And so, the time has come!

Quantumkrate Game Competition begins now!

The Theme for Quantumkrate is…

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I heard about MAGFest last year at PAX East while watching a chiptune show. In July, I decided to entice some people into coming with me. The promise — unlimited free gaming, 24 hours a day — was too awesome to resist. Several months later, we arrived in National Harbor, Maryland (off the border of Washington DC) and prepared for a crazy weekend.

The view from the sidewalk.

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New York based developer Quantum Box is looking for 2 modelers very competent with sci-fi ship design and capable of adhering to a strict art direction on an upcoming retro-style scrolling shooter. The modelers will be brought onboard during the pre-production stage to help establish the final art style.

Modelers joining the team now and participating for the duration will receive a percentage of profits from the game upon its release.

Contact me via my dev email dk (at) quantum-box.com regarding this opportunity. You may be required to provide a relevant example of your work.

MAGFest has grown tremendously, now amassing over 4,000 gamers. Will you be there?

From this year forth, the QB team will be working on covering multiple conventions including PAX East and GDC. To start off the year right, we’ll be at MAGFest all this weekend! I’m heading out in a couple of hours to arrive fashionably late, so this post will stay short.

Here is a bit of information about MAGFest from their website:

MAGFest, The Music And Gaming Festival, is an annual event in the Washington D.C./Virginia/Maryland area dedicated to the celebration of video games and video game music. Each year, MAGFest offers 24-hour console, arcade, and PC game rooms, over twelve live video game cover bands, a vendors area, and guest speakers from the video game industry and fan scene. It also features a “JamSpace” available to all attendees for impromptu music performances. Numerous other events are scheduled each day.

What makes MAGFest unique is that it’s an event run by fans for fans. There are no corporate sponsors, no over-crowded showfloors, and no top-secret-behind-closed-doors showings. MAGFest is built from the ground up to be a party-like atmosphere with focus on community and fan creations, which creates an environment that no other expo or convention can ever recreate.

We hope to see you there! We also promise not to spam-post. Tune in for more MAGFest goodness and other fun stuff!

Some of you might be asking “HEY, WHERE’S THE BEER GAME?” Or maybe not. It’s been there for a while, it’s about time we shift it out.

This time we added a new game to our Quantum Game Cube — v1.0.2., Air Drop Museum. A cat that was once in the realm of living is now tied to the museum where it used to walk in, scratch paintings, and leave its mark on the walls before it left. However, The Keeper of the Museum was a warlock and was pretty pissed at this cat pissing on its walls. He bound the cat’s soul to the museum and forced it to work there for the rest of its life. Semi-dead Cat Man now hangs paintings, appreciates art, curates shows, and does various other activities that go on in museums. As long as the Museum needs the cat’s help, his soul will never rest. To ensure that Semi-dead Cat Man will never be freed from its bonds, The Keeper of the Museum became a part of the infamous 1%, and ordered jets to fly over the museum and drop paintings for even years after his death! But the cat doesn’t really mind. Mindlessly putting up artwork isn’t too difficult when you have no legs.

But why can't I hold all these paintings?

Enjoyed that? This story didn’t exist until I wrote it just now. The game was an exercise of rapid design. Just us bros (and cats) sitting together and making a game. Arthur ran a simple idea through Construct 2. Catt drew a cute character. I made random objects, and suddenly we give birth to something. Simple stuff– just an urge to be productive without being overwhelming. In any case, click on our little Quantum Game Cube in the top left corner to play it. It should play in your browser easily, so you have no excuse! It’ll be there until we add something else to it. Keep creating!

I was born a SEGA fan. Even so, Nintendo was often the cause of awe and admiration in my childhood. That love didn’t start with the popular SNES or Game Boy — I was incredibly satisfied with the Genesis and Game Gear. My affair with Nintendo began with the Pokemon TV show and game. I was a young videogame enthusiast and Pokemon was in all the gaming magazines and all over the boob tube. Every generation since the baby boomers has had a gigantic TV-show-turned-game-turned-anything-under-the-sun hit (the order of conversion may differ based on decade in which it was created), and Pokemon fit the bill for mine. It was a nonsensical concept: a ten-year-old running across the country without any adult supervision (unless you count the occasional Oak), trapping big monsters in tiny capsule balls. It was absolutely absurd, but I was young and therefore I loved it. Apparently it was the plague to almost anyone over the age of 13 at the time of release, but I was oblivious to this fact.

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The rain had just let up last Tuesday when I met Jonathan Mercier at Café Bistro BlaBla on Wellington Street in Sherbrooke, Quebec to discuss his game, Aztaka. A confident man with a glimmer in his eye, he greeted me with a smile on his face and a strong handshake. We talked for a few minutes before beginning the interview proper and I learned that he was not unlike many ambitious young developers I know and love.

But unlike many new developers, his beginnings stem back to an industry far more hostile to independent games, during a period in which a renowned publisher was required to make it onto consoles.

Unfortunately, Aztaka has yet to become a profitable game and is suffering from a serious marketing deficit. The game has not yet redeemed its development costs but still stands up very well when compared to recent releases due to its beautiful artwork, professionally recorded soundtrack, and intriguing story based on Aztec myths.

Now let’s get on to the tender bit: my poorly organized interview with Jonathan Mercier, founder of Citeremis and creator of Aztaka. The interview was all in French so I did my best to keep the translation as faithful to the original as I could.

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I had been looking for the best way to play my favorite old games for over a year and my G2 just wasn’t cutting it. Don’t get me wrong; the animation is smooth and the sound is crisp, but I found myself wanting a D-Pad layout and separate battery life consumption.

The Backstory

After subscribing to Wired for a couple of months, I received a catalog from ThinkGeek. Being the nerddorkgeek I am, I found so many things to love. Upon turning one page, everything else in the catalog was no longer interesting.

AN ACTUAL HANDHELD EMULATOR! My jaw dropped and my fingers went tapping away on Facebook: it was almost Christmas and the world needed to know the number-one item on my wishlist. My close friend ordered it shortly after, and time passed.

A lot of time passed and she never went to the post office. I was too busy with finishing my portfolio and working to notice. I didn’t mind that I hadn’t received the gift; it’s merely an object. However, upon graduating I decided to finally treat myself to the handheld emulator of my dreams. I went to the website and looked for the item, but it was sold out. However, the Wiz WAS on sale for $99, so I bit the bullet and spent the cash.

It arrived a few days later, and I’ve been having fun ever since.

The Review Part One - The Body

The front of the Wiz manages to be comfortable, yet filled with buttons.

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Every year, NYU hosts the No Quarter Exhibition where it commissions several game designers to design a game for the exhibition. This year Terry Cavanagh, Ramiro Corbetta, and Charley Miller, designed new games for No Quarter. Luke O’ Connor also had his game exhibited as well, being a game made for the experimental gameplay project earlier in the year. Additionally, the NYC Winnitron in all its glory was there for all to play and admire.

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