Bioshock Infinite and then Gone Home and then Some Thoughts

The book has closed on Bioshock Infinite. All videos of Meredith and I’s playthrough can be found in this playlist. Check it out if you have an interest in why I don’t think it’s a very good game.

Next up will be a brief analysis of Gone Home. Those videos will start on Monday, June the 30th at the same Bat-channel that houses all my other stuff. I’m struggling to get a handle on all this audio production business. Recording is a completely different beast than Flash animation or video game creation or anything else I’ve done. Hopefully, you recognize the constant progress I am striving for.

Lastly, the early access to Webhook has opened and I am really curious to see how their system works. I’d like it if I could tie all these disparate projects together in a less annoying way than WordPress.

A Scholar & A Gamesman

Video game videos. I have started to post some at this location, adjacent to all the other Mortisland videos. It’s a thing where my girlfriend Meredith and I play and record games. You know, like Giant Bomb has been doing for years and everyone else on YouTube has also been doing for years!

My original plan was to record the whole time Meredith was in Korea, (which happened October 2012-2013) but I was overcome by self-doubt and loathing. A common problem of mine. But I’ve thrown off the shackles of indecision and started posting them now just in time for the anniversary of the last game Irrational will ever release. Check them out as a favor to me, your good internet friend MrMortisland/Kyle!

Let me assure you that the sound quality DOES improve. For real.

The End of a Year In Brief

The world of professional video game development continues to be a demanding one. It’s been a weird year. Got moved onto mobile development full time with Unity, fell way deep into a video-game-recording hole that has yet to see light, started and abandoned a billion small game ideas, actually put a new thing up here (Thirty Minute Masterpiece).

Surprising my own self, I have more or less kept up with Thirty Minute Masterpiece. There haven’t been new drawings every single day, but it hasn’t been abandoned (yet)! I have been looking for a summarization/serialization tool that could pull a weekly summary of images into a post on here, but have not found anything yet. Also, not enough time to make one myself.

And finally, here is a brief list of my GOTY of the Years in a nebulous order which I may or may not write more about in a separate post:

  • Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf
  • Papers, Please
  • Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
  • The Stanley Parable
  • XCOM: Enemy Within
  • Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Turbulent Period and Something Actually God Damned New: Thirty Minute Masterpiece

If you’ve looked at this site in the last couple weeks, you know it’s been really slow and broken. But after much hardship, it is not anymore! Also I am here to announce something new finally!

Long, long-time followers of this internet web destination may remember something called Project Learn To Draw. In it, I was trying to practice drawing and comic making. It didn’t work very well because I was only equipped with a mouse and mouse drawing ain’t no kind of drawing. Fast forward a mere twelve years and PLTD rears its ugly head again. Except this time known as Thirty Minute Masterpiece. The rules, they is simple: draw one thing every day and take no more than half an hour to do so. No aimless page-of-doodles style entries either.

By focusing on one single thing for thirty minutes, I hope to improve my ability to draw. Thus far, it has not worked. Luckily, I have two friends who are exceptional artists, Mymbles and Marzipanapple! You will be able to pick them out because they are actual artists who are not abject failures.

Anyway, please look forward to my pain and anguish: Thirty Minute Masterpiece.

Ryan Davis, A Man I Literally Never Met

But maybe I knew him? Today it was announced that Ryan Davis, of Giant Bomb fame, passed away over the July 4th break. I don’t have any cool story about the time I met him and we became best friends. The closest I came to him was shouting “GIANT BOMB!” as the whole GB posse cruised by at PAX in Seattle. But now I’m really sad that there’s no possibility of ever meeting Mr. Davis. Nothing profound or insightful to share. I am just really sad he’s gone and wanted to write that down.

June Was A Quiet Month

For me, anyway. That god damn new console/E3 news this month was savage. But I mostly spent a lot of time working at work. I believe Ascend is now in very limited beta testing, and I have been moved on to a new project. This one is using Unity which has complicated my emotional state slightly since I am now doing Unity work at both home and my real job. It’s weird to come home and be implementing the exact same system for a second time, in some cases. If any of you haven’t picked up Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you should. It’s very relaxing. I’ve also been marveling at this site’s incredible talent for attracting Japanese and Russian spam.

A quiet month.

Short Update

This will be a short one since I only have three bullet points to hit and no annoying personal thoughts to explore that drive people away from this site.

That’s it! Continue on with your life unimpeded by my bullshit.