A WEEK IN DANK ART
It was another busy week for almost everyone including myself. BBH only had his Roulette stream on Monday as to prepare for this arcade competition he was traveling to on the weekend and announced that he wouldn’t be streaming anything later on in the week. This week was also special for those in the arcade community because Twitch was hosting these players on the main page to help promote the Arcade Superplay event coming up on October 21, 22 and 23rd. It was an amazing chance to showcase a glimpse of the arcade community to the rest of the Twitch community and a great way to let people know about the event. There were points where there were over 1,000 viewers watching so it was a very exciting and nervous stream. Probably the hardest thing to do when you are featured on the main page of Twitch is to be doing something like a random roulette stream of arcade games most people haven’t heard of, but I felt it worked out great and people seemed to have enjoyed the broadcast. I was excited because a Street Fighter game came up and I got a chance to re-visit those characters again with the Dank Art.
Almost all the people I follow in the twitch arcade scene were featured on the main page that week but with time restrictions and working all my jobs I could only catch a few. I was able to catch when Funkdoc was on the main page and captured a few of the games he will be playing in the Superplay. I’m a huge fan of Knuckle Bash as some of my first incarnations of Dank Art feature characters from this obscure wrestling arcade game so I have to give some Elvis love whenever that game is playing. As soon as FD was finished, Macaw started up a stream playing a Castlevainia style game for the PC 98 called Rusty that featured this cute looking green haired anime girl with a whole cast of strange and crazy monsters to fight. The neat thing about these obscure games is it’s a great chance to see something you wouldn’t regularly.
Aquas had a few major changes this week- if you have been following him you’ll notice his page is coming up blank if you are typing in “Aquas_”. That’s because he recently got Twitch to change his nickname to just “Aquas” without the “_” at the end, so update your bookmarks. I’m super excited to see Aquas do his Ghouls n Ghosts run this weekend as it’s probably my most fave game he plays next to Batrider. He’s come a long way with his games and it’s really rewarding to see a good friend take something to such an intense level of skill over the years.
There was also more bird fan service for Macaw who seems to be back doing streams regularly. Part of the problem with Australia is that it’s so far away and the internet isn’t as great, but when it works he’s always got a few cool gems to share in his streams. Area 88, or as I knew it as UN Squadron on the SNES, is another cool game that I think almost everyone I knew was addicted to when we were kids. I own the game myself for SNES but I need to get more hours into it. That’s the great thing about watching others play as you just want to play the game yourself and soon other people are streaming all these neat obscure games again and sharing them with an audience.
ARCADE SUPERPLAY THIS WEEKEND
Originally I was just going to sit at home and watch but I had a chance to get a really cheap flight so I pulled a few favours and now I’m going. I hope to be able to do some live Dank Art when I am there and help cheer on my friends in the arcade community when they are playing. All the money raised is going to an amazing cause, Save the Children so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t make a donation. Make sure you are watching this weekend and look for my Dank Art popping up on Twitter while it’s happening!
It’s also my first time visiting San Fransisco though I am unsure if I will have enough time to visit everything people have been telling me to go see. I will be taking my camera to document the event and I will be posting the photos on this blog so you’ll all get a chance to see the event from my perspective.
There is a schedule here so make sure you try your best to be awake when your fave games are on!
DO THE EVOLUTION, BABY
I have been dabbling with my EVO game for months but I think it’s come down to where I just need to sit down and play the game thru all the way to the end. EVO is one of the few games I own complete and it’s one of the gems in my personal gaming collection. It was also one of the very few and rare SNES games I played as a child and it haunted my dreams for years until I was able to emulate games using a computer.
EVO is a 90’s era enix game which originally saw a release on the PC 98 system as 46 Okunen Monogatari: Harukanaru Eden e (Translates to 4.6 Billion Year Story: To Distant Eden”) where it’s more of a life game then an evolution game (though evolving your character is a key element to the gameplay). The PC 98 version is a holly grail game for myself and a few friends and someday I would hope to play a fan translated copy if that’s possible. The major differences between the two games are many where the PC98 version goes off with a more wild story where choices you made through the game will impact life itself on the planet and with your own character. I’m not going to pretend that I am an expert on the PC 98 version but if you are curious you can check out the amazing write-up on it on Hardcore Gaming 101 here.
I have always been obsessed with dinosaurs, evolution and world history and though this is a 100% fantasy game it plays to those obsessions I have. It’s not the best game and has a lot of major flaws with it such as enemies being able to constantly hit you with no invincibility time, the long and constant grinding and the stiff controls, but you get used to it. It’s a game you take your time with and explore, unlocking all sorts of crazy evolutions and monsters you can be while you follow the crazy storyline that runs for billions of years in this fictional planet.
BIG PAINT
I finally got the courage to work on something large and not game related on my painting stream. I had this huge commission I need to finish so I decided it would be a great way to try out a few bigger projects on Twitch and show people how I pull together one of my traditional styled landscapes.
Where I live I am known more for my larger acrylic paintings that feature the beauty of the natural landscape around me where I live. I mostly focus on buildings and nature when I paint these larger pieces and they are always done in acrylics. I used to paint live at the Farmers Market for the last 10 years, my community has my work displayed publicly along the Main Street as banners that celebrate the Downtown, I have won awards, I made an interactive picture history book, I’ve done so much with my art in my short life that sometimes it boggles me. I love my projects and I always want to work on them with enthusiasm and great excitement.
I am heavily influenced by the Group of Seven work, some of the most iconic painters in Canada of the late 20th century, though I try to incorporate my own style and colour themes in each piece I do. When I was younger I was always advised to go to a great art University and get a job doing graphic design, cartooning or working commercially though that never appealed to me. I always saw those jobs as a way to learn someone else’s style where it was always a huge emphasis by my father to develop my own unique style that would be recognized and loved. The only formal instruction I’ve had outside of public school and a few figure study classes has always been from my father and mostly it was just me hiding in my bedroom painting and drawing and dealing with my insomnia and my need to create.
I don’t know what people really thought of me as I was always known for being this very creative and artistic type but I gravitated towards computers, communication and literature when working on my studies. Once I was given a chance to enrol for this Electronic Engineering course for Wilfred Laurier University. I still have the acceptance letter after all these years but since money was never accessible to me and I wanted something more than sitting in a classroom for the next 10 years. I wanted this and I sacrificed a lot to get here and this isn’t even my plateau. I’m still starting out in my eyes and looking forwards to new excitements with my projects.
The secret to art is to remember that art isn’t competitive. People who want money and fame are quick to see the major downsides of wanting such things and they only lead to problems and depression.
E.V.O. is cool.