Archive for the 'Check this!' Category

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Flash on the Beach :: particles, algorithms, and fractals (and then some more particles to top it off)

Published on November 13, 2007 in Check this! and Power-up Media. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Brighton Pier

Flash on the Beach 07 was just GREAT!

Although I had to miss some of the sessions on Wednesday :-( because of the amazing party on Tuesday 8) (read: loads of beer and dropshot) the whole event inspired me to really start experimenting in Flash again.

In contrast to Mad in Spain (which was mostly about great webdesign) this event was all about Flashy-artwork (it was to me anyway).
Almost every session I went to dealt with particles, algorithms, particles, fractals and then some more particles…. 8O

Fractal tree
Fractals all over the place… :|

The absolute particle/algorithm/fractal climax was Jared Tarbell’s session “Algorithms to Fill Space”. Although I was familiar with the basics of the algorithms and particles, this session made me see how easy it mas to make very complex and cool experiments with them.

Another great and very funny session was Joshua Davis‘ “Dynamic Abstraction”. This guy makes just GREAT art using mainly flash. Although his site doesn’t fully do justice to his work you should check it out because he has some great pieces there…

Besides these two amazing sessions there was a lot more that inspired me. As I want to spend most of my time experimenting in stead of updating my blog here is a little sum-up of these sessions (no particular order):

- Alex Jenkins – Pulling the emotional trigger
A session with a some very entertaining websites. Check the Unit9 portfolio:
http://www.unit9.com/

- Seb Lee – Delisle AS3 Particle Effects – Now 1000% Extra FREE!
A great session about the basics of particles. Although the session started of very easy, it got more interesting near the end as it showed some really pragmatic solutions to common problems (e.g. with a few tweaks you can make your particles look like real smoke without speed loss). Check out the Plug-in Media! site for some cool effects!
http://www.pluginmedia.net/

- Keith Peters – Make Flash Games. Retire Early
A session about how to make money of your “simple” flash games. Since I already have some game engines in store I really need to turn them in to real games and start making money. :D
His site is more about his experiments but it’s really worth to check out:
http://www.bit-101.com/

- Craig Swann - Perceptive Interactions + Alternative Interfaces
A nice and inspiring session about Craig’s experiments with alternative in- and out-put. The experiments are a weird combination of video, sound, webcam, and a bunch of home-made electronic input devices. Check the lab-section on his site for some of the freaky shit.
http://www.crashmedia.com/

- Robert Hodgin - Breaking away
Although (or maybe because) his work was not made in Flash, it was just fucking GREAT! By using processing this guy created the most amazing art. Check his blog for some of his work (make sure to check the videos).
http://www.flight404.com/

- Erik Natzke – Beyond the Knowledge: The Art of Playing
I’m not a big fan of his work (particularly the old stuff) but he has got some nice pieces out there.
http://jot.eriknatzke.com/

There were a lot more interesting speakers, but as a already mentioned I really like to get busy right now my self. So after I finish my uncles portfolio site (any time now) you should expect some great experiments and games! Stay tuned…

MADinSPAIN was just GREAT!

Published on October 1, 2007 in Check this! and Power-up Media. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

MADinSPAIN was justGREAT!
The 3-day trip with the TFE-design team to Madrid was a big success. There were lots of inspiring speakers, but the ones that really stood out and inspired me the most (on all kinds of levels) were AllOfUs, Group94, Pleix and de-construct (in random order):

AllOfUs:
A really cool agency that showed some amazing mobile phone apps and interactive installations. They really gave me the inspiration to create new experiments (if only they could give me some more time as well).
site: http://www.allofus.org/

Group94:
I was already familiar with their amazing work, but it was really nice to see how they handle their projects and how they solved some complicated Flash problems with really simple solutions. The most surprising thing about Group94 is that they work with only 8 people and yet manage to create so much fantastic products.
site: http://www.group94.com/
old site: http://www.group94.com/home_old.php 

Pleix:
A group of freelancers with various disciplines who join together to create cool commercials, music videos and non-commercial films.
site: http://www.pleix.net/

de-construct:
A webdesign agency who have a great vision towards user experience on their websites. A nice example of this is a site they made for Panasonic:
http://lumixdifference.archive.de-construct.com/
The three cameras that are exposed on the site are presented in a short story. Each camera has it’s own story in which it’s characteristics are displayed. This way the user is not directly confronted with all kind of specs (which he has to compare to find the right camera), but he can simply select a camera by a specific purpose. A very nice approach towards potential customers if you ask me.
site: http://www.de-construct.com/

Of course there were a lot of other interesting speakers but for now I’ll leave this post to these four agencies because I need my time to work out my newborn ideas.

Stay tuned….

PS: drop a line to the guys of DoubleYou:
http://www.doubleyouhi.com/

Game Physics here I come…

Published on July 9, 2007 in Check this! and Power-up Media. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Just great! After years I finally found the book I was looking for all the time…

Game Physics – Engine Development

I’m not really a book person, but when I tried to create a physics engine a while back I ran into a couple of major problems which stopped me from going on with it. I tried it a couple of times ever since but I always found myself stuck on the same problems (complicated collision detection etc.). Back then I searched for decent books to help me but there wern’t any. Either they were way too easy (coming with all kinds of crappy solutions) or way too hard (most of them all about theoretical physics).

I ran into this book by accident as I was actually looking for an all picture book with cool and stylish web design (Web design index by content).

I haven’t read any of it yet, but looking at the pics inside it is exactly what I needed :D .
I tend to read it in my vacation so you might expect some nice experiments in the near future.

For those of you who are interested:

Game Physics – Engine Development by Ian Millington
isbn: 978-0-12-369471-3

Web design index by content
isbn: 90-5768-069-6 | http://webdesignindex.org

PS: I saw this Ian dude also has a book on AI which sounds interesting too, but that something for the future. (God, where am I gonna find the time…)