Ska Studios » Life

Good Morning Gato #74 – A Prior Engagement

Michelle — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:00:26 +0000

You might have found that last Friday’s Good Morning Gato was notibly absent. We do have a good excuse though. We were at PAX! This was our second time exhibiting at PAX Prime and a quite eventful one it was!

Win!
I may have mentioned this before but this was my first time organizing Ska Studios for PAX. I think I did a decent enough job considering the giant shoes Dustin left behind to fill. I’m certainly nowhere near as awesome as he is at being a marketing coordinator but PAX turned out to be pretty darn successful, nonetheless. We showed off Charlie Murder, sold some shirts, talked with fans and oh yea, James and I got engaged!
Here is a sweet video of Ska Studios at PAX Prime or you can view the photos on our Facebook Page!

A Different Kind of Game Proposal

It’s official. Your Lead Dishwasher and Art Unicorn have graduated from boyfriend and girlfriend dev team to engaged couple dev team. Prepare your box of tissues and check out some media taken of the event:

“Ska Studios Proposal” by Clingermangw
1UP’s “PAX 2011: A Charlie Murder Proposal” video
Postcard from PAX: The Most Touching PAX Moment Ever
IGN Facebook Album
A Gear Fish post
An in-game proposal

Much to the pleasure of those irritated by the other day’s twitter spam about wedding dresses, I won’t bore you with planning details but if something especially awesome and game or zombie related pops up, I’ll be sure to post about it. If you happened to capture video or photography please send it my way to michelle (at) ska-studios (dotcom)!

Mini Link Roundup
I’ll be posting a bigger roundup when more articles come in but for now check out these nifty links:

Giant Bomb Quick Look!
WonderHowTo Article

Good Morning Gato #62 – In The End I Am Free

Michelle — Fri, 27 May 2011 17:41:30 +0000

This past weekend was a hectic one for Gato and her sister, Neko. A dog was to be added to the happy family, but not if Gato could help it. After a flurry of claws, blood and revenge (the dog and cats themselves unharmed), it was not to be. In the end, Gato was free, and that’s all that mattered to her.

Old Bat
This week wasn’t only eventful for the cats but also the rest of Ska Studios! If you follow us on twitter, you could have noticed that Wednesday was a very special day for James as it was his ~~30th~~ second 29th birthday! I baked him a batty cake for his momentous milestone.

A Super Mysterious Surprise!
Also mentioned earlier this week, we will have a secret surprise to be revealed during E3. Whet your whistle with this teaser. We’re keeping people guessing what this secret could possibly be because it is, in fact, a secret to everybody. As always, feel free to say “heya” to us while we roam the floors of the E3 expo halls!

Supporting the Arts
While I don’t have a new instructional blog post for you this week, I have created my own Etsy shop! While the works here are mostly personal artwork, from time to time you may find Ska Studios related projects for sale. Be sure to follow me on twitter for announcements of additions to my little shop.

Good Morning Gato #60 – Spring Kitten

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:00:52 +0000

The oppressive heat wave has finally lifted leaving us with a week of true spring weather bliss! Obviously, Gato enjoys the mild weather and can now be found chilling in the sun porch, looking outside the screen door and being a lazy cat on the living room floor. Spring is actually here!

Spring Cleaning
Seeing as the upstate New York weather is finally cooperating, we’ve (non)officially started operation spring cleaning. This week, James was able to give the yard its first haircut of the year, the studio area has gone through a bit of a re-arrangment and the vacuum has been put to good use. While this may just sound like normal domestic house choirs, I like to think of it as indie studio maintenance. Required studio maintenance that’s sure to have a positive effect on all future released titles. Trust.

Shell Says
The nice weather has also inspired our very own Michelle to jump start her personal blog with a few new blogs. Not only does she give a detailed rundown of her personal journey to Ska Studios, but she also pulls back the velvet curtain on how we crafted those too awesome Dishwasher plushies. If you too are the crafty type and know how to work a needle, head over to her blog where you’ll find templates and instructions on how to make your very own Dish plushie. The end product is well worth the effort and blood loss.

Zipped Up
And that’s it for this mid-May edition of Good Morning Gato. Stay safe, be happy and I’ll see you next week.

Good Morning Gato #37 – Ocular Glow

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:00:15 +0000

Her eyes glow with a piercing power that’s so warm, so consuming and so eerily welcoming that nobody can resist their attraction. Be attracted, give in and follow Gato’s mystical cat-eye glow into this week’s edition of Good Morning Gato.

Hanging With The IGDA
On Wednesday night, James and I traveled into Albany for the local Independent Game Developers Association (IGDA) chapter meeting where we were invited to speak about Ska Studios’ “Big Old Indie Story”. And thanks to James’ new Windows Phone 7 (of which I’ll talk about later) and its expert navigation instructions, we arrived on time and prepared to talk.

The Albany IGDA is comprised of a handful of Captial District locals including a few students, but mostly developers from Vicarious Visions and 1st Playable Productions. Both of which are Albany locals. After a quick parking job, an equally quick setup of our presentation materials (which included a spiffy James-crafted Powerpoint), we dined on bar food and mingled. Fast forward an hour and we find ourselves listening to James talking about the start of Ska Studios, his developer background, overall design philosophy and expressing his love of all things XNA. I chimed in when I could, especially when we got to talking about marketing, PAX planning and all non-game-making topics. We also got around to showing off The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and a bit of ZP2KX (in trailer form), even though the projector was acting up, causing constant frame freezes. (It wasn’t the game, I PROMISE!)

So, our inaugural IGDA meetup turned out to be a blast. We got to meet a lot of cool developer folks, got a chance to talk about our games and got a free dinner (nom!). Good times all around

WP7 In The House
I already mentioned this, but I wanted to re-emphasis that James tossed out his old iPhone and purchased a new Windows Phone 7. This subsequently means that I have a major case cellphone envy. *sigh*

If you are not familiar with Windows Phone 7, all you really need to know is that it’s your long-requested solution to Xbox gaming on the go. Once you sync up your Gamertag with the phone, you can start downloading games from the (currently sparse) library of launch titles. All of the available titles are treated as mobile Xbox LIVE Arcade games which means there are achievements to unlock and plenty of Gamerscore up for grabs. I only got the chance to see ilomilo in action and my initial impressions are that it’s adorable, free and rather pretty looking, especially when viewed on the Samsung Focus’ drop-dead gorgeous Super AMOLED screen.

The take away here is that James has been playing with his fancy new Windows Phone nonstop, tempting me with it’s simplistic UI and now I want one. Maybe I’ll end up snatching one in the near future when there are a few more must-have games on the service, but until then, I wait … in cold, empty, sadness.

That’s It!
Happy day to you and remember; always look both ways.

Good Morning Gato #23 – Pterodactyls, Zombies, and the American Dream

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:26:38 +0000

Changes are taking place here at Ska Studios. There are dev code changes being made. General life changes. The occasional change of previous changes which were made to change something un-changed. Yes sir, all sorts of changes are happening and are topics I’m willing to discuss with you, but only after the break.

Ska Studios Moves (Across The River)
There comes a time in every indie studio’s life when it grows out of its habitat. It’s a natural, normal occurrence that can be stressful and even frightening, but is part of becoming an adult studio. That time has come for Ska Studios, as our entire operation is being packed into cardboard containers, being gently tossed into a U-Haul truck and carted away to a new home. A real home. One that comes complete with an attic, a driveway and even a “backyard paradise.” Or so that’s what the house listing called it.

The move shouldn’t be too difficult seeing as the new homestead is just across the river, a few miles away, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on our relocation effort. For now, I say goodbye old apartment studio and hello new, house-sized version of Ska Studios!

ZP2KX Got Playtested
All last week, a handful of helpful XNA Creator’s Club members downloaded the alpha build of our upcoming Xbox LIVE Indie Game ZP2KX and played the heck out of it. Now, post playtest, is the time where James takes into account all the feedback that he received, fixes a few lingering bugs and gives the entire ZP2KX package a silky smooth spit shine. And while I’m well aware that you’d love to have more information on the game, to know when it’ll make its release and if there will really be pterodactyls included, I can not yet comment. All in time, friends. All in time.

What I will say is that there’s a good chance of another playtest and further development on the title, so its release will not be anytime in the super immediate future. Oh, and yes, there will be actual pterodactyls in the game

A Z0MB1ES “Did You Know?”
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1 is celebrating its birthday on August 16th and just like The Dishwasher earlier in the year, this will be its first birthday EVAR! And here at Ska Studios, we don’t take birthday celebrations lightly, especially first birthdays. That is why we have a few exciting surprises planned. Stay tuned.

A Ska Studios “Goodbye”
We have an apartment to pack up and a stressed Gato to comfort (she does not like moving.) Talk to you next week.