Art Monkey helping to keep me working on my Art

Working on Art lately. Painting mostly, trying to get better at my craft. My latest creation is of my handle Art-monkey whom I turned into an alter-ego of sorts. I most admite its fun to draw and paint this guy. I have painted him in many different ways though there is something about him that I will always recognize as my little creation.


Art Monkey at art table by ArtMonkey1979 on DeviantArt

The Princess Bride "Why oh Why"

Review:

I wanted to enjoy this. I really did. Though for me its a much better movie then novel. Just trying to get through the long descriptive passages made this a very hard read for me. In its def-fence I came at this after seeing and loving the film. The jokes are very similar if not exact on as in the film. Seeing how the film came after this novel. The book acts as a earlier draft to the film.
If you haven't seen the film, please go watch it. The jokes work much better when you see the fantastic cast act them out.
I do advise you to read the prologue, the author tells a fantastic story about how the book came into being. It was fun to read about how he worked on the story, turning it into a script and getting Andrea the giant to be in the film. For me Goldman is a fantastic screen writer and would be an entertaining one man show. Though in the endless sea of pages in a novel I find myself getting lost.

Original post: ZappyChappie.booklikes.com/post/1150345/the-princess-bride-why-oh-why

Hudson Moore's Going out Tonight (country music you can bop to)

I found noise trade while I was looking for websites offering books. Noise trade has a section for authors too. Gaining exposure for free stuff. Though it was the music section I found myself looking through. If you like Pat Green or Hunter Hayes you might want to give this guy a shot. I found myself bopping along with his song.

The Generational Gap: A response to Corpsealot's thoughts on the matter

Corpsealot; Harbinger of games put up a video on his You-tube channel expressing his opinion on “the generation gap”. 

He believes there is a distinction between the first generation of gamers and the teenagers of today, picking up the hobby for the first time. He sees a trend toward hand-holding of the consumer seen in most games today. The following is what I started to write in the comment section in response to the video. After realizing that this might be a better article on my own thoughts then just a comment lost in a sea of You-Tube comments I selected all and copied it into a Word document.

Writer Tip: If you find that something sticks a cord with you that you find yourself writing a response that is more than a few hundred words and aren't mashing the keyboard for hours on end in self indulged rage, you might have something.   

I'm kind of in the middle of the gap. I grew up in the 80's and 90's. When I was around six or seven the NES came out. I remember actually beating a game to be somewhat of a feet. From watching You-Tube videos of people playing games from this era like the Video Game Nerd as well as talking to friends we do recall video games to be frustrating. Though that was because the gaming industry was taking its frame of reference from arcades that had to make things a little out of reach so you would (the consumer) feed it more quarters.

I cannot comment on how computer games of the past differed from today, seeing that I only discovered them a few years ago.

 Looking at older games I missed, mostly in the RPG category. I am floored by the complex systems one can engage; Never Winter Nights 2 and Ever Quest as examples.
As for the younger generation being hand feed experience, they will grow out of a 'milk' stage and want more 'meat' if they stick with playing games. Games gated toward kids today are a tailored experience. It's easier to know what to do and how to advance. My generation would try and retry a certain jump over and over till we got it. Sometimes this dedication would pay off. Telling people you beat a certain game at school gave you a certain cool cred among your friends and peers. I don't think beating a game has the same kind of value unless it’s something like Dark Souls, which is known to be punishing.

From over hearing younger friends and their kids I get the impression that leader board placement and ranks have the challenge and attainment they seek, e-sports anyone? League of Legions, Hearth Stone, and Dota 2, are massively popular. The challenge of the game designer is not about creating a puzzle for the player to solve. Instead it’s about creating balance and creating opportunities for players to outwit each other.
Gamers growing up in 2014 have games like Mind craft and to a smaller extent Little big planet. These sandbox games give people tools to make their own challenges for their friends to overcome.  Instead of trying to beat the final boss they are creating that final boss and learning about game design in the process.
Corpsealot is right there are a lot more hand holding for this new generation though that is because the designers of games today where the players of those older generations. We didn't know as much as we know today in how much a player will tolerate before giving up or what is fun then just punishing.  Players still want challenge and new ways to interact with the game involvement.
When I was creating the above illustration of a person enjoying games I was thinking, this generation has something that mine didn't growing up, there parents probably know what video games are and experienced the fun they bring. Some of them have parents that Game.

My parents know that myself and my brother enjoy them though to them games are just another toy. 

G.I. Joe figures where some of my brother's and I favorite toy when we where growing up in the late 80's so was video games. We both still play video games and the G.I. Joes are in a bag in the attic.
There is a place where games can get parents and children talking. Maybe through communication the gap can be closed or at lest build a bridge between both sides?

Victorian Woman looking at nothing

Hello Folks. I don't normally put my art work up on this blog, though I think this blog might be going through some changes. Maybe not so much, really I just put up here stuff I was doing like the reviews and articles I did around games with some book reviews sprinkled in for good measure.
I see this blog as a stream of consciousness. With that said expect to see more verity and more definitely more Art. I'm a painter, it's what I do.  Thanks for reading.

Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnson Review

Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I got this book when I was around ten. I wanted to be a Disney Animator more then life its self growing up. My aunt bought me this book one Christmas.
Through the years I devoured it. Teaching the fundamentals of traditional animation it is a most have for any one interested in the subject.
Though it doesn't deal with the digital age, lots have changed, I still recommend it. The basics have not changed and the wisdom and history of the animation process is something any animator or animation student needs.

View all my reviews

What Inspires Game Developers?

What Inspires Game Developers?

It was a dark cold night, the museum was silent. Within seconds a parade of mean looking characters in black jackets caring loud boom boxes came prancing in.  They start to spray paint over priceless works of art.  In the middle of the group is the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson.

After a few minutes of this display of disrespect and vandalism the cold crusader comes swooping in.  He uses an array of gadgets like bat-a-rangs and grappling hooks to deal out justice.  After he disarms the vigilantes he alerts the cops.  Signaling the Bat car, he makes a dramatic exit and leaves the posse of bad guys to the authorities.

The Joker looks over a balcony and says the iconic line “where does he get all those wonderful toys?”

So what can a scene from this classic Batman movie (Batman, Warner Brothers, 1989) have to do with video games?

To continue reading the rest of the article over on Game Skinny please click this link.