Blog for Glenn Thomas at GarageGames.com

The WIGI (Women in Games International) fundraiser

Glenn Thomas — 2008-06-19T14:52:16+00:00

The WIGI fundraiser is coming upon us and they are rallying support for their cause. They will be having an eBay "celebrity" auction of collectible items. This will be in conjunction with the Austin Game Conference (or around that time). My source, the wonderful Sande is putting together "packages" which could range from a T-shirt, autographed game, poster, any left over swag, etc. Here's some of the stuff she has acquired so you can get the picture of what type of stuff to offer:

- a couple iPods branded with Big Fish logo
- Civilization game autographed by Sid Meier
- full scholarship for a girl to attend GameCamp
- Mass Effect PC game autographed by Demiurge Studios, Demiurge
Studios T-shirt, Mass Effect Xbox game autographed by Bioware, Mass
Effect poster
- Firefly Studios is expected to contribute Stargate Worlds MMO swag
- Kaos/THQ is contributing autographed Frontlines strategy guide,
autographed Frontlines PC game, autographed collectible tin, Kaos
T-shirt and maybe Xbox version
- European PC version of The Witcher autographed by CDProjekt RED

So, if you've got the connections or would like to support yourself, please lend a hand. Send Sande an e-mail reply at sk8gundy@gmail.com and tell her Glenn sent you or contact me at glenn@nocompstudios.com and I'll set up an arrangement for you.

You can also volunteer and they really depend on volunteers to organize the WIGI community mixers all over the world. The NYC one was the only one on the east coast thus far.

WIGI is holding the fundraiser so as to continue with WIGI programming for next year. We get requests from women all over to have the WIGI mixers and the mini-conferences. The next WIGI Community Mixers for 2008 will be in Seattle and Los Angeles, possibly Austin.

For more information about WIGI and their organization go to www.womeningamesinternational.org and browse the website. It is always good to get involved and network among the game community. It could lead to some big things.

Thanks for reading, contributing, or just stopping by!

Keeping the Independent Spirit Alive.

Glenn Thomas — 2008-05-20T14:00:55+00:00

Some of you know me and some of you don't but for those that don't I'm Glenn and it's nice to meet you. I'm building a company called No Comp Studios and at its roots we want to support independent gaming and the communities that thrive from it. Independent gamers and game developers are the foundation that will allow game development to advance to greater heights, in creativity, variation, entertainment, innovation, and so on so forth. That's what I believe and that's the foundation I'm building my company with.

With that said me and my colleagues believe that Garage Games has a similar goal or spirit and we want to fully support them and their products. We want to develop content to support their products and services. We also want to develop products and services to support the independent gaming community which needs help to release competitive products in short time frames at industry standard. Our goal is to meet if not exceed those standards. With that said we need your help in telling us what you, the independent gamers and developers want. What game genres do you want to develop? What art packs do you desire? What animation types do you need? These and countless other questions we want to provide solutions for.

I currently writing a business plan to develop a small development business dedicated to you. We are also developing a few other things that are secretive at the moment but will change the face of the industry for indies. At the moment we doing research to find out what your desires and needs are and afterwards we keep you updated on how we're doing on the business end. Hopefully this .plan opens the lines of communication between our goals and your needs.

Glenn F. Thomas Jr., Owner
No Comp Studios.

Last Man Standing Behavior Competition - Round 1

Glenn Thomas — 2008-01-09T08:51:50+00:00

Welcome to the first LMS Behavior competition!

The rules are posted in my previous .plan so please see that before asking questions. It is the competitors decision on how many behaviors they create to get the task done. You may utilize any artwork you feel necessary to create your behaviors. For those who don't have the time or the want to create art can utilize the resources that came with the TGB package or the resources found throughout the TDN. Contestants are recommended to utilize the Ninja Image Map from the mini platformer tutorial found in the TDN. The contestant will also be required to set up animations, create a platform for their character, and apply gravitic physics. These instructions can be found in the mini platformer tutorial. With that said welcome to round 1!

Round 1 - Movement Based Behavior(s)

* You will create a behavior that can be attached to an animation that will allow the user to select their
desired keys, joystick, or mouse click for left and right movement and a jump function within the TGB
editor. The user must be able to edit the movement and jumping speed within the TGB editor. The
user must be able to select what animation they want to use when the character moves left, moves
right, jumps, and falls within the TGB editor.

* You will create a behavior or add to your existing behavior the ability to perform a double jump. The
double jump must only function when the user presses the jump button near the peak of the jump
animation. The user must be able to turn the double jumping ability on/off with a check mark box in
the TGB editor.

* You will create a behavior or add to your existing behavior the ability to dash when either direction
has been pressed twice rapidly. There is no requirement for it to call a separate animation for the
dashing ability but the dashing ability must be visibly apparent

* You will create a behavior or add to your existing behavior the ability to mount the camera to an
animation. This behavior must allow the user to set the amount of force from within the TGB editor.

The Extra Credit Tasks for this round are

* You get 1 additional point for using your own art resources in the project (3 minimum)
* You get 1 point for creating your own particles and using within the project (3 minimum)
* You get 1 point for every 3 additional platformer movement type behavior you create that doesn't
exist on the TDN already. (These additional behaviors must stand alone)

This round will last 3 full days. Due to the lateness of this post contestants will have until 12:50 am this Saturday morning to upload their project files. You can either upload your project to a resource or to the TDN. All TDN entries should be on a separate page unlinked to the official Behavior Page. The winners behaviors will be uploaded to the official page at contest close. After which any other unique behaviors can be uploaded to the TDN or existing ones can be updated. Please use this post if you have any questions or concerns.

Judges can still sign up for the contest until round one closes but all contestant entries have closed.

Eliminations will go as follows

Round 1 - 3 contestants will be eliminated

Round 2 - 2 contestants will be eliminated

Round 3 - 2 contestants will be eliminated

Round 4 - 2 contestants will be eliminated

Who will be the Last Man Standing?

Contestants:
1. Phillip OShea
2. Braedon Hinchcliffe
3. Michael Hartlef
4. Saiko
5. Glenn Prince
6. Joe Rossi
7. Shawn Simas
8. J. Alan Atherton
9. Sam M
10. Aun Arinyasa

Judges:
1. Glenn Thomas
2. Donald Harris
3. Ali Tahiri
4. Derek Bronson
5. Mike Lilligreen

***Important Update***

Due to the ability to comprise the contestant entries. Contestants can email me the files for safe keeping until the round is over. Please email files to nocompstudios@onlinefilefolder.com The subject of your email should be "Contest" without the quotes. Contest must be the subject or else the message will not go through. I will give the judges access to the files after the round is over.

Sign Ups Closed - LMS Behavior Contest

Glenn Thomas — 2008-01-07T16:42:53+00:00

Many will enter but only one will exit...

***Update***
Thanks to the great support from Garage Games we now have a prize for the winner and anyone that survives to the final round! The winner will receive $100 off anything in the GG.com store but it get even better, any contestant that makes it to the final round will receive GG T-shirt! For all the people just competing for bragging rights get to have their cake and eat it too! The contest will begin on Wednesday at midnight, so sign-up and have fun!

The contest is a Last Man Standing Behavior Competition that will encompass 4 rounds for a period of two to three weeks. The first three rounds will be 3 days each and the final round will consist of 5 days with 24-48 hours for judging in between each round based upon the amount of competitors that enter. The competition is designed to encourage the creation of Behaviors in TGB but programming in its nature is boolean, so because of that fact the competition will encourage the competitors to use creativity and tie other features of TGB into their submitted projects. There will be several tasks with a certain point value attached to them that will be added to the judges score if you complete one of the extra tasks. The behaviors and the extra tasks will be cohesive and tie in together and the ability to use them for a serious project will be apparent. Creativity is encouraged in this competition and the judges will be able to add one point to one competitor each round for who they believe is the most creative. Judges will rate each competitor from one to ten there behavior and creativity. If the behavior is only partially working 5 points will be deducted from the judges score and if it doesn't work the judges will score you a zero. After reviewing all the competitors they will give an additional point to the most creative behavior package. Once the judges scores are in the additional task scores will be added and eliminations will begin. If by chance a tie still happens we will break a tie by how much their project helps the community. This can be the comments in their code to the extra art asset they contributed in an extra task. Eliminations will cut 50% of the competitors each round. If 50% ever creates a fraction then that fraction is eliminated. A minimum of two competitors will enter the final round if the final round will end in less than 2 people then the percentage to pass will be increased beforehand. Competitors will know the number of competitors to enter each round before the competition begins. Competitors will only know the behavior and extra tasks for the round that they are in. The project for the next round will be posted within six hours of the next round beginning. Difficulty levels will be ramped up per round. The final round will either be innovative or inspire innovation. All projects must be submitted as a .plan resource by 11:59:99 pm PST on the date due. No late entries will be excepted. Contestants must post a complete TGB project file in their .plan or as a resource. Projects must be ready to go so that judges can hit the play button and test your entry. The winners entry will be posted in the TDN for the community to utilize.

Here's some insights of how the rounds will go:

The first Last Man Standing Behavior Competition will be centered around a character in a platformer game. The contestants will use the ninja character from the mini platformer tutorial in the TDN. They will need to think outside the box because the behaviors will focus on a mega man/ super metroid based character. For any TGB trial owners we'll have to provide a copy of the ninja art source in the forums. The rounds will encompass four different areas to make a well rounded character. It will be the competitors decision on how they structure, breakdown, and tackle their assignments. The minimum requirements for each round will be in these four areas. Creativity is encouraged both artistically and with the programming.

Round 1 - Movement

Round 2 - Projectile Handling

Round 3 - Health, Damage, Respawn, Pick-ups, and Status Handling

Round 4 - Special Abilities

There will also be several extra tasks to inspire your creativity and earn bonus points.

Sign ups are open for both judging and competing. Please reply here or in the TGB General Forums to sign up for your desired section or ask any questions you may have.

Judges:
1. Glenn Thomas
2. Donald Harris
3. Ali Tahiri
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Contestants:
1. Phillip OShea
2. Braedon Hinchcliffe
3. Michael Hartlef
4. Saiko
5. Glenn Prince
6. Joe Rossi
7. Shawn Simas
8. J. Alan Atherton
9. Sam M
10. Aun Arinyasak
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

LMS Behavior Contest! Sign Ups Closed

Glenn Thomas — 2008-01-05T01:48:46+00:00

Community Involvement

Glenn Thomas — 2008-01-03T04:27:18+00:00

This is a copy of a recent forum post. I wanna create more community involvement in the forums and help the site help itself grow. It's up to the users to make the torque products more user friendly. I going to start with the TGB but hopefully this becomes popular and we can expand this competition to other formats. Read on for specifics...

I want to start a Last Man Standing competition to create more community involvement. This competition would encourage users to learn the torque behavior system. Future contests will encourage users to learn different systems to get everyone more familiar with all torque systems. All code for the competition will be displayed so people can learn multiple ways of reaching a similar goal.

The contest will be in Last Man Standing format so that the difficulty can be ramped up each round. Rounds would last a week long and contest will last 3-5 rounds depending on community involvement. Each Contest will have an extra credit tasks that can be judged in the case of a tie or tough decision but are not required. The reason behind this is because code is pretty finite it either works or doesn't so the judging can't be solely judged on function. Each extra credit task will have a certain amount points associated with it based on difficulty. There will also be at least one extra credit task that will inspire creativity or innovation just in case of the exceptionally rare tie situation. As far as difficulty, The first task will always be beginner level and ramp up to intermediate, hard, and so on so forth.

Now ideally it would be nice if GG employees could help with the voting and enter the competition themselves. It would show there support to community and that they encourage people to help the selves learn. After the contests are over the whole community benefits and a tutorial can easily be written up for the TDN. I know prizes cost money or sponsorships and sponsorships can have undesired results. So as an alternative to prizes (unless prizes are a valid option) we could design badges that participants and winners could display in their profile. The badges would represent the dedication to the community the participants display and give them a since of accomplishment.

I'd like to kick this off as soon as possible if people are interested because it can be very beneficial. If successful this contest can spread to the other engines and may draw more users to the site, especially if people can link there successes to their personal web pages and online portfolios for the web to see. All I need an interest base and people who want to enter. I'll then set up the first competition. and before we know it we'll on the 12th competition. Please post comments in the TGB Behavior thread or this .plan.

The Risk Taker

Glenn Thomas — 2007-09-10T01:29:55+00:00

What's up Garage Games community! I've finally made the leap in my life and I feel great about it. A short story about me. I always been the guy with so much potential that never meets the expectations that everyone expects of me. It's been this way all my life with teachers, friends, coaches, and family. I've lived a happy life but one I can't extremely call successful. Those are to things I had confused my whole life and the confusion of these two things are what has held me back.

Every time in my life when I could of been successful and failed was do to me being happy or content. Whether it was not reaching my potential as a student, track star, basketball star, artist, soldier, music artist, model, actor, musician, music producer, and now a game designer. That's a long list and that is the very same list of things that I quit on myself in. Each of those positions I had the potential to exceed all of my peers but I didn't. In each of those positions I had peers that looked upon me as a leader. I even knew what I needed to do but didn't for fear or happiness and sometimes even both.

I'm a dreamer, an inspirer, and a muse and when one meets that type of person they think that's great. Why wouldn't they, this type of person will motivate them to be successful. After creating successes out of someone else in everyone of those positions mentioned and not myself you begin to feel like you may never make it. I had to determine what success really was and that led me to questions about life itself. I came to the conclusion that the meaning of life was to be happy. Many people agree with that term but it's way too vague. Bums are happy, criminals are happy, rich people are happy, at some point everyone is happy so does that make them a success at life? No because they're not free, they are restricted by fear in someway or another.

So if happiness isn't the key to success then what is? Is it the absence of fear? Nope, I tried that too and that will get you into more trouble than a the pursuit of happiness. People without fear never assess risks and life now becomes a gamble. You begin to fall further and further into a bottomless pit because your may be coasting at onetime but something always sets you back. Since you don't assess the risks the big ones that are easily avoided hit you and they hit you hard. In three years I've struggled, ruined my credit, moved 5 times, lived in a one bedroom hotel for a month with a family of 5, had 5 cars, lost 4 cars, and exposed my family to it all. I even thought about selling drugs to get by at one time. No fear will lead you into disaster.

So if happiness makes you avoid risks out fear, fear makes you neglect risks, and both make you avoid true success what is a person to do? The answer is to learn to take risks the right way so you can reach success. I sound like one of those late night infomercials right now. Would you by a book for the answer I would give if stopped right now? No need to because this info is free. I would never wish the things I went through on another person and if people deal with worse they really need a potential way out. Back on subject though.

You have to define what success truly is and the answer is simple. To be free to do what you want to do everyday for the rest of your life without restriction. So how do you do that, most say that they need to be filthy rich for it to happen. But look at the rich people, they are so plagued with tiresome schedules, needy fans, loss of privacy and freedom that they can barely find time to do what they want and when they get a chance to do so they have to use secret channels like slaves hiding in the underground railroad. If that's your idea of being a success then go for it you don't even need talent. Just seek attention, now how to command attention, never accept the word "no", never give up, and be ready to bask in the attention. That is what you need to be star.

Maybe big business is the way to success? That's close but most end up a fat person with a Lamborghini (pick your rich person car of choice). They work too hard to have time for the things that make them happy, so they buy a nice car, eat good food, automate their the rest of their life with nannies and such, and neglect their appearance unless it necessary to make more money. They have too much fear to let there business fall that it takes over their life. So that's another dead end but there's a lot of things that are right in this situation. Those are business and automation. The other keys are trust and the ability to give.

Your business must be successful and it must have the ability to be automated with as little of your presence as possible. In order for that to happen you need to have trust in your employees and they must be given big rewards for helping you become successful. The next question is how successful must your business be? Mosts start thinking huge numbers like making millions a year. That mentality is what puts fear in our hearts and we never achieve that much. If you had 10,000 dollars spending money a month would that make you a success in my definition? To help you think about it a Lamborghini is only $2600 a month if you wanted one. A large 7 bedroom house in Phoenix can be mortgaged for under $2100 a month. I haven't even been able to break into half the amount of money you receive in a month.

That's works out to be about 120,000 dollars a year. A successful Indy game makes that in a weekend. I've done my research and those are the numbers and they even get higher using the right portals. With a team of 5 people it takes experienced teams about 3-6 months to finish a well thought out title. If you make two titles a year and they both make 100,000 dollars for the year. That 40,000 dollars a year split even between your teammates. That's enough to get you to quit your job at least and increase the amount of product you release. Small games sell more, because consumers buy on impulse. Can you make a short game that is addictive enough to strike an impulse buy? You never know unless you try.

This is my path and my risk. This is my first step in being a success in life. I don't have all the answers but hopefully I continue to carry the inspiration that makes me a muse. I wanna see you all on the top. I want you all to be a success. I'm currently teaching my daughter what it truly means to be successful and hopefully she'll have her own business before she even finishes school.

This is my first entry I hope you come back to see the many things that go on in both my mind and life.