Looking for help with 2D artwork?

Gamasutra: Chris Hildenbrand’s Blog – 2D Game Art For Programmers – Part 1 [updated].

Chris does a great job to explain how important it is to have professional looking art assets for games, then he takes the reader through some examples.  He presents the information in an easy to follow process, while demonstrating basic features of two very popular open-source software programs, Inkscape and Gimp .  Both programs are available for multiple platforms(Windows, Linux, and Apple).  He also has additional information on his website 2D Game Art for Programmers.  The article on Gamasutra is written in four parts with the same information posted on his blog.  Definitely worth a look!

IGDA-Chicago Game Jam – Saturday Oct 22, 2011 @ 10:00 AM

Toy Studio @ 1550 N Damen in Chicago will host the

IGDA Chicago Game Jam for the schedule of events check out the IGDA Chicago Game Jam website!

IGDA Chicago (Chicago, IL) – Meetup: Aug 31,2011 7pm Columbia College Chicago

IGDA Chicago (Chicago, IL) – Meetup.

The Chicago chapter of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) will be holding a meeting entitled “I Made a Game: Now What?”.  The meeting will be held on Wed August 31, 2011 at 7pm located at Columbia College Chicago 916 South Wabash, Chicago, IL  (in the Interactive Arts and Media Lecture Hall, Room 150)

A Panel on Business and Self-Publishing in the Game Industry.

Topics including:

• starting your own game development studio
• self-publishing techniques
• marketing
• business-specific endeavors

(Additional details pending.)

Additional info can be found @ http://www.meetup.com/IGDA-Chicago/ for joining the group and this event’s info is @ http://www.meetup.com/IGDA-Chicago/events/30066261/

Game Update: The Adventures of Teddy Baer…

Getting the 3D modeling of the main characters has been a serious obstacle. First off, Teddy the main character seemed a little younger than I had hoped. I went back and edited his features to get a slightly older looking character, but with the same cartoon feel. It ‘s been suggested that the Nic Cardi character looks  like Nicolas Cage while on a mufti-day caffeine binge ( the rough sketches that posted are all sans upper and lower eyelids! – bug-eyed).
The town has a name,(not Smallville – that was already taken!) and a map has been completed. Points of interest will be in a legend on the map and the player will be able to click on them for direct access, after the first visit. With the amount of parks(5 total) and farmland(10 areas ) I was debating whether to put in a mini-game or skill building tasks. The way this is working out, the parks will be the skill building sessions, and the farmland will be various mini-games. Things like an obstacle course that Teddy will have to navigate using his scooter(skate park). For completing the course in the allotted time, Teddy will be faster on the scooter. A second skill builder will be throwing rocks at crows in Mr Myer’s farm. Completing that will give a bonus to Teddy’s throwing accuracy, along with the scooter challenge, once both are completed, Teddy will be able to defend himself with newspapers while riding the scooter. The use of the sling-shot will be an upgrade from throwing newspapers. Teddy will also get some type of bonus for collecting past due newspaper delivery bills, but he will have to chase down the “offenders” to collect. When Teddy is traveling through the town he will have to avoid obstacles like moving cars, delivery trucks, the mail truck, stray dogs/cats, and the occasional kamikaze crow! There will definitely be an ice-cream truck in the game, but I’m not sure if it should benefit Teddy or pose an obstacle.

Some rough character sketches….

After what seems like forever, I was able to manage a few basic character sketches that start to show the direction I’m looking for.  The guy with the glasses (aka Teddy) was the hardest of all.

A few (verrry) rough sketches

Coming Soon (TBA) ….

Our almost fearless and definitely unsuspecting hero Theodore Baeringer aka Teddy Baer, has only one thing on his mind. No, not that! he’s only 12! 

Teddy was on his way to see his uncle, Jo Kester, at his comic book store, Kommic World, to get the latest issue of his all-time favorite super-hero, Captain Truth, issue #37, “Captain Truth Rescues the World From Dr. Droolz”.  Unfortunately, on his way to the store, Teddy finds out that someone stole the very last copy! HIS COPY! The one Uncle Jo saved for him!  The one he’s been saving 2 month’s worth of paper route money to get! (It’s a REALLY small and usually quiet town.) Determined to get his comic book, Teddy throws caution to the wind, for the first time, as he patrols the neighborhood, in search of clues (and unpaid paper delivery bills), to foil the culprit who stole his prized comic!

Follow our brave hero as he makes his way through town and parts unknown, avoiding obstacles and danger at every turn (well, almost every turn).  Guide Teddy to avoid the local pests and parked cars!  And find out who committed such a dastardly deed!

  (Yea right, like you don’t have a favorite comic book!)

Prepared to defend himself using his wits and his almost instant reflexes, our hero sets forth on an adventure like no other.  Armed only with the bare essentials, a full bag of newspapers, his older brother Dave’s new sling shot, his Captain Truth Scooter as transportation, and his faithful companion Blip, the toy robot (What’d you expect, Plasma Rifles, Particle Cannons, and Rail Guns? ), Teddy will bravely set out to overcome the almost nearly impossible!

Help OUR hero save HIS hero – Captain Truth, and bring the villains who broke into Uncle Jo’s to justice!

(AND hopefully get Dave’s sling shot back in his room before he finds out!) 

You’re going to need nerves of steel, almost perfect timing, a healthy sense of humor, and a strong curiosity in the unknown to guide our hero through local neighborhood streets, parks, shopping centers, playgrounds, and to where ever else the trail will lead.

 

What was your first experience playing a video game?

I was curious to see how the results fare today, I remember back when I was about 9, with my friends we swapped 5.25 floppies with games on them.  I was even shown how to double the storage on a box of floppies using a whole puncher.  Real “state of the art” at the time.