GameSpite.net – Verbal Spew

Remember how I’ve been contemplating the creation of a video game for nigh unto many years? I think it’s time to get serious about it. But realistically; the grand idea I had, the one I was calling The Venture, is far too grand for anything less than a full studio to put together. So I’m scaling back my initial ambition for a simple mascot platformer. Don’t worry, though, it’s not a furry mammalian mascot with Attitude(tm) — that would fly in the face of everything I believe in! Instead, the humble Telebunny has received a promotion to leading man. Rabbit. Television-rabbit-thing. Whatever. The point is, I decided to try out some proof-of-concept sprite work to see, you know, if I can:

I think I can! Of course, the real trick is animating things, since I have no experience with that. Oh, and creating an entire game, I guess that’s gonna be tricky too. Especially since the only game creation engine I know of for Macs doesn’t really do 2D. But hey, impossible odds make for the sweetest victories, not to mention the most crushing defeats. I’ll document my flailing efforts here for everyone’s delight and schadenfreude.

It’s just a shame that someone beat me to the name “telebunny” by a good twenty-five years. Stupid MSX, mucking everything up for everyone.

The joys of traveling at the last minute for less than the sum total of my bi-weekly paycheck are few and far between, but I’m making the most of things. My 6 a.m. flight will ultimately run about 11 hours thanks to a two-hour layover in Salt Lake City and a three-hour stop in Detroit. Which is particularly galling since my final destination is about 40 miles away. If my luggage weren’t stowed away somewhere in DTW’s foul innards I could probably walk to Flint faster.

But, on the plus side, it does give me the opportunity to travel through DTW’s baffling Hallway of Majesty — the underground tunnel that connects the separate concourses and surrounds passengers with swirling multicolored lights and grand swells of synthesized ambient music as they plod along the moving sidewalks. Guys, I, uh… I’m just going to Terminal A, not making first landfall on an uncharted world or something. It’s maybe not as heroic as you’re making it out to be.

My Salt Lake City stop also marks the first time I’ve ever been in Utah. I was actually a little surprised that it really exists — I’d always halfway suspected Salt Lake City was a myth that Christian parents used to scare their children away from dabbling in Mormonism. I was even more surprised by the filthy brown haze surrounding the city, which I assume is dust. It looks a lot like L.A., except I imagine the net result is simply mud-coated lungs rather than deadly toxic build-up.

Anyway, two more creature things to make up for yesterday.


This will definitely be in the game. I’ve played too much Ninja Gaiden for it not to make the cut.


This one, probably not. Maybe as an item or power-up or something.

My goal with the game is to create 120 enemies then trim it down to 45-50, plus a dozen bosses. This guy probably won’t make the cut.

I just received the phone call I’ve been dreading for the past few days, and it looks like I’ll be heading up to Michigan Thursday or Friday for a funeral. Needless to say, where E3 was all I could think about a few days ago it’s pretty much the last thing on my mind now, so I guess my musings will be cut short. Not that I was adding anything to the collective discussion, really.

Anyway, I hate to leave the site inactive since momentum and inertia are a good part of what keeps it going at all these days, so while I’m off dealing with real life I’ll be posting some preliminary monster/enemy designs for my nascent Metroidvania game.


Obviously, this is the winged form of the Telebunny. The red green ones hop and fly forward oblivious to all hazards, while the green red ones patrol a specific patch of air. But you probably knew that already.


(Man, I always get those colors mixed up.)