Friday, November 25, 2011

A new look










Friday, November 4, 2011

DETAIL DETAIL DETAIL

Before Detailing 


95% Final Detailing

Final
 This was fun now to do this with all the levels. Sorry about the demo being so bare.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Lightning has struck

I just got a great idea for Where Are You? and its mechanics. I am excited I will get to work on it tonight. For now I will be spending time with my family. I am really pleased with how this game is coming along. It's not perfect and it still has rough edges, but its polishing up nicely. I hope enough people try the demo and let me know their feelings about it.
Will post pics of the games new and slightly more detailed look later this week. Wish I had time like the members of Stoz Studios who are making a game a week. Well after my first game is released perhaps I will have more time to work on other projects.

Demo has Arrived!

Where Are Yous? demo has arrived. This is just the IGF demo. I want to know what you all think of this concept. I would appreciate comments and thoughts about what you thought. I want to make this right and input is welcome. Hope you enjoy. I am a little nervous to release it to the public, but I believe that it is time to share. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

4th and hopefully final revision.

Today October 31st I finished the 4th revision of the IGF demo. I have also finished making a quick video trailer of the game. Take a look and tell me what you think.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

There is still hope... FINALLY!!

I finally fixed the collision in the RPG part of the game. Now the main character wont bounce off of everything. This means that the 4th revision of the IGF entry will have the RPG elements of the game. God I hope I'm not to late for this revision.

Tomorrow I will be editing every RPG element in the game to incorporate proper collision. Please Please God let this be quick and painless.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Working hard on new content until I saw this.

So yesterday was my son and his friends birthday party. We had a blast and so did the kids. Today is another day of work on tweaking mechanics, and, well trying to make the game better. That was until I saw this.
Now all I want to do is play StarCraft II. 
In other news I noticed my private You Tube feed had been watched by 7 views. This feed was for the IGF so I imagine the judges have taken a look at my game. I hope I still have a chance to update it some more. 

Friday, October 21, 2011

The IGF and the game.

   Today, I submitted my 3rd revision of the game. I noticed a glitch in level 5 and decided to fix it, and send the new version to the IGF's FTP server. You will notice that some of the levels are the same as in previous builds, and that there are actually no JRPG levels (a top down JRPG style world)  in this demo. The reason for this, is because I wanted to demo the platforming, and the  platforming mechanics, for the IGF. The JRPG elements are more for the story and moving the plot forward.
This is not a complete Demo as there is no music added yet. My music man is working on it and it will be added as soon as its ready.
The actual retail game that will be released in 2012 is being worked on in 3 stages. Stage 1 is to get the IGF Demo ready by building levels that will be utilized in the demo and full version of the game. Stage 2 is to put the story elements of the game together. This means building the JRPG top down sections of the game. (Over World). The 3rd and final stage, is putting the two parts together and testing them. Once these three stages are complete the game moves into beta testing and glitch repairs.
This has been a labor of love, and an amazing experience. I know that the game, might not look like the next Mario or Metroid, and that it looks a little rough around the edges, but this is my first and hopefully not last game. I've got other ideas that I'm dying to try out and show. If this game does't impress you let me know. I want to hear feedback the good and the bad. If many people think this is a feasible idea, and one that should be explored further, I will work harder at  perfecting the game.   

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Almost There

Almost ready for IGF submission. Thank God we could make it. Tonight is Narration recording and inputting it into the actual game. I just spent the last week re-doing all the art and sprites. The game has a revised and cleaner look to it. Music is in the works and when the IGF You Tube link is up I will post it to the blog. This has been a long and challenging road. But for only 6 weeks of work this is pretty good, so says my music man, who has also doubled as my play tester. I think once the results of the IGF come in and the subsequent public demo release I will think about switching to Unity for competing the game. Game Maker is a great testing ground for new game ideas. I think one of the biggest insperations into trying Game Maker for me was watching and trying Desktop Dungeons, a last year IGF winner. http://www.desktopdungeons.net/ Try the free version, that was the version entered into the IGF. That's all for now.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Back and Ready to POST!

Well it has been a long while since I posted on this blog. I guess fill you all in on what I have been up to. As you can see I have changed the blogs name. This is because in the last four and a half weeks I have been producing a game. This is the fruits of my labor. Check out my games trailer.
Creating Games is fun as hell, can be frustrating at times, but generally it is very enjoyable. I will keep up to date with this blog now. I will post news about the development of the game as it happens.
Main Menu


In the first encampment.
The Platforming and Puzzle elements










Sunday, August 28, 2011

Writing Writing and More Writing

Today worked on the story aspect of the game. It was a fun 4 hours of straight writing. I have to say this game sounds AWESOME! I also submitted my my game to IndieDB so my game has a home for the whole public to see. Link to the site is here on the right side of the Blog. Well back to writing... Oh wait I will be adding a home page for the game on the JpTechGamer homepage. look for that soon.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

A long road ahead.

I realize that developing 3 games at the same time is a long and tedious task. In the last month I made a multiple wave TD game with only one level and two towers. It is still a work in progress and this is nothing like what the final product will be. I am yet to get the AI to attach the Towers yet.  


This is the results of 3 hours of work on a platformer. Much like the TD game this is just a base level to test the movement of the character, and the access-ability of the platforming. I am very happy to have this much done.


To me this has been a great accomplishment. I have spent months thinking about what I wanted to do and learning basics of the coding. Finally I said fuck it I'm just going to go for it and see what happens. Now that I've got some of the ground work down I can start to pick up speed on the construction of the levels and work on the stories for each of the games.


I want to make these games the best they can be and I want everyone who plays them to really enjoy them and get something from them.... Well that is wishful thinking. I should just focus on getting them finished. 

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The diary of a creator

Well, I have been very busy these past few months working on my games projects. Now one of the 3 games has a decent start. I have to admit that GameMaker is a lot easier to use then anticipated. The only problems I find myself in, is when I cant figure out what is the matter with my Enemy AI code. But despite these hiccups in development I have finally got my AI moving and following paths. The next step is going to be to get the AI to interact with each other.
I have to say seeing your own creation doing the actions that you program it to do, is really rewarding. 
I will update this blog with the development of my games as they go through their development cycle.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The trials and tribulations of all this.

I really enjoy doing all this, building the website, producing and hosting the podcast, writing news and reviews for the site. All this is fun the only thing is that I am only one guy and I feel a little thin on time for all this. I want to get some more help with running this site and the podcast. I want this to be a great place for people to come and get their gaming and tech news. To make matters a little more complicated I have been dividing my time even further with my idea for an indie game. 

Monday, May 30, 2011

Lights Camera Action!

We have lift off!! The website is in full swing, and we have a working RSS feed in iTunes as well as 2 episodes of an enjoyable podcast. I would say that we are doing very well. I feel like a movie star. All though I don't think a lot of people have listened to our cast yet. I am hoping that it does become popular. Perhaps we should ask people to submit their responses to questions that we pose to them. Let the good times roll!!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Blogger is back up and running

Google Blogger was down for 2 days, now it's back and our blog is back up and running.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Website

Our official website has just opened up. At the moment it is small but slowly we will be building it up with new and exciting content. Enjoy and keep up the gaming.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

A Big Thanks and a little bit of news

Thank you Amanda Vogt for being a great co host on the first episode of the podcast. I look forward to doing more casts with you in the future. Our RSS feed has been submitted to iTunes and hopefully will be accepted for distribution on iTunes. I am thinking to also release a JpTechGamer NewsCast  once a week to bring you the latest and greatest in gaming. This would be the news that we don't cover in the main cast. Stay tuned for that.
The JpTechGamer main website is nearly up and running. I will post the URL in a few days when the final touches to the site have been finished.

Episode 1 is here

The JpTechGamer Cast has been released! Please bare with us as we are new at this. A big thank you to Amanda Vogt for co hosting with me. Hope you enjoy! Any suggestions please post in the comments or the forum.


JpTechGamer #1 let there be game

Monday, May 9, 2011

Recording has finally started for our Podcast!

The JpTechGamer Cast has finally started recording today. Stay tuned for episode one to be released along with the episodes notes. Please bare with me as this first cast is being done solo and my co-host will be joining me in episode 2. I'm very excited to finally get to record and put together my very first podcast about games and tech. Hell!! It's about time!!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Frustration that is Portal

I love Portal. I think that if you ask any gamer they will say that Portal is a refreshing step back from the typical FPS. Last night though, I wanted to through my PC out the window due to the frustration of the Challenges in Portal.
Let me draw a picture of what happened last night for me. First I was thinking about getting all the radio signal achievement and found that to be fun until I came to the level where the radio is in a little room with 2 timed doors. Now when I first played through Portal in 2007 I never tried to get myself trapped in that room because their were no walls for you to put a portal on and so I didn't know that Glados was going to open a trap door to let me out. Instead I spent one and a half hours trying to time it so I can grab the radio and jump out... This of course did not work :( Every time I attempted to do this I was crushed in a door. Needless to say when I was at my wits end I locked myself in the room and discovered that Glados was already prepared  for that stupidity. After that I just threw in the towel.
The game is frustrating but also enjoyable enough that the frustration wont stop me from playing through to the end.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

About Gaming!

  This last week I have been playing through Portal not Portal 2, just Portal. I have to say that game still holds up today. It is fun, challenging and amazingly relaxing to play. I played through Portal for the first time in 2007 and was blown away by that game back then. With the recent release of Portal 2 and my personal decision to play through my steam collection I have decided to slow down and enjoy my stay in Portal. I have to say it is a real refreshing game to play. I played 2 hours of AaaaaaAAA... A reckless disregard for gravity and I was getting so frustrated that I wanted to punch my laptop. All I did was stop playing that and jumped into Portal that was a real good way to release gamer stress. I am still playing through Portal and probably will be for a little while longer but I have to say I am getting excited to jump into Portal 2 once I've finished this riveting adventure through Aperture Science.Portals Homepage


About the other game AaaaaAAAA.... well you know what game I mean. I finished that game in about 2 hours of play time. It was a fun all be it frustrating experience, I do recommend this game to anyone who likes skydiving or better yet cliff diving. This game is fun and sure beats the hell out of PilotWings!! AaaAAAaahomepage






Tokyo Games Show TGS

We are thinking to go to TGS this year and give you the scoops on the games that are in development. Stay tuned for more details.

We are doing a Steam List play through

We will be posting about the games we are playing from our Steams 116 games, and posting our thoughts about those games. Stay tuned to see what we say about the games you can find on Steam.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Back again

For the last month I have been learning how to make games in Unreals UDK, Maya, 3D Game Maker, and Game Maker 8. I finally finished a basic level for a sample platformer last night, and am excited to have been the one to have made it. I am hoping that this knowledge will blossom into something that I can publish in the future. I am focusing my game making skills in Game Maker 8. After trying the trial software I bought the software engine for my first project. Now I need to decide what game type to make. The game makers tools are extremely basic and easy to use and the coding is simplified in the GUI. I discovered last night that the yo-yo ltd group has a 3D construction tool on their website and in powerful enough to make good looking models for games. I will study how to us it tonight and post pictures on the blog when I have made my first model.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Memorial

You guessed it. We are building a memorial for the March 2011 tragedy that struck Japan. The Statue is going to be in the shape of a Samurai Warrior.

Minecraft Castle


This is my completed Castle in MineCraft I have decided to dedicate it to the victims of the horrible quake and tsunami victims of 2011.


Back On Track

Back to post more about Games and Tech here in Japan. I am sad because due to the events in the north of Japan thousands are dead and missing. But here at Tech Gamer we are going to bring you as much good news and we can humanly handle. We are also hoping to get our podcast up and running soon.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Earthquake in Japan

Today at 2:45 pm 2 earthquakes hit Japan in the northern region of Japan. These earthquakes measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale. One of the after effects of these earthquakes was tidal waves measuring from 6 to 12 meters tall. These tidal waves have washed cars away run boats into buildings and houses and flooded hundreds of thousands of homes.
There have also been fires in the Tokyo and Chiba prefectures. At this time the fire fighters are fighting to control these fires, but one of these massive fires are located at a chemical plant and are currently having difficulty controlling it. We at JpTechGamer hope and pray for the safety of the people of the Northern Prefectures. We will keep you updated as the situation unfolds.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Traveling through MineCraft

So I jumped into the Minecraft fad back in November when I started to read about the journals on PC Gamer. When I was choosing a server i ended up in the PCG server and started my adventures. My first attempt at playing got me into digging deep into the world trying to find my way to China as it were. This ended with me falling through the world and having to rest to the spawn point. Since I had not set my home I could not find that spot again. I then decided to travel through the world and find a secluded place for me to build my home. After spending several hours trekking through the world and falling into many holes. I found a nice mountain to dig into and build my home. After spending several days constructing my subterranean home I decided to open up a mine in the basement of my new home, while I was mining so butt monkey came and stoled my contents of my chests in my house and broke through my walls. Needless to say I was pissed off.. But there was nothing I could do about it so I started to rebuild. 

One day when I was going to log in, in December I couldn't. The PCG server was down and not only that but...

                                                       To Be Continued...

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sony Bans Hackers - Hacker Unban Themselves And Ban Legitimate Users

A couple of days ago, Sony released its first official statement regarding PlayStation 3 hacking stating that it will ban all hacked consoles from the PlayStation Network and Qriocity service. Today, the hackers responded in an unpreceded manner.

A newly released hack claims that it is able to unban banned consoles and ban other consoles even if they are unmodified.
In order to ban a legitimate PS3 console, the hacker needs to get its ID by fooling the console owner into giving it to him, or by having physical access to the console.
Mod and hacking communities are justifying this hack by calling Sony a bully and criticizing its strong arm tactics; on the other hand Sony justifies its aggressive stance by citing breach of license agreement, copyright infringement, multiplayer cheating and – of course – piracy.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Whistle while you work

My efforts alone in strip mining a mountain in Minecraft. Hard but satisfying work. All material is for the construction of my castle.

Minecraft Adventures

Yesterday I started to build my castle in the middle of nowhere on the PCG server, and I have to say it is hard to get away from everyone. Final I got to a secluded valley where I started my new homes construction. My castle requires a lot of stone, so today I was strip mining a mountain for all the resources. It was a fun exercise in contraction and deconstruction. Now my castle has enough stone to get started. Minecraft is big boy Lego.

Arkham City Is A Singleplayer Only Experience

A rumor that Batman: Arkham City has a multiplayer component didn’t travel far before getting shot down by Rocksteady Studios.

“With the game now coming to the final stages, I can honestly say it would not have been possible to deliver Arkham City the way we wanted to if we'd have added multiplayer,” Game director Sefton Hill said after calling the game “a 'single-player only' experience.”
“So it might not be the fashionable choice, it might not get us an extra tick on the box, but we are convinced, and we hope that gamers will agree when they get to play the finished game, that we have made the right decision.”

Sony Cut Down On NGP Hardware To Reach Desired Price

While designing the NGP, the design team had one most important lesson in mid: the PlayStation 3 was an impressive piece of hardware at launch but its high price tag caused it to fall behind both Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

“I can't talk about a definitive price at this stage,” SCEI's senior VP of product development, Shuhei Yoshida said. “But since the very beginning we had a target in mind. So, when considering various features, we always had our price range in mind.”
“There were elements that we found pretty cool, but had to set aside to remain on target. It's a big lesson we learnt from the PS3. There's no point putting everything you want into a device and doing the math later. We always had the price and consumer in mind. We had to sell something that people could buy.”
But that doesn’t mean that the NGP will sell for $150 since Sony “can't sell the NGP for the same price as a PSP” which retails currently for $169.99 but may see a price drop before the NGP launches. A reasonable upper bound for the NGP’s price might be Nintendo’s 3DS price of $250.

It's time for a change

With the recent all be it dated Apple version of Steam and the slow build up of playable games on Apple computers. Isn't it about time we the people of PC gaming accept our new gaming brother en. Sure some Apple users may be snobs but that isn't the ones wanting to game.
For years PC and Apple users have fought over whose computer is better, these ways of thinking are not necessary anymore as the Mac's have now caught up in the field of gaming. Instead of going "oh look at that guy he's a Mac user, lets go and gang up on him and beat his ass"
Let's just play together and not have anymore dick fights between Mac and PC.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Samsung Galaxy

So you want to buy a tablet pc and you are stuck between a Galaxy Tab and the ever popular iPad, well if you want to break from the mold and go against the flow the Galaxy Tab is for you, but please don't expect amazing performance from this little tablet. After having a short hands on time with the tab I realized how clunky the OS actually is. Honeycomb or Android 3.0 is very nice looking but doesn't have the smoothness of the Apple mobile  OS. Though the OS felt clunky and not as conviniant their were some nice features to the Galaxy. For example a 1Ghz Dual core, a crisp 8mp camera, G4 network support, HD video support and the one thing that all tablets are trying to say is that they have flash support. This is great because the iPad still lacks the flash support. Even with all this the tech works great with the Galaxy, but it just isn't that sexy and handy. It's like saying I have a 6 core i7 cpu and 16 GB of Ram and dual GTX 560's but I am running dos for all my apps.... That would suck.
Bottom line for this tablet. If you want to get something that is not Apple but is also not Microsoft get the Galaxy Tab, just don't complain about the limited apps and clunky OS. Our recommendation is still the iPad.

Welcome to JpTechGamer

Welcome to JpTechGamer the informative technology and gaming podcast in Japan. This podcast is dedicated to giving you the listeners the facts about upcoming tech and just released tech, as well as gaming on multiple platforms. Please sit back and enjoy the news from the Asian perspective.