tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71707403781999024802024-03-17T02:50:51.980+08:00Ryan Sumo's BlogSketches, drawings, paintings, and musings on...stuff.Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.comBlogger181125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-70976843474860194072017-12-27T18:33:00.003+08:002017-12-27T18:33:50.514+08:00A Delightfully Dogecoin-y Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQZlmSkhBJgerLkIl4cJDm0WaF73JSdVhB1opUaqjsXPN6X6qbiLVZJVbQQ34tXNZ6BSguegWsorLNfX5ihMvIwHx63WfecpDFtLpdJWBOoW-P1wCXrb5OCkMsXrxXUsBcYthiZAPn3As/s1600/Dogecoin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="529" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQZlmSkhBJgerLkIl4cJDm0WaF73JSdVhB1opUaqjsXPN6X6qbiLVZJVbQQ34tXNZ6BSguegWsorLNfX5ihMvIwHx63WfecpDFtLpdJWBOoW-P1wCXrb5OCkMsXrxXUsBcYthiZAPn3As/s1600/Dogecoin.jpg" /></a></div>
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Christmas lunches with family are the best barometer for figuring out whether or not something has hit the mainstream. Bitcoin breached that barrier this year as our table slowly exhausted time-tested topics like the weather, noche buena food, and the days old chocolate cake that the host was flogging on us to avoid spoilage. Given that everyone and their titos and titas are now talking about bitcoin and other cryptos, I won't bore you with any of my thoughts on the matter since I'm hardly a subject matter expert anyway.</div>
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What I do want to share with you is a delightful cryptocurrency (henceforth called "crypto" to save my fingers) I rediscovered called dogecoin. I'd been reading about the proliferation of ICOs and given how it was supposed to be technically easy (I wouldn't know, since I don't code) I toyed with the idea of making a crypto for my company <a href="http://www.squeakywheel.ph/">Squeaky Wheel</a> as a bit of fun. To see if anyone else had done something similar I did a google search for "ridiculous or funny cryptocurrencies. Turns out Dogecoin had beat us to it. I faintly remember hearing about dogecoin and saw it as a silly little joke, but after leearning more, I'm convinced it was a stroke of accidental genius.</div>
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Bitcoin and other crypto advocates can be pretty cult-y once they've been converted. Filled with the Spirit of Satoshi, they go forth and utter screeds against the evils of fiat currency and inflation, lamenting the control of big banks and government over our lives. It's not that they're (entirely) wrong, its just that the self-seriousness and revolutionary fervor they projected often triggered involuntary eye-rolls on my part. Dogecoin was the perfect counterpoint, injecting some humor and levity into the crypto community at large.</div>
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A hardcore community grew up rapidly around Dogecoin and took it very seriously, but in the most delightful of ways. They call themselves shibes in honor of the original shiba inu that sparked the <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/doge">doge meme</a>.
What's even more incredible is they seem to have figured out a way to
grow and be open to new members without the toxicity that eventually
overwhelms even the most well-intentioned communities. What exactly have the shibes been up to?</div>
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They raised money to send a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/20/jamaican-bobsled-team-raises-dogecoin-winter-olympics">Jamaican bobsled team to the Sochi Olympics</a>. They <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/dogecoin-foundation-raise-50k-kenya-water-crisis/">built a well in Kenya</a> with Charity : Water. Currently they are <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/6cc19v/dogecoinsocksforthehomeless_may_2017_distribution/">buying socks for the homeless</a> and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/6bwu1r/dogecoinmilkforeveryone_88_liters_of_milk_bought/">milk for underprivileged people in Brazil</a>. Of course they don't just restrict themselves to noble pursuits. People organize fun competitions like <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/7kvpy7/video_contest_18_million_doge_to_celebrate_2018/">this one to celebrate 2018 as "The Year of the Doge"</a>. The first rule of the competition states, "Create a fun video about Dogecoin. It doesn’t need to make a lot of sense or be professional, it just needs to be FUN. Example: <a href="https://youtu.be/000al7ru3ms">https://youtu.be/000al7ru3ms</a>"</div>
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I decided I wanted to be a shibe and after doing some research on the dogecoin subreddit, I opted to help out the folks at <a href="http://dogecoinfah.com/">dogecoinfah.com</a> by joining their <a href="http://folding.stanford.edu/">folding at home</a> team. Donating spare computer cycles for medical research to earn Dogecoin that I might be able to use for charitable causes seems like the perfect virtuous cycle.</div>
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Like many others I've also invested a small portion of my money in the hopes that their value continues to rise. There's no doubt that the blockchain and cryptocurrencies
are technologies that will change society in ways we do not yet
understand. But perhaps the best thing to come out of the world of crypto so far is that different kinds of cryptocurrencies can coexist with each other, and you can eventually pick and choose the crypto (and by default the community) that suits your personality. Economist and author Bernard Lietaer <a href="http://www.lietaer.com/2010/09/what-is-money/">once wrote</a> that "For any “thing” to act as money, it requires a community to agree that a particular object has a certain value in an exchange." So what's the value of Dogecoin? Much joke. Many Funs. Such Charitable. Wow.</div>
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Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-72101787805458462622015-05-19T21:57:00.001+08:002015-05-20T10:47:14.081+08:00My Urban Sketching Equipment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitWEiQB3UBxwa6lsGabksuQ0rSBQo_iPW6Mz2cd-9fPQ5gfyoQyJdujZfqyKGPfwP60cdziVgNfzbxRnE2H2T7nmNgUaRzq3cyQdx83lZmH3vann_Ohzvw75KHJs4Q1_CdBoBy2raFeDbM/s1600/intramuros-sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitWEiQB3UBxwa6lsGabksuQ0rSBQo_iPW6Mz2cd-9fPQ5gfyoQyJdujZfqyKGPfwP60cdziVgNfzbxRnE2H2T7nmNgUaRzq3cyQdx83lZmH3vann_Ohzvw75KHJs4Q1_CdBoBy2raFeDbM/s1600/intramuros-sketch.jpg" /></a></div>
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I've been experimenting with a different process lately with my Urban Sketching, and since the results have received a lot of praise (thanks!) and questions on medium and equipment I use I figured I would make a blog post about it. Above is the sample of one of my recent sketches while in Intramuros. I found a nice, shady spot on the wall with a good view of Manila City Hall as well as a food stall on the road below.<br />
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Materials</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2uOus9EO1c6btjYVld-yuPGddVHBLScKUOb3G_dhiZ-Cgv_FwH3Tj6nXhx2PCMdtCPapNTBILbPTQLhytbdCtVlxHfriKBzYJRCFzwk8SEKjUhvMKEga4ECmpwFo1BAAHtsK32Mr2yhL/s1600/materials.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2uOus9EO1c6btjYVld-yuPGddVHBLScKUOb3G_dhiZ-Cgv_FwH3Tj6nXhx2PCMdtCPapNTBILbPTQLhytbdCtVlxHfriKBzYJRCFzwk8SEKjUhvMKEga4ECmpwFo1BAAHtsK32Mr2yhL/s1600/materials.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here is a photo of the materials I used for these sketches. Yup, that's it. Four pens and a sketchbook. Usually I only have just the one pen and a sketchbook, and sometimes a small pack of grayscale brushpens. Why so little? This has a lot to do with my own personal philosophy of Urban Sketching. I like to observe things and present them in as unvarnished a way as possible, especially people. People react in all sorts of ways when they know they're being observed, so when I sketch I try to be as invisible as possible, and having less materials makes that a whole lot easier. Of course this method has its drawbacks, but I'll save that for another post. For now, I'll go over each item one by one and show you where you can get them. Unfortunately most of them are only available on Amazon or in Japan, but hopefully that will change.</div>
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Metal Pencil Case</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRa9Zz0LzIiC_Vhd2zL9QNatJZYdlCl_Casmewgz5nMSLZjBKJkWxrbgRhh2xBXDmws9BcjQK52epNtDrlol7JKt8GGR6cIy0bq_G0LH3183VOWZmRmeBURJssoNSRFyccrxPie4mtOr1U/s1600/pencil-case.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRa9Zz0LzIiC_Vhd2zL9QNatJZYdlCl_Casmewgz5nMSLZjBKJkWxrbgRhh2xBXDmws9BcjQK52epNtDrlol7JKt8GGR6cIy0bq_G0LH3183VOWZmRmeBURJssoNSRFyccrxPie4mtOr1U/s1600/pencil-case.jpg" /></a></div>
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Actually, I'm not sure where I got this pencil case and how much it cost. It might have been in one of those "container" stores like Beabi or Lock and Lock where they have containers for everything. In fact I think this may have originally belonged to my wife, who likes buying containers for everything. If you find one it should probably cost you less than 100 pesos. It's simple, sleek, and carries my pens. The <a href="http://urbansketchers-philippines.blogspot.com/">Urban Sketchers Philippines</a> sticker was given to me by the current leader of USK Philippines, Lauren Villarama.</div>
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1IOb9KW">Zebra Brush Pen</a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_d-x_5qpW_Wg7KoKSYcMNiSghoirIz5Sr9_jJU2rSErR_0Z_-uRNdsE5fB-KdxOiT-5WGFejN3FDnIB8zZWBUxBSAPlCLqPyixVAQUXt5rTs_1mYAXsjFdw114CKIhRPGhlK1LUXujs3/s1600/zebra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_d-x_5qpW_Wg7KoKSYcMNiSghoirIz5Sr9_jJU2rSErR_0Z_-uRNdsE5fB-KdxOiT-5WGFejN3FDnIB8zZWBUxBSAPlCLqPyixVAQUXt5rTs_1mYAXsjFdw114CKIhRPGhlK1LUXujs3/s1600/zebra.jpg" /></a></div>
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After trying numerous felt brush pens in the settled on the Zebra brush pen as my favorite (I forget the reasons why, to be honest). I like brush pens because they give your drawings a sense of weight without even trying, something that regular technical pens and ballpens do not. You get that sense of <a href="http://thevirtualinstructor.com/line-quality-cross-contour.html">line weight</a> using Nib pens as well, but for sheer convenience these brush pens can't be beat. They rn out of ink in a few months, depending on use. I usually ask relatives coming from the US to bring me a bunch, or I buy them in bulk when I go to Japan. Amazon lists this as the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006CQVIZW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006CQVIZW&linkCode=as2&tag=artbysumo-20&linkId=QHPAIIVSKGOHJRH7">Zebra WF1 Scientific Brush (Small Size)</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=artbysumo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B006CQVIZW" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> and Jetpens list them as <a href="http://www.jetpens.com/Zebra-Disposable-Brush-Pen-Fine/pd/2307">Zebra Disposable Brush Pen Fine</a>. Zebra's brush pens are color coded so always make sure to get the gray one, not the black (medium) or blue (extra fine). Zebra actually has a retail presence in the Philippines so maybe one day we'll see these in national bookstore.</div>
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1S6F6Ky">Koi Coloring Brush Pen</a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZywcbHKgIY2tvqYq3C6S2Ukui8mKaIe0DQWCg3DXQsVdm2hSjw39E42OjKnDjDA0PFh4jDG0SfxB0VY-KZYDY1ZvsIWXnK4BY77OjexoTPMim0gpzUzaL5Nog_U0V8qvCC-NVp59vCcMV/s1600/koibrush.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZywcbHKgIY2tvqYq3C6S2Ukui8mKaIe0DQWCg3DXQsVdm2hSjw39E42OjKnDjDA0PFh4jDG0SfxB0VY-KZYDY1ZvsIWXnK4BY77OjexoTPMim0gpzUzaL5Nog_U0V8qvCC-NVp59vCcMV/s1600/koibrush.jpg" /></a></div>
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Koi Coloring Brush Pens, made by Sakura, are surprisingly hard to find even in Japan. I found these on Amazon and the first set I bought was actually a <a href="http://amzn.to/1Gm8fwD">grayscale set</a> that I really liked. I then bought the <a href="http://amzn.to/1S6F6Ky">12-piece colored set</a> and was disappointed because the colors were too rich and bright for my taste ( I think they were originally made for coloring manga). On Kraft paper (the brown paper my sketchbook uses) it dampens some of that color and makes it more tolerable for me. I originally fell in love with these pens because they don't bleed through the pages in the same way most markers do. I use these to color and shade my line art to give them more volume.</div>
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Sakura sells <a href="http://amzn.to/1AiwHhi">24-piece</a> and <a href="http://amzn.to/1B9KLoG">48-piece</a> sets as well, but they get pretty expensive and I was worried that I wouldn't get the colors I like. I actually found a store in Bangkok that sells individual colors, but I felt too pressured to buy anything. Hopefully this is something Sakura Philippines will bring here soon. </div>
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1Gm9OdY">Uni-Ball Signo White Gel Ink Pen</a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqxqerNuMjf4D_Pvv0ZB8DGkVQJ6fTN6nOb-3ugEqmvDyt3yLrHwoAqOgtUHo5_66qMPEzajJdjJNT13wceHW4UhxbgrNBLe8YSMgikWhwPMrG3l44Zvzql60KC_cqTnt5OHZj3-3bs8Qd/s1600/signo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqxqerNuMjf4D_Pvv0ZB8DGkVQJ6fTN6nOb-3ugEqmvDyt3yLrHwoAqOgtUHo5_66qMPEzajJdjJNT13wceHW4UhxbgrNBLe8YSMgikWhwPMrG3l44Zvzql60KC_cqTnt5OHZj3-3bs8Qd/s1600/signo.jpg" /></a></div>
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This one you can actually buy in National Bookstore. The <a href="http://amzn.to/1GmbMex">Uni-Ball Signo White Gel Ink Pen</a> costs around 96 Pesos. Don't expect your local NBS clerk or saleslady to recognize the name immediately though, and bring a picture just in case. This is one of my most recent purchases, and I bought it specifically to experiment in using it with my new Sketchbook. It seems to be very popular among comic book artists.</div>
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1AiziYJ">Pentel Felt Tip Sign Pen</a></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8JtGxzptrv-IVaiMa5loGz6mR7ujZfn3Wx0ji1xC-MH2iRhR0PnZ8jTZMoEGhy0IXHMlY2Xs-4bdd3vgO1eNHOvXimahJR4xWgCaj60vxJVB3zHVmuCK-OH0irCwWNes4ruA1GlSlnmSp/s1600/pentel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8JtGxzptrv-IVaiMa5loGz6mR7ujZfn3Wx0ji1xC-MH2iRhR0PnZ8jTZMoEGhy0IXHMlY2Xs-4bdd3vgO1eNHOvXimahJR4xWgCaj60vxJVB3zHVmuCK-OH0irCwWNes4ruA1GlSlnmSp/s1600/pentel.jpg" /></a></div>
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This is another one of those pens that I discovered in Japan. I bought it because it was similar to the Zebra Pen with its felt tip, except colored. I bought a single brown and grey pen while in Japan, but I recently purchased a <a href="http://amzn.to/1AiziYJ">set of 12</a> on Amazon, which I'm very excited to play around with. As with Sakura, Pentel has a retail presence here, so it's not impossible that they will bring these over someday, perhaps USK Philippines can push for that.</div>
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Languo Metal Case Sketchbook</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzf5IVxaJrJksoNiRo_n0kwOxwqSCsPqd7qyu1bpC7LrPKY11xvSTdUwEwTEyyP6_OXg1eSFwhLB7fF6FhxrdajSa5k-5r-SeN7Ko9fK-6dFSp3s8myg5EZmduLeQQLPk0iWiX4Iu1BGZu/s1600/sketchbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzf5IVxaJrJksoNiRo_n0kwOxwqSCsPqd7qyu1bpC7LrPKY11xvSTdUwEwTEyyP6_OXg1eSFwhLB7fF6FhxrdajSa5k-5r-SeN7Ko9fK-6dFSp3s8myg5EZmduLeQQLPk0iWiX4Iu1BGZu/s1600/sketchbook.jpg" /></a></div>
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This sketchbook can actually be found in National Book Store, although I cannot say if it's available in all branches. I found mine buried in the Megamall Branch along with a few others. Oddly, they seem to all be flag themed. Mine seems to carry the French flag, while the rest of the sketchbooks I saw bore the Chinese flag (Languo seems to be a Chinese company). The most curious thing about these sketchbooks is that they are divided into three sections : Kraft paper, dotted graph paper, and Kraft paper again. I've never seen sketchbooks like these before. The thing I liked most about them was that both the Kraft paper and the graph paper were able to hold my Zebra brush pen strokes without bleeding through to the other side of the page. This "metal" version costs only 215 pesos while there is another square shaped paperback version that costs 146 Pesos (with similar paper divisions). If the NBS clerks don't seem to know what you're talking about, just dig around in the sketchbook and notebook sections of your local NBS and you might get lucky.</div>
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Conclusion</h3>
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I hope you guys found this post useful, and have fun experimenting with these materials. If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them in the comments!<br />
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<i>For more information on Urban Sketchers Philippines and how to join our sketchwalks, check out <a href="http://urbansketchers-philippines.blogspot.com/">our blog</a>!</i></div>
Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-90613435393703270182014-12-09T22:00:00.000+08:002014-12-09T22:00:03.714+08:00Free worldwide shipping and $5 off every art print!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHebJ8O3tvsq7USCG28TZiqkQC50-Z3RYIaUuQ_bN19tB5K4549pxUpH6J5yOUWN0WiQQLuN-Vj9D80kknlVaMg7F9egd8YkGuTJhQ8jtItP7QtXEbIkRq9w17xsULrtTza-_azaJnXTz3/s1600/nagoya_ryansumo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHebJ8O3tvsq7USCG28TZiqkQC50-Z3RYIaUuQ_bN19tB5K4549pxUpH6J5yOUWN0WiQQLuN-Vj9D80kknlVaMg7F9egd8YkGuTJhQ8jtItP7QtXEbIkRq9w17xsULrtTza-_azaJnXTz3/s1600/nagoya_ryansumo.jpg" /></a></div>
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I quietly put up some prints on Society6 last year in an effort to make some passive income from my urban sketching. I figured this would be a neat way to subsidize our travel costs. Unfortunately it takes a lot of marketing to actually make any real money off art prints, and since I didn't have time to spare I kind of just let my page languish. Even then I've had a couple of sales here and there so it wasn't a total loss. Since Society6 gave me this promotional code I figured it was high time to update the page with some fresh new sketches.<br />
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The sketches above are from our recent trip to Nagoya. You can these sketches and more by checking out my Society6 page. Please make sure to click <a href="http://society6.com/ryansumo?promo=KHJNXZX9BB7G">THIS LINK</a> to get free worldwide shipping and $5 off every item until December 14! Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-37173770460393617612014-10-09T20:25:00.001+08:002014-10-09T20:25:29.863+08:00Rocket Race has a Kickstarter!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmninB2Z1H4kDoEVou64OFHeQpAj3bOph9Q6gCawS_lu3LcM8xNxBRUEFJPMxf_JQpbIwGlxhstM8LyTzQEV53D8ctthEgchM35VjiRFhqgNhrRfBtZnx7LaGbQiPhwaAjJl5WIFOb8mHX/s1600/rocketracecover_ryansumo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmninB2Z1H4kDoEVou64OFHeQpAj3bOph9Q6gCawS_lu3LcM8xNxBRUEFJPMxf_JQpbIwGlxhstM8LyTzQEV53D8ctthEgchM35VjiRFhqgNhrRfBtZnx7LaGbQiPhwaAjJl5WIFOb8mHX/s1600/rocketracecover_ryansumo.jpg" /></a></div>
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A few months ago I posted about a <a href="http://ryansumo.blogspot.com/2014/06/rocket-race-is-launched.html">steampunk card game</a> that I created some art for. That game was called Rocket Race, and Tripleace games is now ready to ramp up production of the game with a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1588759266/rocket-race-a-steampunk-rocket-building-card-game">Kickstarter</a>! I'm thrilled to be involved in such a neat project, and those special edition boxes of Rocket race are looking mighty tempting! The image above was used for marketing purposes as well as serving as the cover art for the regular edition of the game as well as the rulebook. If steampunk or cardgames are your think please do support the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1588759266/rocket-race-a-steampunk-rocket-building-card-game">Rocket Race Kickstarter</a>!Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-67776778992162952022014-07-15T21:51:00.001+08:002014-07-15T21:51:09.504+08:00Hey, Party Animals pt2It's been brought to my attention that one of my #screenshotsaturday posts was picked up by I<a href="http://indiestatik.com/2014/07/08/screenshot-scrutiny-6th-july-2014/">ndiestatik</a>, and they seemed very taken with Party Animals. Which is great, except oddly enough they posted to my personal blog instead of the devlog. They did have some very nice words about my other artwork, so I'm not miffed or anything, but anyone who was interested in actually finding out more about <a href="http://blog.heypartyanimals.com/">Party Animals</a> might feel mislead. To rectify that and to show off some of the art that's on the devlog, I figured I'd write a new post here.<br />
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Party Animals</h3>
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These are the titular Party Animals, who you will interact with and possibly recruit during your political campaign.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkR0WxEQs-jBuGjQ3G6wIvmMMODVJu4GPMGA4KUtsS6HS5ETjC-07Yl_TZGZLQHGdAr1PQ6Zb-0gSxktdEeciIXBx_Gj9RMS3RZR44Nn9ZIgrzGEt3DLrGlYCWZnnpe2S7OZewKlMeSjQ/s1600/sketch_goat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkR0WxEQs-jBuGjQ3G6wIvmMMODVJu4GPMGA4KUtsS6HS5ETjC-07Yl_TZGZLQHGdAr1PQ6Zb-0gSxktdEeciIXBx_Gj9RMS3RZR44Nn9ZIgrzGEt3DLrGlYCWZnnpe2S7OZewKlMeSjQ/s1600/sketch_goat.jpg" /></a></div>
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Ka Eldereta is a tribal chieftain that represents the interests of the original inhabitants of Summer Island. His name is a pun on "Caldereta", which is a tomato based stew normally made with goat meat.</div>
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<a href="http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h100/endlessthirteen/sketch_lizard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h100/endlessthirteen/sketch_lizard.jpg" /></a></div>
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Boo Tee Kee is a businesswoman that represents the interests of the merchant class. Her name is also a pun, in that "Butiki" means lizard in Filipino. The spelling Boo Tee Kee is the Sinicized form, which I did because the Chinese are the primary merchant class in many Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines. I'm obviously a sucker for word play.</div>
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Summer Island</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SGE_WC9_6R4z_YndATniO0qR6ojFLAPDqpzny3o9zk2KEal16JRRbW8jfDR3b9yzr0e4NGZPdQxqW-JJhlfdO8HY_PEMoA9XSJeFHzm1pN-TPQ9sXCZkQP9tOZMz7l9hTxJ-uXAWaTM/s1600/map_partyanimals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SGE_WC9_6R4z_YndATniO0qR6ojFLAPDqpzny3o9zk2KEal16JRRbW8jfDR3b9yzr0e4NGZPdQxqW-JJhlfdO8HY_PEMoA9XSJeFHzm1pN-TPQ9sXCZkQP9tOZMz7l9hTxJ-uXAWaTM/s1600/map_partyanimals.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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I recently gave our world map a more board-game or pop-up type look, which I think works very well.<br />
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<a href="http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h100/endlessthirteen/popupanim_borsogan.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h100/endlessthirteen/popupanim_borsogan.gif" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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My idea was when you zoom into a district, the special buildings in that district will have cute little animations like the bell in this cathedral...<br />
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...or this fish trying desperately to escape its farm.<br />
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Comic Strips</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhql5HHiLbEVqV2OEc88ks3bLSmpgiX18tpyIZZ5N9Yq8W4GU6iRrIJ4wortC2lPBqaBYnNpDXDQmNkdvjSucbGJspieRRVsSCrvXKdrSZ2RPVm62iL3hyymevaxiZ82MvaLXJRfWtqo/s1600/blog_family_partyanimals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhql5HHiLbEVqV2OEc88ks3bLSmpgiX18tpyIZZ5N9Yq8W4GU6iRrIJ4wortC2lPBqaBYnNpDXDQmNkdvjSucbGJspieRRVsSCrvXKdrSZ2RPVm62iL3hyymevaxiZ82MvaLXJRfWtqo/s1600/blog_family_partyanimals.jpg" /></a></div>
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I also tried making one panel comic strips for the blogs that don't naturally have images to go with them, like this one for Julius' series on <a href="http://blog.heypartyanimals.com/2014/05/how-to-win-election-geography.html">winning local elections</a>...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinB-5nom7jft0yifEgO-C7DyRZHP6DFCxhu88Sh-P0N2lXD9fNenpZG41U8n2D78JiA95PbkV2kaANhgh-8Z1W9OKVL-_sKFEgjUBzOAjgTveU4nkPgo7LQDungPVzi2KKu8JQcmlsATI/s1600/blog_campaign_partyanimals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinB-5nom7jft0yifEgO-C7DyRZHP6DFCxhu88Sh-P0N2lXD9fNenpZG41U8n2D78JiA95PbkV2kaANhgh-8Z1W9OKVL-_sKFEgjUBzOAjgTveU4nkPgo7LQDungPVzi2KKu8JQcmlsATI/s1600/blog_campaign_partyanimals.jpg" /></a></div>
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...and this one for my pained attempt at profundity in figuring out <a href="http://blog.heypartyanimals.com/2014/05/making-metaphors-using-itinerary-as.html">game mechanics</a>.</div>
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Anyway if you've been intrigued by any of this then please do hop on over to the <a href="http://blog.heypartyanimals.com/">Party Animals devlog</a> to find out more!</div>
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<br />Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-19689441689473118422014-06-05T07:30:00.000+08:002014-06-05T07:30:01.154+08:00Rocket Race! is Launched<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1iTkf0nkaiFOKVz4AQ1bq6ZVN36PoIeRdtZvVvwQOCXIkIr4754Kjx_J_UHFRoIPvVIxo7qbQZLbzryQ0pQlDuk1PSj8zGMvVpKcRh8bhQK1K7OLMbjDTFGOEYInW9pxIpHwO8HinvcBu/s1600/aegis_ryansumo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1iTkf0nkaiFOKVz4AQ1bq6ZVN36PoIeRdtZvVvwQOCXIkIr4754Kjx_J_UHFRoIPvVIxo7qbQZLbzryQ0pQlDuk1PSj8zGMvVpKcRh8bhQK1K7OLMbjDTFGOEYInW9pxIpHwO8HinvcBu/s1600/aegis_ryansumo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aegis of Terra</td></tr>
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A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to work on an exciting new project by TripleAce games called <a href="http://www.tripleacegames.com/company-news/rocket-race-a-steampunk-card-game-wooden-box-limited-edition/">Rocket Race!</a> It was a little last minute but it was a card game based on a Steampunk theme, and I jumped at the opportunity to do some work for them. Turns out it's just been released, and even better, 3 of the cards I worked on (with some help from <a href="http://robotwithasmile.wordpress.com/">Robot With a Smile</a> to meet the deadlines) are featured in their announcement marketing. My favorite (<i>Aegis of Terra</i>, seen above) was not included in the announcement image, but <i>Anti-Gravity Painted Vanes, Martian Salvage</i>, and <i>Automatic Ballast Ejection System</i> were included. I really like how the final product turned out. Somehow being framed as a card always seems to make the artwork look more awesome.<br />
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Looks like the game did quite well, as the initial batch of special edition copies was sold out, according to their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tripleacegames">Facebook page</a>. This means that they'll start thinking about mass distribution, and that might mean I get to make some more work for them! In the meantime, check out some of the art I made for the game, and keep an eye out for Rocket Race! at your nearest games store.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPWgfZstshMEL-qKIQlvmBKznbKROZf4_1O2gekXJDFX3AicbOXPlFQHWYNw4RmGVyYCl5-rA09CmOsoULCLtBN8_-GM1EF30yiEi6N2sM5IGtQ7bU7dDqPVsL1bzMP900zx3ecuR2flF/s1600/antigravity_ryansumo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMPWgfZstshMEL-qKIQlvmBKznbKROZf4_1O2gekXJDFX3AicbOXPlFQHWYNw4RmGVyYCl5-rA09CmOsoULCLtBN8_-GM1EF30yiEi6N2sM5IGtQ7bU7dDqPVsL1bzMP900zx3ecuR2flF/s1600/antigravity_ryansumo.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anti-Gravity Painted Vanes</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Martian Salvage</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1OHWDA6QVYLlJpAPx8Bj24OT31aZDhyphenhyphenMK5UFzejDUH0egpH1hsyKsNBuhQyL7xmxE9nCVyHjuZHx50OkZozSw3tCXtjUQsYKhyphenhyphenX3s4mDUN7tdrJvh2bt7fxqokOkRIu1iQeLldW-EiYV/s1600/ballast1_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1OHWDA6QVYLlJpAPx8Bj24OT31aZDhyphenhyphenMK5UFzejDUH0egpH1hsyKsNBuhQyL7xmxE9nCVyHjuZHx50OkZozSw3tCXtjUQsYKhyphenhyphenX3s4mDUN7tdrJvh2bt7fxqokOkRIu1iQeLldW-EiYV/s1600/ballast1_color.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Automatic Ballast Ejection System (colors by Robot With a Smile)</td></tr>
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<br />Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-29927630911270255032014-05-20T08:30:00.000+08:002014-05-20T08:30:00.529+08:00Minor Blog Updates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize0PDadtAzZ9OBm7cnRRAS_qiPhYIaa0rx4VIpU25WEknystlZ10bosQPuvIxSmUaFdwtAP7YK52EzxZKovWT8r1rn65oSdIVDbNxuiS1Q-0e-SUP0YuVzKvUwE9xgZiBgAI7N2L3FaRO/s1600/header_partyanimals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize0PDadtAzZ9OBm7cnRRAS_qiPhYIaa0rx4VIpU25WEknystlZ10bosQPuvIxSmUaFdwtAP7YK52EzxZKovWT8r1rn65oSdIVDbNxuiS1Q-0e-SUP0YuVzKvUwE9xgZiBgAI7N2L3FaRO/s1600/header_partyanimals.jpg" height="129" width="640" /></a></div>
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Hi folks, just a little update to let you know some changes I've made to the blog. I've removed the Personal Projects Page and replaced it with a <a href="http://ryansumo.blogspot.com/p/party-animals.html">Party Animals page</a>. Since Party Animals now occupies most of my personal project time it made sense to make the switch. Party Animals is a deceptively cute political strategy game. If any of that floats your boat why not read more about it on our <a href="http://blog.heypartyanimals.com/">devblog</a>?<br />
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I'm also happy to say that some of my illustrations are now being sold as royalty free stock art by <a href="http://www.misfit-studios.com/misfit-studios-products/misfit-studios-stock-art/ryan-sumo-stock-art/">Misfit Studios</a> and I've updated my <a href="http://ryansumo.blogspot.com/p/illustrations.html">illustrations page</a> to reflect this. They've actually been up there since January but since I finally made my first sale I thought I'd finally announce it here. I've been thinking of selling stock art for quite some time now to satisfy the itch to draw and paint while earning a little extra cash on the side. This will never be my primary income, but a couple bucks here and there sure can't hurt.<br />
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That's all for now, hope to have more updates soon!Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-49604221991477693992014-05-13T08:30:00.000+08:002014-05-13T08:30:00.838+08:00Urban Sketching : Japan and HospitalsMy last post on this blog was a couple of months back, when I was excitedly preparing to attend Bitsummit 2014 in Kyoto, Japan. Since then I've been mostly bedridden with a knee injury that simply refuses to go away. I've been keeping myself busy,but I thought it was high time I updated this blog.<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9lvs8CP6gP-wAfVr73VYcGPI-h9sy-ofutOxxtBHvCZloVQKwVMWQNeO4qQ-mQJYFNDS2KNNnmT3cps9lSSwV0_7OvbEFtpJSOG1A7e82RHgEvf1mznXpUH2sUlp44yVrXxnMmgYqT6h/s1600/bitsummit_ryansumo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz9lvs8CP6gP-wAfVr73VYcGPI-h9sy-ofutOxxtBHvCZloVQKwVMWQNeO4qQ-mQJYFNDS2KNNnmT3cps9lSSwV0_7OvbEFtpJSOG1A7e82RHgEvf1mznXpUH2sUlp44yVrXxnMmgYqT6h/s1600/bitsummit_ryansumo.jpg" /></a></div>
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The first sketch was just a guy in the plane. I got bored because we were delayed 30 minutes inside the plane. I did the second sketch in the basement corner of a bar called Chikuya (sp?) in Kyoto. I was tired as hell and but the energy in the room full of game developers was intoxicating. My only regret is that I didn't go around to chat up more people, but I'm glad enough to have met awesome devs like <a href="https://twitter.com/datponpon">Alvin</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/yujiLY">Yuji</a>, both of whom are in the sketch. Sorry other guys, I don't recognize you. </div>
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Coming from a tropical country, I always romanticized snow in my mind as beautiful and far more comfortable than the burning tropical heat. I've experienced snow a few times before but for some reason this trip really soured me on it. The old Japanese machiya that I stayed in had no insulation and it was a pain to have to dress up in three layers just to go to relieve myself in what might as well have been an outdoor loo. The first sketch is of the machiya garden, which was lovely but also a terrifying window to the outside world being blanketed with snow.</div>
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The second sketch is rather poignant for me, since it's the last sketch I made while still being able to walk normally. I thought that it was funny that it was me and two senior citizens hunkering down in this corner of Yodobashi camera resting our old bones. I had no idea it would soon get worse.</div>
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These sketches were made more than a month later during a Saturday visit to Makati Medical Center to see my doctor about my knee injury. I only thought of this now, but the guys in the first sketch has a very typical male Filipino pose. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone in that position in other countries.</div>
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These two sketches were done just last Saturday, in what is becoming a weekly ritual for me. The baller dude on the right had the most interesting outfit in the hospital. Also, he was walking around with a half-inflated basketball. What's up with that? As I noted, I was very tempted to spoil Marley & Me for that lady reading it. Am I a better or worse person for not saying anything?</div>
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These last two months have been very trying for me, and I'm only now getting my sense of humor back. I've kept myself busy since I first got the injury, working on Prison Architect and <a href="http://blog.heypartyanimals.com/">Party Animals</a>, but when I'm not busy the worry sometimes seeps in that I may never walk properly again. I'm hopeful that this isn't the case and that the worst that will be needed is some minor surgery and rehab Wish me luck!</div>
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Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-61920955714633386632014-03-05T22:15:00.000+08:002014-03-06T10:04:44.285+08:00Hey Party Animals!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>If you're interested in hearing about how Party Animals came to be, then read on. But if you're just interested in learning more about the game, feel free to skip the backstory and just head on to our presskit at <a href="http://heypartyanimals.com/">heypartyanimals.com</a></i><br />
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Disaster Relief</h3>
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Last year, I co-created a game that broke my heart. I released Elevator Joe with Kuyi Mobile and we were hoping that Kuyi's previous success with Streetfood Tycoon would somehow carry over to this new game. It didn't, and frankly speaking I've soured on the idea of making mobile games for now. Around November last year in the grips of that depression, I reached out to my friend Julius to see if he'd like to join a gamejolt contest with me. We'd always talked about making some dumb game together, and I knew I was in a funk and I wanted to do something light and funny to get me out of my mood. Then right before the contest began, Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines. Julius's home town is in Eastern Samar, just a few hours away from Tacloban City, which was ground zero for this disaster. Suddenly my depression seemed rather silly, and making the game took on a new dimension. Julius was having trouble reaching his family, what with communication lines cut and cellphone carrier capacities stretched to their limits. He needed to work on something to keep himself from worrying about his family, so we threw ourselves into the game.<br />
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One month later, we found out two things. One, Julius' family was safe, but parts of his town were flattened. Two, we didn't win the gamejolt contest. That's all right though. A game jam tends to favor very specific games : platformers, puzzlers, etc. where the interactions are fairly simplistic and gameplay is usually shooting something or fitting a block into the right hole. Picking a political strategy game was probably a poor choice, but it was and continues to be the game we wanted to make. I was terrified of committing myself to what might be another financial flop by pushing forward with this game, but a few factors swayed me to make this choice. Any recognition I gave in the gamedev world comes from my work on Indie titles like Spacechem and Prison Architect (in fact, it was Space Chem that caught Chris Delay's attention and led him to contact me). None of that matters to the mobile market, but I'm hoping that'll have some sway with the indie market. Games like Cart Life and Papers, Please have also proven that there is some interest in subject matter that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of game genres. If we can help to push those boundaries and make a decent living I'd be very pleased.<br />
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Bootstrapping Bitsummit</h3>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRaREPmGwbJRski2a4e6EXK02aTbGfS7wDgsuck7LkeushAn35iYg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRaREPmGwbJRski2a4e6EXK02aTbGfS7wDgsuck7LkeushAn35iYg" width="320" /></a>As we hunkered down to start figuring out timelines and changes to the game design, an interesting opportunity presented itself : Bitsummit 2014. The second annual Bitsummit had just been announced in Kyoto, promising a bigger venue and most importantly for us opening up registration to foreign devs. Even more opportune was the fact that Cebu Pacific Airlines was holding one of their regular seat sales. As I nervously scanned the available seats, I found round trip tickets from Manila to Osaka for roughly $130 dollars. Bitsummit was free for indie devs and is one of the few conferences in our region that attracts Western press. <span style="background-color: white;">There was no way I could waste the opportunity to have some face to face time with press</span>. So despite feeling financially fragile at the time I pulled out my credit card and within a few minutes I had tickets to Osaka. I was going to Bitsummit.<br />
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Japan's hotels are traditionally quite expensive, especially to someone from a developing country. Accommodations are even trickier for someone like me because I'm such a light sleeper. I would have roomed with a friend but that was a bit of an imposition and I don't know their sleeping habits. Hostels are generally out of the picture because now you're in a room full of people with different sleeping habits, and you're not even friends with them so it's harder to kick them because they're snoring. Hotels were way too expensive, though I did consider staying in a cheaper one since the breakfast buffets might offset the cost. Ultimately I chose Airbnb, particularly because I was able to maximize a promo they had and saved $100 on accomodations.<br />
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The place that I ultimately found on airbnb was going for $35 a night. That's already pretty cheap by Japanese standards, especially since it comes with bikes, which cuts down on your transportation costs. But I noticed on my credit card bill that my bank had a deal with Airbnb to shave off $25 per transaction. I'd already used this promo on a previous trip to Bangkok, but I wondered if I could use it again. The promo specified that you input the first 4 numbers of your credit card as the promo code. I tried using my credit card again and was informed that the code had already been used up. But I also had an "e-credit card" that the bank gave me, and I tried its numbers : they worked. I quickly realized now that the promo codes were dependent on the different credit card numbers, and that theoretically you could keep using the promo as many times as you had credit card numbers. I scanned the rules and regulations of the promo and could not find anything saying that there was a minimum amount or number of days that you needed in order to use the promo. I had just discovered a loophole. Fast forward to a few days later after some discussions with the Japanese owner of the space, I had made 4 separate transactions at the place, saving me $25 dollars per transaction, totalling to $100 worth of savings. I felt like a bootstrapping genius.<br />
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Trial By Fire</h3>
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Now that everything was all set, all that remained was to try to craft a playable demo within two months. It seemed simple enough at the time, but it turns out we vastly overestimated our capacity to do this. I spent December and January were mostly spent working on Prison Architect, which is basically my bread and butter at this point. I would have most of February to commit to the game, apart from a 5 days vacation in Thailand. Too much was going against us. Aside from the time constraint, Julius was working with a cutting edge SDK called Loom that allowed rapid deploy/live reload workflow but was new and buggy. To be short, we weren't actually able to make a proper demo, but we were able to cobble together a prototype of our sortie system, which will be the main interface in which the player tries to gather votes for his campaign. It made sense for us to focus on that since it was integral to the game that it works. If the sorties aren't fun, then there's no point continuing to develop around them. Additionally, they are also the part of the game that has the most moving parts and animations, which is much more exciting to show off on the show floor compared to showing a character moving across a map screen.<br />
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To compensate for our lack of a demo, I decided that making an "explainer" document of some sort would help me to at least communicate what we want to do with the game. In essence this would become a Kickstarter marketing pitch in PDF form, and in my mind I visualized it like an old school SNES Manual. Not only would this be useful to explain the game to press, it also helped crystallize some of the ideas we had into words and pictures so that we can reference them in the future, kind of a like a loose design doc. Since we are planning to crowdfund this some point in the future, this will all be very useful marketing material somewhere down the line.<br />
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In fact, it's already proven it's worth. Pecha Kucha Executive Director Jean Snow is inviting gamedevs to do live presentations during Bitsummit. The idea of putting together a Pecha Kucha in a day is terrifying to someone like me, who likes to plan out as many details as I can before getting on a stage. But since I had the manual as a guide I essentially crafted the presentation around the points that I brought up in the manual, making it far easier for me to plot it out. Anyway the great thing about a Pecha Kucha is that at worst you only look like an idiot for 7 minutes onstage and then it's done!<br />
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Helping Hand</h3>
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Since there's no sense showing off a prototype during the public days, I also decided to make efficient use of my table space by turning it into a de facto "Philippine Indie Games" table. I rounded up a bunch of local indie developers that I know (Kuyi Mobile, Keybol Games, Quickfire Games, White Widget, Mochibits, Studio Kontrabida)and said that if they could put together a brochure of their games and companies I would stack these on my table and share it with reporters and the public. Getting Philippine games in front of a wider audience is an enourmous task, so I'm happy to be able to help them out while I can. I even bought a Philippine flag and some local candies to entice people to drop by the table!<br />
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Hello Again, Kyoto</h3>
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When my wife and I visited Kyoto last October, we met up with some awesome devs from Q games that invited me to attend Bistummit. At the time I was skeptical, since it was mainly geared towards Japanese indies. That all changed when they opened it up to foreign devs. As I write this I am one day away from flying to Kyoto for Bitsummit. I wish I had more to present, but my tickets and accomodations have been booked and there's no backing out now. At the very least I will see some old friends and make some new ones too. Opportunities like Bitsummit don't come along everyday for folks in my region, so I've resolved to absolutely throw myself into any possible marketing opportunities that I find, even if I'm already exhausted just thinking about it.<br />
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Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-35118592762210604242014-02-24T11:37:00.000+08:002014-02-24T11:37:39.243+08:00Bangkok Sketches part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In my previous post I talked a bit about going in a new direction with my sketches. Whereas previously my sketches were a weird jumble of things that I saw with no distinct purpose, I liked the exercise of drawing everything I could see without moving my head. This forces me to put myself in a position where there's an interesting angle that I can draw. As Paul Heaston said, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. To add another degree of fun to my sketches I'm also now visually thinking of where I should be placing the text, so there's a little graphic design exercise for me there.<br />
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The left-hand page is from a boutique in Pratunam Market. Aissa left me sketching while she went shopping. I love the little detail of the dog lying underneath the clothes. The right-hand page was made while waiting for our train to Ayutthaya. Train stations and airports are visual feasts if you're sketching people. They draw in all kinds of people, from the hippie backpackers in the background and the average Thai travelers in the foreground.<br />
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Filled with the vigor of my new sketching exercise, I decided that sketching in the train wouldn't be a bad idea. Sure it was kind of shaky, but it turned out all right. On the right hand side is a sketch of Aissa in Wat Phra Si Samphet. I'm trying to get over my fear of sketching her. A fear born of never being able to capture the image of her I have in my head. She liked it, so that's what counts.<br />
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After tramping through temples we visited a night market and sat down to have dinner. My eyes were drawn to this bedraggled man selling what looked like wooden flowers. There's a part of me that always feels for the guy who looks like he's had a rough time. Luckily, before we stood up, he'd had quite a few customers already. I guess wooden flowers are really popular in Thailand? <br />
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The right-hand page sketch is the famous Buddha face lodged in a Banyan (Bodhi?) tree. I had no idea, but turns out there were quite a few people leaning over and taking photographs of me sketching. A white guy patted me on the shoulder and gave me a thumbs up before saying "Good job." A Japanese man and his wife came over and started chattering animatedly about it, and looked through my sketchbook with choruses of "sugooiiii!". I think they were pleased that there were sketches of Japan in there.<br />
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This "drawing everything" style can be quite tiresome, and sometimes when you rush it the perspective of things is all awry, like the bench on the left-hand page. On the right hand side our train back from Ayutthaya was even shakier than the train going there, hence the wiggly lines.<br />
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This was the last sketch I made. I was already feeling quite tired at this point, but I wanted to record the last few moments of our vacation. Passengers had congregated in this area where there were a bunch of benches and comfy sofas to wait until their plane was boarding.<br />
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The copy I inserted to the left of the gate sign, "Everyone is just waiting to leave again." is my half-hearted attempt as something poetic, and isn't actually written there in real life. <br />
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Bangkok and Ayutthaya were fun, and I was happy to be able to visit some places old an new. I'm definitely happy that I lived here once, and I think I would happily live here again one day.Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-58609547802579193332014-02-19T10:06:00.000+08:002014-02-19T10:06:06.838+08:00Bangkok Sketches part 1Aissa and I took a short vacation to Bangkok a couple of weeks ago, somethong I'd been looking forward to for some time. Our first trip to Bangkok was about going to the main sights, but this time around I wanted to try to visit some of the places I used to go to when I lived there as a child. It's amazing to me that I can say that I lived somewhere 20 years ago, but that is Bangkok to me, a part of my history. I ultimately failed at going back to my old school due to some time constraints, but I did get to eat at a Sizzler and an S&P restaurant, as well as visit the grocery we used to go, which opened up a wellspring of memories for me. Here are some sketches I made with a quick description of each. I'm sorry I can't do more, but I'm pressed for time lately!<br />
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Wat Yan Nawa. This curious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Yan_Nawa">temple</a> is a few minutes walk away from Sathorn Pier/ BTS station. It has a chedi built like a Chinese junk (the boat, not their privates). It's a riverside temple, so I suppose the idea was to pay homage to the Chinese junks that used to crowd the Chao Phraya river, bringing information and trade into Bangkok.<br />
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I'd forgotten this about Thailand, but most houses and large establishments will have a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_house">spirit house</a>, where theoretically spirits are appeased and given offerings so they won't harm the inhabitants of the dwelling. When I was a child I had no understanding of this, and just thought our apartment had an oddly located dollhouse. This is the spirit house of <a href="http://littlestguesthouse.com/">The Littlest Guesthouse</a>, whose proprietor also owns the serviced <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/841426">apartment</a> we stayed in. I would highly recommend staying in either place.<br />
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The classic Thai form of transport, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuk_tuk">Tuk-Tuk</a>. This was sketched right outside the Littlest Guesthouse. Aissa was getting a massage while I sketched it, and I finished it just as the mosquitoes were starting to wake up and dine on my blood. I really liked how this turned out and I plan on coloring it at some point.<br />
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This is a quick sketch of the area around our apartment. Those W buildings are everywhere! The scene on the right was from a riverfront marketplace called "Riverfront Asiatique". There are free ferry boats there, and while it's touristic and a little pricey there's a nice history to them, given that the buildings are the former warehouses of the East Asiatique company, a Danish trading firm that was very active in Bangkok until the early 20th century. We also lucked into a showing of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/muaythailive.bkk">Muay Thai Live</a>! It was one of those "not on the itinerary" things that we just randomly walked into. Tickets were a pretty steep 1300 baht each, but I was considering it. Then the saleslady explained that for February they were running a buy one take one promo, and it was a done deal. No sketches of the show, but I highly recommend it. We learned some Muay Thai moves, our favorites being "Rama walks in the jungle", "Elephant destroys the shelter" and "Master pounds the herbs".<br />
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Part of my memories of growing up in Bangkok was a restaurant called <a href="http://www.sizzler.co.th/en/location.php">Sizzler</a>. It's not very Thai at all, as it featured Steaks and an unlimited salad bar. But Sizzler opened up its first restaurant in Bangkok when we were living there, and it became one of our go-to places for dining out. I'm glad they're still around, but very sad that one of my favorite items in their salad bad, the fried potato skins, was no longer there. I guess they realized that some potato lover had snuck them in the salad bar menu, where they really had no place whatsoever. Whoever you are, I salute you, brave potato lover.<br />
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I'm going to leave this post with this last sketch of Bangkok traffic because it represents a new direction in my sketching style. While we were on our way to Pratunam Fashion Market I browsed through "The Art of Urban Sketching and discovered the artist <a href="http://paulheaston.blogspot.com/">Paul Heaston</a>. He describes his process as simply drawing from the bottom up and capturing as much detail as possible. With some exceptions, this is what I've tried to do in the sketches I made for the rest of the trip, which I'll talk about in more detail next week!Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-75945285037383020432014-01-19T14:09:00.003+08:002014-01-19T14:11:08.575+08:00Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="http://bookshelf.aapld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/quiet.jpg" /></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The review below originally appeared in Fully Booked's Zine. I highly recommend this book to any introverts or people with introvert friends or partners so that they can better understand themselves or their partners. I was originally wary of this book because I was worried it would be a rah!rah! book espousing the greatness of introverts, but I really like its balanced approach. If you're thinking about picking the book up, please consider doing so through my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J4WNL2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004J4WNL2&linkCode=as2&tag=artbysumo-20">Amazon Affiliates link</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=artbysumo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004J4WNL2" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a self avowed introvert, Quiet : The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking was a revelation to me. It explained to me why it is that I don’t particularly like parties (introverts prefer meaningful conversations over light banter), why I like being early to meetings in areas I’m not familiar with (introverts are more comfortable when we know the area and “own” the space) and why working from home is the perfect situation for me (introverts are easy overstimulated and need quiet places for their minds to think). These are things that I’ve always inherently known and understood about myself, but it’s good to know that there’s decades of research behind it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Cain also explores the “extrovert ideal” and why it has such a powerful hold on (mostly western) societies. She links the extrovert ideal to the financial crisis of 2008, making the case that the collapse of so many financial institutions might have been averted had the advice of more cautious introverts been heeded. Ultimately she argues that the best organizations have a good mix of go-getting extroverts and mindful introverts and gives both personality types the kind of working space that they need to excel. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">However it’s not just the office space that Cain explores in this book. She offers up examples of introverts at school, as parents and children, in relationships, in religious institutions, and a variety of other social situations. If this book were to come out as a distilled “How-To” guide for introverts it would shoot up to number one on the sales charts. But even in its current in-depth form it is exactly the kind of book that an introvert would adore, one that promises a better understanding of themselves and of the world at large.</span></span></div>
Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-36994198620505742892014-01-16T12:18:00.000+08:002014-01-16T12:37:09.598+08:00The Dildo Factory Mod, Etc.The last Alpha update for Prison Architect last year finally opened up the game to mods. Clever people had already figured out a way to hack mods onto the game, but by opening up the gates PA's fans were finally allowed to go buck wild with their imaginations.<br />
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1. <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=215507968&searchtext=">The Dildo Factory</a></h4>
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When I sent a tweet to @IVsoftware notifying them of this mod, all they had to say was "surprised its taken them this long". </div>
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2. <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=208627677&searchtext=">Star Wars</a></h4>
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Awwwww yeaaaah. This is what modding was for right? Those custom Stormtroopers are just plain adorable. They have R2 droids too!</div>
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3. <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=211343405&searchtext=">British Boarding School</a></h4>
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Fancy playing a top-down version of Bully? Well you're in luck! Coms complete with plush carpeting and everything. Surely a Hogwarts mod is on the way.</div>
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4. <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=208606400&searchtext=">Seasons Mod</a> (4 seasons, get it? GETIT?)</h4>
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This was one of the first mods that came out when the Alpha was released, and the aim is provide a different mod for whichever season we're currently in. This was winter, so it featured snow on the trees, Snowmen as your workmen, and Santa Wardens. Winter lends itself to this kind of modding, so I'd be curious to see what they do with spring (Easter Bunny Wardens?) and summer (Baywatch Prison?).</div>
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5. Clearer Needs Mod</h4>
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This mod gave me the most pause, because it's very obviously critiquing my own work. Specifically it takes issue with the iconography I used to describe the prisoners' needs. If the mod were badly done I could laugh it off, but the thing is I sort of agree with this modder that the icons I made are unclear, especially at smaller sizes. I got caught up with the idea of the body language of my prisoner icons helping to inform the icon and neglected the fact that at smaller sizes a lot of the detail would be lost.</div>
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I'm no stranger to critique and indeed I'm happy that someone took the time to think over the same design problem that I did. However my built-in insecurity about the worth of my work reared its ugly head. I had been paid to create those icons, and the guy that made this mod did arguably a better job than I did. So he should get my job, right?!?!?</div>
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But looking at the other mods I realized that essentially every modder thinks that he can do a better job than the original designers. It's the very nature of modding! So people will tweak the code, the settings and the art and make it something they think is "better". It might be, but better is usually a matter of personal taste, in the same way that I'm using a launcher that completely changes the way Android works because I thought it was cool.</div>
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The moral of the story? Just work as hard and as smart as you can and stop worrying so much about other people. Looking forward to some more amazing mods!</div>
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Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-9823836099225185282014-01-01T18:36:00.003+08:002014-07-13T09:13:51.489+08:00FASTER!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>The sketch above is one of the many converted merchant warehouses that line the canal district of Kurashiki. It's available as a print on <a href="http://society6.com/RyanSumo">society6</a>, as well as other sketches I've made over the course of our travels.</i><br />
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Me: Kono densha wa, Kurashiki e ikimasu-ka? (Does this train go to Kurashiki?)<br />
Train Attendant: Hai! (Yes!)<br />
Me: Domo Arigato (Thanks.)<br />
<i>Another train rolls up on the platform behind us</i><br />
Train Attendant: <i>Her eyes widen slightly, then she points to the train behind us and says... </i>&@(&(*$@! (Something in Japanese)<br />
Me: <i>Looks confused</i><br />
Train Attendant: <i>Thinks really hard, then...</i>FASTER!<br />
Me: OH! <i>Jumps onto train with Aissa.</i><br />
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2013 was supposed to be like that train. I'd switched trains to go faster that year. Towards what end I'm not sure really, but I hoped it would at least put me in a better place to achieve whatever it was I put my mind to in 2014. Unfortunately, the metaphorical fast train kind of derailed in the middle of the trip. There were some small victories of course, like trainguide.ph winning the "inclusive mobility" award in the transit app challenge. I traveled to Korea and Japan again, and met some cool indie devs in Singapore during Casual Connect Asia. My marriage continues to be rock solid, and Aissa has had some great things happen in her own career. So while I can't say it was the best year of my life, 2013 was good year, albeit one that scarred and humbled me. I cannot say that I'm optimistic about 2014, but at the very least I think I know what I want now, and I just have to figure out how to get there, even if it means taking the slow train.<br />
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<br />Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-55461838593244622182013-12-19T22:30:00.000+08:002013-12-19T22:30:02.765+08:00Elevator Joe is Corona Labs' App of the Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A little validation is always nice. If you haven't yet, please do try <a href="http://elevatorjoe.infinite.ly/">Elevator Joe</a>. Thanks!</div>
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<br />Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-3213236220681048502013-12-17T22:00:00.000+08:002013-12-17T22:00:05.923+08:00Urban Sketching : Lost in Osaka<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMwaxc_utNPPZRJIBw0Fyc6O4dUe-XNa25bktRaNdz9a9ooUHGfuD6zss3EZb6OJdAnxwmqSdiGa7VwLSgM81tNb9kzMaS92UlCQm9KCTYEDAk8h_ALC5OJ3RVTDdmz8xZEkK1rr9GW2R/s1600/osaka_house_ryansumo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMwaxc_utNPPZRJIBw0Fyc6O4dUe-XNa25bktRaNdz9a9ooUHGfuD6zss3EZb6OJdAnxwmqSdiGa7VwLSgM81tNb9kzMaS92UlCQm9KCTYEDAk8h_ALC5OJ3RVTDdmz8xZEkK1rr9GW2R/s640/osaka_house_ryansumo.jpg" width="458" /></a></div>
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<i>The sketch above is one of the many cute little houses in the neighborhood that we stayed in. It's available as a print on <a href="http://society6.com/RyanSumo">society6</a>, as well as other sketches I've made over the course of our travels.</i><br />
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"You're really lucky you met us!" said the English speaking Japanese man who was driving us around the streets of Osaka. He was right. The chances of finding a friendly Japanese person willing to give you directions at 10PM are pretty decent. Finding one that spoke English, was willing to call up your AirBNB host on his cellphone, and then drive you to your apartment? Almost zero. <br />
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We had departed Kansai airport full of confidence. This was, after all, our second trip to Japan, and I thought I'd done all the necessary research to get us to our apartment. But the streets leading to our apartment near Sembayashi Omiya were tiny and complex, and we weren't sure which street to turn right into. A bunch of Japanese teenagers excitedly sent us off on the wrong direction, giggling at their own mangled English. We doubled back when we figured we had gone too far, and in a tiny street we saw an old lady watering her plants (at 10PM!). After doing the commensurate charades, asking "doku desu ka?" and pointing at our printed google map, the old lady handed Aissa her garden hose and instructed her to keep watering the plants while she sorted the map out.<br />
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We watered her plants for a few awkward minutes until a car rolled by, driven by someone the old lady seemed to recognize. She talked to the car's occupants before they opened the windows and asked in clear English if they could help us. Within minutes we were happily waving goodbye at Roger the friendly English speaking Japanese man and his wife as they sped home to tell all their friends about the silly Filipinos lost in Osaka.Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-55906295048322444982013-12-16T10:23:00.000+08:002013-12-16T11:40:52.963+08:00The (Honest) Trush About Dishonesty<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=artbysumo-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00CD36FF6" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: normal;">This review was originally written for Fully Booked's Zine. I have since edited it from the original, but the contents remain mostly the same. If for any reason I convince you to purchase this book, please consider buying from my Amazon Associates link above, I'd surely appreciate it. It's on sale for the rest of this month, so buy now!</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are are far more dishonest than we will ever admit to ourselves, says Dan Ariely, and it’s these small acts of dishonesty that lead to some terrible mistakes. His own interest in dishonesty stems from the story of a man he genuinely admired. John Perry Barlow had been a consultant with the energy company Enron until its accounting scandal in 2002, and had truly believed in the company until the end. This shook Ariely’s view that the scandal was orchestrated by individual masterminds, and led him to theorize that perhaps a long chain of dishonesty had permeated the organization and led to its undoing.
He takes the next decade to test out that theory, and his results are presented in this eye-opening book that will forever cause you to question your own integrity. Each chapter reveals a particular piece of data that Ariely finds interesting. For example in one scenario he finds that people who sign a document before they fill up a form tend to lie much less than people who sign at the end. The reason? Having the person sign before creates a mental reminder that one should be telling the truth, whereas when you've already filled out the form and sign at the end, the impulse is to just sign and get things over with. Another scenario pitted different countries against each other to see who would be the most dishonest (everyone believed their own country would be the worst). The surprising result? Given a standardized setting people from different nationalities cheated about the same amount. I particularly liked that experiment, since it gives the lie to Filipinos' assumptions that we are naturally more dishonest than others.
Ariely's research should be taken with a grain of salt, but he presents a very strong case for a worldview that doesn’t ascribe evil intentions to politicians, corporations, and other convenient scapegoats. Instead he asks that we recognize that we are no different from these people in the way we lie to ourselves. Once we do that, we are free from merely castigating these people as lesser or weaker-willed than we are and we can start to think about how to better incentivize the good behaviour that we all want from each other.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-19608565332696021732013-12-12T22:00:00.000+08:002013-12-12T22:00:10.748+08:00Cute Cartoon Animals Running!<br />
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I suppose the right term would be: Cute anthropomorphic animals running, but that's a bit of a mouthful. Just a quick update today. My friend Julius and I made a game about a month ago to join the Gamejolt Contest 10. We managed to finish it, but it was very underdeveloped, so we decided to keep at it and maybe release it sometime next year. I want to keep it under wraps for now, so all I'll say is that it involves animals running...for politics!Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-17238592444274177362013-12-10T22:00:00.000+08:002013-12-16T10:24:30.209+08:00Urban Sketching : Escolta<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Some of the sketches here are now available as prints on <a href="http://society6.com/RyanSumo">society6</a>, as well as other sketches I've made over the course of our travels.</i></div>
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While Cebu Pacific Airlines has its issues, my wife and I will forever appreciate the airline that allowed us to travel to such places as Thailand, China, Vietnam, Japan, and many other countries that would have been inaccessible to us otherwise. Our first trip together to Shanghai was done on a lark during one of Cebu Pacific's zero fare deals, and it basically sealed the deal on our relationship.<br />
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So imagine my delight when I was contracted by Smile, Cebu Pacific's in-flight magazine, to do a series of sketches of the Escolta district of Manila. Not only was I going to be a part of thousands of people's travel experiences in the month of November, but I was going to get paid for it too!</div>
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Escolta is the old commercial center of Manila, and in a more prosperous city it would be a tourist attraction similar to Penang's Georgetown. Unfortunately some of that heritage is either slowly decaying or being torn down to be replaced with modern high-rises. Modernity has its place, but some care should be taken so that the character of a district can still be maintained. Luckily boutique companies like 98B with their Escolta Future Market and the Escolta Commercial Association are slowly bringing commerce back into the area. There are also plans to refurbish a 90 year old Art Deco building into a BPO facility, thereby drawing even more commerce into the area.</div>
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Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-1717781586180854792013-12-05T22:00:00.000+08:002013-12-05T22:00:00.671+08:00Alternate Future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've always loved how Japan seamlessly blends the the traditions of the past and the ambitions of the future. This is my humble attempt at combining both. I think I'm getting the hang of watercolors, but I'm not ultimately satisfied with it, and I'm planning a redo when I have time.<br />
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<i>This piece is available as a print on society6. Society6 is running a promo for till December 8 that gives free shipping and $5 off for any order of one of my prints. You have to specifically click <a href="http://society6.com/RyanSumo?promo=24f8f8">THIS LINK</a> to take advantage of it. Additionally 50% of all revenue generated in December will go to Typhoon Haiyan victims, so get some nice art and help some nice folks out.</i><br />
<br />Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-43573308831785017382013-12-03T21:46:00.000+08:002013-12-03T21:46:00.063+08:00Prison Architect Pop Culture Reference MapsMy last blog post about my favorite prison Architect Maps got a bit of attention, so I dug into the Steam Workshop again this evening to pick out some interesting maps. The sheer creativity of our players is still amazing to me, and this time I decided to pick out the maps that had some sort of pop culture reference to them, starting with...<br />
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<a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=168308837&searchtext="><b>The USS Enterprise Prison Map</b></a><br />
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I love that this map comes with a background story:<br />
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<i>In the year 2344 while protecting a Klingon outpost the U.S.S Enterprise C (NCC-1701-C) was attacked by four Romulan Warbirds. It was assumed the ship and all crew perished in the battle. The once thought destroyed USS Enterprise Recently Reappeared though a temporal rift. Due to the current conflicts the severely damaged Enterprise was decommissioned and sent to an outer laying planet to be used as a penal colony. </i><br />
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<a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=166041271&searchtext="><b>The Shawshank Redemption Map</b></a><br />
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It's gotten a little hokier upon multiple revisits, but the Shawshank Redemption was one of my favorite movies when I first saw it. Now I'm wondering if I can sneak Morgan Freeman's "Red" into the game somehow.<br />
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<a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=162601732&searchtext="><b>Fox River (Prison Break)</b></a><br />
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Steam user stubby looks like he's making a habit of recreating pop culture prisons, seeing as he was also the man who put together the Shawshank Redemption Prison above. I never got into Prison Break, but I'd love to hear what fans of the show think of this prison.<br />
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<a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=157269253&searchtext="><b>Kestrel (FTL)</b></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn5sst7qepRiKRtV931P4jqI5SVCe-zOcGN0a0vI8SnoFKc5iOrIkjyhqVU8IGgfcLgZABEzRwS13qDf5z1FNMonzO-zkoVoTuzdYcFNwcas9TXyS9dkPr7yl33AsqbKu0BcNiTSpMlX4r/s1600/PA_kestrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn5sst7qepRiKRtV931P4jqI5SVCe-zOcGN0a0vI8SnoFKc5iOrIkjyhqVU8IGgfcLgZABEzRwS13qDf5z1FNMonzO-zkoVoTuzdYcFNwcas9TXyS9dkPr7yl33AsqbKu0BcNiTSpMlX4r/s1600/PA_kestrel.jpg" /></a></div>
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FTL is a game I've never played (for lack of time, not interest) but even I instantly recognized the Kestrel prison since it's so prominent in FTL's PR stuff. Seeing this just makes me want to play FTL all the more.<br />
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<i>You can check out my original list of my favorite Prison Architect maps here, which include a Panopticon and someone who mistakenly thought PA was Sim City.</i>Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-28639656720796257112013-11-28T22:00:00.000+08:002013-11-28T22:00:03.699+08:00Elevator Joe icon redux<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjam-8PDk3EcO5pG3FoJNQnv3TgikRXOp-GoCGPRXeGRICmnSqFdJG7xX5etrKx5oT9bl61OEmygbnBg6w4ZlsCCxn-FpRtVfLU1lbfjOBcEOnxooaL9rrG43GDa3jzYEB6qSSL86V34WCU/s1600/icon13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjam-8PDk3EcO5pG3FoJNQnv3TgikRXOp-GoCGPRXeGRICmnSqFdJG7xX5etrKx5oT9bl61OEmygbnBg6w4ZlsCCxn-FpRtVfLU1lbfjOBcEOnxooaL9rrG43GDa3jzYEB6qSSL86V34WCU/s1600/icon13.jpg" /></a></div>
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Elevator Joe launched to pretty dismal sales last September, and it's taken me a while to come to grips with the realities of releasing a game as opposed to simply creating the art and moving on. I'd considered writing about that, but I'm not sure I have it in me to go through that process just yet. Instead I'd like to be a little positive, and talk about one of the ways we're thinking of to increase our downloads, and that's by updating the icon. All of Kuyi Mobile's have a built in ticker that lets Erick (the owner of Kuyi Mobile and my partner on Elevator Joe) cross promote through his library of games. We were hoping that this would provide a constant stream of downloads for Elevator Joe, since Kuyi Mobile's last game, Streetfood Tycoon, has amassed quite a few downloads. Unfortunately this wasn't the case. We're not sure why, but people just weren't clicking on the icons like they did Erick's other games. There was ultimately no way to find out why this was happening, but one of the things we discussed was redoing the app icon to try to visually entice more people to download the game. The above icon was our original app icon. We're both satisfied with it, but it since there was nothing to lose by trying, I went ahead and redid the icon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQ1neBgjAHRM-OcPITnOTil01Ecrdh2q-XOFvSLLv__DwpMrQT5YcdLmANy4I2Tt51kqJJF32az1RQPZbZ516n4hV6HdgKwxh2haE76ctZSSpY_AeW2hcyTPo0X380gO7OY8FwTtxYCKY/s1600/icon20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQ1neBgjAHRM-OcPITnOTil01Ecrdh2q-XOFvSLLv__DwpMrQT5YcdLmANy4I2Tt51kqJJF32az1RQPZbZ516n4hV6HdgKwxh2haE76ctZSSpY_AeW2hcyTPo0X380gO7OY8FwTtxYCKY/s1600/icon20.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here is the new icon. I used some of the same color schemes Apple is using in its new UI as well as retaining Elevator Joe. the colored bars are a reference to the new minigame that we added to the game, and the buttons are obviously in reference to the nature of the game, which is to simulate (in a really cute way) being an elevator operator. If the original icon had one drawback it was that it didn't really explain the game in any way, and I was hopeful this new design would do just that. <br />
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So did it help? Well, ultimately yes, although not as much as I would have hoped. There was a small uptick in downloads after the update went live, but not enough to really change things. We're hopeful that the new icon and other changes we made to the game have made it that much better, and that all it needs is some more marketing to push it over the edge.<br />
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<i>I'd be very pleased if you could try out <a href="http://elevatorjoe.com/">Elevator Joe</a> and <a href="http://coronalabs.com/blog/2013/11/27/cast-your-vote-for-novembers-app-of-the-month/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blogpost">vote for it</a> to be Coronalabs' November App of the Month (we were recently chosen as app of the week). Also, if you think that the icon layout I used here is cool, head on over to the awesome <a href="http://appicontemplate.com/">appicontemplate.com</a> and give some kind words (or better yet a donation!) to <a href="https://twitter.com/@flarup">Michael Flarup</a>.</i>Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-40365812600588937052013-11-26T21:47:00.000+08:002013-12-16T10:24:51.309+08:00Urban Sketching : Bali<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iuB3Q9MTopUsJzVc1H8IP18rs4TFiQMEA5lhhDPPvc5Wl5Az91ua-Iqz8AT_o6KdaGFg83KndpGCEG985w38aYrpT64s1uS-AfNJCV3GbQowe1noTTFZIhaKbMTrCr1_x__j-Gweu6EG/s1600/baliguardian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6iuB3Q9MTopUsJzVc1H8IP18rs4TFiQMEA5lhhDPPvc5Wl5Az91ua-Iqz8AT_o6KdaGFg83KndpGCEG985w38aYrpT64s1uS-AfNJCV3GbQowe1noTTFZIhaKbMTrCr1_x__j-Gweu6EG/s640/baliguardian.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>Some of the sketches here are now available as prints on <a href="http://society6.com/RyanSumo">society6</a>, as well as other sketches I've made over the course of our travels.</i><br />
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"Look, just give me 100k Rupiah and I'll leave." (said in bahasa Indonesia, which I can still speak conversationally)<br />
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The shady money changer furrowed his brow for a moment before putting 100k on the table. I shook my head and looked at him with the defeated resignation of a foreigner who knew he'd been screwed but didn't want to bother with making a fuss over it. I was only happy that I managed to get back at least half of the money that was owed to me, and chalked it up to experience. In any case, I was getting a terrific deal on the room I'd found on Airbnb, so how could I complain? I wasn't about to let this first experience with Bali sour my opinion of the island. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf73F3dpIjkZ7XqfapRhcZDHxQlzzZKcxNQeIEpNxv82wh6YSIT7fzjVoG_b2DN2SjeG_Ag1NekDsKft_ZYrpvlp-4I9_Hm9q_gS_oOLPCbvGdyGZ27QXqf90-SjA1wA2RqdC2LiSRCDoZ/s1600/beachboys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf73F3dpIjkZ7XqfapRhcZDHxQlzzZKcxNQeIEpNxv82wh6YSIT7fzjVoG_b2DN2SjeG_Ag1NekDsKft_ZYrpvlp-4I9_Hm9q_gS_oOLPCbvGdyGZ27QXqf90-SjA1wA2RqdC2LiSRCDoZ/s640/beachboys.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
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And what an island it is. My wife and I barely scratched the surface of Bali's beaches, only choosing to stay in the touristy Kuta beach area. We were having renovations done in our condo while we were away, we'd decided that the short respite would be spent lounging around on the beach instead of running from one tourist destination to another. We'd found a room at a steep discount in the Aston Kuta, a relatively older but well known hotel that was just about perfect for us. It was near enough to the touristy areas if we wanted to do a little shopping or browse the numerous restaurants, but far enough away from Kuta proper that the beach area was relatively quiet. In the afternoons locals would come out by the beach to relax and have some sate babi (pork sate, only common in non majority muslim Bali) and kelapa muda (coconut juice and meat straight from the source!) or a Bintang beer.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLBfyzL-prMBePY5Z1mxBpdN8ScLUn2Cae-fKPhFqmuhkRzQBVLo2lnmnRk3WM9BRFUcePfK8iGEA1yPstyBJjM2gFD3RVlpAjSzbA4tDzbthalRdIYl6My0RRyJDiYCHvVlVD2knnFE3/s1600/balitemple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLBfyzL-prMBePY5Z1mxBpdN8ScLUn2Cae-fKPhFqmuhkRzQBVLo2lnmnRk3WM9BRFUcePfK8iGEA1yPstyBJjM2gFD3RVlpAjSzbA4tDzbthalRdIYl6My0RRyJDiYCHvVlVD2knnFE3/s640/balitemple.jpg" width="460" /></a></div>
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I was enchanted by how Bali's Hindu religion still permeates society. Little shrines are attached to every house and store, with offerings laid there every morning. I've always loved the contrast between antiquity and modernity and seeing them side by side on almost every street was a joy for me. I wandered around the Kuta market area for a while before settling in front of this temple and beginning to sketch it. While the temples of Bali are beautiful, they are a nightmare to sketch because of the sheer complexity of their designs. Picking a smaller temple was a matter of practicality, and even then I had to go back the next day to finish it off.</div>
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Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-25337970224640184162013-10-19T20:15:00.001+08:002013-10-19T20:18:32.146+08:00High resolution Polaroids for Prison Architect <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DZInfWnNqOYAXo9M9tyUpy_E6kgarkb5oXa_YIq13WyfamsbonD42Elgbh8_NFYGf_nZQpxBHz1QiVC-c0fYRXs_IUYLpodTmf0Te2G-7zPHQYmwAvZLxAjfI4Y1SgJ050qw2x9XSE4v/s1600/hires_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DZInfWnNqOYAXo9M9tyUpy_E6kgarkb5oXa_YIq13WyfamsbonD42Elgbh8_NFYGf_nZQpxBHz1QiVC-c0fYRXs_IUYLpodTmf0Te2G-7zPHQYmwAvZLxAjfI4Y1SgJ050qw2x9XSE4v/s640/hires_2.jpg" width="524" /></a></div>
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In the game <a href="http://www.introversion.co.uk/prisonarchitect/">Prison Architect</a> there's a main story arc that introduces the player to the key components of running a prison. In those story arcs PA's cartoony characters act out different scenes, while illustrations in the form of polaroids fall out of the sky to depict the same scenes in more realistic detail. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_cG0YzmJ7lDrupa8wDWrsI5ek0Pvzr18QkEVi1AsqgWCyRtzADuSNu7l6D7CflCjT2ySj9VqfwsPV3HLrgNoeGHU-OslIzoRnkArF-AIDPEfGcEQFiiZEZTTmiZ28-g5OAL-TDFXDHse/s1600/hires_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_cG0YzmJ7lDrupa8wDWrsI5ek0Pvzr18QkEVi1AsqgWCyRtzADuSNu7l6D7CflCjT2ySj9VqfwsPV3HLrgNoeGHU-OslIzoRnkArF-AIDPEfGcEQFiiZEZTTmiZ28-g5OAL-TDFXDHse/s640/hires_3.jpg" width="526" /></a></div>
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For reasons of efficiency those polaroids have been drawn at pretty low resolutions, meaning they can't really be blown up and used for promotional purposes (say, in posters or possible boxed sets). However since we had a bit of down time in terms of art needs Chris asked if I could redo some of our favorite polaroids to be hi-res. I jumped at the opportunity because some of those polaroids are at this point 2 yeas old, and reflect my skills as an artist back then (ie they look terrible to me now). Giving them a fresh lick of paint made me feel a whole lot better. We're not sure what these will turn into eventually, but it's possible that they might become prints or some sort of merch for fans. </div>
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The image you see above of Edward (bit of trivia: Edward's character design was very much influenced by pre-Heisenberg Walter White) in cuffs should be familiar to anyone who's ever played Prison Architect. The other two polaroids? I think I'll leave that open to speculation.</div>
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Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170740378199902480.post-58183739053756624502013-09-03T09:13:00.000+08:002013-09-03T09:13:12.051+08:00Elevator Joe is coming out soon!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJsilhQQiozD5XZZyoxYqTk5EGgpSSAe-WDC-VIUTvgQMiyXxNEknriFAFonX7-eBev0IIUM5YIpVlrcjr5fVw_F53oUZrHbyP6d1QRNJHi8G5RtREXnerW-Alsuwxz-XWi-drZUL5bq62/s1600/elevatorjoe_stores.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJsilhQQiozD5XZZyoxYqTk5EGgpSSAe-WDC-VIUTvgQMiyXxNEknriFAFonX7-eBev0IIUM5YIpVlrcjr5fVw_F53oUZrHbyP6d1QRNJHi8G5RtREXnerW-Alsuwxz-XWi-drZUL5bq62/s1600/elevatorjoe_stores.png" /></a></div>
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Elevator Joe is the game I've been slaving over with <a href="http://www.kuyimobile.com/">Erick Garayblas</a> for the past half year. It's been a long time coming, and as we approach release I'm both excited and terrified. Our beta testers have loved the game so far, and we've got some excellent retention rates (3x Erick's last game, which was already fairly successful) so we're fairly sure we've made a pretty engaging little game. How that translates into monetization is the burning question, and one that we'll find out soon! </div>
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The above image is a little teaser of all the stores that you can unlock in the game. I've made the image intentionally tiny so that you have to guess at them, but some of these are fairly obvious. I should note that a few of these were made by the talented duo of <a href="http://robotwithasmile.wordpress.com/">Robot With a Smile</a>.</div>
Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17988599567370345885noreply@blogger.com0