Indie Games Part 1 FutureKat SuperPark

Today I am introducing to you a new game article series featuring different indie games and their makers! The idea is to make you familiar with smaller game developers and their products that are made with love! Here is the very first part just for you.

This is what you can expect from FutureKat SuperPark, that is hopefully coming out this august: In FutureKat SuperPark, you’ll meet all sorts of Anthropomorphic Space Freaks, collect Trinkets that reveal their secrets, and even though you are expressly forbidden from petting the FutureKats, you might come to find that breaking the rules is kinda fun… This VR Jogger for Google Cardboard and iOS has a simple control scheme – you’re given a single Action Button and you walk in place to move around and explore – and a psych-pop soundtrack written by a small slew of musicians from around the globe. Pierce International, Unlimited’s radical new experience will hold a revered spot on your home screen and in your heart, and since it’s on the most inexpensive VR platform EVER, you won’t have to break the bank before you can begin blowing your friends’ minds with FutureKat SuperPark!

 

Now that you know what the upcoming game is all about, here’s a delightful interview with the developer, R. Travis Pierce, who really surprised me with his witty and informative answers. My favourite parts were the second and last question, hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I did!

1) Where did you get the idea for your game, and how did you start?

-The whole journey of FutureKat SuperPark started when my buddy Daniel Huffman (who I’m very excited we’ll have on the soundtrack as New Fumes) posted this picture on Instagram of a vision he’d had where these giant, fat, hairless blobs that evolved from our cats we have today, sit around and ignore all these people who’ve come to feed them in this park. I thought that was fun and I’d been animating a bunch of strange, spastic blurbs at the time. So I called up my buddy Jordan (Vargas – also on the soundtrack with our friend Devin Wahl, together as Eureeka), and his cat’s already really fat. We’re gonna recreate this idea in a little 15 second animation that we can post online for fun, but then I get down to it – and I’d just gotten my Google Cardboard in the mail – and I’m thinkin’ “Man, this would be a really fun VR trip toy…” So I started playing around, and it just kept getting more and more out of hand. Now there’s a hedge maze and a fountain ghost (whose design is based on this drawing by Zac Cox – Flaming Lips prop master supreme and the real life ghost of Frank Zappa), the cats are these giant alien demigods, there’s this backstory going on about corporate war and freaks mistaken for activists, activists mistaken for terrorists… and the player – by the end of it – might just end up getting thrust into the middle of this whole thing all because you decided to spend the day at this park that some greedy space-tycoon-turned-politician built. It’s whacky, but so far the response has been really great.

2) What are your expectations for the game?

-I wanna build this really fun, really weird world that people can explore, meet all these weirdos, catch a glimpse of what’s going on… I wanna set ‘em up to play the sequel I guess. Ha! But really… I’m wanting to make something I’d wanna play – that’s one of the two original goals for myself in all this – create something really fucking cool that reminds me of all the games that made me love games (Rare, Nintendo, Naughty Dog, Insomniac…) that created this whole new feeling in you and allowed you to casually make your way through a – what I look back and think of now as possibly highly drug-fueled – story. Create that world and those characters and that story, and to get it done in a timely fashion. We’ve got a lot of game developers sitting on these ideas for years and years, and I think there’s a certain point where you’ve gotta gauge the idea’s relevance. It can remain relevant for a long time after it’s released, but I think you gotta get it out there ON time. – Make it great, but don’t waste time freaking out. Hoping to wrap production by August 31 – daunting, but not impossible.

3) What was the hardest part in making your game? How about the most fun part?

-The hardest part – and I’m sure you hear this a lot – are those days where something just stops working and you spend hours and hours trying to figure out why, re-writing code, trying to fix links between your software, tweaking a model. It can be monumentally frustrating and it’s not aided by the amount of time you end up indoors just staring at that screen trying to parse math in your head, abstracting what’s happening and trying to bring it all into reality. It’s mind-boggling to me sometimes. Now, the most fun I have with this is getting to show it to friends. We’ll get a group of people together – you’ll see people jogging in place like they’re in a cartoon, looking around with their mouth wide open or this giant smile, freaking out when Hoverboard Hobo pukes on ‘em. It gets a lot of laughs and that’s really my favorite thing to see – people having a good time.

4) Is making games a hobby, or do you want to earn your living with it?

-Oh, I totally wanna earn a living with it. I wanna have a team of people earning their livings from it! That’s been my bag with pretty much anything I’ve done – music, video, animation. I think it’s fine to split your life up into different parts and say “Hey, this is my thing and I’m gonna make it for me. No one else needs to understand it and I’m not interested in getting a dime out of it,” but my thing’s always been to try to create something of value to people where they end up wanting to pay you – and the way that I’m able to do that is by making weird stuff that gets people to go “Woah!” and get them to wanna show it to their friends so they go “Woah!” too.

5) Do you have any other game projects at the moment?

-No other games currently in production. However, as soon as this game is finished I’ll immediately begin work on the next one – for which I’ve already been tossing around a few ideas. I’ll obviously still be pushing FutureKat SuperPark – the campaign won’t end for awhile – but as far as all that time spent designing and coding… it’ll have to switch over to the next thing. That’s just how my brain works.

6) Anything you’d like to say to people who dream of making games?

-Get out there and just start making things. Anything. Not just games even. I know that every source out there will tell you there’s this way… You start with a game design document, you do this, get someone else to do that, NOW you can move on to… All of that’s really helpful at giving you an idea of how others have done it – which is very important – and I read it all when I was growing up – Chris Crawford on Game Design is sitting on my nightstand – but it ceases to be useful when it hinders you from ever starting your project. Wayne Coyne would always tell me – and everyone – not to waste all that time freaking out about devising some perfect plan before executing. Just start doing things (figure out how to make a character move! up and down and sideways!) and if it’s really worth doing, all those holes have a way of filling themselves out.

Thank you R. Travis Pierce for being a part of our new segment. We all wish you luck with your project and can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Play with passion!

auburn.geek

 

Tallenna

Tallenna

Tallenna

Tallenna

Mr. Kidd Speaks – An Exclusive Interview With Julian Black Antelope

Julian Black Antelope as Mr. Kidd, Josh Hartnett as Ethan Chandler, Stephen Lord as Mr. Roper

Greetings Dreadfuls, fans of Blackstone, Skatronixxx peeps and everyone else! Recently I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and interviewing Julian Black Antelope. Dreadfuls will recall that he played Mr. Kidd in the final episode (Sn 1 Ep 8) of Penny Dreadful – Grand Guignol. Mr. Kidd and his partner, Mr. Roper were hired by Ethan’s father to bring him back home, a job that Ethan put a quick and bloody end to. Since I only started reviewing Penny D this year (although I have watched since the beginning), if my attention hadn’t been drawn to the fact that Julian is local, I would have missed out on the incredible opportunity to talk with him. Thanks, Sis! Love ya!  Read on for details of my interview with this incredibly versatile, interesting and down to earth man.

An Interview With Cosplayer Maia Rayn

Hi Readers!

It’s time for another cosplay interview, this time we meet Maia Rayn an instagram celebrity! Maia has a strong fanbase on instagram and it’s not hard to see why. Not only is she an awesome person but her cosplays are some of the best I’ve seen in a long time.

Let’s find out some more about Maia Rayn!

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An Interview With Musician Haley Rose

Hi Readers! It’s me Skatronixxx, yes I know it’s been a while but as you know I’ve been working hard away behind the scenes, but enough about me I’m here to talk to you about a really talented musician by the name of Haley Rose.

Haley is a 17 year old singer songwriter fom Iowa, USA. I met Haley on twitter, you can find her here and as you know there’s loads of budding musicians on twitter, some good, some bad, but Haley not only had a really nice voice but seemed like a nice person as well. I mean who else who have a dedicate page on her EP for fans. That was pretty cool

I liked the fact that Haley shares my positive outlook on life and offered her an interview on our website and she accepted! So let’s find out some more about another one of our followers and friends Haley!

An Interview With Cosplayer Michal Phiri-Thorne

Hi All

As you know I recentley made the brave decision to add a new section to the site. What is this new section? COSPLAY! Come on let’s face it, who doesn’t love to dress up? I thought it would be cool to speak to some cosplayers and interview them for the site. I thought a good place would be to start with my good friend and work mate Michael ‘Peri-Peri’ (soz Mike!) Phiri-Thorne .

So let’s get to find out a little bit more about Mike and how he got into cosplay!

An Interview With Model And Actress Ahnikah Hendrickson

Hi Readers

It’s been a while since we’ve had an interview on our site. Recently I got chatting to another one of my followers. She is an actress and have been in hit shows such as Allegiant and Vampire Diaries and if that’s not cool enough for you she’s also a model! Yes a model, but that’s enough spoilers from me, let’s find out about Ahnika Hendrickson 🙂

An Interview With Cosplayer Karen Sinclair

Hi All

It’s time for another cosplay interview this time, it’s with someone I approached on Instagram. Karen seemed like an awesome person and what’s more she’s relatively new to cosplaying. So I thought she would be a cool person to interview and find out how she’s getting on with her new hobby of cosplaying, what’s more she is pretty cool too.

Let’s find out some more about Karen!

Interview With ‘The Spins’

So I approached The Spins about conducting an interview for the site and they were more than happy to oblige. The band are a Pop Rock band from Roquebrune Cap-Martin, France and consist of Alessia Mattalia (drums) Mai Agan (bass) Marcello Giordano (keyboards, backing vocals) Ludovic Briand (guitar, lead vocals). So lets see what the band have to say in the interview below.

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How did the band form?

Marcello: “In 2010, soon after the release of Jeff Beck’s Hammerhead, Alessia and I began to collaborate with a London based producer, who was trying to build an international project aiming to chart in the UK. For a number of reasons the project didn’t move forward, but we had the opportunity to meet Estonian bassist Mai Agan, no joke one of the best female bassist worldwide. So, when Alessia and I decided to resume the project, Mai has obviously been our first choice. Then last summer we had the chance to see Ludovic playing live at the port of Montecarlo with his Tribute to Toto. Not only his technical abilities and his own style in playing guitar but also his voice convinced us he was our man. After 4 months of pre-production made via e-mail we decided we had enough material for an EP. So we booked two weeks in Manchester at Vibe Studios and began the sessions while making a deep search to find a great female vocalist in town. During the recording sessions the resident producer Dean Glover suggested we could try with a very young but very talented female vocalist called Amy Danielle. We did it and now she’s The Spins’ lead vocalist.”

How would you describe your musical style?

Alessia: “Something in the middle of modern electronic pop and classic rock.

Your new EP is due out on the 28^th of June what can we expect from the new EP? Marcello: “I’d say a concept song (Hole In The Ground, a song about a girl who could be the insane daughter of The Beatles’ infamous serial killer Maxwell), 3 wannabe chartbreakers and the title-track, that I started from the (very psychedelic) lyrics I wrote on a sleepness night and that represents our attempt to write music without thinking to charts, sounds, beats a-la-modeand so on. That’s the music as we feel it should be”

A question to Alessia – What was it like working with Jeff Beck?

Alessia: “It’s been like working with a myth who revealed to be not just an incredible musician but a passionate lover of music and a very kind man, who succeeded in making me feeling absolutely comfortable from the very beginning of the recording sessions even if I was playing with a piece of music history.”

Who would you say is the biggest musical influence on the band?

Marcello: “There is not just one musical influence. Mai comes from jazz, if you listen to the works of her modern jazz-fusion band MaiGroup you would understand how she seems to be distant from my background made of classical music, The Beatles and The Who and Alessia’s one, a deep connoisseur of the 80’s and whose drumming style has been built following the traces of Terry Bozzio, Dave Weckl, Simon Phillips and so on. I can say we have several musical influences that we try to mix and build our own unique sound.”

If you could have one guest musician to do a song with alive or dead who would it be and why?

Marcello: “Dead Freddy Mercury, alive Paul McCartney.”

Do you have any tours lined up this year?

Marcello: “Yes, summer and early Autumn will be dedicated to an intensive UK tour.”

Tell our readers a fun fact about the band that they may not know?

Alessia: “One night we decided to go downtown for dinner, so we decided to eat in a kebab restaurant. After having ordered our meals, Mai and I decided to go to the toilet. When we got there I realized that there was no possibility to close the door, so I asked Marcello to come and stay in front of it until we had finished, and when he reached us he immediately burst out laughing as he realized that there was no lock at the door because the doorknob has been used to substitute the push button of the flush! Absolutely crazy.”

Can you give are music savvy readers some information on what equipment the band uses?

Marcello: “Alessia’s Liberty Drums kit is made of two snares (8” and 14”), two hi-hats (one per side), 22” bass drum, four toms, one gong tom, an Axis X double pedal and UFIP cymbals. Mai uses an american Fender Jazz bass, Ludovic uses a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, an Ernie Ball Music Man LIII electric guitar and a Cort Grand Regal acoustic guitar. I have a studio configuration (Korg M5 88 keys, an Acer laptop equipped with Windows 10, Studio One 3 Pro and a huge list of VST synths and FX) and a live one, which includes a Kawai MP9000 stage piano, a Clavia Nord C2, an Arturia MatrixBrute and a M-Audio 88 keys master keyboard connected to my laptop.”

Finally what advice would you give any up and coming musicians?

Alessia: “Difficult to say. Work with humility, keep on studying to improve your skills, never be so conceited not to accept an advice from a fellow colleague and pray that someday you will have the chance to be in the right place at the right time.”

You can check the band out at the following links

Twitter – https://twitter.com/armandaleg1

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TherealSpins/

Website – http://www.thespins.org/

So there you have it a great interview with some great answers. As always for all your music needs stick with @Deadpool_1984 only at skatronixxx.com

Interview With Pop Punk Band ‘Wicked Bears’

So it’s time for another band interview and it’s the turn of 3 piece Salt Lake City Pop Punk Band Wicked Bears so without further ado lets jump right into the interview.

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1. How did the band form?

Casey (bass): We’ve been friends for a long time, thanks to playing in other bands and having mutual friends.I saw Nick (guitar) listening to Masked Intruder on Spotify one day during work, and I was also listening to Masked Intruder. So I texted him about it, and that was the beginning. Nick texted Ken (drums) about it, and we rehearsed a week or so later.  It’s a pretty boring story, but if there were a cooler story to tell we’d definitely use that one

2. How would you describe your musical style?

Fast, melodic, and easy to grab a hold of. We try to play pop punk that we’d like if we were sitting in the back of your car hanging out. But if we’re sitting in your car, maybe musical style isn’t your biggest concern right now. How did these three grown men get into your car?

3. You have released your new 6 track EP can you tell us a little bit about the recording process?

We gave ourselves a time limit. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money because money is hard to come by sometimes, so we said we’d give ourselves one weekend to record our six songs. We had them about 95% written at that point, so we didn’t need to worry about coming up with more than backing vocals in the studio. We got all the tracking done on a Saturday and Sunday. After that, the mixing and mastering took about a week, and as soon as we had the tracks ready, we put them up on Bandcamp.

4. What shows do you have lined up to promote the new EP

We’re playing with Red City Radio on May 18th! It’s at a new venue in Salt Lake City called the Beehive Social Club. Our friends from here in Utah, Uncle Dirt, are playing as well.

5. Who would you say is the biggest musical influence on the band?

We all grew up playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and that’s one space that gave us common ground as musicians and friends. Killer tunes and sick combos are what we grew up on. Also, Nick really loves Bowling for Soup, so if you hear some of that in there, it’s his fault.

6. How did you come to be signed to Hidden home records?

As soon as we had our tracks ready, we put them on Bandcamp and told all our friends. We’ve only been around for about eight months, so the reception we received was unexpected. Word spread of the record, and our friend Rob at Hidden Home sent over a message on facebook, to see if we wanted to work with him. We’ve known Rob a long time now, so the relationship escalated pretty quickly. Hidden Home has been an inspiration, and a great help to us.

7. Do you have any plans to come over and tour in the UK?

No! Not because we don’t want to, but because we’re in Salt Lake City, Utah, and that’s 7200 km away (4500 miles, for the unrefined). Our only option is a long distance relationship for now. Which can sometimes be ideal. We get to hang out with our friends on the weekend, you don’t have to worry about our schedule, we can watch american football, you can watch actual football; it will make our eventual union very sweet.

8. Tell our readers a fun fact about the band that they may not know?

Ken owns a DVD on ska and raggae drumming called Wicked Beats . He was texting about it, and when referring to the DVD, accidentally typed Wicked Bears. When his phone exploded immediately afterward, he knew he was on to something special.

9. Can you give our music savvy readers some information on what equipment the band uses?

Ken plays a DW collectors kit, a Sonar snare, and Zildjian K series cymbals.  Nick plays a Reverend Buckshot with a Vox AC30 amp. Casey plays a homemade bass with a Fender ‘58 split pickup, with an Ampeg SVT-3 amp head and an Ampeg 410 cab.

10. Finally what advice would you give any up and coming musicians?

Set goals! Decide when you want things to happen, then do your best to make it happen. This whole record is a product of us deciding what we want to do, when we want it done by, and then executing on that timeline.

You can check out wicked bears new EP in its entirety free on band camp at the following link:- https://wickedbears.bandcamp.com/

You can also keep updated with what the band are up to on Facebook either by searching for Wicked Bears or following this this link:- https://www.facebook.com/WickedBearsSLC/

And finally on Twitter by searching for or clicking the link @WickedBears

Interview With Rising ‘British MMA Star’ Scott Clist

So I was asked to interview a local cage fighter from my home town of Trowbridge, Wiltshire Scott Clist and of course jumped at the chance. So please read my interview with Scott below I hope you enjoy.

1) How did you get into MMA?

I have always done some form of training since the age of about 5 years old when my father taught me and my older brother how to box in our living room.

I started Karate from the age of 10 and then progressed into kickboxing.  I have studied some form of martial arts ever since.

I have competed in so many different styles of martial arts that MMA was the next thing to do. it was just something that was suggested I do by my sponsor (Spitfire fight equipment) in  2006 so he arranged a semi pro fight for me  and I went into it with limited knowledge on the ground game. I knew how to do a double leg takedown, a rear naked choke, an arm barr from mount and guard position. I went in thinking my kickboxing would carry me through.

2) What does a normal days training consist of for you?

If I am in fight camp then training is much more intense. I will wake up and either go to the Contender gym and work boxing or strength and conditioning.  Depending on the day. Some days it will be footwork and movement, other days it will be power and speed training.

I’ll have breakfast then shower and go to work.

In the evenings I go to Dragonslair in Melksham and work MMA. Depending on who I am fighting we will work either wrestling, submissions or positions followed by sparring. When we get closer to the fight I will get shark tanked.

Shark tank is where One fighter stays in the cage and a new opponent is put in every round so the fighter is getting tired and has to spar with fresh opponents. You really have to be pushed every session.

I train 6 days a week, sometimes 3 times in one day.

3) Would you ever consider entering The Ultimate Fighter?

I actually tried out for the Ultimate fighter when it was UK vs Australia. I made it to all the way through on my skills and was standing in the last 16 when they picked the final 8 for the show. I understand that the producers were looking for a specific type to make the show interesting for viewers. I was unlucky that I didn’t get picked.

4) You have just come off a fantastic TKO win against Brad Wheeler what’s on the cards next for you?

I will keep winning my fights and progress as a fighter.  I will fight on cagewarriors again and people will see me in the UFC soon.

5) You have your own gym called Revolution gym what inspired you to set this up?

I actually don’t run Revolution anymore.

I fought on an 8 man tournament couple years back and my mental game wasn’t really where it should have been because I was teaching fighters it was very hard to focus on my own training. The fight made me realise that I had to make a choice between being a teacher/coach of fighter because at the level I am now fighting I really need to focus on my own training and grow as a fighter. I now train at Dragonslair in Melksham and to be honest I really wish I had made that move 10 years ago. I am a much better fighter now than I ever was and that’s because I have some of the best coaches in the country. Stu pike and UFC fighter Brad Scott at Dragonslair and Mark Kent and Wayne smith at Contender gym .

6) What advice would you give to someone who is trying to get into the MMA game?

Find a good gym with good coaches. People who can develop you as a athlete.

So many gyms pop up promoting classes in MMA but the instructors have never competed so don’t know if what they are teaching works under pressure.  Find a gym with proven results and coaches who know what they are doing and are not just concerned with taking your money.

7) Do you prefer UFC or Ballator?

UFC .

8) If you could fight anyone from the UFC past or present who would you pick and why?

Matt Hughes former welterweight Champion because he was my favourite fighter when I started watching MMA and I followed his career. I think he was a great champion. I would also like to fight Anthony Pettis because I think he is a great fighter.

9) What do you think of all the hype around Connor McGregor and his recent choice to not attend any promotional events and instead choose to concentrate on his training?

Connor McGregor has made enough money that he prob never has to work another day in his life and for him that’s great but I imagine it’s wrote into his contract that promoting the fight is part of his job and it is his JOB!!

He should remember that the way he has promoted fights in the past is what has given him the pay days that he now receives.

You do what the job requires.

So there you have it keep and eye out for Scott’s next fight and you can also follow him on twitter @scottclist