Game development and life.
Creation is the state of art.
As part of the promotion for the recent release of Zombie Apocalypse on XBLA and PSN a few coworkers and I wrote a story about a zombie outbreak within the office of Nihilistic Software. As the last remaining survivor I was overrun by a horde of zombies:
Gross, right? Nihilistic’s lead artist Ron Kee did a great job on all the photo paint-overs. You can see all the posts by going to the beginning of this category filter on NSI Blog.
As I mentioned earlier this week I gave a presentation at Pecha Kucha 62 in Tokyo last night. I built 10 brand new tiny games in less than 10 hours for the event. I know at least one person was recording a video so there may be video footage soon. If not I will do a screencast of the presentation for the web.
Although the games were mostly (completely) silly they seemed to go over well with the crowd and I got some laughs. A full set of photos is available on Flickr.
Right now I don’t have the time to post all the details of all the games but will do so in the near future. For now here is the game list, in the order they were presented:
I leave you for now with this photo of the crowd as I was speaking. You can see some laughs as well as some contorted faces filled with horror. :-)
What kind of loan would you like?
Want to borrow some money?
Better not go to “NO LOAN”.
Japan! Can we get a proof reader on advertisements with English please?
The word soramimi (空耳) translates to “mishearing”, unintentionally or intentionally. The TV show with the same name is about foreign music that has lyrics that sound like something said in Japanese. Each episode, they go through various songs that readers send in that seem to say something in Japanese even though the lyrics are in English, French, or some other non-Japanese language.
The best part of the episode to me are the skits that accompany the lyrics. Check out some samples below, starting with my favorite:
Original song: Iron Maiden – Can I Play with Madness
It starts with the exterior of a room in a company with the words 「社内当番会議」 which literally means “employee turn meeting”, i.e. deciding whose turn it is to do something.
Then the singer says, in soramimi fashion, 「警備員がセックス当番だ〜」 read “kei-bin ga sekusu to-ban da” or “it’s the security guards turn for sex”. The host then comments “WTF kind of company is this?” Awesome.
Here’s another:
Original song: Alexisonfire – Mailbox Arson
The first shot shows some names and the information that there is a wedding taking place at this location. The kid runs out and yells 「嫁 ブサイクでした！」 read “yome busaiku deshita” which means “the bride was super ugly!” I love how the family is desperately trying to stop the kids announcement… comedy.
There are a ton of these on Youtube and some are much dirtier than the first video I posted. Check it out.
This is in no way a new video but I was just watching again for the first time in a while and wanted to share it. The music video for “Electric Surfin’ Go Go” is as insane a Japanese video as one could hope for.
I saw them live in 2007 in San Francisco with my buddy Parm and it was a great time. If you like off the wall rock music and have the opportunity to see the Polysics I recommend it!
In a brilliant statement against the challenge of modern videogames Mazapan brings us You Have To Burn The Rope.
See if you can figure out what to do. If you are having a hard time, here is a snippet of a FAQ by Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s John Walker:
You have to burn the rope.
Good luck and have fun!
Allrighty then! I’m not sure what market this advertising appeals to though I enjoyed it. Unfortunately I’m not in the market for buying the Japanese version of Saint’s Row 2.
Here’s a rough translation:
Guy: Yo, weren’t you a guy yesterday?
Girl: No, I was always a woman.
Guy: Stop messing around!
Girl: I’m not! (transforms)
Guy: OMFG!!!
Rock, Paper, Shotgun has posted a great interview with Videlectrix (”we use computers… to make videogames!”) the company behind such hit titles as “Pigs on Head”. In reality, it’s some sort of fictional developer representing the guys who run Homestar Runner.
I just wanted an excuse to post the above brilliant image. It really summarizes a day in the life of a developer. Because naturally, your boss knows that all games need GOOD graphics.
The last train around 1:00 am on a Friday night (early Saturday, really) on Tokyo’s Yamanote Line is more like the salary man drunk tank. Lets analyze the photo above more closely.
A – sitting on the floor near the door, passed out
B – nodding off, might actually be coming home from the office but I doubt it
C – taking off his headphones after being startled awake by the train stopping
D – who needs shoes? (see D’)
E – taking up two seats and treating the bench as his personal recliner
F – both sleeping (not pictured)
I don’t even want to caption this, it speaks for itself.
Post in the comments about what you think is going on!
