Name: Christopher Lewis
Location: Burlington, VT

Part time philosopher, full time coder. I dabble in many things. One day I will probably write half a novel about it.

I'm not much of a photographer, but I like to play one on Instagram.

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Caine’s Arcade

via Mark Frauenfelder at BoingBoing:

Nirvan says: “I just finished this short film about a 9-year-old boy’s elaborate DIY cardboard arcade. Caine made his arcade using boxes from his dad’s used auto parts store. He hadn’t had many customers, so we set up a fun flashmob to make his day, and filmed his response.

My favorite part:

…I asked Caine how it worked and he told me that for $1 I could get four turns, or for $2 I could get a Fun Pass with 500 turns. I got the Fun Pass.

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Tags flashmob laughingsquid vimeo video culture diy kids gaming arcade cardboard

Getting lost in Jonathan Blow’s “The Witness”

[the-witness.net]

by Kyle Orland at Ars Technica:

But Blow says creating a story that was so personal was tougher than he expected, leading to a few initial attempts that “came out kind of patronizing, as you can imagine,” he said. The key to making the writing process work, Blow said, was just opening up in a way that was “very personal and honest and straightforward.” He compared the process to going on a first date, where you can come off as artificial if you try too hard to present what you think your partner wants.

An inside look at a new open world puzzle game from Jonathan Blow, creator of the critically acclaimed sidescroller Braid. I’ve been curious for some time what Blow has been getting up to since Braid, and I’m happy to see that’s it’s both a bit of a departure and an evolution from his previous work.

Tags gaming indie gaming culture news tech arstechnica

Project Kara via BoingBoing

The video kick I’m on today continues. This one goes well with the Waking Life scene I posted earlier, bringing up the concept of identity and free will. Sadly for Kara (the robot in this video), her free will is identified as a flaw. Maybe free will is the flaw in us too?

Tags philosophy free will video boingboing ai gaming

Double Fine Adventure

“Over a six-to-eight month period, a small team under Tim Schafer’s supervision will develop Double Fine’s next game, a classic point-and-click adventure. Where it goes from there will unfold in real time for all the backers to see.”

The kickstarter project for Tim Shafer’s new point-and-click adventure game has gotten completely out of control, netting over $3 million in contributions. Shafer is the brain behind the adventure classics Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle. His company, Double Fine, is also responsible for their recent critical success, Stacking.

I’ll admit, I had no real interest myself until I was charmed by Shafer’s irreverent pitch video. Each of the follow-up updates are also worth a watch (there’s even a bloopers real).

Tags video games art kickstarter video creative funny gaming

Minecraft Creeper Anatomy Design Finally, a Minecraft design worthy of sporting on thread. I’m having some trouble pulling the trigger on this one though, it costs about as much as the game itself. Only available on ‘premium’ tees. Go here to get your own, you know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Minecraft Creeper Anatomy Design

Finally, a Minecraft design worthy of sporting on thread. I’m having some trouble pulling the trigger on this one though, it costs about as much as the game itself. Only available on ‘premium’ tees.

Go here to get your own, you know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Tags gaming minecraft design

 Source jinx.com

via Rob Beschizza at BoingBoing: Amazing favicon hacks such as Matheiu Henri’s Defender of the Favicon made me wonder: just how small could a game go? I’m not much of a coder, but over the weekend I had a go at making an adventure game only 8x8 pixels in size. It’s barely-playable and has all the charm of a malicious lite-brite. But once you’ve found the sword, shield and the all-important, all-healing pub, you can dash through it in a few minutes. I bet a really great programmer could fit a proper roguelike into the same space! This goes beyond proof-of-concept; it’s a fully playable adventure game that fits inside 64 pixels and manages to still be fun. The randomized scenario flavors are also a nice touch. My one gripe is that it’s flash based, but there’s nothing about it that requires it. A future JS/CSS/HTML version would be nice.

via Rob Beschizza at BoingBoing:

Amazing favicon hacks such as Matheiu Henri’s Defender of the Favicon made me wonder: just how small could a game go? I’m not much of a coder, but over the weekend I had a go at making an adventure game only 8x8 pixels in size.

It’s barely-playable and has all the charm of a malicious lite-brite. But once you’ve found the sword, shield and the all-important, all-healing pub, you can dash through it in a few minutes. I bet a really great programmer could fit a proper roguelike into the same space!

This goes beyond proof-of-concept; it’s a fully playable adventure game that fits inside 64 pixels and manages to still be fun. The randomized scenario flavors are also a nice touch. My one gripe is that it’s flash based, but there’s nothing about it that requires it. A future JS/CSS/HTML version would be nice.

Tags gaming art inspiration tech

Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure A charming flash game made by a father-daughter pair. About Ponycorns. The 5-year old Cassie was responsible for all art and voice-over work. I can barely handle it when she errupts, “You’ve found a ponycorn!” It’s hilarious and can be enjoyed from beginning to end in just a few minutes. For more information about the game, and the overwhelming response, head over here. I love the concept of crafting a game alongside young humans. Amazing things can - and do - happen. Another case in point: Axe Cop, ‘nuff said.

Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure

A charming flash game made by a father-daughter pair. About Ponycorns. The 5-year old Cassie was responsible for all art and voice-over work. I can barely handle it when she errupts, “You’ve found a ponycorn!” It’s hilarious and can be enjoyed from beginning to end in just a few minutes.

For more information about the game, and the overwhelming response, head over here.

I love the concept of crafting a game alongside young humans. Amazing things can - and do - happen. Another case in point: Axe Cop, ‘nuff said.

Tags gaming

prostheticknowledge: Gameboy Colour Online (via ReadWriteWeb) Gameboy Colour web-based emulator, created using HTML5 and Javascript. You can load games via URL or a file stored on your computer. From the about page: This is a GameBoy Color emulator written purely in JavaScript by Grant Galitz.The video is done either through HTML5 canvas or by a fallback of creating BMP binary picture format data URI strings and appending the result to regular HTML img tags. …. For more information about this emulator and its source code, visit the GIT repository at: https://github.com/grantgalitz/GameBoy-Online. http://www.grantgalitz.org/gameboy/ Is there anything Javascript can’t do? Also noteable is that this post offers me the rare opportunity to use both the ‘#gaming’ and ‘#coding’ tags. Score!

prostheticknowledge:

Gameboy Colour Online (via ReadWriteWeb)

Gameboy Colour web-based emulator, created using HTML5 and Javascript. You can load games via URL or a file stored on your computer. From the about page:

This is a GameBoy Color emulator written purely in JavaScript by Grant Galitz.The video is done either through HTML5 canvas or by a fallback of creating BMP binary picture format data URI strings and appending the result to regular HTML img tags.
…. For more information about this emulator and its source code, visit the GIT repository at: https://github.com/grantgalitz/GameBoy-Online.

http://www.grantgalitz.org/gameboy/

Is there anything Javascript can’t do?

Also noteable is that this post offers me the rare opportunity to use both the ‘#gaming’ and ‘#coding’ tags. Score!

Tags js coding gaming

Reblogged from prosthetic knowledge  Source readwriteweb.com

sfemonster: Finished a commission today and rewarded myself with some drawing that inevitably turned into Portal fanart.  Click-through to see it bigger and better on DeviantART. I promise this is the end of the Portal/Ratman fanart.  I SWEAR. Portal 2’s greatest achievement may very well be its immeasurable inspiration.

sfemonster:

Finished a commission today and rewarded myself with some drawing that inevitably turned into Portal fanart.  Click-through to see it bigger and better on DeviantART.

I promise this is the end of the Portal/Ratman fanart.  I SWEAR.

Portal 2’s greatest achievement may very well be its immeasurable inspiration.

Tags gaming art

Reblogged from Sfé Monster  Source sfemonster.deviantart.com

'L.A. Noire' Is A Video Game That's Like A Film

Ok, I’m a little ‘L.A. Noire’ crazy today, but I had to share this article by NPR.

I want to believe that this game marks a turning point in the industry, at least as it is perceived by non-gamers. If there was ever any doubt about the depth, creativity and narrative scope video games are capable of, then it’s up to games of this caliber to erode that remaining skepticism.

Tags gaming npr