Yeah so been really busy with the new house and life. I've been trying to pick up my IDIR2 animation again but life has gotten in the wat. It's not that the thing is going to be very hard to make, just time consuming and time is something I don't have a lot of lately.

I had hoped to work the first animation into an actual playable game but that's on indefinite hold for now.
I might just look for some talented flash programmer to take on the project if they are willing,

I've got to make an effort to get something made and put up here.

EDIT: ugh. Bees in my house. Hope they don't have a nest in here somewhere. Owning a home is pretty sweet but the problems that come with it suuuuuuck.

Been away for a while. My personal life has been put on hold while my fiance and I go through the motions of buying our first house.
So far things have gone very smoothly. :)

we found a nice house much faster than we thought possible. It's a bit smaller than we had aimed for and doesn't have a basement or garage. However the place was totally redone and looks like new. All new appliances too accept the washer and dryer. We recently put in an offer and have moved into attorney review. Baring any unforeseen calamity we should be new home owners in about 2 months time.

This means I won't be able to work on my projects for a while. Hope you guys don't mind waiting.

-Mike R

I picked up my first smart phone the other day and so far I'm really glad that I did. Once i found out I could make my own ring tones and desktops I instantly set out to create some retro ring tones and a Retro Mike themed desktop. Head to the gallery and check out what I made if you haven't already. :)

Still working on IDIR2. It's not that it's hard to make these things, but they are technically very complicated. These animations just have a ton of busy work that takes more time than I have available. If I could sit and work on these things for extended periods of time I could make them pretty quickly. Most of the time is eaten up by sprite gathering. I rip all my own sprites to make sure they are accurate. I've noticed a lot of sprite sheets have color and aspect errors. Then there is sprite customization to make them look like me, or to create frames of animation that don't exist. The rest of the time is eaten up by actually playing the games I'm emulating to compare the animation to it and make sure it looks right. Once all that busy work is out of the way the actual animation part is pretty easy. So thanks for everyone being so patient in waiting for the next IDIR.

IDIR the game is still getting started. All the assets are gathered, I just need to get things squared with my programmer friend. I suggested we work in flash but I think he has his heart set on silver light.

In the mean time I'll try to upload some other work I did for people soon. I think you guys will like it.

Thanks for watching guys!

-Mike R

Almost made it into the top 5 of June. That would have been an awesome cap to an already great reception for my first submission. Still it's great that I was in the running and got so much support from the NG crew and users.

Thanks guys!

Now back to my tinkering on my next projects.

-Mike R

People asked for it, we'll try to deliver.

When I posted "I Dream In Retro" I didn't expect the reaction it got. I knew fans of retro games would like it, but I thought most would dismiss it because it was a sprite animation. The welcome has been overwhelmingly positive though and I can't ignore the barrage of requests to make it playable anymore. So I'm looking for feedback from the people who wanted this to happen.

I got my friend Ken on board as programmer. Here is what we have in mind so far.

It's our first attempt at making a game so I don't know how long it will take. I've already worked out a decent idea for a control scheme. It should make using the different weapons simple and fun if it works how I imagine it. We have been told that even a short mini game consisting of the dreams 4 levels and boss fight would be fun so thats our goal. This way we can keep our first try simple and focus on making a game that plays well. There will of course be some new power ups added and I'm open for suggestions.

That's the basic idea so far. I hope those who wanted to see a playable version of the dream will enjoy it even if it is short. And hey, I plan on making more IDIR animations, so maybe they can be "previews" of future level expansions. No promises on that though. Just a fun idea for right now.

So let us know what you think and what you would like to see.

-Mike R

Ok so a few people have told me that the music stops playing suddenly in level 1 and 4 of the IDIR animation. I'm not sure why since the music they refer to plays for the length of the scene until a kill frame at the end. Any ideas why it might be doing that for some people?

Is it perhaps because if was published as a flash player 9 file and they are using an older version of flash player? Would it help if I republished as a flash 8 project and reuploaded? I hate being new to this crap still.

Thanks

EDIT 06-07-2010 @ 6:17PM:

Hopefully people will see this because feedback would be a big motivator. OK so my friend is coming over tomorrow to help me riddle out whats wrong with my machine. This friend also happens to be a talented programmer... I'm sure you can see where this is headed.

Now nothing is set in stone here and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up prematurely, but he seems up to translating my animation into a game. I guess the big question is this. Because this would be our first shot at making something like this would you guys be OK with a direct translation? Do you think that would be to short or would it still be cool? Also it might not be in flash format but I would definitely put up a trailer here with a link to it.

Let me know what you think and thanks for the support.

END OF UPDATE

OK looks like my computer is sick or dying...not cool. This is going to slow down progress on IDIR 2 until I can figure out what the hell is going on. Thankfully I have my current progress backed up.

A lot of people have been saying I should make IDIR into a playable game. I have no knowledge of coding or scripting but I've been putting a lot of thought into either learning it or asking my friend to lend a hand. I mean I already have the assets from the animation. No promises though, just something to think about. This would also have to wait until my computer is working again.

I'll try and upload something once my computer is restored. Maybe one of my shorter sprite themed video replies to YouTube celebrities. Thanks again for all the great comments and feedback.

-Mike R

Seriously thanks for all the great comments and making me feel welcome to the site. Once I get a chance I'll look over all the comments and try to answer any questions you guys asked. It's really great to see how well my first upload has resonated with people here. For those who requested and asked if I was making a sequel, IDIR 2 is in the works but it's going to be a while. I don't have a lot of free time lately so I only get to work on it in small doses.

That being the case I was thinking about uploading some shorter flash videos in the mean time. They are in the same theme as IDIR and were made as reply videos to The Happy Video Game Nerd and Awesome Video Games on YouTube. Both led to collaborative works which I will also post. I just hope they are interesting enough to survive judgment.

Thanks again for the great welcome and I'll try to hammer out IDIR 2. I just hope it lives up to the first. :)

-Mike R

I've heard sprite animations kind of get the boot here, but a lot of people have persuaded me to join up. Nothing ventured nothing gained right? I hope everyone likes what I have to offer and maybe relive some of those old memories from your childhood.

-Mike R