But this blog will no longer be, I know I won’t be missed by many, since I didn’t really have any sort of big and/or loyal reader base. Nontheless, just in case, I do come here to say goodbye.
For many reasons I found myself in the need to change hosting, in doing that, and for a lot of things that have happened to m over the last year, I decided to make a fresh start and make my new blog in my mother language, spanish.
If anyone reading this is interested (and given one can easily translate webpages now) you can find me at my new blog: eklq.net
With the new technologies in the realm of videogames it is becoming common place to see more and more innovations in terms of gameplay.
You need only play such games as Prince of Persia (with it’s completely unique battle engine and a screen lacking indicators) to realize the concept of ”what a video game is” is being redefined.
But there are not only those big games by big companies that challenge what we already know. There are also little studios (such as That Game Company with Flower which, we must agree, is nothing like any other game before it) and even individuals (Braid by Jonathan Blow with it’s dramatic, beautiful design and it’s innovative gameplay being a great example) who are also experimenting with the videogame conventions.
“Today I Die” is a little, impressively well done videogame. The gameplay is incredibly fresh and the simple, artistic look of it makes it one of my very favourite videogames to date.
The one thing that makes it all the special is it’s gameplay, though, but I am afraid that if I were to tell you how it is played I’d take away the surprise factor that is so important to the game itself.
So instead of telling you how it is played, I will only give you a link to this marvel of human ingenuity and artistic talent.
Since the animation scene is relatively new in Mexico and my city Guadalajara (GDL), I set to the task of getting as many animators and animation enthusiasts in one place at one time.
There was a far better response than I initially expected, In the end 30+ people attended and almost filled the 1rst floor of the Starbucks we used for the meeting.
There were lots of topics of discussion, Lots of people showing their work and projects and a lot more, enthusiastically, gathered around those who had something interesting to show to the crowd.
We had the presence of such studios and projects as:
In the end, the meeting was a complete success. We attracted the attention of some people on the industry and got to make the animation community a little more close.
There’s, thanks to Es-Hospedaje, a web page for the project now. If you can understand Spanish, I’d really recommend checking it out!
It was only a few days ago that I found out about Moleskine and I have to say, I am really impressed by the creative movement and devotion around this specific brand of notebooks.
Now, I’ve always been a “notebook person” myself. I had a passion for carrying a notebook with me and make sketches and notes of any idea I had, it is that way some of my most loved character designs came to be.
But I always had a problem that eventually drove me away from notebooks a few years ago, and that problem was that They Always tore apart. This problem always kept me from completely filling my notebooks and I had to eventually let go of the habit of having one.
But when I found out about Moleskine I had to give them a try and, I gotta say, I really am happy. And it isn’t only because of the high quality of the manufacture but, also, the big artistic movement around the whole thing really makes me inspired when sketching in my new Moleskine.
(the good part starts at 1:28)
Finally I leave you with a little character design I’m working on in my Moleskine:
Today at the UAD (Digital Arts University), I attended a lecture on “Video Games in Mexico” in which the state of Mexican recently born video games industry was discussed along with some technical aspects of video games production.
The lecture was imparted by people from Immersion Games, A Colombian / Mexican company with a little history of productions.
The video above is the teaser for one of their most important game proyects to date, one that is jet to be released to the publc. But it isn’t the only game they’ve made, there is a little list of things they’ve done from which the most worth mentioning are Monster Madness, The Video Game footage in Mental s1 ep4 and CellFactor. The last one being published by no other than the powerful and renown Ubisoft.
The lecture went smoothly, they talked about programming, concept art, animation, 3D modeling and texturing. They also showed some of their workflow with the Unreal Engine. And even some undisclosed footage of both their work in “AAA the Video Game” (above video) and a new project called “Kung Fu Academy”.
I personally am quite exited about all this, You know… being that I’m in Mexico and an animator and all.
What about you, ever seen / played anything by Immersion Games? Did you even suspect it was made in Latinamerica?
You might have noticed that the new design is more focused on both search and trends. I think we’re finally getting to see twitter reacting to the other way people uses twitter (that is, aside from talking to those people you know) and that’s a really good thing.
This animation is, by far, one of the most interesting stop-motion animations I’ve ever seem. I can only imagine the complexity of making something like this and be impressed by such a great result.
How come when such events as the realease of the triler to one of the most awaited (at least for me) anime movies in the history of important anime movies come out and is on youtube I don’t find out only a few seconds later? I deffinitely am alone in this world.
How come it is only now that I find out about Evangelion 1.0: You are (not) alone theatrical trailer?
But enough with the bitter talk. And let us rejoice on the marvels of modern day animation.
It must be obvious to everyone this far that I am, indeed, quite the fan of “Shin Seiki Evangelion” One of the greatest (if not itself the greatest) anime series of all times. If you know this then you must, too, understand the excitement it makes me feel to see such a trailer, and most of all with such visual quality.
Ever since I bought the Neon Genesis Evangelion Director’s Cut: Genesis Reborn and Resurrection from which I was able to watch more recently produced scenes of the Evangelion series with a much greater visual quality. I started wondering what it would have looked like to have had this amazing series produced in today’s world.
It deffinitelly was one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” moments when I first saw this video earlier today.
This is not the first instance of a game being made using YouTube’s annotations system. But it, most certainly, is one of the most interesting ones.
Even if the game is not technically impressive, it is, in my opinion, a testimony of the ingenuity of humanity. And that, I think, is worth making a blog post about.
On a more personal note
My life has been going through big changes these past few weeks. This changes both make me sad and excited. The most important and sad note, though, is that I am no longer a part of FABLE Story Studios. I will still help them around with web-mastering, but I will no longer be part of the creative team. This has nothing to do with any sort of problem, but with some decissions I had to make.
You people don’t get to miss me, though, for I shall not loose presence on the web. I will be changing servers soon, and will most probably buy a domain for this blog. but this wouldn’t have to affect you in any way.
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