Flammable Penguins : The home of Claire Blackshaw

Do Tutorials suppress Play?

So I was listening to Another Castle interview the extremly interesting Eric Zimmerman. They were talking about the subverssive nature of play when my brain started drifting to tutorials, thinking about Limbo. Then I realised that not once on Glo did we ask, do we need tutorials?

Podcast #5: Develop Technical Art

Direct Download

I pull in Nick Lewis and Neil Richardson again to discuss some technical art talks from Develop. The main talks we focus on are Jolyon Webb from Blitz games RnD talk, and a talk about the EyePet from James Answer.

Develop Conference

So got back from Develop and was slightly wiped out. So no podcast today, hoping to pipe one out on Monday. I apologise for the delay. There is good covereage at Develop site and some funny and very good coverage at RPS. Though I must caution that often the press cherry pick or focus on [...]

Podcast #4: Balancing Art & Code

I pull in Nick Lewis and Neil Richardson to discuss balancing art and code needs. We talk about how to get the best out of both. How programmers and artists can get the most out of each other. Communication between teams, and how to manage it.

We also divert onto terminology, UV scrolling, cell shading, palletisation, and Futurama.

Concrete Examples

So I have some paper examples composed. They serve to demonstrate, but I feel are rather lacking. I don't think the true nature and power of the system will be exposed until I plug it into a living system or game. Questions? Thoughts?

Gun ho Gimmicks

There is no magic, silver bullet, secret recipe or hidden formula. These words have been spoken many times by more successful, intelligent and thoughtful people than me. Yet people still seem unable to listen. Quality is the primary thing. It can be called passion, drive, craftsmanship or love but the result is the same.

Generating Data

Over 13,000 characters and this blasted XML is still not complete enough to provide a decent concrete example. Thank you CSS for making it legible to the human eye. I may look at doing some examples tomorrow night.

Podcast #3: AquAttack

So into the hot box I grab Tony Carter and DT to talk about our new release, AquAttack.

Should we worry about Social?

Talk to anyone in TV now and they will all say the same thing. The money just isn't there for original programming any more. We are filling prime hours with low cost programming, with little lasting creative value. Actors, writers and the medium is suffering. We still have bastions of quality with brilliant shows but they are sandwiched in between some horrible programming. How do we keep high quality games, possible with high production costs, as an attractive investment?

Aquattack! for PSP minis

Aquattack! for PSP minis. Free the captured fish before the fishermen haul in their nets! Try to beat your high score in arcade mode, or play against the clock in one of the 50 individual challenges. On sale 7th July 2010 in the PlayStation®Store It’s out next week folks. Also I’m hoping to record a [...]

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