My name is John and you found my website! I make Flash games and do other things. I have this website as a sort of homestead for myself and my work. Thanks for visiting :).
Carlie found this website, sircritter.com, just a few days ago. We got our shirts today. Let’s just say we’re very happy (and fancy). I got the elephant, hedgehog, manatee, and sunfish, she got the squid. I would wear them all at once if I could.
I’m back to writing “I Hate Traffic” and it’s going fairly well. I am in the process of building in a system of car rotation and life, that way people can build cars that drive in more directions than right across the screen. I would assume a release of such a game of this magnitude in November.
Also, Elephant Rave HD is still churning. I’m to the point of the laser beams right after the load bar happens and I’m getting the rest of the features implemented. This should be done relatively soon.
I’ve got a couple pumpkins but I am not entirely sure what to carve! Whatever it is I feel the need to outdo my pumpkin from last year (which was none, I haven’t carved pumpkins for the past few years). I’m very excited about it.
I’ve been flying and driving back and forth between Southern California and Northern California near monthly to visit Carlie for the past 2 years. We’ve been doing long distance since I graduated college and I moved down to SoCal to work at Armor Games. Today was the last flight for me to visit her, and her last drive is taking place in a few days.
It’s been rough, as I sit in the airport waiting for my last flight I realized we’ve been doing this for 2 years now, out of the nearly six years we’ve been together. 900 miles roundtrip for short weekends at a time. But soon we’ll be with each other all the time.
She’s just graduated UC Davis with a Biology with Marine Emphasis. She’ll be moving down to Irvine in a few days and end this long distance once and for all! In the past she’s done the majority of the visiting, but I’ve done a good share as well. It was hard but completely worth it. I’ll be much happier to see her soon. We’re counting down to our wedding and we’re only 90 days away.
Welcome to Old Games That Don’t Suck Thursday. Each week I’ll write about a game that somehow influenced by life as a game developer and which I can totally recommend to you because the game is flippin’ sweet. It also has to be old or at least forgotten about until recently.
Barnstorming came into my possession last year, when Carlie bought me an Atari 2600 for Valentines Day. This game was made back in the early 80′s by Atari, during what many consider the first commercial generation of gaming (arguably, even though it was truly the second generation of gaming).
This game is all about running through the barns with your biplane as fast as possible. Based on the mode you select on the console (yes, physically on the console), the game changes between different amounts of barns.
That’s about it. You avoid the geese, windmills, and other obstacles and just try to get through the barns.
So why is this game so awesome? It’s because it’s truly one of those games that really has a basis in “can you beat my high score?” While this phenomenon is nothing new, this game capitalizes on it unlike many of the other Atari games that seem to be built around “what level did you get to?” moreso than “what was your high score?” The game’s primary objective is speed-run, not progression through levels.
Plus the commercial was just awesome.
I love this game because it’s truly pertinent to what’s going on in my life right now. I’m playing Geometry Wars 2 versus many of my coworkers for the high scores. We’re not really worried about making a certain level or beating a final boss; we’re more worried about beating each other. This game certainly captures that essence of gameplay.
If you find your Atari in the attic see if you have Barnstorming. You’ll beat it in a couple minutes, but you’ll play it several times to be the winner…. of your own pride.
I didn’t really have a good photo to post so I posted a photo of the spider I saw at the office on Friday. Enjoy.
This weekend Carlie is in town for planning for our vacation in Australia and to relax from her thesis paper writing (it’s on some topic I can’t explain or understand). We booked our airfare (FINALLY) for Australia and we’ll be going there for a couple weeks in September! Tastylamp and Bananawithjoy were nice enough to help me out with my driving queries, apparently they drive on the WRONG side of the road, with the steering wheel on the WRONG side of the car.
On Friday we went to an Anaheim Ducks game (hockey) and we had a lovely time watching the Ducks (albeit lose) to the Stars. We had lovely seats thanks to my coworker Larry and his connections, so we sat pretty close to the ice. My iPhone managed to capture the moment.
Tonight we’re cooking a great meal and watching LOST. Take care!
