gen's thoughts (also vlog time) - jack of all trades, master of none

so a while back i was working on an article concerning aesthetic/design trends in video games (as well as their links with particular audiences) after developer Naughty Dog pretty much ruled out ever returning to making any Jak or Crash Bandicoot games and i got pretty sore about it.

well, as far as the whole game design thing goes, George Weidman of Super Bunnyhop worded it a lot better than i could've. while i'm not going to deny that older gaming generations had trends of their own (how many friggin 3d platformers did we get in the late90s-mid00s again?), certain trends seem to be more commonplace in AAA games from the more recent years. hell, even a good fraction of indie games aren't safe from this; just count how zombie/crafting/survival/metroidvania/sandbox games you see on steam's indie section.

a lot of people yell for new IPs all the time, but how do we know said new IP won't just use trends already seen before? new IPs are great, but if you can innovate on new features or streamline existing ones, that's even better. quite a bit of Nintendo series tend to try out new things and improve on existing gameplay stuff: while the Mario and Pokemon series are good example of this, Kirby and Zelda have this as well.

hell, recent Nintendo consoles feature some pretty creative new IPs that put a spin on existing trends and try out new styles of gameplay. the Pikmin games are wonderful, Captain Toad looks pretty fun, and the upcoming Splatoon is a interesting take on the shooter genre with its gameplay and graphical style. a good lot of japanese-developed titles are pretty unique in their gameplay as well, and there's even some pretty creative indie games if you look hard enough. there's also a few western-developed gems that put an interesting spin on usual gameplay conventions: just look at Guild Wars 2.

there's a bit more to fun and memorable game design (and aesthetic, by extension) than just hopping on a trend bandwagon, but not a whole lot of developers are willing to risk innovation over sales. why is there an overabundance of a particular genre/gimmick/graphic style in games? because that's what the vocal audience demands. and they sell. it's a sad truth, but it's a truth.

though even in recent times, there are creative gems that are worth a look at. you just have to look hard enough for them. c:

vlog - crash bandifloat

so uh, i may or may not have been on a Crash Bandicoot fix lately. which is weird, since i've been into it for quite some years now, and yet it's early 2015 where the obsession reaches a friggin' peak. funny how that works.

might be doing these vlog sorta things just to space out between the more wordier stuff while i work on them. mostly they'll be about stuff i find pretty fun or interesting. i'll probably end up having a similar thinger with favorite musics of mine as well. also maybe artwork showcases, though i'm not 100% sure on that yet.

anyhow, here's a pretty sweet Crash-themed float done for Arkiweek at the UST College of Architecture in 2011! it's a wonderful fan tribute to the classic platformer franchise, and there's a lot of pretty rad costumes, too. also, dancing. the dancing is especially important.

even if i've got my doubts on there being another Crash Bandicoot game anytime soon, it's still nice to know that the series is still adored by the fans and that the community themselves are pretty dang dedicated to it.

curiousities - The Chronicles of Jaruu Tenk

bit of a short one compared to last time, but a interesting gem nonetheless.

The Chronicles of Jaruu Tenk was developed by John Passfield and Steve Stamatiadis and released in 1999 by Gee Whiz! Entertainment. according to the help file, the game is a "screen opera"; basically a interactive virtual environment that also doubles as a screensaver if you so wish.

so yeah, it's not a "game" in the general sense of the world; there's no major goals or long-term objectives. the scale's also rather small, with it set in the titular Jaruu Tenk's house, but there are quite a few things about Chronicles that are pretty interesting for its time.

set in the world of Kombara on the island of Bloofen Jut, Jaruu works as an Observer, keeping track of volcanic activity in the region and keeping an eye out for any threats. as a visitor to the island, you can explore around Jaruu's house, talk to him and his friends, read up on the lore of Kombara, and even play games around the house with Jaruu.

curiousities - BKPC and BKPC 2

er, less of a curiousity, more of a forgotten relic of a time long gone.

i remember back in 2002, back when i first got internet, i used to participate pretty dang heavily in the Banjo-Kazooie community for quite some years. while places like Banjo-Fella's Breegull Aviary and Da-Breegster's Breegull Feather Data Base are now lost to the winds of time, i do have a little memento from that period here today.

there were a countless amount of Banjo-Kazooie fangames back in the early 00's. while most of these were fairly ambitious projects that never made it past the demo phase, there did exist a few finished fangames featuring the friendly furry and his feathered friend.

er, poetic nonsense and alliteration aside, we're going to be talking about one of the more well-known Banjo fangames from that time. because i'm a nostalgic dork. and yes, there will be download links.

BKPC was developed by Yumblie and Bhlaab some time around 2000 or so, during the peak of the Banjo community. while i'm not 100% sure if it was the very first Banjo fangame, it was definitely one of the most popular ones at the time, if not the most popular.

MAKAIPUNK - Disgaea Character Collection fanart gallery

2015. a new year, a fresh start. hopefully i'll work on posting crap more frequently here.

been dawdling as far as the next part of the Disgaea manga readthrough is concerned, but MAKAIPUNK isn't solely about the manga stuff. generally it's more about the lesser-known NIS/Disgaea stuff, and that being said, here's a bit of a treat for everyone to start the year off.

in 2003, some time after the release of the first Disgaea game on PS2, Dengeki Playstation printed the Disgaea Character Collection: an artbook with a bevy of official, concept, and promotional art from the first game, as well as some tidbits of lore, developer/voiceactor interviews, info on plot, endings, and some other gameplay things, among various other visual nifty stuff.

the artbook did see an english localization in 2006 under the name The World of Disgaea, published by the now-defunct Broccoli Books. i am planning on snapshotting some bits from the book eventually, but we're focusing on a different aspect of the book at the moment.

the original japanese Character Collection featured two pages of artwork drawn by fans of the series. curiously, these pages are absent in the english version, but i guess nobody in the US would know any of the artists who drew any of the pictures, being on the other side of the planet and all.

scans of the original japanese artbook do exist on the net, but for legal reasons, i won't be putting up any links to the full scanned book. though, considering these pages are absent from the english release, might as well put them up for posterity. that and the fanart here is pretty good for the 2003 era. if blogspot's iffy on showing the fullsized images, alternate imgur links exist here and here.

also of mention is that the japanese artbook for Makai Kingdom (Phantom Kingdom in Japan) has a fanart section like this. no scans of the artbook currently exist, but i'll probably snap some shots of the fanart if i can get them in decent quality.

happy new years, everyone. let's make this a great one. <3

tis the season for chilling (also nextyear musings)

and considering i rarely friggin update this blog with anything substantial, i've been doing a lot of that this month. and year. eh.

apologies for the lack of updates, and twice the apologies that posts like these seem to be more frequent than any of my other crap. i'm still working on getting the next MAKAIPUNK installation up, but i've been kinda stalling on it. kind of tricky taking snapshots while holding a book open. plus there's also the issue with not having much else to really discuss.

though, with recent things in my life brewing up (good things, don't worry), i might have more to bring when the new year comes than just nitpicking a manga about a video game about demons that also got an anime adaptation. ahem.

• Dinosaur Planet crap. been doing recordings of a Starfox Adventures LP that kiiiiiiiinda is related to this, but i've been wanting to do more talking about this cancelled gem of a game here since it's been a favorite topic of mine for quite some years. while i do run a shrineblog for DP on tumblr, i'll probably do some more wordier stuff here since blogspot's a better format for those types of things. history and introductory stuff and analysis and research and junk like that.
• more STEAMPUNK. with the steam holiday sale going on, no doubt people are stocking up on low-priced games for the winter. i'm pretty much content after blowing around $250 dollars on games last holiday sale, but i still wanna talk about steam gems people might not know of or don't appreciate as much. i'll likely be doing this with GOG games and other PC and DOS titles as well.
• PS2 recs. alongside other older consoles and handhelds and MAYBE arcade games. ordered a ps2 since i've been looking into it for a while, and it came in today. prob will be amassing a ps2 game library over the next year, so i'll prob review some of the lesser-known stuff or stuff i feel people should appreciate more. 'course i'll do other recs of games from other older consoles, and i'm looking into reviewing MAME arcade games as well.
• more MAKAIPUNK. am aware i've been dawdling on the Disgaea manga readthrough, but i'll be getting back to that shortly. been considering looking at other curious pieces of NIS merch such as some of the artbooks, light novels, drama cds, and other things of note that would bear mentioning (and i could probably get my hands on). hell, there's some chance i'll be reviewing some of the older NIS titles on PS2/PSP as well. we'll see how that fares, though.
• Warcraft stuff. alongside Legacy stuff (which finally released lately and my adventures in it have been pretty interesting so far), i'm thinking of doing some article stuff concerning older WoW musery as well as stuff concerning the way-older Warcraft RTS games. particularly the third one since the modding community for it is still pretty active to this day, and there's quite some interesting maps out there.
• fantasy and roleplay musings. speaking of musery, i'm generally a sucker for fantasy stuff and worldbuilding, and i'm surprised i don't blab about it more. also, tabletop rpg stuff. yeah, i should still look into actually doing that sort of deal.
• 80s/90s cartoon crap. the world needs to know how hilariously bad stuff like Captain N and Sonic Underground are. also, terrible movies. though i'm very likely not going to review Foodfight since i feel like everyone and their mom knows of it at this point. ah well.
• various other crap i forgot to mention. not like this blog goes by any specific theme outside of things i like, so probably more miscellaneous stuff will pop up in the coming year.

so yeah, even if updates will be scarce for the rest of the month (will be working on chapter 2 of the Disgaea manga though), hopefully i'll get to doing more stuff  in 2015. if real life doesn't continue tugging at my tail, hopefully.

sit tight, folks. be sure to tell your friends. and probably your enemies.

in other unrelated news, LUFTRAUSERS is on sale on steam for six dollars until next year. oh yeah, and there's a trailer for the coming January update for Starbound. get hyped.

STEAMPUNK - LUFTRAUSERS

sometimes a game i rec merits one of those long-winded sort of forewords like i did with my Conker rec; how it stands out to me, a few general opening thoughts on it and games like it, and why i like it amongst other wordy things.

however, i won't be doing that today. namely since this is more in-depth than a standard rec of mine, so most of the wordiness will come from further in. aaaand there's not much i can open on outside of "i friggin' LOVE bullet hell shmups" as far as this game's concerned. so with that out of the way, welcome to STEAMPUNK, a new segment dedicated to reviews of Steam games i particularly like despite being named after an aesthetic i'm not all that fond of.

yeah. anyhow, let's talk Luftrausers.

developed by Vlambeer, Luftrausers is a arcade-esque shoot-em-up (shmup) game featuring multi-directional movement (as opposed to just being top-scrolling or side-scrolling like in other shmups), and gameboy-like graphical aesthetic, and customizable fighter planes. by completing missions, you can unlock more weapons, plane bodies, and engines that change how your plane functions.

and in line with bullet hell games like DoDonPachi and Touhou, it is and will get very hard. though if that sort of thing is your cup of tea, keep reading.