stinkin' thinkin'
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
stinkygoat's LiveJournal:
[ << Previous 20 ]
| Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 | | 1:28 pm |
| | Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | | 2:06 pm |
| | Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | | 7:57 pm |
A magazine for witches
 On the way back from Swansea we stopped to go to that mega Tesco on the road on the way out of town and we noticed a Borders book shop going through its throes and decided to nip in and see what was what. Place'd been picked nearly clean but with everything priced at 10p it was silly not to just go through buying any old random crap for a laugh. So I ended up with some mag for New Agers, a copy of Cigar Aficionado full of ads just as pretentious and you'd expect them to be, another mag in much the same vein for Scotch boozers, a magazine guide to weird shit from Fortean Times and an armful of books about this and that for £1.10 all told. Probably weirdest of all was this magazine for witches I found. I had no idea witches needed magazines but there it is, and it is as full of ads for all manner of crap like crystals, idols, runes, magickal supplies and strange things to do with the hallowed cycle of menstruation as you can imagine. The whisky mag's great for some properly berzerk tasting notes too. One $500 bottle is described as tasting like "peat kiln smoke, fresh asphalt, damp earth warehouses, morning-after campfires and old boat dock". YUMMY! Still, glad to be back home now, it was rainy and a zoo in Swansea, and now I don't have to lift my arse to go anywhere farther than down the pub for a few days. Bliss :). We pretty much just treat Christmas as a complete break from work and routine, and just sit around eating, watching telly, drinking and generally chilling out. No need for any more shopping now as we are sorted for food, booze, strange reading material, bog roll, sheep food and hay. We have a huge pile of meat. There's the new zelda to play through, I've a game of New Super Mario Bros Wii on the go, and there's always the odd poke at the score tables on Gridrunner Revolution to be had now too thanks to our shiny new online scoring stuff. We've had some nice interest taken in our iPhone dev stuff from Touch Arcade and Pocket Gamer already and with that and some other interesting stuff that looks like it may be happening soon we should be able to begin next year's work on a positive note. But for now it's time for a bit of chill }:-). | | Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 | | 11:59 am |
| | Friday, December 18th, 2009 | | 5:21 pm |
Press Release
Llamasoft: Gridrunner Revolution online score tables, awesome new pricing - Llamasoft online scoreboards now open - Free upgrade for existing Gridrunner Revolution players - Gridrunner Revolution and Space Giraffe now available for under $10 each - Both games available for an outstanding $14.99 the pair - Gridrunner Revolution soundtrack now available from Turbo Recordings Llamasoft are positively stoked to announce that a much-requested feature has been added to Gridrunner Revolution in the form of online scoreboards for all play modes. Users can sign up in-game to join the Llamasoft online scoreboards and rank themselves amongst players from all over the world. The online score tables are viewable both in-game and on the Llamasoft website. We have spent a few weeks to create a robust and practical online scoreboarding system which will be used in every new Llamasoft release from now on. Register your profile once to have access to the system in all upcoming Llamasoft releases on any platform. The updated version of the game containing the online score functionality is available right now. Existing users should just download a new copy of the game, uninstall the old version and install the new one. New menu options in-game allow users to register for and use the online scoring system. Furthermore, in the spirit of the season, we are offering our games for an offer price which, if you haven't already got them, you'd be as crazy as a Scientologist to miss out on. Both Gridrunner Revolution and Space Giraffe are now available for just $9.99 each. Gridrunner Revolution is one of Metacritic's Best 40 PC games of 2009. It features a graphically unique style coupled with gameplay which is enjoyable and accessible and which goes far beyond what appears at first glance to be simple shoot-'em-up action; all set to a pulse-pounding soundtrack created by the artists of Turbo Recordings. Players learn that beauty is worth more than mere aggression, and that using the game's mechanisms creatively to achieve the most aesthetically pleasing results is what truly yields the best scores. Scores which you can now compare with other players all over the world thanks to the new Llamasoft online scoreboards. That such a game is available for less than the price of a chicken Vindaloo is quite remarkable. Space Giraffe PC is quite simply one of the best and deepest abstract shooters ever made, and those who love it are truly passionate about it to the point where many list it amongst the best games of all time. Players learn to push the boundaries of their perception in order to prevail in a game which leads them through astounding synaesthesiac vistas to entirely new and inordinately pleasing states of mind. Discover for yourself why PC Gamer rated this game a "Must Buy" at 92% and why Space Giraffe PC is considered by many to be one of the most original and beautiful games ever. The PC release improves considerably over its Xbox 360 ancestor, featuring enhanced shader effects, extra levels, and sensuously accessible gameplay that will invigorate your senses and expand your mind right from the very first level. For such a groundbreaking game to be available for less than the price of a couple of London pints represents outstanding value in both gaming and recreational procedural neuromodification. Perhaps most incredibly, in a Galaxy-shaking event the likes of which has not been seen in this sector of the Universe since Great Lord Xenu started blowing up space ghosts with H-bombs in Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago, Llamasoft has harnessed the power of Matter, Energy, Space and Time to bring you both these excellent and outstanding games for the seasonal sleighbell eggnog Rudolphtastic price of only $14.99 for a bundle of both games. That you can buy two of the best and most distinctive PC games of recent times, created by Llamasoft (founded in 1982, one of the longest-established software houses in existence, and still actually making software rather than simply trying to sue anyone who dares to use the words "llama" or "soft" in their games) for less than the price of a dodgy kebab and a tin of Red Bull after the pubs have kicked out but you're still pissed and hungry - it's truly one of the most outstanding bargains in the history of Mankind, and a true marvel of the modern age. The new versions of the games are available from Llamasoft right now: http://llamasoft.co.uk/grintro2.phpAnd will be available on Direct2Drive as soon as the new build goes live there (any time now; check the prices, when they are the new ones then the new build will be live there) and shortly on Steam too. We would also like to mention that Turbo Recordings have released an excellent soundtrack album of the tunes from Gridrunner Revolution. If you loved the tunes in the game, now is the time to add them to your music collection. The album features a variety of artists from the Turbo Recordings label: Dahlbäck & Dahlbäck: Forsberg Loves the Acid DMX Krew: Texture Mapping Radio Bliss Placid Acid Jesper Dahlbäck: Mega Signalizer Super Connector Lazersonic & Zak Frost: Aquaplane (Unit 4 Remix) Mr James Barth: Workin the Truth For the Lords Popof: Chiken Flavour Tempered Dance Proxy: Decoy and is available from Turbo Recordings here: http://www.shop-turbo.com/browse/music/digital/?id=1348It's a great way to enjoy the music from the game even when you are not playing, and a great way to check out the work of some of the great artists on Turbo's books. That's it for now. We would be most happy if you would spread these tidings of great joy far and wide, and if you spot any lost reindeer send them to me };-). | | Sunday, December 13th, 2009 | | 8:36 pm |
Back from a nice weekend }:-)
Jost got back from a nice weekend - it was my mum's 80th birthday and we took her to the football }:-). That may sound a bit of a strange thing to do but we're a family of Southampton FC supporters and the football is something we can all join in and enjoy, and something which my dad loved. We did it in style, going for a hospitality package which involved a nice meal and loads of drink in the Matt Le Tissier Suite at the ground, and watching the game from the VIP seats. We even got to rub shoulders with some famous football types - sitting just 2 seats away from me, and at the next table over for the meal, was Lawrie McMenemy, who had been Southampton's manager during the season the team won the FA Cup. Somewhere I have a photo of my 14 year old self holding the Cup with him. It was a really good day out, and we were quite a crowd (I have 5 brothers, all with wives and children, so there were plenty of us; although unfortunately one of the brothers couldn't make it, being ill with flu). Good to see them all, I rarely get a chance to see them all together like that. Had a chance for a bit of a think on the way back, and I've definitely been letting this depression get the better of me of late. I need to take some positive steps to sort my head out. So: no Internet drama, no posting when depressed/upset/drunk or any combination of the above, no dwelling on bad crap that happened in the past, only good stuff about how nice the new games stuff is coming out and such. I found when I'd got back that Giles had spent a lot of time cleaning up around the house because he figured that an untidy cluttered place only makes you feel even more depressed and he wanted me to have an environment more conducive to positive thought. Which was very kind of him }:-). And in the spirit of all that here's a little clip of some progress on my iPhone shooter, showing a prototype of a bit of the first level. A bit of my scrolly shooter on iPhone from Jeff Minter on Vimeo. Starts out very time pilotty as you can see but it'll have more complex missions on some levels than "just shoot the planes then warp", and it'll get a bit Star Forcey as well along the way . Nothing here is final, graphics are placeholders, the name is a placeholder, $usual_disclaimers }:-). | | Monday, December 7th, 2009 | | 11:01 am |
thanks, and apologies
Thanks to everyone who posted with kind words last night. Giles is away for a few days, I'm here alone and sometimes being alone with your thoughts isn't the best thing. Usually I make a point that if I'm feeling down I stay the hell offline just so as to avoid such things. Slipped a bit last night, and I'm sorry for bothering people with it. I can reassure you that it's not some new situation that's arisen to upset me, and it's certainly not any kind of personal problem, it's just a long, ongoing pain in the arse of a situation related to something that I really don't give two shits about but which just keeps blighting my life and will not go the fuck away, and after years and years of it sometimes I crack a little. Anyway. I will STFU about it and endeavour to keep it that way }:-). Now I must get on, code won't write itself }:-). | | 3:04 am |
STOP
I wanna go home Take off this uniform and leave the show | | 2:09 am |
gah
I really shouldn't listen to Roger Waters in my current state of head. goddamn it I basically don't listen to music any more anyway, because you just don't when you're depressed, it just falls away. And now when I try it just hurts too much. Yet another thing in my life arbitrarily fucking ruined.
Still do not know what the fuck I did that I deserve this. My life is just a pain amplifier.
| | Saturday, November 28th, 2009 | | 9:37 pm |
| | 7:01 pm |
pixel art: anyone interested in collaborating on stuff for future LS iPhone games?
When we did GR++ years ago we had quite a few contributions of sprite art done by interested people. I think it'd be kinda cool to do the same kind of thing again, and now that my iPhone game engine is taking shape nicely it could be cool to do some stuff that could be useful in that. What I propose is a kind of collaborative project that interested pixel-pushing types could join in. The basic idea is to extract all the sprites from existing Llamasoft games, and produce nicer versions more suited to these RGBA days. Got a particular favourite LS game you'd like to see updated? Bung me a particularly awesome set of updated sprites for it and I'd find it hard to resist using them. The eventual goal would be to have updated versions of all the LS sprites enabling me to do nice-looking versions of all the old games, but I'll also be doing plenty of new stuff, so original submissions would be cool too. Of course we couldn't actually pay anyone for anything. As the most overworked and underpaid people in the biz we can barely afford sheep food let alone having anything left over to give to anyone else. If by some miracle of randomness one of our titles went fart-app-gold and turned us into undeserving millionaires then of course we'd bung a few quid to those that helped, but we certainly can't offer any guarantees of any payment. You'd be doing it for the glory of a credit in a game, plus of course access to alphas/betas/test etc if you want it/have the necessary hardware for it. anyone interested? maybe we could start up one of those google wave thingies for it. Seems like the kind of thing that wave might actually be appropriate for. | | Monday, November 23rd, 2009 | | 2:21 am |
awesome pinball game opportunity
I have been playing a fair bit of pinball on my iPhone, specifically the excellent remakes of the old Amiga classic tables from Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies. Proper cracking they are. Made me think that Scientology would be an excellent basis for a pinball game. Steeped in bureaucracy as it is, and with such emphasis on progression through levels to ever higher states, it'd be a great subject for a pinball game. The basic structure of the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart would be a fine basis for the overarching progression through the game, from the Purification Rundown up through Clear and eventually to New OT VIII. Along the way you could have missions pop up like scoring your Ls. Drop-down targets could be made lighting up C-L-E-A-R and T-H-E-T-A-N. Little audio samples of L. Ron laughing or sauing "thetans didn't like this" or going on about the Obscene Dog Incident could be triggered as you play. Overenthusiastic shoving of the table could lead to your current ball being issued an SP Declare from RTC and dropping out of play with all your certificates cancelled. Successful players would work their way up The Bridge to Total Freedom from raw meat through CLEAR to NeW OT VIII with more stuff lighting up the table as they progressed. The table would be done in that OTT pompously ostentatious style that all Scientology stuff has. If you lit up certain targets you could get to do special missions for the Sea Org and doing badly would put you into the RPF and you'd have to score certain objectives to complete your Amends Project and get back into good standing. Whole track sec check multiballs. An E-Meter in the playfield that you have to trigger specific responses on to correctly achieve your auditing. All those Body Thetans on OT3 and OT7. Endless possibilities there };-D. | | Saturday, November 21st, 2009 | | 9:05 pm |
Game engine infrastructure
More stuff for the game engine from Jeff Minter on Vimeo. As noted before, these are some of the more mundane bits of the engine taking shape. Menus, buttons, scrolly high score tables, holding game state when the game gets shut down or interrupted by a phone call. All necessary stuff and as you can see coming together, even though sometimes the inside of my head hurts from all that square bracket use. | | Thursday, November 19th, 2009 | | 2:59 pm |
| | Friday, November 13th, 2009 | | 8:45 pm |
iphone update
More iPhone stuff from Jeff Minter on Vimeo. Bit more of my iPhone game engine working. The Time Pilot bit you've already seen (now with added Roby explosions). Rough sketch of a Sheep in Space style scrolly shooter. Game where you are a flock of goats eating grass on platforms, and a basis for a puzzle/dexterity game based on my old game Deflex. Now most of the game-y stuff works in the engine (sprites, tile layers, explosions etc) I need to work on the more mundane stuff like a framework for title pages, instructions, settings, score tables and such. Then I can come back and develop these rough ideas into real games with proper graphics. | | Saturday, November 7th, 2009 | | 2:46 pm |
more iphone twiddling
iPhone fun from Jeff Minter on Vimeo. More of my little engine taking shape. Here I show it doing a little scrolling Time Pilot style shooting, then a bit of a Defendery thing (still using the Starforce tile set which looks a bit rubbish in this context but serves to show the various parallax layers). | | Friday, October 30th, 2009 | | 4:05 pm |
| | Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | | 5:16 pm |
| | Sunday, October 25th, 2009 | | 8:31 pm |
a few more holiday pics
Took the Sunday afternoon chill as an opportunity to retrieve some more pics that were on the small lappy after I copied them there to free up space on an SD card after I broke one. So here are a few more.  This is Vacky the little ice cream cow. I kept meaning to get one but never got round to it. Next time. ( click this link to see some more ) | | Friday, October 23rd, 2009 | | 8:38 pm |
|
[ << Previous 20 ]
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
stinkygoat's journal
