30 days of me, day 24
Submitted by Earok on Sun, 10/24/2010 - 00:00A letter to your parents
Dear Mum and Dad,
You did right by me. I give my eternal, humble thanks for all the time and effort you have put in to raise me. You've both made me the person I am today.
Mum, your hard working professionalism has inspired me to attempt to achieve the same. Your compassion and care for others has inspired me to try to be a better person.
Dad, your endeavor to become a brilliant artist has inspired my artistic efforts, albeit in the field of game development. Your strong, unwaivering faith but skepticism about the doctrines of the Churches has formed the very core of my belief set.
The patience, understanding and love that you both afforded me will never be forgotten. Out of all of the parents I could have been born with, I am very glad it was you two.
Love you always,
Erik
30 days of me, day 23
Submitted by Earok on Sat, 10/23/2010 - 00:00Something you crave for a lot
I can't really just name one thing that I crave for, so I'll list a few here
- A cause, so that my very existence was worthwhile
- Understanding of cultures, politics, history, sciences, languages and religions
- Artistic achievement in game development
- Fantastic experiences, both real and virtual/imagined
- A mind at peace, free of distractions
- Junk food, anyone will tell you I crave this too much
- Stuff that isn't safe-for-work and won't be posted here
30 days of me, day 22
Submitted by Earok on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 00:00What makes you different from everyone else
My fingerprints.
In all seriousness, I can't really think of a single trait that makes me unique from everyone else, perhaps my combination of traits (See 15 interesting facts) makes me unique but I can't think of anything interesting about the combination.
30 days of me, day 21
Submitted by Earok on Thu, 10/21/2010 - 00:00A picture of something that makes you happy
Okay, I know it might seem strange that a building makes me happy. But consider this:
- It has provided me with a job for the last six years.
- It has provided me with a home for the last five.
- I have shared it with Kirsty for the last three.
- The central city location is perfect.
- The view is fantastic.
- Kirsty's doing a great job with the garden.
This is where I have been spending the happiest years of my life.
Current game projects
Submitted by Earok on Wed, 10/20/2010 - 22:19Edit - Anthony uploaded a new montage of the four Witch sisters to his DeviantArt, so I've put it here as well.
Yes, I'm still toiling away on game development projects! Here are the three that I am actively working on:
The Kiwi's Tale XNA port
This one was actually the idea of Michael Schaeffers. Michael has kicked off the project and has already managed to convert levels from the original Mappy format to an Ogmo-like XML format. I say Ogmo-like because the original intention was to use the Ogmo editor, but it's hopelessly slow so Michael has developed his own editor in Silverlight and customised the format. Since the editor runs in Silverlight theoretically it could be provided as 'Software as a Service', neat huh?
I am not quite sure what the final form of the game will take. Michael is keen to do the Windows 7 Phone port and I would like to do the XBox 360 one. I'd like to be able to monetize the game but there are a few difficulties with doing so, such as a lot of people contributed content to the original. Completely retooling the game to be an adaption of the Legend of Poutini has crossed my mind, and conceivably that's one we could even receive funding for.
Edit - Michael has made his own blog post about the project, which includes a link to the page where the current version of the Silverlight level editor is hosted. Includes the first level from the game plus the level one tileset. Have fun.
Witch Blasters
Witch Blasters is the working title for a sequel to my last 48 hour game jam effort. I already have a complete port of that in XNA 4.0, but my vision for Witch Blasters is vastly different, a sort of mash-up of shoot-em-ups and the Metroidvania genre. I am actually hoping to be able to reuse some of the Kiwi's Tale XNA engine for the game. Anthony Lau has done some brilliant concept art for the playable characters:
Depicted from left to right are Felicia (The aggressive Fire witch), Alison (The carefree Air witch), Erin (The nervous Earth witch) and Wendy (The stoic Water witch).
Powerslam
Still doing bits and pieces for Cobra Blade's upcoming Mac Furry Wrestling Simulator (!) Powerslam. Graphically the game is really shaping up nicely, I suspect the Mac indie game crowd may be in for a real treat when this is finally released.
30 days of me, day 20
Submitted by Earok on Wed, 10/20/2010 - 00:00Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
There's only one answer to this that won't land me in serious trouble!
Of course it's Kirsty, the love of my life, the woman who tolerates my eccentricities, reads dosens of books a year, actually encourages me to play more video games and cooks up a mean Chilli Con Carne.
30 days of me, day 19
Submitted by Earok on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 00:00Nicknames you have, why do you have them
I can only really think of a few from the top of my head.
- Earok I don't really need to go into this again.
- Ewok Which was given to me by my parents, presumably because it sounds similar. Also maybe because I'm short and fuzzy (Though I probably didn't have much facial hair as a five year old).
- Biggie / Big E / Biggie Smalls / The Bigster etc Which was given to me by an old mate (Because I'm big, and my name starts with E, hur hur) and the countless variations are used at work. I actually considered ditching Earok for one of these variations but I think I changed my mind after considering the possible legal action from the estate of Notorious B.I.G.
Note - on a completely unrelated topic, I've streamlined the look of the site a bit better. Check it out.
30 days of me, day 18
Submitted by Earok on Mon, 10/18/2010 - 00:00Plans/Dreams/Goals you have
On the 11th of May, 2007, I wrote down the three overall goals that I considered to be my ultimate objectives. They're still on four pieces of bluetack stuck to my bedroom wall after all this time. I thought it might be useful to discuss them here and how things have changed since then.
1. Create a production that touches and changes lives
In hindsight this was rather dumb. I'm not really sure why I thought having an emotional effect was important, just making stuff people like is enough. Just an ego thing I guess.
If I were to re-write this list today, I'd change it to something like "Make something really cool."
2. Start a family with the woman who understands me
At the time I never really had much luck with girlfriends, finding one that could tolerate my eccentricities seemed to be an impossible task, and one I had prayed about many a time.
It was barely six months after writing the list that I hooked up with Kirsty, and it's been a great nearly three years.. so far. It really does feel like I've somehow managed to find the one woman that can understand me (Well, at least I think she does!)
3. Do all that my Lord requires me to do
This is one I haven't made any progress on. I don't really know what my "purpose" is, if any. I'd actually be satisfied with life if I had no real purpose and just continued living as I have been.
If I do have a purpose, I'm here and listening.
30 days of me, day 17
Submitted by Earok on Sun, 10/17/2010 - 00:00Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
I don't have anyone specifically in mind, but I doubt that anyone's life would be more interesting to swap with than an Astronaut in orbit. For me, being able to experience zero gravity and view the Earth from space would be mind blowing.
30 days of me, day 16
Submitted by Earok on Sat, 10/16/2010 - 00:00Another picture of yourself
I've already posted these but, what the heck. This was the third time I did the Skyjump off the Skytower. Wish my hair didn't look so goofy back then, I must have been well overdue for a haircut.