Busy Busy![lonely pixel news]

My posts have dwindled to nothing recently, it makes me sad. I’ve been busy with school as this semester has dumped a lot more work on my table than the previous. On a good note, I’ve FINALLY moved away from Game Maker. Don’t get me wrong, GM was a great learning tool and taught me the fundamentals of programming, but as I want to take making games seriously and eventually make it my careers, I’ve decided to move on.

At first, I dove into C++ as my programming classes at the university will be mainly C++ and I figured I’d get a head start. I worked through a couple tutorials but I found C++ to be quite overwhelming. I then checked out Java which I picked up fairly quickly and I was going to submit a text adventure game created in Java to the MiniLD last month but personal matters got in the way. Then I started looking into FlashPunk/FlashDevelop/AS3 and I think I’ve fallen in love. I’ve been playing with the Ogmo Editor which also makes things a lot easier. =] Plus by working with Flash, I can make my games available to anyone. Not to mention I can submit them to portals for moolah!

This also means I won’t be releasing my post-compo version of Voyage of Discovery. I thought it would be my last GM game but I’ve decided to leave it as the 48H LD entry it was meant to be.

I’d also like to point out how this blog has become a development blog rather than the ‘indie game awareness’ site I originally intended it to be. So if anyone’s reason for reading these posts were for the latter, check out the following: Frozen Synapse, Magicka, and Revenge of the Titans (Previously mentioned but there was a fat patch recently).

Humble Bundle 2 [game sales]

My morning has been sabotaged by microscopic bacteria and the invading titian horde! The Humble Bundle 2 is now available for [insert your price here]. It contains Braid, Machinarium, Cortex Command, Osmos, and Revenge of the Titians. Most of the developer’s websites are down are ridiculously slow at the moment due the attention the humble bundle is receiving. Also note that it may take some time for your key to be sent to you, so don’t unload a bunch of emails asking where it is. All are great games well worth more than you’ll probably pay for them. ;] And remember part of your money goes to charity!

On a side note: Puppy Games still has their bundle going (just visit their website and the offer should pop up) so you can have a complete Puppy Games collection by buying both bundles!

Humble Bundle

I mentioned the humble bundle a few months back, just a few days ago I received an email letting me know the bundle is now available on steam! Now your friends will know when you are playing awesome games like World of Goo or Aquaria. Thats not all; the email also mentioned a second humble bundle coming soon!

Thanksgiving Steam Sales

I’ve been neglecting my blog a lot lately and game development in general due to school. Anyways, here’s an update that many of you probably know about already. Steam (as always) is having ridiculous holiday sales and indie games are where you can save the most money. Each day so far they’ve had a special themed indie pack that contained four or five games for only five dollars. Tomorrow is the last day of these sales and I expect them to put all the sales on the website again. Now go spend some money!

Get a Free Lexaloffle Game!

Lexaloffle is giving away one of two games for free when you sign up on the BBS, follow them on twitter, or join them on facebook. Sounds like a sweet deal to me!

Make your choice here.

Fanmade Minecraft Trailer

This fan-made trailer captures Minecraft at it’s best. If I hadn’t bought it already, I would have done so after watching this.

Indie Game Bundles

We just can’t get enough of these bundles now, can we? Three indie game bundles are up for sale today that contain some awesome games. Unfortunately I don’t have the money right now so I can’t grab my own. So grab them yourself and rub it in my face. You’ll be quite happy with your purchase.

[lonely pixel news] What have I been up too?

Well I’ve been attending classes at Devry, producing work for a growing portfolio:

I’m really loving Illustrator and the vector style, but I’ve also been doing a lot of kiddy, children’s art kind of stuff like the one above. I actually got a job offer to do the illustrations for a children’s book! I’m still waiting to see how it pans out but, hey, at least i know some one noticed me. =]

You can find more of my work, though most of it is dated, at my deviantart. I’m also using Shownd as my online portfolio until I can afford my own domain.

Aside from all the graphic design stuff, I’ve also been pouring thought into my dreams of becoming an indie developer. As always, I’ve been experimenting with ideas that never really turn into a real game and I’m sorry to those that I dragged into a few of my projects. I wasn’t doing it to lead anyone on, I was just as excited! But I have a short attention span and when I start to see fault in the game concept, I lose hope in having a successful game. Thus see no reason to continue and lose interest. It’s help to if I could find someone who would sit with me while working on a game, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens. =]

At least all the tested ideas haven’t been a complete waste; I learn how to program specific things and new functions I haven’t used before, in game maker that is.

You know, when I first came across game maker I thought it was such a newbie tool since it isn’t really a traditional way to make a game. I thought others would look down on games made with game maker as inferior as ones made sitting in front of lines and lines of code. But as I’ve been watching the indie scene, I find many really superb games that are made with GM. Plus I’m a really visual oriented person, I couldn’t handle just looking at code while making a game. GM allows me to do a lot of things visually. If your wondering, no I do not use the Drag and Drop functions; I long ago realized how limited it was and have learned GML and with every project I learn more and more.

I’m beginning to see game making as my beloved hobby rather than a job. And honestly, I like it that way. I don’t have to worry about having a boss rip my creative ideas from me nor do I have to pray that my newest game will bring me enough money for food this week. I can do it at my own pace and not have to worry about anything but the thrill of creating a game. =D

/end

You want indie, you got indie.

[Via GloriousTrainWrecks]

Glorious Train Wrecks has just released a pack of 529 indie games. Need I say more? Just make sure you have a bit torrent program for there is no direct link, just a torrent file.

[Update] Minecraft!

Notch recently started testing survival multiplayer with what was supposed a closed group of testers. Sadly someone leaked the password and it got around the net pretty quick. With that aside, this is a huge step for Minecraft! It happens to be one of my favorite indie games, I mean, who doesn’t love to unleash their inner child? At its core, Minecraft is simply about creation. You build what you want. As of recently, it feels more like “craft your own world” because no one’s save file will ever be the same as another’s, not just because of everyone’s different imaginations, but also because of the infinitely procedurally generated worlds! If you haven’t bought your way into the alpha-soon-to-be-beta version, you should do so now! I have a hunch that Minecraft is going to become even more popular when the final version comes out. =]

Check it out here!