Another quick (sped up) comic for Woogi World.

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Oh, and if you haven't yet, go look at my friend's youtube scholarship application video and vote 5 stars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTohVkO 2dew

RAFFLE IS OVER
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WINNER: TUCKERFAST! ---- results
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PM Me your Name, mailing address, and size CONGRATZ!
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Yes he won Luis' $1 too, but I swear it's not rigged!
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I doubt anyone noticed, but when I redesigned my site I failed to transfer my store over. Well, someone sent me an email asking where it went so I finally got off my keister and integrated it into the new design.

See it here.

In honor of this momentus occasion, I'm raffling off one of my Captain Moroni shirts.

Similar to the $1 giveaway Luis ran, all you need to do to enter is post a response here and I'll run my raffle machine to randomly select a winner. The winner will need to PM me their name, shirt size, and mailing address then I'll send the shirt to them for free!

The winner will be selected this Friday so hurry it up.

Also, if you didn't get a chance to vote for my buddy's scholarship application on youtube, please check it out and vote 5 stars!

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P.S.
If you felt the desire to purchase one of my shirts rather than waiting to win the raffle you would be that much cooler

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P.P.S.
A note about these shirts: Unlike cafepress crap, I actually designed the vector art and paid a local printer to make up a batch of varying sizes, I paid for quality shirts to print on too so you're getting a GREAT deal if you decide to purchase one. Seriously, I have a couple boxes of nice shirts just sitting in my closet waiting for you.

A friend of mine, Aaron Shamy, is in a scholarship contest. He was required to make an application video to enter and post it on YouTube. He makes it into the finals of the contest based on the youtube rating and the number of views.

So, check out his video and, if you feel like he's deserving, drop him a 5-star rating :)

Here is a video of him winning the X-games for speed climbing:

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And here's his application video, but make sure to vote for it on youtube if you can:

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Happy birthday to me. I'm 28 years young. Hooray!

If you want a chance to win a dollar go to Luis' userpage and leave a comment, he's giving away one-dollar bills every day until comic con! There have already been 2 winners, so hurry!

I made the raffle machine for him, so you can blame me if you don't win.

What a gem for those who visit my userpage when I don't make a front-page post....

A piece of the ending story from the Nutcracker game I made with Glaiel last Christmas! Very obviously, this particular piece of art was inspired by my friend Deadspread!

Woogi World is looking to hire Flash programmers! Woogi World is a kids' online educational multi-player game. Here is the official job listing:

"Seeking capable Flash game programmer (ActionScript 2 or higher).
Applicant should be creative and organized. Should have good writing
skills and the ability to work well with other programmers and artists.
Experience with frame architecture, library management, and integrating
with an existing API is required. General gaming experience and
interest is a plus."

Send a resume, code samples, example games, or anything else you want to show off to:

jobs@woogiworld.com

Feel free to post any questions and I'll respond asap.

Street Fighter IV:

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I got roped into producing 8 mini-comics over the last 3 days for an alliance Woogi World has with a "Weekly Reader" type paper distributed in elementary schools.

Basically, the 3 frame comic introduces a storyline and a "secret" code the kids can use to play a game on Woogi World that relates to the comic.

I decided to record myself producing one of the comics, so here's your chance to look over my shoulder while I'm drawing in flash. Lucky you!

The comic below is about Dr. Wiggenstein outfitting his "Science Cadets" to explore Woogi World's oceans, rivers, lakes, etc.

( 600% - about an hour's work sped up to fit in 9:30 )

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This is a touchy subject, but on my mind a lot lately because of my job developing a children's educational MMO.

First off, some stories to get you interested:

My experience:
"In 1999 in my freshman dorm, before MMOs really made a splash, guys who, for the first time, had no one telling them what to do, would spend hours on starcraft, warcraft, worms, and other games, all through the Local Area Network playing with their friends in the dorm. I saw many a friend fail out of school, lose scholarships or lose girlfriends because of his addiction to video gaming.

Next came in 2001, I had a roommate who played "Everquest." He too seemed normal at first-meeting, but then revealed that he was skipping classes and work to play the online game. He went through swells of resistance though, once even bundling everything up and throwing it in the dumpster swearing never to play again. 2 weeks later he had bought a fresh copy and re-installed it on his comp. He too had trouble with girls, whether caused by the game or as a catalyst for driving him into the game I'm not sure."

The experience of a friend:
"I remember meeting my roommate two years ago. He was sitting behind his computer with a headset, journeying with his comrades through a lava-filled cave. We chatted superficially while he played. He was a really cool guy and seemed completely normal at first.

Days passed, however, and I realized that my roommate spent all his time playing this game. He wasn't taking any classes and wasn't working. He played the minute he awoke until he was physically exhausted and forced (by his human frailty) to go to bed. He seldom took showers and ate mostly cold cereal for all his meals, all while playing. This continued until the semester was over.

Now I have new roommates in a new place. But the story doesn't end here. One of my new roommates is a World of Warcraft guru (aka, addict). He too -without exaggeration- puts in eight-to-ten hour days of playing! From Monday to Sunday, the moment he awakes he fires up his computer and enters the matrix. From what I understand, inside this world of 'ones and zeros' he dominates with power unmatched -inside he is as Achilles or Hercules. Outside, however, he is a hygienically challenged, cereal eating, one-class taking, jobless, single gamer."

Here are some extreme outcomes illustrating this problem:

1) Guy dies after playing for 86 hours straight

2) Another death from Internet Gaming

3) Starcraft addiction causes death

My real question, though, is about the encroachment of these problems into the childrens' gaming arena. These kinds of addiction are being seen in increasingly younger kids. Last year, a report from the China National Children's Center, a government think-tank, said that 13 percent of China's 18 million Internet users under 18 were Internet addicts.

In my opinion, there are 2 (responsible) extremes to the issue:

1) Harness and embrace the appeal of online gaming to educate kids about the dangers and teach them that anything that dominates their time at the expense of other good things can lead to an unhealthy balance in their lives.

2) Shelter them completely from the problem until they are old enough to make informed and responsible decisions on their own and are less likely to fall prey to the glitz and glamour of the industry.

What do you think?