http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/ Design, Games, Reviews and such en Copyright 2013 Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:29:32 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss I just listened to the Adam Saltsman (aka Adam Atomic) episode of the [Debug podcast](http://www.imore.com/debug). Adam created the [Flixel framework](http://flixel.org), which is one of the things that inspired me to make [Pickle](http://www.pickleeditor.com). He is also one of the guys behind... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/04/adam_atomic_on_the_debug_podca.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/04/adam_atomic_on_the_debug_podca.html Reviews games podcast Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:29:32 -0500 My first iPad game, _[Zephyr Touch](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zephyr-touch/id627781230?mt=8)_, was released on the App Store last week. I've wanted to make a game for the iPad since it was first announced. I've been learning bits of Objective-C development here and there for a... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/04/development_notes_zephyr_touch.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/04/development_notes_zephyr_touch.html Development development games iOS iPad Ludum Dare objective-c Sparrow Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:25:37 -0500  I finally released an iPad game on the iTunes App Store! [Zephyr Touch](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zephyr-touch/id627781230?mt=8) is an iOS port of my [Ludum Dare 23 entry](http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2012/04/ludum_dare_23_game_zephyr.html). I plan to write up some development notes soon. In the meantime you can... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/04/new_game_zephyr_touch.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/04/new_game_zephyr_touch.html Games games iOS iPad Ludum Dare Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:08:24 -0500 I've been working on some projects lately using the [CreateJS](http://www.createjs.com) libraries. It takes some getting used to, but overall the API works well for someone coming from an ActionScript background. One of the projects I've been working on is more... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/03/smart_ticker_pausing_in_create.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/03/smart_ticker_pausing_in_create.html Development CreateJS development javascript Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:26:08 -0500 For the past year or so I've been developing a pixel art and animation tool called [Pickle](http://www.pickleeditor.com).  The idea for Pickle came about as I was working on a pixel art game using the [Flixel](http://flixel.org) engine. I was... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/02/pickle.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/02/pickle.html Development games pixel art tools Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:09:31 -0500  The nice folks at GameDev Tuts+ asked me to write a tutorial on making retro games, based on my previous tutorial about my [RGB shifting CRT effect](http://active.tutsplus.com/tutorials/effects/create-a-retro-crt-distortion-effect-using-rgb-shifting/). I cover a lot of stuff in the tutorial. Since... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/02/gamedev_tutorial_making_games.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2013/02/gamedev_tutorial_making_games.html Design design development games retro tutorial Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:25:46 -0500  This was my third time participating in the [Ludum Dare](http://www.ludumdare.com) 48 hour game competition. **Theme** The theme this time was "evolution". I had a really hard time coming up with an idea for this one. I actually... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2012/09/ludum_dare_24_game_sprout.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2012/09/ludum_dare_24_game_sprout.html Development design development games Ludum Dare Sun, 30 Sep 2012 20:30:42 -0500  I had a lot of fun making a game in 48 hours for [my first Ludum Dare](/blog/2012/01/ludum_dare_game_spawn.html) in December, so I decided to try again in LD #23. **Theme** The theme for this competition was 'Tiny World'.... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2012/04/ludum_dare_23_game_zephyr.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2012/04/ludum_dare_23_game_zephyr.html Development development games Ludum Dare Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:29:35 -0500 I participated in my first ever [Ludum Dare](http://www.ludumdare.com) 48 hour game competition. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I've been wanting to try to do it and I had the weekend free, so I figured I'd give it... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2012/01/ludum_dare_game_spawn.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2012/01/ludum_dare_game_spawn.html Games development games Ludum Dare Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:56:59 -0500 Commander Cookie (in Space!) was one of my first games written in ActionScript 3. I wanted to do something simple to help me get up to speed with the new language. I figured making a clone of a classic arcade game Asteroids would let me focus on the programming without getting caught up in gameplay issues. http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2011/08/development_notes_commander_co_1.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2011/08/development_notes_commander_co_1.html Development development flash games Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:52:40 -0500 There's a great post on Daniel Jalkut's Red Sweater blog called [Invest In Yourself](http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/642/invest-in-yourself). >But many of life's investments are risk free precisely because we don't expect anything tangible in return. So be sure to spend at least some of... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2011/07/investing_in_myself.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2011/07/investing_in_myself.html Article Reviews learning Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:01:29 -0500  Another tutorial for [TutsPlus](http://www.tutsplus.com). This time I show how to create an airport-style flipping countdown timer. The effect requires some complex layering of the graphic elements to make everything look right. It was a lot of work... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/05/flash_tutorial_countdown_timer.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/05/flash_tutorial_countdown_timer.html ActionScript actionscript Flash programming tutorial Wed, 12 May 2010 17:31:52 -0500  I wrote this tutorial to show how to create an RPG-style text system. This method is similar to the one I used in the Vermonia [Guardian Quest](http://www.vermonia.com/games/index.html) game. Check out the tutorial here: **[Make an RPG-Style Text... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/04/flash_tutorial_rpg_text_system.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/04/flash_tutorial_rpg_text_system.html ActionScript actionscript Flash programming tutorial Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:23:56 -0500  In this tutorial I show how to separate a graphic into its three component color channels. I then animate each channel individually to create a retro style CRT distortion effect. Check out the tutorial here: **[Create a... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/03/flash_tutorial_retro_crt_effec.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/03/flash_tutorial_retro_crt_effec.html ActionScript actionscript Flash programming tutorial Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:59:45 -0500  For my second tutorial on [TutsPlus](http://www.tutsplus.com) I show how to create a reusable score class that 'counts' up a new score when players earn points in your game. I also show how to create the graphics for... http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/02/flash_tutorial_pinballstyle_ro.html http://www.thepencilfarm.com/blog/2010/02/flash_tutorial_pinballstyle_ro.html ActionScript actionscript Flash programming tutorial Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:45:00 -0500