Rest in Peace, MJ - Micheal Jackson in Games

As cliche as this might sound, today is a sad day in history. Think what you want of him, but undoubtedly Micheal Jackson is one of the greatest musician that ever lived. As an 80s baby who grew up with his songs, I'm deeply hurt by his death. Moreso for people who are still listening to his songs till this very day, like Zaido.

Before I continue, I would like to say, Screw all MJ haters.

I guess this is supposed to be where I put music videos of him and rank them. Well, you can find that in thousands of blogs on the Net right now. Or if you're like me, just go to Micheal Jackson's YouTube channel and reminiscence on his rockin' songs, his sleek dance moves and well-produced MTVs. Good times, man.

Instead, I'm going to pinpoint the legacy he left behind in video games. That's right, his contributions go well beyond music.



Take, for example, Moonwalker for the Megadrive. I didn't grow up with console games, but I fondly remember the time when Dzaid and Daim showed it to me. It's very well animated and the artists did a good job bringing MJ's spirit into digital design. MJ closely monitored the game too and even requested to have more enemies so that it'll be more awesome!

As such, many gamers deem this game a classic.



Never seen the arcade game before, but it sure looks kewl.



There was quite a controversy revolving around Sonic 3's music. A board claimed that MJ created the music for it but due to scandals, his music got changed... a little. I dunno what to think of it, but there's no doubt that Sonic 3's music is heavily influenced by MJ's style. No wonder it was superb. View the popular documentary here. (Damn disabled embedding)



Sega still loves MJ though. In one of my favourite music games ever, Space Channel 5, you control a cute reporter to save Space Micheal by mimicking and outdancing the enemy! MJ voiced Space Micheal himself and the dance+song used for the rescue sequence is packed full of MJ style.

I used After Effects to cut the above sequence out of the full gameplay footage and uploaded it to YouTube. That shows how much I wanna blog about this!



And finally, his popular song ABC used in Elite Beat Agents.

I would like to end the post by showing you how much NicoNicoDouga users love MJ. Just type Micheal Jackson in the search box, and you'll see a bunch of MAD videos.



No doubt, this is the most popular one. It's Hare Hare Yukai, after all. Love the timing!

Rest in peace, MJ. You'll be forever remembered.

They'd Be Crazy to Follow Us, Wouldn't They?

Day 5 of my Unity3D trial. Been busy doing other stuffs, but yesterday I tinkled with it again.

Say, ever wanted to drive through an asteroid field above the clouds? Thought as much.



Click here to see it in action!

Don't worry, you're safe! The asteroids are all behind you! (aka lazy to program collisions)

You can always IMAGINE that it's a game where you're running from a horde of Tie Interceptors (left side of the screen, can't see 'em) while having to avoid the asteroids. Have fun!

Unity3D works nicely with Blender! Downloaded an A-wing and an asteroid model, and changed their colours a bit. The model is automatically updated in Unity3D as I save in Blender. Nice.

It's getting close to how a 3d game would feel like (yeeaaaa suuuureee) and it only took at most 6 hours of my time. I'm really liking Unity3D so far. Here are some key points of this update:

• No more holy cube :(
  
• Few lines of script to make the 3D ship follow the 2D mouse cursor
• Added a bullet generator that responses to the mouse click, again just a few lines
  
• With prefabs, I can change the particles of the bullet easily and it updates all bullet clones
• I put a script in an empty game object that acts as the game's control center
  
• Added a generator that spams asteroids with random size, rotation and speed
• Actually, the camera and the ship is also moving to the right a'la horizontal shooter, just the stupid BG is not moving... hence the asteroids for added effect :P
  

Prefabs are fantastic. No it's not Fabian before he was born. They're like classes in OOP and MovieClips in Flash, but it's so easy to change the outlook, the particles, etc since it plays the animated result automatically in the scene/game pane. The scripting part is quite messy, but I'm a messy person anyway :P

Next up, I will add collisions and enemy ships, plus some bullet patterns. Stay tuned!

Click here for the source files.

The Holy Cube and The Raining Shapes of Death

Day One of using Unity3D.

After reading script references and video tutorials, I decided to take some time and start doing a Unity3D project from scratch. That's right, from scratch, without any of those tutorial files etc. Starting from a completely empty project.

I present to you... The Holy Cube and The Raining Shapes of Death. It is my interpretative art piece of the downfall of humankind (the cube). As holy as they are, humans cannot dismiss their flaws of excess pride (the cylinders) and weakness in judgement (the spheres). But fear not, as parallel planes of existence (the floor) prevent their self-destructive nature.

Let's not forget that humans tend to want to be accepted (the spotlight).

Haha love programmer bullshit.



Click here to see it in action. Use the arrow keys or WASD to move the holy (nuaaaaa) cube.

Time I took to create this: 20 minutes. Amazed? Here's why:

• Creating shapes was obviously a cinch, but adding physics to it was also one click away!
  
• Adding those particles was with just a click, and a little mouse drag to attach it to the cube
  
• To move the cube, you just need to add 3 freaking script lines
  
• The script for the camera to look at the cube is 2 freaking lines
• The spotlights share the same script as the camera, means they also look at the cube
• A few script lines to bring the shapes back up after reaching a certain bottom y-axis
  
• Duplicating the shapes means the script gets duplicated too

I know the shapes go through the platform, as the shapes are too fast and the platforms are too thin to detect collision, but I enjoy looking at them fall like rain lol.

Really, imagine the possibilities if I had a month. Let's see what I can come up with!

Here's the Unity3D source file. Whoever's interested, you can check out Unity3D's website.

Unity3D: Web Games Are Never the Same Again

I've been exploring options for game engines lately, I wanna get out of my Flash comfort circle. I have many game ideas yet it's been a while since they came into fruition. So I stumbled upon the usual: Torque, Ogre3D, Game Maker, etc.

There's been a game engine that is rising in popularity among indie developers, good for 2D and 3D games alike, has built-in graphics and physics engine, good networking support for MMOs and can be easily published to various platforms such as PC, Wii, iPhone and *gasp* Web browsers?! No! It can't be! Yea, call me outdated, coz I've never seen such impressive 3d in my browser before (except in YouTube lol).



Introducing Unity3D. They just added support for development on Windows a few months back (was only for Apple for years). Maybe that's why their game list is not prolific, considering many game developers use Windows. But by looking at the current games, one can't help but be impressed.

Take, for example, FusionFall, an MMO for teens by Cartoon Network.



Whoa since when did the characters look this awesome? Ah, the good ol' days when I had Astro where I would just watch flip through Discovery, AXN, Star World, Nick and Cartoon Network.



The story starts with matured Dexter wanting to bring you to his timeline via a time machine. As usual Deedee is up to no good again and goes "Oooh what does this button do?". You are accidentally brought way forward to the future, to a world of doom and crisis. (DOTT much?)



Don't I just look so kewt? All these kids and teen MMOs are smart enough to screen your name manually, so I was given a temporary name first.



You are then escorted by Ben and Numbuh Five to a basic combat session. The controls are simple, the interface is intuitive and the tutorials were easy to follow. Cutscenes are shown here and there to describe the current quest. Once you reach Sector V, you are able to invite friends to your group, do trades and what not.

Well not enough to convert me from WoW of coz, but I'm sure it will make any CN fan happy.



The 3D world is convincing enough, especially considering that it's playing in your web browser. And it's an MMO to boot. Of course, the downside is that you need to download the plugin, but it's small and easy to install with just a click of a button at any game launch page.



While you're at it, try this Tropical Paradise demo. Believe it or not, you can navigate through the landscape above with the WASD keys and mouse. And play the free web games at Blurst, they're all using Unity3d. I especially recommend Blush and Paper Moon.

I'm gonna download the trial version of Unity3D and see what I can do with it. Regardless, it's high-time we realize that web browser games have evolved beyond just interfaces and sprites.

From Tokyo to TOA: Akiba*Doujin Documentary

Sook Chiung and I thought that while it was nice to have me live in the hall, why not have a real stroll down the streets and make a video? It would really spice up the presentation, we thought.

So I did. And what better place to show doujin culture than Akihabara itself! Enjoy!

From Tokyo to TOA: Doujin Game Presentation

Phew, finally the presentation has finished. It was nice to see familiar faces in The One Academy again, no matter how pixelated they were :P Man, I miss teaching! Once it was all done, can't help but feel a little lonely (this is where you go "awwwwwwwwwwwwww...")



fyi, I was invited to give a live video feed presentation to The One Academy students, talking about doujin culture and how you can be part of the ever-growing independent spirit.



Thanks to Sook Chiung, Wei Peow and the rest of the team, the session went on smoothly, though there were a few disconnections here and there. Super big arigatou to them!



Before the pressie, Yee Lean enthusiastically showed the V sign to me, hehe. It was as if the students were in Tokyo themselves, considering how common the V sign is here! Pictured also are Benjamin and Sora, otakus themselves I'm sure :P



Poor Joanne. She had to carry that camera so that I could see the audience and my own slides. And look at Sook Chiung's worried face lol. I'm sure this is where she went "Talk S-L-O-W-E-R". Thanks so much, you two. Will you both marry me?



We started with a little exercise session to test the Internet lag. Even from Tokyo, I could control their arms bwahahahaha. Pictured are Aurelia (o rly ah?), Zheng Hong aka "Lechaoz the Level 80 Paladin" xD and Wahyu, the dude who likes to take videos in female toilets.



I talked a little bit about myself, and this is where my /IF/ pictures come in. Nerds rule!



When I showed a pic of some japanese girls (aka my girlfriends) wearing some Tokyo Fashion, Kellie the fashionista seemed to be in awe. "Wah where can I get that skirt..."



My boss Sweii was there, and so was her boss! Beside her is Tatsun, The One Academy's principal. Yikes *nervous*



This is either Wahyu fully paying attention to my presentation, or he's just acting cool in front of Reuben's camera. I'm betting the latter lol



Wow some students DO pay attention. I'm surprised :P



My intention was to make the presentation have a lot of lawls, which turned out to be a success :D Love the laugh on this dude! Diana and Tanyus behind showed everyone their beautiful teeth, and Ifa seemed puzzled "Eh what's so funny?"



Selvia, on the other hand, was bored. Aiyoh Selvia, sakit hati aku tengok gambar ni!



The moral of the story is that you guys have talent, and a whole lot of tools out there are free, so go out there and do great stuff! Thanks so much for coming guys!



Just an additional note, I would like to congratulate two of my favourite students in The One, Yiwei (Hey where's Yenn?!) and Chen aka Mak Datuk. They did so well in their games that they were also invited to give a presentation. You both make me and The One Academy proud!

Thanks to Reuben, Aurelia and Benjamin for the pics!