A change of pace...

So, although I doubt anyone really follows this blog very much, I thought I might post something a little different for once, sort of a thing to catch people up on my work.

For one, I'll be doing some work for Grand National Championships, the radio show that I mentioned in my earlier post, it's pro-bono work but it should be fun and give me at least some exposure. I'm really looking forward to actually doing some professional work, especially with my pixel work!

Designing and coding my recent release "SUPA BLAST 'O' NAUT", was a lot of fun, and it taught me something about the way that I work and what I need to avoid doing. I need to avoid doing work like "Vanir".

I've been working on Vanir since 2007, and as a result, it has more content than any other project that I've worked on. The problem though is that I've grown considerably as an artist in that period of time, and I just can't stand looking at it anymore. A lot of the art work is very...mediocre, and to be completely honest, I haven't actually worked on it in nearly 4 months. At first I thought it was just my final semester of college getting in the way, but even now, with considerably more time on my hands, I find it very hard to force myself to continue working on it.

So I think I'll start working mostly on smaller, more manageable projects like SUPA BLAST O NAUT, things I can get excited about, sink my teeth into, and finish in a small amount of time. SUPA BLAST O NAUT took me less than a week, and not all of them will be that short of a turnaround, but none of them will be any longer than a month or so either. I have alot of ideas that if I distill down to their most basic components, I think I can manage in that period of time.

So for now, I'm pushing Vanir to the side. Thats not to say that I might not just finish it someday and release it, or not do a project that big ever again, but for now, I'm not going to continue working on something that is both that ambitious, or that dated.

Vidya gaemz! And Grand National Championships!

Firstly, both a shout out and an apology to those of you that found me through my interview on Grand National Championships. Great show, great music, and I know I said that I would have this thing out on Monday BEFORE the show ended, but that just didn't happen unfortunately. HOWEVER, I have completed the game, and I present it here, for your viewing pleasure!

Screenshots:

DOWNLOAD LINK:

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/130053-supa-blast-o-naut

I can assure you no viral harm will come to your computer, no matter how much it may warn you about the dangers of .exe files. The website I have it hosted on scans for that sort of thing before it allows it to go live, so no worries eh? Also, apologies to MAC users, this won't work for you guys. Sorry :(

If your wondering what the game is like, it's sort of a cross between and old school arcade shooter (Galaga, 1942, etc.) and a matching type puzzle game. You must guide your ship using the W,A,S,D keys through a densely packed asteroid belt, while also using the mouse to place mines on the different colored rocks. When the mines go off, the explosions continue outward from the source until they reach the edge of their range, or they are stopped by a different colored asteroid. You can circumvent this by using one mine to set off another that is placed on a differently colored asteroid!

Theres also a powerup system that lets you increase the abilities of your ship at the end of each level, and just for you folks that visit my blog, heres a cheat code! If you press "J" at the start screen, you'll start the game at level 17, with all your powerups maxed out! Good Luck!