Evil Dead: The Musical

I'm volunteering backstage for Santa Barbara's version of the Evil Dead Musical which plays October 27th through 31st. I helped build some set pieces including the possessed trees. I got to use a power sander, jigsaw, and a circular saw. I don't get many chances to use power tools in my line of work. I'm also helping with bartending during the show.
My history with this musical goes back to when it came down from Canada years ago. I entered an Ash costume contest and won first place, which was a ticket to the off-broadway show. Unfortunately that didn't include a plane ticket to New York so I couldn't go. I bought the soundtrack as soon as it came out and had all the songs memorized before I finally saw the show in Martinez. It eventually it came to Chico. Sadly I was too busy with my work to get involved with it then, so I'm very happy to have another chance at it.

Spider-Man Games Retrospective pt 2

I skipped Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro because it looks like much of the same as the previously reviewed game, and it's a bit difficult to find since retail stores no longer carry Playstation one games.
Spider-Man (2002)
This Spider-man game has the look and [general] story of the first movie which came out the same year. I played this game when I was in high school at the peak of being a Spider-Fan. At the time, this was the best Spider-Man game available. The game mechanics are much the same as the previous game with improvements going along with the next generation (for the time) of consoles. This includes controlling the camera and air combat. The camera controls were much needed but not entirely polished, but I think many of the games at the time were struggling with this same thing. Web swinging and air combat are much more fun as you can go faster and spend whole levels without ever touching the ground. Horizontal zip lines are also new and add more speed to web-traveling. When it comes to webbing around it seems that more speed equals more fun. Graphics are improved and faces animate when talking. Also new to the series in this game is attack combos, which are neat but I didn't end up using them very much.
 The main menu makes me dizzy. The music is fast and all the words pulse strongly. It makes me antsy to chose an option just to get out of the menu. The harsh reds and blacks are also not very welcoming.
Learning how to play the games is a lot of fun for me personally because Bruce Campbell narrates and I'm a big fan of the Evil Dead series (which the director of Spider-Man also made). The secret unlocks are plenty, but not as good as the previous game. I think that's because it was geared toward the movie stuff, and that doesn't stand the test of time as well as the content geared toward the comics.
I mentioned in my last review how I enjoyed the explanation for killing the player if he descends too low while web-swinging in the open city. In this game there is no explanation, so my inner nerd is asking why Spidey can't go down to street level.
The music is sometimes too epic and it loops the same song (a personal pet peeve). In the beginning of the game I turned it down because I was just walking around, not really deserving of epic music.
AI, as usual, is a bit dumb. In the sewer level the thugs chasing me ran right into the death water like lemmings.
I think it's funny when I find empty rooms with no purpose or if it just houses a single switch. Ahh, environment art and deadlines, what terrible foes you are.
One thing I've always wondered about the physics of Spider-Man: how does he zipline? His web shooters would have to suck the webbing back at super speeds. And In the movie he has organic webshooters ...that seems like it would hurt.
Another thing that I wonder about, the player can press a button to shoot web and it drains the web bar, but if it's drained you can still shoot webbing.
One level had a "super mech" in Oscorp, which struck me very similar to Rex in Metal Gear Solid. This isn't a bad thing for me personally because I love that game series.

Bust N Rush trailer

Bust N' Rush is the game we've been developing at Techtonic Games in Santa Barbara. We just finished a 10-day crunch and submitted to the Independent Games Festival. This is the first time we've publicly given out any info on our game.
Soon we will have a playable demo, so keep on the lookout for that.

Spider-Man Games Retrospective pt1

Now that I’m done with school I can play all the games I put off.  I’m going to play through the Spider-Man series starting with the Playstation version.  This Spidey retrospective won’t be comprehensive, but I’ll cover most of the [good] games.
 Spider-Man (2000)

                The year 2000 saw the first 3D Spider-Man game. Since the movies hadn’t come out yet, the style of the game is from the animated series from the 90’s, which I grew up watching. Stan Lee narrates, giving it the comic book vibe too. This game is old school Playstation graphics so it’s got the claw-hands and the static faces (with the exception of venom whose jaw opens and closes).

                The game is geared towards kids and fans of the comics. Even the controls are optionally dumbed down to “kid mode” which simplifies web-slinging. Several bits are for fans, like variant costumes, storyboards, comic covers, and cameos from other Marvel superheroes.

The thing I always enjoyed about this game as a teenager was that the design limitations of the city areas were written into the plot. If Spidey drops below a certain altitude he dies. Fog blocked the player’s view of the streets below, which could not have been done very well at the time.  [SPOILERS] This fog is explained in the plot: it was released by Doc Ock in order to prepare the citizens of New York for being taken over by Symbiotes. Explaining design limitations with plot elements is awesome and neat to me.

Bugs sometimes make the game difficult or easy, such as the boss Scorpion being unable to pass through a doorway and the player can safely take pot shots at him from a distance. There is no control over the camera so the player is often frustrated by attacking enemies off screen and sometimes ends up facing the wrong direction. And then there’s nothing more frustrating than  running around a health pickup in circles because you’re fighting the controls. 3D games were still growing up at this point, so these flaws are somewhat understandable in hindsight, but downright unacceptable by today’s gaming standards.

The ending cutscene is cheesy (even for a comic book game), where Spidey, Capt America, Daredevil, and Punisher are playing cards at a table. First of all, why play cards in costume? I know Spidey has a secret identity, but there’s nothing stopping Frank or Steve from wearing street clothes. Whatever, it’s a game. But Daredevil and Punisher NEVER get along and could not sit at a table peacefully together long enough to play cards. See this fan film as an example: http://www.youtube.com/user/blinky500#p/c/9F50ACB87CCE0908/3/GFoKtT1Qhms

Ps I’m pretty sure that while chasing down Spider-Man, the NY police were straight up destroying buildings using military-grade attack helicopters in this game. That level is kinda awkward in a post 9/11 world.

The Emmys

In the The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards of 2011 I was a Matte Painter. My 'happy' fantasy painting was used as a background for a shot in the opening segment hosted by Jane Lynch. Below you'll see a screenshot with my work in the background. Here is a link to the art: http://thewillowen.com/art_matte_files/Fantasy%20Matte%20Painting_Emmys.jpg