miscellaneous

I Think I’m Falling in Love with These Tiny Building Blocks

Just about everyone and their friend’s Bichon Frisé’s piano teacher’s uncle who works at Nintendo has played with LEGOs, the ubiquitous interlocking plastic building blocks. The toy series was invented in Denmark over 70 years ago and is now one of the most successful products of all time.

However, there are competing products that also attempt to scratch that creative itch, including a version from a Japanese company called nanoblock. Appropriately stylized in all lowercase, nanoblock takes the small-scale construction concept and shrinks it to even tinier proportions. A unique selling point of nanoblock over its more established competitors is the possibility of crafting a model with a higher level of detail.

A 120-piece puzzle of a certain arboreal mammal was my gateway into the world of nanoblock. NBC_122, code-named “SLOTH” (or “ナマケモノ” in the micro-block’s mother tongue), was the subject of a fateful encounter in a gift shop. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to erect a little statue of such a magnificent creature.

Just like with themed LEGO sets, nanoblocks include instructions with visual steps on how to construct the figure. The sloth set is part of the “mini-bag” series and is marked with a difficulty of 2 out of 5. If you’ve built a LEGO set before, you could likely handle a level-2 nanoblock set.

nanoblock
My partially constructed sloth. It’s shaping up to be a beautiful piece of art.

It helps to have a sharp eye and steady hand since the bricks get as small as 4mm x 4mm x 5mm! The company offers special tweezers for the most devoted assemblers, though I didn’t feel that they were necessary for the sloth.

After a couple of focused building sessions, I became the proud owner of a blocky rendition of one of my favorite animals. It measures in at about 3.5 inches wide from the top of the head to the opposite tip of the branch and is approximately 2 inches tall from the swivel base to the hands.

nanoblock2
The masterpiece is complete. This might require a display case.

There’s a sense of pleasure and accomplishment when piecing together a puzzle and displaying the completed art on your wall or shelf. If you enjoy putting LEGOs or jigsaw puzzles together and integrating them as part of your space’s décor, then nanoblocks will fit right in with your collection!

Someday, my nano-sloth may be accompanied by nano-cats, nano-birds, or even nano-Pokémon (yes, there are licensed editions for fans of various series!). At such a petite size and reasonable price of about $10 to $15 for the mini-bags, there’s certainly room in my home and heart for more!

Just be sure that any pets in your household don’t get jealous of your new miniature model.

nanoblockfall
“I’ll make it look like an accident.”
news

Still haven’t played Spitfire Sheep? Get it on iOS and Android!

Hey there! Have you tried Spitfire Sheep yet? If not, then give it a whirl and prepare to have oodles of fun! I’m Spitfire Sheep’s designer and producer, so you can trust my totally unbiased opinion!

It’s free to play, but you can also buy the full version for $1.99 (that’s only a couple hundred pennies!) to remove all ads, unlock all costumes (including exclusives and ones that may be added in future releases), and gain the ability to play offline and resubmit your highest score when you get back online.

Just grab your preferred mobile device to start zapping sheep and dousing fires! You can even share your scores on Facebook and Twitter for bragging rights healthy competition!

Click on the Google Play Store link or App Store link below to go directly to the corresponding store page:

GooglePlayStoreIcon

AppStoreIcon

news

Introducing…Flow Wing Studios!

As of December 2017, my company, Flow Wing Studios, has officially been registered as an LLC.

FLOW-GREEN
Flow Wing Studios logo.

The bird in the Flow Wing Studios logo is based on the resplendent quetzal.

resplendentquetzal
Resplendent quetzal in flight.

You may also be wondering what the origin of the name is. There are actually multiple reasons that I chose it!

First of all, as a game developer, it’s important to have a sense of what supports good flow in a game. The term “flow” as a psychological concept was conceived by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi back in the 1970s. He interviewed artists who would lose track of time as they created art and felt as if they were being carried along by water.

In a 1996 interview with Wired, when asked about the what he means by “flow,” Csikszentmihalyi replies:

“Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

A game with flow will cause a person to become so immersed that they enter “the zone,” though as with the aforementioned artists that Csikszentmihalyi spoke to, this can also apply to other activities that evoke a meditative state.

Csikszentmihalyi posits that in order to reach the state of flow, there must be a well-defined task or goal, immediate feedback delivered by the task, minimal distractions that could disrupt focus, and proper balance between an individual’s skill and the task’s difficulty.

If you’re interested in reading more about the topic, please check out these articles:

https://www.cnet.com/news/be-one-with-flappy-bird-the-science-of-flow-in-game-design/

https://www.wired.com/1996/09/czik/

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/166972/cognitive_flow_the_psychology_of_.php

Why “Flow Wing” and not just “Flowing,” though? Well, I played around with the words a bit. “Flow Wing” still sounds like the gerund form “flowing” when spoken, yet it takes on an extra meaning when separated.

Flying is magical, inspiring, and ethereal. Birds flow through the skies with their wings. I wanted to become a pilot at age 5 or 6, and although it didn’t become my career, my fascination with flight is still intact.

Recently, I learned about the theory of Laminar Flow. The Aviation History Online Museum defines it as:

“The smooth, uninterrupted flow of air over the contour of the wings, fuselage, or other parts of an aircraft in flight. Laminar flow is most often found at the front of a streamlined body and is an important factor in flight. If the smooth flow of air is interrupted over a wing section, turbulence is created which results in a loss of lift and a high degree of drag. An airfoil designed for minimum drag and uninterrupted flow of the boundary layer is called a laminar airfoil.”

Obviously, I like to play with words.

My 2017 had a lot of ups and downs, and I hope that Flow Wing Studios and my wonderful team will soar in 2018!

game development · news

Hold the Xylophone; Here’s an Upbeat Update

A new teammate has joined the project as a composer. Give a warm welcome to Oliver O’Neill! We’re banding together to jazz up the game with some catchy music.

During MAGFest‘s Q&A panel for renowned game composer Manami Matsumae, I asked how I could ensure that players would like my game’s music. I haven’t even played an instrument since I was in elementary school, so I’m not at all knowledgeable in music theory or composition. Although my question was too general (I wish I had thought of something more specific), she confirmed and emphasized the overall importance of sound design for games. Afterward, Oliver approached me and expressed interest in lending his aural talents to my project.

As for the game itself, while it has been progressing more slowly than intended, I’m planning to start releasing some teasers in the near future. I’ve purposely been secretive to protect the project from being shown to the public before it’s ready, but I’m eager to stop harping on about delays and start drumming up interest.

game development · news

A New Game Begins…

In the past, I worked as a freelance game designer and QA tester. I enjoyed assisting my team and working toward the goal of releasing a digital experience for people to enjoy. However, a new phase of my life is beginning.

Here’s the official public reveal from yours truly: I’m starting my own game studio. Although I can’t reveal the name or logo yet, I’ll divulge more information when the time is right.

I will be managing the project and juggling other tasks, including design, art, animation, and marketing.

My company’s first project will be a mobile game for iOS and Android. The game will focus on providing an accessible, quirky, and compelling experience with gameplay inspired by classic arcade titles.

Stay tuned for more details.

game design concept · project

Game Career Guide Contest Entry Winner: Tag Troop

tagtrooplogoEvery month, Game Career Guide has a contest called Game Design Challenge, which asks game developers to explain a game design concept in 500 words or fewer and with a maximum of three images. August’s challenge, titled “Fun for the Whole Family,” was themed around redesigning an M-rated game to make it suitable for all ages. “M” stands for “Mature” in the ESRB ratings system and indicates that a game has content unsuitable for children.

My first step was to make a mental list of M-rated games, which included notorious and popular series like Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat. Ultimately, I settled on the Assassin’s Creed series. Since I had played and immensely enjoyed Assassin’s Creed II earlier this year, it was still fairly fresh in my mind.

Assassin’s Creed has a compelling story about two present-day organizations with opposing ideologies who battle each other across real-world historical time periods. Of course, even though some of the content can be educational, the series is not intended for children. True to its title, the game has some missions that require players to perform assassinations.

To repackage the material into something more appropriate for kids, I redesigned the story, items, and missions. Instead of hunting down and killing a target, players need to chase and tag a wrongdoer to encourage them to make moral choices. Smoke bombs and throwing knives are replaced with paper airplanes and marbles, which distract and trip up targets, respectively. Missions involve bullies, cheating on tests, and shoplifting.

From the beginning, I was very confident and enthusiastic about my idea, and I had a very strong feeling that designing the concept would be worth it. So I wrote and rewrote the game pitch document until I was pleased with the quality, and I even included three images to accompany the text. Thankfully, my effort paid off; my entry was one of the top picks!

If you’d like to check out my entry, you can view it here.