(music) AFI

I've noticed that ever since I started listening to AFI, a bazillion years ago, I've always been skeptical at first when they released a new CD, thinking "they must've gone downhill like everyone else", and every time I dig the new CD better than the last. DecemberUnderground is no exception, even topping the Avalanches this week.

From now on, no more skepticism towards AFI.

(comic) An ex-snail

(Or : What is a slug)

(Comic) A woman pilot? God forbid!

A little pun at NASA's alcohol problem.

(Music) Viva la NOFX!

So NOFX played 3 shows in Israel this week. I originally planned on attending two, but pussed out and went only to the Tel Aviv show.

I never thought that being smashed against countless sweating male bodies would prove to be one of the best experiences of my life!

Here's a picture from YNET with yours truly:


And here's a video of the show, courtesy of Useless ID, who I suppose I should thank for:

Reclaiming the blog

for the past couple of months I felt like my blog is owned by the web comic. Once I got tired of drawing it I felt like I can't post about anything, even though there was much to post about.
So from now on the blog is reclaimed in the name of all that is Roy, and no more web comics, it's too intrusive!

See you all in the NOFX show!

(Comic) T-shirt idea

When I was drawing this in zoom X10 I thought it's gonna turn out huge, but it looks more like a badge than a comic :( oh well, the T-shirt says, "Fucking stupid", I know it's hard to read.

Sorry for the lack of comics lately guys, I only have ideas that involve complex drawings (like a guy riding a bicycle) that I depress myself trying to draw them.

(comic) Concept shop

(footbag) Footblog

Tricks I can
1) Around the world (both sides, both directions)
2) Legover (both sides)
3) Pendulum (only right side)
4) Mirage (two sides, yay!)
5) Hop over (only right side)
6) Butterfly (both sides)
7) Same Side butterfly (both sides)
8) clipper butterfly (right side)
9) Clipper mirage (both sides)
10) Paradox Mirage (right side)
11) Double Around the world (right side)
12) Pickup (both sides)
13) Illusion (right side)

Updated at 10th of September 2007

(comic) The retribution

Click to see finer details!

(footbag) First butterfly!

Yep! Today I've hit my first Butterfly (and my second, and third...), it was kinda very sketchy but it still feels good to improve! That also mean I've hit my first 3 Add move. I am a proud Sumerian.

Kickass IPhone video!

Check out this funny video ! Related to the hype surrounding the release of the new IPhone. Will make you chuckle, guaranteed.

(comic) Common sense

Click for normal size

This isn't supposed to be funny, it's a complaint about what I see on the roads every day, getting my life risked every time someone choses to talk (or even SMS) instead of paying attention while driving.
There oughta be a law!

(comic) Moral of the story

You definitely want to click on this one to see it in normal size.

(footbag) Hitting mirage (almost) every time!

I'm aware that this trick is very basic but I'm super excited that tonight I started hitting it almost every attempt! I hit it 4 times in a row, while just yesterday I couldn't hit one to save my life!
And to think I was about to skip training today due to a sore Achilles tendon. Thank goodness for lack of common sense :)
I took a video of it on my phone camera, but since it was in my boxers I decided not to upload it.

I think what helped me get it was setting it lower than I thought I should, and starting the hip twist as early as during the delay. Now, to get it flipside..

(comic) Lucky

(flash) A great looking 3D game prototype in flash

this just in: I just ran into this uncompleted, yet 3D looking game, made entirely in Flash! It's also relatively slim to load, and runs pretty smoothly on my computer.
Check it out: renderhjs 2k6

(flash) Using two different classes with identical names is a bad idea

I'm working on a game that has a pretty complicated Help screen, so we separated the game SWF and the help SWF. Both the game and the help should run in different languages, so I wrote a helper class that translates text fields automatically. Each SWF has its own version of the class, with the same name.

Now, I had to modify the translator class in the Help a bit to accommodate HTML parsing, and it ran beautifully standalone. But when I load the Help from the game SWF, I suddenly see that every textfield that should go through HTML parsing just doesn't show any text!

A little tracing reveals the culprit: I placed a trace on the constructor of the translator class of the Game and a different one at the translator class of the Help. When the help was loaded, the game's translator class constructor was called, instead of the Help translator class!
Changing the name of the help translator class fixed the problem, of course.

To summarize, the second class is simply overridden by the first class!
This is how I found this out:


Wow now when it's down on chart it seems so obvious! But I haven't read about this behavior anywhere yet.

This may sound like a little anecdote, but I'm thinking about the Hasbro project I was involved in, where we had a game system SWF that loads all kinds of different game SWFs onto itself that were produced by all sorts of different companies. If one of these SWFs had a class with a name the game system used, there would be DISASTER!

Like my Boss, Itay, said: Prefix = good idea.

Game Developers conference in Beth Berl (In Hebrew)

Sorry for writing this in Hebrew. I started writing down my feelings this weekend, and ended up summarizing them allot better on a Hebrew games forum (vgames.co.il). I'll translate it if anyone is interested.

הייתי רק ביום השני של הכנס. קודם כל אני מסכים שהפרוייקטי סיום לא נראים לי הוגנים בשביל אנשים שלמדו שנתיים פיתוח משחקים. חוץ מזה שרובם היו בפלאש, רובם לא היו גמורים. בשביל תוצאות כאלה לא צריך שנתיים לימודים.
דווקא המשחק שנועד לפלאפון נראה לי היה אחד היותר מוצלחים מבחינת יכולת התמחור שלו.
אבל אני מניח שכל מחזור ראשון של מסלול יסבול מחבלי הלידה של המסלול.

הייתי ב2 הרצאות - הראשונה היא של בני נוער שמדברים על התעשייה. בני הנוער דיברו מאוד יפה והיו מעניינים, אבל לדעתי הם לא מייצגים את בן הנוער הממוצע, שאפשר לומר שהוא קהל היעד של תעשיית הקז'ואל בארץ(שנראה לי ברור שרוב האולם התעניין רק בזה), אלא מייצגים את הגיימר הכבד, שהתעשייה בארץ לא צפופה מספיק כדי להציע לו שירותים. בכל זאת היה נחמד לשמוע שהם גם נהנים ממשחק פלאש פה ושם.
בנוסף, למרות שהיה נסיון יפה לעשות סדר בשאלות עם מקרופון נע, היה בחור אחד שהתפרץ כל הזמן והמנחה הרשתה זאת, כך יצא שהרבה אנשים לא הספיקו לשאול את השאלות שלהם.

ההרצאה השניה, שהשאלה שהועלתה בו היא האם משחקי מחשב זה אומנות, היתה פטתית לגמרי. מלבד המרצה הראשון, שהציע כמה רעיונות מעניינים (למרות שהם לא היו קשורים לדעתי לנושא בעצם), שאר המרצים דיברו לא לעניין, הראו חוסר בקיאות עמוקה בתחום המשחקים (ואף לא התביישו להודות בכך), והשיא היה בעיני בחורה אחת שהטריחה אותנו בוידאו ארט בן 5 דקות מיותר שבעיני הוא בכלל פרסומת עצמית עבורה, ובחור אחד שטען שמשחקי מחשב הם לא אומנות כי אין קלאסיקות. הקהל כולו התרעם, ובצדק. בכל מקרה, השאלה אם משחקי מחשב זה אומנות היא בת הרבה שנים כבר, היא טחינת מים, ובנקודה זו בזמן היא בעיקר עניין של דעה אישית.
נקודת אור היתה ההרצאה של המוזיקאי מ DNA - חבל שלא קיבל קצת יותר זמן במה, הרגשתי שהוא לא הגיע לנקודה שהוא ניסה להעביר.
שיא העליבות היה בסוף, כשאחת המרצות (שגם הציגה סרטון לא מוצלח) נכנסה להתנצחות עקרה עם מרצה אחר והקהל. אני אפילו לא זוכר על מה היתה ההתנצחות, אבל תרבות דיון לא היתה שם..

Where did the comics go??

You may have noticed that I didn't upload a comic yesterday and will not upload one today either. First of all, I never said they'd be dailies! Second, I'm not out of ideas, I'm out of spare time to implement them. Work has become a little busy lately and I hope to catch up with some of the comic ideas this weekend.

Stay tuned!

(comic) Mistakes happen

Pastafarian religion

this is just too funny! An open letter to the Kansas school board, claiming that if the Christian idea of intelligent design is to be taught at schools, another version of intelligent design, claiming a FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER created all that is.
Cleverly written, with sketches and a graph that proves that the amount of pirates is inversely related to Global temperatures, this is something you definitely want to see.

The link

(comic) Crossing

(Comic) The modern black knight!

Footbag - Hitting a Mirage

Now that I feel I have a good grasp with the basics (stalls, atw etc) I'm trying to kick it up a notch and nail a Mirage. I've been trying to do this trick not-so-seriously for quite a while now and gotten nowhere. So today I read some forum advice on footbag.org, seen some several videos, and really concentrated on what the body should be doing, and literally 5 minutes of hacking at the hall and I nearly got it! I'm planning, this weekend, to hit my first Mirage.

MagicMatch 2 online is online!

After like a bazillion years since I finished developing it, MagicMatch2 online is finally up. I ran into it completely at random at shockwave.com and initially thought they stole my version because I didn't know it's up yet!

Go check it out: I recommend playing it at ICQ since Shockwave.com has a really long commercial before it starts:
Magic Match 2: The Genie's Journey
(In the game info page, click "Try it online");

(comic) Superman's Secret

(comic) Jon's last straw

Naturally all drawings are stolen from original Garfield comics, except for the table lines, I drew those myself.

Blurred fame is mine!

How cool is that: Another major Israeli newspaper wrote an article mentioning the Seminar with Suganuma Sensei, and the main picture has me in it! Somewhat on the side, and somewhat blurred, but still awesome!
The picture:
The link: http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/871906.html

The breakup

Footbagging by myself at the park

This week, the small footbag group that we got organized couldn't meet. However, I went and played at the park anyways. I heard someone telling his wife to look at how I play. I must be improving :)

I hate wearing shorts though, and since my game is so much better when I'm wearing them, I should probably go shop for some good looking ones, just in case someone wants to take my picture!

(comic) Daddy's Favorite

Based on many true stories!

My alter egos

I think it's befitting that my blog keeps watch on people around the world who share my name.
Today I'm bringing the interesting story of two Roy Kleins who are not me:

In the 2nd Lebanese war, an Israeli soldier named "Roy Klein" died, apparently a hero's death. you can read his story here: http://www.jewishtimes.com.au/content/view/700/190/.
On a personal note, I was totally creeped out when the newspaper headlines had my name and R.I.P afterwards.

The other Roy Klein would've been a real nice guy, if it wasn't for the fact that he registered the domain http://www.royklein.com/, leaving my fans high and dry in case of opening a fanclub website. He's got some pseudo-witty writings there that actually kind of remind me of my own writing. I guess Roy Kleins don't know how to write, but can't help themselves

(comic) Sweet talking girls at the GDC

I realize this comic might raise a question among the gamers and a different question among the non-gamers.
I'll start by answering the non-gamers: GDC stands for the Game Developers Convention
And to answer the gamers: No, there weren't any girls there.

Unintentionally funny comics

This is a good one!
Classic comic panels that probably made sense 30-40 years ago, but nowadays sound totally ridiculous. Don't read anywhere you can't laugh out loud!

(comic) A raver gets his wings

Just to be clear, I have nothing against Redbull or vodka.
Au contraire, I think they're killer drinks

Great showoff video for a T.V talent show

Check out Jorden Moir's video submission for an American talent show.
What I like about this video is the smooth style and the progression from simple to hard that camouflages Jorden's incredible skill and talent with an air of laid backness. That's how you can tell this guy is a hard working pro.

Click to see the video


If you think that's bad ass, may I direct your attention to the following video of Jorden, where he shows off some insane moves:

Insane Jorden video

(comic) Every religion is wrong!

2007 Aikido Seminar with Suganuma Sensei

I was going to wait until I get some pictures and gather my thoughts before I write about the seminar, but since the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv did a full page article about it, I feel like I was beaten to it.

The article (Hebrew only, sorry)

(comic) The invisibles

(comic)Menachem backed off

(click the comic to enlarge it a bit)

Portfolio

You asked for it (or not) -

Here's the list of all published games I worked on. Most of these games were made mostly by yours truly, with the exception of two or three where I took over the work from someone else. Links, where available, lead to the game's description page on the ICQ channel.

In Oberon Media (2005 till present)

Magic Match 2: The Genie's Journey (Single Player)

Pool (multiplayer)

MagicMatch: enchanted arena (multiplayer)

Pool: 9-ball (multiplayer)

Aces of space (multiplayer)

Darts: Cricket (multiplayer)

Sudoku Titans (multiplayer)

Belote (multiplayer)

Tarot (multiplayer)

MagicMatch: Online (single player)

Mahjong Match: Online (single player)


In Itoons (2003)

SpongeBob's Obstacle Odyssey (Downloadable)

SpongeBob Nick Clickable (Desktop Toy)

Nickelodeon Kids Awards (Desktop Toy)




The list is updated for June 20th, 2007

Suspension of disbelief

As I grow older, I notice that the core market of gamers grow in age with me. When I was a kid, games were for kids. When I was a teenager, games were for teenager. Now I'm 25, and gamers are, again, considered within my age group.
Is it that in order to enjoy computer and video games you need to grow up with them?

Perhaps, but I'd like to offer an additional explanation. I think that games are growing up as well, not in the sense of becoming more mature, but simply becoming, well, better, in terms of audio visual experience and the encompassing experience they provide.

(1984 - AlleyCat by IBM) AlleyCat could not catch the attention of a 20 years old like it can of a 5 years old. In order to capture the imagination of more mature people, complex games are needed. As games grow complex in graphics and content, so does the age group of the people who find them enjoyable.

In short, it's all about the effect of Suspension of Disbelief. As we grow older our Suspension of disbelief threshold grows with us. As the ability of games to draw us into their universes grew, so does the age of the people who are mesmerized by them.

This thought came up after a conversation I had with Shirley, regarding why I find theater boring in relation to Television or Movies; I had to excuse my lack of cultural sophistication to the fact that when I see theater, that's all I see: Actors, a stage, and a script, I never buy into it, because I've been exposed since the day I was born to mediums that suspend my disbelief much better.
It came to me that the same process takes place with computer games, after 3 days in a row that I spent all my free time playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, first time in years that I found myself drawn so powerfully into a game.

Pendulum - very live!

Out of curiosity I ran a search on Pendulum to see how they sound live - turns out these guys (who produce electronic DnB) do their shows with real instruments on the stage - and pull it off beautifully.
Check it out:

Another Planet (live) by Pendulum

Webcomics!

Were you aware of the abundance of free, high quality, often vulgar entertainment that exists online in the shape of a webcomic? I certainly was only vaguely aware of this phenomenon until recently. After reading my Calvin and Hobbes from cover to cover for the tenth time, I've decided I'm ready for a new relationship, so I started searching the web for interesting, free comics. To be honest, I didn't expect much, since the comics I did see up until that point weren't so hot, but boy did I find some pearls to make my day.
For those of you who've been missing the train of webcomics, like myself, I present here a list of my current favorites, just to get you started:

Cyanide and happiness
The Perry Bible Fellowship
Dueling Analogs
Ctrl+Alt+Del

All of the above have RSS updates that lets me know whenever they update, I don't know how I lived before I knew what RSS was all about! But that's a topic for another post.