30.04.03 - Your Kung-fu Is Best
I'm sure you've all seen a couple of those stick man kung-fu flash cartoons but did you know that there's a continuing series? The guy who makes them has an archive on his website. If you don't check these out before you die you won't be allowed into heaven, pure and simple.If I were the type of person to use the term "genius" loosely then I would claim this guy is a genius. He is a genius. I don't know where to start (or rather I don't know where to start so that it ends fairly soon after as I have an appointment in a bit). The short of it is that he demonstrates wonderfully how the idea is more important than the presentation. That's not to say that his presentation leaves anything to be desired, his animation looks super slick. What I mean is that they show how you don't need a gazillion polygons to render the baddies and another gazillion to render the goodies. He does it in with just a handful of colours and a whole footfull of talent. The good guy is black and the bad guys are red. Done.
If it doesn't add anything to the story/plot/gameplay then why have it in there in the first place? It would seem that flash graphics are put into games nowadays to divert our attention from the fact that the we just spent 40 squid on the same game we've bought a dozen times before. "But look! Look at the polygon count, the characters look more real." More real. I don't play games to submerge myself into reality, I play games to get away from it. This is an old argument, but if it's so old and everyone agrees then why are we still putting up with it? Oh, this is getting onto another rant, way off the point of todays blant entry. Back we go.
Those interactive movie people could learn a lot from SaK (I believe that's what he calls himself on ICQ). Episodes 2 and 4 are interactive. Now I've played a lot of flash games in my time and they've all, well, they've all been pretty crapy. This though is actually quite fun. It's an interactive movie that actually works, and by works I mean the movie is super cool and the interactive bits are seamless and fun, as opposed to tedious and interrupting.
I wanted to write a review of the site but I just don't have time, maybe later. For now I suggest you get your butt over there and enjoy the goodness.
P.S. I'll have Zelda on Friday so don't expect any updates for a while.
splinter "wangFoo" khan