Call me "Coach"
I'm still trying to track down exactly how THIS happened, but somehow I've become the head coach to Connor's flag football team, the Grand Prairie "Seahawks".
Wish us luck as I've never been the coach of anything before. Must...now...find the rules to flag football.
Austin Games Conference '07
This was my third annual trip to Austin for the Austin Games Conference, and this time above all others I was in for a surprise. In more ways than one. My guess is the main reason behind these changes is that the conference is under new management. It's now run by the same people that put together the Game Developers Conference (and now carries the name).
I guess the biggest disappointment/change was their redefinition of the word "online". In all previous versions of the conference the term "online" referred mainly to casual or web-based games. This usually meant that any discussion that included "online" in the title would be staffed by members of Pogo, Wild Tangent, or Skyworks. However, now it seems, you can pretty much exchange the word "online" with the three letters "MMO". Discussions about monitizing demo versions were replaced by MMO micropayment discussions. Discussions about the viral approach to marketing games where replaced with....well pretty much anything with either "Blizzard" or "World of Warcraft" in the title.
Don't get me wrong, they were all informative and interesting discussions. It's just when you go in expecting one thing based on the previous three years, and getting something quite a bit different, it makes it a little hard to adjust to.
Ye Ol' Daba daba doo!
Kraft and Blockdot team up once again to send Fred and Barney back...or uh...forward to the Middle Ages. In this suite of games players race down rivers and solve puzzles to find out who stole all the Cocoa Pebbles in the kindgom.
It's funny, when I was 10 or so I remember spending hours in a book called "How to Draw 50 Cartoon Characters". One of those characters was Fred Flintstone. I never though nearly 20 years later I'd be trying desperatly to recall those skills in an effort to draw Fred for Kraft.
City of Hereos Comic Contest Winner!
I'm very proud to say my entry into the City of Heroes Comic Contest won the grand prize in the contest for "Best Overall Comic". The comic, stars several of my City of Heroes characters. It's centered around 8Baller's story and it's entitled "8Baller - Alternates".
It can be viewed online in PDF format at the City of Heroes site here.
I'm really pretty honored since there were some REALLY good entries and the judges themselves were; Marv Wolfman, creator of Blade, Bullseye and the genius being Smallville's version of Lex Luthor. David Nakayama, awesome comic book artist, and Matt Miller, Lead Game Designer of City of Heroes.
Mowing Down the Competition
Take your everyday riding lawn mower, refit it with a turbo engine and a starting line and let the races begin. Home Depot teamed up with Blockdot to create "Mower Mayhem" for Father's Day. Plow through fences, hedges and dog houses atop these over the top mowers on your way to the finish line. Officially I can't endorse the use of a riding mower as a drag racer...but come on...who hasn't thought about it at one time in their lives?
A New Definition of Rock Star
Postopia and Blockdot team up, along with Fred, Barney and the whole Flintstone's crew to create a suite of games for an "American Idol"-ish competition. These simple games are designed around music, performing, and what it really takes to be a "rock" star.
Such a Deviant
After a looooong time away from it (basically because there hasn't been a real need), I'm drawing again. I don't know that I've really drawn anything since college. These days I've moved away from traditional paper and pencil and gone digital.
I find it a ton of fun and a great way to kick back and relax. With the discovery that I still like to draw, I stumbled across the Deviant Art website thanks to the great folks on the City of Heroes boards.
The communities on both the CoH forums and the DA site has been fantastic and a real inpiration to create new things.
So drop by my DA site and check out the latest random things I've been playing around with.
Donruss Two-Minute Drill
It really is such a small world. Today Blockdot launched a new game, this one, believe it or not, was for Donruss. Irony is such a funny thing. The game was a unique twist on a sports trivia game. As the player answered trivia questions correctly he advanced his football down the field. The goal, of course, was to move the ball all the way down the field for a touchdown...before time ran out.
Treehouse Testdrive
What do you get when you cross a treehouse with a spaceship, a roadster, a pair of huge legs, and a giant mechanical shark? You get Lunchables Treehouse Testdrive racing game of course. This game launched by Blockdot was a multiplayer online racing game where players used over the top powerups and vehicles to take crazy shortcuts to come out victorious.
Thong Shot Breaks 1,000,000 Game Plays
Less than a month and a half after launching, "Thong Shot", one of the games created for Universal Studio's movie "Accepted", breaks the 1,000,000 game play barrier.
NFL Rush
I remember playing touch football with the crew in the neighborhood. Since we usually played with 4 to 6 people we had the standard 10 second rush rule in affect. At times it felt like this project for JC Penney's and the NFL was playing by the same 10 second rule.
We had an incredibly short timeline to put the game together but thankfully with help from the folks at Atmosphere BBDO and the outstanding team at work (Blockdot) we were able to score before time ran out.
Development for the game took just over 2 weeks.
Austin Games Conference '07
This was my third annual trip to Austin for the Austin Games Conference, and this time above all others I was in for a surprise. In more ways than one. My guess is the main reason behind these changes is that the conference is under new management. It's now run by the same people that put together the Game Developers Conference (and now carries the name).
I guess the biggest disappointment/change was their redefinition of the word "online". In all previous versions of the conference the term "online" referred mainly to casual or web-based games. This usually meant that any discussion that included "online" in the title would be staffed by members of Pogo, Wild Tangent, or Skyworks. However, now it seems, you can pretty much exchange the word "online" with the three letters "MMO". Discussions about monitizing demo versions were replaced by MMO micropayment discussions. Discussions about the viral approach to marketing games where replaced with....well pretty much anything with either "Blizzard" or "World of Warcraft" in the title.
Don't get me wrong, they were all informative and interesting discussions. It's just when you go in expecting one thing based on the previous three years, and getting something quite a bit different, it makes it a little hard to adjust to.
City of Hereos Comic Contest Winner!
I'm very proud to say my entry into the City of Heroes Comic Contest won the grand prize in the contest for "Best Overall Comic". The comic, stars several of my City of Heroes characters. It's centered around 8Baller's story and it's entitled "8Baller - Alternates".
It can be viewed online in PDF format at the City of Heroes site here.
I'm really pretty honored since there were some REALLY good entries and the judges themselves were; Marv Wolfman, creator of Blade, Bullseye and the genius being Smallville's version of Lex Luthor. David Nakayama, awesome comic book artist, and Matt Miller, Lead Game Designer of City of Heroes.
Such a Deviant
After a looooong time away from it (basically because there hasn't been a real need), I'm drawing again. I don't know that I've really drawn anything since college. These days I've moved away from traditional paper and pencil and gone digital.
I find it a ton of fun and a great way to kick back and relax. With the discovery that I still like to draw, I stumbled across the Deviant Art website thanks to the great folks on the City of Heroes boards.
The communities on both the CoH forums and the DA site has been fantastic and a real inpiration to create new things.
So drop by my DA site and check out the latest random things I've been playing around with.
Donruss Two-Minute Drill
It really is such a small world. Today Blockdot launched a new game, this one, believe it or not, was for Donruss. Irony is such a funny thing. The game was a unique twist on a sports trivia game. As the player answered trivia questions correctly he advanced his football down the field. The goal, of course, was to move the ball all the way down the field for a touchdown...before time ran out.
Thong Shot Breaks 1,000,000 Game Plays
Less than a month and a half after launching, "Thong Shot", one of the games created for Universal Studio's movie "Accepted", breaks the 1,000,000 game play barrier.
NFL Rush
I remember playing touch football with the crew in the neighborhood. Since we usually played with 4 to 6 people we had the standard 10 second rush rule in affect. At times it felt like this project for JC Penney's and the NFL was playing by the same 10 second rule.
We had an incredibly short timeline to put the game together but thankfully with help from the folks at Atmosphere BBDO and the outstanding team at work (Blockdot) we were able to score before time ran out.
Development for the game took just over 2 weeks.
Reject Rejection
Blockdot created another suite of games for a major theatrical release, this time for Universal Studio's movie "Accepted". The movie, and the games are part "Revenge of the Nerds", part "Animal House", and part "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" all mixed up into big wad of craziness.
There were three individual games for the movie: "Thong Shot" a puzzle game combined with a slingshot game; "Sunbathing 101" where you manage as many sunbathing babes as you can without burning them; and "Blow Stuff Up" where players hone their mental powers in order to explode various fruits and vegetables with their minds.
Just Chillin'
I'm proud to announce the launch of another new game by Blockdot. The game "Penguin Downhill Racing" is actually a sweepstakes prize in Skittles/Starburst "Chillin for a Million" contest. Unfortunately, that means you can't play it online and I can't even point you to a spot to download it. But I can show a few screenshots in the "games" section of the site.
Honorable Mention on Toontown
I guess you can't win everytime, but my entry in the Toontown Valentine Design contest did get us an "Honorable Mention" in the 18 and over category. See all the winners at toontown online (and be sure to check out the Honorable Mentions for my entry). Even though we didn't win the portable DVD player, we did make a shirt for Katie that features the valentine artwork....which she loves. And that's good enough for me.
Heroes Central Site Named "Best Informational City of Heroes Fan Site"
I'm happy to announce that Heroes Central, the fan site I created for the City of Heroes MMORPG, won "Best Informational CoH Fan Site" in their fan site competition.
Santa Balls 3D
In a game where you match three things I guess it's only fitting that we've worked our way up to the third rendition of the game. This one features more special moves and fully 3d rendered graphics (including your favorite trash talking elf Oliver). Check it out, Santa Balls 3d.
Big Tut Launches on Kewlbox
Yes, it's another tile game, but this time with a twist...literally. Rotate the tiles to match to halves of the hieroglyphics while revealing ancient treasures. But don't let the pharaoh steal back his treasures. Check it out, Big Tut.
Monster Rumble Launches on Postopia.com
I recently got a chance to put my collectible card game experience to use at work (Blockdot) designing an online game for Post cereal. The game is designed for both boys and girls ages 7-16 and the game mechanics are based on traditional collectible card games. You can check it out in the Monster Rumble section of www.postopia.com.
INXS: Bang the Drum Game Launch
Another fun project was creating a quick and simple game to help promote the band INXS. It's a simple rhythm game built in Flash. You can check it out on the Kewlbox site with the following link INXS: Bang the Drum.
Verizon Action Pack Now Available
Kicked off with the start of the Dave Matthews Band tour, and now available in select Comp USA stores (for FREE), this collection of 3 casual games has something for everyone. There's an arcade game, a puzzle game even a unique bowling/spelling game. I wish I could link to them, but I'm afraid they're only available on the CD. So drop by your local CompUSA store by the checkout counter (the CD is free).
Star Wars: Hunt for Grevious Launches on Skittles.com!
A dream come true, I actually got to work on a Star Wars game! Actually several games. This cool collection of casual games is a cross promotion for Skittles and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. It features a wide variety of games from puzzle, to arcade, to 3d shooter and more. Unfortunately the promotion is over and the games are no longer available to play, but you can check out screenshots below.
Ms. Match Launches for Kotex
It may not be the most original of games, your standard tile matching game, but it definately has a softer look to it. Check out Ms. Match.
3D For the PGA
After attending the Colonial Golf Invitational for the majority of the past 15 or so years it was really cool to be asked to help out with a TV spot promoting the event.
Greg Beck, a good friend of mine, and the owner of Two Trees Productions (video production) asked if I could put together a few computer generated logos for a promo spot, and I was happy to oblige.
Funny thing was Greg was putting the commercial together for the Todd Company (no relation), but a cute sidenote.
Penga Pop Launch
Check out the latest game release from Blockdot, "Penga Pop". It's a fun little game that blurs the lines between a "shooter" and a "puzzle" game.
You play as "Frank the Penguin", sitting atop a large ball blasting cannon. Your goal is to shoot the treats on the screen by first blasting through walls of colored balls.
The game integrates Flash/Director communication for a lot of presentation elements and inbetween round screens and animations.
It's a fun little game with over 162,000 game plays in the first week alone.
Wizard World Dallas
Finally, I have officially attended my first comicbook convention (wow, that's sort of an odd thing to say). Katie, Connor and myself checked out Wizard World Dallas today. Ironically, it was the City of Heroes game that pulled us in and not comics. We had a blast.
After working on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer CCG site it was cool to meet Julie Benz, a.k.a. Darla from Buffy and Angel. She was extremely cool and even played a game of "peek a boo" from under the table she was sitting at, to a very shy Katie.
A very special thank you also to comic artist Robert Atkins, who took a few moments of his time to make a sketch of Katie's superhero from City of Heroes, Super Kate.
Hired by the kewl folks at Blockdot
A very special thanks to my bud Justin who let me know that Blockdot was looking for new people. And another special thanks to Dan and Jason of Blockdot for seeing me as one of those "people". Check out the games at the kewlbox site to see what fun lies ahead in my future, with even cooler stuff coming up.
Computer Game Conference
Another game conference, this time at the University of Texas at Dallas. Actually, I was a little disappointed in the turnout for this one. I think there may have been 50 people (tops) in the audience and a dozen or so of those were speakers and the rest being primarily UTD students.
Austin Game Conference
I'll be headed to Austin for the Austin Game Conference September 9-10. The main focus is online gaming and there look to be some really good speakers from companies like ATARI, Square, NCSoft, and Sony Online Entertainment.
Behind the Scenes - Dragon Ball GT TCG
For those of you that are interested, I've posted a brief article giving a look behind the scenes at creating the card designs for the Dragon Ball GT Trading Card Game. This was one of the last projects I worked on while at Score Entertainment and you may be surprised to learn what's involved. It's not as easy as just throwing some numbers on a playing card.
10 Year Wedding Anniversary!
Wow, and it only seems like 100 years ago :). Just kidding. Yep, we've survived, ten years, six apartments, one house, and two kids. And to celebrate, we're headed to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, site of our honeymoon. Only this time we'll have a couple of extra passengers, Katie and Connor, and less shoe polish on the car.
Sports Collector Commando
It's a sport game and a 3D shooter, all in one! Well, sort of. Sports Collector Commando is a 3D shooter themed around various sports such as football, baseball and basketball. The emphasis of game design was placed on strategy and fun, rather than gore and body count. Your character fights of the opposing team, "The Devils" with weapons such as the "Six Shooter" a huge revolver that shoots 100 mph fastballs, or the "Longbomb" a shoulder pad mounted rocket launcher that fires exploding footballs. There will be more to come as development progresses.
Dragon Ball GT Trading Card Game Video Demo
With the help of Two Trees Productions, I created a 6 minute demo video for the new Dragon Ball GT Trading Card Game. The video gives viewers a brief look of the fun and excitement of the card game. The video not only served to promote early sales of the game to potential distributors, it was included as an extra feature on the commercially released Dragon Ball GT DVD set and distributed nationwide.