Captcha Invaders is best described (in a Jerry Bruckheimer high-concept movie pitch style) as Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing meets a web site registration form. But in a really fun way, honest guv.
It’s an idea I’ve had kicking around for years, but only got around to implementing when Rob and E4 waved some cash in front of me. As with The Rather Difficult Game, I did the concept/graphics/coding and commissioned music from Tom Kincaid.
I’ve done one more E4 Summer Of Games game that’s awaiting release, and it’s possibly the most insane thing I’ve ever created.
Fri 26th Jun 2009, 4:01pm GMT
Filed under: Announcements, Client-side Coding, Daftness, Games and Multimedia, Music and Audio, Timewasters
Towards the end of last year, Rob Manuel of B3ta fame got in touch asking if I had any Flash game ideas. Given my habit of constantly jotting things down in a huge text file, that’s a bit like standing in front of a firehose and switching it on to see if you can get a sip of water.
Somehow he managed to persuade TV channel E4 to commission three of the daft concepts for their Summer Of Games, and the first to be released is The Rather Difficult Game. Can you herd cats, nail jelly to the wall and put toothpaste back in the tube all at the same time?
I covered everything except for the superb music, which was provided by Tom Kincaid. The other two games will be going live over the next couple of months, and all involve an element of torturous gameplay; I’m not sure what that says about me and/or E4…
Fri 12th Jun 2009, 3:20pm GMT (updated Fri 26th Jun 2009, 4:05pm GMT)
Filed under: Announcements, Client-side Coding, Daftness, Games and Multimedia, Music and Audio, Timewasters
- Equery Direct
- An absolute goldmine of hilariously bizarre/terrible movie pitches.
- Holy Shit, Tiptoes!
- Sometimes a hilariously bizarre/terrible movie pitch actually gets made into a movie.
- Promoting your product or service with banner ads - is it worth it?
- Some interesting data and observations. I’m not surprised the “Earn money in your sleep” instant-signup design did badly, it tries to close the deal too soon and gives off scammy/get-rich-quick vibes.
Jumping Spiders of Oklahoma- Aww, they’re so cute and cuddly… in their own spidery way.
- Interview with Accessible Twitter creator Dennis Lembree
- Twitter’s basic features really shouldn’t require JavaScript, it’s about as simple as a major web app can be and could easily take a progressive enhancement approach.
- Opera Web Standards Curriculum
- How have I not linked to this before? A great set of articles for anyone who’s getting into professional web development.
- Refresh Cannon; Refresh Hero
- Games played simply by loading an image.
- Oberon
- A quirky operating system that “evolved entirely outside of the normal genealogy of user interfaces”.
1066- Yes, it has flaws, and I can’t get multiplayer to work reliably, but I spent ages playing this last week.
- IP address geolocation SQL database
- Free, simple and useful. See also: Announcing GeoPlanet Data
- IE8 and the X-UA-Compatible situation
- What a mess. This is why backwards compatibility sometimes needs to suffer in the short term (especially if there’s still a hangover from you letting your product stagnate for several years) so that problems and complications don’t drag on indefinitely.
- Fonthead
- A foundry that now permits @font-face embedding for all of their fonts. See also: Introducing Typekit
Tue 2nd Jun 2009, 2:54pm GMT
Filed under: Accessibility, Client-side Coding, Daftness, Design, Film and DVD, Games and Multimedia, Marketing and Advertising, Rants and Grumbles, Server-side Coding, Software, Timewasters, Web
The recent death of cinematographer Jack Cardiff was a reminder of some great movies. As well as the obvious Powell and Pressburger projects, I can never resist catching guilty pleasures The Vikings and The Long Ships on TV.
I somehow only got around to seeing the whole of The Red Shoes a few months ago. The overall melodrama didn’t work for me, but the ballet itself (part 1; part 2) in the middle is another matter. It’s an amazing sequence that successfully merges stage with film, and well worth watching on as big a screen as you can find, even if (like me) you have little or no interest in ballet/dance/musicals/theatre.
Cardiff’s later work included Rambo and Conan the Destroyer, making for a somewhat varied obituary reel.
Wed 13th May 2009, 12:09pm GMT
Filed under: Design, Film and DVD, Offline
Years ago I started a day job. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal, but I didn’t want to take anything for granted and so asked the studio manager what the policy was for using the internet at work.
He put his hand on his chin and paused pensively for a second or two before declaring “If you find any good stuff, make sure you share it.”
Thu 23rd Apr 2009, 2:03pm GMT
Filed under: Daftness, Offline
I’ve been following the issue of web font embedding almost as long as I’ve been designing web pages. IE4 introduced Embedded OpenType, but its restrictions and lack of broader browser support held it back (I did use it for a couple of sites a long time ago). More recently, browsers have started adopting @font-face in a way that allows unencumbered embedding of ordinary TrueType files, something most font foundries are rather unhappy about.
In the last few days I’ve read a font-related interview on A List Apart, a type designer’s view of the options, and Mark Pilgrim’s tactful verdict. Like Mark, I’ve been clarifying my thoughts and for me it breaks down into two key aspects.
How do fonts compare with other files on the web?
- Images
- No DRM, and few copy-protection measures applied by sites, yet stock photo libraries are happy to sell images. Some do include invisible watermarks, allowing for easier detection of infringements.
- Audio files
- MP3s etc. can be freely served/linked, but most file-sharing takes place outside of the open web as it’s relatively easy to detect. After wasting years pursuing various DRM schemes, music companies have finally accepted that DRM-free files are the only viable way to compete with copying.
- Video files
- Browsers don’t apply any restrictions, and most Flash-based videos can be downloaded, but the various plugins often use streaming and/or DRM.
- Flash files
- Authors can apply some anti-copying measures (e.g. to make it harder to embed a game in another site), but browsers allow SWFs to be freely downloaded.
- Text content
- Anyone can copy/save ordinary text-based content on the web.
- HTML/CSS/JavaScript
- The very code that constitutes the display layer of the web is wide open. View Source has always been a core feature of web browsers and I don’t know anyone who would want it any other way.
There’s a clear pattern — plugins can and do apply usage restrictions, but browsers don’t. That approach goes all the way back to Tim Berners-Lee and has been a key part of the web’s success.
Are fonts so different from every other file type that they deserve unique ‘protected species’ status? No. I haven’t seen anyone make a decent case for such special treatment.
What effect will embedding have on the market?
Fonts are already widely copied, and (aside from those bundled with software) are only purchased by honest, reputable graphic designers. However honest and reputable the industry may or may not be, it’s a small market, and anyone who wants to get fonts for free can easily do so.
Unrestricted font embedding would certainly lead to many sites using fonts without permission, but their creators wouldn’t be font buyers anyway. By persuading/compelling some of them to buy licences the target market could only grow, and there’s currently zero revenue from web fonts.
Many web designers are itching to spend their clients’ money on good fonts. If a broad selection was available then I’d happily budget something like £50-200 per site for fonts, in the same way I’ll happily spend money on images or sounds where needed.
It’s clear that most browser developers have also concluded that fonts don’t merit unique protections, and DRM-free embedding is growing in support at long last. The font foundries can choose to accept new revenue to offset any negative side-effects, or follow the example of the music companies by wasting time and money while their market dwindles.
I think I’m mostly in agreement with Mark on this one, so, er… Friday the foundries.
Wed 22nd Apr 2009, 11:24am GMT
Filed under: Client-side Coding, Design, Rants and Grumbles, Web
