I have an new portfolio site! It’s much more up to date than this little old blog, and has cool new projects on it. Check it out:
🌻🌻🌻
http://chaim.io
Category: Uncategorized
Earth, A Primer
So Earth Primer, which used to be “GeoBook,” is nearing completion! It’s been a long journey. I won’t say much about it here because I’ve been working very hard on a web page and trailer (www.earthprimer.com). It should be coming out very soon, within the next month or so. As soon as the launch date is fixed I’ll post an update.
[Update: Earth Primer is out. App Store link.]
Geology: An Interactive Primer
Jan. 2015 update: See the launch trailer and learn more at EarthPrimer.com.
Last week I wrapped up my submission to IndieCade. It’s not actually a game—like much of the stuff I find fascinating these days—and this requires some explanation. IndieCade, you might be surprised to learn (I was), isn’t just for games. They want everything interactive, awesome, and independent.
The story of how I got here is kind of long and torturous, but I’ll give you the short version. I was working for a couple years on a project called Pocket Kingdom, that had a people simulator, world simulation, world editing tools, multiplayer—all kinds of ambitious zaniness, when I finally understood that despite having some awesome prototypes, was much more than a single indie developer could pull off. “This project looks amazing, but I want you to finish it while you’re still young,” was Rod Humble‘s response to a (hugely scoped) demo I gave to a San Francisco game design brain trust. What I had was something like 10 indie projects in one, and I started to calve off smaller projects from this bigger one.
Magic Mailbox
I recently helped my friend Lea Redmond over at Leafcutter Designs make a cute little stop motion animation for her World’s Tiniest Post Service.
I don’t think the promotion is still available, but the tiny letters and packages, not to mention many other goodies, are still available over at her site.
We began by making a test animation of a self-assembling mailbox, to get a feel for what was possible. For the final shoot, we used an ancient web cam, multiple lamps to control the lighting, and staged part of Lea’s studio as a backdrop. Below is an image of the final rig and stage we used for the animation. Making the animation was loads of fun!
A New Hope
It’s time. The server hosting my old web site melted. My old web page was created around 2001, and it limped along with whatever patchy attention I would give it. The photograph of me is the same one on my passport. I get long looks when passing through border control. I’m far more handsome now, have 95% less hair, and infinitely more sideburns.
And so, I have decided to join the future. 2011, to be precise. My old web site made of yarn, html, php, and a hot glue gun has been replaced with a blog on a new host. It’s the future. I am in it. A handful of years late, but here nonetheless.
What is the plan, you ask?
My old site is here: levitylab.com/cog.
This shmancy new blog will overflow with goodness. Right now, it is ringing with silence, emptiness, and stillness. Consider it a meditation. A frog sleeps beside a pool, waiting for the dawn. Crickets sleep.
I will slowly repopulate this blog with software, essays, and information about new projects. Some of the materials will be familiar, but the commentary will not. Some of it will be dazzlingly new. Consider bringing sunglasses. But please, let’s be friends. If the growing cacophony of material is not to your liking, then we should talk. We could start a blog dedicated to emptiness, a void within the roiling noise of the internet, a refuge for peace.