Tumbleweed & Whistles

Haven’t posted here in a while. That doesn’t mean I am dead though, it just means that a) I’ve been busy, and b) I’m a terrible blogger. Recently, there’s been much more activity on my Twitter, because one doesn’t need to think too much before writing 140 characters.

Here’s a few experiments I’ve made recently:

Insects. All are procedurally generated, using wandering lines to make the shapes.

Time & Space. Playing around with materials in Papervision3d. Neither the cylinder or the camera are moving… it’s all just an animating texture. Use the arrow keys to drive the TARDIS.

The TARDIS model can be seen closer up here.

Dino Run

Dino Run screenshot

I’m really loving Dino Run, the new game from the guys who made Gamma Bros. It’s a simple concept — a game designed for speed runs. You just need to sprint away from the incoming asteroid-based doom, picking up eggs, eating smaller dinosaurs and avoiding the flaming shrapnel crashing down around you.

Automatic Monet

Click to see the Automatic Monet.

Press SPACEBAR to see a new image. They’re from a trip to Hong Kong & Macau last year.

Inspired at least partly by Michael Battle’s Impressionist Image Renderer. Though my version is less fancy it does have a textured brush!

This version turns a little pixel-art drawing into a painting.

Postal Panic!

PostalPanicThumb

The new game! Play it here.

Worth Playing

Dirk Valentine

Dirkvalentine

Dirk Valentine is developed by Nitrome, so its beautiful pixel art is only to be expected. It also has a really cool steampunk setting. The gameplay is pretty fun too, with a nice mix of action and puzzles. You play as Dirk Valentine, a commando on a mission to rescue Queen Victoria. You are armed with a gun that shoots a chain that can be used for both attacking bad guys and building platforms that are used to traverse the levels.

You Have to Burn the Rope

Youhavetoburn

You Have to Burn the Rope is a wonderful antidote to today’s 80-hour games.

Ikariam

Ikariam

Ikariam is a nice little online web-based strategy game. It’s like Civilization, but with the micromanagement turned way down. You basically decide what buildings to make, what jobs your citizens should perform and wait around for things to happen. Its the kind of game that only takes a few minutes out of your day, which is quite nice.

I’m playing on the Iota server, as player name mademouse if anyone feels like joining me.

Kings of Power 4 Billion %

Kop4bp

Finally, Paul Robertson’s (the guy who made Pirate Baby’s Cabana Street Fight Battle 2006) new animation is here! It’s probably the most stupid thing I’ve seen all week, and the most awesome.

Grab it here! Also, watch the trailer if you’re feeling unsure. And here’s a torrent for when Paul’s hosting goes down.

edit:

The full animation in Google Video form. Quality isn’t great though.

Fat Kid Semi-Serif typeface

Fat Kids Typeface show

Fat Kid is first attempt at making a typeface! It’s pretty fun once you get into the right headspace. Was inspired by a nice little article on Wired’s How-To Wiki.

I don’t recommend that anyone actually uses this. It’s pretty illegible. And if you do use it, please don’t use it for things people need to actually read. It’s also missing all the @#$%^&*-type glyphs (except for ! since I use it far too often to leave out), since I want to learn from my mistakes and move on to something new.

Download here in TrueType format. It’s released under a Creative Commons Attribution license, so do with it as you wish.

Let me know if you want a different format and I’ll whip it up.

Science Drawings!

Well here are some pictures! Haven’t drawn for a while.

MadSciSciSci

5,200 year old animation

OldAnim
Click for the original press release.

This is pretty damn cool! An animation made 5,200 years ago in ancient Iran that was discovered recently. It’s now the earliest known example of animation. When spun like a zoetrope, the goblet on which the images are drawn show a goat jumping to reach leaves on a tree.

[via BoingBoing]

Snake Bots

The speed, maneuverability and versatility of these things is unlike anything else I’ve seen real life robots do. They’re really impressive! I wonder what else we’ll see coming from modular robot design?

[via Make]