Author: maniccreative

7 – Text Adventure Game: Keep Punching

Posted on by maniccreative

Here’s something a little different.

Over the past few months I have been feeling the itch to create something, and (as is my fashion) I decided to work on something completely different from my original focus. I’m going to try my hand at game development. Is it easier than animating? Absolutely not, but to be honest with myself and all of you, I have some very old, albeit shallow roots in game development.

I’ve always been a gamer, ever since the days I played Mario and Zelda on the NES, all the way up to now where I play…well…Mario and Zelda on the Nintendo Switch. When I was in high school I discovered a really cool project called Zelda Classic, which was basically a clone of The Legend Of Zelda for PC, but what was really cool about it was there was a separate program called “zQuest” that allowed you to alter anything in the game (sprites, music, dungeons, overmaps, etc.) or even create your own.

Needless to say this blew my pubescent mind, and I went to work creating new games featuring my own pixel art (thanks to the sprite editor included in zQuest), stories, and characters. I was even able to build an overmap of 1970s New York for my most ambitious game, “00 Fro”. I had several missions completed when one day, in a weird self-defeatist fit, I deleted the entire project along with all of my work. If only I had thought to start a creative journal then, perhaps “00 Fro” would still be here today…

Anyway, since then it has always been a fleeting dream of mine to develop a real, bonafide video game, so I did!

….sort of.

As a first step into the realm of game development, I told myself I should focus on learning game logic: how levels work, puzzle creation, balancing challenge vs. fun, that kind of thing. So I made the decision to build my first game entirely of text like the old adventure games my brother used to have loaded onto his old Compaq computer. By removing the distraction of graphics (not to mention alleviating an insane amount of work) I was able to focus more on gameplay and world-building, much like how Luke first learned to wield the lightsaber with the blast shield covering his eyes, yeah?

Anyway, here is the game. It’s called Keep Punching and it’s incredibly silly, incredibly violent, and incredibly juvenile. Hopefully you enjoy it:

6 – Sooooo…..animation?

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So yeah…that whole animated film thing didn’t happen. It has definitely been a bit since I last updated, so here’s a quick recap for those who care: the classes were incredibly informative and I learned a ton about different software and techniques for animating, but I have definitely found the idea of animating a short film daunting. But that’s the point of this thing right? Not just to brag about my accomplishments in the creative realm, but also my failures.

So that is what I’m doing now, admitting failure.

To be completely fair to myself, I have done a few things in these past few years: I edited and acted in three more indy films, put a ton of time into my career (I’m now Senior Editor, la dee da dee da), and just recently had a baby girl. I promise those are not excuses for why there is nothing to show for an animated short film, just wanted to make sure you guys don’t think I’m a total deadbeat.

In the interest of holding myself accountable, I’ll post a few of my test animations here so that they can be judged accordingly by the merciful few that follow my blog. Just a heads up: they’re short. VERY short. Each one was a small test in something a little different, be it software and method of animating, to differences in achieving the illusion of movement. I definitely learned a lot from these little guys, so they certainly paid off.

Without further ado:

This first animation test was done using ToonBoom Animate Pro, it was my first venture into bone animation. I also tried blending in some traditional animation by adding the plug and power cable. It’s obviously unfinished, the final result was going to have the mech legs walk outside of its cable range and unplug itself.Mech-Legs

 

This next test was also done using ToonBoom, and was an exercise in lip-syncing. I used the automatic lip-sync tool, and then fine-tuned some of the frames manually. Then I added some additional traditional animation by way of the facial expressions and arm movements. The man is saying “Oh…I worry about you!” Not sure why we had to use that clip.

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Now comes the fun stuff. These were both drawn in TVPaint and were meant to test two different things: the first was understanding volume and form, and the second was conveying expression and perspective. For volume and form, I drew a blob monster that dives into puddle form and returns to his upright position. The challenge is making it look like there is the same “volume” of slime in the blob guy in both forms, while also making sure his form makes physical sense.

For expression and perspective, I drew a depressed little alien named Fil who blinks and turns to stare hopelessly at his viewers. These were super fun to do, and were actually tests I came up with for myself during downtime in class. It’s amazing how much you can learn from making a short animation that’s a second or two long, and I grew to love (and ultimately purchase) TVPaint for it’s amazing traditional animation features and the look of the pencil and pen strokes.BlobFil-Blink

 

And these are a few bonus concepts I never actually animated, but hope to someday:

Dog in Mechlegs (a refinement of the mechleg animation test above, drawn in ToonBoom)

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Fantasy Or Whatever, initial sketch and color versions (a series I’d love to make someday)

Fantasy-Or-Whatever_Characters_BWFantasy-Or-Whatever_Characters

The Trials of the Wizard (another series I’d love to make someday)

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And there you go, not much to show for a few years of inactivity but alas, that is all of the animation I mustered. Hopefully someday soon I can add to this sad, sparse collection.

5 – Animation

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Taking up traditional cartoon animation has always been something that has interested me, and up until recently, has been an “unattainable goal” in my mind. Of course, it was only unattainable because I was too afraid to put myself out there and just do it. It was my first passion regarding art and film, and I’ve always felt like I had waited too long and wasted too much time to get into it now.

After completing my short film, I decided to put aside my fears and doubts and enrolled in a few animation courses at the School of Visual Arts.

And man, am I happy I did.

I’m only one class in so far, but I’m already very impressed with my instructor. She really knows her stuff and is extremely talented and knowledgeable. It also doesn’t hurt that she actually has a real passion for the craft. We started out by getting acquainted with the animation software and immediately went into animating from there.

There are many more classes to go, but as of now I’m incredibly pleased with my decision, if anything just for the inspiration to start animating alone.

In the meantime, I’ve decided to put my iPad to good use and start doing nightly animation drills, starting with the very basics and gradually moving into more difficult territory. The goal is to start exercising that part of my brain, and get better at seeing how timing and distance between frames affects motion.

Next goal: to make a short animated film in the next year.

4 – Noir Film Finished!

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So the short noir film was a success; we shot, processed, and edited the film in just under 7 months. We’ve submitted to several festivals and are waiting for word back. I am very happy with the outcome of the film. My buddy nailed the look and the acting, music and editing really blended together perfectly to create the mood I had originally intended.

The exciting thing about the project was the amount of people that came out and supported my film on Kickstarter. It was really rewarding to see so many people show their faith in my abilities, and their interest in the idea for the film.

The biggest thing I took away from it however, was an added confidence in my own abilities. Sometimes an artist becomes introspective and questions his ability and talents, which was the very reason I created this blog. I can safely say that the experience I gained from writing, directing, and editing my own film in 16mm was single-handedly the biggest accomplishment I have made to date in terms of grasping my own abilities. It was extremely rewarding.

Here is a side by side visualization of the storyboards vs screen grabs of the film to see how the concept became reality:

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As you can see, there were a few tweaks to the shots, but I feel we stayed very faithful to the original storyboards.

Here is a link to view the film: https://vimeo.com/65420094

3 – Short Noir Film

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Prior to creating this blog, a friend of mine and I have collaborated on many short film projects, the latest of which we shot in black and white Super 16mm film.

This detail was especially exciting for us, not only because it looked great, but also because it forced us (especially him, since he was the writer and director) to know exactly what we wanted before spending the enormous amount of time (and money) for shooting and processing.

Now it's my turn to write and direct, and we have agreed that a short noir film would be a good project to work on next.

I'm particularly excited, because the plot structure is that of a typical noir film, which I feel will give me a great amount of freedom in terms of the mood of the film. Because the plot is straightforward, I can focus on the emotions I want the viewer to feel in any given scene, without worrying about whether they will get lost along the way.

Also, I am planning on using different abstract methods of getting actors to portray those moods and emotions, such as printing photos that convey those specific feelings and emotions and giving them to the actor.

I've written and revised multiple drafts of the script and finally have one that I think is in a good place. The next step is storyboarding, which I will begin in March. I'll post a few panels from it when we get there.

 

2 – “Game Over” Series

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In the interest of staying active on this blog, as well as allowing myself to be analyzed critically by others, I am posting a series of pixel art illustrations and an explanation of the concept behind them.

I found a couple of crappy stock photos online and more or less converted them to pixel art. The series is entitled “Game Over” for now, but I’m also toying with the title “Life – The Video Game”.  The idea behind it is pretty basic, each image is an 8-bit rendering of a very real situation from real life, more specifically a negatively life-changing situation.

It’s sort of a commentary on a few people I’ve met in my life that have thrown caution to the wind and paid for it, though some of the situations aren’t personal. For instance, I’ve never known anyone that has died from a heroine overdose, and I know that the reason they overdosed may not be the result of reckless abandon as much as an irreversible addiction, but experimenting with heroine in the first place is an example of reckless abandon, is it not?

And yes, not everyone takes heroine voluntarily, like prostitution rings and other extreme circumstances, but that is not what this series is about. This is about those who treat life like a video game, and are left staring into a “Game Over” screen when it is all said and done.

That having been said, here are the first 3 panels:

The images obviously follow the same color palette, so my idea is to print these onto 6 x 6 inch canvases and mount them side-by-side, and beneath them mount a similar series of 3 with a contrasting color palette, making a full series of 6, or more specifically, two sets of 3.

I’m also thinking about putting poignant options on the game over screen that would correspond to each frame on either side, still staying realistic to the video game theme. For example, in the series above, it would say something along the lines of “Try Again” or “Quit”. Or perhaps “Abort? Or maybe that’s a little too obvious…

So that’s something.

1 – The Sky’s The Limit…

Posted on by maniccreative

…except it’s hazy and visibility is so poor that up, down, left, and right have no distinction.

That’s my problem: there’s no clear path in sight.

I’m talking about my creative process, mind you. Obviously, these are first-world problems but, alas, I must work with the first-world hand I was dealt.

With that out of the way, let’s try to figure out why the sky is such a confusing and foreboding place to me.

Here is the conundrum in which I find myself when I come up with an idea:

  1. An idea is born
  2. I get really excited.
  3. I tell someone my idea.
  4. At this point, I may or may not drop the idea. Depending on the feedback, I sometimes feel a small sense of satisfaction in having explained it to someone. Sometimes I fool myself into thinking that is enough, only to realize later that there is actually no fulfillment in that at all. Other times, I continue to Step 5.
  5. I start fleshing out the idea (ie. write a script, make brief bullet points, draw concept art, etc.)
  6. At this point, it’s very likely that I’ve thought of another, completely separate idea. This leads to a fork in the road: go all the way back to Step 1 with this completely new idea, or shelf the new idea and continue to Step 7 with the older, more fleshed-out idea (the odds are about 60/40, in favor of the older, more fleshed-out idea).
  7. I get really excited.
  8. At this point, I typically go back to Step 3, where the idea once again must venture down that long, winding trail full of pitfalls and dead-ends. At this stage in the game, the odds are firmly stacked against the poor little idea, my stupid brain taking immense pleasure in trying to squash it with every tactic and munition it can deploy. The idea doesn’t have a chance…it never did, really. But just maybe…
  9. Against all odds this particular idea, perhaps or perhaps not due to its own merit, has found some way into actually having a chance at becoming a reality! The road was a hard one, but it’s smooth sailing from here on…
  10. Repeat steps 2 through 10.

That’s what every one of my ideas have to go through, and that’s not even taking into account the stress I can put on myself on account of inexperience with a certain workflow or an uncertainty of what the final result may look like.

You may be thinking, ‘The answer is simple: don’t worry so much.‘

But it also isn’t that simple, because I can’t just do that. I have to worry about it, I put everything into my ideas. I will stay up all night, wake up very early in the morning, jot notes on the train, tweak scripts on the plane: I live for my ideas.

So how can I stop worrying about them when I put so much work into them? Perhaps the answer is to focus that energy somewhere that will help the idea flourish…

So, finally, we get to the point of my very first post: what is my ultimate creative inspiration? What do I want to convey in my films, stories, and images? What is the universal message that anyone can understand and connect with, no matter what the subject matter?

I believe the answer is emotion.

No matter how the individual elements of a project look when separated and examined alone, if they are able to make the viewer feel something when brought together, they add up to one successful piece of art.

And the only way the viewer can feel that something is if the project is completed. Completely.

So that is my goal: worry about the emotion of the piece. Not a project’s workflow. Not an idea’s reception. Not the amount of time invested. Not the technical or directorial skills required. Emotion.

This way, regardless of where I am in the course of creation, my mind is always focused on the feel of the end product, which may just be the push I need to finish it.

Hopefully, this will bring me one step closer to achieving the ultimate creative objective: complete artistic fulfillment.

…or at least get a few more projects finished.