Friday, December 19, 2008

Published: Board & Videogames



I wrote a couple of posts some months back on board & videogames (Part 1 & 2), and the relationship between the digital and analog formats. I've been working on that piece since then to have it featured in issue 5 of Pixel Hunt, a local (aussie) videogames e-zine.

I'm pretty excited about it, and I'm really happy the way it turned out. I never written for anyone other than myself here so please do go check it out. My feature is on pages 11 to 14.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Singapore as the indie-game hub?

The Media Development Authority of Singapore announced today that they'll be offering grants to games developers in Singapore to make games for the Xbox Live Community Games initiative. They'll be offering up to S$50,000.00 to each successful applicant, which is extremely enticing.

What's surprising is that not too long ago, Singapore was on the fore-front of banning games, with titles like Mass Effect, Saints Row and The Darkness feeling the brunt of it.

I'm sure this will help to promote more small developers in Singapore, and I think it'll also spur higher quality as I'm assuming that application for these grants will be quite competitive.

Personally, I've been looking into learning how to make simple Flash games, from sites like Kongregate. It'll be a while before I think I'll be able to compete with other games out there. But I've got a few ideas that I think will translate very well to the digital format.

Channel NewsAsia: MDA offers grants to develop games for Xbox Live

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Chinese Sandwiches

A colleague and I were chatting yesterday about the food that's available on campus. She casually mentions how surprising that at the sandwich bar, those excellent sandwiches were made by Chinese people.

I'm sure she meant nothing by it, but it made me think, "What? So Chinese people should be doing stir-fry instead?"

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Left behind for dead; You'd be better off

If Left 4 Dead is any indication, I have a very low probability of survival in the face of a zombie apocalypse. You know those guys that are killed in the most horrible way at the start of any zombie movie to illustrate the severity of the situation? Yea, that'd be me.

And for good riddance too; You'd probably wouldn't want me in your team anyway. Things I'd do wrong include:

  • Shooting you in the back.
  • Shooting you in the front.
  • Attracting zombie hordes
  • Requiring you to save me every other minute from being overwhelmed by the zombie hordes.

Also, I might accidentally light you on fire with a poorly thrown molotov cocktail; I have a bad track record with throwing explosive devices.

In other gamey news, I've concurrently playing Mirror's Edge. It's been exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.