Of Pennies and Arcades
This is really awesome. Back at PAX Prime, Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade asked James to write up his proposal story. James did and now it’s on the site! I cannot say enough how amazingly amazing this is.

Pumpkins!
With the bitter cold of fall settling in, the smell of burning pumpkins fill the air and all we can think about is spooky specters and sweet, sweet candy. As you might have guessed, Halloween is a special time of year for Ska Studios as is evident in the kind of games we make. We’d like to celebrate this month’s fall festival with some pumpkin carving patterns!

We’d love to see any fan-made Ska Studios pumpkin designs so please send pictures my way! I will place a few or all of them over at the Art Unicorner. Of course you can always create your own pumpkin designs, you don’t have to use my patterns but if you do want some, download them below and get carving!

Download the ZIP of all the files here!

Included:
The Dishwasher Pumpkin
Yuki Pumpkin
Cat Pumpkin
Crow Pumpkin
Vampire Smile Pumpkin
Z0MB1ES Angry Face Pumpkin
Charlie Murder PunKin
Lester Deth PunKin
Tommy Homicide PunKin
Rexicutioner PunKin
Skelekitten PunKin

These patterns rely on using multiple layers and only the Z0MB1ES pattern cuts all the way through. Here is a video and written directions on how to carve layers.

Monster of the Day
As a personal project, every year since 2008, I’ve made an attempt to create a monster a day during the month of October. I wrote a little blog post about it and have made it up to day 6. I hope to keep it up until the end of the month. Check out where I am storing and will be updating them.

Oh yea and we’re still working on Charlie Murder. More on that next time!

Here are the big ones:

1. How do I make games?
   I’d definitely recommend taking any classes if they’re available, whether you’re in high school or college. Though XNA is all C#, learning C, C++, or Java will still help to familiarize you with the basics of programming.

   Also, my advice to everyone is always this: start small! Not to sound arrogant, but The Dishwasher is basically the culmination of 6 years of hobbyist game development experience; if you’ve only got a week of experience you’re not exactly going to be able to match the caliber of The Dishwasher. And forget 3D altogether if you’re just starting. Basically, if you set out to make something that would’ve been considered cool in the 80′s, you’ve got a fighting chance.

2. Is The Dishwasher coming out for Windows?
   There aren’t any plans currently, for a few reasons. The biggest reason, of course, is because Microsoft is publishing it as an XBLA title, so I’m going to focus on that. Also, the game plays like rubbish with a keyboard, and adding support for multiple gamepads is always ugly in my opinion. The Dishwasher is made for the Xbox360 controller (though I could see the DualShock working). I also think PC piracy is a really, really, really big problem.
3. When is The Dishwasher coming out?
   When it’s done! The XNA team and I are both breaking new ground by adding all sorts of new functionality, and there certainly is a lot to do. I’m 99.9% certain it’ll be out in 2008, but beyond that, I can’t really say anything, because it would amount to nothing more than a politician’s promise.

So there you have it!  I’m always happy to answer questions, so keep ‘em coming!