Update on Life and Richard

It's been a strangely hectic-feeling week or so in the life of being unemployed. I've been really looking for a nice, meaty project to sink my teeth into. Lo and behold, I discovered the website indieDB.com; it's a social site of sorts where a lot of indie developers (industry newcomers and veterans alike) are trying to start up various gaming projects. With spending a little bit of time on the site, perusing around and talking to some various people, it looks like I've found a couple of interesting projects to get into with the likes of two companies known as Rising Soul Games and Dark Lore Games. I can't really talk too much about what the projects entail but if all goes well, they should keep me pretty busy and I think it'll be  a great experience.

I've also been trying to work bit by bit on my Richard maquette and explore the world of DeviantArt.com. I wound up not working on Richard for a couple of days because I got called in to do some playtesting; it was the full deal: unreleased game, NDA's and monetary compensation. The most fun part aside from playing the game? If anyone tries to ask me what I tested, I can honestly answer, "I'm sorry, that information is classified." How many times do you really get to say that in real life? Anyway, it was fun/interesting experience and one that I wouldn't necessarily mind doing again. Back to Richard for a second, here's a few shots of my latest progress with him.

No arms yet and torso's still a little off...

The torso's been mostly resolved, now with some arms and sexy bracer

What's that, a near finished mantle and TWO bracers?!

On the gaming side of life, good lord my backlog has gotten extra terrible. I have done away with the boyhood single-mindedness of working on only one game at a time; it's just not feasible anymore! As of right now, I am working on Far Cry, Amnesia, Titan Quest, Mass Effect 2, dabbling again in Skyrim, and getting close to finishing Bulletstorm (I think). I still have a number of games on PC that I picked up during the last Humble Bundle sale that I haven't gotten around to trying yet including the critically acclaimed and award winning Bastion and Braid. Don't even get me started on my PS3 backlog...

 I recently finished playing through both Limbo and Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP. Both were really great games with some interestingly brain-busting puzzles. The music in Superbrothers was fantastic and Jim Guthrie deserves much praise for his work; I had downloaded the soundtrack before playing the game and loved it so much I put it on my phone so I can take it with me everywhere! Limbo was beautifully creepy and reminded me a bit of playing the old NES version of Prince of Persia, albeit with a bit more disturbing death sequences. For a monochromatic 2D side-scroller, and even without that qualifier, Limbo's animation was amazing; everything had a sense of grace and subtlety to it that you don't see in a whole lot of games or even movies. I think it's come to that time again with this post though; I have run out of updates for the time being but I will be sure to try and post more info when I have it, more thoughts on games, industry stuff, projects, and what-have-you. For the two or three people that mistakenly find my blog, I wish you a safe and happy holiday: please don't blow off too many appendages or set the fields ablaze.