Heroes Never Die

So picture me, playing some Dark Souls for the very first time, now 20 hours in and happily (…kinda) grinding my way through Blighttown with my faithful character Bepis Jones V. I don’t know most of the mechanics but I’ve got a solid grasp on the controls and some great armor and weaponry, plus a bit of pyromancy.

Along the way, I get how most people get in Blighttown (I’ve heard), and decide I need help. So I decide to do what the game told me to ages ago for the second time: summon an NPC helper. So, I try to call up my main man Solaire, but instead the summon rock thingy offers me a different NPC with an odd name. I figure it’s probably as good as Solaire, and summon it. I’m greeted with a wizard who immediately starts wrecking shit all over; goddamn, this NPC is broken! After a few minutes of running into walls, I continue my journey, little wizard NPC friend following along as happy as can be. Occasionally, I wave and beckon to it, jumping for joy as I recklessly run into big bugs and wizard friend saves me. It sometimes bows back; cool AI, I thought. I also sometimes hit and knock it into holes for my amusement. It always gets back out but I have a good laugh.

posted the compilation of these on twitter and people LOVED them, so I’m uploading these here as individuals since some people also wanted to use them as their phone background!! Enjoy! 

for starters, there’s Twine, which is fucking great for making all kinds of interactive experiences (it’s what Crystal Warrior Ke$ha was made in so you KNOW it’s good) at all skill levels (i picked it up and made a game in two minutes a few nights ago)

if you want a bit more involved experience there’s Inform 7 which is a simple language for text-based adventure games that reads like slightly-weird English and also relatively easy to learn

you can do some pretty fucking cool stuff with Unity (my personal engine of choice) but you may need to dig a bit farther to get at the good stuff. there’s lots of really good presets though (i made an entire game just mixing and matching pre-existing templates and adding in my own art, won an award at a game jam for that one) and if you want help the community’s pretty dang friendly from what i’ve seen!

2D Editors:

GameMaker : Potential for pure drag-and-drop “programming”. It is recommended to read-up on the program’s functions to make good use of it. Good for prototyping. Uses its own language called Game Maker Language (GML) that is similar to a C language (e.g. C++ or C#). For both Mac and PC; free version available.

Construct2 : Drag and drop level editor that uses an “If-Then” event sheet structure for programming. Good for prototyping and for beginners. For PC; free version available.

GameSalad : Drag and drop with no code requirement. Good for programming. For both Mac and PC; free version available.

Solpeo : HTML5 based game engine for 2D and isometric game development. Some programming knowledge needed. Platforms supported: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9+. Free version available.

Stencyl : Drag and Drop “programming,” templates you can edit the variables/values for.

Scratch : Lego-block-style coding platform by MIT; totally free and a great intro to thinking in code. Very kid-friendly and comes with a community site. Browser version available.

3D Editors:

Unity : 3D editor that creates 3D games. Can build games for browser, as an app, or for mobile devices (iOS and Android). For both Mac and PC; free version available.

UDK (Unreal Development Kit) : Full-fledged, highly advanced editor. Features a complete set of tools that go from level design to visual scripting to cut-scene creation. Uses it’s own programming language called Unreal Script that can be arranged with Kismet, a visual code editor. For Mac and PC; free.

2D Art/Animation Software:

GIMP : Free photo editing and digital painting software.

Easy Paint Tool SAI : Free digital painting software with a UI similar to Photoshop.

Mischief : Free digital painting software with an endless canvas.

3D Art/Animation Software:

Sculptris : From the company that created Zbrush, this free software is ideal for beginning 3D sculptors.

Maya : Animation, VFX, lighting, and rendering software.

Magical Voxel : Voxel Art (3D Pixel Art). Very intuitive and quick to pick up.

SketchUp :  Architectural modeling software, great for creating 3D environments and buildings. Free version available.

Text-Based Games:

Twine : Create interactive text stories using Twine’s visual map system that links your game together. Easy to learn and use. End result is browser-based. For Mac and PC; free.

Quest : Interactive text stories that you can build in-browser.

Ren’Py : Create visual novels using a modified version of Python that reads like a combination of stage directions and a CYOA novel. For PC, Mac, and Linux; free.

Audio Resources/Editors:

Indie Game Music : This site offers free indie music with no need to worry about royalties or licenses.

Audacity : A free, open-source, cross-platform sound editor that allows you to record and arrange sound.

Super Flash Bros. : This site allows you to record theremin-like (8bit) sounds and export them as .wav files for your games.

FL Studio : Free music composition software.

Miscellaneous Tools:

Donjon RPG Tools : Randomly generates maps, items, XP, etc.

W3Schools : Web-code tutorial database: HTML, CSS, Javascript+.

Debut Video Capture : Video screen capture to record Let’s Play videos, showcase your game on Youtube, etc.

Korsakow : Free tool for creating interactive and database films.

Processing : Flexible programming language used for visual and interactive artworks and simulations.

From Student to Designer, Part 2 : Tips for making a well-rounded, solid portfolio

Places to Publish/Share:

Itch.io : Platform for self-publishing games

“Each one of those characters had to be treated like a hero main character. On days when you had 20, 30 of these characters playing, you really had to have competent makeup application artists on-set to deliver them “

20 TO 30 on multiple days. 

For example

“For the generic characters, there was a lot of pieces, sometimes upwards of six, seven, eight silicon, overlapping prosthetics that you have to apply in sequence, and blend off, and then tie in the paint job or the patterning or whatever it is. I would think the shortest amount of time that anybody spent in the chair was probably two hours, and the longest was the Natalia character at the end of the film, and that was about six and a half, seven hours”.

So shortest. 2. Longest. SEVEN.

They spent hours, on JUST background characters. JUST THE BACKGROUND. Not even the main people. That is how much detail Star Trek put in.

For example!

Not to mention, the various stages Idris Elba had to go through. Because his wasn’t just one look. Krall’s face had multiple looks throughout the film.

And remember, there 53 other aliens I haven’t even mentioned.

Croc does look good. Can’t say he doesn’t OF COURSE he does. 

But for all that is good.

56 brand new aliens. 20-30 would be worked on on the same day, multiple times. 2 to 7 hours of work ON EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.OF.THEM.

Yeah, people are upset for a damn good reason. And telling to shut up over your croc when you haven’t even considered goolging is childs play. Not to mention!!! How it was revealed the sexiest votes SS got because of Harley Quinn!! Which means, the Oscars didn’t even care about Croc! [Source]