Kick the Night Off Ranma ½ Fanzine

Download a copy of the zine here.

Toward the end of summer in 2020, a friend that I had worked alongside of in the Stay Home With Sonic zine alerted me to another project that seemed similarly up my alley: Another zine, but this one focusing on the cast of Ranma ½. I had thoroughly enjoyed participating in SHWS and was eager for another opportunity like it, but I’ll admit, this one made me hesitate. Although I love Ranma ½, it’d probably been at least a decade since I’d actually read or watched it, let alone interacted with it.

But then, maybe that could be part of the challenge. This was an opportunity to test my ability to hit the ground running in less familiar territory, with a side bonus of prompting me to reignite an old flame. I decided to audition, and wouldn’t ya know I it, I made it in!

Stay Home With Sonic Fanzine

Purchase a copy of the zine here.

When covid-19 first brought the world to its knees, I was very lucky in that I was able to isolate at home for a while. During that time, I caught word of a group of fellow Sonic the Hedgehog fans looking to bring some positivity to those in crisis: A fanzine aimed toward entertaining and consoling those in crisis as a result of the pandemic, while also raising money for Doctors Without Borders via the cover charge. Given that this zine included written works and I obviously had a lot of time on my hands, I was eager to help with the cause.

Countdown to the 12th Doctor

The moment of truth is nearly here: After months of waiting, Doctor Who‘s 50th Anniversary Special is finally airing simultaneously around the world. Those of you that read my season 7 finale theories can imagine my anxiousness to find out the truth, and as Whovians worldwide gear up for the big reveal, we also can’t help but revel in our fandom. BBC America, for example, has been airing nothing but Doctor Who episodes, movies, and TV specials nearly non-stop all week, and the internet has exploded with anticipation over the soon-to-arrive 12th Doctor. This blog is no exception, but I’m not talking about Peter Capaldi; I have my sights set on a different shapeshifting doctor.

Those that read this blog regularly may recall that there’s likely to be a 12th Doctor Eggman on the horizon for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise as well. According to the preview image released for the upcoming animated series Sonic Boom, the characters are getting redesigned — some more drastically than others. As of this writing, we still have no preview of Eggman, which leaves a lot of speculation in the air. Will he be close to his current design? Will he harken back to a more classic style? Or will they invent a new look entirely to go with the new story?

As we anticipate the appearance of Doctor Who’s new face, I thought it might be fun to look back at the many faces of another oft-changing doctor while we wait for his new look as well.

Baker Cat Android Game

Project Length: 5 Weeks (5/4/13 – 6/1/13)
Team: Loud Cat (4 Members)
My Roles: Concept art, Game Mechanics, Character Development, Artwork (Environment, Weapons, Interface)
End Product: Full Game (Android)

In late spring 2013, I became a member of Team Loud Cat, which to date has been my most successful team. With little more intent than the decision to make a mobile game, we centered on the idea of a chaotic top-down shooter that broke the mold of fighter jets and roaming tanks. After quickly agreeing that junk food vs. veggies could have mass appeal, we settled on a cat as the protagonist, at least partly to honor our team name. Zach Allen, our programmer, nicknamed the project Baker Cat vs. The Veggies.

Sonic CD Good Ending Strategy Guide

Ever since his debut in 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog has been a powerful character in the gaming world, with masses of fans clamoring to play his games. Sonic CD is often regarded as a rare gem among his collection, as it was a great game but difficult to get a hold of, since not many people owned a Sega CD system. The game has since been re-released several times on more accessible platforms.

However, one thing Sonic CD always lacked was a strategy guide, despite the fact that they’re available for almost all of the other retro Sonic games. This is especially noteworthy because, unlike the other games of its generation, Sonic CD’s goal was not to simply run from start to finish as quickly as possible. The introduction of time travel to the series brought a new set of goals along with it – namely, getting to the past and creating a good future. Despite the fact that the levels are short, I myself had great difficulty managing this when I was a child, as did fellow fans I would later discuss this with in adulthood.

The purpose of this guide is to help players seeking the good ending of the game without having to collect all of the Time Stones. Unlike other Sonic games, Sonic CD does not require the player to collect all of its magic gems in order to get the good ending; instead, players can create the same effect by completing the time travel objectives in each level. Considering how brutal some of the special stages are in this game, I myself prefer to just do the extra legwork in the levels. Now, with this guide, other players can do the same!

Lego Portal 2 Board Game Manual

Read manual as a PDF.

In early 2013, I found myself in what should’ve been a great class with one of the worst teachers I’ve ever had. The class intended for students to create a project to expand and sharpen their skills, and my plan was to get some level design practice by building mock-up Portal 2 stages utilizing a deleted element. I’d obtained an early promotional DVD for the game that showcased new features for the sequel, including one that’d been cut from the final release: The Pneumatic Diversity Vent.

I felt this was an ideal project for me because working within the boundaries of an existing game would helped me focus on my goal more precisely. I wouldn’t be distracted by having to come up with the ins and outs of an original story, setting, location, or mechanic, before finally scrambling to make a level or two at the end of my 6-week time frame; instead, I could hit the ground running and experiment with test chambers making use of the Diversity Vent immediately. In addition, I’d learned during a previous class that these sort of exercises make really good portfolio pieces to show potential employers, because it demonstrates that you can be incorporated into an existing project. The ultimate deliverable would be a design document, which would not only detail my design process and how to put the levels into practice, but would show off my documentation skills.

However, my teacher was a bit of an egotist, and forced several of us to change our products to suit his own personal tastes. He insisted that a design document wasn’t good enough, and that if I didn’t build something that was actually playable, he wouldn’t pass me. Considering that he was the one holding all the cards, there wasn’t much I could do but cave – but I was still determined to still get a good document out of it!

Relapse Game Design Document

Read document as PDF.

In the fall of 2012, I worked on a team of six to develop a mock-up FPS for the Xbox 360 over the course of five weeks. My team, known as HotKeys, developed a game called Relapse, revolving around a zombie-like virus having broken out in a military facility. It is up to Sgt. Jax, a soldier and engineer, and Dr. Mirez, a doctor and medical researcher, to put a stop to the outbreak before the infected make it outside of the base.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Full Series Analysis

Earlier this month, 1Up.Com held a contest focused around the Sonic the Hedgehog series. I first found out via a tweet from Sega, which referred me to the 1Up blog detailing the contest. On the surface, it seemed to be a very basic call for ideas on what the next Sonic title might be, but the following caught my eye in the contest details:

“We want to know your ideas on where Sonic is going to go next. What features should be added to the next Sonic game?  What direction can the franchise take to stay true to its roots, but also attract new fans?”

Always ready to wax philosophical about the geeky crap I’m into, I made a 1Up blog specifically to participate. Winning the contest wasn’t even necessarily about the prizes (although the Sonic statue was something I’d love to have). It was more about taking a chance to get my name out there and let people know what I’m capable of. Writing is what I do, game theory is what I know, and Sonic is what I love! I decided I had to try!

I ended up writing roughly 40 pages of analysis — in four days.

Prince of Persia Touch Interface Design

Project Length: 4 Weeks (7/12/11 – 8/11/11)
Team: N/A
My Roles: Gameplay Mechanics, UI Design
End Product: Full Interface Conversion & Demo

One of the most important elements of gaming is the user interface. Even an immaculately designed game can come crashing down if it controls poorly or the player can’t ascertain the information they need. As a test of skill, this project was a challenge to take a console-based game — one that has plenty of buttons available — and translate it to a tablet format. The game needed to convert logically yet remain as intuitive to play as it is on its home platform.

To meet this challenge, I chose the 2008 game Prince of Persia. Neverminding that this is one of my favorite games, I felt that it had a control scheme that I could condense without losing the essence of the game itself. Prince of Persia is and always has been about fluidity of motion, and as such I believed it would benefit from simplified controls anyway.