The Rozzbox is a very interesting music device. Not only because of the device itself, but mainly for the story behind it. The Rozzbox is manufactured by L.L. Electronics, an one-man-company that does everything from research to design and constructing. The approach is very personal and you can pre-order upcoming devices now.

Isn’t this a beauty?

L.L. Electronics is based in a small German city, far away from the buzz of the metropolitan cities. Doing this kind of work from the middle of nowhere makes this company even more likable for me. I think the Rozzbox (in German you speak like Rotz-Box, something like “Snot-Box”) will find many warm places in homes of people who from time to time fall in love with their electronic music devices. Manufacturing, design, the open and friendly approach… a very web 2.0 way of working.

And yes, you can listen to a Rozzbox Demosong

Today I present two music shooters – Otocky from 1987 and Le Fonque Vol from 2005. The first game was made by Toshio Iwai, meanwhile well known for his Tenori-On and Electroplankton, the second was made by *ähm* me.

Otocky

Otocky is Toshio Iwai first game-music mixture made in 1987. It’s a side-scrolling shooter, very rare, that was released on the Famicom Disk System which I am even not sure if is is the same as the NES or also something also very rare. (Noticed? We’re in very rare-land.) But thanks to Google, YouTube and the “wisdom of the crowds” there is a gameplay video available. In Otocky you play a spaceship-lookalike rocketman, that shoots on.. hmm.. shapes to get score and change the sounds. On every shoot a new tone is made, shot objects change the tones or the scale the tones are triggered on. The tones are quantized to the beat, shooting is trying to get nice melodies.

The game is an experimental instrument or an instrument for generative music in shape of a game. Whatever it is, it was a very early work on generative music at the experimental edges of videogames. (On the other side all games from the 70ies and 80ies had a somehow experimental touch.) Like all music-toys from Toshio Iwai this game is somehow cool, but also has this unfinished, or let’s call it open, touch that is very unique to all works from him.

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Fritzing is a new initiative that wants to bring us a step closer to do-it-yourself made wonderland, like for example Processing did some years ago for creative coding. This projects wants to shorten the development cycle between concept, protoype and realisation of electronic devices and bring people together. The focus is on Electronic Design Automation and I bet some people now cross fingers, because they had equal ideas.

“Fritzing is an open-source initiative to support designers and artists to take the step from physical prototyping to actual product.”

Fritzing is based around the Interaction Design Lab of the University of Applied Science Potsdam near Berlin. For me it’s the news of the day. Only two questions remain… What does Fritzing mean? And whey do they got the name from?

Who makes the most weird and crazy games on this planet? It’s Cactus, and finally he has a more structured website where you can conveniently browse and download all of his games. Cactus not only follows a very innovative approach on making his games in fresh visual styles, but also tries to innovate gameplay and storytelling at the same level. Visit the Cactus Soft Website or directly browse the games.

Screenshot from Retro II

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There was a panel on innovation on indie games at the Independent Games Summit in March this year. The panelists were some of the more interesting people of the moment at indigames: Kyle Gabler who also was on of the guys behind the Experimental Gameplay Project, Jenova Chen, Jon Mak and Jon Blow. Nothing more to say at this point, just have some enjoyable sixty minutes.

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Link to Google Video-Page

Chaim Gingold wrote 2003 an interesting thesis with the title “Miniature Gardens & Magic Crayons: Games, Spaces, & Worlds“. The topic is generally about orientation, participation and navigation in gaming worlds and I really wonder why so few people in application design don’t lend some good wisdom from the game designers. Gingold writes:

“Gardens, like games, are compact, self-sustained worlds we can immerse ourselves in. Japanese gardens often contain a multiplicity of environments and places, such as mountains, oceans, or forests that we can look at, walk around, or interact with. Gardens are a way to think about the aesthetic, cognitive, and representational aspects of game space.”

Offer the user an overview of “where she is” and “what to explore” (micro and macro reading) and you will be rewarded by higher motivation and willingness to explore by the user. The most interesting read from the thesis is chapter two, where Chaim analyzes the work from Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and Seymour Papert in terms of the aesthetics of miniature worlds.

This website simply has the right name: Folklore is a collection of stories and anekdotes from inside the Machintosh Company. Perfect for a sunday morning and essential to keep your good-to-know skills improved.