Whirled Space Academy

Posted on 29. Sep, 2009 by admin in That's Not Bunn!e

Galaxeers : Whirled of Possibilities

An infinite Universe offers us infinite possibilities for an infinite variety of lifeforms. The Galaxeer V1.0 avatar is meant to serve as a humble stepping stone towards the goal of an infinitely complex spaceman avatar generator.

My initial concept was something of a Bomberman meets the Power Rangers … but you will quickly see that the Galaxeer has grown quite far from those original roots.

This first rendition of the Galaxeer is far from complete (in my mind), however, the timing of its release made it impossible to explore all the possibilities my imagination had planned for. This could easily be a blessing, as the Galaxeer quickly began to gobble up hours, days, weeks, at a time with the ease of a time vortex.

While the Galaxeer remains incomplete and rough around the edges (in my eyes), I still think owners of the avatar will have a blast exploring all the potential combinations available to them. It’s far from infinite … but what on Earth is?

 

What’s with the Funny Symbols?

You’ll notice every now and then, either while standing still or engaging your weapon, that there are a number of symbols that appear. If it hasn’t become obvious to you, let me quickly summarize.

The initial concept of the Galaxeer had nothing to do with a “game”. However, when Cleaver mentioned it’s “game-like” quality, I quickly began to see the potential for such an avatar. The symbols are a crude representation of how the avatar could possibly interact in this hypothetical game.
(+) A gain of energy. (-) A loss of energy. ($) Currency. (<3) Love. (x) Anti-Matter.

Again, these symbols were pretty much thought up on the spot, with little planning. And yet, while utilizing them into the animations, I began to discover their potential purposes (kind of like the reverse of “planning”).

Rather than health, the Galaxeer uses energy as its life force. Think of it as a battery. When you’re idle, you recharge, if you run around too much (or use jet propulsion), you spend energy. Numerous attacks allow you to take energy from your foes (among other things).

Currency is rather obvious. There would be a number of ways to earn currency: headshots, taunts, destroying entire spawn swarms of space baddies, and so on. You can also dance.

Love is a strange one…and a bit contrived. However, in the world of the Galaxeer game, love would be a means of avoiding enemy attacks. In fact, if you can love an enemy enough, they would in fact join your side (until they inevitably take a lazer for you…and die).

Anti-Matter was also an attempt at adding a pseudo-dimension to the game. Were you able to concentrate enough anti-matter into a foe, you could turn them into a blackhole (portal). After effectively antimaterializing two or more enemies, you would have the ability to hop to different portions of the level. It would be mainly used as a puzzle solving tool.

Let me repeat … there is NO GAME! This was all hypothetical and the avatar was based on!

 

Something looks Weird…

As I mentioned before, I was racing the clock to complete a version of the Galaxeer suitable for the whirled audience…so there are inevitably a number of animation hiccups and other imperfections (some dependant upon a specific combination of pieces). I want these bugs squashed!

If you happen to witness anything strange with this avatar, please do post a comment here with a clear description of the problem. I’ll be sure to patch it up for the next round of Galaxeers.

 

Oh! I Have an Idea!

I always love to implement the ideas of the Whirled community. If you’ve got an idea you’d like to share, please post here (in the form of a comment), rather than sending me an email. Thanks!

Of course, it would be impossible for me to take every suggestion that comes my way, so if I don’t respond to a comment or email (or both), please just assume I’ve read it, appreciate it, and am either working to implement it or not.  These are crazy times, my friends!

 

To Be Continued…

That about wraps it up, but as I mentioned before, I do plan to release an even cleaner, more comprehensive, more action-packed Galaxeer … down the road. If you’re a fan of the Galaxeer and would like to take a look at some of my other work, you can always visit my Whirled profile here.

Take care Galaxeers, it’s a crazy Whirled of possibilities out there!

the best,

M!ck Lauer

Tags: featured