So, I've created a mini interactive story for a Game Jam using the app Spinoff! It's called "Under Water" and it's my first ever submission to a game jam. 

If you do happen to play it, and happen to have an itch account, I would be grateful for some positive ratings as we are currently in the "public voting" phase. :)

As a side note: this was incredibly fun to make; I've always been interested in "interactive fiction" and have a dream to create my own game one day, so, here's me "starting small".
​

I downloaded Aseprite the other day to start experimenting further with Pixel art. I posted back in November about how I started experimenting with Pixel Art (take a look here) and today I watched a brilliant 30 minute tutorial by AdamCYounis on YouTube about how to get started with the Aseprite tool, and voila, below you can find my first animated scene. I'm quite pleased with it to be honest, as a starting point. It was fun either way :)

I don't know how I randomly ended up with the idea of an apple falling from a tree on a mountain near some crows. But hey! That's what's half the fun of experimenting with new ways of creativity. Just wanted to share an update!

Let me know what you think; and if you have any tips on your journey as a pixel artist, would love to hear them!

I'm just here to say, I made this recipe by Richa; and it was really simple and quite tasty. You should definitely check it out.

Voila: 

So, I made my very first Bitsy "game".

I also decided to publish it on itch.io, just because, why not? Check it out here.

Disclaimer Alert: This was more of an experimentation to see what I could or could not do on Bitsy, but I had lots of fun making it. 

I recently read Zen: The Art of Simple Living by Shunmyō Masuno who is a zen monk and also a Japanese zen garden designer. With its simple advice, calming and gorgeous artwork, this book inspired me to take action in certain areas of my life where I feel I was unable to for a while. 

Of course, living with the harsh realities of the Coronavirus pandemic for over the past 2 years has truly changed "our ways", and sometimes I feel it's important to be reminded about the importance of stillness and reflection.

After reading this book, I watched Masuno's talk about The Art and Philosophy of Zen Garden Design. After researching a little bit more, I decided I wanted to give it a go and try my very own mini Zen garden at home. I dove into the world of YouTube and watched the following videos as well: 

- Building a Zen Garden diorama
​- The basics of the Zen Garden
- ASMR Japanese Zen Garden

Today ıI finally got around to buying some white sand from a local shop. I already had stones and shells from before (I tend to collect them from wherever I go). I first placed the sand, I tried to even it out as much as possible. I then added the stones, and other items as I saw fit, and finally raked the sand. I created a mini DIY rake out of tape and toothpicks, but I'm pretty sure I can make a more decent one for next time (see image below). Mind you, it did the job quite well. 

This was incredibly relaxing, and it then lead me to go out and clean up my balcony area and add stones and shells across the soil as well - I have a cat, so it's quite hard to keep anything planted there (middle photo above). All in all, it's been a relaxing few hours, and I do indeed feel grateful for being alive.

"Each day is not the same" - Masuno

Playlist listened to whilst doing all of the above.

It's been a very long time since I've written in my blog.  I decided that today was the day. 

Since playing The Secret of Monkey Island when ıI was 10-11 years old, I have loved pixel art. Recently I watched "The Making of Monkey Island" and loved learning about dithering on this documentary. Listen to Mark Ferrari himself who explains it a lot better than how I would. But basically, due to limitations of pixels and colour palettes, artists were unable to replicate their art onto computers. With 8x8 or 16x6 pixel limitations, "dithering" helped create an illusion of light/shadowing and created a much richer scenery and artwork. 

Anyway, I've recently started having the idea of creating my own point and click adventure game. During Covid, I came across the Point and Click Devlog by Adam Bunker and have also joined its wonderful Discord community. I've also started following a lot more indie developers on twitters and concept artists too. Throughout this process, I realised that I also want to experiment with pixel art and artwork. That brings me to today. Yesterday I came across @Sadface_RL's tutorial posts on some basics of pixel art. And, I gave it a go! 

Below you can see my very first "brick" attempt (from this tutorial) and then a house (from this tutorial). I made it all using Pixil Art's mobile app but I'm sure this would be a lot easier and more fun on a - which I will try as soon as I get the chance. 

It's very satisfying seeing a bit of effort turn into a crumbling brick and a tiny cozy home :) I look forward to turning this into a potential hobby. We shall see!

Dear lovers of point and click adventure games,

I just finished this game 'Life is Strange' I found on steam; the description was; 'life Is Strange is a five part episodic game that sets out to revolutionise story based choice and consequence games by allowing the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.' - so I thought I would give it a shot.

Seriously, it has been one of the BEST games I have ever played. Good graphics, great soundtrack, and amazing twists and turns. Starts off in a college where you play the character of Max who wants to become a photographer. At first when I started playing the game thought it was incredibly 'teenagery' and thought 'oh man why did I download this' but I stuck through with and it became incredibly dark but in the best possible way ever.

Edit: (also) --> ESRB Rating: MATURE with Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Recommended!!

​Check it out.

This will be a constantly updated list of websites / initiatives / terms / ideas I find online that can help with questions : 'What can I do to be more sustainable and ethical?'. Don't panic, baby steps are the way forward.

1. Ethical Banking? - Why not try move your money from banks that rule the world and make risky investments to banks that invest in social causes, charities and social businesses?

Here is one option: Charity Bank.

2. Live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle!

3. Alternative ways of consuming? Here is a very small Wikihoıw list of where to begin.

4. Join local parties / initiatives or communities that promote positive social change!

5. Freecycle / Upcycle / Share tools and resources.


​That's it for now. =) 

It has been some of the strangest few days of my life. From hearing F16 jets flyby at night and explosions shaking the ground whilst hiding out in friends houses after hearing of a coup; knowing there are tanks streets below as you struggle to comprehend what is going on. Friends joining lines and lines of people at ATM machines, spaghetti running out at the markets as no one truly knows how long they are going to be trapped inside.
​
Thankfully, we are now not trapped; the initial chaos from Friday night is over. Instead of analysing the situation that ensued afterwards and what is going on now (as it isn't that clear); I would just like to say that it is very easy to see how a country that is relatively stable can disintegrate into a situation of potential war, complete terror and instability overnight.

This region of the world has been played at for decades, perhaps even centuries. We are indeed pieces on a chess board. Worldwide economic and social domination by a few very rich and greedy people is the reason why thousands of children die of starvation everyday, why approx 1 billion learn to live on less than 1 dollar a day, why some countries are completely sold to foreign corporations etc. etc. etc.

I'm tired of asking questions such as;
Why the f* are there permanent security council members ? 
Why does one family (Rothschild) own nearly all central banks worldwide?
Why do we have to work to make money to pay our electricity and water bills and buy food when these things would be very simply provided if resource distribution was in place. 
etc. etc. etc.

I feel I am living as a hypocrite myself. We always discuss of conscious consumption. Yes, I am better than I used to be at being careful regarding what and how I consume but I truly feel that there needs to be some sort of radical dissent in terms of this. This chaos and extremism ensuing across the region, Europe and the world is not just going to simply disappear. It will get worst if we do not act. And if it is indeed the economy that makes the world go round. That is where we must hit the hardest. How exactly, I'm not entirely sure.

(Edit/Addition: Oh, and to fight extremism we must indeed remember that there are chilrden being brain-washed into believing extremist views. We can fight that by equally making as compelling counter articles/videos. These people (if not already taken away and being trained on the ground) are influenced by their solitary lonely lives, the bullshit environment they are in and mostly by what they are reading and watching on the internet). We must tell young vulnerable children and young people: THERE IS another way.)

Technology, hacking, whistle-blowing- this has lead to more transparency but has also caused a lot of trouble at other times. We must be smart. Cyber-security and cyber warfare is one of the greatest threats that face the planet at the moment in terms of keeping 'the system' alive and well.

The reason we are governed, the reason we value money is only because we allow ourselves to be government, because we 'trust' money and put value onto it ourselves. We in our lives our doing as much as we can I can see that. There is too much information, overwhelming misinformation, our brains are trying to compute all of this as well as our emotions of what is going on the world constantly. It is too much to take.

We then, of course need to to calm and relax, meditate, laugh with friends, make art, music, love. Cook. Feel alive. There are different ways of radical dissent - truly living and believing in the way you believe as a form of resistance. Living 'off grid'. Choosing to live alternatively, sharing, free-cycling, networking, truly seeing the beautiful different colours of the people and the world we live in.

A lot of us (including myself) feel paralyzed about 'what exactly to do'. We don't trust political systems, we choose systems that are not necessarily hierarchical to be a part of ; the vast consciousness of the internet is a part of this . We share, we are in power, we can reach billions at a click. What we also need is focus and discipline. We cannot do everything. Which is why we collaborate and we focus. We do indeed need to be brave. Bravery and stupidity also can be a very thin line when people wait outside your house ready to beat you up.

I'm babbling but I need to . The point is, friends, it is time for some more radical thought and action. (When I say radical I do not mean let's go and wreck the place). I mean - time to be smart with our emotions, thoughts, our environment, our awareness, time to shake off the hopelessness, time to embrace that we are together, time to accept the horror that surrounds us, time to see we must do all we can to stop this. Time to learn to protect ourselves online, physically, mentally. Time to be prepared for everything; to be 'safer' rather than 'sorry'.

We have to keep doing what we have been doing; sharing info etc. We need to 'think globally, act locally', we need to make this fight not against something or another- we must fight for 'humanity' ; for all beings on this planet. If we continue to find this in ourselves, that is the most important step. The rest comes naturally.

Let's not let these assholes rule the planet. At some point, 'whatever it takes' will be what we are saying to one another.
​
Enough is enough.

Peace and Love.

You know things are messed up when you start planning war and escape scenarios with your friends with alternative plot twists and endings.
The reality is I just think us human beings never really allow ourselves to feel the horrors of war / systematic violence we see in the world. We truly don't want to face our own demons and the demons of society. Which is understandable - we have the day to day to deal with. But when death knocks on your door a few times and you realise more and more that you are alive by chance - something weird clicks in the brain and says....hang on a minute.

Until we face ourselves and the horrors of the world TRULY and try to deal with our own principles on a fundamental level this horror is going to continue all across the globe. With rapid increase of technology, scarcity of resources things are only going to get scarier unless mass conscious revolution takes place.

I do not know what will happen in all the hundreds of other countries around the world where people die everyday because of money mania and greed. This in reality is not a local / country issue - this is a global issue. The s*** has literally hit the fan - had hit the fan looooong time ago. We are literally trying to scrape the remnants of what dignity we have as human beings and turn it into a much better place to live for ourselves and future beings on this planet.

People are dying everyday. Because of extremism, corruption, hate - all stemming from fear. We really must stop the cynicism, stop the hopelessness, learn to face the reality of what  is going on head on, bite the bullet, and try our best to PROVE love exists in the world and it is in reality the ONLY thing that is going to change anything. 

Just let that sink in for a while. This isn't some hippie dippie babble. What has ever changed our societies for the 'better' in the world? Why do we have a sense of what is right and wrong? Why is it that love is incredibly powerful? Why is it the same reason that fear is the same? How do sub-cultures that change society come about? Why? How? How do they spread? Why is art, music, literature so important in this process? Why must we reject apathy, laziness, cynicism?

Because the camel's back has already broken. Just accepting that 'the world is crap, we are gonna die anyway' is a poor excuse to me.

These feelings are a lot more prominent these days when you keep receiving 'threats' to your cities in forms of various violent acts - be it bombing, street clashes etc. etc.
​
I'm not saying go and be Gandhi.

All I am saying is think about yourself, learn to love yourself (yes this is LEARNT! as we are not taught about any sort of way to deal with our emotions in life and we focus on the brain and logic and producing - not being compassionate and caring), then you will love others more - so on so forth. 

Do what you love, do it with passion.
Spread the love. It is MUCH needed. ​

I beg you.

“Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations.” 
― Paramahansa Yogananda

With love,
Melissa