Music update:

Been working on the new EP. It might become an album. I just haven’t had the need to release it now. Me and my bro are also going to see if we can jam some proper songs this coming holidays. Lots of our previous work we are going to try and transpose. More emphasis will be placed on voices/singing though.

Games update:

Been secretly experimenting with different prototypes of the Roach Toaster gameplay. Me and 2 friends are also going to make a game which involves ninjas and ropes (so far). I can’t do the crazy physics programming so I’m helping with the design and ultimately level design.

Website update:

Still working on my new mini-project. I should just get around to finishing it. Shouldn’t be tooo long. The problem is that the first phase of the project is pretty boring. The 2nd phase which I don’t even know how I would do it, should be way more interesting. But why am I telling you this if you don’t know what it is about? Meh.

They managed to compare Roach Toaster to the infamous Muslim Massacre! While Muslic Massacre garnered media attention because of its controversial nature, Roach Toaster didn’t, simply because it is a game about “toasting” roaches…

Gameology then continues to dissect Roach Toaster for any underlying political and racial undertones. Considering that I am a white South African, they proclaim that Roach Toaster was created to portray the “white elite” crushing the hordes of “blacks”. Something along that line.

Read it!

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I don’t really know what to think about it. Firstly its awesome to see someone dissect me and my game, but it is so farfetched at the same time. I clearly created the game purely for being a game. If I wanted to make a political statement I would’ve done so by simply making the roaches black people.

Somewhere in it all there might contain an unintentional political statement, considering that the game idea DID come from watching a riot on TV… But I’m sure that if I wasn’t living in South Africa and saw a riot on TV, the same idea would’ve followed.

At rAge they released the new Dev.Mag up for grabs at its usual spot. This issue is filled with awesome, from an interview with Introversion, level design article, working with audacity and my favourtite, a retrospective article on the Game.Dev comps. It starts with the first 10 comps.

It makes me want to get back into the swing of things again!

I quote:

“This particular competition produced one of the finest games of Game.Dev’s early era – an offering titled Roach Toaster which stood head and shoulders above the rest of the entries up until that point and raised the bar for all competitions that followed. It didn’t have mind-blowing graphics. It didn’t have a load of flashy scripted events. It didn’teven have sound effects. It just had a basic roach generation algorithm and a few well-balanced roachbusting tools that were meticulously considered; providing a player with a simple experience that felt like an epic.”

It makes me brim with joy.

Get the Dev.Mag now! Its awesome!

Eventually! I actually really want to get my game dev on again, but more in the cactus sense. Small, thematic games.

Anyway, here be the link to the Roach Toaster review.

I like doing anything creative, so I have dabbled in almost every form. Currently my desire to do game dev has been waning and I mused upon it and came to the following conclusion.

Websites:

-Most websites don’t have a finish state. It is constantly in beta and constantly being upgraded and updated. During the development process, you already receive “feedback”. There is constant motivation. With websites you also see the result of your work much greater. You can see people use it by them joining and using your website. Thus with little work, it can be very rewarding! (Note: I am talking about interactive websites, ala web 2.0).

Games:

-Games have 1 finished state (excluding bugs and patches). During the whole development process, it is never quite fully playable until the whole package is finished. Sometimes after the whole process it turns out to be something you did not expect it to be and you have start over (note: Roach Toaster 2). It is actually very unforgiving. The only feedback you receive are “reviews”. When you receive positive feedback it is totally awesome! You get that warm feeling inside. But as you can see, with loads you put in, you don’t get that much feedback.

Music:

-During the creation of music, it is rewarding because of the nature of music.  As you chime out melodies, you revel in its sweet sounds. Music does have a final state. Like games, you don’t really have that much feedback. The feedback is more prevalent than games though. Playing live gigs and hearing your songs being played in various clubs/bars are awesome, but you still miss out on the big slice of pie where people listen to it at home. You don’t get that feedback. Thus with little input, you only get moderate feedback.

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MMO’s are a different puppy though. It combines the web with normal games. Start small, revise and upgrade. You get immediate feedback (via users joining and playing) and satisfaction.

So as you can see, my desire to do game dev is waning. Building websites and making music is much more fun.

But you can’t deny game development. It IS the epitome of creativity. Making a great game (on your own), you must be proficient in music, arts, design and you have to be able to solve the logic puzzles of programming. And that’s why I still like doing it every now and then. I can see it remaining a hobby, but I’ll probably start leaning towards a cactus approach to games. Short, fun, stylish.

Dev.Mag issue 22 is an integral issue due to several reasons. Our beloved editor, Nandrew aka Rodain Joubert, stepped down as ed. He has taken Dev.Mag from strength to strength. Kudos!

Nandrew is replaced by the equally capable dep-ed Claudio “Chippit” de Sa.

Another new thing in issue 22 is the layout redesign! It is now much more net-friendly.

Content:

Feature -> A Day to Remember. We talk to Danny Day, one of South Africa’s top game dev activists.

Reviews -> A Family Treasure, Sumotori Dreams, Trilby: Art of Theft.

Tutorials -> Game Graphics with Photoshop, Procedural Level Generation

Design -> Design Documents, Taking the Hit (criticism),  A Matter of Time (using time effects in your game)

Tailpiece -> History of Dev.Mag

Enjoy! Get it here!

I am also working on a new pet web project, that I plan to launch this holiday (somewhere in July). I am splurging nothing at the moment. The goal behind it is to see if I can do a proper database driven website. It is a bit stupid, but oh well. So far it is coming along nicely, except the CSS issues are destroying my patience. Firefox vs IE. Gawsh. Sooo annoying.

Anyway, let me get back to some game devving.

It turns out they picked up Roach Toaster 1 somewhere and reviewed it. I was surprised to see a 70% beside it. Despite that Roach Toaster 1 was made back in 2005, I couldn’t help but brim with whatever they call it. Pride? Not precisely.

It is that warm fuzzy feeling you get when somebody likes something you made.

It reminds me why I love game development so much.

I am really in the mood for game devving. I kinda miss the whole TIG community. I don’t have time to devote to TIG, but it’s cool. I’ll get back in the game this holiday. yay.

So yeah, that’s all I have to say in this unknown, kinda useless blog that is hidden in the recesses of the web.

After the exams this month I have a huge 1.5 months holiday. In that time I will probably keep myself busy with:

1) Finishing Roach Toaster 2. This game has been coming along for way too long now. It has gone through several iterations and at this moment, I just really want to release it. It will most likely not be shareware anymore, but rather an above-par freeware game (as it already is atm).

2) Working on small games. I would like to take a cactus kinda approach to make a small 5-10minute game with oodles of style. After Rocket-Powered Frisbee Punch-Out (which I made for the TIGSource VGNG compo), I really feel like doing some like this.

3) Some random web coding for fun (ie trying to take over world)!

So yeah… Like I always say… Keep Toasting!