so it’s been a while (i say that quite a lot), so here’s what’s been happening lately.

i got a haircut.

LEIGH DUMPED ME.

i made a game.

i’m back on track.

yeah, life is pretty great right now. i can finally do all the things i’ve wanted to for a while, but haven’t been able to. my priorities right now:

make new friends

learn to drive

get a job

and i’m well on the way to completing all three. i’ve got lessons booked, i’ve got a cv ready and i’ve already met quite a few people. i can finally go out legally, which is always good. i haven’t been out in like 6 months or so, and i actually can’t wait. i’m going to london in june which will be great. but right now i just want to focus on college work, since there’s so much to do and so little time. i’ve got 5 weeks of lessons left, after that it’s play catch-up. but yes, i’m back on track and it’s great. i could just do without being called a smartarse.

so this is basically an update for gravi, my upcoming game.

so far i’ve got a working moving character (not a big deal for YOU maybe, but you don’t know how long it’s took me to make), three enemies and a nice little laser beam thing. the gravity shift is working so far and i haven’t found any bugs as of yet! one major thing though is improving on the visuals. a lot of the images i have right now are just place-holders until i can make them look nice and come up with a good visual style.

a big problem i’m having is with drawing text and such. i’ve never done it before so i’m having a hard time with that. i’ve got it working somewhat, but the text is fixed in place. i’m also going to buy game maker pro edition. it’s only £10 and i’ll be able to do a lot more with it.

but lately i’ve been distracted with the noitu love 2 demo and i’m currently downloading the aquaria demo to see what it’s like. i’ve heard good things.

well well well.

let’s see, due to popular demand here is my first ever game, platform ball.

platform ball

controls: W - gravity A - right S - stop D - right

aim: guide the ball to the exit by clicking on the blocks and changing them.

it’s really buggy but it’s my first game and was made in about 4 hours using game maker 7 lite. i hope it gets some plays at least.

in other news, i saw leigh on saturday. no comment.  

so, as of about two hours ago, leigh got a place at huddersfield university, which is excellent news. i’m so happy for her! i also finished my first ever game which i am very proud of, but it’s no where near good enough to post anywhere so i’m going to work on a new project which i may or may not post. still won’t be BLOC-standard though.

i’ve also found out a lot about my accommodation at leeds met, and it turns out i have a guaranteed place like i thought i did. though where i’m not sure. it says the becket campus (which is ideal, it’s like 5 mins away from leeds met) but i’ll have to find out. it’s not until august that i need to worry about it anyway, but it’s taken a lot off my mind.

anyway, my latest game idea is called “gravi”, in which you switch gravity to progress through levels. it could be good if i execute it properly.

so this post is about me. oh boy.

let’s see. well, firstly, i made some levels for crayon physics. if any of the seven viewers play it, check them out over at the crayon physics level blog available here: http://crayon-physics.blogspot.com/2008/03/two-new-packs-added.html which is a great project. thanks to cama for putting them up!

next up, i’ve had a great idea for a game which i’m going to make. but i’m going to have to learn C++ properly, which is going to set me back a while. anyone know the learning curve?

yesterday i went to see leigh, which i gave her her suprise: chocolate nests! oh yes, i went through all the effort of making chocolate nests for her. basically its just chocolate and shredded wheat but i added some chicks and mini eggs. i was quite proud. we got up to the usual stuff and i had a great time. although i felt really ill when i got home. the snow is absurd.

los campesinos! are getting pretty big now, as much as i hate to admit it, i’ve been fans of them for a long time now!

www.myspace.com/loscampesinos

for fans of: anyone with taste. well, anyone who enjoys indie of any sort, particularly upbeat indie. i’m tempted to say fans of arcade fire will love them too, but they are a bit different, especially with the vocals.

ANYWAY, los campesinos! are a lovely 7-piece indie band from wales. yes, wales. they’ve supported the likes of broken social scene, and are playing ATP (a massive indie festival over here, check out the lineups) too. although the critics have had a wide range of views on their album, i think it’s brilliant, indie pop at its finest. definitely check out “death to los campesinos!” and you will fall in love!

i think i may have mentioned these before. anyway, cats in paris are a lovely little band from manchester, relatively unheard of. thery make really, really REALLY good music.

http://myspace.com/catsinparis

for fans of: well, anything really. especially for fans of los campesinos! and quirky indie. they use a lot of different styles in their music, all of which blend together with fantastic vocals and their unique style. check out “foxes”, their usual set opener. combining funky bassline with arpeggio chiptuning and wild vocals. utter brilliance. then the lovely terrapins. it’s so calm and nice, with a lovely buid-up.

they are a very talented band, and definitely ones to watch out for. 

crayon physics deluxe. i cannot tell you how excited i am about this game.

crayon physics deluxe - kloonigames (petri purho) - release date: unknown

crayon physics deluxe is the successor to the freeware prototype crayon physics, in which players must draw shapes in order to get a ball to a star. anything you draw behaves exactly how it should, and it’s all drawn with crayons. before i discuss the game, i’ll discuss the author. petri purho is a finnish computer science student. in his spare time, he makes games. over at his blog, he is currently running a project to produce a new game every month. so far he’s kept to his word. although some of these games don’t work properly, others are simple and effective. crayon physics was a prototype that was created from this project. at first he had no plans to develop this game any further, but due to the popularity it gained, he secrectly developed it into what it is today - crayon physics deluxe.

now, crayon physics deluxe is a much more advanced version of the prototype, with the ability to create any object you want, and it will behave like it should. the game is more about creativity then challenges. with no limit to the number of ways to complete a level, it is entirely left to the users imagination. for instance, you could complete a level by simply creating a tilted oblong platform in which the ball will roll down. or, using a series of shapes and pivots, you could create a car in which will push the ball down a slope and swing round onto the star. the music is also fantastic, it’s one of those rare tracks that really takes time to get annoying. and the fantastic news is that the composer of the original track will be working on more music for the release of deluxe. the simplicity of it is what won it the IGF grand prize of $20,000. previous winners include the likes of aquaria, N, darwinia and so on, popular indie games that have hit the mainstream so hard that big time developers have had to open their eyes to the bedroom game developers.

since the IGF festival, crayon physics deluxe has become huge, with many people commenting petri’s blog with the same old phrase: “when is crayon physics deluxe going to be out?”. i imagine that this would get annoying for the young developer, and i wish him all the best. how he manages to fit his time to work on deluxe whilst still making games is beyond me. deluxe is going to be highly successful (in a recent interview, he said he had been talking to a publisher to take it to the DS). although i don’t see how it will work on the DS (the screen is rather small for the levels to fit on), it will be open to a large market, since i don’t think there is anyone who wouldn’t enjoy it.

rating: 5/5

the prototype is available here: http://www.kloonigames.com/crayon (it is not deluxe, and doesn’t even compare to the quality!).

so i have decided to make this blog… better. yeah, so far it’s only been about me, but i’m not too interesting. half of the stuff on this blog is about the same stuff (”not much happened/saw leigh/played this/listened to this”) and honestly that’s probably the reason i don’t update this too much. so i have decided i’m going to do… stuff. reviews, rants, feature articles, interviews with random people, ANYTHING to make this a better place to visit. and  i’ll still talk about me sometimes too for the 3 people who still read this blog who aren’t searching for camel spiders (i must have over 28,000 views from people searching camel spiders, apparently my blog is on the first page on MSN image search for spider crabs). so welcome to the teaplusplus renovation project. i will use tags and stuff too. any comments would be appreciated, give me stuff to write about!

well, once again i’ve been neglecting this blog. which is bad! anyway, let’s see…

i saw leigh yesterday for the first time in 2 and a half weeks. it was great, though the open day at teesside uni was very boring. checked out mima, that was pretty good, and just wandered around. i had fun, and i’m seeing her again this saturday. can’t wait.

on a side note, today is our 5 months. 5 months, and it’s just flown by (i seem to only update this when its an anniversary). it’s been a fantastic five months, but next month will be half a year. god, that’s a long time. i must be doing something right!

anyway, not a lot has been happening. mainly work work work.

i really wish i had something interesting to say.