Where Is My Heart? by Bernie Schulenburg

New Blog over at Die Gute Fabrik!

2011-11-16T03:06:00.001-08:00

Hi everybody,

This blog won't be updated anymore. If you're interested in Where-is-my-Heart? please head over to
http://gutefabrik.com/blog/
Also, if you want to see my work on the Alpenland Comic/Manga (loosely based on Where is my Heart) go here: http://alpenland.tumblr.com/

Graphic Novel based on Where is my Heart?

2011-11-10T07:18:00.001-08:00

I'm currently working on a graphic novel that's loosely based on 'Where is my Heart?'. Trying to get it published by the time of european PSN release date on 16th Nov.
here's a teaser page

Trailer and Presskit

2011-11-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Download the Where-is-my-Heart? Press Kit.

2011-10-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

in the glade, there grew a tree.
merry, merry king of the woods was he.
deep in his heart hid he monsters, three.
dark secrets had this family.

We've passed Certification!

2011-10-11T18:24:00.001-07:00

Where is my Heart? is currently going through Certification

2011-08-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

And a friend sent me this cool picture

WIMH @ IndieCade E3 Showcase

2011-06-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody..
If you're at E3 why don't you swing by at the Indiecade showcase and play some Where is my Heart? Tell us how you liked it.

interview @ GDC

2011-05-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

Doug:"Why is Bernie so sweaty in this video?"
Bernie:"Oh that's just facial lotion.. But more importantly: Why am I chewing a stupid gum??"
Doug: "You wear facial lotion?!"
Bernie:"uhh, um, uhhh.. ehhh, umm uhhhhhh.."

Die gute Fabrik is under construction

2011-05-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

currently the factory buildings of die gute Fabrik are going through renovations. We are looking forward to welcome you to our house-warming when it's all ready. Meanwhile we're also putting final touches on Where-is-my-Heart-? There is one evil bug we need to fix. We're on it. Good against evil.

okay.. I think this just made my day..

2011-04-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Oh My Render bugs!!!

2011-03-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Are these good news? At least they're good-looking news(?)

Hablas Nordic?

2011-02-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

Lead Caster's Diary (log 1)

2011-02-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

Kill Screen vs. Scandinavia

2011-02-04T00:37:00.000-08:00

>>CHRZK Pirx to Earth. Pirx to Earth. We are here! It's dark. It's amazing. There are strange glowing life forms! >>CHRZK

>>CHRKK Stanisław here! Can you hear them? They are singing under water! I've never seen this before!! >>CHRKZ

Kill Screen vs. Scandinavia

Two Things..

2011-02-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

The J.S. Bach Joust. Major fun! Played on sunday night at the end of Nordic Game Jam.

And Copenhagen Game Collective's very own Lau Korsgard and Douglas Wilson both members of the B.U.T.T.O.N team were interviewed at Nordic Game Jam. I must have been hunting for treasure in the basement of the ITU at that time, (or doing something else, sleepy-headed). Even Nils joins in at the end, while I'm somewhere asleep presumably under a table in the cafeteria(?)

Go Boys!! :D

Spirit Frame Hopping tech demo

2011-01-31T03:07:00.000-08:00

Where is my Heart? tech demo of Frame Hopping from Bernie Schulenburg on Vimeo.

For Nordic Game Jam, we decided to set up shop at the Jam and crunch through the weekend on WIMH. We also had some people test the game and it seems that we still have lots of issues with the diffulty curve.
The first couple of levels worked fine in the tests. But then the game introduces new play mechanics too fast without giving much tutorial help.

We always try to keep the tutorials non-intrusive. They should just be passive info bubbles and not interfere with the player's freedom of interactivity. At the same time they should be effective at helping the player.

Also Alessandro Coronas composed and added lots of ambients, music themes and sound to the game.

Indie Night 2011

2011-01-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

Are you an indie developer based in the nordic region? Then you should submit something sweet and playable to Indie Night. Read more about it at Copenhagen Game Collective's site.

level editor updated

2011-01-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

first post in 2011 so.. happy new year everybody!
So what have we been doing? Working on Where is my-Heart? of course..
Well, over new year I had a bad sicko. Down with flu.
Slowly recovering now. We have 19 level concepts implemented. And what Nifflas says is the truth for sure:
If you think the levels you've designed are easy, they're still way too hard.

We had some test sessions with testers coming in. And we were surprised how hard some of the game mechanics were to figure out.

Also, it was high time to update the level editor. See the shots. The application is full of quirks, but as long as the user stays calm and easy, it works.

Any questions, feel invited to post. :)

Also Nordic/Global GameJam is about to happen. Are you participating?

merry x-mas

2010-12-24T06:56:00.000-08:00

We all went through the snowy woods and suddenly some guy with a beard stopped us and showed us a secret level. He pointed to a door in a tree. We went in and found lots of hearts!!

Icons

2010-11-27T08:39:00.001-08:00

Where is my Heart? coming to PSN April -June 2011

2010-11-06T04:45:00.000-07:00

Whoa!!!! :DD

Development Snapshot

2010-10-28T06:53:00.001-07:00

FrameEditor used for placing frames and defining their content.

BodyEditor used for placing Collision Objects

Level, loaded in the app

Slightly overworked. We've started heading towards level design. For designing and implementing levels we're using two little home-made tools, along with mock-graphics. BodyEditor (funny name?) and FrameEditor. BodyEditor is used for placing all the collision into the game world. (Score Hearts, Heart Boxes, Stack Boxes, Doors, ..) FrameEditor takes care of which part of the level each frame shows and where on the screen it is placed. Both these tools pump out xml files, which are then read by the game app. They are not super convenient to work with, but they do their job. Once the collision is set up, we go ahead and refine the graphics for a level. Thanks for reading this stuff <3

Ciro's Interviews..

2010-09-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Just discovered Ciro Continisio's Interviews at No More Sweden.
Heheh.. Pretty funny.. Really nice journalistic style..
You can find myself, being questioned at 11:21
But my favorite interview is actually Kian's at 4:51

four mini trailers

2010-07-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Sweden No More

2010-07-10T05:39:00.001-07:00

a shot taken from Michael Todd's Broken Brothers Pilgrimage at No More Sweden 2010

Sign of Life

2010-06-11T06:08:00.001-07:00

-currently enlargening play area
-messed up the color mapping, while doing so
-need to get back to RGBA
-my neck hurts
-the soccer world championship is about to start
-I'm doing ok

Indie Night in Malmö

2010-04-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

I'm looking forward to the Indie Night in Malmö.

If you're in the area you *have to come. It's going to be awesome!!!!

Also Ibb and Obb creator Richard Boeser will be coming. He may or may not have to sell Space Invader sandwiches at the event to pay up for squatting at my place.

Video Games made in 19, Banana St.

2010-03-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

At GDC 2010 I met Eyram Tawiah and Wesley Kirinya. They've formed the start-up video game dev company Leti Games and operate from Accra, Ghana (in West-Africa).
An article on Leti Games also appeared in the Mercury News.

Back in CPH..

2010-03-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

returned to Copenhagen. I'm terribly jetlagged but also re-energized..
Plus nordic spring is finally kicking in.
Also there's an article about Where is my Heart? in Kill Screen Magazine. *proud

Hanging out in San Francisco

2010-03-17T11:01:00.001-07:00

anyone still lurking around in SF, like me and Erik? Perhaps we can meet up.

Copenhagen Game Collective

2010-03-03T12:45:00.001-08:00

Yay.. Where is my Heart? was invited to be part of the Copenhagen Game Collective !

Awesome Bug

2010-02-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

Always happy when I get a specimen such as this one..

Nifflas about his way of game design

2010-02-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody.

Nifflas, a game designer famous for Knytt Stories, Within a Deep Forest, and lots of other games held a lecture at ITU Copenhagen. You can watch his lecture at the blog of the Copenhagen Game Collective.
http://www.copenhagengamecollective.com/2010/02/23/nifflas-in-copenhagen/

I really enjoyed it, especially the parts about sound effects. Inspired by Nifflas, I decided to use some white noise sound effects for Where is my Heart? Modulated white noise works well for wind going through leaves or for a forest rain.

I am also trying to figure out how to get hold of sounds like an old tea-kettle whistling. Probably the best way is to record it yourself..

Our Nordic Game Jam 2010 Group Foto

2010-02-11T02:44:00.000-08:00

Global and Nordic Game Jam are over..

2010-02-04T02:57:00.000-08:00

I was pretty exhausted after Nordic Game Jam. We slept about 5 hours per night. This was more than the average, I've been told. Here's our game..

Preschool Theater Director aka Preschool Theater Company is a mini game where the player directs a group of little kids to play Shakespeares Summernights Dream. The player has to click the kids until they end up in the right spot light. On this one I made sound effects. Florian Sänger made some wonderful graphics art. After everything was put together the game was for its simplicity perhaps not the greatest play experience. But the graphics, music and sound made for a funny, endearing play. Kids bump into each other complaining, the elf king was played by a rather un-elfish kid, the audience gets bored pretty fast, or mumbles approvingly.

new years jump!

2010-01-12T02:53:00.001-08:00

Late happy new year everybody!! Looking forward to the Nordic Game Jam!

Merry Cold

2009-12-18T06:51:00.000-08:00

Wohoo.. Understood now what went wrong the other day.

Nils Deneken is working on the Waterfalls scenario.

Integration of Box2D worked and now we're tweaking around and fixing it, so it runs the way we want. Any Box2D-wizz out there? I'd like to chat about it.

Getting cold in Copenhagen now. Happy holidays, everyone.

errors of last week

2009-12-07T02:02:00.000-08:00

What's happening? (I still don't get it..)

shot of the day

2009-11-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

work done today: implemented an xml-reader for loading animations, implemented display of animation loops.
yesterday night was a cool concert with two bands: one called Megafaun the other called the Dodos. Really nice music.

shot of the day

2009-11-19T06:58:00.001-08:00

Rapid Prototyping

2009-11-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Paper, scissors, and crayons. Rapid Prototyping without the computer. Trying to figure out an algorithm for automatic panel-placement.

Robotic Beings

2009-10-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year I've been showing WIMH at the AMAZE Jump'nRun party.

Later on I helped Michael Liebe and his team with the game design of Robo-Cup.

I designed the little robots and made up some rules.

In an unexpected and cute move they decided to use these robots as a logo for the AMAZE Festival.

on top: robo designs

below: rules of the game represented as comic panels

below: robo logos of the amaze festival

First Screen-Shots from the New Device

2009-10-21T04:26:00.000-07:00

Where Is My Heart is being remade from scratch for a handheld device. Here are the first shots from the new development tool. It's quite a different paradigm, than I am used to coding-wise. But slowly I am trying to figure it out.

Happy Birthday Bernie !!!!!

2009-09-30T03:31:00.001-07:00

Mutatione Prototype

2009-08-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

Two months work on Mutatione with Nils Deneken. Now we're setting up sounds and music. Very soon the Mutatione prototype will be at testing stage. It's going to be interesting to see how people play it and where they get stuck.

Working with Nils and the Mutatione team was a great experience.

We've had lots of new ideas, we want to try out in the future. Soon, Nils will be working with me on Where Is My Heart?, for which he will design graphics and parts of the Forest world.

weird

2009-08-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

trying to get weird with the colors-

Can anybody get even weirder with them? It's a challenge. Maybe your colors will appear in the final game - yay!

no more sweden!!

2009-07-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

No More Sweden is over. It was cool to meet up again with everybody. Also I met many nice people. Some were even from overseas. (From Toronto and from Phoenix) Here's a snapshot from an unfinished game, I made at the party. It's called C Y A N M A G E N T A S E X and it's supposed to be a 2-player party game where a couple has to reach orgasm. Maybe I'll continue a bit and see where it goes. Soon I'll post some photos too.

Also, mad thanks to Martin Jonasson 'Grapefrukt' for making everything possible.

into the green

2009-07-15T02:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting in quite a while. I am currently working rather intensively on Mutatione, which is a game concept Nils Deneken realized.

We work together at his place in Copenhagen. After work we sometimes sit on his balcony where we talk a bit about games we've seen or aspects about games.

This post is not going to be very deep or based on steadfast academical references. It's nothing new, it's just something we noticed.

In many games, especially games about exploration, the first levels are set in a summerly green world. A placid, bucolic setting, where the player should feel safe and comfortable. This can be taken as a fast rule of story telling (look at the rules of the monomyth).

Also, I think this is somehow an instinctive choice made by game designers. Perhaps it constitutes a cultural legacy, to start the story in such a green land of honey and milk.

A friend who studied lighting design told me this: The way light falls through tree tops and scatters on a green canopy is very soothing to the eye. Is it an age-old mechanism, perhaps hard-wired into us? Green summer forest equals safety?

Wo ist mein Herz?

2009-06-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

WIMH appeared in GEE, a german print-magazine about video games culture. Actually this was a while ago, but I never got to post this one. Now I decided to use my phone camera and get a really bad quality shot. I'll try and replace it soon, when I get hold of a better camera.

Games played in the Philippines

2009-06-12T02:59:00.000-07:00

While travelling in the Philippines I came across a couple of games.

Catch a big beetle and bind it to a stick with a cotton thread. It's like a remote control toy helicopter. If the beetles are lucky they get released after play. Most of them face a grim fate.

Lots of Sony's PlayStation Portables. I've never seen so many of those. The children in the photo surprisingly played N+, a 2D indie game.

Two Months of Mutatione

2009-06-03T03:31:00.001-07:00

Hi everybody.

I am spending June and July working 3 days per week on a prototype for Nils Deneken's game Mutatione.

During that time I plan to work on WIMH for 2 days per week.

I think it will be fun to have some change for a while.

Also I am currently in Kopenhagen. Anybody based in Kopenhagen?

After that, in August I'll be working full steam on WIMH again.

Greetings from Bantayan Island

2009-05-25T16:30:00.001-07:00

Philippines!

2009-05-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Totally unrelated to game-making, I am currently travelling about in the Philippines. So far it's a blast!

Travelling means less time for blogging, but soon I'll be back in Germany. In the meantime, why don't you read this older blog entry and take part in the discussion. I find any opinion on this very interesting.

Indiecade!

2009-04-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Please make an awsome 10%-finished game and submit it to the Indiecade Festival.
Even if it's no where near half finished and you don't think it's ready yet, do submit. Not even near finished, that's how I feel about everything I ever turned in. (For example lots of documents at Uni..)
But also last year when I submitted my game to Indiecade, it was incomplete. (And it still is..) While I didn't get into the list of finalists, I was invited by the Indiecaders to show my game at a the Game City Festival in England. That was a very great experience. So even if you don't get to be a finalist, there are ways to profit from participation.

Welcome to the Land of the Bat!

2009-04-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a part of a concept I am currently working on. It's a pdf. Let me know what you think of it.

back at work

2009-04-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody.

Nothing much to say. I am back at work.

WIMH @ Experimental Gameplay Sessions 2009

2009-03-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

No email to Jonathan Blow

2009-03-31T15:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write an email to Jonathan Blow. The email would have been phrased something like this:
"Hi Jonathan,

I wanted to thank you for inspiring me. I first saw your talk in 2008 in Germany and the talk was awsome!
Thanks a lot for sharing your ideas with the community.

kind regards,

Bernie Schulenburg"
I decided to not send it to him (I guess he receives heaps of this kind of emails, anyway)
Instead I am going to write a bit about what his talk did to me.

When I saw Blow give a talk last year in Germany, I didn't know anything about the existence of indie games. (Well, maybe I felt vaguely that they existed, but I didn't really know). I had never seen any games that were commercially successful and actually seemed interesting to me. Apart from really, really old games back in the 80's and early 90's, some of those were kind of interesting. All I knew was, I wanted to make video games, that didn't contain orcs, dwarves or elves or big axes and guns. Back then I wanted to make a game about an entrepreneur named The Krampus, who exploited the people of a little town, letting them work in miserable conditions in a deep fried potato chips factory. This was the setting. The people worked in the factory, and all they could ever eat was deep fried potato chips. They lived unhealthy lives and died of boring factory work and the wrong nourishment. (This idea was actually inspired by the work of The Royal Art Lodge, a canadian group of artists) How could such a game ever be commercially successful, next to stuff like Halo? I was pretty pessimistic about my future in making games.
And my 3D skills are very modest. So here was this guy saying: "I wouldn't make a 3D game, if I were you.You can make really interesting games in 2D and apart from that people actually have problems using 3D games, there are tests and it doesn't work so well."

This is no direct quote, but the essence was pretty much that. This guy had all these (to me new) ideas about the gaming industry. He really inspired me. Right at the beginning of his talk he read out aloud the philosophy statement of a game company called Molly Rocket. This statement changed everything for me. You can read it on the Molly Rocket site right here.

After this lecture I returned home and my mind was set aflame. I started working on a game that I really cared about.

It's not over yet!

2009-03-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

GDC has been a total rush. I met lots of interesting and nice people. And I met some old friends from down-under too. It was pretty fun.

Somebody touched my crotch. I won't say who. It was kind of weird but still endearing. I saw some motorbikes hanging from the ceiling and an orange cat, so fat it must have been Garfield, by name.

Tonight is the last party. So it's not over yet! Tomorrow I fly. Erik Svedäng left today, I hope he didn't forget his prize trophy. Also Kian Bashiri left. We said good bye just around the corner from the arcade museum. See you at No-More-Sweden, guys!

I am exhausted, yet refreshed.

Embroidering is Hard Work

2009-03-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

Soon it's time to leave for the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

I thought I'd embroider a promotion t-shirt..

I'm not going to do that again in a hurry.

It took a long time. :P

I am going to show 'Where Is My Heart?' at the Experimental Gameplay Sessions and talk a bit about the experimental aspects of the game. I recommend you come if you're around. I'm sure there will be a lot to make us all gaze.

(San Francisco Moscone Conference Center, Thursday, March 26th, from 3pm-5pm in North Hall room 135)

Also I'll be talking about the game at the Education SIG Session:
Student Independent Game Festival (IGF) Post-Mortem

(309) Student Independent Game Festival (IGF) Post-Mortem Speaker: Magy Seif El-Nasr Date/Time: Tuesday (March 24, 2009) 2:00pm — 4:00pm

Survive in the Woods

2009-02-24T05:31:00.000-08:00

Only very recently I had an art attack. Art attacks come and go without preceding warnings. This one had the theme: "Survive in the Woods". Here are some of the results. They often inspire me to go on and perhaps make a game or a comic. I would like to make an adventure game sometime soon.

Pikachu Sightings at Cologne Carnival

2009-02-20T02:28:00.000-08:00

We went to the Carnival in Cologne yesterday. Laura dressed up as a Pikachu. And me? Well, for me we discovered a new species of Pikachu. The black Pikachu! They are very rare and quite shy. Even their lightning bolts are black and have a distinct smell of licorice. Here are a couple of snapshots to prove their existence.

Achtung Autobahn!

2009-02-17T04:17:00.000-08:00

Achtung, for those of you, who speak German. The video from the Amaze Jump and Run Party is out. I talk about the game, as a native speaker:

Something new Worx

2009-02-08T17:08:00.000-08:00

Hi friends.

Nothing much to say. Only that I'm back at work. I am trying out dynamic effects on the frames.

Happy Jamming

2009-02-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

Over the last weekend I went to the Nordic Game Jam. I worked with Erik Svedäng and Kian Bashiri on a game involving grapes and the cutest music. We didn't get it done at all, but it was a good experience to work together on one little project. If we'd just had more time..

I met many kind people. It felt a bit like we had known each other since childhood.

I am really looking forward to the next jam.

Where is my Heart? IGF-Demo

2009-01-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

Where Is My Heart? is a video game project by Bernhard Schulenburg. The game is currently still in development and will be released, in 2010.

There are Demos of the game, which you can play to see how you like it. Look for them in the category download.

Recently the game was selected to be amongst the winners of the Independent Games Festival Student Showcase, which made me, my mum and my dad fondly rejoice.

I also want to congratulate all the other winners, and encourage those who didn't make it this year, to continue developing and to try it again next year.

Manufacturing Game Rules

2009-01-26T14:48:00.000-08:00

Ian Bogost, author of the book Persuasive Games has written an article, in which he mentions Where Is My Heart?. His article discusses a concept, which he calls Proceduralism.

How I understand it, the term Procuduralism, as Ian defines it refers to a style or group of games.

These games have a set of properties in common. Ian defines and describes these properties (Procedural Rhetoric, Introspection, Abstraction of Instantial Assets, Subjective Representation).

I think his list is a good milestone for starting a discussion about these games. I am not going to carry on this discussion right here. Instead I want to talk a little bit about how 'Where Is My Heart?' fits into Ian's framework.

If you want to know more about Ian's article, I recommend you read it. I found it quite inspiring.

One aspect Ian mentions, is that the Proceduralists' game rules are purposfully woven by the authors to be interpretable and to carry some introspective, personal meaning.

This is actually true for Where Is My Heart? for at least a subset of the rules. Some of the rules I designed in such a way that they express some aspect or feeling in my life. For example in the game when the character 'Gray' is surrounded by grayish bubbles, what I had in mind was to depict his individual perspective. His own way of seeing the world. I wanted to express his way of seeing negativity in each and every pixel of reality. Quite naive form of expressing this negativity, I now notice, but to me it currently seems to be the right way of expression. It fits well enough in the overall game.

However other rules I come up with for my game are the product of experiment or tradition. I say tradition, because I can't say that I am the inventor of platform games. I think it is not wrong to pick from the big pool of traditional game rules. What's wrong with building upon the cute fundament of the eighties? It helps quickly conveying the 'basics'. Now we can get on to the specifics of my personal life by designing specific rules.

For the experimentally picked rules, I think sometimes design is about trying out stuff and keeping the most potent errors. However, often I discover an inherent meaning in these 'experimentally' picked rules, only after they are in place. Maybe you could call this mode of manufacturing expressive rules 'cheating'.
I'd just call it my way of working on a game. If you want to express it as a design rule it could be formulated as:

"Don't be afraid of experimenting with rules. Keep those rules that are
strongest for expressing what you want to say."

It can be fun to work this way, to see where some idea ends up, and how they mess around with the game environment.

I should also mention that many experimental rules never reach the stadium of being actually programmed. Many experiments are just fought out with pen and paper, and take the form of little sketches.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

I am quoting Erik Svedäng, because I couldn't phrase it any better!!!!!!!!!!!

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in shock!"

WOuuouuuoouououieeeeeeee!!!

___________________
for erik's original post go HERE

Jump and Run

2009-01-14T05:21:00.000-08:00

We listened to chiptune and there was a power-out. I held a small talk on 'Where is my heart?'
It was pretty exciting for me. Then people were playing and one person found a bug! (Oh no!)
On first glance it seems to be non-reproducable..
Have a look at some photos from the event here.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I had a nice new years night. We went to a place in the woods nearby from where you can see over the entire town. We wanted to see all the pyro-action. That's what we thought at least. But Mr fog crossed our plans, and believe it or not, we didn't see any (none, nada, null, zero) fire-works. Just fog. Fog. And again fog. So we went home again and had some nice food.

'Where Is My Heart?' will be featured at the AMAZE Jump N Run Party in Berlin on 8th January.

I am currently preparing the game for the party. You should consider to come, if you're around.

Student IGF Release (Demo Version 0.3)

2008-12-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

Finally packaged the student IGF Release Demo.

It will work on Mac and Windows platforms.

You can download the Mac version:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=b4f610e1c0b6832d1bee9a6e9edd9c76e04e75f6e8ebb871

Or you can download the Windows version (you need a Java Runtime Environment):

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=b4f610e1c0b6832d1bee9a6e9edd9c76ba2bdbfc32581f76c95965eaa7bc68bc

Some more Mirrors for downloading:

http://games.rapidshare.com/gamesnew/detail.html?datei=_2009_01_whereismyheart_.xml&rubrik=games

http://games.softpedia.com/get/Games-Demo/Where-is-my-heart.shtml

I've just tested it on my mum's Windows XP and it works. Don't know about Vista.

It has new game-play involved, and a new level design. Also, in this version you can complete the first level. Let me know what you think of it.

Building Up the Gallery

2008-11-30T03:17:00.000-08:00

I've finally made a small video about the indiecade exposition at the malt cross gallery.

You can see it here.

It was some work for me, because I am really not good at video production. I also have no idea, how to make sure that the compression doesn't ruin the quality. You'll see, its picture compression quality is abysmal. (For me this stuff takes ages to make, too). In german we'd say "someboy has two left hands with video production".

Well, sorry again for the long waiting, Megan and Alex.. ^_^

Anyway, what you see is the Malt Cross Gallery in Nottingham, where our exhibition took place. We had a fun time, even though we had problems getting everything to work. I really, really wanted to play Erik Svedäng's Blueberry Garden, but we didn't get past set-up. It needs some XNA environment, and I am pretty left-handed at setting stuff like that up. Whenever I set up some development environment, it often easily takes one full day, until everything works, the way I need it. (On rare occasions I am lucky and it'll take 10 minutes)

Special thanks to Alex, Megan and Alex and all the others from Leicester for helping with everything. Also to Yuey and John for helping.

And of course to Stephanie and Sam.

I'll be posting more material, I will not say soon :D

Otherwise I've started a 3 days per week job. But right now, they make me come in 5 days a week, because there are project deadlines, pending. So I had absolutely no time for 'Where is my Heart?'. Hopefully soon.

Platform Coverage on 'Where Is My Heart?'

2008-11-22T05:01:00.000-08:00

Aaron Lee from platform magazine writes about some of the

fabulous Indiecade games at Game City 3.

Read what he thinks about them (and about 'Where is my Heart?')
at the platform blog.

not exactly a news rush

2008-11-16T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody,

I think I need to apologize. I claimed to deliver these news about Game City 3, and it never really came. It's because I have been working on the IGF student contest demo, pretty much non-stop. Now, just on friday night I got that packaged and sent to the IGF. I'll also post the version soon, for download. It's the full first level, playable to the end ^_^

After sending that demo to the IGF, (it still has a couple of bugs, I'm sure), I felt like going out more than anything else. Not like sitting down, writing, at all. Also I thought I'd attach the 'news' to the video footage I made in Nottingham at GC3. Well I had problems getting the footage from the camera, because a piece of software and a cable was missing. Now I have it, so as soon as I get a free minute I'll be cutting this footage. And I'll be saying some things about Game City, people I've met and experiences. Sorry again for the long stretch of silence on that matter.

stuff on youtube

2008-11-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

hi everybody,

I just found this lecture on game design by Will Wright on youtube. I haven't seen it yet but maybe it's good, who knows..

I'll have a look at it tomorrow.

Birthday Party Back in September

2008-11-06T13:55:00.001-08:00

Hi everybody,

I have finally put together the birthday-video.

It's with a black cat and some roses and super mario.

No need to congratulate, the video is from september.

That's behind long enough.

The song is called "golden apples" by Shirobon!

Sorry for the low quality of the video, even though it sais high quality in its title.

I first managed to compress a version that was even worse.

IGF Release (Demo Version 0.2)

2008-11-05T05:49:00.000-08:00

The IGF demo of 'Where Is My Heart?' can be downloaded right here.

It definately works on Mac OS and Windows. Don't know about other OS's.

I submitted it to the contest, without too great hopes.

It's pretty much the same demo as the first IndieCade Release, but there is one new gameplay mechanism added. The 'metamorphosis'. So for all those who know the old release, you may try out the metamorphosis of Antler Ancestor. Also, of course I'd like to know what you think about it. Is it pleasing to ears and eyes?

I am currently polishing another version for the IGF student contest, in which I lay more hopes. It's due to the 15th November and you qualify as a student, if you were studying in Spring 2008, for all those who're interested in submitting their game.

Umm, yeah. What else? Oh yeah, I made this animation tool called Takakukei Animator in case you always wanted to make "Eric Chahi"-style polygon animations, like in Chahi's amazing game "Another World". (How I LOVE this game.) It's in good working condition. If you want to use it and get stuck anywhere. let me know. Also if you want to continue programming on it, ask me for the (quite unpolished) sources.

Video Game Art

2008-11-04T03:56:00.001-08:00

I have been thinking about finding ways how I can keep up the work on my game. I had the idea of selling unique art work. So if you would like to support me in making my game you could consider buying a piece of stamped art. Each piece will be unique. I'd send you one piece for 8 Dollar Australian. (Because I love Australia and I quite like the number 8.)

In Euro that would be 4.23

In British Pound it would be 3.36

and in US Dollar it'd be 5.41

The price for postage would be depending on where you are located. But it wouldn't exceed 3 Euro I guess.

They will be pretty simple pieces, like the one above and you'd help me to keep working.

I'll also set up a paypal thingie soon. (I have to figure out how that works. Does anyone know, by the way?)

Screen Suck mentions Where-Is-My-Heart

2008-11-03T11:03:00.000-08:00

There is a blog called 'Screen Suck' by William Kennard. He blogs about video games, manga, art and other cultural artefacts. He mentions that, what he liked about my game, was the music and the concept. William's blog entry on Indiecade@GameCity can be found here.

Well if you're interested in the music of 'Where-Is-My-Heart-?' then it's Shirobon!'s myspace you should have a look at. He creates wonderful chiptune on his old-school GameBoy. Give him some love. ^_^

Game City 3

2008-11-02T03:39:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody. Thanks for following this blog. I was at Game City 3 over the weekend. It's a game festival in Nottingham, UK. Thanks to Stephanie Barish and Sam Roberts from the Indiecade team, I was allowed to present my game in their gallery. It was great and inspiring to sum it up in one sentence. I will be posting lots of stuff over the next days. It's going to be a bit of my own coverage of the whole event. Showing the things that I liked and learned at the event. I hope this perspective will be interesting to you. The first thing I want to say is, thank you to all the people who encouraged me in carrying on developing my game. It's important to me to get that extra drive from you. I am still travelling back to Germany right now, so no big post now. (I am sitting in a cafe, trying to spend my last british coins) Tomorrow will be the start of 'Where-Is-My-Heart@GameCity-News'.

I added a little slide presentation of the game to this post. I made it for Game City but didn't really need it there. It may still be interesting to you.

Metamorphosis

2008-10-24T03:55:00.000-07:00

When I design gameplay rules I often use comic strips to capture the essence of the rule. By 'essence' I mean, the important element of the rule. For example this comic strip shows the rule of metamorphosis. When the three monsters (Brown, Orange, and Gray) step on a certain metamorphosis-box, they will shape-shift. One of them will shape-shift to be Antler Ancestor and the other two will be little flies. They follow Antler Ancestor around, wherever he goes. When all three are close enough to each other the transformation goes back to three monsters. See, it's so much easier to convey all this information in a comic strip.

What's going? on.

2008-10-23T03:55:00.000-07:00

I am programming stuff like metamorphoses and also antlers. And Pi is involved. I heart Pi.

I need sleep.

It's Stampy Time.

2008-09-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

The stamps got delivered! I got all crazy and erupted in stampa-frenzy. Stamp! Stamp-stamp!!

They'll be stamped on the flyers, as shown in the third picture.

Where is my Flyer?

2008-09-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

The best is better than the rest. But which one is it, I ask you? I'll have 500 printed quite soon.

After the print I'll add a little extra to individualize every single one. Let's make a deal: You help me decide, which one to choose for print and I send you one of the 500 flyers. Drop me your postal address in an email.

Where do you feel at home?

2008-08-27T02:40:00.001-07:00

Here are some concepts. They help me to fix ideas. I came across an older entry in my sketch book. It said: "feel at home."

This made me remember, what I'd been thinking about, when I wrote it down. Whenever I thoroughly enjoyed playing a game, it (the game) was capable of really making me feel at home. I don't know how else to describe it. It just felt right to be in that game world at that time. To give an example of this feeling: Zelda, Link to the Past. Also Monkey Island 1 and 2.

I am trying to achieve this "home-effect" with my game. So, I am wondering what the secret ingredients are, to generate the home-effect. I guess it's a mix of graphics and atmosphere and the fact that the game-world is for one part familiar and cozy and for the other part new and strange. Any other ingredients out there? I would be interested in hearing your ideas.

Also, what are your home-games?

Secret Message

2008-08-08T03:15:00.000-07:00

Erik Svedäng posted a secret entry in his blog:

It made me want to post a secret message too..

Who knows what it means?

Where is my Poster?

2008-06-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a poster design of Where-Is-My-Heart-Game. If you have a huge printer, or you own a standard printer and you're willing to use tape and scissors, you can pin this 3 x 2 foot poster to your wall. For the large dimension version (pdf format) be sure to follow the text link. The thumbnail image only points to a small png-version.

I did it, tape-and-scissors-style..

Other IndieCade 2008 entries

2008-05-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

I was looking around the web in search of my IndieCade competitors, and found cool stuff..

Here is a platform game called "You Have to Burn the Rope". It's about burning ropes and letting a huge candelabrum fall on a huge boss monster. Cool stuff!

Another entry to IndieCade is ColorDots. This game is about order and chaos and being fast about cleaning up, which is an activity I usually try to dodge. But this game actually makes cleaning up a fun thing.

The game Errantry might also be an IndieCade entry. I haven't figured that out yet..

Back to searching for more competitors now..

Artistic Statement

2008-05-12T01:41:00.000-07:00

Interested in the ideas behind Where-Is-My-Heart-game?

For the IndieCade release I wrote a few words about what my goals and intentions are, with this game. It all started with a hike in the woods..

The Relativity of Reality

2008-05-12T01:02:00.000-07:00

I was studying the effects of different colors. With this color choice I got pretty close to a "swamp world" feeling. (Also it reminds me of the classic GameBoy colors a little.)

I am playing a lot with color effects lately. As an example, when Gray is picked by the player, colors could drift to a specific configuration. With this visual feedback the player gets to see, how Gray views his surroundings. This is maybe one way to convey his biased outlook on reality.

Comic Panel Effect

2008-05-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Already played the demo? If you have difficulties, making heads or tails of the comic panel effect, then this older blog entry might help you understand.

In future versions these panels will actually have effect on the game-play. For the IndieCade release I'm afraid I didn't have enough time to add any of this in a convincing way.

IndieCade Release (Demo Version 0.1)

2008-05-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hey, whoever is interested in testing my release for IndieCade 2008 may download it here
I'd be glad for any feedback postings.

Shirobon! Music

2008-04-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

I have teamed up with Shirobon!

His song is pretty. It truly touches my heart. 'Remembering childhood' is the title, and you can listen to it at Shirobons MySpace site, or by playing the demo.

Antler Ancestor

2008-04-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

A new character is about to be introduced to the game. Antler Ancestor. When Brown eats a special goodie he turns into Antler Ancestor, while Orange and Gray turn into Littloes.

IndieCade 2008

2008-04-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

I barely managed to meet the deadline to the IndieCade 2008 independant Game Selections. I've built a little prototype of a tutorial level for the game. I hope there are not too many bugs. It's a rough, scetchy thing, but they specifically are interested in work that is still in progress (http://www.indiecade.com). So I thought I might as well submit. We have several new game mechanisms in this version (0.3). Since the last update an alternative reality system was integrated. Now when Gray picks a green heart, he drifts into his own reality. A scary place with portals and ghost artifacts. Only he sees them, only he can use them.

Spirit Totem and Screenshot

2008-03-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

Rainbow Spirit of true Sorrow

2008-03-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

Working on Beziers

2008-03-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Fragmented View

2008-03-04T14:17:00.000-08:00

2008-03-03T16:27:00.000-08:00