Bunny Blog

A while ago we shot an original pilot with our friends at Social Animal with their revolutionary 360-degree camera rig. Social Animal just got featured on The Web.Files, and mentioned our pilot, “Qualia.” Here’s that episode, which features never-before-seen footage of 360-degree Qualia! You are going to love it. It’s probably going to change your life. For the better. Like the invention of cutlery.

This makes the second time we’ve been featured on the Web.Files. Congrats to Sandra Payne, Perry Payne,  and Krystyn Burtt for creating such a great, quality show.

Something tells me that you’d like to win a $100 Best Buy gift card from your friends at Psychic Bunny.

But, how!?

During the month of June, spread the word about the Psychic Bunny Newsletter! When your friends and associates sign up here, make sure they put your name in the referral field.  The person with the most referrals wins.

Why would my friends want to subscribe to the Psychic Bunny Newsletter?

Our newsletter is unconventional and fun.  AND one randomly drawn new June subscriber will WIN a $50 Best Buy gift card!  Aw, isn’t love grand?

Drawing by Andrew Chittenden

More details:

New subscribers must survive one email newsletter without unsubscribing.  You wouldn’t want to make Rick sad, would you?  You may sign up your friends, but not without their consent.  The minimum number of referrals required to be eligible to win is 10.  We will contact both winners and post their names on this very blog.  The contest ends at midnight Pacific Standard Time on June 30, 2010.

Hey wait, what if I’m not a subscriber…can I win both prizes?

Goodness, someone likes prizes.  Yes, you sure can!  The drawing for the $50 Best Buy gift card is random, so it is indeed possible.

Can I re-post this?

Yes please!

Do you like having imaginary conversations with yourself?

Ok, I think that I’ve answered quite enough questions for now.  If there are further questions you can email me at jazz [at] psychicbunny.com.

There were a ton of great games at the GDC Independent Games Festival this year, and some of the very best in my opinion were actually in the student category. Of course I’d be remiss in mentioning two that I’m in love with from the ol’ alma mater, Spectre and Paper Cakes, but I was also deeply captivated by the sublime pleasure of playing the opening levels of this game:

Continuity is part of that sweet new trend of reimagined platformers that does a very clever thing with a game format that we all grew up on by marrying it to another familiar mechanic that I’ve never seen combined in this way before. You’ll see what I mean. Go play.

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…

(more…)

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…