Another chiptune.  This one is over 2 minutes, which is a fairly big achievement for me.

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Used: Musagi

I’ve decided to release what i have for Operation: Nuke the Whales.

It’s a game i started working on way back during the Winnipeg TIGjam. I got the idea after hearing that BP was considering nuking the oil spill in order to stop it.  I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of the idea.  But why stop there?  Why not just nuke all of our problems?

So, this game was supposed to examine that idea.  It’s not fully realized, it’s only got two levels and i was intending there to be more menial problems to be nuked like not wanting to go to work, no milk at the store, etc.  It’s still worth a chuckle or two.

WATCH A PLAYTHROUGH VIDEO
(cross-platform)

DOWNLOAD THE GAME
(windows only)

A short loopable song is thick with uplifting summery synth lines.

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Used: Musagi

This is a game i was working on for the AGBIC competition over at TIGSource.  Obviously, i did not make the deadline.  This is due to a number of things (in no particular order):

1) Very busy with The Secondhandpants during July, the month of the competition.  We put on a Fringe play with giant robots, multimedia interactions, and live music.  It did rather well.  But it was a TON OF WORK.  We were also at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

2) My idea for Old Timey Cop is this multiplayer-on-same-keyboard idea.  I don’t have a lot of friends who are willing to sit down with a broken or not-quite-fun-yet game.

3) Lack of motivation due to excuse number 2.

Anyways, i’ve gotten a bit done on this project and thought i would post how far i am.  Please, if you have a chance, get together with two friends and give this game a go.  Let me know how it goes.

DOWNLOAD GAME HERE

(note that this will always link to the newest version of the game)

A few months ago i was contacted by Micheal Lee of Ludoko Studios.  He wanted to know if he could use Precarious Precipitation for his upcoming iPod game.  Of course, i was very willing to let him use it, but i was not entirely pleased with that version of the song and thought i could do better.  So, i re-recorded it for him.  From scratch.

You should check out the game.  It plays like Missile Command, but the combo system is where it really shines.  Quite addicting.

Play it here: www.cometburst.com

I’ve decided to start a series of posts entitled Inventory, directly inspired from an entertaining book from the Onion A.V. Club team of the same name. In these posts, i will make a list on a theme. Yup. That’s about it. No real restrictions otherwise.

I’ve been a fan of chiptune and electronica ever since my ears could hear and with the internet, finding and distibuting your music has become easier and easier. There are thousands of good musicians out there not getting their fair exposure. So, perusing the internets for good, free, electronic music from musicians has been a pastime for me.

Well, in the past it has.  It seemed i used to search for new netlabels daily, trying to discover good music that hardly anyone has heard of.  There have been a few albums that i have found that i have continued to enjoy since they were released.

TREE WAVE – Cabana EP
available from observatory online, band website

Paul Slocum is a master of hardware. This album was created on old computer hardware such as an old Compaq Portable computer (circa 1986) and even an old Epson printer which he reprogrammed to make melodic droning tones as it prints pictures.  Luckily, Mr. Slocum is also able to use these machines to produce surprisingly organic and warm music.  His bandmate Lauren Gray also adds to the warmth with her ethereal voice.  My only complaint is that you can’t hear what she is singing, but that hardly matters.

GOTO80 – Contech
available from 8bitpeoples

This album from Goto80 was the first chiptune album i had heard that didn’t sound like every other chiptune album. Each song has something different to offer. Ter4 layers an incredibly simple haunting melody over thick, complex rhythms. Then, Comsten will bash in your face with it’s frantic drums and squelchy leads. This is an amazing rollercoaster ride of chiptune gold.

SHE – Pioneer
available from 8bitpeoples

I would hesitate to call this album by She a chiptune album even though it is found on 8bitpeoples, but its squarewave bleeps thrown through tonnes of reverb definitely shows it’s influences. Lots to love in this album, from the heavy beats to the samples of children cheering to the layered leads dancing around each other.

BROTHER ANDROID – October November December
available from his website

Serene melodies over a fuzzy, droning backdrop make this album a pleasure to listen to. Even when bubbling, sometimes uncomfortable rhythms arise, it just seems to capture the mood of a cold winter perfectly.

Made during a time when i enjoyed putting orchestral trills over electronic drones. I still enjoy this one.

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Created years ago on my old computer.

Used: Reason

TIGJam Winnipeg was a ton of fun! It basically boiled down to a lot of creative people gathering in one office room and working on separate projects together, which is more fun than it sounds.

I met a lot of new people. I was sitting across from Jordan, an animator who was working on a rather impressive looking Flash mini-series project and who is in the Digital Multimedia Technology course at Red River which i am currently applying for.

A young Noel Berry churned out a slick little platformer in a day and a half, and i found myself addicted to his previous game Pixel Runner 2 for a good half hour or so.

Saw and even talked to some famous internet people like Chevy Ray Johnston and Adam Atomic who, as it turns out, are just nice guys. Good to know that internet fame isn’t always the same as internet YouTube infamy.

But, I didn’t just meet people I worked on a project too! Mine was inspired by a talk i had with a co-worker a few days ago about how one of the options for fixing the oil spill off the coast of Louisiana is to nuke it. I thought that more problems should be solved with peacetime nukes and decided to make a game about it.

I’m planning on working on it a little more before uploading something playable. If you want to check out a video of it and the other games that were made during the jam, go to the TIGSource Radio page.

Thanks to Alec and the rest of the TIGSource crew who arranged this awesome event! I hope to see another one in the near future.

Very atmospheric loop with some very subdued vocals. To be listened to while standing alone in the rain.

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Originally created for the TIGSource Assemblee Competition.

Tools used: Guitalele, Audacity, My Voice

Straightforward rock with chugging NES squarewave guitars.

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Originally created for the TIGSource Assemblee Competition.

Used: Musagi