Discussions with Devs: Magic Pixel Games

The second of episode of Discussions with Devs has arrived!  It can now officially be called a series.  Today, I sit down with Holden Link from Magic Pixel Games.  It was founded back in 2010 by several game industry veterans with a mission for fun.  Holden and I talk about how the studio was founded, their latest game Carnival Island, and developing games for motion control platforms.  Enjoy!

As always, if you have any suggestions for future episodes then comment below or email me at ryanjsuter@gmail.com  And thanks!

Comic Review: AvX #1 and the Marvel AR app

I want you to do something.  Get out your smartphone or tablet computer and download the Marvel AR app (it's available on iOS and Android).  Now open the app, make sure your sound is on, and point it at the AvX cover and watch the magic.

On April 3rd the first Avengers versus X-Men came out.  I'm pretty excited about the series because Captain America is my favorite super hero and the X-Men is my favorite super team.  It is going to have some very awesome match-ups for sure.  In this story arc, the destructive Phoenix Force is rocketing toward Earth and people are starting to freak out.  It's coming to Earth to embody the newest mutant, Hope, as its host and everyone knows it.  The Avengers are trying to stop the coming of the Phoenix Force and have some sort of plan that involves taking Hope from the X-Men.  However, Scott Summers (Cyclops) is the leader of the X-Men and is refusing to give Hope over to the Avengers.  Scott knows that the Phoenix Force can be very destructive, but he also knows that whenever it destroys something it leaves behind a rebirth of new life.  He believes that the Phoenix will restore the mutants that were lost when Scarlet Witch changed reality back in the House of M story arc by changing all but 200 mutants into regular people.

It is understandable that both parties are conflicted as to what to do, but I have to admit that I am disappointed in my favorite heroes' problem solving/conflict resolution skills.  You would think that they could all work together to figure out a solution, but I guess they used up all of their teamwork skills in Fear Itself.  Then again, comics wouldn't be very interesting if there wasn't any fighting.

AvX #1 is a great read. The cliff hangar at the end has me pumped for #2 which comes out this Wednesday.  And while I'm excited to see where the story goes, I'm more excited to explore its integration of the Marvel AR (augmented reality) app.  If you didn't/couldn't try it out here's what you missed:  the app uses your camera and you point it at the page/pane that has the AR logo in the corner and watch as it brings the page to life.  The front cover of AvX #1 has animations and video that serve as a trailer for what's inside.  It's so cool.  Then on the title page inside, Marvel Editor in Chief, Alex Alonso, walks onto the screen to tell you about the series and the AR function.

The app is a little finicky but overall it adds a whole new dimension to enjoying the book.  I like comics, but my biggest complaint is that they are so short I'm always left wanting more.  So with all new content I got a lot more out of AvX #1 then I have with any other comic.  The best part is that the technology is brand new, so it will only get more sophisticated with time.  I can't wait for this Wednesday.

Discussions with Devs: Tarver Games

It's done!  Below is the first installment of Discussions with Devs, your guide on the awesome journey through the Indie dev community.  In the show, I talk to Chris Cross from Tarver Games in Long Beach, CA about his current project Cold War 2.0, working in Unity 3D, and his blog (jimtarver.blogspot.com).

Enjoy!

A big thanks to Chris for working with me and being my guinea pig on this project.

This is a shortened version of the interview.  I will post the full version at a later time.

ECCC Part 3: The "least colossal Colossus ever"

Costumes

Kitty Pryde (Lauren McLaren)
 and Colossus (Me)

Our morning started around 8 am.  We woke up and started getting into our costumes by 9 am.  I previously posted about our costumes for the event.  My girlfriend went as Kitty Pryde and I went as Colossus.  (If you follow the comics, you may be aware that Kitty and Colossus recently broke up after Colossus took on the Bands of Cytorrak to help the Xmen stop the Juggernaut from destroying San Francisco in the Fear Itself story arc, but we went as a couple anyway.)  It took about an hour to finish my makeup and we finally got to the con at about 10:30 am.

Galactus and Silver Surfer

We had expected to turn some heads, but neither of us were prepared for the amount of attention we received.  Before we could get our passes and get into the event, we were swarmed by people wanting to take pictures with us.  We didn't even make it into the first panel because we stopped for so many pictures.  The coolest thing about dressing up was how excited people got. "You two are my favorite couple!" was a phrase we heard a lot.  We even got tweeted by a CB Cebulski from Marvel.  And on one blog that had a photo gallery of the cosplayers, I found my favorite quote: "That is the least colossal Colossus ever."

Falcon!

The coolest costumes that we saw at the event were Galactus (Marvel Comics), Falcon (Marvel Comics), and Bender (Futurama).  We got an opportunity to chat with Galactus when we all got stuck in an impromptu Marvel photo session.  He had made the entire suit himself, including the helmet.  His wife sewed all the fabric and he made all the hard plastic pieces from fiberglass, resin, balsa wood, and foam.  As you can see in the picture it was amazing.  The Falcon outfit was awesome too.  He even had wings that folded out to wow the crowds.  But the best (and most annoying) thing about that guy was the he was tall, buff, and handsome like a super hero.  People like that ruin the curve for average people like myself.  Finally, there was the Bender costume.  It looked great, but the best part were all the accessories that they had for it: different eyes, a mouth with a cigar, and a tutu.

Overall, the experience was amazing.  My GF and I had fun making the costumes, I learned a whole lot about the comic industry, and met some really cool and creative people.  We're already looking forward to next year.  Got any good ideas for a costume?!

ECCC Part 2: Panels

Panels

The panels started at the top of each hour and were supposed to run for 50 minutes or so, but a lot of them ran over which screwed up the schedule.  And because many of the panelists were booked at back-to-back panels, they sometimes showed up late.  I think the whole show could have benefitted from running the panels on tighter schedule.  But regardless of that, all the panels we attended were fun and educational.  The first panel we went to we missed because it filled up before we could get there.  After that we learned to show up early.

The second panel was How to Edit Comics.  I've done film/tv editing and I know the role of a literary editor, but I didn't know the first thing of what it takes to edit a comic book.  Turns out the editor is like a ringmaster at a circus, coordinating between all the different artists (pencilers, inkers, colorists, etc.) to make sure that the book hits all its deadlines.

The third panel was Pint O' CB where fans got to ask any questions they had for Marvel Comics' Senior Vice President of Creative and Creator Development, C.B. Cebulski.  Since this was a Marvel panel and we were dressed as Kitty and Colossus, I decided to go up and ask a question in character.  The panel didn't release any groundbreaking news, but it was fun and we all had a some good laughs.

The fourth panel was Starting a Successful Kickstarter.  Kickstarter is a website where people can raise funding for their projects.  It was a very informative panel and I encourage any creative types with a good idea to go take a look.

The fifth panel was Oh My, It's George Takei.  This panel was held in a huge hall with probably a thousand seats.  We lined up 30 minutes early and still had to wait to get in because so many people had stayed in the hall after the previous panel.  It was worth the wait.  George Takei is very funny and he had the whole audience going with all of his funny stories.  However, the moderator was Danny Bonaduce.  He got a few laughs out of me, but I mostly just thought he was an ass.

The final panel we went to was the Star Wars Radio Play and it was my favorite.  The panel consisted of famous voice actors from Futurama, Pinky and the Brain, Finding Nemo, Teen Titans, etc.  Billy West, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jess Harnell, and Rob Paulsen did a reading of New Hope while there were randomly assigned different voices by the moderator.  My favorite combo was Futurama's Bender as Princess Leia performed by John DiMaggio and Power Puff Girls' Bubbles as Darth Vader performed by Tara Strong.  I love doing impersonations and voices, so I was enthralled and inspired by the talent on stage.

The panels were all very interesting and entertaining.  We would have liked to have gone to more, but we were also busy showing off our costumes.  Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it.

ECCC Part 1: The Booths

After months of planning, yesterday my girlfriend and I went to the Emerald City Comicon.  In short, it was amazing!  It took over the whole convention center and spanned four floors.  The panels were hosted in rooms on all the levels, but the comic-centered booths were only on the fourth floor and the gaming booths were on the first floor.  There was a huge crowd of people (many of whom dressed in cosplay) from all ages and areas of interest, which made for a really fun atmosphere.  The show ran from Friday to Sunday, but we only went for Saturday.  There is so much to say about the con, so over the next few days I'll break it into three easy to chew pieces: the booths, the panels, and of course the costumes.

Booths
The fourth floor was the main floor where they had a huge hall set up with lots of booths.  There were booths of artists, shops, and organizations.  When most people think of comic books they picture super heros like Batman (DC Comics) or Spiderman (Marvel Comics), but there is a vast world of comic books that cover all kinds of genres.  There were little kid comics, historical comics, graphic novels, LGBT comics, web comics and more.  Comics are a great artistic way to explore a lot of rich worlds.  We had a fun time just going around and looking at all the variety.

On the first floor they set up all the gaming booths.  There were card games, an arcade, a Guitar Hero contest, and demos of the latest Star Wars game for the Kinect.  They had a really cool R2D2 Xbox with a C3P0 controller.  The gaming section booths looked great and had a lot of stuff, but since the area was pretty small it was packed with people.

The artist booths were my favorite.  Their artwork covered original material as well as personal takes on well known subjects like super heroes or television shows.  The artwork was not just limited to drawings; there was a lot of comic-inspired figurines, crafts, and jewelry.  Many of the artists were there doing sketches at their booths.  It was cool to see the artistic process first hand.  And since most comic book artists are freelance the show is a great way for them to get fans and find work.

There were also a lot of shops set up with really cheap comic book deals, toys, tshirts, etc. but we didn't bring any extra money for shopping.

The booths were interesting, but it was hard to get a good look at them since we were in costume and everyone was stopping us to take pictures (including the people running the booths).  We mostly just used walking around the booths as a time filler while we waited for tomorrow's subject: panels.