Artwork from the release 08 Badlands

Finally there is another netlabel focusing only on high-quality music made with vintage computing and gaming gear. The netlabel II music (ii, but it feels like a pause sign, huh?) does this. There are some of this netlabels, like 8bit-peoples or that one I ran once (if you know more, then put it in the comments). But what I like most on II music is their attempt to make finished works, albums that stand on their own and have descriptive and epic qualities to trip your head into wandering motion pictures. So exactly that thing I liked about games from an era long ago. It’s a bit more than the usual form experiments that most blip-warriors do. They have no ability to pre-listen tracks online. They would fail the Web2.0 compatibility test. But be sure that each download is worth it. And somehow downloading stuff feels like nostalgia, doesn’t it?

One thing great about collections is that you hear/see things that are normally hidden in the timeline.

Game Designer Jazzuo makes lofi games. They are more close to art than to anything else. His approach is low-designed, but upfront in attitude and I bet he will have a great future as game designer or something else in between. He uses the Game Maker software to get his stuff done. The game works are somehow cool, but even more attractive are the works with his character “John Package”.

First one

Card Trick

Jazzuo made an own doll in Game Maker he calls John Package. He controls John using mouse and keyboard, while speaking into the microphone. Because he didn’t had registered fraps (that making videos software) he limits the videos to 30 seconds, but nevertheless the quality is good, the videos are crazy and funny and I somehow really like them. And if you listen carefully, you will also hear the sound of the spacebar (or keys), that are moving the mouth open and close. Using the constraints in a clever way to get things done and to state the idea over perfection. Thumbs up for Jazzuo. (I hope he some day cleans up his website a little bit.)

This is awesome. Some oscilloscope connected to a PC soundcard to create a demo. Meanwhile there are not so many platforms anymore that haven’t been demoed yet. Finding new platforms is indeed a work that should be performed by demomakers. Think of plotters, robots and/or media facades, because now we have oscilloscopes:

“The oscilloscope is connected to PC soundcard and is in X/Y-mode, with right channel connected to X and left to Y input. Z (brightness) input is not used.”

You can download and listen to the audiofile in flac format
or wav to manipulate. Check the according Website on pouet.

Maybe quite cooler in style is this one. It also has the original sound and is not dubbed like the example above. And it sounds like… Right! FM-Synthesis.

I had an inspiring session with the guys around soup.io, that is a fabulous tumblelog project from Vienna. I began experimenting with it a lot and soon wrote my own tumblelog to continue the experiments. This now grew old. Useless to say, I used Ruby in Rails to get stuff done. =)

Digital Tools now presents a new section: the Digital Tools Microcontent. It’s fast paced side of the this site, where I post at least 3-5 short, but interesting entries during the day. It is a valuable source for all your tools heads out there and will serve as a daily source of creative input and inspiration. A collection of random thoughts and things I find fitting in the creative coding universe.

Ill styled quick first design.

Digital Tools Microcontent is also integrated into this page. Just look at the right side… at the sidebar. Also RSS-Feeds are available! I am also thinking on syndication and / or more community features to add. Feel free to feed back.

PS: The guys from the soup are again on tour.

Whoow. There is something huge coming up. A new technique called Trixels to play platform games on 3D-based game engine.

The video shows the gameplay of Fez, a work in progress from the independent game developer Phil Fish. In this game a 3D engine is used to get an original 2D platform game look and feel – but extended in 3 dimensions. Think like a Rubicks cube. Platforming, orientation and puzzle solving will get into very new dimensions and depths. Gaming, level design experience and surprises were not possible in that form before and compared to this, first person perspective games are a failure (at least for platformers).

The technique here was developed/invented by Renaud Bédard (correct me when I am wrong), called Trixels Technology. He writes about it in his blog:

“First, everything is rendered 3D, at all times. The 2D views are just orthographic (a.k.a. isometric) views of the world from a direction or another. Since the Z component disappears, the character considers the whole world as 2D and can go from very far objects to very close objects without distinction.”

“Each visible pixel-art tile that you see while playing the game in 2D view is part of a 3D cube, which we call a trile. Each trile is a 16×16×16 volume which is formed of 4096 potential trixels. Obviously, not all trixels are rendered, else it would be incredibly slow… so only the border trixels are considered. But in the data storage, it’s basically a 3D presence array which tells the renderer if a trixel is present/on, or absent/off.”

I am really wondering how he built the clouds. Fez is still in progress, initially designed by Phil Fish with a very certain taste for colors and cute artworks. He is part of the Kokoromi collective and the gaming experience with the switching perspectives reminds me a little on Zig Zag, but not in isometric but a real 3D view.

Now, I think I am not the only one who waited for such a technique for a long time without knowing. Most of the 1st person 3D games are boring as hell or did not proceed to a good platform gaming experience. Metroid on the 2D: fine, Metroid in 3D: boring. Most of even the fun games (that ones with candy colors and blue skies) really don’t work in the first person perspective. Or until now I did not see any title yet that convinced me. Trixels Technology will be the solution to this.

Fez screenshot with kind permisson from Phil Fish.

[via]

Most creative use of a Game Boy in here! It controls a bunch of self-made strange hardware devices that build something like a “Pocket Disco”. Don’t mind the slightly boring made video, because the project is awesome.

The Game Boy controls the evidently self-made hardware-stuff. There is a camera, a light and some rotating stuff, that is controlled by a sequencer and where you can put own objects on it. Watch till the end to get the idea. The approach and style is very unique and let your Mad Max dreams come true. Besides the Game Boy project, there’s also a Sega Sequencer. This is the kind of homebrew I want to see more!