Bunny Blog

I did some poster art for our friend and colleague Jared Yeager’s new iPhone game (to be released early 2010) called Zombonie.  In case you hadn’t guessed, you ride around on a giant ice-smoothing, death-dealing device, killing zombies.  Good clean fun for the whole family!

Some people say that L.A. is a huge city, but I’d argue that, at least within the Hollywood community, it’s actually a small town.

Take for example a Christmas party I went to a few years back.  It was mostly people I knew, but one guy I ended up talking to turned out to be an exec’s assistant at ABC.  LOST had just hit the scene, and everyone was loving it.  And wondering what the hell was going on.  When this guy opened his mouth, though, you’d have thought that he had just flown over from India and was just making up a story.

Major LOST spoilers after the jump…

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But yeah, that T-shirt is inspired by TRUE EVENTS.

Seriously, though, now that I have Google Wave, what should I do with it?

Just wanted to put up an addendum to my last post on Instant Gratification, as I had the pleasure of experiencing the level-up mechanic I described for Call of Duty, but in real life.

When I recently go SCUBA certified with SSI, I had to smile when I noticed how their system is set up.

Awesome Level System At Work!

SSI smartly designed their log system using the level-up technique I described before.  You start out your training at Level 1.  After completing your Open Water Certification (complete with certification card, and a sticker for your log book!), you become a “Level Two Diver.”  Five more dives and you get another sticker, and you level up to “Level Three.”  It’s a great application for the instant gratification system, because it keeps divers coming back for more.

A typical boat dive consists of two dives.  Two boat dives, and you’re at four dives - only one away from the next level!  Go out one more time, maybe a quick beach dive on the weekend, and you level up.  Awesome!  Rinse your gear, and repeat.  In this way, SSI has added a mechanic to an otherwise mundane process, keeping you renting from SSI shops and making you feel good about it in the process (in addition to the awesomeness that is SCUBA diving to begin with).

Avatar just got all nostalgic on me in an unexpected way.

Sure, I’m a sucker for all things Cameron (yeah, that’s right, my 16th birthday party was a trip to see Titanic. We all dressed up. You wanna make something of it?) but, like everyone else, I’ve been underwhelmed so far. However, I just learned that Wayne Barlowe worked on creature design, and, well, my geekmeter just went off the charts.  You see, for a certain subset of the populace, Barlowe’s Guide To Extraterrestrials was a little handbook of pure awesome.  Published in 1979, it contains Barlowe’s designs for a vast number of creatures from sci-fi literature, complete with write-ups.  My ratty old paperback version has been thumbed through on countless rainy afternoons, and inspired me to read more than one great sci-fi book. In fact, in my head, “Barlowe” was more some mythical chronicler of alien species than a dude who could draw real good.  He felt like my own personal shopkeep in the Neverending Story.  It’s almost funny to think of him having a concept design job on a movie, rather than traversing interspace searching for new species to document.

So way to go, Barlowe.  You’ve suckered me into another story.

I’m going to keep this post short, so that I feel the joy of instant gratification upon completing it, and so that You, the Reader, feel that same joy as well.

I’m always blown away at how effective Instant Gratification is.  I was reminded of this first hand this weekend when playing Call of Duty.

Back in the good-ol’-days of gaming, online multiplayer first person shooters were just that: online first person shooters you could play with other people.  End of story.

While I’m sure Call of Duty is not the first to do this (or maybe they are - I’m not researching this to keep with the Instant Gratification theme, which is journalistically irresponsible of me, but then again, I’m not a journalist), they’ve done a brilliant thing by adding unlockables to the muliplayer version of the game: adding Instant Gratification to an aspect of the game that never had any before (aside from instantly taking out Fred with a bazooka every now and then).  Instead of just playing with your friends, you’re also getting the added game experience of leveling up, as if you were playing the single player version of the game.   Play for a bit, shoot enough dudes in the head, and BAM!  You unlock a laser sight for your sniper rifle.  Brilliant.

Instant gratification is important in gaming because it keeps people coming back for more, and it keeps them locked in while they’re playing.  By keeping the goal JUST out of reach (”If I play one more round, I’ll level up!”), you have a proverbial carrot dangling from the end of the joystick (or controller).

And I was definitely not expecting this level of I.G. in the multiplayer version of Call of Duty.  Not only do you level up, unlocking different styles of play, but you can also level up on specific weapons, unlocking that all-important silencer you need so badly so the baddies don’t see you on their radars.  Between leveling up as a character and leveling up on other aspects of the game, you’re rewarded in nearly every match you play.

Or if not this one, then the next one…

Slasher Films for Slasher Budgets: Making Microbudget Horror

How does the horror genre differ from any other in terms of what you should cut (slice, hack, chop) from your indie budget? Leaders in the indie horror realm spill their guts (and those of their victims) while discussing how to produce successful horror films on limited means. Audiences beware…

We’re prepping a shoot for this weekend that you’ll hear plenty more about soon, but in the meantime you can whet your appetite with this delightful little montage of the sweetest way to die…

I just learned that Tim Burton’s new Alice In Wonderland movie is not a remake, but actually a new story about a 19 year old Alice returning to Wonderland.  This makes me vastly more interested in the movie, in no small part because hey, who doesn’t want to return to the magical worlds of their youth?

Well, lately, that return is common, and it’s not exactly rare to have never left.  It is socially acceptable to be a Star Wars fanatic well into adulthood.  I see a lot of grown men wearing Spider-Man t-shirts.  I know a lot of women that play a lot of Fable II.  Why has our generation refused to give up the trappings of youth?  Because we were warned…

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