Banjos e Graviolas

Shelby and I decided that we should start recording ourselves when we’re Dipper and Wendy cause we do such silly things when we’re them. And we know those two do a lot of dumb things together.

Tangled TV Series Gets New Title: Tangled Before Ever After !

Tangled: Before Ever After is set between the events of the film and the start of the 2012 short Tangled Ever After and follows Rapunzel as she acquaints herself with her parents, her kingdom and the people of Corona.

Chris Sonnenburg and Shane Prigmore developed the series, with Sonnenburg serving as executive producer.

Ashley Judd, who will play Queen Arianna, the mother of Rapunzel (Moore); Broadway actress Eden Espinosa as Cassandra, the long-haired one’s handmaiden and confidante; comic Jeff Ross as Hook Foot, brother of Hand Foot; and Richard Kind as Uncle Monty. Also aboard are Sean Hayes, Peter MacNicol, Clancy Brown, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Diedrich Bader, Charles Halford, Steve Blum, James Monroe Iglehart, Jeremy Jordan and Better Call Saul/Breaking Bad actor Jonathan Banks.

Historically, Networks do not like serialization in comedy cartoons because serialized cartoons do not rate as high in the repeats as the stand alone cartoons do. They have found that once a viewer has watched an episode and got the next part of the story, they tend to not watch that same episode when it repeats. But if the show was just a simple funny cartoon they will watch it again, because they want to laugh at the jokes again. 

So for this reason, we as the show creators are oftentimes discouraged from producing serialized shows with heavy continuity. The Networks feel they need the episodes to be stand alone for the sake of repeats, ratings and for programming a 24 hour animation channel. This has been the case since I started making cartoons in the early 90′s.

A few years ago some comedy cartoons started integrating complex and serious plots into their shows, and it was a refreshing change from the status quo. Finally we thought this was our chance to tell deeper stories and when I first started Wander back in 2011, I asked if I could make it a serialized 22-minute show.  I was simply told no. 

The Network really wanted Wander to be produced in the classic, stand alone 11 minute format, because they felt that’s where they would get the most bang for their buck. And from a programming standpoint I could understand that.

So after producing a season of silly one off cartoons we got the pick up for season 2 and we asked if we could finally try and tell a bigger story with complex continuity.  The network was open to exploring that idea, but they didn’t want to lose the looseness of season 1. 

So a COMPROMISE was reached. We would create a continuity that thread through four 22-minute episodes that were to be scattered throughout the season. The 11-minute episodes in between would be loosely related to that arc, but would still stand alone so they could be repeated in any order.

I’m writing this because I’m seeing a lot of desire for the next piece of the puzzle, the next turn of the plot, the next big change and I will honestly tell you that will not really happen until the next 22-minute episode. The following 11-minute episodes will continue to be loosely related to the arc. For instance, Hater is no longer crushing on Dominator, Wander isn’t trying to get them together, and there will be some character insights that inform the 4 part arc, but there will also be some random one-offs that really have nothing to do with the arc at all.

Characters and GDC!

In this update, we figured we’d let you know of some of the things that have changed with characterization in the game since the last time the world saw it in 2011.

The Owlboy 2011 Demo:

For those of you who played the demo from 2011, you’ll know that you can meet characters within the game that can eventually join your party. We call them ‘Gunners’. In the game, you pick up can carry gunners to fight for you, using their unique abilities both in combat and for puzzles.

The first gunner you meet is Geddy. He´s Otus´s best friend and their hometown’s mechanic. His weapon is a tiny, but percise blaster that you’re able to use when carrying him around.

The second character you meet in the demo, is Alphonse. A pirate in a red suit, carrying a really powerful fireball musket. Alphonse was an optional character - but after going through the steps to unlock him, he would be so much more powerful, he’d overshadow Geddy completely. We noticed  players would stop using Geddy immediately as Alphonse could simply do everything better.

The simple Solution:

We started discussing what we could do to make the party dependent on each other. One solution would be to use obstacles that only Geddy´s blaster could penetrate, but that didn’t seem like a satisfying sollution. After a little planning, we introduced a new gameplay mechanic.

We ended up making Alphonse’s musket attack EVEN more powerful, while adding a cooldown to it! As the shotgun blast was charging, the player could then use Geddy to continue attacking. It was a simple solution, but it solved all our problems! Suddenly the players would use both characters in almost any situation, and Geddy and Alphonse would become essential members of the team. Each was focused a different aspect of combat.

In fact, he became so essential with this new system that we made him a non-optional character. This meant that we could create more interesting combat and puzzles that forced you to switch intelligently between the gunners and use their strengths to progress.

One of the boons of having worked on Owlboy for so many years, is that we’ve been able to find solutions for problems like this. If we had been rushed, or had not released the demo, we would have never spotted situations like these, and the gameplay and narrative of Owlboy would have suffered greatly.

With gunners no longer optional, it allowed for us to incorporate the characters more heavily into the story. Next update, we’ll go through our decisions more in depth.

GDC!

We also want to take this moment to announce that we’re going to be present at GDC in San Francisco this year, March 14-18.

We’re sending Simon and Julie out to mingle with people, do some secret meetings. And not to mention: TONS OF BUTTONS!

There won’t be a booth this year, so if you want to meet up (or get your hand on a truckload of buttons…) make sure to contact us in advance.

One Of The World’s Last Remaining Globe-Makers That Use The Ancient Art Of Making Globes By Hand        

Bellerby & Co. Globemakers | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr

In the modern age, with the advent of GPS in addition to the abundance of mass-produced globes and maps, the art of globe-making has seemingly long disappeared. Only two workshops in the world still make modern handcrafted globes; one of them is us…..Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, a studio based in London, England.

Our studio began in 2008 when Peter Bellerby struggled to find a quality globe for his father’s 80th birthday present. Faced with a choice between cheaply made modern globes or fragile, expensive antique reproductions, Peter decided to try and make his own. The process turned out to be more complicated and costly then he imagined. After two years of trying to create the perfect globe, Peter turned this newfound passion into an artisan business.

We now have a small team of dedicated Globemakers constructing high-quality, handmade, terrestrial and celestial globes. With bespoke cartography, each globe is made to order and essentially one-of-a-kind. From the various bases, to the painting, to the mapmaking, each piece is expertly crafted in-house using both traditional and modern techniques. We ship worldwide and undertake bespoke commissions of all sorts.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE CUTEST DOCTOR TONY TONY CHOPPER! [151224]