A Friend in Need

My friend Andy has also left Rare this week. We worked together for over 11 years, making Banjo-Tooie, Ghoulies, and Viva Pinata. You've never met anyone who can build 3D models faster than Andy. Fact.

Andrew Pollington - Showreel 2011 from Andrew Pollington on Vimeo.

Time to move on

I have been quite for such a long, long time, and this is why. The Three Little Pigs is to be published by Nosy Crow on the 17th February, if everything with Apple goes according to plan.

An exciting time, and a sad time too, as I have decided to move on from Rare which has been my home for the last 15 years and devote myself full time to building apps for children. A very difficult decision to make, but I am extremely excitied about getting back to drawing, colouring, animating, and all that other stuff. It's going to be fun.

Arcade vs Ashley

Sick and tired of woodchip?
Had enough of floral prints?
Don't want anything more to do with Anaglypta?

Then you need these really rather cool wall decals from Blik. My fave is this one - Asteroids, followed closely by Donkey Kong. When I final manage to redecorate the study/studio I might have to pay Blik a visit.

Something Old and Something New

We like books in our house. We probably like them too much (if you can ever do that?) We have lots of new books, and lots and lots of old books.

A favourite new book of mine, that I picked up last year, is this one. A book about books. Well, typesetting books anyway. 'Book Typography, a designer's manual' was fisrt publish in 2005, and is a must for anyone who is interested in how to design a good book.

As you'd expect it is beautifully laid out and a pleasure to read ... even if it's not everyone's cup of tea. As someone who has quite a fondness for books, type, and such like, this tome has been a great introduction to the dark secrets of typesetting.

A great many of our old books are children's books. I'll show you a fine example after the break ...

Wiggly Woods

Here's a much bigger version of the forest. I've made a few more trees, and changed the palette quite a bit. Not so imposing now.

MOC from lab212 on Vimeo.

An interactive installation from lab212. A very cool and very colourful idea.

If you go down to the woods today ...

A very early go at a outside scene. I'm still working out how I want the ground to look, how I want the trees to look, etc, but think I've kind of got the direction I'm after.

Now I just need to do it full size!

Windosillyness.

If you haven't already seen this, then I suggest you have a play of 'Windosill' by Vectorpark. Windosill is a game where you have to guide the little toy train through the door on the right of the screen. The problem is the door is looked, and to unlock the door requires you to find the little cube in the scene and place it in the hole above the door.

The beautifully visuals are 3D but rendered in a very flat fashion which only adds to the charm of this game. On top of that, the animation and interactive bits are just wonderful. Go and have a play!

Time to Leave

It's time for the youngest members of the Bacon family to leave home, and make the way in the world. Wish them luck ...'cos Mr Wolf looks peckish!

And see that little picture of the house and the trees? Gabrielle's work, no less!

Augmented reality is here!

Playe Super Mario Bros. street style with this great video from Surfap.

Super Mario Bros. from Surfap on Vimeo.