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Logic

This was really my first full game, a simple puzzle game the aim of which is to push blocks onto buttons to gain access to the next level, a full 17 levels are included. On start-up I messed with the current EGA pallette to make things look nice then did so again as it went into the main game. Sadly DOSBox doesn’t like such dubious behavior so once in game the pallette now retains the colours of the title screen. Nice title screen, shame about the brownness of the game. I’ll see what I can do about that at some point. For now, here’s the title screen.   Notes Logic runs at 1024×768 resolution using a custom and dynamically updated 16 colour palette the now ancient EGAVGA borland graphics interface so if you’ve got almost any modern machine it’s unlikely to even start. On a 386/486 it runs a treat and I’ve also found it runs quite well (with somewhat reduced colour capabilities) in the excellent DOSbox   Download    

The Principles of Optics

Somtimes it’s nice to go back to basics and make sure that all the technical art skills you learnt at college have not been lost.

Interestingly this is one of the few of my paintings that I prefer in it’s digital form.

Acrylic on Canvas 34′ x 25′

PrincipleOfOptics

 

Tree Fairy

So rare is the site of the perching tree fairy that it is often speculated
by the layman that they live their whole life on the wing.
The studious and patient can, in time, witness proof to the contrary.

TreeFairy713

The Beholder

Started as a large ink sketch in the middle of 2007.  After the lines were finished (on A2), it was scanned and all the lines redone for clarity then little by little it was coloured in photoshop

Ink + Photoshop – 40 Hours

Machinea_1920x1080

 

 

Dice Fairy

The ever fickle dice fairy. I did two versions of this image, this is the full colour one (and my favorite)
It probably won’t make much sense unless your into tabletop role play, Dungeons & Dragons and the like.

Photoshop – 9 Hours

This was my first real attempt to really colour using a graphics tablet, Its turned out pretty well but I’ve really got to get quicker.

DiceFairy 527x964

Big Mutha Truckers 2

By all accounts I think that this was probably a sequel that really should not have come about. The humour that had been used in the first of the series was all but used up, so trying to squeeze another title out of it was never going to happen. This compounded by a significant dumbing down of the game mechanics and a shrinking of the game world led to ultimately to the less than perfect final result. Perhaps we were all just a little burnt out from the epic SRS project.

Efficiency

My game engine code base has really matured over the last year as it’s feature set has had to match the needs of iO during it’s development. Finally I can really play with concepts as they pop into my head. So, while I was finishing off the game progression aspects of iO a simple game idea occurred to me, and for the first time ever I could quickly throw that idea together into a game. After about 2 weeks of occasional spare time writing it and doing the simple artwork, Efficiency is the product of that idea. It’s just a ‘beat the high score’ sort of game with a few elements you might find familiar if you’ve ever played Chu Chu Rocket. I think it could most easily be described as a puzzle game involving sliding blocks. Play it and see. Note: Sadly this version contains a bug that prevents it from running on Windows 7. I’m in the process of fixing it as time permits. However, the bug is basically the entire sound system so it might be a while. Download

Mandelbrot

Small toy app to view the Mandelbrot set. Very limited functionality, right mouse button pops up the menu to start rendering and clicking on the image zooms to that location. addictive in a “ooh I wonder what that bit looks like” kind of way. Notes Mandelbrot is an OpenGL/Glut program if you don’t have glut installed get it here and stick the dlls in your windows/system folder. Download

Assassin

By sketching repeatedly through layers and layers of fine tracing paper, this steadily went from a rough skeleton of a robot with a gun to the lines for what you see here. I traced the final lines onto a sheet of paper and shaded the result. I’m really quite happy with how it turned out.

Pencil A4

Assassin

 

Warmachine

1995 – Pencil – A4

Mechanoid soldiers and the dogs of war – eventually even genocide will be automated.

Another piece of work that’s a few years old. Its inspired a painting by an artist I can sadly no longer remember the name of. Stated here because even if nameless, I feel he should get some credit.

WarMachine

Gun Girl

Very cartoon (read “anatomically creative”) A piece of work from a many years ago now. It’s been said that she bares a resembalance to Lara Croft. I don’t mind but Its not intentional.

Gungirl

Cartoon Network Racing

After a few months working in R&D for next gen platforms, I moved onto this project. I was to take complete responsibility for all real-time special effects. At last a task that made use of a much broader range of my skills. That’s every sparkle, explosion, cloud, rocket trail and puff of smoke, from conception and artwork through to implementation. If its not already obvious, I really enjoyed this project. Sadly the game as a whole was littered with ill conceived design decisions, marred by under developed handling and crippled by poor track layouts. As a result, the press mauled it. though nothing bad was said about the effects, which is at least a little positive.

Radius

My first complete personal game project for a long time. After years of writing various aspects of my game and graphics engines I’d settled on a simple 2d engine that allowed me to play with idea nice and quickly. It features all sound for the first time in anything I’ve written.   The concept of the game is simple (which is probably why I managed to finish it) Beat the high score. Its a fast paced dexterity game in which you pick up bonuses and energy while avoiding all the obstacles (including yourself), aiming all the time to increase your Radius. I’ve not included a download to this anymore because once it’s installed it’s pretty hard to uninstall. All my projects since this point have had more sensible install/uninstall processes.    

Ford Vs Chevy

I only spent about six months on this project, Working as a senior programmer rather than a lead (i.e. I didn’t manage anyone but myself). I spent most of that time re-writing the interface management systems. Well before the end of the project I moved on to next-gen technology for shaders and effects. I think in general the finished game turned out to be a reasonable playable and tidy racer (complete with nice interface systems)

F1 World Grand Prix

My first contribution to a commercial game Starting work for Eutechnyx. I joined the project about half way through and wrote all the race AI and some of the frontend systems. Though not a commercial success, the game is special to me as the first game I could see in shops on the high street, pick up, open the manual, and see my name.