Just what is going on

By Montoli | Published May 14, 2013
Everything is better with tacos.

Everything IS better with tacos.

Hullo internet.  Long time no see!

In spite of my poor updating habits, I am still, in fact here, am still, in fact, making games, and for once, actually have a small amount of news!

News item number one is that yes, I do still exist, and am still making games.  I’m even still working on Elements of Magic!  Progress has been slower than I’d like, but I’ve got most of the earth level wrapped up aside from a little bit of extra sprite-work I need to do on the boss.

News item number two is that I have another game!  It’s a quick side project that seemed like a neat idea that I could whip off in a weekend, and like all neat ideas that seem like you could whip them off in a weekend, it ACTUALLY took closer to month and a half or so, give or take.  It’s pretty much done now, (just finishing up the assets) and I’m super-excited about it.  It’s called “Save the Date”, and it will probably be ready to show the world within the next couple of weeks.  It is a game about having dinner.

And that’s about it!  Look for a new game soon!

Posted in Elements of Magic, Games, Save the Date | 1 Comment

A Familiar Face!

By Montoli | Published November 26, 2011

Let the sunshine in!

Work on Elements of Magic continues, and I don’t mind saying, it is starting to feel kind of cool at this point.  While I want to do a real writeup later for one of the new weapons, (similar to the homing attacks, although the final result is a little more interesting.)  Meanwhile though, I figured I’d post a few quick screenshots of a new boss I coded up over Thanksgiving.

Continue reading »

Posted in Dev Log, Elements of Magic, Games | 1 Comment

What I Did and Why: Homing Shots

By Montoli | Published November 5, 2011

Hello internet!

The secrets of how it was made.

Recently got around to [finally] writing the starter gun for Elements of Magic.  The friendly, nice gun that the player starts out with, to introduce them to the game.  It had some design challenges, and since the whole process was kind of interesting, I figure I’ll document it, and see if I can’t provide some insight into exactly what sorts of things I think about when putting together a shmup weapon.

Continue reading »

Posted in Dev Log, Elements of Magic, Game Design | Leave a comment

IGG Marathon going on NOW NOW NOW

By Montoli | Published November 4, 2011

The Indie Games for Good marathon is going on right now!  Go watch these fine folks sit in a room and play indie games and yell at each other when they die!  They’re on World of Goo as of this writing, and I can hear them yelling in the background.  I imagine someone’s structure just tipped.  Good times!

Posted in Cool People, Industry News, Other Peoples' Games | Leave a comment

A Weekend Full O’Jamming

By Montoli | Published October 24, 2011

This weekend was TIGJam!  (A game jam organized by TIGSource)  It was a lot of fun! We did a lot of jamming! Here are some highlights:

  • Participating in the “hey let’s make a game in 1 hour” minijam.  (We took 1.5 hours, but it was fun anyway.  We weren’t the only ones who went over.)  The inestimable Brendan Mauro handled the art, while Jim Crawford and I sat and stared at code.  We made a game about steadily expanding sumo wrestlers, and maybe when I get some time I will post it here because it is rad.
  • Eating lunch with random indie people who were visiting from Canada, making jokes about how everyone in Canada knows each other, bringing up Kate Beaton as a shining example of Canadiosity, only to discover that not only does he, in fact, know her personally, but he used to be her roommate.  Inescapable Conclusion:  Everyone from Canada knows each other.  This has now been proven by Science.
  • Admiring Brendan’s fine collection of Lego art, depicting various indie games.  (It is a testament to his lego skillz that they were all quite recognizable in spite of the transition between mediums.)
  • Discovering over lunch that Brendan was into Celtic tunes, and I am into Celtic tunes, and I had my tinwhistle, and he had an accordion, and having an impromptu jam session out in the parking lot.  (He actually didn’t have his accordion with him, but serendipitously, someone else had brought one which we were able to commandeer.)
  • Watching the epic Red Ice tournament on the big screen.
  • Watching Team Meat give out Meatboy sound tracks, and then write terrible, terrible things on them, at peoples’ request.
  • Seeing all the simply amazing things everyone else was working on.  There was probably too much to list, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most right now is probably “Eels being dicks” simply because it had a name that was both awesome as well as incredibly apt.

So what have we learned from all of this?

Jams are Awesome.

Posted in Cool People, Other Peoples' Games, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Happy IGF Day!

By Montoli | Published October 18, 2011
Bosses!

I've been making a game!

Well, it’s that time of year again.  IGF has rolled around.  And with it, a new game announcement!  From me! So while I’m sure in the coming days we’ll see an incredible deluge of amazing games by talented people on the IGF site, I figure I’ll take a moment and talk about my own humble contribution to the festival. A little something I like to call “The Elements of Magic”.

It’s true.  I’ve been working on a new game, and while it’s not done yet, it is at least far enough along that I don’t feel quite so embarrassed showing it.  In what should be no real surprise to anyone who has followed my games, it is another SHMUP.  And it doesn’t even have the strange mechanics of Negative SpaceCraft, or the weird role reversal from Boss Rush!  So what DOES it have?  Well, a few neat things.  Read on to find out more!

Continue reading »

Posted in Dev Log, Elements of Magic, Games, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I am Bad at Capitalism

By Montoli | Published October 11, 2011

So in theory, when you make games, other people are supposed to pay you to play them.  But here at Paper Dino Software, we don’t play by your rules, society!  So in gross defiance of conventional wisdom (not to mention basic business acumen) I have turned the tables on your precious paradigm and am instead now paying other people to play the fruits of my hard labor!!  That’s right, take that, society-at-large!

Continue reading »

Posted in Cool People | Leave a comment

Still alive!

By Montoli | Published February 27, 2011

Coming tomorrow!Dear internet.  How have you been?

I’ve been good!  Terrible about keeping you up to date about my goings on of course, but you’re probably used to that by now.  And other than that, things are going swell!

GDC is of course, this week.  I hope to see many cool people there!  (I have already been seeing many cool people in preparation, since folks like the Final Form Games are out on this coast at the moment.  We hung out on Friday, and it was rad!)   Also it is sounding like there is a TIGSource meetup, and several misc. indie events going on, so I have high hopes for the quality of the random dudes I will meet in the next few days.

In other news, I have a new project, which I’ve been working on ever since Negative Spacecraft.  I am pretty proud of it!  It’s a little bit more ambitious, in some ways, but it is coming along quite nicely, and I’m very happy with the direction it is going.  I’ll do a more formal announcement (with, you know, actual details) once I get a little bit further along.  If I run into you at a party this week though, there is at least a 50% chance I will attempt to draft you into playing it, so consider yourself warned.

So.  Here begins a week of parties, indie gaming, and awesome random dudes.  Life is good!

Posted in Cool People, GDC, Industry News | Leave a comment

Negative SpaceCraft – Launched at last!

By Montoli | Published January 18, 2011

Negative SpaceCraft!!!

Well, it has been a long and crazy development path, but I am happy to announce that my most recent game, Negative SpaceCraft, has been officially launched!

You can play it over at AddictingGames.com.

Or if you would prefer to read about it, you can do that too.

I have you covered, gentle reader!

Posted in Games, Negative Spacecraft | 1 Comment

A brand new year

By Montoli | Published January 4, 2011

It’s a whole new year!  Back again from Christams vacations and family visits and the like!  Back to some fun news, in fact!

First off, I was incredibly gratified to see this article.  While Hydorah was a shoe in for #1, I was incredibly gratified to see Boss Rush even made the list, let alone snagged a respectable placement on it!  (Also gratifying was that, based on the comments, some new people played it who hadn’t seen it yet.  And liked it!)

Second of all:  Final Form Games has snagged an honorable mention for audio in this year’s IGF!   Congrats fellows!  That is no small feat!

Finally:  Negative SpaceCraft!  Nearly released.  Once again, it has been done for a month or two, but I have been bogged down in sponsor-getting.  How do I keep doing this?  I need to not try to release games right before I go on vacation for the holidays, I think.  But it will be public soon.  Soon, I tell you!  Soon!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments