It's been a long time since I've posted here. A lot has changed, mostly for the better!

I just wanted to let you know that my iOS game Beards and Glory has been released onto the iTunes store! Check it out! The first handful of levels are free. The rest are available for a cheap in-app upgrade.

The whole game was made in Flash, for those who are interested. Let me know what you think, and write up a review if you get a chance.

As some of you may already know, I'm the new Tech Director of Mobile Development for BlindSquirrelGames, a small startup game developer in Orange County, CA. I thought you might like a taste of what I'm working on. This is the level editor for our current game, Beard & Glory, scheduled for release on iOS, Android, and PC later this year. I can't tell you much about what the game-play is like (expect a video trailer soon), but know that there will be Vikings, booze and destructive violence.

Christ, I've been busy. I've got my fingers in about 20 different pies right now. Here's a little concept art for Conjurer to tide you guys over.

You can read more about what I'm up to at my production blog.

I posted some new character sketches for Conjurer. As you can see, the scope of the game is getting expanded quite a bit. You can see higher quality images at my production blog.

I'm so proud! The UC Irvine Video Game Developers Club was featured in a front page article in the OC Weekly today. It's been 10 weeks since I passed the torch to the new president, and it's wonderful to see the club getting this kind of exposure.

For those who don't know, UC Irvine in Orange County, CA is starting a Game Science major under their Computer Science Department. It's NOT like the typical game design degree that you get at trade schools like The Art's Institute, DeVry, or Westwood. It's actually geared toward the academic and lower level CS curriculum involved in the video game industry, like artificial intelligence, graphics processing, software design, discrete algebra, etc. The VGDC has been working with them to help design and promote the major, since our club is primarily focused on MAKING games, not playing them.

We've had a great time over the past year and a half, with QA presentations from dozens of industry speakers (including John Baez from The Behemoth), tours of Blizzard and Obsidian Studios, active involvement in the local IGDA chapter, and two game design competitions.

If any of you guys go to UCI, or are planning to go to UCI, look us up!

GO VGDC!

I've stopped voting on Newgrouds submissions. To clarify, I've stopped writing reviews. Sure, I've written a couple in a few months, but it's a far cry from the amount of involvement I enjoyed offering Newgrounds a long time ago.

Why?

Because most reviews that I write that aren't overwhelmingly positive or at least a step beyond "Meh" are removed. This is a critical issue with me. I take opinions from others very seriously. If someone hates what I do, I want to know why. If someone is being abusive, I want to stand up for myself. If someone wants to write a paragraph on why I'm the worst game developer ever, I can't wait to read it. If I want to rant about how much I hate stick films, there should be an open forum for it provided that there are no personal attacks (e.g. "Kids like you shouldn't make flash games") and abusive language ("n****r, fag, cunt, etc.").

Newground's recent policy on voting doesn't really support this kind of free expression. Either that or Newgrounds moderators are too quick to tear down reviews that they believe are hypercritical. I understand that they're trying to keep things civil and open to a large demographic of user. But this kind of censorship compromises the validity of the NG rating system.

I hardly trust the 0-5 point scale that the site offers. Most people's votes are too polarized, resulting in a storm of 0's and 5's once a swf is submitted to the portal. It kills me that Achievement Unlocked and its sequel have higher scores than WaterLollies and Dad 'n Me, given the vast difference in production quality and polish. I also find it disheartening that the 5 point score is what determines if a submission is considered for a weekly or monthly award.

The true feedback comes from the review. If there's no room for brutal honesty, then all you'll get is false encouragement from those who only like your work, and there is nothing worse than circle jerking with a site full of ass kissers.

I'm in the midst of overhauling a lot of things in Conjurer, which also includes the design of the hero. I explain the reasons in my production blog post. Just thought you'd like to see some new art after a loooong drought of news.

I'm a daddy!

This is our daughter, Autumn Siriwan Dalby, born about two weeks ago. She gets almost all of her good looks from Mom. Everything went well at birth, despite a minor complication, and the wife and I are now getting used to being parents.

... I'm tired.

My entry for the imagine cup got as far as it could in the competition. We didn't get to move on to round 3. Oh well, it was a fun experience. Here's a demo video. It looks really good in 720 fullscreen.

:-)

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If Vega from Street Fighter had an epic mount, this would be it.