GS Indie Game News: 2-9-11 Part 1 & 2

A new weekly show that I am starting for Gamerz Station. It's where I talk about some of the news and happenings in the indie gaming world. It's a two parter.

Browser Games of the Week: PacTime Edition

It's a new week and time for a new video. This week is a little shorter then previously, but just as long.

Browser Games of the Week: BiteJacker and Armor Mayham Edition

After much annoyance with youtube, it's finally up and here. The newest week of Browser Games of the Week... done by me.

Duke Nukem Forever Trailer Finally Revealed to Public

If you are into gaming like me, then you probably know that at PAX last September, Duke Nukem Forever was revealed to be coming out. Yes, all of us thought this was a game that would never be released and the several screens shown over the years didn't look that good. It was even a joke for the longest... like the Phantom.

Though the trailer was shown for the game last September, it wasn't revealed to anyone outside of those that saw it... but no longer. Here is the trailer... with pixelated boobs and ass:




While I wasn't all that excited about the game initially, seeing the trailer does help to boost my belief in the game. It doesn't just seem to be the plain brown screens that I was seeing for awhile. Plus, the team behind it was behind the Half-Life expansions, Brother in Arms, and Borderlands

Let's just hope it can be good... I mean, it's taken 12 freakin' years.

Browser Games of the Week: Over the Border Edition

I should really quit making promises about that animation... especially when I had to do this video during that time.

A Rearranging of Animations & New Video Series?

Alright, I was planning on having my next animation being, what I was calling it, "That Shrinking Feeling", but that animation has been pushed back. "Why?!" you might just be wondering, well, it's simple. Let's say it's because I don't feel like doing the other and this upcoming animation I just started is simpler.

I think I've mentioned this before, but when I came to GoAnimate, I was having writer's block over at StripGenerator and that carried over to GA. I was lucky to get my first three animations out. Just something about getting there, some animation ideas hit me... but then they quickly disappeared.

Perhaps it just isn't writers block either, as I have had a few ideas, but either not being in the mood to work on these animations after I do whatever I do each day or I simply don't like the animation. Those are as big an influence as the writer's block as those have been the reason for animations being pushed back or not even being started.

As an example, prior to my Saw Christmas episode, I had two or three Street Fighter parodies that I though of using. One was going to involve my past experience with sprite animations, but after the Saw Christmas, I kinda decided that GA isn't best for those animations. But the main reason they weren't made is simply because they weren't as funny as I though they would be... they didn't work out for me.

Anyways, back to the rearranging of animations. The shrinking one is pushed back till whenever I get to it and replacing it is a simpler animation, but maybe a little funnier: most of the lines were done improv which goes well with the animation. It's about my failed career as a stand-up comedian... not my real career as I haven't had one yet, but likely will soon if I don't get a job.

I plan on this being an on-and-off series: one I do when I just want to do something funny. This idea of being a failed comedian is often a joke I do tell people and I even did it in my podcast I had for a short amount of time: though I used the name Kayne Lindy in that podcast over my real or SnakeYukin.

If things go well though, I will have it up tomorrow or the day after. It all depends on if this snow outside gets to me and I go crazy anytime soon or I break down from being home alone for a few days.



Switching gears to non-animation, I'm thinking of maybe starting the usual retro-ish video game reviews. I'm only thinking this as I picked up the N64 just the other day, the first time in a few years, and I wanted to see what I now thought of a game I liked when I was, according to the save file, only ten years old.

I want this to be more of a retrospective show of my childhood over, say, just reviewing random old games that may be bad or good. That's also what I don't want to be solely, just about reviewing horrible games. I did that for a bit involving indie games and, while it was fun, it was at the same time something involving me mocking designers who might be a tween. It's hard to just comb and find a professional-ish game that is made by a proper indie game studio... but the game sucks.

Now, I really didn't have issues with this idea of berating these indie games, as these people did put out a game that is meant to be viewed and played by others, so it's fair game. At the same time though, I know it probably wouldn't pull in a lot of views: though those that watched it did find it funny... except the few who were offended by the above reason.

The only issue I'm actually facing is recording the video I want. That's on two different fronts too.

First is actually recording the game. It's on the N64, which I could record if I had the right equipment (your donations help to go towards that), but I don't. Luckily, there are emulators out there that allows me to play these games on my PC, so I can record these games. My first game I'm looking back on is one I do own, so it's not much of a biggie: I'm actually going through and finishing the game on my N64 first before switching over, playing, and recording on my computer.

Second, is that I want to be able to record myself and some little sketch moments I have ideas for. Now, I don't have a camcorder and I'm waiting on a HD webcam that I was able to get from the audio book stuff I'm doing... actually, I was told to get one for something that I have to work on for them after I get it.

Anyways, I want to be able to show myself, which I can easily do with the webcam and, from what I've seen, the quality is good (not the best, but whatever.) So I'm hoping that, after I play around with it, that it records well enough that I can do these little comedy moments with it. If not then, well, the videos will lack most likely.

If I'm lucky, I'll be able to eventually get a camcorder I've been eyeing for a while. Hopefully this will be from a mix of the audio book stuff as well as, hopefully, getting a local part time job... one that I've been trying for since I turned 16 only about 4.5 years ago.

Just now... I gotta figure out an intro for this series and a name for it.

Browser Games of the Week: Monotris and Dead Ninjas Edition

My weekly videos for Gamerz Station that spotlights some of the better browser games for the week has returned. Check it out; like, comment, and fav it too.

Behind on Animation: That Shrinking Feeling

Yes, that's the title of the animation that's coming next... and I'm behind the schedule I was expecting. I was hoping to start animating on Sunday or Monday, I started actually Saturday, but because of an issue at GoAnimate, I decided to hold off till that's fixed. Now it's fixed, but I've been a little busy with some stuff.

Sunday, I had to send in some lines, twice, for an online ad. In between those, I decided to audition for a flash animation and a game as they both, from what I saw, looked nice and polished, I thought it might help to audition for them: one of which I should, hopefully, be hearing something from tomorrow or the day after.

Monday... well, I don't have much of an excuse I think. I just think I wasn't in the mood to do anything or, perhaps, I was indeed busy with some stuff for Gamerz Station. Also, I ended up being out for about three hours because our cat is getting a little annoying.

Yesterday, I was hanging with one of my friends mostly all day. Since we were doing stuff, I couldn't really work on my animation, obviously. When I got home, I realized I needed to finished working on the new intro for Gamerz Station... which is my top priority.

Today... well, the same thing will be happening. I didn't finish the intro yesterday as there's something I gotta download to make it the way that I planned to have it. So when I get that working, I'll likely have another voice acting gig to do, and I don't know when both of those will be finished. As well as all of that, I still need to get to working on my voice acting demo.

Tomorrow is when I should be able to work on the animation. My friend and I might be hanging out again, but when I get home, I shouldn't have anything else to worry about, so I can get to work on it.

If not... then there's Friday I suppose.

Expect Some Shrinking in My Next Animation

I've just finished up the recording for my next animation, which means I'll start animating the stuff likely next year: you know, as in tomorrow's next year. Though it might not be till either Sunday or Monday as I have some voice over stuff to do today and, likely, tomorrow.

As the title says, there will be some shrinking involved with this animation: not as in some weird fetish that I'm sure is out there. I'm unsure if it'll be as funny as the others, it does have funny moments, but it might involve the most amount of stuff... maybe. Plus, I show off my voice acting even more by adding a new voice to the cast of... three voices.

As well as that, I show a nice little voice altering trick that I can do on Adobe Audition. Okay, it's not really a trick, as I'm sure several users know how to do what I did, but it defiantly helps the animation and is better then just having a normal voice and then a high and squeaky one.


Now, some of you might be wondering about the series thing. I'm thinking about doing it and I was writing to have the trailer up instead of this animation, but one thing stopped me. That is, I didn't have the GoBucks to add on stuff for the character, so I had to reuse some of my old characters.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing either, because I'm sure this animation will be quicker to do then that trailer.

Anyways, expecting the animation within a week if things go well. The only thing that should delay it is laziness, getting busy with some work, or something involving interactions with people causes me to be behind schedule.

Audio Book Recordathon!

I've been busy for the last four days doing some recordings for an audio book: one of currently ten that I'm to be voicing. I was initially excited about all of this... mainly as I was getting paid and I need some financial help. Now, it's more of a "meh" and boredom... as well as realizing that as this is a larger project I shouldn't have charged my small project rate.

The reason for this simply comes from the fact that I'm usually more of a character actor, I like doing characters, different voices, etc. Reading a book is... reading a book. Sure I could do voices, but keeping the voices consistent and not sounding too out of place would be a little hard. Also, there's female characters and I defiantly can't do those proper. Maybe something Monty Python-ish, but this is a serious espionage story.

Though I believe it's not just that... it's because it's a book. Mostly everything I'm used to doing is a line-by-line ordeal, but I've occasionally had things involving pages, but at most they were 50 pages.

Lines are usually short, just a couple of sentences. If you screw up, you can usually go back and redo it all. As well as that, if you are like me, you will send a couple of takes of a line to your "boss" so they can have a picking of which they liked the most. It saves you and their time.

Anything with long readings, say a chapter in a book, you have to change that up. Redoing the entire recording because of a screw-up is CRAZY. When a chapter can last almost 40 minutes, going back to the beginning of the chapter every time is just a waste of time. Even going back to the start of a page can waste a bit of time; especially if there's a little area that you have issues with constantly and you finally passed it.

I quickly learned that if I got past a paragraph and screwed up in the next, that I needed to start in the second paragraph; unless, that is, that I felt I could have done something better in the previous one. Time is key for me. I have ten days (more or less, it is the holidays) to complete 340 pages and getting my 35 page per day quota and that often takes about 3-4 hours of my time. Not the largest amount of time by any stretch of the imagination, but when you have other things to do or would like to do (e.g. do other voice overs or do an animation) it helps to limit what else you can do.

I would say that this is an experience... and that I defiantly need to figure out what to do about larger projects if they come my way; especially through the site I've been using. Small projects can be completed in a day or two, but when it's something this big, takes days, and lots of hours (not the recording time, but actual labor time): it isn't the same thing nor should be considered so.

Animation: It's a Saw Christmas

It's Christmas time and someone isn't in the giving mood. It appears someone needs to learn a lesson and the teacher is someone you would least suspect... or maybe not as the title gives it away.

P.S. It's not a stripper or a ho ho ho (as in a whore.)

There seems to be some issues with the GoAnimate site, so the animation may not work.





Behind the scene info below (Spoilers):
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• The start of the animation where my character is waking up, that scene was originally planned to be right-side up. Because...
  
• Originally my character was to be restrained in a chair. Not by ropes, but metal clamps around his wrists. That was scrapped because I couldn't draw those clamps and because I don't quite like the sitting in chairs for Lil' Peepz.
  
• In the panning shot and some of the wide shots of my room, you'll notice a companion cube on my shelf. I drew it on Stripgenerator, which is where I was told about GoAnimate. Also, over there, my character has an obsession with it.
  
• The line, "MY ROOM?! How did I get here?" was originally suppose to be "MY HOUSE?! How did I get here?" I just accidentally said room and didn't feel like redoing the line.
  
• Originally the location was suppose to be the living room, as seen in my first animation, but it obviously had to be moved when I said "MY ROOM?!" instead of "MY HOUSE?!"
  
• Jigsaw's voice went through several different versions. I'm an awful impersonator, but any time I got close to being similar to Jigsaw's voice, I couldn't keep it up. I just decided to go with a voice that I could easily do over and over again, as well as being deep.
  
• Jigsaw's speaking and eye movement consists of five images.
  
• Making Jigsaw speak, at least have the illusion, hearkens back to when I made animations with sprites: only one being finished. I lacked drawing skills, so I had to use sprites.
  
• Instead of it being called "Street Fighter: GoAnimate Edition", originally it was going to be "Super Street Fighter 2.5".
  
• The joke about Street Fighter on the line "I want to play a game." was where the idea for a Saw parody came from. Making it Christmas related was an obvious extension because of the holiday.
  
• I am quite horrible at the Street Fighter games. Cammy is the character I suck the least with.
  
• The addition of the SNES controller and having it explode was the last things to be added. I felt there was a need to show my character with a controller (SNES) and having it explode is just usual shenanigans.
  
• The nerd was actually planned to be in the previous animation, but, as it had to be under two minutes, I had to cut his part. He was more or less going to be complaining about my Master Chief voice and how Halo isn't an RPG.
  
• It is true I haven't given any Christmas gifts these last few years, but it is simply because I'm a student (college) and no one will hire me for a part-time job: so the only money I got is from scholarships and that often disappears quickly.
  
• Saw mistakes the ugly woman in my first animation as my nonexistant girlfriend.
  
• Indeed... I am single... ladies. Yeah, that's creepy.
  
• For those that don't know, Master Chef appeared in the animation prior to this one.
  
• Master Chef is actually suppose to be teaching people how to make Gingerbread Houses while driving a Hornet, but I couldn't find it in the catalog: perhaps because I started with a Street Fighter theme. So I had to change it to tank.
  
• First animation with my name credited as Stephen "SnakeYukin" Lindsey... which is how I'm credited in nearly everything else I do.
  

A Change in Name and Purpose

This is something I've been thinking of for a bit. This blog hasn't been betting updated as it should. Mainly, this came from the fact that it was focused only on indie games, but as I'm finding myself having issues writing posts about indie games and any posts I do start end up being just rehashed stuff I posted over on Gamerz Station.

As I started doing some animations over at GoAnimate and thought it might be good to have a blog to give updates on those animations, little commentaries, and some other stuff about animating there. Obviously I have twitter and I try to give some updates on that, but a blog can work out better for it than a tweet.

Though just focusing on animations really isn't the best of plans; especially if I have writer's block or something like that. So, as well as my animations, I will probably be occasionally talking about my voice acting or comics, but, in between those or alongside those will likely be stuff involving the gaming (indie and mainstream) world: be it news, videos, etc. I may also add some animations that i like as well... whatever I really feel like.

So if you were following me prior to this, all three of you, I should be able to update this more often now.

If there are any new readers out there... welcome and enjoy. Here's a Portal speedrun by someone and it only takes him about ten minutes. Yes, he uses glitches to get there quickly, but it's what certain speedruns are all about. Also... the cake ISN'T a lie.