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Author: E. Zachary Knight

I have been an avid gamer since I was a young kid playing Pong at my Great Grandmother's house. I have been interested in game development since My TI-99. I currently work to promote the work of the creative people in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma’s Congressmen Join Chorus Blaming Games For Mass Shootings

Published February 27, 2018 by E. Zachary Knight

Represenatives Russell and Mullin Of OklahomaIt seems like it has been years since video games have been blamed for violence and tragedies. Since the 90s, video games had been under fire for causing youth violence. This swelling of outrage became a tumult after Columbine and continued to rise each time a major shooting involving a youth happened after that. Laws had been passed trying to ban the sale of violent games to minors in several states and each of those laws had been struck down by the courts, ending with the US Supreme Court ruling that video games are protected speech and can’t be regulated in such a manner.

There were plenty of good things to come from all this commotion though. The ESRB rating system was a direct result of this outrage and has been used effectively for years by console manufacturers to give parents control over what games their children can play. It resulted in video game retailers denying the sale of M rated games to minors nearly 90% of the time, even while movie theaters and movie retailers retained a terrible track record for R rated movies.

After the Supreme Court weighed in on the issue, it had seemed that things were pretty settled. Only the very fringes of policy wonks would blame games after a tragedy since then. That is until the Parkland, Florida shooting. It isn’t clear what made this particular tragedy different from those that came before it, but it sparked an outcry of blame against violent movies and games. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin blames violence in movies and games for school shootings. Kentucky suffered its own school shooting in January. In Rhode Island, State Representative Nardolillo plans to introduce a bill to tax M rated games an additional 10% to fund mental health programs in schools. Even President Donald Trump called out violence in games and movies calling for a “rating system for that.”

Not to be left out of the headlines, even Oklahoma’s congressmen are weighing in and blaming games for this violence. NewsOK is reporting that Representatives Mullin and Russell have both put the blame on video games for the recent tragedies.

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The Lost Cave Of The Ozarks Is A Platforming Dream On Kickstarter Now

Published February 26, 2018 by E. Zachary Knight

Lost Cave Of The Ozarks by Rubber GardenerA couple of weeks ago, Rubber Gardener, Adam Miller, launched his Kickstarter for The Lost Cave of the Ozarks. Lost Cave was immediately eye catching thanks to the quality of the art. Each new bit of art, screenshot, gif, and gameplay video drew me in to wanting to see more. I found it hard not to back this project based on the art alone.

To make the game even more irresistible, Rubber Gardener released a demo of the first section of the game on itch.io and GameJolt. This demo provides players an introduction to the game’s overarching story, the tutorial and a couple of levels that show off the puzzle platforming the game is built around. Using a few simple actions, such as a jump, sprint, climb, and attack you explore and advance in the game.

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After Delays And Power Outages, Super! Bitcon 2017 Was A Huge Hit

Published May 12, 2017 by E. Zachary Knight

Retro Gamers Society Presents: Super! BitConThe last weekend of was the third annual retro gaming event, Super! Bitcon. This event is organized by the Oklahoma Retro Gaming Society and has become a staple of the Oklahoma gaming scene since its first year. We attended the first S!BC in 2015, sadly missed the 2016 one, but we made sure to be there for 2017. This year’s event was a great success despite some major setbacks.

The first day was the hardest. The night before S!BC opened its doors, a massive wind storm, or F1 tornado depending on who you ask, swept through the Oklahoma Fair Grounds knocking over trees, the Archway, and powerlines. This last one was the real kicker. The power was completely out the entire first day, resulting in a delayed opening and then finally a full cancellation of the first day of the event. No one was happy to make that decision, but it had to be done. Access to the fair grounds was limited and live powerlines made certain areas dangerous. On top of that, the exhibition halls were in near total darkness.

Thankfully, Main Event, the location that was host to the Saturday after party, gave S!BC extended time and more room to host a larger gathering than planned. They were able to host their first day panels and games at Main Event.

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Update: Prismic Studios Robbed; Guitars, Bass, And More Stolen

Published December 15, 2016 by E. Zachary Knight

These two men broke into Prismic Studios and stole guitars and more.

UPDATE: One of the men who broke into Prismic Studios has been arrested and is awaiting trial. In addition, the stolen guitars have been found and will be returned to owner Dano after the conclusion of the trial.

Thank you everyone for your support, kind words, and sharing our posts. The police now have the names of both the burglars, and found both the guitars!! They will have to sit in the evidence room for up to an year, so they won’t be coming back to us anytime soon, but we are very happy the guitars were found and are in a safe place.

The security upgrade is done, and now we can monitor the studio from our cellphone!!

Through this potentially terrible incident we were able to feel the community’s love and come out even stronger than before! Thank you so much!!!

Original post: Earlier this week, Prismic Studios was broken into by two men. These two stole a Martin acoustic guitar and a German made Warwick Bass among other items. In a comment made on their official Facebook page, they wrote the following:

Do you recognize these two people? They broke into our studio two nights ago and stole my guitars and more!!
Share with your friends in Okc, please!
We teach kids how to play music here because we want to make the world a better place, but unfortunately scumbags sometimes come along and try to ruin our happiness, but if we stick together, they can’t!!
So please, If you have any information please contact the Oklahoma City Police Department!!
Thank you!

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From Soy Sauce Launches Glass Wing Retold Crowdfunding Campaign

Published October 24, 2016 by E. Zachary Knight

Glass Wing Retold by From Soy Sauce

Last year, From Soy Sauce successfully launched Glass Wing on Steam. The game has been big hit for the indie studio. That game and their others had been developed with Gamemaker but they had hit a wall in its capabilities and reach. For the last year, From Soy Sauce has been building their skill set in Unity game development in order to bring better games to their fans. This work has culminated in the launch of the Glass Wing Retold IndieGogo campaign.

GWR is a rebuild of the orignal game from the ground up including all new art assets, new gameplay, and new level design.

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Game Preview: Minima Brings Fantasy Adventure Puzzles To Life

Published October 5, 2016 by E. Zachary Knight

Minima by RocketDadRocketDad developers Josh Maggard and Denver Poteet are at it again making a charming and fun game, with sounds provided by Tyler Collins. These guys have made several great games, including Game Jam classics such as Space Driller and Now You See Me. While these guys are very active on Game Jams, they are also hard at work making full featured games. Their latest game, Minima, shows a lot of promise even in its early alpha state.

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Update:Two Members Of From Soy Sauce Launch Own Game Studio; Announce New Game

Published August 29, 2016 by E. Zachary Knight

The Royal SkiesLast week was an eventful week for members of From Soy Sauce. Two of the three brothers, Kevin “Shade the Shark” Higuchi and Ken “Scary Sheet Ghost” Higuchi, have left From Soy Sauce to form their own game studio The Royal Skies.

Ken and Kevin  explain why they made this decision.

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Steelehouse and Mister Anderson Announce Phinnegan’s Factory For HTC Vive

Published July 26, 2016 by E. Zachary Knight

Phinnegan's Factory by Mister AndersonOver the weekend, Steelehouse Productions announced Phinnegan’s Factory an HTV Vive VR game being developed by Steelehouse subsidiary Mister Anderson. Phinnegan’s will be launching on Steam Early Access later this summer with planned updates for Fall and Winter this year as well.

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Howler.js Hits Version 2.0 As It Takes Over Web Audio

Published July 20, 2016 by E. Zachary Knight

Howler.js by Goldfire StudiosThree years ago, while Goldfire Studios was working on Casino RPG, they found the web audio options available to them at the time to be sorely lacking. What did they do? They took the initiative and created an audio API that allowed them to easily support audio on multiple web browsers. Howler.js was born.

After three years, Howler.js is now at version 2.0 and is widely used around the internet, including by some of the largest companies in the world.

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