Alice!

Hello everyone and a tip of the hat to you all!  It is I the TopHatMan here for another blog post.
Today, I will be talking about the program Alice, more specifically the Alice 3.1 version.  Alice is a program used to create storyboards using a very pixelated graphic style.  Alice is primarily used to create a storyboard that can later be used for an animation or story line.  Alice is very simplistic in nature and utilizes block coding in order to create different scenes.  The interface is a bit clunky, primarily because it is a free program, but it gets the job done.  You can choose from a variety of backgrounds that are really just a coat of paint on the same foundation.  You can also incorporate characters from its limited character scene selection sheet to add to the animation, as well as create your own person with limited customization.  Alice is not something to use for advertisements or animations, it is to be used as a storyboard to make something on another program.  It is a digital version of the stereotypical cartoon boardroom with pieces of paper with different scenes stapled up on a wall.  However, this is a lot more eco friendly.
      The animation that I created using Alice was a TopHatMan World tour, in which my virtual self travels to England to teach the audience about the culture of England, however this is all a scene for a documentary which contains a director who calls the shots, and a man in a yak suit that serves as my trusty yak I use to travel around the globe.  In this animation, the yak is being a bit of a jerk, and refusing to say his lines (all according to script of course!).  My character starts freaking out at the yak and telling it to say it's lines instead of repeating moo.  The whole animation is a bout a minute and 45 seconds long, and features a castle (cause England),, a yak, me, and the director.  Alice was a really useful tool in order to get the lines as well as how the animation would flow.  However, I would not advise using it to create a commercial or animation due ot how clunky the animations are and how rough and rigid the animations feel.  It is a good basis to be transferred to another program, say GOanimation, to create something great.  Alice should be used primarily for storyboard purposes.
Click this link to download Alice

Juuso Heitalahti game blog

Hello Everyone and a tip of the hat to you all!  It is I the TopHatMan here for another blog post!

So I will be informing you all today about an incredible blog for those interested in the developing process of video games.  Juuso Hietalahti is a solo indie game developer with a blog with each post short, sweet, and to the point.  Each post is only a couple of sentences long with a picture illustrating his point.  He gives us a quick update on the current status of the game he is currently developing whether it be a pirate game where you are managing your own pirate ship in the style of FTL, or a game about building a viking settlement called Midgord Vikings.  This blog is not meant for a long read, this blog is meant for you to pull out your phone and read a quick post about the current status, or complications with his newest game.
The indie scene is a vast and growing scene in gaming.  Creativity is allowed to flourish without the restrictions of major publishers.  Really cool and interesting concepts and ideas are able to be seen when otherwise they would not be able to.  The problem with the Triple A environment is that each game costs a fortune to create.  Because of that, the companies involved must rely on something already founded and that they know is going to sell.  Taking risks in the Triple A scene can cost you millions if that risk is not interesting to the consumer.  The benefit of having a flourishing indie scene, is that these new innovative ideas are allowed to prosper with little reprocutions.  Most of these developers have other jobs, and create games as a hobby.  They are able to take risks and innovate because it is not financially significant.  However, because these indie developers are smaller, they often do not have the funding for bigger projects like Juuso Hietalahti ran into with a multiplayer game that he wanted to create but was unable to spend the time or money in order to properly support the game.
That is why blogs like Juuso Hietalahti's are so fascinating, they give the consumer a perspective on the industry that is otherwise ignored.  Indie game developers can blow up overnight, or they can stay in obscurity forever, however either way those developers, those individuals are able take those risks I talked about earlier.  It is developers like Juuso that innovate the scene by breathing new life into the industry.  Otherwise the industry can very well stagnate and possibly die like what was seen in the crash of the 80s.  That is all for this week, remember the indie scene while many titles remain obscure and others may prosper, is critical to the success of the industry.
Click this link to view Juuso's blog.
 from his blog