Independent

August 14th, 2008Blog1 comment

Braid is an awesome video game published through XBox Live Arcade. There are two things I’d like to discuss about this game: First, that it’s an awesome video game, and second, that it was developed independently by a small team. And that makes it even more awesome.

First: At first glance Braid appears to be a 2D platformer like Super Mario Bros. and many others. In fact it pays homage to SMB in many ways, from jumping on enemies to kill them to small dinosaurs that pop out of end-level castles to tell you that the Princess is in another castle.

However, Braid is actually a puzzle game disguised as a platformer. The key to the game is the fact that you can use the X button to reverse the flow of time like hitting Rewind on a VCR. All of the puzzles are based on the flow of time, and each world treats time differently.

In one world time moves forward as you move to the right of the screen; it moves backwards as you move to the left. In another world you can create time distortion fields that make time slow down at that physical position.

The puzzles are ingenious; the art style is reminiscent of water color painting and is beautiful to look at. The story is about loss, regret, and redemption.

Basically, it’s an awesome fucking game.

Secondly: It’s a game made by a small team of independent developers. In fact, I doubt that a big corporation would have the bollocks to craft something like this (except perhaps for the guys behind ICO).

It’s selling on Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade as a downloadable costing about $15. As a video gaming experience, $15 is well worth the price of admission. And you also get the satisfaction of knowing that you’re supporting a small, independent developer.

It’s cool to know that a small team can still create an excellent piece of entertainment, and that the infrastructure exists to deliver that product to the consumer.

In fact, it’s downright inspiring.

Real Artists Ship

August 13th, 2008Blog2 comments

I got a lot of mileage today out of reading this article: Why Apple doesn’t do Concept Products

The gist of it is that Apple designs products that are built to live in the real world. Things that will be used by real people. Apple does do prototypes, but those are never shown off to the press. Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive probably take them home and use them as doorstops.

I just went through a couple of workshops and public readings in Chicago, so I’ve been thinking about the methodology for taking a piece of writing out and showing it to the public. When is the appropriate time for that? When is something ready?

I personally have three phases for a new piece of work. In the first phase I show the piece to a close circle of friends that I trust. These are people who will honestly tell me if something needs work.

This first phase will let me know if I’ve got the core of the story right.

The second phase involves showing the piece to Experts. These are people who are professionals, peers, and mentors who are not close friends. These are also people who will honestly tell me if something needs work.

This second phase will let me know if I’ve got the structure, technical aspects, and details right. They’ll also give me very specific notes without “writing the story for me”.

The third phase involves taking the piece to the public. This happens in the form of public readings, shopping things formally and informally, etc..

This third phase will let me know what the masses think. Any and every opinion can appear here, and they may be pointless or pertinent, but all of them will be useful. This will let me know if the project has appeal, whether it can live in the real world.

The worst thing you can do is keep a piece to yourself, think you’ve got it right… And turn it in to the right person at the wrong time. A premature birth is a premature death. Every new piece is an opportunity to grow, and everything takes time to get it right.

Basically, everything starts as a concept product. Over time, through rewrites, augmentation and revision, it becomes a real product. The key is to not release the concept and pretend that it’s ready to live in the real world. It’s got to be prepared, got to prove that it can go out there and make its way on its own.

Notes on Chicago

August 12th, 2008Blog0 comments

Home is good. It’s good to be home. I’m a cancer, so home is a very important place to me. It’s where my Xbox is, where my oxygen tent/cell regeneration chamber is, where my backup cloned bodies reside. I can’t be away from home for too long.

Some notes from this last trip to Chicago: (Pictures here.)

- I did all my touristy stuff during the last trip, so I spent most of this trip in the neighborhood by the theater.

Weiner Circle was cool. I went in the late morning, so there was no yelling or chocolate shaking. It’s funny how it’s right in the middle of Lincoln Park — kind of a yuppie-ish neighborhood. I like Lincoln Park much more than Wicker Park, which is infested with hipsters.

Speaking of which, the tip jar at The Bourgeois Pig, a local and most excellent cafe/sandwich joint, reads “DON’T BE A HIPSTER — BE A TIPSTER”.

- There was a pretty awesome party at the theater one night where there was a dude doing a live painting and a couple of people making t-shirts using a silk screen press. I got one that says ACTION on it. Because that’s what I like.

SOME PEOPLE had to hog the silk screen press and get three or four things pressed onto their t-shirt. This held up the action.

- After every play reading there was an open bar. No wonder so many writers are alcoholics. People always want to buy you drinks or give you drinks or make you drink drinks. You probably develop a positive Pavlovian connection between your work and drinking.

- One night between play readings they served us a catered dinner at the theater. It had everything that I love to eat: Jerk chicken, beans and rice, shrimp sauteed in butter, and ASPARAGUS WRAPPED IN BACON.

Bacon is too good for me. I don’t deserve bacon. And then when you wrap something in bacon it makes it a billion times better.

I ate three plates of this food. Then when the asparagus wrapped in bacon was gone, I got depressed.

- I had a lot of fun meeting people and hearing new work and working on my own new work. Victory Gardens really knows how to put together an event! Between the bacon and the t-shirt making and the folks I got to meet, I felt like a king.

A king wrapped in bacon.

Weiners

August 9th, 2008Blog2 comments

I’m waiting for Weiner Circle to open. This is one thing I didn’t get to do during the last trip.

It’s here in Lincoln Park, small and unassuming. Frankly, it’s just a regular hot dog joint during the day, but at midnight, it becomes a Yell Fest. Here’s the video: Link.

What I like about Chicago is that the people are nice and things seem to work fairly well. They talk to you, which is initially somewhat unsettling.

Don’t get me wrong: People in LA or New York will rush in to help you if you’re in trouble or need directions; but here in Chicago people will just suddenly start talking to you or want to know what’s up. And as a result, your reaction to and how you behave toward people changes in a good way. It makes you friendlier and more lively. You put away your initial reaction of “WTF U WANT?!” and become more open. That’s kind of great.

Places are cleaner, things are more organized because people are genuinely interested in keeping things straight. The train yesterday was packed — literally shoulder-to-shoulder with people. So I got out of my seat a stop early to get a head start on getting out, and I saw that everyone had already cleared a path for me right to the door. “It’s cool,” I said, “I’m on the next stop. Just getting ready.” They all smiled and were like, “Oh, okay”, moved back into their positions. And then at my stop, they all cleared the way again.

Would this happen in New York? No fuckin way. You want out? Fuck you.

So I think a burg like this needs a place like Weiner Circle at midnight. It needs to get things off its chest, yell out stuff that can’t normally be said in this still highly segregated city.

Get Some

August 4th, 2008Blog0 comments

One of my new favorite shows on TV: Generation Kill, created by the people who brought us The Wire.

It’s not so much about the horrors of war as it is about the horrors of gross incompetence in leadership. There are good leaders and horrible leaders in the show. There’s a lieutenant who knows what he’s doing and is thus respected by his men. But there’s also a captain (nicknamed “Captain America”) who at times screams to everyone on the com system that whatever mission they’re on is a “suicide mission”, and also fires off a captured AK at unarmed civilians. There’s another captain who just doesn’t have a clue — he pronounces the last name “Baptista” as “Baptist” — and when one of his field medics tells him, point blank, that he’s incompetent, the guy is genuinely surprised… And can think of no response except to just walk away.

Basically, it’s like The Office except everyone has guns. And it’s often just as funny.

Paris, je t’aime: I finally sat down and watched it. My absolute favorite piece was the Alexander Payne one at the end. It was touching and universal and still tied very strongly to America, which is what I like most about Payne’s work.

And guess who has a new TV series coming out on HBO?

Fortunately it isn’t a series based on William Hung, although that might be really neat too. Or horrible. Or horribly neat. Or neatly horrible.