Very few people warrant use of the phrase “Rest In Peace”. I think that Kurt Vonnegut was one of them. He was 84, and was like Mark Twain mixed up with Ray Bradbury, shaken with Hemingway, garnished with golden age science fiction, and poured into a glass made out of the human condition.
Such a hypothetical glass would, invariably, end up melting due to the hidden warmth of its contents. So it goes.
If you’ve not read at least his collection of short stories, WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE , you may not qualify for the human race. If you are not of the human race, reading Vonnegut will probably teach you how to be. Other recommendations include SLAUGHTER HOUSE FIVE, CAT’s CRADLE and GOD BLESS YOU MR. ROSEWATER.
You will be missed, Kurt.
SquareOff may just be the best designed five-meg, head-to-head flash game ever. You draw a square / rectangle, and it goes flying across towards your enemy. The bigger the square, the slower it goes. If you hit an enemy square with your own square, they cancel each other out, and get smaller. Take out the awful music, and you have a seriously *mint* piece of work.
Toribash, on the other hand, is a very different kettle of fish. It’s a turn based head to head fighting game, like Street Fighter 2. That’s right, turn based. You control the joints of your rag-doll fighter against another rag-doll fighter, driven by someone one the other side of the internet. It is meticulous, particular, obsessive, and really, really fun.
To expand on it, however, the game lets you record replays in the single-player “sandbox” mode. Why not make it a game of throwing replays at each other, instead of working joint by joint? It would be a competition both of who could make the best moves, and who could pick the best moves.
Had a thought on the bus. If you’re beating time on, say, 1 and 3 with one hand, and 2 and 4 with the other, what happens if you insert a beat at the point where your hands cross in mid air. You’d get 8th notes out, but how would it work with less regular tempos, and sparser starting points? And is there a name for conjuring rhythms like that? It seem like there should be.
I finished my Nirvana / Choir remix! You can download it here. It’s both brooding and pretty and other things like that.
As of Monday, April the 2nd, I will be doing a co-op term for Propaganda Games, in Vancouver. As such, I will be in Vancouver from April through August. If you’re in Vancity, we should totally hang out.
(I should note here, for the record, that everything I say and do here is my opinion and not the opinion of Propaganda, Disney, etc, etc, etc.)
Cytoplasm is a scion of the amazing Experimental Gameplay Project at CMU (again with the CMU!). Although I love the project, this is not one of the hits. It’s nice to look at, but the gameplay is loopy and simple: Grab some guys and throw them at the enemy. Repeat. Done after 10 minutes.
Plus Or Minus, on the other hand, is a game about magnets. While you should avoid the ‘Easy’ mode, the ‘Hard’ mode has the roots of a lovely puzzle game in it. You attract particles to your two charged magnets. When positive pariticles meet negative particles, they annihilate each other. Your objective is to prevent the particles attached to your magnets from reaching the edge of the screen. It needs tuning, but there’s a huge amount of potential there.
Marek Michalowski, one of the mad geniuses at CMU, has made a robot that dances, named Keepon. This is both the cutest and most brilliant thing you’ll see all day. Watch the video and you’ll see what I mean.
Fractal – This Is What They Want [Clip].
Started this one awhile ago, when I was looking for a new direction for the Nero remix. The bassline came out, and then I did a bunch more clean up on the drums tonight. I’ll finish it off soon, though I don’t know where else it needs to go.
(With apologies to Mr. Ellis and Mr. Immonen.)
I am delighted to say that the two remixes I’ve been working on look to have been approved by the masterminds at Pacific Front. This pleases me. Clips are bellow, and more release info will be up soonest, too.
Dustin H – Receive The Light (Fractal’s Photons Are Data Mix) – basically me trying to be BT. It’s downtempo, lush, and has lots of edits and cute time signature changes. Clip is here.
Nero – Lost (Fractal Remix) – somewhere between Gwill Morris and Leama & Moor. It’s one massive key-shifting melodic hook over and over and over and over. Clip is here.
Playin’ at Hush tonight, with Dave ‘Osiris’ Sanderson – you should totally come.
