Little Rose

Here's a better version. For some reason the compression in the last one caused some problems at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu63ujIIF4U

Flower Bloom in Color

I finally finished the flower bloom. I was asked to change the end to have the flower bloom so it takes up the whole frame. It could have turned out better, but I didn't have the time to draw and color all the frames needed to make it nice. Besides, it's supposed to have a childlike quality to it, hence the quick and dirty color job (done with Crayola crayons and colored pencils).

Pencil Test No. 2

Here's the second part of the pencil test -- the flower blooming. I'll be coloring this in either crayon or colored pencil to give it a child-like quality, but I can't decide how to handle the background. It'd be nice to have a separate element animating as a background. I'd like to have some sort of movement back there instead of just a static color.

Pencil Test No. 1

Here's the first part of a pencil test of a little animation I'm working on for a friend. Nothing fancy. Eventually, this little guy grows up into a rose.

Death Tank

If you own an Xbox 360 and wanna play a fun game, download "Death Tank" from Xbox Live Arcade. It's a really fun multiplayer action game from Ezra Dreisbach, a former Snowblind Studios programmer. The original game was included as an Easter Egg is the Sega Saturn games "Powerslave" and "Duke Nukem 3D." Snowblind helped him with development of this finely polished sequel, and is publishing it (I helped with the Italian localization, and also did some animation that didn't make it into the game).

Anyway, it's a great game, so cough up the $15 and blow some shit up.

Death Tank XBLA Site

Game Over

So I've been really struggling in being productive outside of work. I've been spending months searching for some kind of inspiration to get my ass in gear. As a favor for a friend, I'll be doing a little animation sometime this week of a flower growing, so maybe that will spark something.

What I really want to talk about is this great book that hooks me every time I read pick it up.

"Game Over: Press Start To Continue" by David Sheff is an amazing account of Nintendo's rise to power. It's the book that really made me want to work in the game industry, or more specifically, made me want to work for Nintendo. I read this book right before I started my internship at Nintendo Software Technology in 2003, and I was beyond excited to be on the inside of the place that saved the video game industry in North America.

Nintendo's story is truly inspiring to me. Some of the methods they used to become the unquestioned industry leader back in the late '80s might be suspect, but they took an industry that American companies created (and subsequently brought to its knees and left for dead), and against all odds, brought it back from the brink and became one of the most successful and profitable companies in the world.

One really has to question why American companies continue to operate with such inefficiency after Nintendo showed the world how to do it right. They invested heavily in their R & D divisions, planned a long-term strategy, and didn't spend lavishly on things like private jets.

The book chronicles the history of the industry. From Nolan Bushnell's sloppy management of Atari, Shigeru Miyamoto's inspiring career and value to Nintendo, Trip Hawkin's arrogance, the many lawsuits Nintendo fought (and won), and Sega's challenge to Nintendo's throne -- "Game Over" covers it all objectively.

I remember my first day working on Nintendo of America's campus. It was such a thrill for me to walking around the offices where it all started. I would have quit DigiPen had they offered me a permanent position at NST, and I tried like hell after graduating to land a job there. Most of the people I knew at NST are gone however, and it seems that the studio (like Nintendo's other American studios), isn't doing so well on the inside. Most everyone I knew while working there have moved on, citing frustration and poor management. So maybe it worked out for the best that I never got hired there. I have to say though, seeing my name under Miyamoto's in the credits of "1080 Avalanche" and "Mario Vs. Donkey Kong" is still pretty special for me, even if it's just "special thanks."

Weird Fishes progress update ... and other things

So the work on my Weird Fishes/Arpeggi music video is going very slow. It'd be a miracle if I finish in time for aniboom.com's deadline at the end of June, but I sort of knew that taking on a project like this on my own. It looks as though I'm up against teams of artists and animators, so I have very little chance of winning the $10,000 anyway. I will get it done, however long it takes me. I am disappointed though that I haven't been able to find more time to work on it.

In the meantime, I saw the new Indiana Jones movie last night, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Good God, what a silly movie. I mean, you were required to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the previous three films, but this is ridiculous. The cheese and corn factor is just pumped up to absurd proportions, and I just wasn't into it at all. This movie didn't have to be made, so in my opinion it's proof that Spielberg, Lucas and Harrison Ford will do anything for a big payday, whether or not they have a decent story to work with.

I had way, way, way more fun watching "Iron Man" a few weeks ago.

I also saw "I Am Legend" a couple days ago, and I really liked it. Not amazing, but well done, and it gave me some ideas for the animation I'm currently doing at Snowblind.