kenny's blog

Tutorial: Automator

2012-02-19T18:45:00.003-05:00

Do you have a Mac?
There's a program called Automator...

It always looked useful to me, but I was intimidated by it:
How do you use it?
Is it going to mess up all my files?

Automator is actually really intuitive (I think), and useful!

One way you can use it is to: batch process image files

For example, I have to take screenshots for my apps. Five for iPhone, five for iPad. I then have to remove the "status bar" from my screenshots. This involves cropping out the part that says "AT&T" or "6:27 PM". This is always the top 40px on a retina display, the top 20px on a not-retina display, and it can get tedious to crop every screenshot by hand...

Automator to the rescue!
First, open Automator and choose "Application"

This will create an icon that, when you drag files on it, will execute a series of actions on those files.

What actions?
Check out the list that appears on the left, in Automator:

If you choose "Photos", you see photo-related actions you can automate.
If you own Pixelmator which is an art program I use on Mac, Pixelmator has a bunch of automator actions! Choose Pixelmator's crop function, and you can anchor your image down, and crop an iPhone screenshot to be the right size, cropped off the top. Automator knows this might mess up your original file, so it even asks in this case, do you want to copy the image to the desktop first? I said YES.

...if you want to get fancy, you can even have Automator change the image's file type to JPEG, and you can set it up to name screenshots passed in in bulk to: screenshot1, screenshot2, etc. Copy and rename are listed as "Files and Folders" actions.

After figuring this out once, you can then keep your Automator "application" for the next time you need to batch process screenshots the same way!

Enjoy using Automator!

Finally replaced my PSP

2012-02-11T03:35:00.000-05:00

Early 2005, a few days after launch, I bought a PSP.
Seemed like a good idea, and I enjoyed the trip to Wal-Mart with my roommate!

Thing is, I never really got to play it...
When I did have a chance to play it, I didn't play it - it annoyed me that much that my disc tray was damaged / off kilter. But why's that Ken?

Well back in the day, when I bought my PSP, I was busy with school. I was a freshman in college, doing work study at my school's incubator center, a place for starting businesses. One of the companies there really appealed to me, and it became a reason I was so busy at school. I volunteered to help them build a Half-Life 2 mod they were working on, 16+ hrs a week, and was a familiar face there by the time their business was shifting to online communities for games.

I was the age you'd call "starry eyed", and my boss took advantage of that. I don't see a problem with that on the surface, I think it's in any business' best interest to "get" anything: work, supplies, for the lowest cost. Anyway, my roommate and I both donated our PSP's to this start-up company, in return for what seemed like a decent deal: free games. We would get to keep the games the company bought and tested with our PSP's.

...what we didn't establish was: what games / how many, and how long are you planning on keeping our PSP's?

Fast forward, time is going by, remember I had bought a PSP at launch...
I didn't play it at all while the company had it. The small amount I did play PSP was before I donated it to the company. And I didn't honestly know when we (my roommate and I) might get our systems back!

I think we finally put our foot down after about a year, no hard feelings just - I think it's time to give our systems back. And we did get games as promised... but by the time we did, the games we received were old, we could have bought them at Wal-Mart for $15 to $20. We got two games: X-Men Legends 2, and SOCOM, and here's the kicker: we had to share those games between the two of us. I took X-Men, and my old roommate has SOCOM. On top of that, I got my PSP back - not broken, but damaged.

You can imagine why this annoyed the hell out of me for years. I bought a system at launch. I did what a "starry eyed" kid would do, who loves games and game development: I donated my video game system to a start-up company I was a part of. I basically got taken advantage of, and what I got in return wasn't worth it.

Years later, I guess I am still bitter about it. The damage wasn't even as bad as another time, when I brought my Guitar Hero 2 game to a company game night (same company), the disc got scratched at the event... and I was obligated to buy another $70 game + guitar bundle with my own money. Just to be able to play my own game again. You might remember GH2 was the first in the series on Xbox, so GH2 Xbox was only sold with the guitar, not as a standalone game.

There is a silver lining though. I always intended to play my PSP, so over the years, I've collected a number of PSP games. The ones I bought at launch: Wipeout Pure, Spiderman 2, Metal Gear Acid. Also some games that got good reviews: Daxter, Syphon Filter, Kingdom Hearts...

So now I finally decided to replace my PSP -
And now I have all these great games I can play on it!

The PSP-3000 has really fast save / load times, no ghosting on the screen (you know what that is if you have an old PSP). AND my disc tray is in no way, busted. I don't have this constant reminder of getting screwed over, every time I play my PSP!

If I were to boil this down into "generic advice":
YES things will bother you to no end. It's an OK behavior to cut those things out of your life, or replace them with something better - you'll be a lot happier. Replace your wardrobe if you feel like crap wearing certain clothes. Replace your pens if you're like me and you use pens you hate just because it would be a shame to waste them. You know you're a cool person who deserves to be happy, so do what you can to manage those things in your life!

...by the way, if you thought by "replacing my PSP", I meant I got a PS Vita? I was thinking about it, but I need a disc tray to play my old games! I'm sticking with old PSP for now!

Be The Best Zombie Puncher You Can Be

2012-02-08T15:21:00.001-05:00

Zombie Puncher got an update the other day!
I added a Leaderboard button on each hero's stats page.

...this way you can see how boss you are at each character, OR how many zombies you have to punch to be better than me!

I've been trying to exercise more. Rule of thumb, I think it's good to be healthy and like who you see in the mirror. I think that does wonders for self-worth...

Pro Tip:
Everybody knows how "music" can help you get a rhythm going while you exercise? Well try playing Zombie Puncher AND listening to music! The game is so mindless, I forget I'm exercising entirely, I'll be on the exercise bike for 6+ miles... which is good for me! I used to feel like I could die at 2 miles haha

Anything Is Possible!

2012-01-31T16:32:00.000-05:00

I spent this year's Global Game Jam jamming on my own projects...

Turns out, if you put your mind to it, anything is possible!

I committed to working 48 hrs. I didn't overdo it, I did sleep, eat food, and I took some breaks. But rule of thumb, I made an effort to get things done during the day. Result: I made significant progress on a new app I'm working on!

...I then carried the momentum. Something I intend to do from now forward is get 'something' done every day. Yesterday, I "updated Xcode" and was annoyed that took so long. So in order to "get something done" I stayed up late and cranked out / submitted a small update for Zombie Puncher.

...I'm also dedicating time to read Atlas Shrugged, one chapter at least a day, before I go to bed - just because I want to. It's a good book so far (the movie's good too)!

A few productivity tips:

Get started / choose a small task and do it.
Break tasks down into steps, make a to-do list.
Don't work if your brain's fried.
Lying down / sleeping, you can clear your head.
Eat food, thinking takes energy too.

In college, I think out of sheer willpower, I crammed for tests, I did a lot of all-nighters. I also made value assessments: settle for a few B's, take note of diminishing returns. Because I worked 20-hr weeks or more, all through school - it was not possible to read all my textbooks, and ace all my assignments.

Today I have more time, but my "assignments" need to get done. I know exactly what I want to work on, it's just daunting sometimes to get started, and make an entire app by yourself. Where do you start?

I'm coming to realize, you can start anywhere, you just have to do "something", and keep doing something - eventually you have an app!

Global Game Jam

2012-01-26T18:53:00.000-05:00

The 4th annual Global Game Jam starts tomorrow!
This is an event where game developers around the world team up and make small game prototypes based on a theme, in only 48 hours...

...the first annual Global Game Jam, I flaked out because the theme was:
"As long as we're together, we will never run out of problems"
I had just broken up with my girlfriend, that kind of applied there. Too soon!

BUT around the time of the second annual Global Game Jam, I jammed for fun from home and invented the concept for DOTNUKE!

This year, again I'm going to jam from home. I have a lot of plans for things I want to make, my own projects, and I think the game jam is a great excuse to crunch on those things... even if I'm not directly participating in the jam.

Whether you're doing what I'm doing, or actually participating in the jam, jam on for 48 hrs starting tomorrow at 5 PM EST! It'll be a good time!

14 Days Later...

2012-01-14T23:54:00.000-05:00

I lasted 14 days without buying any video games!

My New Year's Resolution was to not buy any games...
I wanted to save money, and play some of the games I own, many I have never played. I tend to impulse buy games, especially during Steam sales for $5 or less.

But picture this, I see that Nation Red is "free to play" this weekend - it looks like a fun game, I have a zombie game out myself, I'm trying not to "buy games", so I suppose I could play this for the weekend, right?

I didn't expect the game to be so fun / addicting!
Maybe I was enjoying it more, knowing I could only play for a limited time. I ended up playing for seven hours (spread over two days), collecting over fifty achievements!

This made me rethink my New Year's Resolution:
I'm not trying to be a cheapskate. The game is only $2.50...
I realize enough "games for $2.50" can add up, this is part of the problem - but I got well over $2.50's worth of enjoyment out of this game, just this weekend.

One disclaimer for my New Year's Resolution was: I will support indie developers. Indie games are (usually) inexpensive. Also, I'm indie myself. I want to see indies succeed, certainly the ones who develop enjoyable games! I was only planning on supporting indies through Humble Bundle though...

Another thing to consider:
They chose to release their game, free to play, for the weekend. I download a lot of "free app a day" games, and how am I "supporting the developer" at all in those cases? Why pay $2.50 now? Well, a rare case, I downloaded Broken Sword as free app a day, loved it, and have since bought it full price as a gift and / or recommended it to a number of friends. This is a real benefit of releasing a game for free! It's a form of advertising for the game.

In the case of Nation Red:
Free full-version demo for a limited time. Some will buy it, some won't. You don't have to buy it, buy in-game tokens, DLC, click ads (for my games) as the case may be. And I think that's fine, I don't feel like a bad person for thoroughly enjoying free games, why not enjoy a game for a weekend? Bigger picture, they do get their game in the hands of more players, some "do" pay, or click ads...

Anyway, I could have felt justified just enjoying Nation Red while it was free. Like downloading Zombie Puncher, and never clicking an ad. I think that's fine, but I ended up buying the game for $2.50 after all, because I wanted to support the developer... even though I think I got all the achievements I want to get haha

Does that mean I killed my New Year's Resolution?
I don't think so. I could get into rules, authority, how arbitrary "holding firm" to any set of rules or beliefs can be, without question or consideration of special cases...

Instead, I'll just point to that "indie" concession I made in advance haha. Nation Red is tagged "Indie" on Steam! But even if it was not, I might have supported the publisher that paid to develop a game I enjoyed thoroughly this weekend!

(And I swear I won't buy the next game I see that's less than $5!)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T04:31:00.000-05:00

A week into 2012, my New Year's Resolution is still going strong...
I haven't bought any new video games yet!

What I am doing is playing games I own. Did you know God of War II is actually pretty fun? I didn't, and I've owned that for two or three years!

It's interesting making an active choice to play games I own. I feel a sense of commitment I might not otherwise have, to finish or thoroughly enjoy these games. Plus there's a sense that I'm actively saving money, not buying what's on sale on Steam for $5, instead putting money in my savings account.

I recently finished playing Breath of Death VII, and have moved on to Cthulhu Saves the World. Both are retro styled role-playing games, that poke fun at the genre with well-written stories and dialogue. You can buy both together on Steam, easily the best $1 I've spent in a long time (when it was on sale).

Know what it reminds me of?
Ken's Adventure!

This is a role-playing game I made in high school that also pokes fun at the genre with a cleverly written story and dialogue. You can download it here if you want! Hopefully it still works on Windows 7, I haven't played it in years.

Happy New Year!

New Years Resolution

2011-12-31T02:19:00.000-05:00

It's New Year's Eve!
Do you have a new year's resolution?

I've posted about my "too many video games", a lot I've never played. There's some value in "retail therapy", buying games to feel good whether you play them or not, but a better habit for me might be to save money and play the games I have!

My new year's resolution is:
Don't buy any video games in 2012!

I realize this is a bit bold / unrealistic, so I've already planned for three exceptions:

iPhone Apps (I should be on top of what iOS games people are playing)
Humble Bundles (low cost, and I can support other indies)
I pre-ordered Diablo III (releases in February 2012)

How long do you think I'll last?
What's your new year's resolution?

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

Why You Gotta Be A Vampire 2.1

2011-12-17T14:34:00.002-05:00

Why You Gotta Be A Vampire is now ad-free!

This is my first app to go paid. For new buyers, the game will cost $2. If you've already downloaded it in the past, you'll get the new update for free. As always, it runs on both iPhone and iPad.

What's new?

Adventure Mode (with Levelling Up and Stats)
Twitter (with custom bragging rights)
Presents (punch vampires, get apps for free)
Vampire Kenny (exclusive unlock for Zombie Puncher)

What's that last one?
If you download Why You Gotta Be A Vampire, you get free vampire-themed DLC unlocked in my free app, Zombie Puncher. Specifically, you get a new character, Vampire Kenny! How do you like them apples?

If you don't have Vampire yet, the game will be on sale for $1 until 2012.
Happy Holidays!

Hating On Free-To-Play Games

2011-12-02T14:52:00.001-05:00

I don't mind free-to-play games. I'm going to make some generalizations here, but my take on good free-to-play games:

You get a decent game for free...
You can pay to level up / progress faster
You can pay for extra content
You don't have to pay at all

Where this goes awry is when a game asks for your money too often, when a game is competitive and paid content makes it unbalanced, makes it seem unfair to non-paying customers, when you're obligated to pay money for all the worthwhile content...

My main point with this blog post though, is that some free-to-play games can be fun and well-done. These games don't nickel and dime you to death, and you actually get a lot of value for free.

From a business standpoint (how this relates to my apps), you benefit from wider reach, getting your app in the hands of more customers with a low barrier of entry, the game is free. Only a few people pay, but that might be lucrative, similar to how not everyone clicks ads in my apps.

A problem (for developers) though is:
Free apps get railed in reviews. You get some kid who hates apps with ads, hates free-to-play games, yet downloaded yours, and he slams your game, despite the amount of enjoyable content you gave away for free!

A benefit to releasing a paid app then is:
Boneheads can't review it until they've paid at least $1 (or the cost of your app). Generally speaking you'll attract an audience of players who care more about your game, and are more interested in it to begin with, more likely to give it at least three stars, than the folks who flippantly try and slam a free app with a bad review.

On that note!
My friend Perry's company Venan Entertainment just released a new free-to-play game called Book of Heroes.

It's really fun and you should try it out. Like a classic RPG, you punch goblins, I can't tell whether the graphics and story are intentionally campy or not...

You'll see what I mean that this game is actually very well done, it has a lot of content for free, and the options to spend money are nicely tucked away.

Also, side note, Space Miner, Ninjatown Trees of Doom, and the HD versions of those games are free for a limited time to celebrate the launch of Book of Heroes! Search for them if you don't have them already!

Twilight

2011-11-21T02:01:00.001-05:00

I'm 99% finished with an update for Why You Gotta Be A Vampire...
Ramping up for its release, I might as well share some Easter Eggs!

You may be familiar with this book series called Twilight...
A few years ago, no one knew what that was. My ex was reading it, because the author Stephanie Meyer is Mormon. The books were big at BYU before anyone else knew about them. Now, everybody knows Twilight! But in 2007, I went to Barnes and Noble and asked about some vampire book, I couldn't remember the name... it has an apple I think on the cover - they had no idea what I was talking about. Just as well, I would have ended up reading it!

Today, I have never read Twilight or watched any of the movies. I can tell you though, I bought whatever the new book / movie is (Breaking Dawn?), I bought that book for my ex years ago. That sounds like the most bonkers story of the entire series, Bella has a vampire baby that kicks and actually hurts her with its vampire strength. I just don't get the appeal of these books :P

Anyway, my limited understanding of Twilight has led to...
Four Twilight-themed Easter Eggs in Why You Gotta Be A Vampire!

1. Hot Sassy Vampires
Twilight's vampires are more like emo high school kids than classic Nosferatu, and that's the aesthetic for my characters in Vampire. My characters are all in fact based on hot, sassy, real life friends of mine!

2. BELLA?
One of the sassy quotes in-game is, "Bella?" Bella being the main girl in Twilight, who vampires (and werewolves) can't resist.

3. Team Kenny
Another sassy quote is "Team Kenny". This is the team for people who like to punch sassy vampires (and werewolves) like Team Edward and Team Jacob.

4. Sparkles!
Apparently vampires sparkle in daylight, in the Twilight series... in Vampire, they sparkle when you punch 'em out!

Look forward to the Why You Gotta Be A Vampire update! I added a lot of content, and will be charging $$ for the first time ever (for new buyers). It's free right now, so if you don't have it already, might be a good time to pick up the game!

Throwing Out Collectibles

2011-11-10T01:43:00.001-05:00

A lot of this past week, I've been throwing things out. My "work space" has been filled with everything I've collected over the years... I just wanted space!

I've heard advice that, the less you have, the more free you are, and the less you're held down by your belongings. That makes sense if you intend to travel, move out, or even if you feel tied to the past. Anyway!

Throwing things out, I've found you can categorize "collectibles":

Things you think are worth money
Memories (Good and Bad)
Personal Treasures

Looking at my own "collectibles", a lot of the things I thought would be worth money are not. I used to collect trading cards as a kid (who didn't?) But a quick look at eBay shows, even a complete series / set of cards from 1993 is basically worthless.

What did I find that's worth money? Turns out, even though I know next to nothing about sports, I had a 1992 draft pick Derek Jeter baseball card haha. That's worth about $10 it seems on eBay. What a treasure! I kept that, but generally speaking, I would think you might as well just throw out anything that has no value to you, unless you're really going to sell it in the foreseeable future. If it does have value to you, enjoy it! Don't wait to sell it, just so someone else can enjoy it.

Moving on to memories...
Not all memories are worth keeping, first off. But you also don't need to keep every object that has a good memory attached to it. In my room... er office, I use (and kept) a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles branded metal garbage can. It has a massive dent in it. At the bottom of the stairs is a several inch long gash in the wall. Well, when I was a kid, I put my (large) My Pet Monster doll in the garbage can and rolled him down the stairs haha. I can only imagine I did that, to recreate the magic of Oscar the Grouch ice skating in Sesame Street's 1987 Christmas Special:

Click to 7:45 and enjoy the greatest Sesame Street moment of all time...

That was a great memory, but honestly, My Pet Monster was a bit too big to keep around, so he got thrown out. That memory is burned in my mind though, and there's still a dent in the wall!

Ultimately, in my opinion, the only things worth keeping are "Personal Treasures".
That is, an object that's probably worthless to anyone else, but that has meaning to you. I have old birthday cards and one stuffed animal in particular that reminds me of my mom. I have drawings and comics made by my friends (one's even signed!)

...and now I have a lot more space!

What are your personal treasures?
What are you planning on selling, and what is it worth today? (Check eBay!)

The Alchemist

2011-11-03T16:34:00.000-04:00

A friend recommended this book to me:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I enjoyed it! It's a great story that includes valuable (universal) life lessons.

Follow your bliss (or Personal Legend)
We often do nothing, because we fear change, risk, and failure
Your journey through life is where and how you learn the most

And maybe what I found most interesting about the book:
Many of these lessons, I had previously discovered in non-fiction and self help books I had read after I left the Mormon church.

I definitely enjoyed the Alchemist and would recommend it, but there's one aspect of the book, I'm undecided whether I like it or not:

Certain things cannot be proven...

Whether fortune tellers can actually tell the future
Whether priests can heal infections
Whether someone is listening when you pray

...but these can all be presented in fiction, in an ambiguous way that pleases all readers. Just leave it up to interpretation. For example, you could have a hero who prays to god, but his inspiration comes from within, and it's up to the reader to decide whether that inspiration was personal, or actually was divine intervention.

The thing about the Alchemist, is there's one theme at the core of the book's mythology. That is, to always follow your omens (in addition to following your heart). An omen, you might say is: anything odd or anecdotal, that struck you in a way that you attached significance and meaning to it. Like, I have a white rock and a black rock... I chose the white rock, and will now allow that to dictate my choice in an important decision in my life. Or, I saw two birds attack each other in the desert. I take that to mean, our camp will be attacked very soon.

I think we've all done this at some point in our lives. The problem is, all you need is one break up, or one bad experience to know... your heart isn't always right.

...not to say you didn't learn and grow as a person, having lived bad experiences! On top of that, there are events that happen in your life that are unexpected and just unfair. You can learn from all of your experiences, and especially your failures, but that doesn't mean they needed to happen (for example my mom's death), or were meant to happen to you!

That said, the Alchemist (somewhat) addresses this:
The kid in the book follows his heart and his omens, head first. You might think everything goes well for him then, but it doesn't! His choices sometimes work out, but sometimes also cause him to lose all his money, and get beat up. He learns from these failures though, so maybe it is for the best he had the guts to try the things he felt strongly that he wanted to try!

I don't think that my gut reactions or dreams have any cosmic significance, but I do think things like this maybe help you discover your deepest desires (or fears). Maybe they are worth paying attention to, pursuing, or facing. In any case, I think (as they say in the Alchemist), you do learn most from your "journey" through life, and taking action, working toward the things you want or feel strongly about, will only help you. Worst case, you gain some valuable life experience.

At the end of the day, I guess I would just emphasize cause and effect:
You live your life as you see fit, and stuff will happen, I guarantee it. Some things you chose, some things you didn't. You will learn from all of your experiences. But that doesn't mean they were meant to happen, even if they shaped who you are today, in a significant way!

Anyway, what do you think?

What life lessons would you include in a story?
Does it make sense to just accept "omens" as part of a book's mythology?
Are omens (gut reactions, dreams) worth following regardless of their cosmic significance?

A life lesson I might include in a story would be that more often than not, you do not regret the decisions you make, at least if you're living a life, true to yourself, and you do your best to be a thoughtful human being. What you DO regret, are the things you didn't do. So maybe it is best to go head first, following your heart, remembering that the fear of failure, or fear of what might happen is most often going to be a lot worse than what really happens to you - especially when you consider how much you can learn and grow with any catastrophic failure in your life :P

Make iPhone Ringtones in iTunes

2011-10-24T19:18:00.000-04:00

It's almost time for me to upgrade my phone, and drumroll please...
I may finally own an iPhone! If you've been following my blog, you might know that despite being an iOS-exclusive developer (for now), my phone's a Droid.

Anyway, the other day I felt compelled to make Phoenix Wright's ringtone my own, for when I get an iPhone. But how do you make your own iPhone ringtones?

First you need an unprotected (non-DRM) audio file:
If your song is available on Amazon MP3, that would work. Songs bought on iTunes should work these days too, if there's no DRM. But if you're like me, and you absolutely need Phoenix Wright's ringtone on your phone...

Find a video on YouTube
Download its audio track using a website like this

Now that you have an audio file...

Open it in iTunes
Choose File -> "Get Info" on your song
Under the Options tab...
Set the Start Time for your ringtone and check the box
Set the Stop Time to 15 sec. later and check the box
Click OK to save your changes
Choose Advanced -> "Create AAC Version" on your song
Notice the new 15 sec. file in your iTunes list
Drag this new file to your Desktop
Rename the file from .m4a to .m4r
Delete the 15 sec. file from iTunes
Open your new .m4r file in iTunes
Notice how cool it looks in your Ringtones list
Find your original song file again (full length)
Uncheck Start and Stop Time, if you're keeping the song

This is all blocked out well in a video I found on CNET:

The video is from 2008, so what he says about iTunes store DRM may not apply anymore. Anyway, enjoy!

Animal Crossing Story

2011-10-11T16:42:00.001-04:00

I saw this on Dueling Analogs, and wanted to share.
The original post is in Korean, from This Is Game.

As some of you know, my mom died three years ago: Oct. 20th, 2008. It was completely random and unexpected, so in my case there was no anticipation or preparation. In a way, I prefer that because, at no point in my life did I treat my mom like she was already dead. I was able to see her days before she died and she seemed fine. I was even able to give her her birthday present early, the original Professor Layton game, and see how much she liked it.

In that sense I sympathize with the message of this comic: you should appreciate the people in your life who mean something to you while they're here, and you can remember that they loved you when they're gone.

...unfortunately, I don't have a mailbox full of Animal Crossing presents waiting to be discovered, but one nice thing was that when I left the Mormon church (because my mom died and I asked myself the tough questions), I actually found that, regardless of whether she was reading these books before she died, she actually had some Joseph Campbell on her bookshelf! This was an author recommended to me by a friend, among other books and authors recommended by friends, people who were all there to help me when I was trying to figure out religion at this point in my life. To know that my mom would have also been on board, and approved of my current path in personal development and discovery meant something to me.

Anyway, it's not the 20th but I wanted to post this early...
When we get closer to the actual date my mom died, and her birthday (the 23rd) I'll be playing the new Professor Layton game in my mom's memory!

Savage Lands are "In"

2011-10-08T16:36:00.000-04:00

All the new games lately have savages and savage lands:

Gears of War 3
Rage

That puts Borderlands and Fallout ahead of the curve...

Which are you playing?
Does anybody else think Borderlands > Rage?

I like Rage, kinda, but every interaction feels VERY fetch quest:
You know Ken. I'd love to give you a car but it needs parts. Go to such and such town. You know Ken. I had these parts to give you, and wouldn't even make you do a quest for them, but the savages took them back to their savage land. You're gonna have to go ahead and get those parts.

I realize Borderlands is the same way, but I think it feels more open? More to explore, more choices about what to do and where to go next...

The Zeon Men

2011-09-28T07:18:00.002-04:00

The Zeon Men: The Wild of Scorpio!

Meet the Zeon Men:

Flame who has the power of fire!
Tornado who has the power of tornadoes!
Ice who makes ice cubes!
Beast who is not to be confused with Beast from the X-Men!
Lightning who is a completely different character from Zap and Wizzie!
Wizzie who rest-assured, is a wizard!

I think my favorite Zeon Men are:

Dynamite, who doesn't just create explosions - he creates dynamite FIRST and his dynamite powers create explosions!

Drago is my other favorite. His name didn't scan, but he's the Bruce Lee inspired guy in the middle, with two right thumbs. From what I can tell, from where I found him in my stack of papers, he seems to be a Zeon Man himself! The token karate expert amongst a bunch of heroes inspired by X-Men, Mega Man villains, and Power Rangers.

Our two villains are of course, Scorpio, bottom left, who is (appropriately enough) a Scorpion-Man. His sidekick seems to be Wambo, a knight who looks like every character from Mortal Kombat. I'll let you speculate what "The Wild of Scorpio" is supposed to mean, maybe Scorpio has his own savage land?

So who are the Zeon Men?
My basement flooded with the recent hurricane, so I've been going through a lot of destroyed boxes, throwing out a lot of wet paper. The Zeon Men happened to survive the hurricane... so I decided to blog about them before they get recycled!

I've wanted to be a game designer my entire life, and this is just one piece of evidence to support that claim. I used to make up characters, and as I got older, you see my work shift to level designs, control schemes I would plan out on paper, personal notes and reviews of games I liked or didn't like. Finally, prototypes, levels, and projects created in different game editing tools!

I hope you enjoyed this inside look into the Zeon Men: The Wild of Scorpio!

Zombie Puncher 1.4 Update

2011-09-17T19:32:00.000-04:00

Zombie Puncher got an update!
Download Zombie Puncher (it's free!)

I added a lot, so let's check out the new features:

Game Center Achievements and Leaderboards
Cloud Storage via Game Center
Retina Graphics
"Sidekicks"
Improved Performance

The updated graphics are cool, and so's the improved performance. I completely revamped how graphics are loaded, the game runs on far less memory, and you'll even notice a new loading screen!

Game Center Leaderboards are the big new feature:
You'll be able to see who plays the most as each survivor. Think you're the best as Kenny? You're not, because I am lol. But you might be able to beat me, or become Top Ranked as another survivor!

"Sidekicks" go along well with the Game Center Leaderboards:
Basically, whatever your highest round survived as a hero (ex. Perry), then when playing as a different hero (ex. Simon), you will actually see Perry at his highest round survived! If you survived to Round 10 as Perry, you'll see Perry hanging out at Round 10 when playing as a different survivor.

Sidekicks stand still, but if they're standing near a zombie, they'll punch 'em for you. Also, they will attract bullets if they are closer to a zombie than you are! Something to consider: strategically placed sidekicks can actually help you progress farther in the game!

Finally: Cloud Storage via Game Center
This took some work, but basically, your ranked scores: Zombies Punched by each Survivor, gets pulled back from Game Center for you, if you play Zombie Puncher on multiple devices (ex. your iPod Touch and your iPad). If you've punched more zombies locally, your stats don't get overwritten, but if you haven't, the game accepts Game Center's stored data instead! You just have to reassign stats for the new device, which means you can also build your character differently / assign stats differently if you'd like.

Enjoy the update, and good luck being the best Zombie Puncher of all time!

The Game of LIFE

2011-09-13T03:05:00.000-04:00

My friend Perry makes iPhone apps.
He's also a character in Zombie Puncher!

One of the games Perry worked on is Monopoly for iPhone. I like that game a lot, it's a great iPhone port. It's fun, polished, familiar. Monopoly is a game that benefits from technology I think. Namely, the whole mortgaging feature becomes wayyy more accessable. It becomes tolerable to buy, sell, trade, or mortgage a number of properties in one turn (with the math handled for you) without pissing off a banker player, or all your friends who are waiting for their turn!

Anyway, I decided to pick up another port of a favorite board game from my childhood: the game of LIFE (which Perry did not work on).

LIFE is really not fun (lol)
It used to be my favorite board game as a kid. But I'm realizing, it had to have been because I liked the board and the pieces... the real board is 3D, with plastic hills. There's a fun spinner rather than dice, a car with pegs for your wife and kids...

The iPhone port really does look nice, it's full 3D...
It's just not the same when all of the tangible parts are taken away from you. You start to see how linear / luck-based the core game is, because you no longer go through the motions of handling money, or talking to your friends face to face - which are the parts of the game you really remember and enjoy!

The game of LIFE (iPhone or otherwise) has very few meaningful choices:
I'm thinking: whether to go to college or not, and then whether to choose family, or choose what they call "life". Basically, risk / reward choices: one path helps you maintain, the other makes you win big or lose big. Those are your choices!

Admittedly, I was also playing the game wrong:
I decided to play as if this were MY life. I "went to college". Do I want to be a veterinarian or a teacher? Honestly, I would prefer to be a teacher, but I realized that meant I chose the job that makes less money. Which house would I like to own with my wife? I think I'd like the condo rather than a mobile home or mansion. Resale value? I don't really care about that.

Then they start hitting you with "events" and crushing sound effects (on iPhone):

Cosmetic Surgery (BOO $$$)
College (BOO * each kid)
Lose Job (CRY)

The sound effects they were playing on iPhone were depressing!
Each one of these events seemed alright to me. Cosmetic surgery? Nothing wrong with that. I assume you chose to spend that money, and are happy with how you look now. College? Great, I chose to support my kids, and help them pay for school. You lose your job? You can take the opportunity to try something new, you don't have to choose worse employment.

It just made me think also: what difference would it make if I ended the game penniless? Why does it matter what any other player did? And why are they tallying trips to the Grand Canyon like that's a life experience greater than spending time with your family or living in your present moments?

Anyway, maybe LIFE isn't as fun of a board game as I remember it!
More realistically, I think it's a game you have to play with friends, face to face, with the real board, the plastic pieces and paper money. At the end: YOU should decide who won, if not everyone. Not based on money accumulated, not based on any comparison between you and other players, but if YOU feel you played the game the way you felt best!

Mr. Bilge

2011-09-02T00:07:00.000-04:00

There's this old game, Puzzle Pirates...

When I first heard about the game, maybe six years ago? I remember it as one of the first American games to have microtransactions (you can buy doubloons). This was an unusual business model in games at the time!

Anyway, I tried the game for the first time the other night. I was that bored. The game looks really dated, though it was just released as "free-to-play" on Steam...

They introduce some puzzles...
It seems you and your buddies could sail a ship with everyone doing puzzles inspired by job roles on a ship: manning the guns, rigging, sails...

Adventure on the high seas, right?
I think it's to be expected that not every puzzle will appeal to everyone. I personally found "bilging" to be the most fun. Basically a tile swapping puzzle that drains water. Seems a seaworthy vessel only needs one person performing this role.

This is a Puzzle Pirate pic I found, but let's pretend this is Mr. Bilge. Seriously, I found myself on a ship with a real person, whose tag was "Mr. Bilge".

As you might imagine, Mr. Bilge was kind of busy, with one particular role. That is, bilging. He was kind of hogging the "bilge" station. I noticed there was a feature to nudge a player, ask them politely to allow you to man their station...

...but the guy's name is "Mr. Bilge" haha

Game Designers: I realize this makes no sense in terms of manning a ship, but if EVERYONE wants to bilge, you should let 'em!

New Frustrating Tic Tac Toe

2011-08-23T20:58:00.000-04:00

Frustrating Tic Tac Toe just got an update!
Download Frustrating Tic Tac Toe

The game is now even more awesome:

Game Center (Achievements and Leaderboards)
Retina Graphics (rebuilt from scratch)
Improved / streamlined Settings Page

I also added something really cool and clever (that no one will notice):
Cloud storage via Game Center!

I figure other players (besides me) use multiple iOS devices...
iPhone and iPad for example. Apple's iCloud is cool but not available yet for in-app data. It would allow save data, like unlocked tokens, to sync between devices!

BUT... iCloud is an iOS 5.0 feature, and iPod Touch 2nd Gen only goes up to 4.2. I have one of those, and want to continue supporting that device. So I came up with a cool way to sync data anyway, using Game Center (which only requires 4.2)!

Basically, figure if you unlock an achievement, that data is stored on "the cloud". I can check which achievements you have, on any device. So if you have the "Beat Random AI" achievement for example, I check for that, and unlock snack tokens (the reward for beating that AI) on all your devices!

One last thing I should add:
There are 13 achievements...

...only 11 of them are unlockable right now, the last two are Top Secret and will be unlockable in the future. I can't wait to reveal what that's all about, but not yet!

Duke's Ego Rewards

2011-08-22T12:56:00.000-04:00

"Intel" usually gets on my nerves.
By intel I mean, secrets hidden throughout a game.

What's good about intel:

Adds replay value (finding things hidden in levels)
Can add story / context
Helps justify a $60 price tag

But unfortunately:

Can slow / kill game pacing (esp. in high action shooter games)
Can be boring / uninteresting
Can pull away from / ruin a game's atmosphere

Duke Nukem Forever has I think the best "intel" I've ever seen in a game.
It comes in the form of ego cap rewards hidden in each level.

I've seen games with interactive environments before. Duke has that. Duke can check himself out in the mirror, play pool, punch the punching bag and so on...

Each of these actions is tallied as a secret to find in a level.
One level might have a cigar you can smoke, a pinball machine you can play...

The cool thing is, once you do an action once? That "secret" is found. In effect, if you didn't find the cigar in one level, you can smoke a cigar in a later level and still "find" that secret. Or if you've been finding a lot of secrets, you may actually start a level later in the game, having found all of that level's secrets already! So you can just blow through the level, not snooping in every corner for secrets.

Secrets reward you with a small boost in max health. It's unusual for a game to reward you for finding secrets, I like that! Some ego rewards are of course more complicated than others. Playing pinball takes some effort: from both the player and the developer, who took the time to create a working pinball machine in game. More complicated ego rewards give a larger boost to your max health.

This whole set up for secrets allows for varied game play too:
One ego reward might really be unique, hard to find, and hidden in a specific level: for example, binoculars that let you check out babes on a pier. Another might be skill based: pinball, pool table. Another might be a puzzle: finding all weights for the weight bench and then lifting it.

I really enjoyed Duke Nukem Forever.
This feature in particular, I thought was very well done!

Tome of Identify

2011-08-01T04:12:00.001-04:00

I don't think there are any games I've played more than Diablo 2.
(Diablo 2 is even fun when you're a Mormon, because you go kill the devil!)

BUT there's this one inventory item that boggles my mind. The only thing that boggles my mind more than this inventory item, is that I know a person who ACTUALLY carries this item in their inventory when they play!

The item I'm speaking of is: Tome of Identify

In Diablo 2, you find "unidentified" items.
I played so much Diablo 2 in high school, that I wrote "unidentified" all over one of my math assignments, rather than "undefined".

"Unidentified" items have hidden, magical properties that can be revealed by:

Scroll of Identify
Deckard Cain

The scroll of identify is small, and takes up one inventory slot. Deckard Cain, you save really early in the game, and he identifies your crap for free.

Where does the Tome of Identify come in?
It takes up two inventory slots, and allows you to carry 20 scrolls of identify.

So let's talk strategy:
I'm impatient, pick up everything, bring it to town, and then sort it out. NOT carrying a Tome of Identify allows me to carry more crap, Deckard Cain is always easy to find in town, he identifies everything for free, and THEN I sell or equip my stuff.

If you're more patient, I guess you might actually think about what you pick up, deciding that some things are not worth bringing back to town and selling... but if that involves identifying things with "magical properties", that boost sale price? And you're going to town to sell valuable things anyway, wouldn't you just talk to Deckard Cain and get your things identified for free?

Which makes me think, Tome of Identify must really be designed for players looking to identify and equip items before they even get to town. I could see starting players having their eyes open for certain types of items, like their first ring or amulet... but how many things do you honestly need to identify, before you get back to town? Would "two" seem fair? Then why not carry two scrolls of identify? If you use one, you'll gain space in your inventory that the Tome of Identify would otherwise take up!

There is only one time I think Tome of Identify could honestly be useful and it's Act 5: you're late in the game, probably filthy rich, and soo lazy you can't be bothered to walk over to Deckard Cain when you visit town. In Act 5, he happens to be slightly more out of the way, when considering a path between town portals and the one shopkeeper who heals you. EVEN SO, if you're that lazy, the extra two inventory slots you'd gain NOT carrying a Tome of Identify might come in handy, saving you some trips to town!

I have a ton of respect for Blizzard (Diablo 2's developers) for including this item... really for no reason. I think it's intuitive, I could see starting players wanting a way to carry lots of scrolls, but eventually you've got to realize, there is NO reason to carry this around, certainly not after rescuing Deckard Cain right in the beginning of the game. Amiright?

Tiny Tower as a Productivity Tool

2011-07-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

Tiny Tower is an iPhone game in which boys compete to see who has the biggest tower, using Game Center. Girls can play too!

All things considered, the game is Progress Quest.
Much of the game plays in the background, while you're doing other things with your life. Money to expand your tower is earned over time based on light management choices that only take a few seconds in the game. Paying more attention to the game rewards you with VIP's and "dollars" that speed up your progress.

I've been using Tiny Tower as a productivity tool!
I let it run in the background, then try to see how much work I can get done in the real world before it pings me, needing my attention in-game.

...it's easy to forget how much you can honestly get done in let's say, the fifteen minutes before dinner, or other easily wasted blocks of time during the day!

Frustrating Air Hockey 1.1

2011-07-16T15:50:00.002-04:00

Frustrating Air Hockey just got an update!
Download Frustrating Air Hockey

I added a lot of new stuff, including Game Center Achievements and Leaderboards, a difficulty slider, awesome Retina graphics, doubled the frame rate...

You'll notice my leaderboards are:

Pushers: Best difficulty rating beaten with Pushers
Paddles: Best difficulty rating beaten with Paddles
Most Frustrated: Most losses

Why would I rank loss count but not win count?
I specifically wanted to reward players for trying to improve their high scores, and for playing my game often. Win count, if I ranked that, would have rewarded players who decrease difficulty rating, in order to win against easier AI!

Also, Booga Bear fans might (rightly) assume there are two secret achievements:

Beat Kenny: Win against a very frustrating Pusher AI
Beat Booga: Win against a very frustrating Paddle AI

Maybe I'll share how "frustrating" you have to crank the difficulty slider, but not in this post. I WILL hint that I have earned these achievements, so the scores you have to beat must be less than or equal to my scores.

You can see my high scores (MrKenny) on Game Center.
You can also add me on there if you like (hi@kennysapps.com)

Check out the Booga Bear achievement pic :P

Enjoy the new Frustrating Air Hockey, it's free!