Hello and welcome to my new blog.
Previously my blog has been located over at Inside Mac Games... but with the blog section over there a forgotten memory to many and no doubt unseen by most I figured I might as well make this the new home of my blogs.
The really good news is I have been able to migrate all of my blog posts from IMG over to blogger.
(For those who are interested it involved copy and pasting all of my previous HTML posts into here one by one and then editing the time/date they were posted to match the originals. All of this was done using a Seattle time offset to match IMG's blog times so once finished it was a simple task of just setting the time offset back to Australia's.)
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Downtime
Anyone who tried to access my site during the past 48 hours may be wondering why it was down. This was just due to me transferring my domain over to Crazy Domains. Everything should be back to normal now and I apologise for any inconvenience.
Monday, June 28, 2010
New Site Design
I'm still working on POWERSLAM and still hope to have it out some time this year. Hopefully I can share some screen shots once I have done the guts of the graphical stuff.
I'm also hard at work on a new site design. It has taken all day but you'll be able to see that the work has paid off when you see the new look of CobraBlade.NET.
I'm also hard at work on a new site design. It has taken all day but you'll be able to see that the work has paid off when you see the new look of CobraBlade.NET.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
New direction & Interview
I have two very news worthy items to report and they both happened today.
Last week I decided to unify all of my future games by giving them all the same setting. It'll be a while yet, but when I redo Soulless it'll also fit into this theme, so there will be some radical changes made to it.
The other news item is that my friend Erik Hogan conducted an interview with me regarding my game development which also comes out on this day. The interview can be found over at Earok.net.
I have also pasted it below for everyone's convenience.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I'm a 27 year old indie Mac game developer from Australia. I am also a Mac gamer with currently around 65 Mac games. My main interests are games, anime, as well as steampunk and cyberpunk.
What compelled you to become a game designer?
Well I have always been very artistic. The furthest back I can remember I wanted to create games. I use to draw all sorts of characters and think up stories and what the game would be like. For the most part they were all fighting based game ideas with the odd exception.
How did you become introduced to games?
Ah, I can blame my parents for that and my gaming addiction. They have a photo of me at around 6 months of age playing the Atari 2600. I've played games ever since. Growing up I got a Commodore 64 and then every SEGA console from the Master System onwards. Once SEGA pulled out of the console war I did too and don't play as many console games as I use to.
What tools do you use to create your games?
Well I have used all sorts in the past but I suppose the best place to focus is on my 1st finished project, Soulless. For this I started out in NovaShell, but being as hopeless at coding as I am I got frustrated so Googled game engines for the Mac that needed no programming. That is how I found Power Games Factory which I used to create Soulless from that point on.
Why do you exclusively make games for the Macintosh? Have you considered other platforms (Including Mobile, Web etc)
Game creation is very time consuming, even if you have nothing to show for it but a lot of half finished games. So I ended up retiring this aspect of my life for the remainder of being a PC owner. It wasn't until as a Mac owner I came across the game Kill Monty and saw the logo "OMG Original Mac Games". As a Mac gamer, this really spoke to me. I felt this was exactly what the platform needed, more original games. As game creation was what I always wanted to do, it just felt right. Supporting other platforms certainly isn't out of the question, although the Mac will always be my main priority.
How did your deal with MDickie come about?
After the disappointment of how Soulless was received and having it compared to games made by entire studios I decided to try and think outside the square. What was something that hasn't been done before? Since I have been a fan of wrestling games for some time this sprung to mind. There are not any wrestling games on the Mac and very few even on PC. Wrestling games however are extremely complex,and there was one I thought was a lot of fun that I played a long time ago. So I contacted Mat and asked him if I could licence the engine from him.
I understand that Soulless has been distributed through pirate channels. How did you feel about this?
Really shocked and really hurt. A lot of hard work and money went into making it that I'll never get back and you really feel awful when someone just takes that all away from you and gives it away leaving you with nothing. What really keeps me going though are the people that have supported me by buying my game. So a huge thank you goes out to them.
Tell us about how you went about marketing and selling Soulless
As a regular customer of Macgamestore my original goal was to get it onto there. When I was knocked back from there I asked Wally of Game Socks (another store I regularly visit) if I could get my game on his site. He told me they source their games from Reflexive so I contacted them. Reflexive were great and gave me suggestions they thought would make my game more marketable so I did this and have had my game on there ever since. Aside from this I also put a demo out on all of the major Mac file portals and even submitted it to Apple themselves who have it on their games download section.
Are there any indie game developers that you admire or draw inspiration from?
Funnily enough when I started out I had no real idea there were others like me doing whole games on their own, my goal in the beginning was to make games and get noticed by a big company like SEGA. Today though, I know a lot more and I take pride in being independent. As for admiration, after seeing Mat's code itself that powers his games I have to say his name comes to mind as does yourself having seen your coding ability firsthand also. Jesse Simko is also awesome and to be honest, just how easy and fun his Power Game Factory was inspired me to finally see a game through from start to finish. I swear that game creator is just as much fun as playing a game itself.
Finally, if someone was to ask you for advice about becoming a game designer, what would you tell them?
Mat Dickie said it is often a thankless job and he wasn't wrong. More often than not your single handed effort will be compared to what is done by entire studios so just ignored. Or even worse, if like myself your main focus is of more retro type games as that is what you feel is most enjoyable you even get those who will say they can just illegally download game X for free and run it on an emulator so why pay money for your game. Don't take it too much to heart if that happens though. I mean some of the most hated games by some can be loved by others. I know some of my favourite games aren't hits by any means. Also be sure to try and stick to one project, as you will find yourself with a million ideas flying through your head, but if you jump from one game to the other you'll end up in the situation I was in back when I tried to be a indie PC game maker and end up with just a whole bunch of unfinished games. Despite all the cons the great feeling you get when people buy your game and like it can't be described.
Last week I decided to unify all of my future games by giving them all the same setting. It'll be a while yet, but when I redo Soulless it'll also fit into this theme, so there will be some radical changes made to it.
The other news item is that my friend Erik Hogan conducted an interview with me regarding my game development which also comes out on this day. The interview can be found over at Earok.net.
I have also pasted it below for everyone's convenience.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I'm a 27 year old indie Mac game developer from Australia. I am also a Mac gamer with currently around 65 Mac games. My main interests are games, anime, as well as steampunk and cyberpunk.
What compelled you to become a game designer?
Well I have always been very artistic. The furthest back I can remember I wanted to create games. I use to draw all sorts of characters and think up stories and what the game would be like. For the most part they were all fighting based game ideas with the odd exception.
How did you become introduced to games?
Ah, I can blame my parents for that and my gaming addiction. They have a photo of me at around 6 months of age playing the Atari 2600. I've played games ever since. Growing up I got a Commodore 64 and then every SEGA console from the Master System onwards. Once SEGA pulled out of the console war I did too and don't play as many console games as I use to.
What tools do you use to create your games?
Well I have used all sorts in the past but I suppose the best place to focus is on my 1st finished project, Soulless. For this I started out in NovaShell, but being as hopeless at coding as I am I got frustrated so Googled game engines for the Mac that needed no programming. That is how I found Power Games Factory which I used to create Soulless from that point on.
Why do you exclusively make games for the Macintosh? Have you considered other platforms (Including Mobile, Web etc)
Game creation is very time consuming, even if you have nothing to show for it but a lot of half finished games. So I ended up retiring this aspect of my life for the remainder of being a PC owner. It wasn't until as a Mac owner I came across the game Kill Monty and saw the logo "OMG Original Mac Games". As a Mac gamer, this really spoke to me. I felt this was exactly what the platform needed, more original games. As game creation was what I always wanted to do, it just felt right. Supporting other platforms certainly isn't out of the question, although the Mac will always be my main priority.
How did your deal with MDickie come about?
After the disappointment of how Soulless was received and having it compared to games made by entire studios I decided to try and think outside the square. What was something that hasn't been done before? Since I have been a fan of wrestling games for some time this sprung to mind. There are not any wrestling games on the Mac and very few even on PC. Wrestling games however are extremely complex,and there was one I thought was a lot of fun that I played a long time ago. So I contacted Mat and asked him if I could licence the engine from him.
I understand that Soulless has been distributed through pirate channels. How did you feel about this?
Really shocked and really hurt. A lot of hard work and money went into making it that I'll never get back and you really feel awful when someone just takes that all away from you and gives it away leaving you with nothing. What really keeps me going though are the people that have supported me by buying my game. So a huge thank you goes out to them.
Tell us about how you went about marketing and selling Soulless
As a regular customer of Macgamestore my original goal was to get it onto there. When I was knocked back from there I asked Wally of Game Socks (another store I regularly visit) if I could get my game on his site. He told me they source their games from Reflexive so I contacted them. Reflexive were great and gave me suggestions they thought would make my game more marketable so I did this and have had my game on there ever since. Aside from this I also put a demo out on all of the major Mac file portals and even submitted it to Apple themselves who have it on their games download section.
Are there any indie game developers that you admire or draw inspiration from?
Funnily enough when I started out I had no real idea there were others like me doing whole games on their own, my goal in the beginning was to make games and get noticed by a big company like SEGA. Today though, I know a lot more and I take pride in being independent. As for admiration, after seeing Mat's code itself that powers his games I have to say his name comes to mind as does yourself having seen your coding ability firsthand also. Jesse Simko is also awesome and to be honest, just how easy and fun his Power Game Factory was inspired me to finally see a game through from start to finish. I swear that game creator is just as much fun as playing a game itself.
Finally, if someone was to ask you for advice about becoming a game designer, what would you tell them?
Mat Dickie said it is often a thankless job and he wasn't wrong. More often than not your single handed effort will be compared to what is done by entire studios so just ignored. Or even worse, if like myself your main focus is of more retro type games as that is what you feel is most enjoyable you even get those who will say they can just illegally download game X for free and run it on an emulator so why pay money for your game. Don't take it too much to heart if that happens though. I mean some of the most hated games by some can be loved by others. I know some of my favourite games aren't hits by any means. Also be sure to try and stick to one project, as you will find yourself with a million ideas flying through your head, but if you jump from one game to the other you'll end up in the situation I was in back when I tried to be a indie PC game maker and end up with just a whole bunch of unfinished games. Despite all the cons the great feeling you get when people buy your game and like it can't be described.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Reflexive going solo
I have some bad news to share with everyone. My publisher Reflexive is about to retire this part of their company and concentrate exclusively on their own games from now on. This means that Soulless and Powerslam my current game in production will now only be available from my own personal site at www.cobrablade.net
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Contra 4 = Hardcore, not HD graphics
-Rant Warning-
The dumbest but most common thing I see people use to describe hardcore gaming is HD graphics. How can anyone honestly complain and say the Wii isn't for hardcore gamers because it doesn't have HD graphics? The graphics are what makes a system not for hardcore gamers? If graphics truly are the definition to a hardcore game, go watch a movie. Boom, you just experienced the most amazing hardcore gaming experience you'll ever have without even having to press a button since game play seems to have no baring on hardcore gaming if graphics are what makes a game hardcore.
No! If you think graphics are what makes a game hardcore you have no idea what it is to be a hardcore gamer. Get yourself a DS and a copy of Contra 4 right now. Witness beautiful pixels, brutal difficulty and no save or load functions. THIS is hardcore! If you dare to be even more hardcore than that get yourself a C64 with a data cassette drive. Play games that are incredibly hard but also require the discipline not only to have to finish a game in a single sitting, but also having to wait 5 minutes between levels for loading. If you get game over, rewind and repeat until done.
The dumbest but most common thing I see people use to describe hardcore gaming is HD graphics. How can anyone honestly complain and say the Wii isn't for hardcore gamers because it doesn't have HD graphics? The graphics are what makes a system not for hardcore gamers? If graphics truly are the definition to a hardcore game, go watch a movie. Boom, you just experienced the most amazing hardcore gaming experience you'll ever have without even having to press a button since game play seems to have no baring on hardcore gaming if graphics are what makes a game hardcore.
No! If you think graphics are what makes a game hardcore you have no idea what it is to be a hardcore gamer. Get yourself a DS and a copy of Contra 4 right now. Witness beautiful pixels, brutal difficulty and no save or load functions. THIS is hardcore! If you dare to be even more hardcore than that get yourself a C64 with a data cassette drive. Play games that are incredibly hard but also require the discipline not only to have to finish a game in a single sitting, but also having to wait 5 minutes between levels for loading. If you get game over, rewind and repeat until done.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
TNA vs WWE
This iMPACT! just gone was simply phenomenal. Not since the days of WCW have I enjoyed watching wrestling so much. Hogan truly has sky rocketed TNA in a single night. So it looks like I picked a great time to create the first ever wrestling game for OS X!
Monday, September 7, 2009
TNA Announces Australia Tour
I am really excited about this. A little over a month from now my favourite artists Yello will be releasing a new album. But early next year, something even bigger than that. TNA is coming here to Australia for the 1st time! I honestly can't wait and would really love to have Powerslam out then to celebrate... although that may be impossible as there is so much more work that needs to be done, but we'll see.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
New Site Layout
My website will soon have a completely different look. It is already completed for the most part now sitting in iWeb waiting for me to upload it but I am still holding it off until I am completely satisfied with it. So on this note I have decided to delve deep into my memories to talk about my hobby of web site creation that goes back to even before I started game creation.
I remember when I 1st started out with my only tools being html and my Dreamcast on a dial-up connection. A website that completely blew me away when I was just starting out was Lisa Echidna ArtWorX. After seeing this site, my dream of expressing my self through drawing shifted to a new media, websites. I too wanted to create what I had just seen. Lisa helped me out when I was just starting letting me know the html needed to have music play in the background of my site too and her green on black theme was a direct inspiration for my very 1st website.
I started out with Tripod, which was fine back then. Set the ads to pop-up ads since the Dreamcast was unaffected by them and all was good. With the death of the Dreamcast I then upgraded to a computer. So aside from ads now being a lot more intrusive now, Tripod were now also introducing a lot more restrictions to try and get people to sign up with their new paid for hosting. This would begin a stupidly long search for the ultimate free webhost.
My search would bring me to a search engine called Tropical Anime. This would also bring me to my next major inspiration and motivation for web design. What I found was Mad-Sky.com. The web hostess by the name of Sawwa granted me the free hosting that I had always needed but the story goes further than that. Sawwa had the most beautiful web designs that she even changed periodically. It is of little wonder she is such an inspiration to my own web designs. Back when she was my host would have to be the prime of by web designing as she really was the best hostess you could imagine. She was more than that even, she was a great friend I would exchange huge emails with. It was silly how long our emails were but it was always fun. These were great times. I can't remember if I complimented her much on her website but I should have if I didn't. As a inspiration to my designs it was such an honour whenever she complimented me on my site, which I do remember her doing on more than one occasion.
The saddest part, is that these two great people who inspired me with their amazing talents and websites, the people responsible for my site being here now to this day and all of my past sites are no longer a presence on the web themselves. Perhaps even worse than this is how they both faded away around the same time in the early 2000s. Some small traces can still be found on the net from way back like Lisa's old Tripod site frozen in time for example. Sawwa, on the other hand has almost vanished entirely from web existence. It just doesn't seem right, as I feel they both deserve so much praise and acknowledgement for what they did. This is exactly why I took the time to type out all of this as I want them to never be forgotten.
In the off chance either Lisa or Sawwa stumble across this or someone who is still in contact with them does, I would love to hear from them.
I remember when I 1st started out with my only tools being html and my Dreamcast on a dial-up connection. A website that completely blew me away when I was just starting out was Lisa Echidna ArtWorX. After seeing this site, my dream of expressing my self through drawing shifted to a new media, websites. I too wanted to create what I had just seen. Lisa helped me out when I was just starting letting me know the html needed to have music play in the background of my site too and her green on black theme was a direct inspiration for my very 1st website.
I started out with Tripod, which was fine back then. Set the ads to pop-up ads since the Dreamcast was unaffected by them and all was good. With the death of the Dreamcast I then upgraded to a computer. So aside from ads now being a lot more intrusive now, Tripod were now also introducing a lot more restrictions to try and get people to sign up with their new paid for hosting. This would begin a stupidly long search for the ultimate free webhost.
My search would bring me to a search engine called Tropical Anime. This would also bring me to my next major inspiration and motivation for web design. What I found was Mad-Sky.com. The web hostess by the name of Sawwa granted me the free hosting that I had always needed but the story goes further than that. Sawwa had the most beautiful web designs that she even changed periodically. It is of little wonder she is such an inspiration to my own web designs. Back when she was my host would have to be the prime of by web designing as she really was the best hostess you could imagine. She was more than that even, she was a great friend I would exchange huge emails with. It was silly how long our emails were but it was always fun. These were great times. I can't remember if I complimented her much on her website but I should have if I didn't. As a inspiration to my designs it was such an honour whenever she complimented me on my site, which I do remember her doing on more than one occasion.
The saddest part, is that these two great people who inspired me with their amazing talents and websites, the people responsible for my site being here now to this day and all of my past sites are no longer a presence on the web themselves. Perhaps even worse than this is how they both faded away around the same time in the early 2000s. Some small traces can still be found on the net from way back like Lisa's old Tripod site frozen in time for example. Sawwa, on the other hand has almost vanished entirely from web existence. It just doesn't seem right, as I feel they both deserve so much praise and acknowledgement for what they did. This is exactly why I took the time to type out all of this as I want them to never be forgotten.
In the off chance either Lisa or Sawwa stumble across this or someone who is still in contact with them does, I would love to hear from them.
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