Games
In Far Cry 4, the opticians were the first to die
I feel really sorry for the protagonist in Far Cry 4. Not only is he in the middle of a hugely violent insurgency, he also forgot his glasses.
Games
Regrets of a Witcher
I recently finished the main story in The Witcher 3 and found myself both satisfied and regretful; not a combo usually associated with game endings.
Major plot spoilers follow. (more…)
Filmmaking
DIY spaceships in 2016
I made a new video for the HitFilm YouTube channel. Check it out:
Two things to note:
- I need a haircut.
- The spaceship shot I created for that tutorial is better than any of the effects in my favourite sci-fi shows of the 1990s. It’s getting towards being acceptable for a mid-2000s show, at least with a bit more work.
Games
The first 5 minutes of Grow Home
I grabbed some time to make another First 5 Minutes video. It’s about Grow Home: It’s a lovely little game.
Filmmaking
Co-teaching a FutureLearn course is fun
The VFX for Guerilla Filmmakers course is at the end of its 4-week run over on FutureLearn. There’s still time to sign up (after which you can go through it at your own pace), so do so now if you don’t want to miss out on free learning.
Having worked on the course for months prior to its launch, along with the mastermind Saint Walker, it was exciting to see it finally go live at the start of February. Each week unlocked new content and saw a massive flow of students sweep through the lessons. (more…)
Games
First 5 Minutes video game series
Due to my left hand not talking to my right, I haven’t blogged recently about the video series I’ve been putting up on my YouTube channel. It’s a very intermittent series adhering to no particular schedule – I’m really not paying attention to the algorithm – but it is quite a lot of fun.
Here’s the latest episode:
Professional
How to be more productive with the pomodoro technique
I’ve been testing the pomodoro technique for the last 24 hours. I’m using it right now while writing this blog post. It’s already made me more productive and efficient – I think.
I first read about the technique last year sometime over on the Buffer blog. It sounded intriguing but I wasn’t really in a position to actually try it out – at work in particular I was in the middle of several intense projects and it really wasn’t the time to start experimenting with alternative productivity approaches.
So here’s how it works: (more…)
Game development
Showing your alpha build to people
Tonight I went along to my second Norfolk Indie Games Developers meet-up. As before, it was a gathering of passionate, interesting indie devs of varying skillsets (coders, artists, writers etc) chatting about all things gaming for three+ hours.
Unlike the first time I went, this evening I had something to share. I took along the hideously unfinished and untested build of Going Up, my Twine-based interactive conversation and decided to let a room full of far more experienced games devs Have At It. (more…)
Writing
Win prizes at the big Wattpad Block Party event!
The Wattpad Block Party (2nd Winter Edition) is upon us. All through February the event will be rolling, with prize giveaways and a ton of featured authors posting brand new work. Here’s how the organiser, Kelly Ann Blount, describe it:
The Wattpad Block Party – Winter Edition II is an epic online event featuring some of your all time favorite Wattpad Super Stars, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling authors, and up and coming Wattpad writers!
Filmmaking
I’m teaching VFX on FutureLearn!
Two exciting things are happening in February, the first of which is a free, four week course called Visual Effects for Guerrilla Filmmakers. I’ve written about FutureLearn in the past and have done a handful of their courses, so a VFX course is of course great news.
What’s even more thrilling, for me at least, is that I’m one of the educators on the course. To go from an eager FutureLearn student to co-designing a course has been a real privilege. The course goes live on February 8th and runs for four weeks. You can sign up any time between now and the end of the final week. (more…)