Im an avid gamer, and since returning from summer session, when Ive not been working (I finish my first week at my new job today!), Ive spent over a hundred hours on my fairly massive Steam library, courtesy of the new addition to my household, a gaming PC named Karen (after Planktons computer wife from Spongebob Squarepants). Take a look at what Ive been up to here. (I like to post annotated screenshots and game reviews, and happily invite you to browse through!) steamcommunity/id/enlightenedman One of my favorite games of all time is The Binding of Isaac, an independent game by Edmund Mcmillen (a local Californian from Santa Cruz!). A cartoonish, ludicrously gory, and delightfully twisted take on religious extremism , the player controls Isaac, a naked, eight-year-old little boy whose mother comes after him with a kitchen knife after she hears God command her to kill her son. Isaac escapes into the basement, where his mind conjures up terrifying monsters from his demented psyche, facing the reality of his own mortality as he waits for his mother to find him and kill him. In true Mcmillen fashion, Isaac fights these hallucinations the way all children scare off the monsters under the bed or in the closet- with his TEARS. The Binding of Isaac is a rogue-like, meaning (like in real life) existence is brutal and short. Once the player dies, he starts over from the beginning, and the entire game world is procedurally generated into a new random selection. Its insanely fun, and I highly, highly urge you to come play through the demo on Newgrounds here. newgrounds/portal/view/581168 Unfortunately, the game suffered numerous issues because it was made in Flash. After it took off, Mcmillen kept adding new content, but had to stop because of the limitations of the engine. Instead of letting the game stagnate, he instead decided to start all over, doubling the content, re-writing the rules, making new graphics, and adding co-op in a re-make- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. It looks fantastic, and here, he and his wife Danielle play through the game. I first met her in Indie Game: The Movie (a film I highly recommend), and its easy to tell that the support and care she provides for Edmund are a big part of his success. Absolutely amazing people, the both of them. https://youtube/watch?v=_A10s9RhVj8 The game looks simply superb. Ive been able to accrue such a large collection of games because I never buy them full price. Im willing to wait months, sometimes years for mega sales, and only then do I see fit to make a purchase. But Rebirth is such a clearly excellent game that Im willing to do something Ive never really done before- pre-order it the moment its available (which should be in the next few months!) I revere creative geniuses like Edmund, and one of my big goals is to become involved in independent game design myself. Another man whom I strive to emulate is Daisuke Amaya, better known as Pixel, who made Cave Story (a revolutionary, highly-acclaimed game) back in 2004 working weekends and nights for over six years while officially working as a programmer. Something similar would be enormous fun, but I have a long way to go. First, Ill have to graduate from university with my Computer Engineering degree, yielding me the programming expertise I shall surely require (perhaps picking up a masters as well). Ill need to pick up art skills, likely at a community college. It will become necessary to find a good job, probably as a hardware designer or programmer, that affords me the capital and freedom to pursue these goals without difficulty or compromise. Above all, Ill need conviction, creativity, and clarity of vision to realize abstract concepts into concrete reality. And one day, at the end of it all, Ill have created art which made it all worthwhile. Its a long road ahead, but should I continue plugging away at it day by day, with undiminished resolve, I will get there. Life is simple, and in my experience, completely fair. If we actively strive for rational goals, never faltering or accepting fate passively, thinking through every move we make and continually refusing to give up, one way or another, in some form, well make it. But none may walk the path for us but ourselves. - Dan
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 15:54:02 +0000
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