PayPal Pains...

It was just a matter of time before it happened. I had a long conversation with my friends at deep blue apps (where I am illustrating a lot of the templates) and they had a whole avalanche of paypal disputes. Even my knocking on wood didn't help and today I had my first dispute on a BlockBuddies bundle - strange enough by a customer heavily shopping at deep blue apps as well (and disputing those purchases as well).


You don't get any information from paypal as to why the order has been disputed, so at first I thought ok... there is a kid shopping around with grandma's credit card. I was willing to just let it go and take the hit. After finding out there is a lot more purchases at deep blue apps I kind of changed my attitude.


It might be a sign of the times that everything is considered to be free and when you have a way to 'trick' someone out of his pay you should do so. The main flaw in this logic is the fact that things like this turn me off doing more art and tutorials. Why bother with something that makes me a little bit of pocket money (not talking about the fun I have doing it - but I would have that as well if I wouldn't publish them in this blog)? I might as well sit back and enjoy the summer, sun and pool.


Thanks to all who are supporting me and help me keep the faith in humanity and shame on those who think that it's ok to rip me off just because they can.


Sorry about this rant. I just had to let of some steam.  

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Shadow Era Review

Hi, my name is Nik and today i am reviewing a TCG:

Shadow Era is a free to play, browser based, trading card game, with a some unique ideas.

The rules are pretty simple, with some similarities to other TCG's. The terrain has several fields. The first is for your allies, the monsters you summon. The second is for support cards like spells and weapons and the third is for your Hero. The Hero is the most important card in your deck, because his race and class determines, which cards you can use.

Depending on the race, of the Hero, your allies will be either Human Allys or Shadow Allys. The class  determines what support cards you can use. But there are some cards, that can be used by anyone, regardless of his race and class.

The goal of the game, is to kill the enemy hero, using your arsenal of spells and army of allies. Those are the rules in a nut shell, there are a bit more complex, but this is a review, not a rule book.

There are two ways to get cards. The first is to buy booster packs, using crystals. You can get crystals by buying them with real money, or by leveling up you character. The second way is to buy individual cards, using gold. You get gold is by selling cards, or by winning matches.

This game, unfortunately, has some problems. The biggest one is the massive lag, you get when playing multiplayer. Fortunately this is not a FPS, so the only downside is longer matches and chat lag. Other problems include interface bugs and unbalanced cards, but they are too annoying.

To top it all of Shadow Era is a really good, free to play,  trading card game.  

 I hope you liked my review of Shadow Era .

If you did please comment and share with your friends.

Have a nice day.

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Rock of Ages Review

Hi, my name is Nik and today i am reviewing:

Rock of Ages is one of the weirdest and funniest game i have ever seen. 

You start as Sisyphus, who is rolling his bolder up the hill for an eternity, just like the Greek myth goes. One day  Sisyphus is like "screw this, i am getting out of here", so he uses his bolder to brake the door of the underworld and escapes. After that you and your bolder go on a rocking journey through history, rolling over anyone that stands in your way.

The gameplay is abstract as hell. Your control Sisyphus's bolder and you must smash the opponent's gate, before he brakes your's. When you ram the bolder at the enemy's gate, you must wait, until a new bolder is constructed. In that time you build defenses, in order to slow down, or destroy the opponent's bolder. Simple idea, but very addicting and enjoyable.

The funniest thing about the game, is the journey through the age. On it you encounter a lot of historical figures, like  Aristotle, Louis XIV, Napoleon and many more. All of the cinematics are riddled with references from movies, games and popular stories.

To top it all of Rock of Ages is a rocking experience, with rock-solid gameplay, that will rock your world.

I hope you liked my review of Rock of Ages .

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Bastion Re: Review

Hi, my name is Nik and today i am Re: Reviewing Bastion, in order to celebrate 1000 views:

Bastion is the first game developed by "Supergiant Games". It was a huge success due to its grate gameplay, original world and the unique story telling tehnique.

You start with a character called The Kid, on a rock in the sky. You waking up, take a step and the world start forming beneath your feet. The rocks just fly to there respectful places and form a path.  That is the result of the Calamity, a disaster that struck the world and broke it. Your first goal is to reach the bastion, a place where the people of Caelondia where supposed to meet, if something went wrong.

The gameplay, of this top-down, action RPG, is skill based and very customizable. The tools you have at your disposal are two weapons, a special attack and a shield. You can create very powerful and fun combinations of weapons and special attacks, due to the huge selection found in the arsenal. In combat you have to use any tool you have, in order to survive. This includes even finding the weakness in enemy strategies and exploiting them.

The most innovating thing in the game is the way the story is told. Its a simple idea, a narrator, who is your constant companion, in the adventure. He tells you the story of the places you are in, of the enemies you encounter, of the weapons you use. But the greatest thing about him, is the fact that he is always original and never gets boring.

So to top it all off Bastion is a very fun, sometimes hard game, with well presented story, interesting  game mechanics and very unique world.

I hope you liked my review of Bastion.

If you did please comment and share with your friends.

Have a nice day.

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Fallout New Vegas Review

Hi, my name is Nik and today i am reviewing the post-apocalyptic hit:

Fallout New Vegas is the newest game in the open world, RPG series Fallout.

The story develops four years after the last Fallout. Its not a sequel, but more like a parallel story, set in a different part of  post-apocalyptic USA. 

You start with bound hands and feet, looking at a guy in checker suit. He is holding the packages, you where suppose to deliver.After a short speech, he shoots you.

The robot that witnessed the shooting, brings you to Doctor Mitchell, who heals you. Then you create your character and go out seeking revenge.

New Vegas, just like previous Fallout games, is an open world, RPG. So, as you may expect, the game is not focused on the main story line. Its more about the side missions and exploration. In order to encourage that, the game has a lot things to find like caves, camps and scattered side quests. All of them make the world feel alive and  more dynamic, than it actually is.

The gameplay is much better than Fallout 3. All of the guns have some kick and feeling of power, which i never got from the series. The biggest change however, is the addition of iron sights. This makes the game closer to a traditional FPS and ultimately more satisfying to play. 

The things that annoyed me, where the armor and weapon DLC's. If you got them from the start, they screwed with the power progression system and basically made the game too easy. 

To top it all of Fallout New Vegas is a very good open world RPG, set in a beautiful and original  post-apocalyptic setting.

I hope you liked my review of  Fallout New Vegas.

 If you did, comment and share with friends.

  Have a nice day.

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Risen Review

Hi, my name is Nik and today i am reviewing a decent RPG:

Risen is the spiritual successor to the fabled adventure, that was Gothic. Its developed by Piranha Bytes. The same guys that made Gothic, so that leads to grate story.

Speaking of story, you start as a shipwreck survivor. Washed away on some unknown shore, with nothing, but the shirt on your back and the will to survive. So you find yourself a weapon and start looking for people. Eventually you find about the two fractions on the island - The Don's man and The Inquisition. Depending on which you join, you get different training, weapons and armor.

The gameplay takes a lot from Gothic and improves upon it. The combat feels more dynamic and its focused on using the environment to your advantage. Each weapon type has a unique style and you must chose the one, that you like best.

Of course you can always use magic, if you don't like weapons. It make the game closer to third person shooter and its very easy to use. A bit to easy in my opinion.

The graphics are fairly good, especially the lighting effects are impressive. The only graphic problem i see, is the jump animation. It looks terrible, like something from Gothic 1. Fortunately you don't jump very often.

So to top it all off, Risen has a lot of elements from Gothic, which make it a good RPG for the PC. For the Xbox, however, its a very poorly ported, peace of shit, so play it on PC. 

 I hope you liked my review of Risen.

If you did please comment and share with your friends.

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Artist's Monolog... III

Day 16

Still on the beach, still being hunted by the same dude. I got to admit, he tried every trick in the book to get me interested, showing off his skills. Most days it ended miserably, but from time to time he did managed to have a valid point.

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Artist's Monolog... II

Day 2 
Who would have thought? A developer? On the beach? On top of it, it seems that I couldn’t shake this guy off, everywhere I went he soon followed. I tried to push him off gently (and not so gently), but it seems to create an opposite reaction and his demands were only getting more annoying and fairly personal.

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Artist's Monolog...

Day 96
I can’t put my finger on the exact time that it happened, but did it ever happened to you that you start a discussion on top and before you know it, you hit rock bottom? Well, it happened to me… It is not clear when the discussions went from:

EMH: Please do my art
SE: Nope
EMH: Please?
SE: No
EMH: Please!
SE: Na
EMH: Please!?
SE: Noooo!
EMH: Please.
SE: No!
EMH: Please?
SE: Ok
EMH: Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

To…

SE: I worked all night on this one, what do you think?
EMH: Sloppy. It is one pixel short, odd size, eyebrow is wrong color and frankly a bit spooky.
SE: I’m sorry, let me try again…
SE: This one?
EMH: Eyes should be half way; hand is looking weird and who told you to add a hat?
SE: Sorry

I decided to see if the community could help me understand how things got to this point. To do that I’ll need to take you 3 months back to a sunny day somewhere in Australia.

---

Day 1
I always saw it as a compliment that many developers approached me about doing art for their games. However, after getting so many daily emails wanting art I just had to take a break and refuel. So I took my surfboard and went to the one place that I could find peace, the beach – or so I thought.

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Need For Speed Most Wanted Review

Hi, my name is Nik and i am reviewing my favorite racing game:

Most Wanted is the crown jewel of the Need For Speed franchise, hopefully the newly announced Most Wanted 2, will live up to its predecessor's name.

The basic story starts with you arriving to Rockport City, finding that the best street racers, are is a group, known as The Black List. So you have to get to the top of the list, by doing that, you become the most wanted.

The characters are all, well know stereotypes. Sergeant Cross is the loud mouth cop, trying to stop all  illegal racing in the city. Razor is the asshole, on top of the Black List, that treats you like crap. And of course, there is a hot chick helping you, named Mia.

But the thing that matters in a racing game, is not the story, or the characters. Its the racing and running from the cops. The one thing standing out the most however, is the sense of speed. To achieve it, the developers used a lot of bloom and a ton of motion blur. This makes the game gorgeous, when you are moving at high speeds. However, if you slow down, you see that it is outdated, by today's standards. Luckily slowing down, or stopping are two things you really do.

So to top it all of Need For Seed Most Wanted is a true masterpiece, that will never get old for me.

I hope you liked my review of  Need For Seed Most Wanted.

If you did please comment and share with your friends.

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