Most Recent Character For Stardust Survivors : M.R.! A Space-enthusiast Who Can Call Down Rolling, Flaming

Wildly different characters (Quark, Dr Nefarious, Andrew Ryan) who share the same actor: Armin Shimerman.

We use Trello for our dev work organisation. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done. Each card is a task, broken down via checklists into steps. It helps us keep track with what the other is doing. When only my face is on a task, I know I can just get stuck in. And if it turns out I can't do it on my own, I just put CodingDino's face on it, make a note, and move on. The cards are useful, but in a great mass they can be overwhelming. Sometimes it's easier to just look at the game and see what's missing. However, a place like this is necessary to write down things you know you should get done sometime, but just not now.

Will all the tasks get done? Heck no! That's realistically impossible; the goal is to HAVE a goal, written down and visible. Otherwise you're just shooting in the dark.

Popped down to Edinburgh for the MOVE Summit, a series of talks on the UK Animation industry. The Thursday portion began with a talk from Christopher McDonald from Framestore, showcasing the technological pre-production (or "Previs") done for movies, with Wicked Part 1 as the example.

They start by using overhead "Blocking Maps" to figure out the space of a scene, where each character is going to stand, position of objects, camera locations, field of view, etc. Then they make CG mockups of characters and locations, using concept art as a base, then animate based on the director's vision. It's sort of like the next step up from storyboards.

This helps them gauge the spacing and stage setup required to pull off practical effects ("Techvis"). For example, the scene where Glinda is sailing to the university, the camera is underwater, showing her hand beneath the water's surface. This means that for the camera to be below her, the actual prop boat needed to be several feet off the ground, something they might not have caught if they just started shooting.

"Postvis" is of course the post-production of adding all the effects together for the final shot. This was also the first time I'd heard the term "Plate", for the base shot that all the effects are later layered onto. Like a sandwich, I guess. Big thanks to Chris for that talk.

Following on from what I said yesterday, I’ll be posting daily on Tumblr (here), Mastadon (https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@RoyMakes), Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/roymakes.bsky.social), and the Bounder Games Discord (https://discord.gg/3DZKj2Ex). I also looked into Instagram, but I’m not entirely sure how that place works for this kind of post.

It doesn’t matter what I talk about: current work, old projects, interesting videos, observations, etc, as long as I’m posting. There’s no real goal; I’d just like to improve myself.

On that note, the ADHD meds shortage is coming to end so I’m hopefully going to get some help for my broken brain and focus more. But I’m not going to rely on that. Sure, ADHD is a massive pain in the ass, BUT I’m the one who chooses to let it control me. I have that power to choose already; medication will just make it easier.

I got this document from an ADHD support group I went to; I have it blu-tacked to the wall behind my monitor. I forget it’s there half the time, but it’s good advice.

Rediscovered this treasure. My bible circa 2009; discovered I still use most of the tricks I learned from this book today. Animating waves using masks, proper gradients, animation principles, etc. Its advice is still relevant even after Flash's demise.

I had a lot of game ideas I wanted to make in Flash, most of which never escaped their notepad concept. Had a few successes, a Tetris-blackjack combo called DiceJack, and Rawrysaurus, a kaiju game where you escaped from a tidal wave. My first forays into game dev.

Thanks Chris Georgenes.

Hey all! I haven't been making much progress with Bounder Games lately, mostly due to GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT (fill-in college lecturer). But that's no excuse! Here's where we stand:

I've been reading Hideo Kojima's "The Creative Gene", a collection of reflections on the books and media that inspired him to make games like Metal Gear. In "The Moon Over the Mountain", the main character feels he has failed to capitalise on his talent and describes his unwillingness to publish imperfect material as "timid pride" and "disdainful shyness". His following quote hit me pretty hard:

"No, whether the poems are good or bad, I would not rest easy in my grave without passing these poems on to later generations, since the represent my deepest passion in life, even to the point of losing my fortune and my sanity."

It's been almost 10 years since we founded Bounder Games and began work on Armoured Engines, and that decade of shame floods through me like toxic oil. I felt like I'd let everyone down, not working hard enough or focusing on the wrong things. I have so many ideas; to build, to design, to write, to act, to create, that I'm overwhelmed by the cavernous silence of my portfolio. The more I thought upon my neglect, the more I mired myself in doubt.

That quote struck me, and I could feel what Li Zheng could feel. That need to pass on what I make. Shame is the great assassin of creativity. If I could be a fraction as confident as Kojima-san, I might be able to look at myself with pride.

For me, no more excuses. Time to Make!

Hey friendly reminder that I made not one but two games in which you've got a grappling gun that's a frog! They're lowpoly platformers and you go up against Beelzebub himself <3

Listening to the Sonic Hysteria soundtrack by NicoCW while I work on Stardust Survivors! Some of the best music from the Sonic fandom. I'm a particular fan of the various Launch Base Zone tracks, especially the underwater variant that builds on the PC marching-band version. The Hill Top / Mystic Cave mashup is also *chef's kiss*.

testing particles