titles with common (although faint) themes, they can at least risk changing the character designer, too. That'll give each title a flavor of its own, and it will generate more hype (and much forum trolling) with each official announcement.

Hey, Tetsuya! Give yourself a break! (or at least get your own series)

I know this is a gaming-blog and everything in between, but I just have to post this. I've been tinkering my other blog so until it's still broken (I forgot what "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" meant). Anyway, here goes.

Maybe I haven't introduced myself properly before: I live in the Philippines, an archipelago in South East Asia, and 2 days ago we were hit by a terrible storm known locally as Ondoy (international name: Ketsana). Long story short, a month's worth of rain poured down in less than a day. Estimates say that the amount of rain was double the amount from Katrina (455mm vs 250). According to officials, this was one of the worst flooding experienced in the country since the 1960s.

As of this writing, more than a hundred were killed (and counting) and 340,000 displaced. As you already know, I am a game developer for a company based in Manila. Most of my colleagues live in the city, and some of them couldn't make it to work due to floods in and around their homes. I was commuting back home when the storm hit; I got stuck inside the bus for 7 hours, but thankfully it was a safe (though boring) ride. Some people got off the bus to walk, just to get to their families.



I saw a couple of minors walking, never minding the danger ahead.



I got home at around 12mn Sunday. I listened to the news (cable was cut) and heard of ongoing rescue operations around the city. The entire National Capital Region and the provinces around it were put under the State of Calamity. Dozens of non-government organizations have pledged their support in assisting the needy, and I know more will pledge theirs in the coming days.

I didn't know that in the my lifetime I will be this affected by a storm. I usually just laugh it off or worse, thank the heavens for not sending me to school/work for another day. This time it's different.


Anyway, if any of you would like to donate and a portion of the thousands of Filipinos affected by Ondoy, you can send whatever amount you want, however small, to this link (Paypal): http://barriosiete.com/donate-for-ondoy-victims/ (Barrio Bayanihan for Ondoy Victims). Or here: http://www.redcross.org.ph/Site/PNRC/wtd.aspx (Philippine National Red Cross)

Thanks for the time to read this, and let's hope for a better tomorrow for some of my countrymen.



PS. This was done by my 4-y/o cousin yesterday; their house was one of the hundreds outside our subdivision affected by the storm.



(Caption: "Their house")

I have to admire the Scribblenauts team -- coming up with the rumored 22,000+ items is indeed a gargantuan task to complete. Hell, compared to what I did below -- roughly 50 items overall -- took me an hour to finish. It's fun, sure, but it's a pain in the ass.
5th Cell, you gotta tell me your secret.



Initial impressions on the game: I think Scribblenauts will go down in history as one of those games with great gameplay but was unfortunately wrapped around a too-simple premise. The puzzle/platformer aspect, I think, is holding back the much-touted emergent gameplay system. Let's see if the devs can use this for another type of game. Oh, and it's a really great idea to present the entirety of the gameplay right at the title screen; I'm having more fun just summoning items without the restricting goals.

Of course, that's just an impression. :-)

because of a nasty bout of non-H1N1 flu, I have to excuse myself from actual digi-sketching for days. now that I have my strength back (thanks to an overdose of medicines) I can return to my regular weekend schedule of random fan art -- starting with this quick sketch of Kid and Edea, two interesting characters with equally interesting back stories.



Kid, because of her connection to Chrono Trigger's Lucca, and Edea, because of her, well, pretty noble sacrifice.

Maybe I can sketch some other characters this way (since it's easier, ha). Right now I have nothing on my mind, but you can suggest if you want. :-)

Since I've been too busy to try to even think about any new topic tonight, I'll be using my last post as a jump-off point for yet another design-related blahblah.

So, a little background: in an effort to stimulate the little group simply called the 'design team' in our company, I suggested that we should, when possible, attempt to stretch our legs a bit by doing some extra design tasks. I've been looking at a number of game dev conferences for lessons regarding design, and one of the things I found very interesting is the quick-design competition/seminar where they have several people who will be given a random topic (word, phrase, object, whatever) then in a matter of hours, they must present a rough design out of it. It's a cool exercise that should get our brains training (ahem), especially when porting games usually meant there's little room for actual 'new' design.

So I proposed that everyone in the team should participate in a design challenge just for kicks. And here's where GameCareerGuide.com's Game Design Challenge comes in. The topic at that time (April) was about "reviving the survival-horror genre" which I think was in reference to the then-just-released Resident Evil 5 (which, I've read somewhere else, is fast becoming action than horror). I emailed them the details and encouraged them to join.

Of course, I decided to join, too, since I'm getting bored with my life, so I looked for a couple of games and movies for inspiration and drafted my own concept, created some very rushed concept art, and sent everything before the deadline.

Two weeks later, the results came in: my first entry was included in the Top 3. It was a shot of euphoria that, however small, is a big deal when you're in the middle of a stressful week. Link and link!



Weeks later, I got a message from Facebook from a producer at TimeGate Studios (Section 8) congratulating me and telling me for my 'win'. I thanked him in a reply message and told him I'll keep the message as a souvenir (hey, it's rare for me to actually interact with developers from another company!). My boss told me recently that a major publisher is very interested with the concept and may be willing to fund it, provided that a detailed spec sheet is ready. I, of course, told him I'm not ready to detail the concept further because, well, the real purpose of that is just to compel my colleagues to stretch their legs a bit and nothing else! Suffice to say, it's becoming scary.

Anyway, the last part was indeed a success: some in my team joined the next challenges and were included in their respective lists as well. Now it has become a regular thing for us to talk (thru email, since we're all busy) about the upcoming challenge and just 'quick-design'.

For some of you who are interested in this sort of thing, you can always join the current challenge. It's a great exercise and even if you don't plan on joining, you can always read the entries and be inspired.


BONUS! Evolution of the idea (if I can still remember)

1. Original idea: funny horror tale where you're chased by your crazy mother-in-law, a shot-gun in her right hand, a lantern in her left. You're left running for your dear life, and it's pitch-black so you're at the mercy of the woman.
2. First problem: As an able-bodied player character, you have the ability to take the lantern, which destroys the game.
3. Solution: The lantern is chained to the mother-in-law.
4. 2nd Problem: Solution is stupid. Really, a chain?
5. Solution 2: Change character (hard as it is). Gruesome monster instead, and the light is attached to the monster.
6. 3rd Problem: You can still take the light source (tear it off from the monster)
7. Solution 3: Make the monster be the light source, that way you can't kill it.
8. There you go. :-)