Quite some time ago, I made a wish-list of games I wanted to check out. Some of the games were already released or not yet released. A couple on that list are still unreleased, but hey, it’s a wish-list, right? It was a big list, but I’d like to return to it and give some super-short reviews of my experience with the game.

(The list was a lot longer than I remembered and this post really ballooned!)
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Today was my first day back to school in a long time. I arrived plenty early to my class so I had ample time to wander around to try to learn the campus. Since it’s been awhile, I kind of forgot what it was like, and sweet Jesus the boobs. Boobs everywhere. It’s the first week of classes and all the girls want to look cute and all I gotta say is damn. I know I’m engaged to Ame, but the policy is well-known and quite strict: Looking but no touching or speaking lest I cease to be. It’s a pretty easy rule to follow I think.

I’m only taking two courses this semester, Calculus II and Physics (along with its lab), but I’m not seeking a degree. I just need to build my academic vocabulary so I know what the hell I’m doing when I finally pursue my Masters in Physics. There’s nothing on paper preventing me from applying to the grad program, but let’s say I got in. What then? I would be like Towelie, not having any idea what’s going on.

My Calculus teacher is just a grad student, so he can’t teach worth a damn - and he’s Polish, so it’s hard to understand him on top of it all. Fortunately, I’ve taken the course before, and this is a refresher. Too bad I barely finished it the last time with t a D+.

But man the boobies…

Boooooobs!
- Steneub

Let’s get this out of the way as fast as possible. I like boobies.

When I draw, I don’t draw for you. I draw for me. I’m selfish that way, but I think of art as a sort of therapy. The world closes off and I get absorbed in my work. Sometimes I make great art decisions and I’m ecstatic, other times, it’s… not so good and I have to start over or try another technique. A lot of my art has boobies in in though, and let me tell you, if you’re the least bit prudish, boobies are the least of your worries.

The problem is, I want to share what I do with others. Do I risk embarrassing them or embarrassing myself? The best result is that if they’re not offended at all and enjoy the work - the worst is they condemn me to who-only-knows where and banish me (though I’m not sure that’s entirely the worst, that at least comes with entertainment packaged right in).

I think the problem I struggle with is legitimacy. There’s a raunchy quality to some of the pieces I do, pornographic is the word. Can an artist be taken seriously, even if it’s porn? I’d say it’s possible, but the quality of the art should be flawless in execution and style - anything less would be perceived as amateurish. That would put me in the dreaded realm of furry art. I am forced to admit some of it is very good as far as execution and style, but guess what? It’s still furry art.

Something I have discovered about myself though, I have no eye for fashion, or rather, no eye for coming up with something fashionable. Costume design is way beyond me, but I feel I have a grasp on anatomy well enough to distort it to my own style. When I have a director, an outside influence, or even a reference to copy, things turn out quite well. I still put my own slant on it, and it invariably turns out dirty, but if the subject is wearing clothes, the piece gets a nice bump from porn to erotic. That’s an excellent neighborhood to be in.  With erotic, you can still flash a nipple or any other naughty bit and still be not unacceptable. Erotic carries with it the connotation of class. The best example I can think of is the pinup girl. Well-executed forms, clean style, and

Pinup style isn’t my primary influence, but I will say it’s my latest direction to strive for. Now, I still make a porntastic piece more often than is probably healthy (or is it exactly as often?), but I try and that’s important. To be clear, my first influence is Bruce Timm of DC Comics and Batman: The Animated Series. You know the one. Whenever I feel I’ve gone astray or don’t like where I’m going, I look at his stuff old and new and study it.

But does this shift in focus lead down something more insidious like self-censorship? It all depends on perspective I guess. Like I said before, “I make art for me,” but I really like it when you like the art that I make. The acceptance and praise I receive for a good piece is much better for me than the relaxation I get from the craft. In order to make the art that you find appealing, I need to make my it more accessible.

I can happily say though, regardless of content, my technique is always undergoing refinement and evolution. My drawing tablet is a great investment, but I still use the mouse for more mechanical actions like clicking on menu items or choosing options. It’s hard for me to join the abstraction of the absolute screen-space to tablet-space, when I have a mouse cursor that’s relative.

Yes, my Xbox 360 caught the horrible plague that is the Red Ring of Death. I thought I had gotten away scot freeafter owning it for almost two years, but I think it was just denial. There were a handful of problems with the device from the get-go like disc read problems when the console was vertical for some games, horizontal for others. One day, Bioshock would not boot for some unknown reason. So really, yes, denial.

You may spot a couple new links on the Links to Other Places category. I feel confident linking to the Freakonomics blog without ever having been there. One day I had quite a lot of time to kill at a Half Price Books and read a chapter or two of the book. It was quite good, and I still want a copy. The other one, God Plays Dice, I stumbled upon in my adventures on the Internet.  It’s not on my rotation proper, but I go there whenever all my other avenues have dried up and I’ve got nothing to read. A glowing endorsement I know, but I’m almost always pleased when I go there. He tends to focus on math and physics, which is cool, but he sometimes gets a little too excited about numbers.

Then there’s Joel on Software. An amazingly excellent post got my attention one day, and it similarly went in my pile of things to look at when things are slow. He doesn’t post often, but when he does, it’s likely to be pretty good.

An excellent example of the form, Braid is a 2-D Puzzle Platformer.  The object of the game is to collect puzzle pieces hidden behind traps and puzzles and assemble them on a board. Once each board for each level is complete, the last sequence is unlocked which ties everything together. The whole game except for the last sequence can be traversed in about 20 minutes, but that’s pointless. The real fun of the game is figuring out how to get those puzzle pieces.

I won’t spoil anything for you, but each world has its own unique twist on how time behaves or can be manipulated, and operating within those restrictions and liberties is key to progressing through the game.

The underlying story is also engaging on a level rarely seen in games these days or any day for that matter. Again, I won’t spoil anything for you, but the end ties it up pretty well, and re-reading some sections again sheds light on holes in others. It is very, very good.

A great thing about Braid, that has nothing to do with the game itself really, is it has rekindled my wanting work on my own games. Sure I’ve sort of been working on general designs, but knowing that an independent game can make it gives me renewed vigor! I love it.