Tag Archive for video games

Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Jigglypuff Pokémon Design

I just made a new custom design for Animal Crossing: New Leaf exclusively for readers of my blog and visitors to my AC:NL town, Dinotown. In honor of Pokemon X and Y, which will be release for 3DS next month, I would like to share this adorable Jigglypuff design.
Feel free to use this QR code in the Able Sisters’ shop to get my Jigglypuff sprite design.
Jigglypuff Animal Crossing New Leaf Pokemon QR design

What kinds of designs would you like to see in the future? More sprites? Fun pro design cosplay costumes? Also, what is your favorite Pokemon? Let me know in the comments!

Evil Ottilia Goes Berserk

Evil Ottilia Goes Berserk by Jen Ný

I have just uploaded the first game I made in Game Maker Studio 8 for my game design class. It’s called Evil Ottilia Goes Berserk. In the game, you play as a mother dragon who must rescue her babies from Evil Ottilia.

It is a very simple game. There is only one room, where you shoot demons and save baby dragons to accumulate points. When you get hit by a demon or evil baby dragon, the game ends and your high score is recorded. I was trying to go for an old-school Atari-ish feel with the graphics (if you couldn’t already tell by the reference to Evil Otto from Berzerk.) Evil Otto was the most evil thing I could think of, and Evil Ottilia is a reference to him.

I created all of the sprites and the background image with PyxelEdit. For the sound effects, I used audacity (my own voice with the pitch changed). The background music is from StageLight.

YoYoGames

Evilottilia

Evil Ottilia Goes Berserk
Added: 19 September 2013
By: Nybiru

Evil Ottilia was created in less than one week during my first week of class, based on the Evil Clutches tutorial from The Game Maker’s Apprentice. I may eventually go back and add more levels and features to this game to make it more exciting.

I do have another game ready that I will share in my next post. I am also currently working on my third game project, as well as in the planning stages of another game that I hope to have ready to show off during Family Fest at Lorain County Community College in October.

I will be posting all of the games I create with Game Maker Studio for school to YoYo Games for free download.

Dragon’s Crown Elf Cosplay and Midoricon 2013

Dragon's Crown Elf Cosplay

Midoricon was a couple weeks ago, and my boyfriend and I decided to go in Dragon’s Crown cosplay. We just finished our costumes the day before the convention. I was the Elf and he was the Wizard.

I didn’t get any pictures of my costume before I got tired of my wig and took it off. It started getting messed up under my hood and it was too hot outside for wigs, so I stopped wearing it halfway through Saturday and just braided my actual hair. Plus, my elf ears didn’t really work with the hood up and the wig on, and I wanted to wear my elf ears at some point during the convention. I didn’t get any pictures of my boyfriend as the Wizard either, because he wants to improve some things on his costume as well (his wig ended up looking completely different from the picture on Amazon, so he stopped wearing his too).

Here’s some pictures of me as a brown-haired version of the Elf. We’re probably going to do these costumes again sometime if we can get better wigs.

Dragon's Crown Elf Cosplay Dragon's Crown Elf Cosplay Dragon's Crown Elf Cosplay Dragon's Crown Elf Cosplay

chainmail-midoriconMidoricon was pretty awesome overall. There was live-action Mario Kart (which unfortunately filled up before we could register to compete, but we still got to see it) with a crazy banana running around. There were also some outdoor panels, which we didn’t really check out. I did learn how to make chain-mail at a chain-mail panel that Link was presenting, which was pretty awesome! We only had time to make a small bit of chain-mail at the panel, but Link let everyone take home a cup of chain links to make more later.

This was Midoricon’s second year. Last year we just went for one day since we had just gotten back from Matsuricon. We chose Midoricon over Matsuricon this year, since last year Midoricon was better, even though Matsuricon is bigger. (In the con world, bigger isn’t always bigger, which we learned from Ohayocon this year, which was overcrowded to the point of not being enjoyable and I can’t even remember what panels or events were there. Even though it was the biggest con I’ve been to, it was also the least memorable.)

Anyway, aside from some immature idiots pulling the fire alarm repeatedly (I doubt this con will be invited back to Shawnee State Park Lodge next year), and several of the employees treating us like we’re a bunch of weirdos for wearing costumes, Midoricon was definitely one of the best cons I’ve been to.

The only things I’d like to see next year are more vendors and an actual gaming room. They only had tabletop gaming, which I’m not really into.

Anyway, I recommend Midoricon for anyone in the Ohio area who enjoys going to conventions, especially if you’re tired of the bigger, more crowded conventions. It’s more laid back than other cons, and even though it’s small, there is still plenty to do.

Animal Crossing New Leaf QR Code Design: Pink Bubble Bobble Sprite

Since my Animal Crossing: New Leaf QR design posts are the most popular posts on my blog, today I would like to share with you a pink Bubble Bobble design I created for Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf Bubble Bobble QR Design

I use a modified version of this design for by town flag. I think it makes a fitting flag for Dinotown.

If you like this design, I also have a regular green Bubble Bobble and a Baby Yoshi design that I have posted over at 8BitBites.com.

Check back for more Animal Crossing: New Leaf content.

First Week of School!

I’ve just finished my first week of classes. It’s still early, but I’m already enjoying school a lot more than I did when I was working on my first degree. The Intro to Game Design class is pretty awesome.

I’ve already made one (extremely simple) game. I just want to make some new art assets and sound effects before submitting the project. I will be posting my finished game projects on this blog under the “Freebies” category until I get my game studio website up and running.

Aside from making games, we are also required to play games in the class. One assignment this week was to choose a AAA title to play from a list of games chosen by my professor. I’m going to get college credit for playing Bioshock! My college is also pretty cool in that students who don’t have their own Xbox 360 or PS3 are able to check out a console from the school library.

Well that’s about it for now. I have to get back to working on my game and finishing up a cosplay costume. Expect to see some photos of my Dragon’s Crown cosplay once it is finished (assuming I get it done in time for Midoricon, which starts Friday!).

Dragon’s Crown Runes

Dragon's Crown Runes

I’m planning to do a cosplay of the Elf from Dragon’s Crown for Midoricon in a couple weeks. I still haven’t finished my costume, despite the the con being the first weekend of September, but I did at least make a set of runes from the game as a prop (that I probably won’t use at all).
[Scroll to the bottom if you were just looking for the Dragon’s Crown rune guide]
Dragon's Crown Runes

I made them out of Sculpey oven-bake clay. The symbols were carved into the clay before baking and then painted (using a plastic tool that came with the clay, since I didn’t have a small enough brush) and then coated in Sculpey gloss glaze.

If you found this page because you were searching for a rune guide for Dragon’s Crown, here you go:

Dragon's Crown Runes Guide List

Click on the image for the full version. This Rune Chart was created by Reverof1 for GameFAQs.com. I used the images on the rune guide for reference when I was making my runes.

Going Back to School and Starting an Indie Game Company… At the Same Time

Grunt Birthday Party

As I briefly mentioned in a previous blog post, I will be going back to school at the end of August for Computer Game and Simulation Design, which is my college’s fancy way of saying “video game development.” It doesn’t look like I’ll be getting financial aid this semester because of the fact that I already earned an Associate of Arts (before I knew what I wanted to do with my life), but I should be able to afford at least this semester with what I have saved up. I have an appointment to speak with a guidance counselor in a couple weeks (which is the earliest appointment they had available).

I am also in the process of starting my own independent game company. I’ve always dreamed of starting my own business, and this will give me a lot of extra industry experience by time I finish my degree in game design. It might be crazy to be starting my own company while still in school, but plenty of other people have done it, and I’m just crazy enough to give it a shot. My plan is to start out small and offer my first few releases for free (supported by ads on the download pages) to generate buzz around my company while I gain more game making experience before actually trying to sell anything.

I’ve just started a new social media project on an independent contractor basis, so I’ll have some money coming in. I haven’t yet figured out what I’m going to do about my regular job. I don’t think I’ll be able to work 40 hours a week between the two jobs, plus work on getting my own company up and running, plus going to school full time. I don’t want my school work to suffer from lack of time that I’m able to spend on homework and studying.

Aside from applying for tons of scholarships for next semester and beyond, I’m brainstorming other ways to fund my education, such as crowd-funding. Have you tried crowd-funding to pay for your college tuition? Please post in the comments of this post what your experiences have been, both positive and negative.

Also, I’d like to hear from anyone else who has majored in game design or started their own indie game studio. How did you like your classes? If you already graduated, what are you doing now? If you own an indie game studio, how successful have you been thus far?

I’d really like to hear from anyone who’s on a similar career path. In this modern internet age, networking with like-minded individuals is probably one of the most important things you can do to become successful in your career.

I’ll keep this blog updated with my progress in school and in my indie game business.

(I don’t have an appropriate picture for this post, so I’ll just use a random Grunt enjoying his Grunt Birthday Party that I took on my phone many months ago.)

Animal Crossing: New Leaf Hula Girl Outfit

Animal Crossing New Leaf Hula Girl costume

In the spirit of summer, I’ve dressed my Animal Crossing: New Leaf character up like a hula dancer, complete with a coconut bra and grass skirt. While she doesn’t exactly fill out a coconut bra as well as you might expect from someone who’s (apparently) old enough to be mayor, this is the perfect outfit for collecting sea shells by the shore and visiting the island.

Here are the QR codes for this summery outfit:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf Hula Outfit QR 1Animal Crossing: New Leaf Hula Outfit QR 2Animal Crossing: New Leaf Hula Outfit QR 3Animal Crossing: New Leaf Hula Outfit QR 4

And even with the tiny coconuts, the gyroid on the island seems to be enjoying its view of this outfit.

Animal Crossing New Leaf Hula Girl costume

Elfen Lied in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Animal Crossing: New Leaf Elfen Lied Lucy cosplay

With Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you can cosplay any time you want, without spending any money to make your costume. Here’s my character dressed as Lucy from Elfen Lied:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf Elfen Lied Lucy cosplay

I designed the dress in the Able Sisters’ shop and paired it with appropriate shoes and leggings from Kicks. I’m still waiting to see if there is a purple hair bow or a white cat ear headband to finish the cosplay outfit.

If you would like to cosplay as Lucy in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, feel free to use the QR codes for my outfit:

ACNL Elfen Lied QR 1ACNL Elfen Lied QR 2ACNL Elfen Lied QR 3ACNL Elfen Lied QR 4

(Click on the images to enlarge, or they may not scan.)

I’ve also made my town tune Lilium (or at least as close to the song as I could within the limitations of the game).

Lilium-New-Leaf-town-tune

Feel free to use this tune for your town if you’d like.

If you have the Dream Suite, you can also check out a dream version of Dinotown to get my other designs (or to trample my flowers and hit my animal villagers with a net).

ACNL-Dream-Address

I will also be posting other fun designs here and on the facebook page for my gaming blog, 8BitBites.com. We will also be starting an Animal Crossing: New Leaf cosplay contest on 8BitBites soon. Check the site and FaceBook page for details later this week. You could have your original costumes displayed on the site!

Xbox Live VIP Reward

Because I have absolutely no life whatsoever, I achieved VIP status in Xbox Live Rewards for wasting well over 20 hours playing arcade games and spending over $40 on buying arcade games. Microsoft was generous enough to give me this super awesome reward for all the time and money spent on their arcade games.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Prepare yourself for the most awesome prize ever:

p2e_NightDriver2600

A super awesome little banner image for my website or forum signatures.

I can’t wait for my 25 cent birthday surprise from Microsoft in October.

(Seriously Microsoft. At least give out something at least kind of cool for “VIP” rewards and birthday rewards if you’re going to have a rewards program. Like avatar items. Or at least 80 MS points.)

At least they decided to not screw us over as bad with the Xbox One. There’s that at least.