Mojiferblog » Republic of Thoronia http://blog.mojiferous.com Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:19:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 News! (Finally) http://blog.mojiferous.com/2011/02/news-finally/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2011/02/news-finally/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:30:17 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=195 So I continue to be overrun with work outside of the Industries, but there are a few things in the works… Oh, and I kind of abandoned the weirdo side scroller I was working on last summer, because it wasn’t really going anywhere productive. Meh — sometimes these inane ideas work out, other times not so much. Anyway, here’s a rundown of what’s going on at Mojiferous Industries:

1) The beginnings of Atomic Combat 3.0, or “rebuilding the Pyramids”. I have a UI, and most of the basic functionality, and it’ll probably be another couple of months before this sees the light of day. I will likely release it on the app store, prepare to hear more about it in the near future.

2) I’ll soon be releasing an iPhone app in conjunction with King Thor… More on that soon, as well.

3) I’ve also started finishing FontUtensil (with an improved UI) for final release.

4) And finally, I’m prepping an overhaul of the website for 2011 (since I seem to redesign every spring) — stay tuned!

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2011/02/news-finally/feed/ 0 Simoebic Dysentery voted "Most Original" game in uDev Contest! http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/03/simoebic-dysentery-voted-most-original-game-in-udev-contest/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/03/simoebic-dysentery-voted-most-original-game-in-udev-contest/#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:24:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=49 The votes are in for the uDevGames Contest 2008… and King Thor and I walked away with a couple of awards for Simoebic Dysentery! Our (as-of-yet unfinished) little gem of a game garnered the most votes in the “Most Original Game” category and placed third in the “Best Sound” category (due entirely to the amazing soundtrack by The Republic of Thoronia [band].) I’m surprised, elated, and a little gassy!

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the game, to Liaht for the technical advice, and especially to King Thor for the concept, ideas, levels, early testing, and that amazing fucking soundtrack (the guy’s got a natural talent for video game music…)

p.s. We’re going to continue work on the game- finally record the dialog, fix some annoying bugs, add content, retool the difficulty… Look for it soon!

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/03/simoebic-dysentery-voted-most-original-game-in-udev-contest/feed/ 0 Play & vote for Simoebic Dysentery in the uDevGames contest! http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/03/play-vote-for-simoebic-dysentery-in-the-udevgames-contest/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/03/play-vote-for-simoebic-dysentery-in-the-udevgames-contest/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:33:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=48 King Thor and I toiled away for a couple of months on the uDevGames Mac game contest, and finally shat out something resembling a working game (I settled on the name Simoebic Dysentery, despite the lukewarm reception from everyone on the team… But I needed a name ASAP and nothing else really stuck, so for the time being, Simoebic Dysentery it is)
Despite currently being more of a working beta than a true game (there are so many features I wanted to add, but didn’t for lack of time, and bugs? There are a few…) I am pretty damn proud of how the game turned out: it sounds great (thanks to the Republic of Thoronia), looks pretty cool, and hasn’t destroyed civilization quite yet (although I’m sure it’s bent on destruction… I can smell it!)

You can download the game Here…
And vote for the game (and download and vote for everyone else’s) Here…*

*This is an indie-developer do-it-yourself in a short time without-billion-dollar-budgets and teams-of programming-monkeys contest: I encourage everyone to download and rate all the games in the contest, if only to support indie developers (especially indie Mac developers!)

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/03/play-vote-for-simoebic-dysentery-in-the-udevgames-contest/feed/ 0 King Thor finishes amoeba game soundtrack, I build a level editor! http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/01/king-thor-finishes-amoeba-game-soundtrack-i-build-a-level-editor/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/01/king-thor-finishes-amoeba-game-soundtrack-i-build-a-level-editor/#comments Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:22:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=46 King Thor has finished the soundtrack to our (still unnamed) amoeba game for the uDevGames contest… and you can listen to it right here! Doubleplus good amoebasong!

I also just sent the Good King the first build of the level editor, which is far from feature complete but will get our level building adventure started. I’m not completely satisfied with the graphics right now; they’re not quite etched/woodcut-Gray’s-Anatomy-like enough for me quite yet, but I’m hoping to get them there soon enough… Anyone have any suggestions?

That’s all the news that I have for now. As soon as we have a playable beta I’ll post it here!

–The Admiral

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/01/king-thor-finishes-amoeba-game-soundtrack-i-build-a-level-editor/feed/ 0 On the uDevGames contest and being an indie developer… http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/01/on-the-udevgames-contest-and-being-an-indie-developer/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/01/on-the-udevgames-contest-and-being-an-indie-developer/#comments Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:51:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=45 In a fit of daring, King Thor and I have embarked on a new quest for fame, glory, and trousers! We’ve decided to enter the uDevGames development contest and try our luck at making something worthwhile (whilst the Republic of Thoronia iPhone game is in near-permanent alpha stage…) We’re making a real-time biologically-inspired puzzle game that I recently described as “Sort of an ugly man-beast-child of Frogger, Dig Dug, Super Mario Brothers, Portal, and dysentery.” I will of course keep everyone up to date about all the fun and excitement of the development process, and in the meantime you should all sign up for the Mojiferforums and shoot us some ideas or feedback about our insane/inane ideas here.

On another note, everyone should read this Kotaku article (wellll… A Kotaku article based on an Ars Technica article about a blog by Wolfire Games) about indie game development and the Mac, and how the Mac community seems to be more supportive of indie games because of the lack of support for the platform by major studios.
I have seen exactly this same effect here at Mojiferous Industries: Thousands upon thousands of people downloading my oddities, playing my crappy games, enjoying my output that would probably be ignored or fade into the sea of commercial software in the Windows world. It probably also helps that the Mac community is historically composed of a large number of highly creative people- artists, musicians, designers- the type of people who may be more inclined to enjoy an inspired labor of love than something that is strictly functional. Eight years of a *nix kernel has also expanded the hardcore-IT-guy user base, bringing in more people who actively support free, non-commercial, and open-sourced software and further reject the flood of mega-corporation drivel in preference to indie development. This has all come together to create a great environment for developers like myself, allowing me to develop inane things like Zoltan and still know that someone out there will see and appreciate the crap I develop.
On the other hand, I think the future is probably fairly bleak for major studio Mac game development, despite the increasing user base and ease of development- the switch to Intel means that the average Mac user can run Windows easily and quickly, reducing the profit margin associated with cross-platform builds. I personally have a Boot Camp partition just for this reason… Why wait for the next big game to come out on the Mac when I can play it today with a simple reboot? There has also been a slow bleed of talent and creative juice away from computer games and towards consoles, and even the PC market has seen less “amazing” and more “mediocre” than in times past. Not that every major corporate game studio will abandon the Mac, but there will definitely be less of a reason monetarily for them to port something over.
This means that the Mac indie community should become stronger, stranger, and more creative than ever before; people will still want native games and the huge corporations will still make blockbuster ports, but the environment for the little guy (or the very bizarre little guy) should be great…

–Mojiferous

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2009/01/on-the-udevgames-contest-and-being-an-indie-developer/feed/ 0 I haven’t vanished! http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/08/i-havent-vanished/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/08/i-havent-vanished/#comments Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:39:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=38 Despite all evidence to the contrary, Mojiferous Industries is still busily churning out worthless goods for all to enjoy! I’m hard(ly) at work on the Republic of Thoronia game for the iPhone, and also making steady progress on another as of yet unnamed steampunk western game. I’ve been sidetracked as of late with work, so I haven’t been able to shat out anything super fast, but rest assured that more Mojiferous hoohah will be hitting the shelves ASAP.

–Mojiferous

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/08/i-havent-vanished/feed/ 0 Where the hell have I been? http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/05/where-the-hell-have-i-been/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/05/where-the-hell-have-i-been/#comments Fri, 23 May 2008 18:22:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=36 And what have I been doing? I certainly haven’t released any new works of inane crap recently…

The last few weeks I have been working with King Thor on the Republic of Thoronia game, and undertaking that hopefully will be ready sometime in late july/early august… and that’s all I’ve got to say about it right now… no screen shots, no special “inside the game”… nothing. Maybe as june wears on we’ll have some kind of sneak peak.

Otherwise, I haven’t worked on shit. I got a cold, my girlfriend went on a research trip to the Galapagos, and so I haven’t done a damn thing. Oh well! Believe me- soon enough there will be more worthless Mojifer-junk floating around, so don’t fret!

–The Admiral

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/05/where-the-hell-have-i-been/feed/ 0 On Zoltan… http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/04/on-zoltan/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/04/on-zoltan/#comments Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:15:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=35 So I forgot to mention a most important part about Zoltan… The intro music and sound effects for the moon, Zoltan, and sacrifices were made by my good friend King Thor! If it weren’t for his help, Zoltan would not have been as great as he is…

So thank you King Thor, and thank you Republic of Thoronia…

–Mojiferous

p.s. Soon enough the Republic of Thoronia game will be out for iPhone, and everyone will be able to experience the wonders of Thoronia!

]]> http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/04/on-zoltan/feed/ 0 Minor Updates, etc. http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/03/minor-updates-etc/ http://blog.mojiferous.com/2008/03/minor-updates-etc/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:40:00 +0000 Mojiferous http://blog.mojiferous.com/?p=30 So while undertaking a major update to Zoltan, I finished off a minor update for Atomic Combat, finally getting it fully Exposé compatible and expanding its error handling (so it doesn’t just crash when the “sounds” folder isn’t present.)

In other news, The Good King Thor and I have begun a project… A game project of mindshitting complexity, a project that will make Myst look simple and well-programmed… There will be more news to come, I assure you!

–The Admiral

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