Beacon of Guidance

The sharpest pencil in the flying soul factory.

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:05:55 +0300

So. C#. XNA.

It’s going pretty well! I’m not having my usual “OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS IS HORRIBLE PLEASE SOMEONE KILL ME UNTIL I’M DEAD” coding crisis. Stuff is shaping. I’m understanding stuff. I’ve pseudo-coded a little project in my head. It involves shooting mechanics for a top-down semi-shooter-rpg. Exciting stuff. I should also finish my Cake Eating Simulator 2013. It’s gonna be GOTY.

Going to Mikael later today and most probably staying there over night so I won’t be online if someone who expects me to be reads this. There will most probably be lots of incoherent derping involved tonight. But it’s my destiny!

ilenn: Some of them pictures I recall promising. This is what...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:45:48 +0300

Almost the whole band in one picture.

A fine specimen of the elusive species known as the drummer. Very difficult to get good shots of.

Sina likes to scream.

J's "look at all the fucks I give" face.

Another shot of these two, in which we see Tane's face. Sort of. Well, we see that he HAS a face.

Sina, Vilho's nose and J's elbow.

Panu. And Panu's mustache. Also, Mara in the background.

Tane doing the L'Oreal Doom Metal thing. Not quite as epic yet as Andy Craighan, but getting there.

ilenn:

Some of them pictures I recall promising. This is what doom metal looks like on stage just after 2 PM at an outdoor festival. …Yeah.

For those who don’t know and would like to know, Ghost Voyage are: Teppo aka Sina on vocals, Taneli on the green guitar, Panu on the red guitar, Janne on bass, Martin on keyboards & Vilho on drums.

Sauna Open Air

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:12:30 +0300

So yeah. Ghost Voyage had a gig yesterday in Sauna Open Air Metal Festival, here in Tampere. I was so stressed for a long time before the gig but (as expected) it went really well and I feel great about it. Could’ve stayed on stage for longer too :P After the gig I started wondering, what I was so nervous or stressed about. I’m right in my own element when I’m on stage. I even gave an interview together with Taneli and Janne to www.especialbands.com. It’ll probably appear on the site at some point.

I’m writing this at work, way too tired to do anything productive. I was saying that I’ll sleep for a week after the gig, and right now it feels like I really could, and probably should do just that.

Yeah, that’s it. ZZzzzzz.

- Sina

Stress, achievements and whoring.

Thu, 30 May 2013 00:23:00 +0300

I just realised that Sauna Open Air is next week.

*breathes deep*

No panic. No panic. No panic.

SO ANYWAY. I achievement whored the shit out of Sleeping Dogs (a sandbox game based in Hong Kong, check it out.) and now I have completed the game 100%, all achievements (except 4 that are part of the newest DLC which I’m gonna get from a steam sale) and I have absolutely nothing to play…. Or well, I do have, plenty of games, but I just don’t feel like playing -any- of them. I need a new game to achievement whore. Taking suggestions.

Oh, and my “My Dying Bride” shirt arrived today. It’s sweet! Relevant information is amazingly relevant.

Love.

-Sina

Oh yeah, my band released a lyric video few weeks ago, from our...

Sat, 25 May 2013 15:16:52 +0300

Oh yeah, my band released a lyric video few weeks ago, from our upcoming debut album.

The album will come out at some point later this year. We’re also going to make a music video and another lyric video, so it’s going to be sweet! Oh, and we’re playing in Sauna Open Air festival, which is one of the biggest metal festivals in Finland. This gig stresses me out tremendously but I hope it’ll go well.

- Sina

Scratch that

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:31:00 +0300

It’s friday. I realised that I haven’t updated my blog for almost 2 years. I can’t exactly say that I’ve been missing this, but I thought I’d try resurrecting this blog and start writing here regularly. I mean, I don’t expect anyone to read this (except maybe Ilenn), but it could be helpful for myself. My problem with writing a blog is mainly that… Well, who gives a shit? How is anything I write here relevant to anyone except me? :D Maybe I should empty my carecup and just write.

So, if someone has read, or reads the posts below this one, they are old, and things have changed. I’m still in the band, and I still make games, but I make different games right now. I’ll go into detail about those a little later.

So yeah, I don’t really know what else to write for now, and I’m waiting for my friend Mikael to get his head out of his asshole and come play Sins of a Solar Empire with me :( If you don’t know it, it’s a great strategy game…. With spaceships…. And explosions…. And diplomacy.

What more could you want?

- Sina

Oh my fucking god! An update!

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:35:42 +0300

So uh… Hi.

So Fall of Avernon never got finished because of technical bullshit. We did what we could and then threw the game to the bin. I was hoping it could have reached a playable state but alas, there’s only so much you can do when you’re practicing win32 games :D

It was never supposed to be a real game, just a school project to practice stuff. Graphics and design for me, and coding for my friend. Right now however, we’re making the early design for our upcoming game that is supposed to become even commercial.

Besides the game, I am learning C++ so that later I could hopefully ease the massive coding work that the game requires. I am planning on starting to write here again about updates concerning the project. Game engine planning should start soon!

More Fall of Avernon screenshots! The game will be delayed...

Tue, 10 May 2011 12:24:00 +0300

The Temple

Cave system

Hero's boat

Forest lake

More Fall of Avernon screenshots!

The game will be delayed however. Deadline is tomorrow but we have way too much work to do.

It will probably take another few weeks to finish up.

So totally sick again, and bored out of my huge genius mind

Tue, 03 May 2011 13:11:32 +0300

I’m sick. My throat is filled with razorblades and my nose is leaking blue and green stuff.

I am not known for good patience or anything like that. I get angry, fast and often. Even to videogames, if that could be any more pathetic.

Anyway, I’ve been playing Metro 2033 and Mount and Blade Warband and they both annoy the living fuck out of me!

I don’t have anything else to pass the time with… And I’m too tired to do anything creative (pixel graphics, design documents, lyrics, etc).

I have a doctor appointment in several hours and hopefully I’ll get some colorful pills that make me all funky. One can dream I suppose.

Pointless blog post is pointless. yay.

Love

-Sina

Rawr! Varjobaari action.

Tue, 03 May 2011 13:05:59 +0300

Rawr! Varjobaari action.

May Day Mayhem

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 17:25:00 +0300

So. Yesterday Ghost Voyage was gigging in Varjobaari. The gig was motherfucking amazing and I was (only slightly) drunk before the gig and it made it all more fun!

We played:

Journey for Redemption (Intro)

Under the Broken Skies

Blue Fields

Embrace of the Deep

Flames of the Wicked

New song with no name yet

Apocalyptic Ignorance

This was the longest set we have ever played. Over 50 minutes long and the entire bar was in flames and totally digging it. Felt pretty nice.

After the gig, drunken walking across Hervanta, kebab, and sleep.

Today, saturday, people go party. I will go nerdy and play games the entire day. I’ve deserved it and I don’t care what others think. I enjoy it. Bitches.

Next week is portfolio stuff, finishing up animation for Fall of Avernon and probably more pixel art. And of course gaming. Always gaming.

Love

-Sina

Aggressive pixel art

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:48:52 +0300

Hey! This is an update!

It’s been quiet with Fall of Avernon for the past week due to easter and all that shit. I went to see Moonsorrow with friends on friday and it totally rocked my world! And now I’m back to games again.

So I had this amazing idea for some pixel art training and thought I’d make a fully functional tileset for RPG Maker VX. It is rather time consuming and probably pointless as a finished work, but it is great practice. Pixel art is harder than it might first appear. And I don’t know about you, but I fucking love pixel art! It’s awesome! Drawing pixels while listening to Final Fantasy 6 soundtrack, awesomesauce to the max!

np. Nobuo Uematsu - The Wedding <3

Soon I’ll post more updates of Fall of Avernon when I have something new to show.

This is a song composed by me as Fall of Avernon’s...

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:35:00 +0300

This is a song composed by me as Fall of Avernon’s Overland Theme. It will be one of several songs that will be in the game once it’s finished.

Listen and love it! ^_^

These are two screenshots from the work-in-progress isometric...

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:18:00 +0300

FoA Screenshot 1 - Cave Entrance

FoA Screenshot 2 - Destroyed House

These are two screenshots from the work-in-progress isometric RPG Fall of Avernon that I am working on right now.

The graphics and level design are made by me with an editor made by my friend and co-worker.

I also compose all of the game’s music, create all art and design most of the game content.

Fall of Avernon is a school project and will be finished in several weeks (hopefully).

Features:

- Maybe over 1 hour of gameplay!

- Deep and rich storyline!

- Mindblowing turn-based action!

- It’s an RPG!

Hello.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:17:56 +0300

You probably don’t know me so I guess I should say something about myself.

I make games.

I sing in a band.

This blog will be about my game projects as well as about my music projects.

If you care, follow me. If you don’t, then gtfo.

Love

-Sina

Photo by: Heikki Santasalo/heikkisantasalo.com

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:05:01 +0300

Photo by: Heikki Santasalo/heikkisantasalo.com