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Photoshop wish: Layer picker toolMar-24-07, 5:32 pm by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Photoshop, Adobe I have ranted in various places about how disappointed I am with Photoshop's current trend of adding auto-layer-selection to tools. I'll give you the micro-version of the rant: One of Photoshop's most power features is its layer palette panel. You pick the layer you want, and then work on it with the tools, not worrying about what's in front of it or behind it. In more recent versions of Photoshop some tools have started to automatically choose a layer for you when you click in the document. Some tools have this as an option, like the Move tool, but others are not optional, like the Text tool and the Vector shape selection tools. This is inconsistent behavior and leads to a lot of UNDOs. The problem is that these tools break the otherwise consistent model of "pick a layer, then work on it in place". I have to watch very closely every move I make with the Vector layer tools and Text tool or risk accidentally selecting another one. That's my rant in a nutshell. Recently I've started to believe that Adobe's new love affair with auto-layer-selecting tools is actually a suboptimal cure for a root problem: Photoshop's power has outpaced its generalized layer selection tools. ContinuedGame portals are the new publishersMar-19-07, 1:44 am by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Misc., Video games In my comments, someone took me to task for calling Kongregate a publisher. In the CD-ROM and Floppy days, I knew what a publisher was. They were the ones who cut your deal with, and they were the ones who paid you when your game sold. They also normally were the ones who did stuff like make your your manuals, boxes, and discs, and they dealt with getting your games into stores. Do Publishers like that still exist? Probably. But these days the people I (and most indie game developers) sign deals with and who send me check every month are the Portals. Portals can play a big factor in how many people play your game, how your game is marketed, and how much money you make. I don't need CD-ROMs and boxes. I don't need someone to go to the portals for me to get my game on their virtual store shelves. So what am I missing by not having a "Publisher"? I'm losing out on retail distribution, although some of the portals are getting into that as well .In fact I just found out Rocknor's Donut Factory is making its way into retail via an eGames collection. I'm probably missing out on getting some generalized marketing like press releases and whatnot. But that's easy for me to do myself, too. I can tell you one thing I don't care I'm missing -- the percentage cut that publishers take. In fact at a GDC session, Merscom's Lloyd Melnick said you can expect that about 2/3rds of your retail proceeds will go to your publisher if you have one. Ouch. Portals are the gatekeepers these days. They publish games to their own sites. They are the new publishers. And when you see me use the term "publisher" on my site, I'm probably talking about a site that will get your game into the hands of a lot of players, and pay you for it. My new blog: Junkyard ClubhouseMar-16-07, 2:42 pm by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Misc. Just a quick note to let all (three) of my readers know about my newest blog: Junkyard Clubhouse. Humu and I are both bloggers there. It is our place to link to the fun, interesting, cool, strange, and wacky stuff that we don't want to post on our more focused blogs. I'm still going to be posting to this one, and my hope is that JYC will allow me to keep this blog more on-topic with the stuff I write about here (video games, art, programming, and UI) Enjoy!  GDC07 wrap-upMar-10-07, 5:24 pm by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Misc., Video games, consoles, Macromedia, Director, Adobe, Shockwave, Lingo, game design Another GDC is over and done with. Here's some highlights:
The week provides me with more than enough creative energy to get me through another 360 days until the next one. Thanks to everyone mentioned here, and also those I didn't mention. GDC 2007: My sessionMar-2-07, 3:08 am by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Misc., Video games, design, Macromedia, Director, Adobe, Shockwave, Lingo, game design While I'm going to be at GDC all next week to soak up as much as I can, I'll actually be
Plus me. It's on Thursday March 8, from 4:00pm — 5:00pm in room 3004, West Hall Hope to see you there. Clive Thompson's best Indie Games of 2007Feb-26-07, 1:51 pm by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Video games, design, game design Wired News contributor Clive Thompson has an article on some top Indie Games of 2007, although I'm not sure if that's supposed to be "so far in 2007" or if the games are actually from 2006. He ranking based on 'IGF worthy' gameplay, meaning more of a focus on innovation and risk taking rather than overall polish -- you won't find Quake clones or casual games here. Most of the games I had not heard of, so I thought I'd link to the article. Here's a snip: The good news? The world of indie games is booming -- supercharged by a growing number of schools that teach game design, cheaper game-design tools and the emergence of festivals devoted to indie gaming. Last year, I wrote a column describing some of my favorite right-brained games that were freely available online. I've decided to make this an annual tradition, so here's round two: This year's sampling, by no means comprehensive, of the latest oddball gameplay. He's got some interesting game articles, including the myth of the 40-hour gamer (which mirrors some of the thoughts Will Wright was expounding on in the Spore article) and a great piece on episodic gaming. Check out his top Indie Games article and try the games he links to. Book: Creating casual games for profit and funFeb-24-07, 4:46 pm by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Misc., Video games, consoles, Macromedia, Director, Adobe, Shockwave, Lingo, game design  Creating Casual Games For Profit and Fun is a new book by Allen Partridge. Looks like a cool book, Allen contributes to the various Director mailing lists, has programmed a bunch of games, and for the book he interviewed lots of casual game developers. Here's the description, from Amazon.com:
Thousands of game enthusiasts and would-be developers are searching habitually for an opportunity to expand their knowledge of games. Whether they're clicking through Amazon or browsing Barnes and Noble, they are all looking for a path to their dream, a secret door into the games industry. The Casual Games Market is that secret passage. The industry, featuring online downloadable games generally delivered through distributors like Real-One Arcade, Shockwave.com and Oberon Media (via MSN Games and Pogo) has exploded over the past five years into a multi-billion dollar annual marketplace. Independent developers have rapidly discovered the field as one of the last remaining venues to break into the public eye. It is now the single most attractive opportunity available to anyone who wants to become a game developer. Casual Games for Profit and Fun introduces and defines casual games, explains the current state and scope of the industry, and describes the various genres, formats, conventions, and business models that define the industry today. It also teaches the basic casual game development techniques in Flash for the web, PC, and PDA's and cell phones. Throughout the book users will learn how to create a variety of games that they can use for their own fun or sell commercially. Check it out on Amazon.com Turning ClearType off, even when you already have it offFeb-23-07, 2:23 pm by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Misc., Bad User Interface Have you noticed that some of the applications you use are rendering text with Cleartype, even though you have turned Cleartype off in Control Panel? So did I. So I tracked down why it was happening and I fixed it. I hate Cleartype. Cleartype is the Windows OS setting that uses sub-pixel antialiasing to make the curves in letters to look smoother. I hate it because it sacrifices color accuracy in exchange for edge accuracy, and I guess my eye is extra sensitive to the color shift, because it bugs the hell out of me. It also screws up screenhots. Whenever I get a new PC, one of the first things I do is turn off Cleartype. Continued Kongregate now accepting Shockwave game submissionsFeb-17-07, 1:11 am by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Video games, Macromedia, Director, Adobe, Shockwave, Lingo Kongregate.com, the new upload-it-yourself game portal, is now accepting submissions for Adobe Shockwave games. They've only supported Flash games until now. I've written about Kongregate before, specifically how Kongregate could change the landscape of indie game publishing by giving game developers more rights. In a nutshell, Kongregate allows you to upload your games on their site for free where they'll get exposure, but will allow you to take all the revenue from conversions, in-game ads, and more. They'll make money on on-site ads. Perhaps I'll put a Shockwave version of Rocknor's Donut Factory on their site to see how it converts. Eight pages of Spore details from Will WrightFeb-14-07, 3:32 am by Hanford | Read full postFile under: Misc., Video games, game design  Popsci.com has an eight page interview with Will Wright, designer of simCity, the Sims, and many other games with "sim" in their title. In it he talks (and talks and talks) about Spore, which I'm really looking forward to. It's a great article.
Here's a morsel: Every time the player makes something in the game – creature, building, vehicle, planet, whatever, it gets sent to our servers automatically, a compressed representation of it. As other players are playing the game we need to populate their game with other creatures around them in the evolution game, other cities around them in the civilization game, other planets and races and aliens in the space game, and those are actually coming from our server and were created by other players. so there's an infinite variety of NPCs that I can encounter in the game that are continually being made by the other players as they play.link (via Kotaku)   |
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I make things. From consumer electronics, to video games, to theme park attractions. Perhaps I can make things for you! Check out my portfolio. When I'm not making things for other people, I'm usually experimenting.
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