Indie Game: The Movie

Indie Game: The Movie is about journeys.  More specifically, the journeys of four creators and their struggle to connect with players through their artistic medium, the video game.  The film follows designers Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes leading up to and including their release of Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish and the turbulent struggle to maintain awareness at PAX on his game Fez, and the emotional aftermath for Jonathan Blow following his successful release of Braid.  Each creator struggles with his unique problems, but ultimately all of them give us a glimpse inside the creation of an independent game and the emotional dynamics of their creators.  Indie film makers Lisanne Pajo and James Swirsky edited over 80 hours of footage to make a movie that not only shows us why these creators made games, but why people create in the first place.

Edmund McMillen

For me, the following of Phil Fish's legal entanglements and obsession over perfecting Fez, or the misunderstood Jonathan Blow as he argues with favorable reviewers over the intent and message of his best selling game Braid, take a back seat to designer Edmund McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes in their development and release of Super Meat Boy.  With Edmund and Tommy we get a look at their lives,  the influences that shaped them, and the loved ones who are both affected by, and supportive of, their dedication.  In exploring these two, the film shows us both the ups and downs as they experience them giving audiences an emotional ride they can connect with.

Tommy Refenes

All of the creators experience the painful results of their dedication with the sacrifice of social lives and the constant seclusion to finish their work.  Although not a pleasant thought, it was inspiring to me at least, in so far as seeing others slave away at all hours to perfect their craft and attempt to accomplish something that lies off the beaten path.  Not only did this film educate me on the game development process (McMillen's idea behind level progression and game mechanics was something I only knew subconsciously through playing games), but it left me with the overwhelming desire to create, despite the perilous journey that may lay ahead in doing so. Indie Game: The Movie manages to show how an individual (or a set of partners) can reach out through an artistic medium and connect with people.

Fez

Super Meat Boy

Braid

Archaia Presents: How to Tell a Better Story Through World-Building

On Sunday morning Archaia's Editor in Chief, Stephen Christy, moderated a panel of writer/artists who met to share their knowledge with aspiring creators.  The panel consisted of Jeremy Bastien (Cursed Pirate Girl, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard), David Peterson (Mouse Guard), and Sean Rubin (Bolivar, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard).

Stephen kicked off the panel by briefly introducing the panel and prompting them to give a short breakdown of the specific things that go into their process of world building.  Specifically, when designing characters and costumes.

Jeremy - When I am trying to design costumes I tend to exaggerate features.  I add lots of detail.  I try to put the reader in an antique world where you can get lost in the details. I try and create the craziest characters I can come up with.

David - With Mouse Guard, their anatomy is all the same.  There is only so much you can do with their body language so clothing is what differentiates the different characters.  All the mice are little in this very big world around them and that alone makes the world unique.  The characters come through the costuming.  I try and show the different types of regions in the world through the costume details.  If you look at the mouse who wears goggles and has his head covered, he looks like he's from a desert.  It indicates he's from Sandmason.  Now if you see that character out of a desert, you know he doesn't belong, he's out of place.  The guy with the pine cone is an example of showing how they incorporate things they made or things they grabbed from nature to adorn themselves with.  It tells a lot about the world around them.  I like to keep it loose as I go.  If I wrote all of the details at once it would be too overwhelming.  By doing it this way, I don't paint myself into a corner and can edit as I go.

Behind the Graphics: A Video Game Industry Round Table

On Saturday I sat in on a game industry round table where Allen Turner, lead game designer at Wideload Games, moderated.  The panel of local game developers gave a behind the scenes look at what developers do and how to get hired as one.

The Ladies of Womanthology - C2E2 2012

In a panel discussion and Q & A the ladies of this anthology shared how they became involved and their inspiration for doing so.  It was an amazing opportunity to hear first hand what drove each of these women to become part of something so unique.   For you aspiring creators, note that many became involved through the use of social networking.

Jessica Daniel - writer
Lauren Burke - writer
Jean Kang - artist
Janet Lee - artist
Raven Moore - writer
Candice Reily-Powell - artist
Katie Shanahan - artist
Gail Simone - writer

Some background on Womanthology:

Womanthology is a graphic novel created entirely by women designed to raise money for The Global Giving Foundation and to promote the works of female creators both seasoned and new to the industry.  The project was placed on Kickstarter.com to raise its goal of $25k and surpassed it many times over, eventually raising over $100K.  Within its first week 1500 copies were sold allowing the development of future issues.
Please support their efforts and give them a +Like! Womanthology on Facebook

Razer's SWTOR Gaming Keyboard

If you're wondering where to blow a huge chunk of your tax return, we may have an answer for you.  Despite its sleek design and impressive look, I find this peripheral comes at too high a cost ($249).  It boasts many of the same features of other gaming keyboards such as the ability to key bind on the go, use multiple keys at the same time, and display your in game stats.  The way in which this particular keyboard sets itself apart however, is the inclusion of a multifunction tactile LCD screen which can display your faction logo, act as a media player, and act as a multi-touch gesture pad for navigation in game.  Other perks are listed for those who have a Star Wars: The Old Republic account including both a unique lightsaber color crystal and a discount of 10% on a total purchase exceeding $100.  If you are interested in purchasing, or want more information regarding specs, they can be found on Razer's website.  As amazing as it looks, for me it comes at too high a price.  Let us know what you think by posting a comment below or writing us at mailbag@progressivelyaggressive.com.

General PVP tips in MMOs

1. Play as often as possible.  Although it's cliche, practice does make perfect.  I find every time I log back on it takes a few matches for me to get in the zone.  The more frequent you play, the more second nature your gameplay becomes.
2. Do your research.  Study up on the different types of classes you will be going up against.  Know their abilities and the cool downs they have to wait for.  By knowing their mechanics you can anticipate their moves and know which of your abilities to use against them and when.  I find official game sites can give you the basics of class roles, but you should be reading forums and watching gameplay videos of your class as well.  Make sure you follow their attack rotations as well as how they react to different encounters.  By doing so, you can see which are successful and which should be avoided.  Be sure to also read up on how to correctly allocate talents and what stats to stack.  This often differs by class, build, and type of gameplay (PVE or PVP).
3. Duel your friends.  It can improve your one on one game and can provide honest feedback.
4. If you can, record matches to analyze later on.  See where you make mistakes and find strategies that consistently work.

If you have any other suggestions or have questions about the above, send them to mailbag@progressivelyaggressive.com.

We're Back!

By now I'm sure you've all been wondering what's been going on with the lack of updates and our weekly cast.  Well, the quick breakdown is we decided to revamp the site, halt podcast production to focus on written content, and to add more writers covering a narrowed scope of topics.  The decision to stop the podcast was not an easy one, but with other outside commitments it has become virtually impossible for all of us to meet regularly and provide the same cast we had been making.  With the extra time this affords us you can expect more posts, more events covered, and more time for us to improve the site.  Some new additions to the site include, more con coverage and a dedicated section for gaming with reviews, strategies, technology, tutorials and more.  We hope you enjoy and if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, send them to mailbag@progressivelyaggressive.com