Saturday, April 4, 2009

WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER....


I just realized that I've never seen a post about pro wrestling on here before, and with Wrestlemania 25 going down tomorrow, this seemed like a good time to have one.

Surely you all were WWF fans back in the heyday of the 1980's, right? I fondly remember wanting to be Jake the Snake Roberts and simulating the DDT on my brother on our parents' king-size bed. Rowdy Roddy Piper was another favorite.

Here's a nice retrospective of past Wrestlemanias.

Let's get ready to rummmbulllll!!!

Game Design

Hi! I just wanted to see if you guys have any feedback on this problem I'm having while designing my strategy game. I showed this screen shot to Mr. Pony:

















He said, "Litcube, this is poop. Here is why. It is because the perspective of the buildings do not match the perspective of everything else." Mr. Pony did not say exactly that, though. He said something far more polite and composed. I respect Mr. Pony's opinion, and I respect your opinion, too! So I changed it. Based on his semi-recommendation, I did this:

















This is what you call dimetric. It is not isometric. Isometric is a pain in the ass in video games for many reasons. These tiles are twice as long as they are high, and you can see the green tool-tip outlining on of the tiles, if you click on this image for full view. There is no vanishing point, and because we're working on a 2D plane, and the building of buildings is going to stay on one plane, we're ok with using this perspective.
However, the background image looks funny, and something looks off. I don't quite know what. Can you artist types tell me why the tiles look funny on this background?
Please ignore the "buildings", and the fact that the building panel overlaps the field. I'm in design stage, and objects are quickly slapped together to gain functionality.

If you dudes have any ideas, suggestions, or images, or you'd like to see your art in a game, it'd be sweet if you could submit with examples or a background that would fit this perspective better. I wouldd love it. If you want. I am not an artist. But you are!

LEGO Exhibit at UH (!)



Anyone here going to check this out tomorrow? Click here to see the video preview

Astronomical family fun — and Lego — in Manoa

It’s not just astronomers who like big numbers.
Each year, about 19 billion Lego bricks are produced. With more than 400 billion pieces worldwide, if stacked on top of each other, that’s enough to connect the Earth and the moon 10 times over.

If that fact gets your brain buzzing, head to the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy in Mänoa tomorrow. You won’t find a ladder to the moon, but you will find a giant Lego moon base built by astronomer Roy Gal and fellow members of the Lego Enthusiasts Association of Hawaii. The exhibit — possibly the largest Lego moon base on Oahu — will be set up in the Moon Room as part of the annual IFA Open House.

Friday, April 3, 2009

An article concerning the concept of "Plot" versus "Story" found on the io9 Science Fiction Website.


Though The online Science Fiction community gets my hackles up in a bunch, I found this article to be interesting, despite being minimally informative. Hope you enjoy, and that we can discuss.

"No es mano". A recreation of a scene from the film Pan's Labyrinth in Lego bricks.


No es mano.
Originally uploaded by Sir Nadroj

I just wanted people to know that dramatic things are being done in LEGO. In case people didn't know.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Catan, the board game


Well that settles it, I'm interested. First Panic talks about this (although to be honest he rattles on about anything with hexagons), and now it's in WIRED as the "perfect German board game" and the "monopoly killer". I'm not sure what that means but it sounds awesome.

Anyone ever play this thing? More to the point, anyone have this and want to play?



I love love love his work.



I am greatly enamored of the work by illustrator Alessandro Baronciani. If your soft insides are also stirred by his reductive brilliance, please see more here.

p.s. Though I prefer some of his earlier (now unavailable) prints, I'm buying that Supergirl silkscreen-new economy be damned.

BrainPOP Financial Literacy Movies