Bill Graner

The Cliffs: A Unity Experiment

Bill — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 07:37:03 +0000

I made this sketch in two nights, as part of a general quest to find a form of game design which is comfortable enough to be a form of play in itself. As it turns out, Unity makes 3d exploration game creation into just such an activity.

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Odontomachus Vignette – Working Journal 1

Bill — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:39:45 +0000

Tonight, I decided to start making an interactive version of this trap jaw ant video.

Some working pictures:

Thesis Journal, Post #2

Bill — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:14:11 +0000

Mighty Thesis Journey!

Bill — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:04:09 +0000

This is a light weight journal to show everyone what the deal is with my thesis! Today’s Entry:

Also, random idea encounter!

What if there were bizarre tunneling beasties who lived with the humans? And they keep on doing their thing, even when you aren’t logged in.

Brand New Colony: Fox Fellowship Proposal

Bill — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:29:31 +0000

I just submitted my proposal for Brand New Colony, for the Fox Fellowship. Download it here.

Ant Antennate Cycle

Bill — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:01:19 +0000

Another antimation.

Thoughts on Gamerism

Bill — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:21:44 +0000

I think the current state of video games is made of on the one hand, the big mainstream makers who evolved out of the original companies, and on the other hand people who were kids when those companies were making games. Now, we find ourselves uniquely literate in the form, and we’ve come of age as designers exactly as a tremendous boom of availability of middleware makes it pretty easy to make complex games for free.

After a few years of returning to our roots and admitting that there was magic in the gaming past which has become very rare, I think it’s natural to feel a little sick of that strictly retro fare, and now we ought to go pretty crazy trying to discover veins of that magic with new designs.

This post was going to be longer originally, but I think it’s done. :)

Thesis Design Journal: Why Ants, All Of A Sudden?

Bill — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:11:57 +0000

Why ants? While reasearching how to get ahold of some ants as reference pets, I realized just how little I know about them. There are sites–– an entire online world of enthusiasts–– about ant keeping, and I haven’t been a part of it. So why am I pursuing this as a thesis topic?

After all, I have plenty of hobbies and passions of my own which I’ve been involved in for years: social dance, musicianship, coffee, filmmaking, and classic video games. Why not do something stemming from those?

Also, I’ve defined some of the characteristics that have been laced throughout my past work: an acknowledgement of the context of the work, generally featuring a ragtag team of creative friends who follow their dreams and do it “their way” –– so why doesn’t any of that apply? After all, I’m currently working with Vaguely Spectacular, which is a sort of Bad News Bears organization, but I continue to think of my ant project as separate from that. Have I been drawn in by the desire to make a masterpiece, and therefor cast it as the work of an individual? I should likely focus instead on the orchestration of the organization to create the piece, as Jamie did with Spectre, since that’s a central passion of mine as well, it turns out (the art of producing).

So, next design brainstorm: Themes or subjects from my past which could win out over ants. And after that: Organizational structures which could win out over the lone wolf paradigm.

Ant Walk Cycle, take 1

Bill — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 06:56:28 +0000

My first stab at an ant walk cycle animation in Maya. :) So far, just the legs.

AntWalk.mov

Seal The Deal

Bill — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:20:01 +0000

The HSI Corporation has just completed the alpha release of their revolutionary Human-Seal Interface. Do you have what it takes to strike a deal with the seals?

Download for Mac and Windows