Ska Studios » PAX

Good Morning Gato #25 – The Third Dimension

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:18:19 +0000

I have a short update for you this week, but only short in word count, not substance. This week, team Ska Studios travels deep into the magical world of the third dimension, gets a headache while doing so and actually builds a giant box. A GIANT BOX!

Three Dee!
Out with 2D and in with 3D. That’s what is taking place at Ska Studios which may seem a bit surprising seeing as all of James’ games lack any of those fancy third dimensional elements. But before I confuse, know that I’m specifically talking about 3D televisions (and not game development.) It’s a new fangled technology where you place a pair of really expensive glasses on your face, sit down in front of a moderately pricey TV (which is also surprisingly thin) and have your eyeballs attacked by 3D images. Images that will probably cause a bit of strain on the viewer’s eyeballs and may cause headaches for the weak. But yeah … back to the story.

The nice folks at Amazon.com speedily shipped a fancy Samsung 3D TV to Ska Studios this week. James and I used said TV to test some “stuff” and we were able to play with the setup by watching Monsters vs. Aliens 3D! Basically, the experience is weird, but in an entertaining “whoa!” kind of way. And if you can get past the eye strain it’s down right awesome.

Of course, we’ll be playing, no “working” with the 3D television some more in the future and will hopefully overcome the eyeball weirdness. If not, we’ll just have to tough it out. Like men.

Giant PAX Box of Shipping Containment
Remember in past posts when I said I would talk about PAX Prime planning? Well, this is one of those times when I do just that by gloating about how proud I am to not only plan a way to ship packages across the country in an organized, yet financially responsible way, but to also BUILD the shipping container.

Basically, I built a giant box out of many, many, many little boxes and, if I do say so myself, it’s a work of cardboard patchwork art. It, along with a few other electronics will make the week long trip across the country to Seattle, at which point everything will find a home in some lonely warehouse storage facility. Then, in September, the custom cardboard container will be lifted, carted and transported to the PAX show floor where we will reunite. It’s a lovely story that will hopefully end in the beautiful cardboard box safely making its way back to New York to live in some sort of new age art museum. One can only dream.

Out
That’s it. Short and sweet. Until next week, be jolly and eat healthy.

Good Morning Gato #24 – Let’s Make Some Art!

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:15:37 +0000

Can you tell the difference? Can you feel the unfamiliarity? Well, you should, because this is the first ever Good Morning Gato post that was typed at the new Ska Studios headquarters! Mark your calendars, for today is a milestone that you will want to share with your kids and future grandbabies.

The New HQ
Tada! Ska Studios has a new home that is still in Schenectady, NY, but now with more of an ownership feel and less of that unstable rental atmosphere. Transporting the entire studio along with all of Silva’s earthly possessions was no easy task, even with a U-Haul truck and a furniture dolly, which we named “Dolly”. Very original, right?

Moving the couch down a flight of stairs nearly crushed Mr. Silva and if it wasn’t for his Gato-like reflexes and high pain tolerance, you may never have got to experience Vampire Smile in its final form. Moving day had other unexpected hurdles including rain, runaway carts, broken boxes, dropped controllers, squished limbs and freaked cats, but those stories are for another day.

Thankfully, Silva and I survived “Operation: Move” and the only lingering effects were aching muscles and the feeling of being shoved through a meat grinder. Head first. With that, I’ll leave you with this artsy photo of Silva plopped down at his new desk setup, emitting that signature creative genius vibe.

Plentiful PAX Promos
By my calculations, PAX Prime 2010 is six weeks away which means our plan’tastic plans are pretty much finalized. The Ska Studios booth is lucky number 3010 and occupies exactly 100 square feet of show floor space. I can also confirm that The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile will be playable on two gaming kiosks, complete with plenty of “mood lighting” and free giveaway items including Vampire Smile branded syringe pens. Yes … bloody red syringe pens of death, promotion and liquid-filled writing goodness. I’ll be chatting your ear off about more PAX goodness in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned.

Cat Adjustment
I would like to wrap up this week’s blog with a shout out to my favorite cat Gato. She has had a rough week of moving related stress, but has adjusted to the changes with cat grace and cat honor. Much love little Gato.

A Bloody Good PAX Prime

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:48:59 +0000

From the looks of it, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is sure to make a bloody good showing at PAX Prime.

Good Morning Gato #22 – We Ran Out of King of the Hill

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:00:34 +0000

This week’s GMGato we talk about zombies (no, not those Z0MB1ES), flying dinosaurs, PAX planning and other randomness. It’s so full of content that it could, technically, count as two weeks of news. But it isn’t. It’s one week, this week and readable in its entirety after the break.

Ska Studios Is Still About The Zombies & Pterodactyls
If you follow James on Twitter (@Jamezila), then you probably spotted his subtle mention that his new Xbox LIVE Indie Games title was making it into playtest. Hours later, James followed up that Tweet with a not so subtle announcement that the game is up for playtesting and is in fact … (pause for effect) … Zombies & Pterodactyls: 20XX or ZP2KX. If that sounds familiar, it should because it is the followup game to ZP2K9 and ZP2K5 before it. Bam!

We’ll have way more ZP2KX information available in the weeks ahead, after the playtest is finished and after everything on our end is solidified and finalized. If you’re itching to play right this moment and have a Creator’s Club membership, you can join in on the ZP2KX playtest fun from now through July 15th via creators.xna.com. If you don’t have a membership and still want to play, don’t worry your little head off. We’ll be sharing more juicy details in the not too distant future.

Let’s Talk PAX
We’re less than two months away from PAX Prime 2010, an event that Ska Studios is referring to as “Operation Show Off Vampire Smile And Rock Seattle, Because We Can.” Currently, we’re in the planning stages which means we are getting the design and logistics worked out in hopes of things going a bit smoother than our first attempt at PAX East. Making planning a bit more difficult this time around is the fact that we have to transport ourselves and all the booth goodies across the country, from New York to Seattle. It’s a challenge, but one we’re going to kick in the face and dominate. In a totally caring and loving way, of course.

Openly Soliciting Netflix Suggestions
It is no secret that Netflix Instant Streaming is one of the cornerstones of Ska Studios’ culture. In a way, Netflix streaming keeps the studio alive by keeping its creative blood pumping and its liver running at optimal performance. It’s hard to explain exactly why Netflix is so important to Ska Studios, so just trust me when I say that it is.

With that, we’re in need of new Netflix content to watch and would like your suggestions for movies or TV shows that can be streamed via the almighty Netflix service. Any and all suggestions are accepted, but not guaranteed to be acknowledged. Ska Studios thanks you.

The PAX East 2010 Wall of Greatness

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:50:51 +0000

In our blog that recapped the team’s PAX East experience, we totally forgot to mention the official Ska Studios PAX East 2010 “Wall of Greatness”. What’s this “Wall” you ask? Well, fine sir or ma’am, the Wall of Greatness was our graffiti-inspired community PAX project where we asked everyone who came by our booth to autograph, leave a note or doodle on our white sheets of tag board. What we didn’t realize was that a large number of the gaming population absolutely LOVES putting Sharpie to paper. Initially we thought our Wall would encompass one sheet, but by the time PAX wrapped, we had four sheets filled with community doodlings.

We made a promise to those who took the time mark our Wall of Greatness that not only would we hang it up at Ska Studios HQ, but that we would post photos of the Wall online. So, below you’ll find the Wall of Greatness (more pages after the break) in all its clickable, hi-res glory. Feel free to navigate through the pages and know that without you we would not have such an absolutely stellar keepsake to decorate Ska Studios.

Click anywhere to embiggen!

Good Morning Gato #9 – Terrifically Marvelous PAX Catchup!

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:00:28 +0000

PAX East 2010 has come to an end and the Ska Studios crew has since rested their tired eyes and recovered to a state of “normal”. As such, last week we were crazy busy doing the whole PAX exhibiting thing, which meant we just didn’t have the time to supply you with a Good Morning Gato post. Our bad. This week we are attempting to make up for our error with a complete recap of the Ska PAX experience which comes with a bonus video of James riding his Razor scooter around the show floor. If that doesn’t make you want to read on, we just aren’t sure what would.

PAX East Travels: The Beginning
As the story goes, last Thursday in the “way too early to wake up” hours of the morning, team Ska Studios packed up the old rental van and traveled east to Boston. The land of beans, the Bruins and that Dane Cook dude. PAX East was our end goal and after about three hours of driving we arrived. After moving all of our supplies into the convention hall we had about two hours to setup before we had to hurry over to Microsoft NERD for James’ speaking engagement. The NERD place was rockin’ and we got to meet all kinds of neat folks, talk business and eat some cold and overly moistened soft pretzels. Come 10PM, we stole someone’s cab (it’s the Ska Studios way) and were dropped off at the hotel. Sleeping followed.

PAX East Travels: The Rest of the Story
Friday morning started promptly at 5:45AM with the ear cringing sound of the alarm clock’s buzzing. Team Ska made its way to the convention center to complete the setup of the booth and make sure everything was in working order. Luckily enough, setup was a breeze and everything came together with no problems (other than one power outage which we blame on our exhibitor neighbors and their power cord antics.) We also learned that using a Razor scooter to get around the convention is the best form of transportation. But more on that later.

At around 2PM, the repetition that exhibitors experience kicked in. It’s a cycle of talking about how freakin’ awesome Charlie Murder and The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile are, selling merch to those interested, complaining that our feet hurt and chatting with all kinds of amazing folks. Mix that all with random evening parties, lack of sleep and consuming massive amounts of oranges and Pop-Tarts and you have PAX East weekend. Not at all bad, it’s actually quite fun.

Sunday came soon enough and PAX East came to an abrupt end. That night we packed up our booth, put our games to sleep and hustled everything down the convention center’s elevator and into the van in less than one hour (something we’re extremely proud of.) Three more hours of driving commenced and we arrived back in upstate New York. Home at last.

All in all, PAX East was a magical, fantastic, uber-great experience for team Ska Studios. We got the chance to chat with our industry friends, meet new people, show off our games and have fun. Thanks to everyone who got the chance to stop by and we can only hope that Ska Studios is able to exhibit at more events in the future.

Razor Riding
As promised, here is a video of the Ska Studios approved PAX East transportation method as demoed by James himself. It’s Razor scooter scooting at its finest!

We Made A List of PAX East Media Coverage

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:12:35 +0000

PAX East 2010 has come to an end and the media gods have already published various impression and preview articles of both The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and Charlie Murder. Being the thoughtful indie folks that we are, we did the exhausting work of wrangling up all the Ska Studios related PAX coverage (thanks Google!) and posted links below. Go ahead, click away and come on back to let us know what you think.

Previews:
Joystiq – Hands-on: The Dishwasher Vampire Smile (XBLA)
“Vampire Smile looks and plays much better than the first.”

Kotaku – The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile Preview: The Machine Girl Cometh
“The visuals are more defined, the special effects flashier …”

IGN – PAX East 10: The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile Hands-on
“Vampire Smile doesn’t just look good for ‘an indie game,’ it looks good. Period.”

Co-Optimus – Ska Studios Shows Off Vampire Smile And Charlie Murder
“Switching weapons on the fly, using the guns and melee weapons seamlessly, and especially activating the powers to destroy nearly everything on the screen worked very, very well.”

The Escapist – PAX East 2010 Hands On: The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile
“When I killed the demo’s boss, an insane amount of blood shot out of its head. I loved it.”

1UP – Dishwasher Vampire Smile Preview
“The edgy art, the gore, and the over-the-top finishes helped me find a reason to smirk today …”

Giant Bomb – Charlie Murder Is A Great Name
“… the game’s art style is what makes Charlie Murder stand out.”

JoBlo – Game On, Bitches: PAX East, Day One
“The graphics in VAMPIRE SMILE are just as gorgeous as its predecessor …”

DIYgamer – The Five Best Things at PAX East
“The Dishwasher is one of the most technically proficient brawlers I’ve ever played, and Vampire Smile seems even more refined.”

Destructoid – Dishwasher: Vampire Smile makes you its pretty princess
“Dishwasher: Vampire Smile isn’t the kind of game you’d want your kid sister playing. It’s as violent as ever …”

Gamers Daily News – Ska Studios (James Silva) Interview

Jonathan Nunez – Interview With James Silva

Full Motion Video:
GameTrailers – Vampire Smile PAX East 10: Demo Gameplay Pt. 1 & 2

GameTrailers – Charlie Murder PAX East 10: Street Fighting Gameplay Pt. 1 & 2

GameVideos – James Silva PAX East 2010 Video Interview

Inside Gaming – Inside Gaming PAX East Coverage: Day 1

Inside Gaming Plus – The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile with James Silva of Ska Studios at PAX East

Awesome Fan Art:
LittleMofreaky’s Charlie Murder Sketch

PAX East Photos of Picture’ness

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:35:19 +0000

Good Morning Gato #8 – Secret Gargoyle Mission Activate

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:07:44 +0000

Another seven days have passed since our last update, which is exactly the number of Gato sleep cycles that have occurred during the week and the number of times Gato walked in front of James’ monitor. In exactly seven days from now, we’ll be in Boston, showing off The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and Charlie Murder and anxiously hoping that you enjoy them as much as we do.

Z0MB1ES SAL3Z GRAFFD
When we announced GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES‘ 200,000 sales milestone a few weeks back, I couldn’t help but satisfy my urge to use the massive amount of spreadsheet data to make graph awesomeness. (It’s true, I have a weird “thing” for making image based representations of data.) So, without further buildup, below is the graph’tastic result of my obsession: Z0MB1ES gross sales from August 2009 through March 2010.

click to embiggen

Poster Pack of Savings
Have you always wanted two of our nifty Ska Studios posters but couldn’t afford the $20 admission fee? Well, sir (or ma’am), you are lucky because we’re celebrating our PAX East festivities with a money-savings poster deal!

Head over to our online store to grab both a Charlie Murder AND Vampire Smile poster for the discounted price of only fifteen smackers. That’s a savings of a Lincoln if you were to buy the posters individually. We’ll have similar offers available at our PAX booth, so if you’re in Boston next week, stop by and see what goodies we have.

PAX Deets
We’ve talked about PAX East for weeks and weeks now, not only because we’re excited to see what gaming goodness will be shown off, but mainly because this is the first expo Ska Studios is exhibiting at. If you will not be attending PAX and really wish that we would stop talking about it, then know that in about a week’s time PAX will have wrapped up and we will have gone back to our normal business. For those who are attending or are interested in our PAX travels, here is a list of information that you need:

PAX East: March 26-28th in Boston at the MCCA. Details here.
Ska Studios’ Booth: Lucky #116
Where Exactly Is The Ska Booth?: Right next to the Boston Indie Showcase area and near’ish EA’s big setup.
What We Have For You: Playable demos of The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and Charlie Murder as well as FREE mini buttons, and merch for sale.
More PAX Coverage: Follow James Silva’s tweets at @Jamezila or Dustin’s tweets at @SuperDunner for random updates and PAX pics. We’ll also be posting booth photos here, on the main blog, because we’re self absorbed like that.

We’ll have an early update next week seeing as we’ll be on the road, driving our rent-a-van to Boston early next Thursday. That’s it for now, Ska out.

Ska’some Deal: Two Posters For $15

Dustin "SuperDunner" — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:38:49 +0000

In honor of Ska Studios’ first PAX East showing, we made our PAX money-saving poster offer available to all online shoppers.

Click over to our online store and you’ll find a brand new Vampire Charlie Poster Pack for the gotta-have-it price of only $15. The poster pack includes one Charlie Murder poster and one Vampire Smile poster for $5 off the price of buying them individually. Remember too that these aren’t some flimsy, cheaply printed posters. These are quality 18″x24″ pieces of art, printed on sturdy paper stock and held to the high Ska Studios standards you expect.

What are you waiting for? Go buy some stuff!