newretro.org

The Bitcoin Bundle

sillytuna — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:25:44 +0100

The Bitcoin Bundle:

Award winning indie game developers announce their support for Bitcoin with this Pay What You Want bundle.

Organised by little ol’ me. So hopefully it won’t break.

Retro Game Pendants! Visit Amanda Howling’s Etsy shop to...

sillytuna — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:14:59 +0000

Retro Game Pendants!

Visit Amanda Howling’s Etsy shop to see more geeky goodness.

#indiexmas Blog Posts and Sales

sillytuna — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:25:00 +0000

This is a list of blog posts I’m seeing on Twitter. I’ll update this over the next couple of days so keep checking back. Leave a comment if you want any additions/corrections.

There are loads of brilliant game recommendations if you look to your right over the xmas period, or head over to Twitter and search for #indiexmas.

Blog Posts:

@retroremakes is blogging all week and is always worth reading
@vambleer have posted a wonderful List of Lists
@GreyAlien 2012 Indie Game Picks
@happionlabs (Jamie Fristrom) Recommendations
@gyratory (Garry Liddon) Why Super Hexagon Will Ruin Your Life (And Leave You Smiling)

#indiexmas: Indie Games Celebration December 24th+ Chill by...

sillytuna — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 00:09:17 +0000

#indiexmas: Indie Games Celebration December 24th+

Chill by the fireside with some of our favorite indie games. Tell us yours!

Christmas. The season to be jolly, to celebrate with family and, most of all, to play!

This year we want to celebrate a year of amazing independent games. We all have our favourites and now is the time to tell all your friends what they could be playing during the holidays.

Starting on Christmas Eve, use the medium of your choice to spread the word. Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Blogs, or even shout about your favourite indie games from the rooftop.

Twitter Hashtag: #indiexmas

Need help deciding? Indie Games of 2012

Please post links to your #indiexmas blog posts in the comments section below!

Eufloria HD and Demo hit the Android Play Store!

sillytuna — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:21:00 +0000

Eufloria HD and Demo hit the Android Play Store!:

Finally. Now, can I sleep? You may leave an answer below…

Eufloria HD is Apple’s iPad Game of 2012 Runner up in...

sillytuna — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 02:43:50 +0000

Eufloria HD is Apple’s iPad Game of 2012 Runner up in their Best of 2012 promotion!

Euflorium - more than just Eufloria

sillytuna — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:23:07 +0000

Euflorium - more than just Eufloria:

I’ve updated the Eufloria forum to support more of our games. I also gave it a new home at the Euflorium domain.

Argo - Ben Affleck Done Good

sillytuna — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 20:12:23 +0000

I’m on the come down one gets after working all nighters and doing a big release.

I don’t quite know what to do with myself yet am also still knackered. So today I was invited to the local arthouse cinema to watch Argo, and what a great film that was.

Ben Affleck, talented director? I think so, yes. The film felt a little contrived at the end but the pacing was good, as was the mix of humour and very real feeling of horror at the Iran situation at the time.

Give it a go.

Eufloria HD is part of the The Humble Bundle for Android 4! Six...

sillytuna — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:19:00 +0000

Eufloria HD is part of the The Humble Bundle for Android 4!

Six glorious games for your mobile entertainment. Humble Bundle for Android 4 features a handpicked selection of the finest portable gaming ever seen for Android. Pay-what-you-want and dive into the creative physics puzzler Crayon Physics Deluxe; the plant-based interstellar RTS Eufloria; the cell-splitting microbial puzzler Splice; the future-retro audiovisual concoction Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP; and the side-scrolling planetary adventure, Waking Mars. Customers who pay more than the average price will also get the fantastic mechanical point-and-click adventure Machinarium!

Desktop ready. Buying the Humble Bundle for Android 4 also gets you the games on Windows, Mac, and Linux! For your listening pleasure, all six games also come with an official soundtrack.

Pay what you want. On their own, buying this unbeatable collection of mobile and desktop games with soundtracks would cost around $119, but we’re letting you name your price!

The games are DRM-free and work great on Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux (system requirements here). Note that this is the initial release for many of the Android and Linux versions of the games. Please be patient while the developers fix any 1.0 bugs as quickly as they can, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues!

Support charities and developers. Choose how your purchase is divided: to the developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and/or the Child’s Play Charity. And if you like this promotion, a tip to the Humble Bundle would be greatly appreciated!

Derrick the Deathfin released for PSN on PS3 today! Derrick has...

sillytuna — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:27:30 +0100

Derrick the Deathfin released for PSN on PS3 today!

Derrick has a very cool papercraft style which makes it interesting. I helped kick the project off, while Gordon Midwood and Ronzo from Different Tuna have taken it to its conclusion. I’m looking forward to playing the final build as the last version I played still had a little way to go gameplay wise but visually looked pretty sweet.

East Midlands Trains Ticket Farce

sillytuna — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:18:00 +0100

Ah the UK train system. Surely the most expensive and complicated ticketing system in Western Europe, if not farther afield.

Last Wednesday I discovered that my £67.50 Sheffield - St Pancras return ticket wouldn’t actually let me travel at any useful times. I say discovered because it was not what I was told, which had been that I was ok after 10am when I’d enquired a few days earlier.

I needed to get back from London St Pancras. I discovered that my ticket wouldn’t allow me on the 5-6ish trains but was told I could upgrade. The ticket office said sure, a new single will be £110 please.

That’s £110 for a single to Sheffield which is all of 2 hours away or a £25 drive.

Ok, so what about a later train? There is no suitable train until 19.55, so basically 8pm. And I couldn’t have caught a train after 14.55 either.

After talking it through with multiple members of staff (“sorry sir those are the rules and we don’t like them any more than you do”) I ended up being offered tickets to take me on the peak part of my journey, after which my ticket would then be valid. I thought about it then walked off to get an interim ticket as I felt I had little choice. Besides, I didn’t have a problem paying something ‘reasonable’ extra even though I felt I’d been misinformed.

That’s when the real problem occurred. Once I’d had some fun on the trains themselves, I met a lovely ticket inspector intent on either charging the earth or chucking me off the train with no way home. Apparently I’d been given the wrong information again. It’s cheaper to get an interim station ticket therefore you aren’t allowed to do it.

What?

Apparently it’s unfair on the other passengers (of the very empty 18.25). This is nonsense of course and a distraction. What she meant was the train company don’t want people finding ways to avoid paying through the nose so make up ridiculous ticketing rules and have a system their own staff clearly still don’t understand.

After much discussion, and to be fair she was just doing her job, she allowed me to stay on the train after paying more again, another £71 this time. At the same time, she cancelled my invalid return ticket so I can’t even use that again. Eh? But it wasn’t valid and I just paid more, so at least let me keep my stub for another time!

I asked her why the ticket office offered to sell me a ticket I couldn’t use when I had told them specifically which train I wanted. She told me it’s not up to them to sell valid tickets and that the rules are clearly written on the back of the ticket.

1) What utter rubbish. Clearly this woman has no concept of customer service. She may have been doing her job, but she should have said “if they did then it’s a mistake. You’ll need to pay now but take it up with customer services upon your return.”

2) These are the clearly written rules.

Not sure an Internet connection should be required for the basics. Indeed, I went to the link just now and you then need to download a pdf. A long pdf you can find here.

Erm… I’ll check the front.

No mention of times or the station rule, just the ‘Super Offpeak R’.

Ok, they must be being sneaky. Let’s check the side.

I did try and find a microscope but to no avail.

Here are my complaints:

Firstly, it’s 2012 and there is no excuse whatsoever for not clearly writing valid train times on the ticket. The only reason for not doing so, because I’m not going to be blind sided by technical excuses, is to cause confusion amongst customers.

Secondly, some staff clearly don’t understand the rules either.

Thirdly, the ticketing system should price in cheaper routes to allow for trains leaving at peak times. It’s frankly ridiculous not to and is leading to empty trains at some peak and near peak times - the 18.25 was virtually empty almost the entire route.

Fourthly, not withstanding the above, how can EMT justify trying to charge me £110 to leave before 19.55 on that route? It’s absolutely farcical, especially when I could massively reduce that cost with a bit of per station ticketing.

At a time when train companies are under fire by passenger groups and MPs for price gouging and packed trains one minute, empty trains the next (due to these ticketing policies), it’s quite clear some areas could be remedied quite easily.

What now?

Firstly, I’d like EMT to respond to my complaint and I’d like to see what they’re are going to do about it.

Secondly, dependant upon EMT’s response, I’ll be writing to my local MP, a certain Nick Clegg who may just have an interest in these matters, and also to any relevant rail passenger groups.

The bill!

"If the PM is after a new iPhone game to replace angry birds he should get Eufloria. It’s a..."

sillytuna — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:10:19 +0100

“If the PM is after a new iPhone game to replace angry birds he should get Eufloria. It’s a thing if beauty.”

- Tom Watson, MP for West Bromwich East

Best thing a politician has ever said

Eufloria for iPhone is out today. Even better, if you own...

sillytuna — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:15:00 +0100

Eufloria for iPhone is out today. Even better, if you own Eufloria HD then it’ll work on iPhone too!

iPad 3 owners also get Retina Display support while we’ve also added an automatic in-game session save to prevent games being abandoned part way through playing a long level.

Putting this release together has been hard work. Adding save support meant a large number of changes and also exposed quite a few minor flaws so we’re glad it’s done.

It’s a tough life being a developer!

Goonies time! Queens Park outdoor cinema

sillytuna — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 19:36:10 +0100

Goonies time! Queens Park outdoor cinema

Living The Dream and Enduring The Nightmare - It’s tough...

sillytuna — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:35:00 +0100

Living The Dream and Enduring The Nightmare - It’s tough being indie

A short time ago I was lucky enough to be asked to be one of the keynote speakers at the New Zealand Game Developer Conference. My talk was about the highs and lows of indie development, specifically talking about my experiences with Eufloria and Cletus Clay. This is a subject I’ll write more about in due course.

The conference was excellent and I understand it will pave the way for more such events in the area. The industry still seems very youthful but it’s definitely an up and coming industry for Kiwis.

Note that 1) I refuse to watch the video and 2) I ran out of time slightly and it ended up on a more negative note than planned!

If anyone is interested, the slides can be found here.

John Cleese gives an excellent lecture on creativity. It’s...

sillytuna — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:11:53 +0100

John Cleese gives an excellent lecture on creativity. It’s quite long but worth making a cup of tea and sitting through.

I’d been meaning to post this for a while but life’s been a little crazy for the last few weeks.

Steven Novella Destroys HuffPro Journo

sillytuna — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:38:34 +0100

Steven Novella Destroys HuffPro Journo:

Bad journalism combined with blinkered support for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) - it’s an all too common mix. Steven Novella takes a look at a recent Huffington Post article and is not best pleased…

Eufloria Mega Sale! iPad and PC Reductions!

sillytuna — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:29:16 +0100

Eufloria Mega Sale! iPad and PC Reductions!:

SavyGamer.co.uk is 5 today and we’re helping them celebrate this by discounting Eufloria for the next few days.

We discounted the iPad version of the game by up to 60%. You can buy from the App Store as normal or follow this link! You can also gift Eufloria HD to other people from the iTunes Store.

Use the code “SAVYGAMER5″ to get 75% off the PC version of the game.

Why not buy it for a friend?

Kraftwerk Celebration - Headphone gig in the Debenhams shop...

sillytuna — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 02:31:34 +0100

Kraftwerk Celebration - Headphone gig in the Debenhams shop window at Sheffield’s Sensoria Festival.

Somehow I’m always away during Sensoria but it looks like it’s getting bigger and better every year.

Photo courtesy of Andi Stamp.

Bahrain, F1 and Journalism

sillytuna — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:23:05 +0100

Bahrain, F1 and Journalism:

Motorsport journalist Joe Saward is, in my opinion, one of the finest sports writers to be found. In recent months, he’s been blogging regularly about Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix, discussing the politics surrounding the event.

His most recent blog entry, coming post event, is a lengthy opinion piece where he essentially changes his opinion about what is going on in Bahrain. It’s too wordy for sure and I get the feeling it’s primarily about getting something off his mind, however it’s also an interesting insight to the way different journalists work.

If you don’t have the patience to read it, or his previous posts on the topic, I’ll sum it up by saying that Joe is less than happy about the reporting going on from major news agencies and found it doesn’t tally with what he experienced (his pre-attendance view being very negative). This doesn’t surprise me; these days the mainstream press seem to do anything to stir up controversy and seem to spend little time doing proper journalism.

The old Channel 4 series Drop the Dead Donkey seems to be more appropriate now than ever before. Not so long ago there was a truly dreadul Panorama piece on BBC 1 about computer games which was abysmally researched, utterly one sided, and was worthy of the Daily Mail at its finest. Actually no, because it was just completely powder puff and crap - it was basically just 30 minutes of utter rubbish masquerading as a serious piece of current affairs output.

The game industry being one I know well, it did make me (and others I know) wonder about the rest of their output. In fact, I’ve since been told that other episodes have been similarly problematic.

I’ll end this post by pointing out that Sheffield DocFest, one of the world’s top documentary festivals, takes place in June. I know some great documentary makers who’ll be there; if only they could be in charge of major news and journalistic output…