I’m 34 Now! Depression Is Striking, But We Can’t Let That Stop Us From Making (for Long)! Bounder

Popped down to Edinburgh for the MOVE Summit, a series of talks on the UK Animation industry. The Thursday portion began with a talk from Christopher McDonald from Framestore, showcasing the technological pre-production (or "Previs") done for movies, with Wicked Part 1 as the example.

They start by using overhead "Blocking Maps" to figure out the space of a scene, where each character is going to stand, position of objects, camera locations, field of view, etc. Then they make CG mockups of characters and locations, using concept art as a base, then animate based on the director's vision. It's sort of like the next step up from storyboards.

This helps them gauge the spacing and stage setup required to pull off practical effects ("Techvis"). For example, the scene where Glinda is sailing to the university, the camera is underwater, showing her hand beneath the water's surface. This means that for the camera to be below her, the actual prop boat needed to be several feet off the ground, something they might not have caught if they just started shooting.

"Postvis" is of course the post-production of adding all the effects together for the final shot. This was also the first time I'd heard the term "Plate", for the base shot that all the effects are later layered onto. Like a sandwich, I guess. Big thanks to Chris for that talk.

Listening to the Sonic Hysteria soundtrack by NicoCW while I work on Stardust Survivors! Some of the best music from the Sonic fandom. I'm a particular fan of the various Launch Base Zone tracks, especially the underwater variant that builds on the PC marching-band version. The Hill Top / Mystic Cave mashup is also *chef's kiss*.

Hey friendly reminder that I made not one but two games in which you've got a grappling gun that's a frog! They're lowpoly platformers and you go up against Beelzebub himself <3

Here's a weird optical illusion I found while modelling: the two black lines in the center are completely straight, yet there's this bulge in the middle. :'V

I don't really play Hearthstone anymore, but I've always loved it for the different ways it portrays the World of Warcraft. I love Mean Streets of Gadgetzan so much that I wish it was a part of WoW (I'd love to make a Starcraft 2 mod inspired by it, but I'll talk about that later).

The most recent Hearthstone trailer had two great parts. The first is this Tortollan volcano city, which looks rad as hell and has a bunch of cute turtle people. The Tortollan are fine in WoW, but they look a lot livelier in their Hearthstone art.

Chromie pulling alternate-timeline versions of heroic characters has a vast amount of fan-theory potential. There were certain character skins in Heroes of the Storm that had different backstories, such as Thrall's "Ashwolf Chieftain" story. From what we saw in the trailer of pre-banshee Sylvanas and Lo'Gosh Varian, I'm certain they won't take that particularly wild direction, but who knows? There may be a mighty surprise.

testing particles

Magic Trickery! 🐇🐇🐇🐇 Oldtimer and UFOh My!

WISHLIST Magic Trickery on STEAM! Pretty please and thank you!

Happy Valentines day! A good excuse for chocolate (for any relationship), and for me to talk about my partner, Coding Dino https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@codingdino. Not to gush, but she’s the smartest person I know, full of passion for her craft, and keeps pushing herself to improve.

I’ve learned a lot from her over the 11 or so years we’ve been together, and I’d be a far worse person without her. <3

She's been obsessed with Ascendance of a Bookworm for the last couple weeks, so here's some Rozemyne.

Hey all! I haven't been making much progress with Bounder Games lately, mostly due to GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT (fill-in college lecturer). But that's no excuse! Here's where we stand:

I've been reading Hideo Kojima's "The Creative Gene", a collection of reflections on the books and media that inspired him to make games like Metal Gear. In "The Moon Over the Mountain", the main character feels he has failed to capitalise on his talent and describes his unwillingness to publish imperfect material as "timid pride" and "disdainful shyness". His following quote hit me pretty hard:

"No, whether the poems are good or bad, I would not rest easy in my grave without passing these poems on to later generations, since the represent my deepest passion in life, even to the point of losing my fortune and my sanity."

It's been almost 10 years since we founded Bounder Games and began work on Armoured Engines, and that decade of shame floods through me like toxic oil. I felt like I'd let everyone down, not working hard enough or focusing on the wrong things. I have so many ideas; to build, to design, to write, to act, to create, that I'm overwhelmed by the cavernous silence of my portfolio. The more I thought upon my neglect, the more I mired myself in doubt.

That quote struck me, and I could feel what Li Zheng could feel. That need to pass on what I make. Shame is the great assassin of creativity. If I could be a fraction as confident as Kojima-san, I might be able to look at myself with pride.

For me, no more excuses. Time to Make!