A couple months ago, Neil Roberts showed me a game he started in high school, and he said he always wanted to take it further and was considering porting it from an old version of Flash to the iPhone. I met Neil because I work at a coworking space called Impromptu Studio in the lovely small city of Des Moines, IA.
Coworking is an awesome concept and I love working here. A cool benefit of coworking is the ability to collaborate on projects, and that’s what is happening with Neil and I. A couple weeks later after I saw his simple Flash game, he showed me a prototype of it working on the iPhone, and before I knew it, it was completely ported and more fleshed out. The game is nearly complete in functionality and design, but he wanted better art for it and help smoothing out a couple kinks. So I decided to help him out with the art and a little design.
This as-of-yet unnamed iPhone game is an economic strategy game where you must make the most money you can in 30 days fishing for crawfish (slang for spiny lobsters) in the Bahamas. The game has a couple other modes, including one where you try to make $1 billion as soon as you can and a “daily game” mode where you get the same seeded random events as other players and you see how well your strategy compares with others. In the game, you place traps in either shallow or deep water, buy more traps, move traps around, and a couple other more minor things. It’s a pretty fun and simple game. The part I like the best about it is that random things happen to you while you’re crawfishing, and that combined with the play-through-the-menu style of gameplay really reminds me of playing Oregon Trail.
I’ve heard that Oregon Trail is coming out for the iPhone, but after checking it out online, I was a little disappointed. The art seems great, but the mini-games seem to take a little too much away from the original feel of Oregon Trail, which was more about using your imagination given suggestive text with simple, low-res illustrations and also about the hunting game of course. I can’t think of any other way to say it right now other than the fact that the design seemed pure. There was a purity to it. The new Oregon Trail seems to have the more recent flavor of casual game-style rewards. Another way to put that is that it has a lot of extrinsic rewards systems, and fewer intrinsic reward systems. I might be wrong, and I’m sure the game will still be good, but it’s just plain different from what I remember about Oregon Trail.
And that’s what excites me about Neil’s game - it will focus more on the suggestive text and simple illustrations to create a world that lies within the player’s head. I don’t know enough about psychology to know what that kind of experience that is called, but I think this game tries to achieve that. And I’m not saying that games shouldn’t explicitly provide a rich world because it takes away from the one in the imagination, but I’m saying it’s nice to have a simple experience like the one you get from the original Oregon Trail every now and then. And besides, it’s just plain nostalgic.
So for the past couple weeks, I’ve been creating art for it in a pixel art style. I’ve had a little taste of making pixel art before, but this project has allowed me to get a lot more familiar with the style, and I’m having a lot of fun. When will the game be released? I’m not sure; I suppose part of that will depend on how soon Intuition gets approved as an iPhone developer. Yep, this collab of God at play and Neil Roberts will likely be Intuition’s first iPhone game. Woot!
The rainy Des Moines skies are reminding me of the time I spent living in Portland, OR! As the grass brightens into various shades of green I’m listening to an early mix of “The Telltale Heart,” one of songs on our upcoming album, Telltale (To be released this summer). My favorite part? Honestly…it feels so good to hear a guitar solo on a Finn Miles album!
Usually we don’t do this kind of thing…but hey, we like to share! Take a listen to “Telltale” and let us know what you think!*
*Since this mix we’ve brought the vocals down and added tambourine…for all you tambourine fans…
I had another dream that really stuck with me. First of all, I guess I should make it clear that I dream pretty regularly, and the majority of my dreams are in the form of horrible nightmares. Usually these nightmares involve a lot of gruesome violence and involve me trying to survive a life-and-death struggle.
This morning was no different, and although I can’t remember my dream as well as the first weird dream, I was struck by the climax/end of the dream, and so I’m adding this one as #2.
I remember being chased clockwise around the perimeter of a stone tower or tall building of some sort, probably 50-80 feet tall. I was being chased by a large monster with a long neck. It might have been a dragon, I’m not sure. Suddenly, the dragon turned the other way and appeared in front of me to the left of the building. I was terrified.
At once, I was no longer myself, but instead a spectator standing just a few feet away watching a woman staring up at the monster. The woman was in her 20s or 30s with dark hair, and she was holding a giant indigo or purple lance with both hands over her shoulder, kind of like you would hold a bazooka. The lance was 10-15 feet long and several inches wide - about the size of a lance used in jousting - and the posture of her body indicated that it was quite heavy. Then, right next to her appeared a young girl, holding an identical lance. In fact, it was the same woman, but instead she was about 8-12 years old.
Within seconds there were several versions of the woman at different ages, each holding a lance. The women were in slightly different poses, each holding the lance at a different angle and partially overlapping. The different versions of the woman started to take the same posture, and eventually combined back into the original. Even though there was no physical indication, I knew that somehow the woman now had more power based on the combination of different versions of herself. She took her right hand off of the lance and aimed with her left, ready to throw it like a spear right at the monster…and I then woke up.
I was in the shower thinking about the dream, and since I tend to think really clearly in the shower, an interesting and meaningful game idea hit me. I imagined a game where the player had to essentially play through a woman’s memories. The game could be split up at different stages of her life, where the player experienced what it would be like to be the woman at that stage. The woman’s strengths and weaknesses would be based on who she was at that time. As a younger girl, she would be physically weaker and more vulnerable, yet more fearless and zealous. As a woman, she would be stronger, yet more cynical about the world.
Then the game would culminate in a moment where different versions of herself would combine together. This would represent various aspects of the woman’s consciousness being healed, and the woman would become fully satisfied in who she is.
I have a late, breaking announcement. My very talented singer/songwriter pal Steve Kelting will be joining me at our Mars Cafe (Des Moines, IA) acoustic show on May 2nd. Steve has a great voice, toe-tapping rhythm, and will be sporting a Boss loopstation. Yes, this man can layer music like most people can layer butter and syrup on pancakes.
Tonight I had a friend ask me to help him with songwriting..which for me is a bit like trying to explain who a person should marry. It’s an elusive task; it’s a personal affair; one that seems elusive, even when you feel that you’ve written a few good songs.
Just as a hint as to how MY process usually goes, I often start with a lyric (lyrics or music first? That’s another huge debate!) For instance, I’ve had the follow lines floating around for a few weeks.
Sign of the Times -
If you are a sign, a sign of the times, I must be heading the wrong way
Away from the flashing, crashing calvacade
Oh, mystery in the eyes of a neon design
eyes like slate on the interstate
Is it good? I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll sit down with a guitar or keyboard and play around with the feeling..the idea. When I read the lines above I hear cars, see flashing lights, desperation…lonliness. Perhaps a late night escape from man-made noise and light pollution. So…that’s the key. Zero in on the feeling, then let the feeling dictate the music and the rest of the words.
That’s generally what works for me. What works for you?
If you like Simon & Garfunkel style sweet harmonies will excellent, insightful, and “eternal” songwriting then I implore you, go see Storyhill in Zumbrota, MN tonight. Really, it’ll change your life for the better.
I saw the fantasitic duo last night in Ames, and it was a breath of fresh air. If you’ve been looking for a bit of illumination, a little inspiration…make the drive and see them live.
Or…if you really can’t…go listen to their music online and buy a couple of discs. You won’t regret it!
If you like Simon & Garfunkel style sweet harmonies will excellent, insightful, and “eternal” songwriting then I implore you, go see Storyhill in Zumbrota, MN tonight. Really, it’ll change your life for the better.
I saw the fantasitic duo last night in Ames, and it was a breath of fresh air. If you’ve been looking for a bit of illumination, a little inspiration…make the drive and see them live.
Or…if you really can’t…go listen to their music online and buy a couple of discs. You won’t regret it!
