GEEK EMOTIONS

First of all, this is a funny theme for my first post in over a year, but hey, what's a guy to do.

I've been hard at work on my graduate thesis project for Game Design at George Brown College. I'm jumping between designing The White Shadow War: Touch Tactics and composing music for it. It all started as a little test to see if I could get the emotion right for the game. I think I may take a stab at the final music myself, or at least hand my compositions off to my highly talented musician friends, but either way, it's a great way to take a break from trying to figure out game mechanics, or write an original story, (or thinking about how the hell I'm going to actually make this thing work without a programmer!). The game itself is highly derivative of classic SRPGs like Final Fantasy tactics or Tactics Ogre: Long Winded Japanese Name Goes Here, but I do feel I will have a unique take on a classic game genre, especially if it does come to fruition on all our brand new, touchy-feely devices. Not only is the game itself obviously "inspired by" but I find that the music is coming out of the woodwork (woodwinds?) as very reminiscent of Nobuo Uematsu or Yatsunori Mitsuda (famed game composers). Having performed and composed Hip Hop for more than a decade now, it becomes incredibly hard to escape those reins when I sit down to make a track, but by studying a completely unique form of music (game music) and by incorporating many different styles and influences, I think in the end I will have something I can be proud of.

This post is not about my game music, though later posts will be. While searching for inspiration, I got on the 'tube (YOUR tube) to hear the sounds of classics like Chrono Trigger's 600AD theme. What I found myself listening to was many a talented young musician offering their own renditions and arrangements. Cover songs are a dime a dozen on YouTube, but there a few gems out there that truly deserve praise. It might be game music, it may have been composed with blips and bleeps, but the emotion is there, the mathematically perfect pitch and composition is there and the sheer beauty is there. It takes me back to some the happiest moments of my childhood. I was by no means an introvert, but holing up with Final Fantasy III (6) for hours on end sparked such wonderment and awe that a bunch of pixels and 8-16 bit audio could choke me up. God, am I ever a geek. Anywho, check these geniuses out and judge for yourself:










If I can get anywhere near that good, I can die a happy old man if kids one day upload interpretations of WSW:Touch Tactics music on FutureTube, or whatever it will be.

2 POSTS AND 1 DAY

I hope nobody gets that reference...

Anyways, I had to post this, seeing as how I'm about to embark on my first official step towards a career in Game Design at George Brown in Toronto this fall.

This is absolutely integral to the way I think and how things are changing all around us:

JESSE SCHELL: WHEN GAMES INVADE REAL LIFE

I found the "School Grading through Experience Points and Levels" particularly awesome.

Enjoy

J

ZOMBIE JESUS

Joyeuses Afterpaques, y'all!

The aftermath of Easter is upon us, complete with leftover chocolate eggs and rabbits everywhere. I mean everywhere! They're flooding the streets!

On another note, my good friend Kevlar, the production genius behind Kegaska and my own album asked me to design a frivolous, funky and slightly retarded-cum-awesome album cover for his latest effort, the Resurrection Mix, AKA: Rise of The Phoenix.



I was asked to include Zombie Jesus (featured in solid gold in this case), a snowmobile and a Phoenix. I wasn't exactly aiming for high-brow design here, but I think I nailed the concept (no pun intended).

Oh god, I'm going to rot in hell.

Enjoy!

J

PS: Grab the mix here. It'll rock your face off.

GOT THE BLUES

Hola tudos

Hot off the Wacom, a new character portrait.



No, it's not a Dark Elf with cornrows. Before Avatar reared its pretty head, I came up with a blue-skinned tribal people fightin' the good fight against a corrupt technocracy on a fantasy planet. I called them the Mansataa. They are not cats.

Enjoy

J

BETTER LATE...

...Than never.

That's what the kids seem to say these days. Anywho... I mentioned in the last post (you know, over 3 months ago) that I was going to discipline myself to draw at least once a week with my tablet. Well... that discipline waned as real life and work waxed. I did use the damn tablet daily, but it seemed for far less artistic endeavors than I originally purchased it for. Enough ballyhoo... onto the point: I have recently been using the tablet for the artistic endeavors I originally purchased it for. (As always, click the image to see a larger version).



I was watching a TED talk about synthesizing life or something or other and I didn't know what to paint. That's Craig Venter, I guess. This loosened me up for the following:



It's a humanoid sentient Psittaca, a race I made up a while ago based on the Psittacosaur dinosaurs. "Parrot Lizards".

The sketch of Craig Venter took less than 45 minutes (I did it on my lunch hour). The Psittaca, however took about 16-20 hours total. The following image represents about 6 hours of work. You can see how much it changed.



I have a lot more time on my hands now. No more excuses! All art all the time!

Word.

J