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Game Over: A Short Story

June 13, 2018 Jen Ný College, Writing No comments

I wrote this story for a creative writing class while I was a student at Lorain County Community College. The assignment was to observe people around campus, and use some of them as inspiration for a character in a story. There really was a gamer’s lounge at LCCC. Theodore is based on several people I observed, people I know, and, regrettably, some of the worst traits I saw in myself at the time. As Theodore’s story shows us, we all have room to improve, as long as we recognize the things that we need to work on.

Game Over – A Short Story – Part 1

“Die alien scum!” Theodore shouted out at the TV screen in mock anger as the crowd cheered him on. “Your mother put up more of a fight than this last night!” His friends roared with laughter as he reached for his half empty bottle of Mountain Dew, his only sustaining life force.

It was a day like any other on campus. Theodore Lucas Fisher spent hours in the student lounge playing video games with his fellow nerds and social outcasts. Though he rarely attended the few classes he had registered for, Theodore spent most of his time here at his community college, for he had nowhere else to be (and even if he did, he couldn’t get there, for he still didn’t have his driver’s license, despite the fact that he was 19). He also didn’t have a job or a girlfriend, and he still lived with his parents, though from time to time he would stay with his older brother Joseph for the night or the weekend. Aside from the people he played video games with at the college, Joseph was really Theodore’s only friend.

From the outside looking in on this group, you’d think that they were the closest of friends; they laughed together, spent hours a day together playing video game, and all seemed almost the same in personality and demeanor, but Theodore rarely conversed with these people outside the student lounge in the context of first-person shooters and RPGs. Though he has been out of high school for a year now, Theodore still had not picked up the finer points of social interaction and for the most part, his socializing consisted of nothing more than a regressed form of parallel play with nothing but a television screen and a few game controllers holding the closest things he had to interpersonal relationships together.

SNHU

October 24, 2015 Jen Ný College, Cool Story Bro No comments

I’ve been pretty busy with schoolwork and finishing up editing a new book that I hope to self-publish before Halloween. I haven’t told many people yet, but I am going back to school via online classes at SNHU now.

I was originally going to get my bachelor’s degree in video game development, which is what my associate degree is in, but I changed my mind and have switched to creative writing. I have a number of reasons for making this switch. I believe that I could combine these two skill sets and become a writer for video games someday, or simply be a freelance writer or independent author while also working on the occasional indie game. I think this is just a better career path for me (not that many people even end up working in the field they majored in anyway!).

I also had significantly more credits that could be applied to the creative writing degree, which is the difference between being in school for just over one more year, or for just over two more years. An extra year would mean significantly more debt.

I will save reviewing SNHU until after I have taken more classes there. I chose SNHU because it is a fully accredited university with an actual campus. Taking online classes is the only way I can keep working while also going to school full-time.

I just wanted to write a quick update, since I haven’t posted anything in a while.

I Graduated!

June 3, 2015 Jen Ný College, Cool Story Bro, Nýbiru Studio No comments

I graduated a couple weeks ago! I feel like I should make a blog post about that.

Right now, I’m busy getting ready for my wedding, which is coming up pretty fast. I plan to start working on a new game after I get back from my honeymoon. I’m planning on continuing my education to earn a bachelor’s degree in game programming through an online degree program so that it will be easier to continue to work while going to school.

My game that I was working on during my last semester is available to purchase here: Nybiru.com. I plan on making a few browser games that can be played on my game studio’s website as well as more PC games in the future.

Petal Quest is Now Available!

May 2, 2015 Jen Ný College, Games, Gaming, Nýbiru Studio No comments

My game Petal Quest is now available for purchase! Since it’s my first game, I set the retail price to $1.99, and am offering an introductory sale of 50% off until the end of July! I also need to sell at lease 5 copies by the end of the semester.

Petal Quest is an arcade-style side-scrolling brawler about a flower who must save it’s garden from being invaded by weeds. The weeds will stop at nothing to defeat the flowers and take over all of the Earth’s gardens.

The game features a regular arcade/story mode and a score attack mode, where you can play each stage individually to try to beat your high score.

There are five different stages with different garden/nature themes. It supports both gamepad and keyboard input.

I wanted to make a side-scrolling beat ’em up game, but I also wanted to do something different and more unique. I thought the idea of a flower having to save it’s garden was a fun concept. I think there is a place in the market more female-oriented games (that aren’t about babies, cooking, or dressing up).

It can be purchased directly from itch.io and from my new website for my game studio, Nybiru.com.

Busy Bee

March 27, 2015 Jen Ný College, Nýbiru Studio No comments

This semester has been super busy so far. Between my four classes, planning my wedding, and keeping Dinosauring.com updated, I haven’t had time to blog here.

For Advanced Game Programming, I have to make a game and sell at least five copies by the end of the semester. I chose to make a 2D side-scrolling beat ’em up game. I haven’t thought of a name for the game yet, but you play as a flower who has to save a garden from evil weeds (like dandelions!) who are trying to take over. It will be for PC, and I’m using XNA. I’ll post more details about it here later with a link to purchase. It will likely be between $0.99-$1.99.

I’m also working on a game for Serious Games and Simulations to help students study math. I haven’t gotten much done for that game yet since the first project I was going to be working on for this class fell through. I originally was going to do a different educational game that one of the instructors at the college wanted, but that project had to be cancelled do to administrative decisions that were made regarding the department that I was working with. But I was able to come up with another neat idea for my project anyway.

I’m also learning Unreal Engine 4 in 3D Game Level Design, and Xcode and Android Studio in the Mobile Game Apps class.

As I expected, I’m the only student in Advanced Game Programming, Serious Games and Simulations, and 3D Game Level Design this semester. It is what it is, I guess. It might actually be a blessing in disguise, however. Being the only student means I can make my game projects on my own without worrying about any teammates. I’ve always disliked group work, as I either end up having to do the whole thing by myself anyway while still having to give credit to the other group members, or they completely ignore most of my ideas.

Since I’m working on my game on my own, it makes things easier from a business standpoint (no one to argue with over profits and ownership and such). My beat ’em up game will be the starting point for my business, Nýbiru Studio. I’m planning on having the website for my business up and running by the end of the semester where I can advertise and showcase this games and games I create in the future.

I’m going to be graduating from LCCC this spring. I’m thinking about finishing my bachelor’s degree online now, so that I can keep working and won’t have to move to finish school. There’s an online program I’m looking into right now.

Aside from working on my school projects, I’ve also been busy planning my wedding. We have our date and venue set. I got my dress already, and it’s pink! I got it from WeddingDressFantasy on Etsy, and it’s amazing! It was a sample sale, so I got a good deal and it shipped super fast. Plus it fits well and I don’t think I’ll need any alterations, other than to add a bustle, which I think I can do myself. I’m not going to post any pictures yet, because it’s supposed to be a surprise! There are still a few more details we need to get sorted out. I’m also going to refrain from posting too many details about the date and location until after the fact, since any creeper on the internet could potentially be reading this, but it’s going to be at a super awesome venue!

That’s about it for now.

Just another Update

March 4, 2014 Jen Ný College No comments

I didn’t realize it’s been so long since I posted an update. Anyway, spring semester started in January. I was originally supposed to take three classes this semester, but two of them were cancelled at the last minute due to low enrollment. The 2D programming class is being offered as a 10-week online class instead, which I guess is better than nothing since I need to take that class this semester to graduate in time. I’ll have to take the mobile apps class whenever they decide to offer it again. The only class I’m taking in person this semester is digital illustration, which is on Friday and Saturday. On the plus side, this schedule allows me to work more hours than I had originally planned, so I can save up a little bit more money for school.

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty angry about the classes being cancelled. Since that happened, I’ve learned from other people in various other degree programs that the same thing happened with their classes. I’ve heard from numerous people that they’ve either had to push back their graduation or have quit school altogether because LCCC cancelled classes they needed for their degree programs.

This is absolutely unacceptable. No wonder the graduation rate at this school is so low. Right now, my plan is still to finish this associate degree program and then transfer to Kent for a bachelors degree, since LCCC is still significantly cheaper and this will give me another year to save money before transferring (and moving further away). I’m just afraid that the same thing will happen with some of the other classes I need next over the next two semesters and I won’t be able to finish this degree next spring. I’m not willing to push back getting a two-year degree even longer.

With the number of students in the intro class last semester, I really can’t understand how only three people (including myself) registered for the second semester classes. I have heard that a lot of CGSD students never finish the degree because they fall behind in math. I could go on and on about students not being ready for basic college level math by time they’re in college, but that particular rant might be best saved for it’s own post (protip: being good at math isn’t about memorizing boring formulas. It’s about actually understanding the concepts so that your brain can do cool problem-solving things.)

Anyway, I have only finished one assignment for my 2D programming class so far, but I’m enjoying it a lot more than any of the other programming classes I’ve taken over the years. We’re using the XNA framework in Visual Studio C# 2010 Express. Outdated, but effective. Programming games is a lot more interesting than making lame console applications and windows forms, that’s for sure.

In unrelated news, I was a finalist in Kotaku’s Photoshop contest last week. This was my “expertly” ‘shopped image of Sonic:

Well, I thought it was funny. And apparently so did the nice people at Kotaku… That’s the first time I made something for one of their contests. I usually don’t check Kotaku or Facebook as much on the weekend.

One Semester Down

December 19, 2013 Jen Ný College, Nýbiru Studio No comments

I just finished my first semester of the Computer Games and Simulation Design degree. I got A’s in all of my classes, including over 100% in both Intro to Game Design and Programming in C# (due to extra credit that I probably didn’t really need to do).

Next semester I will be taking 2D Game Programming, Game Applications for Emergent Platforms, and Digital Illustration. According to the course description, we will be using the Torque game engine in the the 2D programming course. I’m hoping the Digital Illustration class uses Adobe Illustrator, rather than some other lesser known vector graphics alternative, since I already have and use Illustrator.

Right now, I’m learning how to make games in Flash on my own. I was originally going to take a Flash games class, but they are phasing it out in favor of the Apps class instead, which will be a much more useful skill-set to have now that mobile platforms are so popular. Since I already completed another degree and am on financial aid, they wouldn’t let me take extra classes that I don’t actually need to complete my degree.

I’m hoping to get my game studio’s website launched early next year. I’ll be starting out small with a few free-to-play browser-based games. Eventually I’d like to expand to mobile apps and console games (depending on how Microsoft and Sony handle indie developers in the future). Everything will be ad-supported to start out with (no evil micro-transactions! Though I won’t rule that out as a possibility for my games way into the future).

In the meantime, you can play the games I made for school. Just click on the “games” tab at the top of this page!

Cheese Catastrophe

September 30, 2013 Jen Ný College, Games No comments

I just published my second game design project to YoYo Games. It’s called Cheese Catastrophe. Here’s the description I wrote for this game:

You are a mouse alien from the Mouse Galaxy, and you must use your mouse starship to mine the cheese moons for fresh cheese to sustain your dying civilization.

You see, the inhabitants of the Mouse Galaxy have long ago mined all of the cheese from their own cheese moons, and must now venture to the far reaches of the universe to mine for cheese on far away moons to sustain their civilization. Your people are currently mining cheese moons in the cat galaxy. The cat aliens don’t like what you are doing, as destroying their moons will disrupt the tidal forces on their planets, flooding their cities. The cat aliens hate getting wet, and have sent evil catsteroids to destroy your mouse starship, before you can destroy all of their cheese moons.

Cheese Catastrophe
Added: 30 September 2013
By: Nybiru

I drew the sprites using crayons and scanned them in. I thought it would be cute to make a game that looked like something a child drew by hand. This game was based on the Galactic Mail tutorial in The Game Maker’s Apprentice.

Stay tuned. Next I will upload my third game, Crushing Candies, which is a lot more in depth than my first two games. I’m also working on my fourth Into to Game Design lab project and another project I’m making on my own that will hopefully be finished in time to show at Family Fest at my college.

Evil Ottilia Goes Berserk

September 19, 2013 Jen Ný College, Freebies, Games, Gaming No comments

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.

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.

First Week of School!

September 2, 2013 Jen Ný College, Gaming No comments

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!).

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