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mikemateiweb-blog · 5 years

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Amazon’s Running Diet – Mike Matei Blog

Last year, a new NES game came out. For real. It’s called Gotta Protectors: Amazon’s Running Diet, and it was given away for free to promote the 3DS game Gotta Protectors. As of the time of this writing, I have not played Gotta Protectors, but I’ve played a lot of this companion NES game.

Here’s the free download link if you want to play it (requires an emulator that can play NES games):

Click here to download Amazon’s Running Diet

It’s an endless runner game based around the main character exercising to lose weight. She has to collect water to keep running and avoid cakes. I got addicted to this game immediately and played a lot of it, but as I kept going I started to have a lot of questions about the mechanics. The scoring system is mysterious and hard to understand, and I was really curious about what kind of scores I was shooting for to unlock the different win screens, which show the Amazon’s weight loss (or weight gain) after her workout.

This game is relatively new, very little has been written about it, and only a couple of YouTube videos have been posted. So, I decided to research this game and post an in-depth strategy guide so the internet has one.

I had my pixel artist analyze the game’s memory with a hex editor to make sense of how the game actually works. We were able to discover a lot about the game’s scoring system and game mechanics, and also figure out what the all the score goals actually are.

Before we get into all that, let’s talk about the basics first.

Rules

The Amazon runs from left to right. You have a water meter which slowly drains as the Amazon runs, and you get a game over if the meter runs out. Picking up water power-ups will replenish the water meter, and running into cakes will decrease your water meter. It’s as simple as that. Using Amazon’s moves helps you collect water and avoid cakes.

After the game ends, the amount of calories you burned is your final score. Running a longer distance will burn more calories, and the number of cakes you ate while running will take away from calories burned.

You get a score screen showing what the Amazon looks like after her workout, and this is the main motivation to play. Do you want to actually help her in her goal to lose weight, or do you want to be sadistic and turn her into an immobile blob? It’s your choice, and both options are quite challenging to pull off.

The fact that this game has two different goals, weight gain, and weight loss makes it a lot deeper than it seems at first. Each goal requires a different strategy by Mike Matei.

Controls

A – Jump, hold A to jump higher. The Amazon has a bit of startup time to the jump so this will take a bit of getting used to.

B – The Amazon does a kick that lifts her off the ground a bit, pressing B again does another kick which lifts her even higher. There are no enemies in this game, so kicking is an alternate way of jumping and can be done in mid-air to alter the trajectory of your regular jumps by Mike Matei.

Doing well in this game requires a mastery of the triple jump mechanic.

In some cases, you need to chain these kicks together very quickly to get a large vertical leap, and in other cases, you can space out the timing on them to make you fall slower to avoid cakes or nab hard to reach water pickups.

During the two parts where there’s a giant wall of cakes, you have to hold the A button down to jump high, then do two quick kicks with B to get the maximum jump height. You also have to time it at almost the last second. You’ll know you did the high jump right when the top of the character sprite loops to the bottom of the screen.

This cake wall is a score-ruiner, so you need to be able to get the high jump in at the right time to get past it. Remember, there are 6 consecutive glasses of water that scroll by before the wall comes.

Down+B

The Amazon does a ground slide. There are many obstacles that are difficult or impossible to jump over so you can slide under them (some are too low to slide under). The duration of this slide is very quick, so you have to activate it pretty close to the obstacle you’re trying to avoid.

Up+B

The Amazon does a cool backflip maneuver, jumping up slightly and flying back. This is a very situational move that will sometimes get you into trouble, but there are certain parts of the game where this is the optimal method to collect water safely without touching cakes. As the game progresses, it will speed up and backflipping becomes more and more necessary to collect certain water pickups.

Continue Reading: https://www.mikematei.com/blog/amazons-running-diet-mike-matei-blog

#mikemateiinstagram #mikemateitwitch #mikemateitwitter #mikemateiwhitenationalist #mikemateiblog #mikemateiyoutube #Cinemassacre #AmazonsRunningDiet

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orbyssarchives · 6 years

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A Brief tl;dr

This is probably a lot to say for 20 unfinished webcomic pages and I know I can be fairly long-winded so if you just wanna skip ahead and click through the pictures I’ve put up, I understand.

The TL;DR is

Hello and welcome to Mage Punk Archives! My name is Tables and this is some of the work that I’ve done over the last few years and what I’ve been up to in my little corner of the world. This is the third and last of a series of posts, outlining a number of updates that I completed on the site.

Included are some of my inspirations and a little of what I’ve learned so far about myself as an ever growing artist up to this point.

After this, I want to keep the content more focused on the actual art and story.

I’ll post to this site as often as I am able.

Thanks for reading!

***

Long Ago, Before the miracle of handheld internet searches and Instagram

When I was but a young, internet webling, I was heavily into shitty online flash games and looking for anything even remotely related to my interests at the time. From Mario and Sonic to various comics, videos games, anime and things never to be said aloud (pornpornporn). My love of the likes of Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog (big fandoms for me at the time) would later lead me to sprite comics. Today, my feelings for the little hodge podge collage strips of old video game sprite sheets and backgrounds are a little mixed.

(They were beautiful and I’m gonna make one someday)

Then, in Highschool, I took a basic Web Design class. It was a VVoid World Web of Notepad and Internet Explorer where a kindly old crone passed on to those of us there, some knowledge of the ancient runic language which forms the foundations of the World Wide Web: HTML. Tables, frames, css, oh my! This knowledge would eventually prove invaluable.

Throughout our studies we were occasionally allowed to venture out into the Wider World Web. It was during these little adventures and travels across the Web that I happened upon the magical land of Webcomics. It was also during this time that I began break free of the enchantment of sprites. Even though I would probably never return to them, they would always hold a special place in my heart.

The Internet is for [Comics]

Webcomics – Synonymous with “Masochism”

At first, I had no idea just how grueling webcomics could be. Most webcomic artists pump out pages one to three times a week. At the time I got into them, MegaTokyo, then still partially a video game webcomic, was just releasing its third printed book; 2-3 updates a week with a loosely set schedule. Evan Dahm was wrapping up his surreal fantasy epic, Rice Boy; with updates consistently going up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The various sprite and drawn webcomics that I was following at the time were updating all the time. Seeing all the great work going up, I felt encouraged to try it myself.

I drew these closer to the end of my junior year of high school.

Desu

Taking major inspiration from a lot of the manga and anime that I was enjoying then, I used pen and ink to make my comic pages. I liked working in black and white because it felt direct and skipping on color made it easier to finish faster. I figured I could work faster if I didn’t have to worry about the extra step. When I did want to use color, as is typical for the early pages of a new manga, I used markers.

At the time, I had no idea that mangakas used assistants. That’s messed up.

Not to say that it was completely unrealistic, but back in the real world I could only average one black and white page a week. If even. The spider webs I was drawing all over were so that I wouldn’t have to use a ruler to draw my panel proper borders. I thought it gave the comic an “old archive”. In the end, I concluded that the spider webs should have their place and not be all over.

This time, I decided to work a little more carefully and deliberately.

Moving Forward

It was going pretty well but by the time page 7 rolled around, it was time for midterms and I had become too self-conscious and uncomfortable with the way I was drawing my comic pages then. Then, it was time to take finishing high school seriously and before I knew it, I was a freshman at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. I did a lot of growing in the next four years that I attended there. Unfortunately, I never revisited those pages. Instead, near the end of my sophomore year, I took a Sequential Art class where the Final was a full-color, 5-page comic.

These are the ink-wash versions of the 7-page Final that I submitted. I’d originally colored them digitally to meet project requirements but I don’t want to post those just yet..

In the End

I wasn’t satisfied. The truth was that I waited until the last minute, rushed it, and over-reached on a re-draw that wasn’t much fun for me to work on. During the course of that Sequential Art class my professor turned my attention to artists like Moebius and Mike Mignola. I also came across Katsuya Terada’s stuff around this time.

And school went on…

I worked on Mage Punk when I could between assignments.

Between thinking I could possibly work on a for-print comic…

…and a webcomic at the same time.

The End was Near

Most of these were actually made towards the end of my four years at Ai. Those of us graduating were tasked with compiling our work from the years past in accordance with the requirements for obtaining our degrees. I believe that we were given two semesters to gather our pieces and do any revisions to previous works to get them up to date with the rest of the portfolio piece. Illustration Graduates at AiFL were typically required to gather a required selection of their work into an on-demand printed book. The year that I graduated, my department decided to change things around a little. Specifically, we were given the option to collect the requirement work into a plain black binder portfolio and make the printed book more geared towards our pursuits. I opted to make a Mage Punk/Orbyss Archives “Zine” as my main portfolio piece.

And Then College was Over

I drew a few more pages of the comic until I became employed full-time. These days, there aren’t enough free hours in my days for me to keep up with any typical webcomic’s update schedule so for a long while I stopped working on the comic altogether. I’m squeezing as much work out of every second that I’m not there; with whatever energy I can muster. This includes planning, writing, sketching and drawing. Before I got back to work on the site, I was posting fairly regularly to my Twitter and Instagram; those posts took time to do as well.

Most of this post was written in separate sessions on my commutes to work.

“Shortcuts”

Even though I always wanted to present Mage Punk as a webcomic, I always worked on it like it would go to print eventually. This created a confusing mindset for me when working on the comic, where I had to work on a whole book, but I have to rush to finish every page. If I wanted to put out pages more frequently I took shortcuts at any point I could to be done with them. Even if I created a good buffer of finished pages, I’d still run into that same pitfall eventually. I wasn’t enjoying my project because of a pressure I applied on myself to finish it in a way I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with. I didn’t even get that much done in the end.

It’s important that I work on it at a pace that lets me show the best of my ability. I would love it if I could be properly finished with the pages before I post them but if I wait before it’s all good and done I’ll just never get around to posting anything, forever floating, aimlessly, throughout creative internet limbo.

Instead, if I have to work on my comic in piecemeal, I’ll just post it up in piecemeal. Mage Punk will still be presented as a webcomic but, until the end of the book is done, certain changes are still a possibility. Editing is an important part of producing any book and I’m going to make its presentation reflect that.

Cue Rhidiculous shouting “I told you so!” from some nearby bushes.

A Webcomic in Presentation Only?

Those Two Images are the Same Page

Instead of trying to finish things at breakneck speeds, I’m going to work on the comics at a more reasonable pace. I’ll try to work on it mainly Chapter to chapter instead of page to page like how a webcomic normally is done (buffers aside) This gives me the opportunity to take a step back and get a broader look at the story while still putting out content in enjoyable chunks.

It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around drawing a comic on a start-to-finish, page-by-page basis. While I was working on the later pages in the chapter I kept finding myself jumping around and making changes to previous pages to make some things more consistent with later parts of the story. Instead of working page-by-page, I was editing the chapter as a whole to try to strengthen the narrative I’m trying to tell.

To that end, I still want to present it on this site as a webcomic; if only in name and archive.

The Process

At the VERY longtime behest of my editor, I’ll be presenting the comic as a work in progress at various points in the following production stages.

Writing

I’ll post dialog excerpts here and there. Nothing that can spoil the story too much.

This step will be kept largely behind the scenes.

Thumbnails

I do these on index cards in ballpoint pen to figure out the sequence of events that I most prefer.

This is the step where I’m prone to overloading a page with information.

First Drafts

Full size roughs of the earlier thumbnails. This step helps me get a better sense of how crowded or unbalanced a page might be early on.

This step also helps to prune out any strenuous scenes or dialog that could otherwise have their own pages.

If it isn’t working visually at this point, it’s not going to work in the next step.

Pencils

This is where the real drawing happens. Drawings in this step are made by either digital or traditional means depending on when or where I’m working.

Inking

This step is exactly like the drawing step but in pen and ink. Despite my affinity for real pen and ink, I’ll mainly be working this step digitally.

Color

This step is wrought with indecision but it also one of the faster, more fun steps to do.

Lettering

I’ve removed the dialog from all the pages currently up, opting to keep that out until a chapter is completed; it’s the thing I’m likeliest to change the most frequently until the end.

All lettering is currently done digitally but I’m considering the possibility of hand lettering.

Drawing dialog can be quite fulfilling but it takes a lot of practice.

Editing

This part will be happening all throughout. Page re-orders, panel redraws, changes in dialog.

Until the book is done.

Here We Are

I’ve already made some revisions to a handful of the pages that are already up; if you browse through the comics you can see the revisions noted in the comic descriptions. I’ll make blog posts for any major revisions or series of revisions that I do. I have a few ideas for some smaller projects that I can work on while I work on Mage Punk. Whether they be illustrations, stories, or even mini-comics like this silly thing down here.

Moving on

I might have also mentioned before that I have a few other drawings that I wanted to make for the site. In particular I have a neat idea for some social media icon illustrations. I wanna make something that takes advantage of what I’ve learned with using CSS. It’s nothing too fancy.

All that said, future posts will be a bit more brief than these last three were. I’d much rather write and post about the work itself, but I feel like I’ve hit a personal milestone and felt the need to ramble on about it a little.

Until next time,

Thanks for reading!

The Big Site Update (Part 3) A Brief tl;dr This is probably a lot to say for 20 unfinished webcomic pages and

#Comics #Process #Social Media #Website #WIP

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epacer · 4 years

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Back Story

Bruce Edward Golden, Class of 1971

Golden began his professional writing career as a freelance journalist, publishing more than 200 magazine and newspaper articles ranging from in-depth profiles to feature stories to satirical commentary. His first sale as a writer was a story on Black's Beach, at the time the only legal nude beach in the country, which was published by The Progressive in 1977. He worked for 14 years as an editor, and was the founding editor/art director responsible for the creation of five different publications.

In 1985 he was chosen to be the head writer and associate producer of a comedy/variety show (San Diego's Passion) involving more than a hundred actors, writers, musicians, and dancers. In 1986 he wrote a teleplay that was optioned for Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories. However, the program was cancelled before the script could be produced, so Golden rewrote it as the short story “Common Time,” which was named as a semi-finalist in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest. An augmented version of the story was published many years later in the U.S. magazine Brutarian, as well as publications in Romania, Greece, Canada, and England.

Golden turned to broadcasting in 1990. As a television news producer and radio reporter, he was awarded an Emmy, two Golden Mikes, and a number of honors from the Society of Professional Journalists, including recognition for his radio documentaries Sex in the ‘90s and Banned in the USA. For a change of pace, he called upon the comedy writing talents he’d honed nearly a decade earlier to create Radio Free Comedy, a program lampooning political correctness. Much later he wrote and produced a pair of public health educational documentaries for the state of California. In 2001, Golden walked away from his journalistic career to devote himself to his first love-- writing fiction. Golden's first novel, Mortals All (Shaman Press), was a futuristic examination of the civil rights of artificially-created humans. A review in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine described it as "Steeped in the ambience of classic 1950's Galaxy magazine ... social satire, irreverent anti-establishmentarianism, and pseudo-hardboiled narration ... Golden writes with zest and good pacing ... a certain flippancy of characterization and delivery ..."

Golden's second novel, Better Than Chocolate (Zumaya Otherworlds), was a futuristic mystery written with undertones of satire and social commentary. It follows San Francisco Police Inspector Noah Dane, who, while hunting his partner's killer and investigating a pair of seemingly unrelated murders, stumbles onto a conspiracy that threatens all humanity. Much to his dismay, his new crime-fighting partner is a Marilyn Monroe celebudroid.

A review in Asimov’s Science Fiction says of the book, "If Mickey Spillane had collaborated with both Frederik Pohl and Philip K. Dick, he might have produced Bruce Golden’s Better Than Chocolate." In Golden's third novel, Evergreen (Zumaya Otherworlds), he created his own planet—a beautiful world populated by majestic forests, ever-changing auroras (called by “sky sprites” by the natives), and the ursu, a primate-like species that may have once achieved sentience. A review in SFFWorld.com said of Evergreen, "Believably tormented characters, unique world-building, realistic dialogue, adventure, exploration, alien lifeforms . . ."

In addition to his novels, Golden has sold more than 100 short stories published across nine countries in such publications as Pedestal, Oceans of the Mind, Odyssey, Digital Science Fiction, Postscripts, Penumbra, and Nemonymous. His tales have been appeared in more than a dozen anthologies, and he won Speculative Fiction Reader's “2003 Firebrand Fiction Award,” the 2006 "JJM Fiction Prize," and was a co-winner of the 2003 “Top International Horror” stories contest. He's received several Honorable Mentions from the Speculative Literature Foundation and the Writers of the Future Contest.

In 2011, he published Dancing with the Velvet Lizard (Zumaya Otherworlds)-- with 33 stories, one of the largest single author collections of speculative fiction in print.

Golden was born in San Diego, California, United States, and when to Will C. Crawford High School then graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English/Creative Writing. He also taught a course in magazine article writing at SDSU. *Reposted article from Wikipedia

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terryblount · 5 years

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Here are 12 minutes of gameplay footage from the pre-alpha build of retro FPS, Prodeus

Mike Voelle and Jason Mojica have released a new video, showing 12 minutes of gameplay footage from their upcoming old-school first-person retro shooter, Prodeus. Prodeus is a first person shooter of old, reimagined using modern rendering techniques that aims to reach the quality you expect from a AAA experience while adhering to some of the aesthetic technical limits of older hardware.

The game will feature high quality 3D retro aesthetic, a focus on over the top visual effects, an amazing dismemberment system, infinite blood, fast-paced action, hellish destruction, a dynamic soundtrack, visceral and engaging combat scenarios, heavy duty weaponry and a multitude of secrets to discover.

Moreover, the team will offer resolution options (in order to get a proper modern-day look), the ability to switch between 2D sprites and 3D models, a Field of View slider, various HUD configurations and a Level Editor.

There is currently a Kickstarter campaign for this shooter and the team is close at hitting its initial $52K goal.

Enjoy!

youtube

Here are 12 minutes of gameplay footage from the pre-alpha build of retro FPS, Prodeus published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years

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Ford Upgrades Mustang Shelby GT350 for 2019

PONTIAC, Michigan — Ford has changes in store for the Mustang Shelby GT350 designed to upgrade its uber-pony/sports car with handling improvements for the 2019 model year. The mid-cycle upgrade features new suspension calibrations, a new wheel design, new tires, and improved aerodynamics, according to Mustang engineering chief Carl Widmann.

The new tires are Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 measuring 295/35 front and 305/35 rear. These complementing new springs, anti-roll bars, and MagneRide suspension tuning, Widmann says, “for faster lap times.” The rear wing comes with an optional Gurney flap and the “blanking” in the grille—the blocked-out openings—has been optimized for better aero with sufficient cooling.

The “base” 2019 GT350 comes with the Mustang Track Package suspension setup, while the R package will continue to be optional when the ’19 model goes on sale early next year. The front suspension of the 2019 GT350 is firmer and the rear is softer—each by about 10 percent—Widmann says.

The GT350’s 526-hp flat-plane-crank 5.2-liter V-8 and six-speed Tremec manual gearbox will be unchanged for 2019. Base price of the 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 is $61,340, including destination and gas-guzzler tax, while the GT350R will cost $69,335.

If that seems steep for Mustang money, you can apply the Performance Pack 2 to the garden-variety GT. Ford gave auto journalists another crack at some track time in a 2018 Ford Mustang GT with Pack 2, which is designed for road racing circuits, and to take on the Chevrolet Camaro 1LE. Automobile Magazine editor-in-chief Mike Floyd first had a chance to sample the V-8 Mustang with the road-racing package at the Monticello Motor Club last month, though rain blunted his track-day fun.

Sunshine kept the M1 Concours club circuit in Pontiac bone-dry on Monday morning, and though we had just four laps, including in-lap and cool-down in the Mustang GT with PP2, it was enough to determine that the package makes the pony car feel smaller than it is. This reporter’s perspective comes from having driven three other cars on the tight and technical 1.5-mile circuit—a Mazda MX-5 Miata Cup, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrofoglio, and a 1960 Austin-Healey Sprite Mark I “Bugeye.”

Once you get past the Ford Mustang GT’s hood, which seems as long as the entire Bugeye Sprite, the PP2 car feels willing to rotate, though catchable. Your Humble Servant didn’t get it anywhere near being sideways, but this was all communicated through seat-of-the-pants. That a big V-8 powered coupe communicates anything so detailed is a breakthrough of the modern era of Mustang.

Steering is light, quick and communicative, and required no serious mid-turn corrections, even during the in-lap. The car is probably less confidence inspiring closer to the limit than those other cars mentioned above (especially the Sprite, given its very low limits) as speed builds, but it’s impressive, nonetheless. And the brakes are flat-out fabulous, especially coming off the circuit’s longest straight after an upshift to fourth.

If there’s any nit to pick it’s that while the PP2 Mustang GT allows for easy and professional-sounding heel-and-toe downshifts, the 2-3 upshift isn’t as intuitive, and this reporter grabbed for fifth gear on at least one such upshift. A notchier gearbox might work better, in this case. Something for Ford Mustang engineers to work on for the next round of product updates.

The post Ford Upgrades Mustang Shelby GT350 for 2019 appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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shareyoursmile · 6 years

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True Concessions: Our Movie-Snacking Behaviors, Ex...

New Post has been published on https://bestcook.makecookingfun.org/true-concessions-our-movie-snacking-behaviors-ex/

True Concessions: Our Movie-Snacking Behaviors, Ex...

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[Illustrations: Vivian Kong]

Serious Eats staffers work very closely together, if not always in the same room—but, as in all healthy long-term relationships, we somehow still manage to surprise each other, in good ways, bad ways, and purely head-scratching ways. A very long and aggrieved Slack thread unspooled once we discovered some potentially embarrassing gaps in each other’s eating histories: Until recently, Stella had never eaten a classic NYC bacon, egg, and cheese, and Niki was unclear on the proper use of a Panera-style bread bowl. The revelation that, despite repeated admonishments on this very site, only a few of us actually owned a mortar and pestle prompted similar outrage (from Kenji, at least).

One of the latest rabbit holes of confession and mock shaming we threw ourselves down revolved around our respective movie snacks of choice—not just the specific items we like to munch on in the theater, but where we get those snacks from, and whether we even snack at all. If that doesn’t sound like something to get all worked up about—well, it isn’t, but that’s never stopped us before. It turns out that we, and perhaps all moviegoers, divide pretty neatly into four distinct camps, with very little crossover: those who buy the typical popcorn, boxed candy, and big sodas at the theater’s concession stand; those who don’t eat at the movies, period (really!); those who sneak in their own modest, easily hidden snacks; and those who make a point of smuggling in the biggest or messiest or otherwise most outlandish spreads they can muster. (Of course, “outlandish” is a relative term—one of us seemed surprised to learn that a bottle of Champagne qualified.) Since it’s Oscar season, a time when lots of us try to cram in as many theater outings as possible, we figured we’d take the opportunity to share the shocking results of our internal survey.

The Sushi Smuggler

Growing up, I thought the phrase “dinner and a movie” was actually “dinner at the movies.” Sure, we’d occasionally sneak in traditional snacks, like cheesy popcorn and cans of soda, but if the movie happened to coincide with a mealtime, we packed accordingly. My family’s go-to movie theater dinner was sushi—something I didn’t contemplate much at the time, but I now see it as a stroke of unparalleled genius on my parents’ part. A prepackaged roll combo is, without doubt, the Platonic ideal of a stealthy movie theater meal.

Before you roll (no pun intended) your eyes, consider the following: It’s compact, and thus easy to hide at the bottom of a purse; it’s sufficiently odorless to avoid attracting attention or offending your neighbors’ sensibilities; it is, if properly selected, devoid of any crunch, making it a virtually silent, interruption-free dining experience; the pieces are bite-size and therefore can be eaten with your hands, minimizing the potential mess of eating, say, noodles, in the dark; and it’s a cinch to clean up and dispose of without attracting notice as you exit the theater. (I should add that I’ve also been known to bring along a cleverly concealed bottle of wine to wash things down.) My husband finds the whole sushi/sneaking-in-food thing gross and embarrassing, so these days we tend to go to theaters that actually serve all sorts of fancy food and alcoholic beverages above board. But, as the saying goes, when the cat’s away, the mouse goes to the movies and stuffs her face with sushi. —Niki Achitoff-Gray, executive managing editor

The Cherry Picker

The rest of the Serious Eats team judged me pretty harshly on my pick, but I stand by it: fresh sweet cherries. Sure, they’re messier than other snacks, you have to have somewhere (that isn’t the theater floor) to spit out the pits, and they’re not what one would consider an indulgent snack, but I’m hooked. A, they’re delicious. B, the act of eating them takes some time, so they last longer than the popcorn you mindlessly shovel into your mouth. C, they’re good for you! —Vicky Wasik, visual director

The Traditionalists

I’m not an avid movie theater–goer, but every so often, I will indulge in a little weekday-afternoon alone time in a near-empty, darkened room illuminated by brightly colored, flashing images, accompanied only by a bucket of ultra-fake-buttered and salted popcorn on one side and, on the other, a Coke in a giant plastic vessel that could fit a bathing infant. The expense I gladly eat, literally and financially, for the illicit thrill invoked by residual school-age guilt for “playing hooky” and doing something so luxurious and truant. Everyone’s gotta get their kicks somehow, right? —Marissa Chen, office manager

I have to start by saying that I’m a pretty fast movie-snack eater—so much so that when I was little, my dad would ration my popcorn by putting a handful in my lap at a time. Otherwise, it would be gone a few minutes after the previews. That said, as an adult, I am 100% dedicated to Milk Duds, and, while I hate paying for them, I do anyway. I know my colleagues may look upon my choices with disdain, but alas: I buy my Milk Duds at the concession stand, like a total sucker. Then I eat them all before the movie even starts. —Ariel Kanter, marketing director

I believe the majority of the fun of going to the movies is to hit up the concession stand. I’m that person who arrives 30 minutes early to stock up on overpriced cardboard boxes of Mike and Ike and Sour Patch Kids—because I’m convinced they taste better out of a box. I’ve broken up with boyfriends solely because they took the thrifty route and chose to buy snacks at the bodega across the street instead. However, I’m a strict non-eater once the movie actually starts—the snacks are all about the pregame, to nosh on while watching the previews and side eye–ing anyone who tries to snag the seats in front of me. —Sohla El-Waylly, assistant culinary editor

I love movies, but more than that, I love the experience of going to the theater. It’s not just that it offers me an excuse to opt out of social media and email for a few hours, nor is it really about the superior picture and sound (even a basic theater is better than my garage-turned-den). It’s not just the excitement of seeing a brand-new release, and it’s definitely not about sitting with fellow theater-goers (thanks, guy sitting next to me during Black Panther who felt compelled to read every single piece of on-screen text out loud). It’s about one thing, or rather, one greasy bag of many things: movie theater popcorn. I’m attracted to the smell of diacetyl and coconut fat—the secret combination of artificial flavorings that produces that distinct movie theater aroma—like my daughter, Alicia, is attracted to the dogs’ water bowl. I can make all the promises to myself I want about saving room for dinner, but those promises go out the window as soon as I step through those doors. My feet start heading for the concession stand, and the rest of my body has no choice but to follow.

This is not a secret. Movie theater popcorn is my go-to comfort food. That I get to watch a film every time I eat it is just the icing on the cake (or the diacetyl on the kernels, perhaps). —J. Kenji López-Alt, chief culinary consultant

The Cheapskates

Listen. Just last night, I didn’t prepare before going to the movies. I am now out $13.95 for a medium popcorn and a bottle of water. This is the polar opposite of my M.O., which is to shamelessly sneak my own bag of popcorn and seltzer into the theater. My usual strategy is to pick a theater near a Trader Joe’s, so I can stop in and get a bag of cheddar cheese popcorn, or their insanely delicious Cornbread Crisps, and a Cranberry Clementine seltzer. And those crisps make a bomb vehicle for transporting your homemade chili to your mouth. Trust me. No local TJ’s? A bag of Buncha Crunch and a Sprite from the drugstore will do. —Kristina Bornholtz, social media editor

Like all right-thinking Americans, I was raised to believe that sneaking food into the movies is as natural and healthy as a long walk in the sunshine, and that buying concessions at the theater is for chumps. It helps that I’m not wild about popcorn and instead gravitate toward Junior Mints, Combos, and Raisinets, all of which are conveniently available at the Dollar Tree that’s a stone’s throw from our default movie theater in Atlanta (and you know that location isn’t an accident). And, while I’ve never ventured to smuggle anything more elaborate than a deli sandwich into an indoor cinema, no rules of restraint apply when we visit the Starlight Six Drive-In, a blessed local relic from another time, where summertime patrons regularly tote in full coolers of beer and Weber grills for a tailgate/movie night hybrid. —Miranda Kaplan, editor

You will rarely find me in a concession line: I’m too cheap for those overpriced goods, and too paranoid about candy-induced sugar highs. Not the biggest fan of popcorn, either; my junk food needs an edge. My ideal movie date involves a quick bodega trip beforehand, where I procure seltzer and—wait for it—pretzel M&M’s. That is my junk-food staple. I tell myself they aren’t as bad as regular M&M’s, and they hit my requirement for a savory/sweet combo. The seltzer is key, too—like clockwork, a pending movie stirs a deep thirst in me for carbonated water. Sitting through a movie whilst thirsty and hungry is my personal version of a horror film. —Natalie Holt, video producer

I’ve discovered that using your kid as a candy mule is the white lie of retail economy. I wasn’t always like this. I used to be an honest, upstanding citizen, like you. For most of my adult life, I either purchased popcorn or, more often, didn’t eat at all. But, once we got married, my wife started sneaking candy into the theaters to quell her sweet tooth and—well, I’m not turning down Twizzlers. Who would?

When we first started bringing our daughter to the movies, we’d casually present the goods after the previews. Now that she’s older, she’s part of the scam/effort. We have a perfect record of sneaking in candy because, really, is the high school kid ripping stubs while he checks out Instagram going to stop a seven-year-old and poke her coat? I load up on a package of some chocolate-covered nut, my wife keeps it classic with M&M’s, and my daughter’s the wild card—sometimes it’s gummy bears, or it could be Reese’s Pieces. —Sal Vaglica, equipment editor

If it were just me, I wouldn’t be eating anything. I’m too cheap to even glance at the outrageously priced concession stand items, and too lazy and bagless to smuggle snacks in. My significant other is often not bagless, however, so when we go together, we sneak all kinds of things in. My favorite is the massive, Costco-sized bag of M&M’s: easy, clean, delicious. The most memorable snack we’ve ever brought was a full bag of Hurricane popcorn, which technically we smuggled all the way from Hawaii. The Li Hing–flavored version is vibrantly red, and we did not bring napkins, which made for a messy-fingered second half of the movie. Totally worth it, but word of advice: No matter what you bring, prep for the mess. —Tim Aikens, front-end developer

The Takeout Taker-Inner

When we were—well, I won’t say kids, since I was old enough to drive, but…younger than we are today, my brother and I were notorious for sneaking Chinese takeout into the movie theater. I’m talking pot stickers, egg rolls, spicy noodles, kung pao tofu, scallion pancakes, the works. We’d just stuff all the containers inside this gargantuan yellow puffer coat he had (ah, the ’90s), using it like an insulated pizza-delivery bag. As it turns out, those iconic Chinese takeout containers are just the right size to nestle down into a movie theater cup holder, so we’d set up a little buffet using four consecutive arm rests. Chopsticks made it easy to eat in the dark, and we’d pass the containers between us during brightly lit scenes.

In warmer weather, lacking the proper outerwear for smuggling, we’d stick to popcorn (extra “butter,” please) and Milk Duds. —Stella Parks, pastry wizard

The Killjoys

If I could ban all eating in movie theaters, I would. I don’t want to hear some sloppy-ass mofo smacking on popcorn in my ear when I’m trying to watch a movie. I’d give up all snacks for silence. All you movie-theater eaters can BURN IN HELL. (I have issues.) —Daniel Gritzer, managing culinary director

I’m cheap. I also don’t like candy. I’m not a big fan of popcorn, either. I smuggle in a water bottle, but then I drink from it only if I’m terribly, terribly parched, because the one thing I hate more than watching a movie in a packed theater is having to get up to go to the bathroom in a packed movie theater. Sometimes I’ll bring with me a small, smooth stone, which I will suck on from time to time, and sometimes swallow, if the movie is going long and I’m really bored. I’ve had that stone for 10 years now. —Sho Spaeth, features editor

I’m almost always on the do-not-eat team—I’d rather spend my $20 on better food before or after the movie (I see you, Battery Park Shake Shack!). But occasionally, I succumb and buy popcorn and a Coca-Cola Classic. Ideally, this happens at a theater with self-service “butter,” and, even more ideally, I’ll get a cardboard tray to help me shift the popcorn around, so I can properly spread said butter to the deepest reaches of the bag. —Paul Cline, developer

I only snack on chips and anything crunchy, but the sound of me munching distracts me from the movie. So, no snacks. —Vivian Kong, product designer

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cucinacarmela-blog · 6 years

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True Concessions: Our Movie-Snacking Behaviors, Ex...

New Post has been published on https://cucinacarmela.com/true-concessions-our-movie-snacking-behaviors-ex/

True Concessions: Our Movie-Snacking Behaviors, Ex...

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[Illustrations: Vivian Kong]

The Sushi Smuggler

The Cherry Picker

The Traditionalists

The Cheapskates

The Takeout Taker-Inner

In warmer weather, lacking the proper outerwear for smuggling, we’d stick to popcorn (extra “butter,” please) and Milk Duds. —Stella Parks, pastry wizard

The Killjoys

I only snack on chips and anything crunchy, but the sound of me munching distracts me from the movie. So, no snacks. —Vivian Kong, product designer

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jmuo-blog · 6 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://jmuo.com/true-concessions-our-movie-snacking-behaviors-ex/

True Concessions: Our Movie-Snacking Behaviors, Ex...

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "fresh17-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cooking"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "Kitchen"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "51fe4d035c7af8dc5928e6f5e5b79c4e"; amzn_assoc_default_browse_node = "284507"; amzn_assoc_rows = "4"; amzn_assoc_design = "text_links";

[Illustrations: Vivian Kong]

The Sushi Smuggler

The Cherry Picker

The Traditionalists

The Cheapskates

The Takeout Taker-Inner

In warmer weather, lacking the proper outerwear for smuggling, we’d stick to popcorn (extra “butter,” please) and Milk Duds. —Stella Parks, pastry wizard

The Killjoys

I only snack on chips and anything crunchy, but the sound of me munching distracts me from the movie. So, no snacks. —Vivian Kong, product designer

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "fresh17-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cookware"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "b45319dac495d29e17b5eff312392025"; Source link

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uguardian · 2 years

Text

At least, after nearly 10 months of effort, Mike's Sprite Editor 0.12 is finally ready for release.

Most of this update involved reworking the parts of the editor that make things work behind the scenes, so it doesn't look like much has changed. However, it's a huge step towards some greater things.

#mike's sprite editor #programming #finally #open source #sourceforge

17 notes · View notes

iyarpage · 7 years

Text

2D Apple Games by Tutorials Updated for Swift 4 and iOS 11

Happy Monday – it’s another iOS 11 Launch Party book release!

The book has been completely updated for Swift 4, iOS 11 and Xcode 9, and is available today. We’ve even added an extra bonus chapter to the book covering ARKit!

This will be a free update for existing 2D Apple Games by Tutorials PDF customers — our way to say “thanks” to our readers for their support.

Don’t own 2D Apple Games by Tutorials yet? Read on to see how you can get a copy!

What is 2D Apple Games by Tutorials?

The trailer below gives you a good, fast overview of what the book’s about:

youtube

There are two ways to use this book, depending on whether you are a complete beginner to Apple game development or an advanced developer with knowledge of other 2D game frameworks.

If you’re a complete beginner to Apple game development, the best way to read this book is from cover to cover. We have arranged the chapters to introduce the material in the most logical manner to build up your skills one layer at a time.

If you’re an advanced developer with knowledge of other 2D game frameworks, you’ll have an easier time adapting to SpriteKit, as the core concepts and syntax will look very familiar.

Our suggestion is to skim through the early chapters and focus more on the later, more advanced chapters, or where you have a particular interest.

Don’t worry — you can jump right into any chapter in the book, because we’ll always have a starter project waiting for you!

2D Apple Games by Tutorials is 25 chapters and 695 pages – yeah, it’s pretty huge. :]

The book is split into six sections, moving from beginning to advanced topics. In each section, you will create a complete mini-game, from scratch! The book also includes two bonus chapters at the end that we think you’ll enjoy.

Here’s a quick look at what’s inside 2D Apple Games by Tutorials.

Section I: Getting Started

This section covers the basics of making 2D games with Sprite Kit. These are the most important techniques, the ones you’ll use in almost every game you make. By the time you reach the end of this section, you’ll be ready to make your own simple game.

Throughout this section you will create an action game called Zombie Conga, where you take the role of a happy-go-lucky zombie who just wants to party!

You will build this game across seven chapters, in stages:

Chapter 1, Sprites: Get started by adding your first sprites to the game: the background and the zombie.

Chapter 2, Manual Movement: You’ll make the zombie follow your touches around the screen and get a crash-course in basic 2D vector math.

Chapter 3, Actions: You’ll add cats and crazy cat ladies to the game, as well as basic collision detection and gameplay.

Chapter 4, Scenes: You’ll add a main menu to the game, as well as win and lose scenes.

Chapter 5, Camera: You’ll make the game scroll from left to right, and finally, add the conga line itself.

Chapter 6, Labels: You’ll add a label to show the zombie’s lives and the number of cats in his conga line.

Chapter 7, Scene Editor: You’ll begin by creating the first level of the game. By the end, you’ll have a better understanding of Xcode’s level designer, better known as the scene editor.

Section II: Physics and Nodes

In this section, you will learn how to use the built-in 2D physics engine included with Sprite Kit to create movement as realistic as that in Angry Birds or Cut the Rope. You will also learn how to use special types of nodes that allow you to play videos or create shapes in your game.

In the process, you will create a physics puzzle game called Cat Nap, where you take the role of a cat who has had a long day and just wants to go to bed.

You will build this game across five chapters, in stages:

Chapter 8, Beginning Physics: In this chapter, you’re going to make a little detour in order to learn the basics of creating physics simulations for your games. As a bonus, you’ll learn how to prototype games inside an Xcode playground.

Chapter 9, Intermediate Physics: You’ll learn about physics-based collision detection and create custom classes for your Sprite Kit nodes.

Chapter 10, Advanced Physics: You’ll add two more levels to the game as you learn about interactive bodies, joints between bodies, composed bodies and more.

Chapter 11, Crop, Video and Shape Nodes: You’ll add special new blocks to Cat Nap while learning about additional types of nodes that allow you to do amazing things—like play videos, crop images and create dynamic shapes.

Section III: Tile Maps

In this section, you’ll revisit the game “Pest Control”, first introduced in iOS Games by Tutorials. This new and improved version uses the new tile maps features in SpriteKit and covers saving and loading game data.

Chapter 12, Beginning Tile Maps: You’ll learn the basics about tile maps in SpriteKit by creating a tile set and a background tile map.

Chapter 13, Intermediate Tile Maps: You’ll take things a step further by learning how to access tile maps in code and how to create a tile map with randomly placed tiles.

Chapter 14, Saving and Loading Games: You’ll finish up by adding a winning end state and a heads-up display. You’ll also learn how to automatically save the game when you leave it and then reload it from where you left off.

Section IV: Juice

In this section, you’ll also learn how to take a good game and make it great by adding a ton of special effects and excitement – a.k.a. “juice.”

In the process, you will create a game called Drop Charge, where you’re a space hero with a mission to blow up an alien space ship – and escape with your life before it explodes. To do this, you must jump from platform to platform, collecting special boosts along the way. Just be careful not to fall into the red hot lava!

You will build this game across four chapters, in stages:

Chapter 15, Making Drop Charge: You’ll put together the basic gameplay using the scene editor and code, flexing the Sprite Kit muscles you’ve developed working through previous chapters.

Chapter 15, State Machines: You’ll learn what state machines are and how to use them.

Chapter 16, Particle Systems: You’ll learn how to use particle systems to create amazing special effects.

Chapter 17, Juice Up Your Game: You’ll trick out your game with music, sound, animation, more particles and other special effects, experiencing for yourself the benefits of mastering the details.

Section V: Other Platforms

In this section, you’ll learn how to leverage your iOS knowledge to build games for the other Apple Platforms: macOS, tvOS and watchOS.

In the process, you’ll create a game named Zombie Piranhas. In this game, your goal is to catch as many fish as possible without hooking a zombie — because we all know what happens when zombies are around.

Chapter 18, macOS Games: You’ll take a complete iOS game and add a target for macOS. Along the way, you’ll learn some of the differences between the platforms, such as windows and mouse and keyboard events.

Chapter 19, tvOS Games: Building from Chapter 18, you’ll add another target for tvOS. You’ll learn concepts such as Focus and parallax icons, Top Shelf and working with the Apple TV Remote.

Chapter 20, watchOS Games: Lastly, you’ll add a target for watchOS, and you’ll learn about gestures, the Digital Crown and Haptic Feedback. You’ll also discover some of the design considerations when working with a small device.

Section VI: Advanced Topics

In this section, you’ll learn how to Game Center leaderboards and achievements into your game and use the ReplayKit API to share your gaming victories with the world.

In the process, you will integrate these APIs into a top-down racing game called Circuit Racer, where you take the role of an elite racecar driver out to set a world record. It would be no problem if it weren’t for the debris on the track!

Chapter 21, Game Center Achievements: Enable Game Center for your game and award the user achievements for accomplishing certain feats.

Chapter 22, Game Center Leaderboards: Set up various leaderboards for your game and track and report the player’s scores.

Chapter 23, ReplayKit: You’ll learn how to allow players to record and share videos of their games with ReplayKit.

Section VI: Bonus Chapters

We have also included two bonus chapters!

Chapter 24, Augmented Reality & ARKit: Learn about the new ARKit framework by reworking the Pest Control game and turning it into an Augmented Reality game!

Chapter 25, Making Art for Programmers: If you liked the art in these mini-games and want to learn how to either hire an artist or make some art of your own, look no further than this chapter! This chapter guides you through drawing a cute cat in the style of this book with Illustrator.

About the Authors

Of course, our book would be nothing without our team of experienced and dedicated authors:

Caroline Begbie is living the dream as an indie iOS developer, educator and explorer. She loves the graphics and animation side of iOS and watches Disney movies “for research.”

Mike Berg is a full time game artist who is fortunate enough to work with many different indie game developers from all over the world. When he’s not manipulating pixel colors, he loves to eat good food, spend time with his family, play games and be happy.

Michael Briscoe is an independent software developer with over 30 years of programming experience. Learning BASIC on a Commodore 64 way back in 1984, he’s been hooked on coding ever since. He enjoys creating simulations and games for all Apple platforms. You can visit his website at skyrocketsoftware.wordpress.com.

Kauserali Hafizji (a.k.a. Ali) is a freelance software developer. He is fortunate to have worked on several large projects. He loves creating software that people use everyday whether it’s on the web, watch, phone or tv. A good read, cool dip in the pool and a hot cheesy meal would be the perfect end to his weekend. You can find out more about Ali on his website at alihafizji.com.

Marin Todorov is a part of Realm and raywenderlich.com. He’s also the author of books and apps. You can find out more at www.underplot.com.

Ray Wenderlich is part of a great team — the raywenderlich.com team, a group of over 100 developers and editors from across the world. He and the rest of the team are passionate both about making apps and teaching others the techniques to make them. When Ray’s not programming, he’s probably playing video games, role playing games, or board games.

Free 2D Games Chapter This Week

To help celebrate the launch, we��re going to open up the book and share a free chapter with you this week! This will give you a chance to check out some of the new pieces in the book. Stay tuned!

Now Available in ePub!

And as another exciting announcement, by popular request, 2D Apple Games by Tutorials is now available in ePub format. Take it on the go with you on your iPad, iPhone or other digital reader and enjoy all the mobile reading benefits that ePub has to offer!

Where To Go From Here?

2D Apple Games by Tutorials is now 100% complete, fully updated for Swift 4, iOS 11 and Xcode 9 — and available today.

If you’ve already bought the 2D Apple Games by Tutorials PDF, you can download the new book immediately on the book store page page.

If you don’t have 2D Apple Games by Tutorials yet, you can grab your own copy in our store.

And to help sweeten the deal, the digital edition of the book is on sale for $49.99! But don’t wait — this sale price is only available for a limited time.

Speaking of sweet deals, be sure to check out the great prizes we’re giving away this year with the iOS 11 Launch Party, including over $9,000 in giveaways!

To enter, simply retweet this post using the #ios11launchparty hashtag by using the button below:

Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

We hope you enjoy this free update, and stay tuned for more book releases and updates coming soon!

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