Tyrone Henrie

Gamma 4 ever

2010-02-01T09:50:00.015-07:00

This weekend I ended a crunch to finish up my game that I made for kokoromi's gamma 4 showcase. http://www.kokoromi.org/gamma4/

Wow, that was a grind! Looking at my last post, I mentioned that I was working on 4 prototypes at the time. This game was not one of them. I last-minute decided to enter, and 220 hours later I'm done!

The challenge was to create a 5 minute one-button game. I thought those were insane restrictions, and they are, but my mind was blown at how much you can do in that amount of time, with ONE button. It forced me to always be trimming the fat and often facilitated better solutions to gameplay problems than I would have devised without those restrictions.

I ended up making a game about life, and tried to depict the exhilaration of achieving long-term goals and the despair of failure. I tried to remain as abstract as possible so more people can identify with it even though we may not share ideals.

I'm excited to see all the entries. There were 154 this year! I have at least a 7 in 154 chance of going to GDC this year, and though improbable, it's still insanely exciting. "So you're saying there's a chance?" - Dumb and Dumber (amazing movie, by the way...)

I have to remain secretive so I don't blow any chances, if I had any, in winning. They want the games to be shown for the first time at the show floor so it's a surprise for everyone. In the meantime, here are a couple of non-spoiler screenshots.

Change

2009-12-13T19:53:00.022-07:00

House sold, 3 months and 3000 miles later I'm in Florida making video games. I started an independent gaming company called pixelMEGA. That sounds fancy, but that only means I registered the business name, opened up a bank account and now I receive a bunch of junk mail from people wanting to sell me stuff for my business needs. That aside, I can't tell you how excited I am to be here doing what I'm doing.

My biggest priority in life is to leave a mark. I think we all crave to be more than the sum of our parts, to imprint something immortal in the minds of others when our body has long since turned to dust. Sculptors use stone, Pharoahs use pyramids, some people can do it with just a smile. Me? I want to change education.

When I was young I loved math, but sometime during high school pre-calculus I started to detest it. We learned obscure functions and time and again I would ask when I would use them in my lifetime. I never received a satisfactory answer. We learned them to pass the test and swiftly forget them. Now that I am making video games my love of math has returned. Video games are 100% math. Had I known this is high school my lover's quarrel with math would have never happened and who knows where our relationship would be today? There must be better ways to get young children interested in learning the right way. Learning for the thirst of knowledge rather than the passing of tests.

Independent games are my first step in that direction. I feel that video games and other forms of interactive art and entertainment are going to change how the next generation learns. Video games are one of the most influential forms of media in our time, just as TV is now and newspaper before it. Video games will probably be the biggest influence for many in the rising generation. I want to be a part of that.

I want to create deep, meaningful experiences as well as simple fun diversions. Eventually I hope that my games will embody both ends of the spectrum.

I have 4 game prototypes that I am currently working on. I am not quite sure which one I will end up focusing on to finish first, but I will make that decision once I am satisfied with the prototypes. Here are some development screenshots from two of them:

Catapult for Hire

Cloudee

They're not much to look at since they're still at the prototype stage, but the gameplay is coming together so they're actually fun to play. Once they're amazingly fun I will get some real art in there.

pixelMEGA.com is now live with nothing more than a logo, but soon... more! Much, much more! Thanks for dropping by, and please do have a cookie on the way out.

Space Girl

2009-09-07T21:41:00.004-06:00

Here's an image I made in Illustrator this Labor Day Weekend to fill in some down time.

I'm learning some tricks that I am going to use in my new game.

Yet again I have changed priorities and the game I was working on with the vehicles is on hold to make way for a game idea I had that can be done much sooner. The new game is called Cloudee, and it will be awesome.

Convenient friends

2009-07-10T01:33:00.005-06:00

Oh, hello blog! Been a while... how are you? Good, good. Me? Well, there is a lot going on, and some big changes are afoot! Here, I made you a picture to let you know I still care.

Love - Ty

Intergalactic planetary

2009-05-26T23:37:00.017-06:00

Just a quick update so I can feel like I'm making progress on some of these projects. First off, here is a walk cycle for a project that will be on UK televisions this summer. More on that later. Here is the first pass to start getting the weight down.

Secondly, my game is coming along great. Unity is an amazing tool and I'm very satisfied with the progress I'm making. It took only about a week to get the basic gameplay together. Of course the devil is in the details and there is a ton of work yet to do, but I was very surprised how easy it was to get so much done so fast. Refining the gameplay is one thing, but game assets are going to be the bulk of the work. I'll get some gameplay videos together and offically open my game company website once I have something decent to show, but for now here is a mockup for one of the vehicles in the game.

The colors are throwaway, I just wanted to get this little guy to look cool with the functionality I was going for. I call this one the bullfrog. It is mostly done and in-game now, and I have a cool toon shader that is looking great. I can't get enough of this stuff...

Egg Salad Sandwich

2009-03-28T18:16:00.004-06:00

Here is the "finished" product. I would spend a few more weekends on this, but I need to simply take it as a learning experience and move on.

Unfortunately my short film is going on the back burner as I'm gearing up to start making some games for the web and eventually iPhone using Unity. I'm extremely ADD lately with all my different projects, but I think this is the best next step for me and definitely what I'm most excited about.

It's all in the eyes

2009-03-12T20:11:00.005-06:00

I work best around the house when something triggers an OCD episode. Some days I just want cereal. Realizing that none of the cereal bowls are clean and there are a sink full of dishes I go into a cleaning frenzy. After cleaning all the dishes, vacuuming the floor and taking out the trash I pour myself a bowlful of tasty empty calories. Why didn't I clean the house earlier? I didn't want cereal.

I'm finding that I work the same in all aspects of my life. I've been storyboarding my short film and fleshing out timing in the animatic, but I really got an itch to animate something. I started to animate a short 40 second acting sequence as an exercise. Now that I'm to the point of animating the face I realized I need a face rig proper to get more facial expression. Another week later and I've learned the ins and outs of building a face rig UI.

Having worked as a programmer for over 5 years now I've realized that I need to script in 3D more because that would be the next evolutionary step for me. Now that I understand Maxscript a whole new world has opened up. I told my wife it's as if I understand the Matrix.

Eye Rig Test

It's simple really, here's the expression to control the upper left eyelid:

brow_factor = brow * .16
angle = (-(top_lid*1.9)+70) +
((-(eye_ctrl_x - eye_ctrl_home_x)) * .03)

if (brow < 0) then angle -= brow_factor

degToRad(
amin#(
if top_lid < -28 then
124
else
amax#(angle,40 - brow_factor),
124)
)

The take away lesson is that Float Script controllers are the way to go. Forget Reaction Manager (if you know how write Maxscript), forget Wire Parameters and forget Float Expressions.

Another change of pace

2009-02-16T22:24:00.003-07:00

A friend of mine sent me a video a few weeks ago, and as usual I'm only now getting to it. It seems I'm always about 2 weeks behind when communicating with people online as my friends can probably all attest to the Tyrone time delay. Unfortunately I might have the same problem in the real world, just ask my mother.

There are a lot of great principles in this lecture, but what struck me most were Randy's comments on breadth versus mastery. This concept isn't necessarily new to me, but being reminded of it tonight is a game changer. The most instantly visible change for you, the reader, will be my blog. Originally I wanted this blog to be my professional portfolio, an online extension of my elementary school "show and tell" days, a sterile environment in which I can show you, my captive audience, my latest creations. Perhaps elementary school isn't the best analogy when sterility is a consideration.

I think I see why my friend sent me this video. I need to play to my strengths. In the past I would only post when I had something worthwhile to show in relation to the pursuit of my animation career. I don't have the mastery I would like to feel confident in applying for an animator position. The downside to this world-view is that there is always something else to learn to feel like you've mastered the art. Even the nine old men would say they have yet to master animation.

While I have a lot to learn in the world of animation my value isn't measured in number of successful films completed. Although I'm excited to increase that number, my value as an animator might be better assessed by my value as a person. When I think of it that way I do feel more confident in my abilities. Though I'm still striving for mastery I am confident in my breadth. I want my blog to reflect that.

From now on I'm going to post anything worthwhile, whether it's a new song I've learned on the piano, a new eye opening revelation from an audiobook or a new jQuery plugin I wrote at work. Things will be a bit less sterile and more like elementary school around here. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.

I enjoy paradigm changes. Thanks Dave.

Small update

2009-01-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Some sketches of the robot.

The next big thing

2008-11-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

I've had a short film idea boiling in my mind for the past few years. I've thought long enough about it that I can watch it forward and backward in my mind. It's about time that I get it out of my mind and into everyone else's. I call it "Safe".

The premise is this. A neurotic robot that has been struggling to survive a slightly futuristic post-apocalyptic war torn world finally finds a reason to keep going. I know the setting may be a bit cliché but the story, I hope, isn't.

The robot is slowly losing his mind in his solitude while avoiding the "heartless", a mindless breed of violent robots. In the film's opening the robot stumbles upon a soggy old teddy bear lying on the road. The robot takes the bear in as it's own and the story continues as we see the robot facing all odds to protect it. The robot's struggle is analogous to a parent trying to protect their own child from the world.

Here is a concept from one of the early scenes as the robot is discovering his new friend in temporary safety.

More to come on this in the coming months!

Showreel

2008-10-28T22:01:00.000-06:00

I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Here is my showreel that I put together this summer.

Last year

2008-10-27T23:25:00.000-06:00

This past year was probably my life's busiest. I worked on putting together the first episode in a new animated DVD series called Scripture Bugs. Working by day as a web software engineer, I had to dig deep to find the energy to come home and work into the night on Scripture Bugs. It was an awesome opportunity and I'm glad that I was given the chance to work on it!

In the end I created all the characters and put all the visuals and animation together in about 10 months. It's 38 minutes long and it nearly killed me, literally. In the final stretch I pulled an all-nighter, working for nearly 24 hours straight. I finished and delivered the last scene with Moses parting the red sea and had hardly a minute to spare. I almost ran off the road from lack of sleep when driving to deliver the final renders.

It was hard, and I learned a lot. I'm very excited to start on the next one. I learned how to be a better animator and I've overcome all of the technical obstacles so I can spend less time on problems and more time on being creative.

Here are some screenshots and video.

Let me explain

2008-10-18T08:48:00.000-06:00

Save the girl storytelling has been around for ages. There's something about chivalry that connects with us on a base level. Do men like being heroes? Do women like being saved? I don't know, but I like it.

This blog is a portfolio. I won't be posting about my life per se, except on levels that show how personal experiences have affected my professional life. The title of this blog reflects that.

"Save the Girl" has become my personal mantra. I was once reading an interview with Mike Kunkel, an amazing animator / illustrator, and he was speaking to the topic of making time for personal projects. Adapting one of his quotes to put on my desktop for motivation, I came up with "If you wait until you have time for personal projects, they will never get done". Ambition finds us often lacking the time to satiate its greedy palette. Making time to complete personal projects is a huge part of feeding my ambition monster, but for my mantra, I needed something a bit more pithy.

Then there it was, I happened to put the quote on the background of an image that was already on my desktop. It's art from a game called Shadow of the Colossus.

I'm a big fan of Fumito Ueda and team ICO. I apologize in advance because I tend to gush over the art style, music and amazing, simple story.

The premise of Shadow of the Colossus is simple. You are Wander (yes that's his name) and you have entered a forbidden land to save a mysterious girl who seems to have passed away. You immediately feel Wander's pain and want the girl to be rescued from her cursed fate. Taking her to this land seems to be the only way to bring her back to life. The godlike voice of "Dormin" tells Wander that bringing the girl back is simple. There are sixteen colossi (giants) that roam this forbidden land. Slay them all and she can be saved.

See the dot in the bottom left in the above picture? That is a scale representation of the colossi and that dot is you. The game presents an unprecedented sense of scale. When you meet the first colossi, in the game, suddenly saving the girl doesn't seem so plausible.

When I view some of my personal projects I feel defeated at the impossibility of the task. Yet ambition must be fed, and goals must be achieved for one to feel satisfied with their life. So how do you do it? How do you topple sixteen colossi to save the girl? The answer is simple. One colossus at a time.