So because I was bored after awhile of making the new portfolio page- which is most likely still unfinished while your reading this, I decided to look through the archives on my hard drive for the site.
What I found was a few projects, ideas, and well designs which I never knew existed, or thought was deleted long ago.
1# – Project 3 Points
First one is a little episodic animation series from a few years back. Called 3-Points, the idea was to focus on the 3 points of the world, past, present and future and then mush them together into short animation series.
The best way to describe what the project would of been, is to post what was written on the “creative” side of Trinest.Com which I had up back then which was a live section on a hidden / folder with all the range of random projects I was workin…I mean I’m rambling now.
“3-points isn’t about gaming, its about the repeditive tasks which humans have developed in life.”
“The small series of animations aims to show ’3 points’, a caveman era, modern era and future.”
“These points of life all have one thing in common.”
“The repeditive, ironic, annoying tasks, which still exist.”
“3-points aims to lol people with its takes of the same scenario in 3 points.”
Well if that wasn’t enough, it appeared that if successful I would continue and make more random animated crap. Well good for me that I didn’t even start it ay?
We do however have an episode guide, which contained random titles and blurbs on what each episode would be about. Season 1 consisted of 13 episodes. 10 – 12 would be final for the series, it even had a title of “Solving Problems”. After this final, there was to be a 13 episode which was a montage about evolution. Episodes 5 – 9 had both TBA titles and blurbs. There was to be a preview with just the opening which contained and exclusive clip. Episode 1 would kick off as “Nerd Games” and be about Video Games during the 3 points. The next episode would be about pets, then the third about jobs and then the 4th about invention ideas.
2# – Tamworth Floods
Based around the ideas that hicks who come to Tamworth pretty much sleep on the edge of the river then get flushed away, a failed project- and designed to be a more humor based approach was called Tamworth Floods.
If there was any project which was to be a dud project, it would be Tamworth Floods (though not reconised on the Project Page). Heck though while not documented, there was a huge project plan for to turn it into a full on website, with stuff like weather alerts and things like that- oh and simulations, lots and lots of simulations of floods!
Though at the end of the day what was made, is a website which features a background from a quick Google search of “water”, a navigation bar which uses one from one of my past websites, and a quick and nasty “web 2.0″ logo.
3# – Comics
There be comics on trinest.com once upon a time, though probably not that funny, and quite boring at times- relying on quick puns, and horrible special editions and poor taste jokes. Though it does exist, and the good news is most of them are copied to the wordpress blog (search the archives) or you can check them out on the domain (one of the only projects still online). Probably the high point of the comic was…well I’ll let you decide. (*cough*)
4# – Frogs
Some sort of fanistation with the little slimy criders, you have seen my latest youtube video of the little green frog, well learn where it started- right here and right now!
When I was in the 4th Grade as you Americans put it, I was lapping up the girls and all the kids in my class by drawing frogs. The design was based off a cement frog which I got a market in Newcastle. Anyway the point is I drew these little buggers, they where kind of like random things like “king Frog” or “Sword Frog” or “Red Frog” stuff like that- so I copied those ideas from back then and remade them a few years back. And best of all- you can now check it out on Deviant Art! so (*cough*).
5# – Video Game Scouting Website
I spouse its about time to reveal this idea of mine, and the fact that after some careful consideration this website idea would never function in the real world. Because of lots of legal stuff- and because in the end no one would probably agree to this idea.
The idea originates from around 2007 – 2008 so its a quite old idea, from around the time trinest.com was made.
The idea was that video game fans and enthusists could come up with ideas and then post them on a website, video game developers and publishers would then scout the said site, find the awesome ideas and then make them/or hire the person or- iddno.
From my little knowladge from back then I have found a little paragraph which tries to explain it- but now I’m more confused then ever.
- Users can post ideas based from questions we ask to avoid copywright problems.
- Aims to put users into gaming design/director postions.
- Shows the industry how users manipluate ideas (which sees if its a worth while investment from there end on that user).
Err….
Trent Petronaitis
Spiritual successor to the Survival Kids series- and Lost in Blue was a return to the series by Konami on the Nintendo DS. Sporting a new “hardcore” title with many design changes compared to the original. It seems like it was a failed success, with 4 titles been released this generation in the series. Did they over do themselves? Or should the series get another look at itself.
The survival genre has been picking up of late, with titles such as Disaster: Day of Crisis and Ubisoft’s I am Alive- covering the basis when it comes to disaster survival games. Lost in Blue was one of the few which limited itself to a simple notion, it didn’t overdo itself- and its story mostly never swayed from the simple shipwreck idea.
But was that in its favour or not?
Survival Kids 2, the Japanese only Game Boy Color game in the series had one major thing going for it. It’s story. Instead of the predictable shipwreck, and the occasional bad guy base which was on the other side of the island- (mostly abandoned)- Survival Kids 2 carved out the whole idea and made you its bitch.
The bad guys- where real bad guys, like these guys seriously had some reason to kidnap a bunch of kids and fly them to their base. From the images, it seems you were offered to either be there bitch, or if you decline you’re sent flying down to the bottom of the island.
Survival Kids 2
You had to escape the bad guys clutches, which added a sense of urgency to the game- then once you’re out, you have no idea where you are- so you have to wonder around and try and survive.
There also where changes in landscapes by the occasional disaster.
What I’m trying to say is that SK 2 was the best, and it’s a shame most of its ideas haven’t been borrowed from in the titles since.
But the major problem with the titles in the series after Survival Kids was left alone for a generation before been over burnt as Lost in Blue- was how experimental the games felt. Lost in Blue felt like it was made just to gage if the game would sell, then Lost in Blue 2 started to offer some unique ideas, but overall it was pretty bleak. The best “attempt” would be Lost in Blue 3 and Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked. But over all- this is one horrible way to develop a game, if all you release are essentially expansion packs to the original idea.
Konami needs to figure out what they want to with the IP, and clearly with the Lost in Blue extension of the series- they don’t know still.
The survival aspect hasn’t changed at all since Survival Kids, and while a few extra status bars where added instead of the “heart” system- over all nothing major had occurred to spice up the survival aspects.
The islands designs also seemed to be more tackier and impossibly crazy- the whole game tries to throw in an island majorly like Hawaii or something of such- while not a bad idea to have every element in the island to give some verity, it seems very uninspired.
What I liked about Survival Kids 2 was the urgency that you had to get off this island- in the other games it just felt that if you wanted to, you could live there for ever and be fine. Konami needs to bring back that feeling if they continue the series.
What annoyed me the most was the mini games. This generation has been full of them- this mini game fetish has to stop. None of them where creative or interesting- they just stretched the game out to much and made it feel more and more like a chore. Especially with the Nintendo DS fire starter- not everyone can breathe into the mic strong enough- you know?
The series has the worst identity crisis ever, which is a shame. Clean up a few things and the games could be some of the most solid and interesting games around.
Konami should try and touch the waters again with this upcoming generation by using a download service to make a sort of “Survival Kids Zero”. Meaning a game which uses the sprite pallet and tries to capture the feeling and design of the original games- instead of trying to expand from that drastically.
After that- the series would need a huge envisioning. The idea that you’re on this island, needs to expand- give it that urgency, and then make the supplies more and more limited- draining, remember things need time to grow etc. You can’t just use all your resources on the island and expect more the next day.
A survival game, shouldn’t be “fun” in the traditional sense. It should make you feel fast paced and like you have to do things- but at the same time not tripping over as much to make it feel like a chore.
Oh and- next time you add a companion, make the bitch get her own shit.
Trent Petronaitis
Let’s think for a moment about the perfect game, movie or book- what do they usually get in a review? A nice hefty 10 out of 10, now everyone’s views are different but the general consensus is a true 10 out of 10 is impossible. Now think, how many actually get this legendary score? Why not a good chunk as you would fear, it’s clearly evident that 10 out of 10 gets handed out like it’s going out of fashion. There impossible score- is possible it seems.
There are a few scenarios which reviews are given a higher score then they deserve, or the other way around- giving out worse scores.
A favourite series of the reviewer will get placed in the higher bracket even though it doesn’t deserve it most of the time. A few examples of this are the latest handheld titles from Nintendo in the Zelda series- both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are at best a 7.5, that is the proper score when it’s not justified by any other means. I for example enjoyed Spirit Tracks way more than Phantom Hourglass, so I would then add on another 1.0 or so to show this. While I’m at it, if it’s at launch the review will get another 1.0 because of the “hype”.
Continuing to discredit my past reviews as well as everyone else’s, let’s talk about competition- as in especially gaming related- a scenario like Mario verses Sonic. While now cute and cuddly friends- in the past where never seen together- creating a rip, if a reviewer had bias towards say Mario, Sonic titles would be rated lower because of this. Also when Sonic had its huge downfall since its first few games, something like this would scale it even lower by a lot more than 1.0 points. The simple fact is while the series has rebounded in some ways from its lowest low- it has ended up disrespected because of that by the majority of reviewers, and this continues for the simple fact unless the series had a memorable moment in the persons childhood, it would never be considered a series contender until all the older reviewers die off like the dinosaurs.
Or at the end of the day does it really matter? Well I think it does, because at the end of the day- its still pretty bias, for example even if something is say a new IP- if the reviewer had no hype or thought it was going to turn out crap, the instant they play it and it turns out to be awesome- there goes its ranking through the roof. In the end the reverse occurs if it’s subpar and the reviewer had the biggest amount of hype for the game- it’s going to be slapped down pretty dam hard- maybe harder then it deserves.
Oh and with my random rabbling’s I almost forgot to include something about how the review system is flawed and no one treats the scores as what they should be so everything is automatically jacked up anyway. For example 5 should be the point of most- aka it’s the medium, it means its good but its not the best thing in the world- aka average. But instead this point is used as a “bad” average, and the average score is something around 7-8 depending on the publication.
Trent Petronaitis
Sometime ago, there was this thing called 2D, and everything used it- there was 2D games, 2D movies, 2D animation- and even got forbid a 2D plane of existence for these 2D worlds. But then someone decided to jack up the world and make everything 3D, and we started seeing more then just that other line over there- which seemed good in the beginning, but soon things started becoming 3D, 3D games, 3D movies, 3D animation- oh and now 3D planes of existence for these 3D worlds. It seems everything is now 3D, but did we sacrifice the charm of the mediums for advancements in “viewing” technology?
Me beaning me, I have a retro fetish of such- and decided, what if we drop everything and go back in time- 2D everything yay! The past now is 3D, the present is 3D but the future- is 2D! Err maybe not, but you get the idea. I think. Or maybe I shouldn’t write articles at night time :/
Because I was bored, for this “retro” outlook of such, I made Another Code: 2 Memories sprites for the Game Boy Color- well at the end of the day more the original Game Boy, and not really that appealing of sprites (I got pretty bored). Oh and clearly I wasn’t following sprite rules or anything like that for the hardware limitations… :/
Note that I obviously got bored making these mock ups, so I just made it B/W and a rush job as well…
Anyway, my point I think- if I even had a point, was to prove that something which uses a touch screen and all those other fangled new technology pieces could be scaled down into a more 2D sprite world. I think…
I could of done better, but I got sick of making it- especially considering it was going to be used for an article- and not some magical artwork.
My point which I think I tried to talk about before, was scaling down this 3D video game with all its advancements and make it 2D and bring into it some charm. AKA the charm you get when you look at some dopey little sprites and think “hey the people put lots of emotion into making these little things I take for granted” not “oh great, it looks like that FPS I played the other day- you sure this isn’t the same game…”
I think what I’m trying to say is, back in the day everything looked different because the games as someone said when I was talking to them about this where “drawn”, meaning they all looked different, everyone/every game had their own unique style and direction, where as now- pretty much the same engine is used by every man and his dog.
At the end of the day I probably don’t know what I’m talking about- so I’m going to leave this here. Feel free to discuss this in the comments section.
Trent Petronaitis
Awhile ago I talked about the website idea which I decided to can- saying it was to much, and also to simple to work as a functional website. While in theory the idea was interesting and if it was in its prime straight away would give users a great site to read and check out.
But overall it was lacking the detailed content which other sites would have all the time, and that got me thinking.
This post is broken into “Journal Pieces”, as I work on restoring the project and wont be posted until then.
13th March 2010
Today I was in the mood to design- more specifically to bring back possibly Another Code Labs, the Cing fansite I ran a few years ago. The only thing about that was it already had its prime- and that wasn’t that good overall. While deep down I wanted to restore the website, I knew it would be pointless.
My attention turned onto The Chip Behind The Idea- an idea which I coined earlier this year which covered interviews- and more specifically interviews the site itself conducts.
The only problem there originally was how the content would be collected and how much would be on the site.
So it got me thinking into other ways to keep the site active, I decided to bring into some editorials as well- plus web roundups which consist of links to the latest video game news around the internet.
While the afternoon started with me wanting to restore Another Code Labs, and even as far as putting up a wordpress install where the site would be- heck I even skinned the previous design which was for Another Code Labs with a side navigation- I in the end went with this idea.
I gave it a nice coat of red paint- and as you can see from above, while it still retains some bits of information from Another Code Labs’ design, (which I haven’t replaced with stuff yet)- its a crisp and simple design.
29th March 2010
While today isn’t the day I worked on the site (in fact instead its the day I decided its usless to keep working on it) today is the day I write the blog post for the work which I’ve done up until now- and talk about my ending decision to not continue the project.
I think the only major thing which I had made was redesign the site. Once I had the design in-mind I worked on various stages using a “frame” system to design it. Meaning I made various div’s act as frames so I can easily move them around the layout and keep a conistant size- its pretty stupid in the long run how I did this so my brain can work out what I was doing- but in the end it came out with a pretty interesting design. I wouldn’t say its my best work- heck I’d say in the past while I’ve been getting worse, but its an improvement of what I’ve done of late.
I kept thinking in the back of my head what I was going to do with the site, and decided content wise the following would be posted every so often, (quoted from the “About” page which I had finished):
Your doing it wrong! – is an editorial which looks at what has been developed and published over the years in a certain series, it will often talk and highlight various declines in the series or high points which are either replicated to much or to little. It might also include a few pieces of “advice”.
Innovation Time! – is an editorial piece which tries to put innovation into a series or new IP by discussing where a developer or publisher should take the game next. It often talks about what I would do with the series.
Web Roundup – is a weekly article which covers a roundup of articles posted around the web as well as news pieces which might be of interest to our viewers, as well as covering general video game news.
Interview – our interviews might be rare or quite often depending on the time and what we are discussing. Usually interviews will set out to be full “wiki’s” of what the developer has done- and trying to align more with the original concept of The Chip Behind The Idea. Other times it might be specific issues which we want an opinions on from the various developers, publishers or web site owners. If you wish to be interviewed drop me anemail.
Fact Scanning – an editorial which looks for the facts about certain requested series which fans what developers to revisit, looking at if it was a good series both design wise and commercially as well as personally.
Design Collide – an editorial which looks over series and discusses if they merged would they be a good game as well as been good design.
Other – sometimes we just write editorials which fit into our scheme of things but not our specific series. They range from general observations to something more.
A pretty interesting line up of content I dare say, and I was going to do it each week or something like that- meaning only update once a week.
Also I remember the last thing I had done on the testing site, was I was looking for a WordPress plugin which I could enter RSS feeds and make it post a post say each week using whats new on the RSS feeds, in the end I didn’t find a plugin which worked as well as I hopped (as well as there been fuck all which did that). So I left the project for a bit.
The today I was thinking “do I really want to work on it?” and in the end I decided what posts I would inadvertently in the end make- would be overshadowed by this site, as well me replacing over a certain period of time and no longer giving it that much attention.
Though it was an interesting project/idea while it lasted, I might revisit it at a later date- or just do what I was thinking of originally and write what I would of wrote here, but more personal so it fits in with my “personal blog” idea. Or something like that….*rambles a bit more*