Super Monster Dance Party! - Release Tomorrow!

Hey everyone!

Sorry for being absent for a little bit, but that's because me and the team have been working hard on our games, including Super Monster Dance Party which comes out tomorrow, April 30th!

We've got the game buttoned up and ready to go! All we have to do is put it down for long enough to upload it to the Google Store!

Keep a look out for it in your Android phone's Google store and do us a solid and give it a shot!
It's only $0.99!

Until next time,
-Dave
(Sleep is something that should happen soon...)

Super Monster Dance Party - it's coming...

It's official, our game is in the final stretch!

Super Monster Dance Party is coming!

Here are some screen shots from our programmer Jake Vermillion's blog featuring actual game-play screen shots! WOO!

Flo-Bros wrecking things up with mad fresh beats, yo!

Selectin' dem levels like it ain't no thang!

So are you as pumped up as I am?!

...

No? Well, you should be! We got DJ SynthR (Matthew Le Blanc) providing the awesome music for our game! This guy is phenomenal so go check out his web site!

 Now, there are still some kinks to work out, but we're right on schedule for an April 30th release!

Our little team worked our collective butts off for this little game and got it turned out in under 3 months, so I just want to go on the record saying that I'm very proud of the Pixel Jargon team. They all go above and beyond in all our endeavors, always find a way to get something done, and never even thought of quitting. 

If you want more news on Pixel Jargon and Super Monster Dance Party as it happens, check out our Facebook and Twitter accounts. 

-Pixel Jargon (Facebook)  (Twitter)

-SMDP (Facebook)  (Twitter)

But seriously, you really should click those and like and follow us, cause that's what cool kids do...

Until next time,

-Dave

(Fuck yeah.)

Super Monster Dance Party! -Woo!

Hey there!

So Super Monster Dance Party is going to be released at the end of this month (April 2013) to the Android market! Woo!

But you might be asking, "Dave, wtf have you been doing to keep yourself busy enough to ignore us on the interwebs?" Well, I'll tell you! Not only have I been working on Super Monster Dance Party, I'm also finishing up finals for my education, which is basically finishing up a fairly polished proof of concept in UDK, as well as an educational simulation game where the play must save the ancient, lost city of Atlantis!

Then, I've also been filling my time with working on getting my groups game company, Pixel Jargon up and running! (Not as easy as it sounds...) And after all that, I've been able to squeeze in at least a couple hours to play games and start a couple new projects that (hopefully) will be seeing releases before the end of summer.

In the next couple days, I let you guys in on a couple of super secret game projects as well as some more 3D models of mine and maybe a quick but useful tutorial I've been writing.

But for now, enjoy this sketch of me being frustrated that my tablet is all broken and stuff...

Keyboard and mouse for digital art? It happens to us all at one point.

Until next time,

-Dave

(Seriously, I need a new tablet and quickly...)

Future Space Truck!

Hey everybody!

So as you may know, I'm working on 3D shtuff again to help update my portfolio. Since I started looking back through all the crap I had made in the past, I realized the vehicles weren't as great as they could've been.

That being said, I decided right then and there to make something that I thought was cool; a futuristic space truck!

Fancy Rendering!

And here is the wire-frame composite so you can see some pretty geometry!

I edited this image to give a better view of the cabs geometry.

Lastly, one of those little spin-gifs just so you can see the little metal barrel in the back!

Ah yeah!

So there you have it, a quick little space truck model that took me about 5 hours from beginning to end! It isn't rigged, but I don't have a reason to just yet.

Hope you like it!

Until next time,

-Dave

(This is where I put a little message, but I can't think of anything witty...)

3D Models and General Stuff Update

Hey guys!

I know, I know, I haven't updated all that often recently, but I've been working on our lil' game called "Super Monster Dance Party" and also been updating my portfolio.

One of the things I've been working on for my portfolio is a little game about a firefighter saving folks.
Here is a composite of the model I made along with a wire-frame composite.

Toasty!

Fireman Wireframe - Don't judge the unwrap too harshly, I only spent like 3 minutes on the skin...

Next, I made this guy/thing which is a little nod to the internets underbelly.

The internet's final boss...ish...

And a wireframe!

So yeah, I've just been working on some stuff to fill out my portfolio since, ya' know, I'm finally looking for work in the game design industry. Sure, making games our selves is super fun, but I gotsta get paid, yo!

Speaking of getting paid, we should be releasing "Super Monster Dance Party" by the end of this month on Android, so keep a look out for our game! After that, we got a couple other surprises coming out in the next few months.

Until next time,

-Dave

(Oh yeah, 2 more months of college, so that's a thing...)

Bioshock Infinite - First Impressions

As some of you might know, I haven't been playing that many big budget games lately. I've been mostly sticking to the smaller, more independent titles that makes me think. Graphics don't have to be phenomenal for indie games but they usually have a cohesive aesthetic and riveting ideas and stories.

But that's beside the point.

I'm here to talk about the latest installment in a series that I've been enjoying for years now; Bioshock.

The first drew me in with its dark horror and chilling psychological twists. It was beautifully done and masterfully executed. This of course made me skeptical of the next installment of the series, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't suck. Granted, it wasn't as good as the first, but still a good game.

Now, the latest in the series, Bioshock Infinite, was a game that I promised myself I would steer clear of because it was...different. It looked brighter and lighter in its story telling. It seemed more "twitchy" with its game play rather than methodical and calculating.

I got it anyway since, you know, I needed to play finish up the series and I wanted something to bitch about on the internet.

Still determined to hate it, I began to play.

Everything seemed pretty lack luster. Dark over-tones in a light-house. "Spectacular" sequence to introduce the city. All that stuff in the first 20 minutes of the game.

A couple of odd moments later and some realization that I was being set up for something big, the auction scene happened.

Oh. mah. gob.

The game blind-sided me. A one-two punch with no kid gloves and a nasty glare like I owe child support. Right then and there I knew this world was grim. Don't know what I'm talkin about? Look around on the youtubes.

As I played on, it didn't seem as evil as I once thought, but the ideas kept lingering in the back of my mind. This entire civilization, as bright and cheerful as it seemed, was divided not only by class, but by race. Bigotry and violence were instilled in these digital citizens by a mad-man with a messiah complex. These people were, in this world, responsible for horrific acts and they did it all in the name of their patriotic religion. 

I played the Bioshock Infinite for another 6 hours after that before I got too fatigued to play.

Aside from the interesting story, the graphics seem rushed with bad textures, clipping effects and models, and bad rigging on more than a few models. For a triple A title that has been in development for years, you'd think that kind of stuff wouldn't be tolerated. Along with some of the poor modeling techniques and just plain bad models, I'm surprised they let it slide. 

Now you might be saying it's my machine, but trust me, it ain't.

Bioshock Infinite to me is an odd fish. It swims like an indie with it's flawed graphics and hand-crafted look. It breathes like an indie with it's imaginative story and intriguing characters. But it's scales are like all other bloated triple A titles out there with its high-end commercials, price tag to make you cringe, and ready for DLC. 

It kinda makes me sick to say this, but Bioshock Infinite is a fun game. I have buyers remorse and just wish I could have paid so much less or even just bought it straight from the studio instead of paying the publisher.

Oh well, maybe this can serve as a warning to others.

Until next time,

-Dave

(So tired. So very tired.)