Did I say regular updates? I meant annual updates

So, the Rock Band 3 setlist is confirmed: http://rockbandaide.com/rb3-setlist/

Here are the extremely awesome songs, in my opinion (alphabetical by band)

B-52′s – Rock Lobster
The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations (Live)
Chicago – 25 or 6 to 4
David Bowie – Space Oddity
Dire Straits – Walk of Life
The Doors – Break On Through
Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1
Huey Lewis and the News – The Power of Love
J. Geils Band – Centerfold
James Brown – I Got You (I Feel Good)
Jimi Hendrix – Crosstown Traffic
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird
The Police – Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Smash Mouth – Walkin’ on the Sun
Tears for Fears – Everybody Wants to Rule the World

And here are some more that I think will also be cool or fun:

Big Country – In a Big Country
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water
Devo – Whip It
Doobie Brothers – China Grove
Elton John – Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)
Foreigner – Cold as Ice
Joan Jett – I Love Rock and Roll
John Lennon – Imagine
Night Ranger – Sister Christian
Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train
Phish – Llama
Primus – Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
The Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated
Rilo Kiley* – Portions of Foxes
Roxette – The Look
Steve Miller Band – Fly Like An Eagle
Warren Zevon – Werewolves Of London
War – Low Rider
Whitesnake – Here I Go Again
The Who – I Can See For Miles

*The lead singer of the band Rilo Kiley is Jenny Lewis, who played the girl in the movie The Wizard

There are quite a few more songs on there that I just haven’t heard, but the only one on there that I have heard and don’t really like is Rehab by Amy Winehouse… which I’m sure some people will enjoy, but I don’t.

xkcd vs. Family Circus: 8/13/10

I’m going to try to make a post like this at least once a week, just for the sake of posting something.

A while ago, I made a generalized comparison between webcomic xkcd and long-running print comic Family Circus. I received some dissenting opinions then but I stand by it. They’re both largely jokeless comics, which simulate humor through odd situations and, at their best, highlight mundane truths about the world that their target demographic can relate to. So, I figure now it might be worth comparing them directly, to see which one is funnier on any given day.

Today’s xkcd:

Anxiety

I had to google this one. A Backscatter X-ray is a security x-ray that basically lets the guard see through the person’s clothes. So… yeah. I have to admit I don’t entirely get what the joke is here, aside from the general idea that Hat Guy has found a way to make an awkward situation even more awkward for everyone involved.

Today’s Family Circus:

Interestingly, this comic seems to share the theme of making an awkward situation more awkward. No real need for analysis here; at least I can tell what the joke is supposed to be.

And hey, it looks like I can attach a poll, so rather than come to a verdict myself, I will let people vote:

Feel free to post a comment to justify your vote.

Knight of the Robots fix

Uploaded Knight of the Robots to mediafire, so you can download it to play it: Knight of the Robots

Hopefully in the future I’ll have it browser-playable again.

Edit: And the future is now! Play it here! Thanks to awp at twinkfish.com for hosting.

I totally update this blog all the time

So, the bad news is that Google eliminated GooglePages, so currently my playable link to Knight of the Robots is non-functional. I will do what I can to remedy that in the near future. Atlantis Escape is still good, though.

The past couple of semesters have been more about coding than game design, so I don’t have much to show off. This semester is all about the identical-to-the-example lab exercises, although I do try to spice them up a bit

I do plan on getting another charming flash game done over the summer, we’ll see how that goes.

Great news, everyone

Monkey Island is back!
LucasArts, as rumored, are making an HD version of the original game, with hand-drawn 2D graphics and full voice-overs (starring at least the same voice for Guybrush as the last couple games)

Check out the video here: LucasArts Monkey Island site

Perhaps more interestingly, Telltale Games (who made the new Sam & Max series, the Strong Bad games, and the current Wallace and Gromit games) are making a new Monkey Island series as well! (Also starring the real Guybrush voice!)

More info here: Telltale Monkey Island site The trailer there isn’t too good, but the concept art is nice, and the “Team” page has some impressive credentials on it. Ron Gilbert was also consulted.

Finally, on a not-exciting-pirate-news note, the Beatles: Rock Band trailer looks great. Seems like a lot of song-specific effects are going into it, which is great.
Beatles: Rock Band trailer

osu! on iPod Touch using Pogo stylus

Thought you guys might appreciate some gameplay videos:

Mr Brightside
Girlfriend and Tom Sawyer
I’m On A Boat

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I’m really digging the iPod Touch. Tap Tap Revenge 2 is amazing for a free game, and there are a lot of really neat apps on there. Also, when going to the gym, it is pretty nice to have an mp3 player that isn’t my DS. And yes, the Pogo Sketch stylus is must-have. Actually touching a touch screen is such an uncivilized thing to do… but more importantly, the level of precision and intuitiveness skyrockets when using a stylus.

Game pages added!

Now that I have my own real website of sorts, I’ve added pages for my two fully playable games, the retro flash game “Knight of the Robots” and its downloadable sequel, “Atlantis Escape.” In the first, Martin the Adventurer must fight off an angry horde of 100 robots to protect his spooky space castle. In the second, Martin finds himself stranded in the ancient ruins of Atlantis, forced to battle mutant aquatic life, armed with nothing but the weapons he finds scattered around the ruins.

Play them both today! (They’re both pretty short!)

Knight of the Robots

Atlantis Escape

Failchess

After all these years, they finally make an officially licensed Super Mario chess set. Let’s take a look at the character choices, shall we? They’re different than what I would have chosen. We’ll start with the highest ranking and precede down the list until we find a complete travesty:

1. The king is Mario. Good choice.
2. The queen is Luigi. While I would have … picked …

WHAT THE ****?!