Update #4
Its 11:38pm (Saturday Jan 31 2009)
I have just finished creating (or should I say editing) the sound effects for our game. I’ve put the Game Score into a play list and I have it playing in the background, and I’m liking the vibe, sweet =)
Hopefully pretty soon we’ll be running a little prototype test to see if things are playing together nicely =)
Wish us luck.
Salaam.
Update #3
Its 7:42pm (Saturday Jan 31 2009)
Alright, so I have finished the music for the whole game, YES!!, I finalized everything moments ago, and converted it into the format we need.
Now all I need is the sound effects, which I will get to right after some pizza =) w00t.
I’ll have to figure out how to upload audio on here for you to check out the Game Score.
Salaam.
Update #2
Its 2:55pm (Saturday Jan 31 2009)
I’m on a little break.
I think we’re doing pretty good so far. Dan J has taken the initiative to work on the physics of the game (we decided to use Flash 8). RobTom has been working on the game levels, he’s up to level 3, and its looking pretty good. We’re trying to keep it simple and fun.
I on the other hand am having a ball =). That last time I was on a Game Jam, I ended up being an assistant programmer, but this time I actually have Audio (my semi specialty). What I’m going for is a very elaborate and almost sci-fi sound, I figured since the game will look simple, I will do my best to make sure they have the best game score EVER! using all free software and samples =)
I’m using Sony’s Audio XPress & samples from Free-Loops.com
So far, I have 4 out of the 5 levels done, as well as the intro. We’re taking a little breather now to decompress and chit chat and walk around a little.
I think our game will be really cool, we’ve haven’t decided on the name yet, but RobTom says that they will ask us for a soundtrack of the game =). He’s so nice.
Alright, over and out.
Update #1
Its 11:55am (Saturday Jan 31 2009)
My team “UBer Gamez” have already started on the game. My team members are Dan J & RobTom, they are both good friends of mine and fellow UB Alumni. I was assigned AudioMan (YES!), so far I have the Intro, Level One, & Illusionary State done.
What’s left is four more levels, a game over, and a few sound effects.
This event is super cool, we have almost everybody, from high school novices to software engineers, its quite awesome.
MD:2009!
I’m now officially back in MD, its been awesome so far. The weather is a little cold, but not as bad as everyone said it would be.
I arrived Wednesday night, slept. Got up Thursday went to the Java Mammas Open Mic and had a warm and wonderful welcome. I love those guys =)
Friday I fixed some Tech issues at the Family house, went and visited my aunt, and later on today (Saturday) I go to my global game jam. Unfortunately my camera isn’t working so you’ll have to depend on my Blog for updates.
The Theme for this challenge is “As long as we have each other, we will always have problems”…good luck with that =).
Alright, so there you have it.
I’ll update you all later.
Salaam.
Restless
I feel bad about not writing anything on my blog recently, but that’s because nothing has been happening, and that bugs me. I’m now in extreme countdown mode, I can’t wait to get back to Baltimore. I’ve been emailing back and forth with friends, its so awesome to see how excited everyone is about my return, especially at the open mic ( I love my java mammas crowd ).
Two of the main events happening in the next few weeks are: The global game jam, & the Java Mammas monthly challenge. I got word from my previous college adviser that I’m officially in the game jam now, w00t. The form reached her in good time and everything is set.
Heather spoke of the challenge during the last open mic, she is at a writer’s block with this topic, and I don’t blame her. Honestly I’m surprised I even have something my self =) its really REALLY odd.
I hope I’m not the only one who wrote a song for this, cause I would feel really bad. I think there should be a rule to the Java challenges. If your topic is picked, then you must write something for it. I think that will put a minimum to the crazy things people put down. Because I’m not sure what the intentions were exactly of who ever wrote “the owls see everything” =). I can’t believe they voted for it, oh my god =)
I come forth to the MD music scene with 4 new-iesh material:
1- Lonely Owl (NEW: for the java challenge)
2- A Cover Song (NEW: yet its not technically mine)
3- An Untitled (REFURBISHED: I found this song on one of my older CDs, and decided to revive it)
4- You Never Answer (NEW?: It was written for the November challenge, but never performed)
That’s why I said “-iesh”, I only hope the next topic is something I wouldn’t have to struggle with =).
So far I have come out with 2 genuine songs from this monthly challenge [Habooba (sandstorm love affair) & You never answer]…I’m still iffy about “Lonely Owl”, we’ll see how the response goes when I try it out on people =).
I’ve bought a couple of new funky hats for me, I shall interchange between them for when I’m performing, I call them my “performance hats” =). The beige one I usually wear is started to show its age, and my “digg” cap is falling apart inside =( I love that cap. so today I went to the Berkeley Hat Store and got me a couple of cool hats, I have a shapely odd head OR an oddly shaped head (that sounds better), and with all this hair I needed something firm, soft, yet stylish. I needed an Ash hat =). I’ll make sure to where them when I play at the Java.
I spoke with Johnny Nomad today, he sends his greetings to everyone. He is in Hawaii right now, enjoying the tropical weather and the smiley faces =). I’m sure I’ll be visiting him in the future.
Well there you have it, its 4:48am, I’m still awake. But at least now I know I only have 5 more days until my return. Booya.
Salaam.
All Connected
So I was checking out my ReverbNation page, and it seems that they have done some design changes, I’m still getting used to it but I kind of like it =)
One thing I found cool is the Blog & Twitter connection. Apparently I can have my RSS for this blog automatically download into my rN blog, which is awesome…and I could do the same with my twitters. It cool and crazy how almost all the sites now are “connected” some how. This does kind of save me time though, and it good to keep my rN page more active, because I don’t visit it that much.
So if everything is going as planned, this blog should pop up in my RevNat page. which me luck =)
Have a great weekend everyone, I’ll see you in a few days.
Salaam.
Lonely Owl
The Java Mamma’s Monthly Challenge, January 2009
I truly do not believe
That the sun melts into the sea
Otherwise the water would be boiling me
Slowly evaporating your memory
Instead I stand here
Staring at the cold water blinking at me
Through waves of shimmering light coming from somewhere
That I do not belong though I see everything except who’s calling my name.
Who, is calling my name? is it you
Who, is calling my name?
I have now decipher your flying pattern
Into a lock of hurting words
Even though my feathers ache from angrily shaking
I still extend my branch of love to you
As I stand here
Staring at the cold water blinking at me
Through waves of shimmering light coming from somewhere
That I do not belong though I see everything except who’s calling my name.
Who, is calling my name? is it you
Who, is calling my name?
Still I stand here
Looking at the cold water blaming at me
Through your waves of shimmering lies coming from your stare
Where I am always wrong still I can’t see anything
Except You.
Tweet Records
Good morning Saturday =)
This has been quite a few days for me.
Before I get into what I did last night at Tweet Records, let me give you a little background.
There is a cool open mic that I go to called The Starry Plough, I’ve mentioned it before in this blog. The hostess, Joan Pez, is the coolest & kindest lady you will ever meet. When I played there the first time, she automatically asked me to play a feature set with Nomad a couple of weeks afterwards. Then the more I frequent there the more good vibes I get. Then one day I played “Guilt & Empathy” and she really liked it. So she came up to me one day and said “Hey Ash, I want us to do a nice produced version of that song” I totally agreed. So it turns out that she has her own recording studio, called Tweet Records.
So I called my good friend Ghislan, who is a percussionist, and we met up with Johnny Diamond (he’s a sound engineer) and one of the coolest dudes I’ve met out here. We went up to Joan’s studio last night and recorded the song =).
They will email me the final production once its done, and Joan said that once its done, she will have no problem showing it to people.
I got so many complements from those two, its really flattering. Joan keeps telling me how she like the fact that I “cross genres”, and how they can’t stop dancing to this song =)
Johnny said that my singing has this feeling that makes you want to imitate it, but you can’t. Those have to be some of the most flattering things I’ve heard out here. This is so cool. =)
They are sad that I’m leaving, which is why they are trying to get as much of me in the studio as possible, so that I would have something to use as an official “demo” when I go back to the east coast. I must say, I truly do believe that I’ve made friends for life here, this is great =)
So there you have it, last night was an all musical night. Tonight, we are having a “Karaoke & Sushi” night here at The Muse…this is going to be interesting to say the least =)
I’ve posted pictures of me at Tweet Records on my facebook, check it out if you like.
Salaam.
Ash’s G.G.J. weekend in MD
No no, its not THIS weekend =).
But I’m talking about my “future” weekend, when I arrive there God Willing, it will be awesome.
I have it all planned out.
I arrive on Wed Jan 28th, I go to the Java Mammas open mic on Jan 29th..then on Friday, I go to the Global Game Jam in Shady Grove, making history with my UB Alumns.
I’ve been recruiter my UB comrades, and reminding them to join in. So far I know of 3 of my buddies, each with a different game talent who are joining in..sweet.
Hopefully there will be enough of us to have a 2 or 3 teams representing UB on this global event =). I’ll keep you all posted on the progress that.
I’m still trying to figure out what I would need with me to be able to do the audio, because most likely that would be me, I’m Ash the AudioMan, pretty wicked huh! =)
ALSO, hot damn, I’m thinking of have a 24 hour broadcast of us, it would be pretty boring though, unless we stay close to the camera as we talk out loud about our project.
I’ll check you all later
Salaam.
