ICBM

Island Cannon Blaster Mania

Game-play:
-3D clone of the classic game Scorch.
Players battle it out in a fast paced, turn based game of strategy, skill, and luck! The goal of the game is to use your cannon to blast the other players off the map! But wait; there is a new twist to a classic game! Do you aim your cannon at your opponents and start blasting at them right away? Or do you aim at the power-ups hanging in the air, hoping to give yourself more firepower in the next turn? ICBM features dozens of power-ups and upgrades to shoot at...

To read more Click Here.

My most extensive programming was done with Visual Basic. I programmed several small games. Each one building on the experiences and code from the last.

My final game was a multi-player game with two little army men who ran around and shot each other. There were ammunition boxes that parachuted down to the ground and every now and then, a tank would drive across the screen, shooting missiles, killing everybody. I had animations for the men, the bullets, the tanks, and the parachuting crates (the bullets even ricocheted off of the crates). I also had sound effects for everything.

I know, every "real" programmer looks down upon VB. But it was all I had, and it taught me quite a bit.
I've learned the very basics of C++, and I've done some experimenting with Java. Most of my knowledge on those two subjects has come from old thick programming books, rescued from the garbage. I'm also fairly fluent with HTML (who isn't?).

I consider myself more of an artist than a programmer. I've been drawing since as far back as I can remember.

My style of art is somewhat of a cross between cartoon and "realistic." My drawings are not "UBER" (heh, heh, there's that word) realistic, but I do try very hard to make them high quality.

My weak areas in drawing are: Mechanical/futuristic objects and fantasy monsters. Mainly because I don't really spend much time trying to draw those things.

I've used GIMP to make concept art, although most of the time I only use GIMP to touch up the things I draw by hand.
I would love to get a Wacom tablet. *Sigh*

Concept art:
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/7311/pirates7vs.jpg
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/7093/cottage2wo8.jpg
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/4157/soldierhh0.jpg

Making games is what got me started into 3D modeling. I wanted to help a guy make his game, but the only thing I had to offer was ideas... I quickly realized that people want more than just ideas, so I decided to tap into my artistic talents and eventually stumbled onto Blender.

When I first attempted to use Blender, I realized it was going to be a long time before I could produce anything that was good enough to "help" anyone... But there was no getting around it, so I've spent several years honing my Blender skills to bring them up to what I consider a "decent" level. That doesn't mean I'm done learning, I'm constantly finding new things every time I use Blender.

A few of my models:

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2703/seenbetterdaysinnls6.jpg
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6527/m1a13zg0.jpg

Before I got a video camera, I made "radio" stories using a cassette tape recorder. I would "act" things out on tape... Sound effects and all. I created the sound effects with what ever was handy at the moment. Hotwheels cars became piles of gold coins; the heating vent got clubbed repeatedly to make gunshots; pointing the microphone into a fan produced very convincing explosions sounds.

Besides the sound effects, I learned what my voice sounded like "on tape," and how expressive it needed to be to sound convincing in the recordings. Needless to say, I have experience as a voice actor.

When I switched from the cassette recorder to the computer, I began recording AND MIXING sound effects. The computer only made it easier for me to create the sounds I need.

Music is one area where I actually do have "official" training. I've been taking violin lesson for about 10 years now. I've composed several little tunes, but nothing to the grand orchestral scale that I would love to be able to do. I use Finale Notepad for all my composing... Since it's free, doh. XP

I LOVE making movies! I've been filming videos since I was about 10 years old. I was the photographer of the family... I filmed almost all of my family's "home videos." The films range from typical vacation videos, to not-so-typical vacation videos, to stop-motion animations, to miniature special effects, to five minute film shorts.

I'm most proud of a 5 minute long, stop-motion animation that I made several years ago. The camcorder I was using didn't have a "single frame capture" feature, so in order to get around that, I had to push the "Start recording" button and then immediately hit the "Stop recording" button. When I did this, the camcorder only captured a few frames at a time and, in effect, created stop-motion animations. The process was very difficult though, and it was very easy to makes mistakes. The five minute film took me 3 days to make.

The camcorder we own records onto film, so I can't edit any of it until I can afford a film-to-digital convertor. Recently however, I recognized the fact that our Canon Powershot A75, could record 30 seconds of film at a time in digital format (.avi)! Since I can't afford a digital camcorder, I've been using our little Powershot as a substitute. I've shot and edited several five minute films using the Canon Powershot A75.

This is one of the films I made with the Canon Powershot.

I've also gotten to work in a motion-capture studio for a whole day. That was FUN!

I've been designing a game for about 3-4 years now. Part of the reason it has taken me 3-4 years to design this game is because I can't afford a decent game engine with which to begin making the game. But that fact has actually been a blessing. It has forced me to take the time to flesh out my plans and ideas. I've gone from the standard newbie "This would be SO cool if someone could make this," to a halfway organized set of ideas that are WRITTEN DOWN. The key words are "written down." It's also forced me to research many of my ideas to make sure that they are even technologically possible. So, looking back, I'm very glad that I couldn't afford a game engine up front.

The game I'm designing is a MMOSRPGPSG! Massively Multi-Player Online Strategy Role Playing First Person Shooter Game... Did I miss anything? I know what most people automatically think when they hear of a single person attempting to tackle a MMORPG, but that doesn't deter me. I'll take things as the come, and if nothing else... I had a great time designing my game! =)

Some of the game designs that I am most excited about (and proud of):
-I've come up with a design for a truly dynamic world. It will probably take some extensive testing to balance things, but I think it's definitely got some potential.
-I've also designed a first person melee combat system. It switches seamlessly from attack to defense, meaning you can attack other players and then immediately defend yourself (with your sword) against your opponent's attack. The amazing part is, that this system is insanely simple!
-I've also come up with a way to ADVANCE AGES IN A MMORPG!


I haven't been a member of Garage Games for very long, but I've been VERY impressed with what I've seen. The Garage Games community is truly unique. It has a very open, helpful, friendly and yet professional atmosphere. Thanks to Garage Games, I have a chance to be an active contributer to the community.

These are the games that have changed my perspective. They have effected the way I design, play, and enjoy games. There are too many games to list, so I will only list the most influential ones.

• Torque Game Builder
• GarageGames.com
• Great Games Experiment
• GGE Code Help Section