The Definition of Wellington's Summer
Sunday January 27, 2013
The Metservice says that we're supposed to have a sunny spell for a whopping ten days in a row. Not sure if this is unprecedented for Wellington, but it certainly seems like something novel since I've been here. Plenty of things have been happening to take advantage of the summer weather!
After badminton yesterday, I celebrated Australia Day with a few of my workmates with a low-key barbeque. There was plenty of fine meats to be had, and lots of good old fashioned Australian racism too (JOKE). I was sad I couldn't stay for longer as I had to rush to the Sprig and Fern for Matt and Claire's engagement party. Good to catch up with people and form some sort of plan for the trip down south in April. Looking forward to it!
Last weekend was Wellington anniversary, and I went to the Game Master exhibition at Te Papa with Jordan and Loic. Highly recommend it and had heaps of fun there - there's an impressive collection of video games there dating back to the old arcade-style games to the newest consoles - Wii, PS3 and Xbox360 - and with the advent of mobile gaming in the past few years, some iOS and Android games as well. I was blown away by how well some of the arcade games had aged; while some were very difficult to play, they're still incredibly fun and it was interesting to play them with their original control schemes - joysticks and track balls galore.
The exhibition really brought back the nostalgia, with Sonic 1, Sonic 2 and Super Mario Brothers showcasing the pinnacle of platformers in the 1990s, and in comparison how these IPs have evolved and branched out to Sonic Generations in 3D on the Playstation 3 (though I was having a bad time with this) and New Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo DS. Moving on from the Sega and the Nintendo sections, there was Blizzard (Starcraft 2 and Warcraft III), Will Wright (Sim City... and then his later games like Spore and The Sims which I didn't care about), Tim Schafer (Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island), a large open area for Dance Central, Singstar and Rockband, then a section for Indie games and mobile games, including Castle Crashers, Braid, Flower, Flow, Journey, Minecraft, Fruit Ninja Kinect, Jetpack Joyride, Chopper 2 and of course, Sidhe's own brick-breaking phenomenon, Shatter!
There was some kid playing Shatter when I arrived and he was playing it wrong. I suggested he hit the Right Ctrl button to unleash Shard Storm against the first boss, but he ignored me and continued being wrong. Jerk.
I have been playing Sonic 4 for a while, which I bought on Steam over Christmas, and like Sonic Generations at Game Masters, I was having a bad time with it. The physics are all wrong and there's no sense of momentum in the game. The trajectory of Sonic as he runs and jumps feels difficult and nothing like what his good old 16-bit days felt like. Though the game is pretty, it simply doesn't compare to Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 on the Genesis, and it's a pity that the series has devolved to this state. Frustrated from this experience, I turned to Lego Lord of the Rings. The game has some great humour and lots of content, but is quite easy and the first few stories can feel tedious and grindy. I've progressed to the point where I have lots of abilities, so it's much more interesting and fun now.
Works has been going well. Before I left for the US, I was supposed to be on a particular "barfing rainbows" project; I was reassigned onto Rise of the Guardians on my return and since its completion in November, I have been maintaining the company's core code base - as well as the fantastic Game Jam week we had to finish the year. Though the barfing rainbows project was also supposed to finish in November, it's been extended until March and I'm fortunate enough to be put back on that project. Most of the game is there and functioning, but it's a very valuable IP so we want to make sure that the metagame and the UI system are high quality and well polished. Looking forward to seeing this out on the App Store!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:17am on Sunday January 27, 2013 :: 0 comments :: 
Mooncakes
Monday September 24, 2012
It's that time of the year again. That one where my inner child squeals in delight as all the Asian supermarkets begin stocking all sorts of delicious mooncakes - white lotus, red bean, pandan and durian, in one yolk, or in two for a teensy bit more money. My choice this year was the Golden Emerald 1 Yolk from Restoran Oversea in Malaysia. True to its name, the rich emerald-coloured filling is made possible by the intense pandan flavour - with hints of almond and coconut, and accompanied with a single duck egg yolk in the center of the cake. Yum!
In celebration of mooncake festival, I cooked dinner at the Treehouse.
~ Deep fried tofu with cucumber, red onion, sweet chili sauce and ground peanuts ~
~ Stir-fried bok choi, green beans, baby corn and prawns ~
~ Grilled mussels with cheese and bacon ~
~ Roast duck garnished with cucumber and tomato ~
~ Lettuce wrap with minced lamb, capsicum, baby corn and bamboo shoots ~
Charlotte was in charge of dessert:
~ Mango pudding garnished with fresh strawberry ~
~ Golden Emerald Pandan Mooncake with One Yolk ~
Everything went according to plan and the meal was a huge success.
Let's see... I had a sunny weekend up in Otaki, went to Wellington on a Plate with Mel at the Boulcott St Bistro, I've been playing a few games on my Sega Mega Drive, I went to the Japanese Festival at the Town Hall, I've eaten a few KFC Double Downs and had Hot 'n' Spicy, went to see Jeramiah "Module" Ross perform the Shatter soundtrack live at the San Francisco Bath House... and I've also been quite busy at work. Two more weeks until Beta >_> The game is shaping up to be pretty good and I'm proud of what we've done. There's still lots more work to be done and various aspects of the game still need some tightening and polish. I guess we'll be ramping up efforts closer to our deadlines to try and cram things in.
Oh and I've finished uploading all my America photos and just added photos from my springtime photodump.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:08am on Monday September 24, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
This Week's Releases
Sunday March 14, 2010
Firstly, the fabled remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver are out in the US today with the Australian and New Zealand release 10 days later. Of course this means it's busy time for me and
Shatter, Sidhe's revolutionary brick-breaking game, is out on Steam, with my name making a brief cameo under the Special Thanks to the original Shatter team. Go and get it!
And finally, on Thursday, the long awaited Rugby League 3 is out for the Nintendo Wii. Featuring slick menus, awesome player and team customisation, and of course some classic rugby league action using the totally unembarassing Wii Remote controls, why WOULDN'T you want this game? (sorry Americans, this game is not for you)
Posted by Jeremy at 9:00am on Sunday March 14, 2010 :: 0 comments ::
Shatter released!
Friday July 24, 2009
Shatter is now available on the PlayStation Network for download. Be sure to check out the cool soundtrack too!
And also, thanks to Matt:
TEEHEE :D
Posted by Jeremy at 9:36am on Friday July 24, 2009 :: 0 comments ::
Shatter
Saturday May 16, 2009
Announcing... a revolutionary title for the Playstation3: Sidhe Interactive proudly brings you the next generation in Breakout - Shatter!
A polished, well-presented and addictive game that I've contributed to in a very small capacity. I still get my name on the credits! So you have to download it, it's definitely something you'll want to play.
Posted by Jeremy at 4:17am on Saturday May 16, 2009 :: 0 comments ::