I’m working on some pixel art (professionally!) right now and had to clear my mind after a long day of complicated Photoshop layering and animation (seriously, things become a giant mess really quick), the result being this:

Before I go to bed, here’s Lee from The Walking Dead spontaneously pixeled in ~60 seconds (sudden-Lee, if you will): twitter.com/zerstoerer/sta…

— Dominik Johann (@zerstoerer) January 27, 2013

And to spice it up a bit, here’s our hero in a silly run animation:

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!”

I’m currently somewhere in the game’s 4th episode and might add other central characters as soon as I’m done. Quick experiments like this are fun.

Geez, Sunday turned out quite productive. Today, my buddy slash colleague Jan Oelze and I sticked our heads together to work on his little prototype-turned-game Tastatour.

It’s a pretty simple and self-explanatory game about four flashing symbols and hitting the corresponding arrow keys of your keyboard. You’ve got 2 minutes to accumulate as many key strokes as possible (which translate into a higher score) without making a mistake. (Mistakes, by the way, are not only fatal, but also punished by a truly terrible sound).

Anyway, my main job in creating Tastatour was to compose a little soundtrack. Considering the small amount of time I put into it (somewhere between 2 and 3 hours), I’m very pleased with the result:

(Head over to Soundcloud for a download link)

It’s exactly 2 minutes long (excluding the little outro, which is used post-game) and I think I really fluked on its tempo and effect. It grows progressively faster and stressful, which neatly accompanies the game’s flow and drives you to push the envelope in regards of reaction time and risk-taking.

As with 1656, I used Ableton Live and the YMCK Magical 8bit Plug-in along with a bit of EQ tweaks and distortion. For the curious, this is what the track looks like in Live’s arrangement view:

(original size)

Seeing my name on another game’s website makes me insanely proud and I’m amazed at how well people respond to this seemingly simplest of ideas. I probably won’t release my very own game anytime soon, but this one certainly leaves me motivated – and there’s nothing like a good ol’ collaboration. (Hit me up for cheap pixel art and chip music, ha!) Onward!

This is My Farm.

There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My Farm is my best friend. It is my utopia.

I must cherish it as I must cherish my life.

Without me, these adorable characters are useless. Without these characters, I am useless. I must unlock the easy achievements they promise. I must watch these numbers go up. I must come back, as timers run out and their Push Notifications cry out for a gentle tap of my thumb, I must come back. I will.

My Farm and myself know that what counts in this little world is not the crops I harvest, the beasts I breed or the architecture I erect. I know that it is these 99 cents that count. I will pay.

My Farm is unfinished, even as I, because it is my abyss. I will learn it as a project. I will learn its reward structures, its systems and its mathematics, its currencies, real and not-so-real. I will keep My Farm alive and efficient, even as I am alive and efficient. We will become part of each other. We will.

Before the Men, who blessed us with games for people who do not know how to play them, I swear this creed. My Farm and myself are the fertile soil of Facebook shares. We do not wait. We pay up. We trade diamonds for time, money for diamonds, time for money. We are the saviors of Coin Shops.

So be it, until we find completion, until we find salvation, until there is but Purchases. Until there is no game left.