Kevin James
What have I to do with the Great Games Experiment you ask? Why, everything! I make games, play games, look at games, and smell the nice plasticky aroma of new CD's!
Am I a psychopath you ask? Why of course not, I just really like games . . . and besides you're the insane one, not me!
Lol, it's all in good fun!
Update: January 31st
I recently got my website up. Check it out at syrealgames.com
You can contact me at:
syreal14 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Brevity is the soul of wit.
THE DEVELOPMENT CORNER
Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by! Here is where I will bring to you the latest works of Syreal Studios, a sneak peek, if you will, of great things yet to come.
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------Glatte------
Check out my .plan on Garage Games to see some of the latest in Glatte 2.
Work is going smoothly, though ever so slowly, on Glatte 2. I may have a demo out in a couple weeks. I'll be sure to spam all my friends when such a demo comes out!
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Hmmm, I may have to change the title to: "Wisdom of the Whenever I Feel Like It . . . "
Eh, things have been very busy for me lately, but some more earth-shattering wisdom is on its way!
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I usually find that projects go smoothly until around the 67% mark ;)
Basically, once subsystems start colliding you get boundary cases that matter and then if your design doc didn't force you to think those through at the beginning, you'll have to struggle to integrate everything perfectly.
In other words, many bugs don't come out of hiding until they reach critical mass under the refrigerator :)
I'm sure that any experienced developer has encountered what Tom Eastman is talking about, especially on big projects. With some little games, you can get away without reaching "critical mass under the refrigerator", but it's impossible to avoid on complex undertakings. I dream of a project where all the documented sub-systems come into conjunction perfectly . . . and I'll keep dreaming!
My Bio(logy) And then Some!
I have been a gamer all of my life, like so many of you. The first game I remember playing is the original Duke Nukem, in DOS of course. I actually played every Duke Nukem in the franchise except for The Manhattan Project and I don't even know if Duke Nukem Forever has come out yet.
I am a very varied (Hmmm . . .?) gamer. I play almost every kind of game out there, First Person Shooter, Roleplaying, Casual, Strategy, Real-Time, Turn-Base . . .whatever! My favorite genre is probably action RPG though. My idea of a perfect game is a mix between a fighting game and a roleplaying game. Revenant did a pretty good job at this, but I think it was lacking some final polish.
Be sure to check out my list of favorites at the bottom of my profile!
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As a Developer/Modder
I started developing games with EB Worlds. Pretty restrictive, but it gave me a good feel of what a game should be.
Modding the wonderful game of Neverwinter Nights came next. The modding is so incredible in that game! Mods can be super simple or sinisterly complex. And the cool thing is that you don't need to download a mod every time you go to a different server . . . but that's enough about servers. I made some simple mods and some mods so complex that I didn't get half-way through them, lol. All in all the experience was good, the easy scripting prepared me for what was ahead.
Torque 2D. An utterly amazing game engine. Even then, without the fancy level builder. I made my first full-scale (as far as hobby indies go) game in the Torque 2D beta. I dubbed it Glatte, a fine space scroller reminiscent of Galaga.
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Then finally, Shellcore. This was a top-down tank game developed in Torque Game Builder 1.0. It took about 3 weeks, working on and off last summer, for me to finish Shellcore.
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As an Artist
I draw all of my art for games and make my own effects 'n' such. I gained much experience at drawing sprites when I made levels and mods for a little game called Liero. I'll bundle a bunch of Liero levels someday and make them available for download on my profile. Someday . . .
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This is a concept drawing for Balbaat, the main character in a game idea I've been developing. (The idea, not the game!) Go here for the full scoop.
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I have also drawn many things for art projects and for fun using various techniques such as pointillism with pen and ink, and shading with ebony pencil, colored pencil, white charcoal and black charcoal. I'll post some pictures once I get my art projects back . . . stay tuned!
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In The Near Future
I'm tinkering around with TGB as usual, looking over some C++, and drawing quite a bit. It looks as if my next project will be a top-down RPG, but who really knows what will turn out.
Right now I'm looking for some summer work doing some game development. I'd be interested in any paid position writing code or drawing art. Any info would be appreciated, thanks!
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If you consider developing games a a fun hobby, join the H-Devs today and get some helpful friends here at the GGE.
My Reviews
Here are some games I considered worth my time to review, even though they may not have made it on any gamelist.
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1202176382
Bottom Line: Awesome freeware indie work Read this review... |
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+1
1193863463
Bottom Line: Definitely worth a try! You'll either love it or hate it. Read this review... |
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+5
1182297919
Bottom Line: Play this game. Read this review... |
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1170883901
Bottom Line: Play it! Read this review... |
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+2
1170514773
Bottom Line: Play it! Read this review... |
My Garage Games .plans!
Hey everyone!I just recently finished working on a physics based game called diBALLic. Its basically Pong with some other cool features:*Support for two human players*Support for a human player and computer player*Support for two computer playersYou shouldn't download this game if you want to get an ...
I don't know about you, but I always come up with a super simple game idea that will take 2 weeks to bring to fruition, and will probably be pretty cool in the end. Nice simple, cut-n-dried game mechanics, clean graphics, moderate level of content -- you know.The next day, I don't even know what the ...
Hey guys, just uploaded Glatte2 version 0.70 to syrealgames.comGlatte2 is a two dimensional space adventure made with TGB. There's only one level at this point. A big thanks goes out to Jamie Vanadia of noise-floor.com for the sound effects, to Ajari Wilson for the title music and Jasmin Hadzic for ...
Hail, fellow member of the downtrodden worker proletariat!Are you tired of the incessant ignorance of your capitalistic slave drivers? Are you always exhausted when you come home from your interminable work day? Think of these problems no more, my friend!Go to syrealgames.com, and forget your troubl ...
Shellcore2.0 is a competitive 2 player tank game set in a glowing digital world. Have a blast with your friends as you blast them into digital nonexistence!Features:* Fluid, freeform tank combat* Radar minimap* Catchy level music* Riveting sound effects* Dynamic explosions* 15 customizeable gameplay ...
I agree with this fellow wholeheartedly. Have you ever spent an ungodly amount of time on an art asset only to have it suck? Bad?I just spent three hours meticulously working on a new ship for my game, Glatte 2, only to have it look like complete poop in game. I had no idea that something I worked o ...
