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This is part one of a two-part series which looks at a couple of studios said to be developing games for Nintendo systems. The self-proclaimed developers are ´Crossbeam Studios´ and ´Nibris´. I have spoken to each respective owner, numerous other sources and conducted extensive research.
I will try and provide you with an in-depth look at those studios: who owns and works for them, how professional are they and just what resources do they have? Ultimately, I want to find out if these studios are likely to ever publish a game on the Wii platform, starting with ´Crossbeam Studios´.
The studio´s website existed as early as April 2003. To most observers, though, ´Crossbeam Studios´ just seemed to appear in early 2006 in the midst of the hype surrounding Nintendo´s new console, alongside ´Nibris´ and ´Lifespark Studios´ (the latter of which I had already exposed as fakers by that time).
Numerous other fakers attempted to ride in the slipstream of what became a full-blown internet phenomenon, further adding to the mystery of Nintendo´s ´Revolution´ and making it increasingly difficult to separate fiction from fact.
While the earliest interview I found was conducted in April 2003 by RPGRadar and popularized by RPG Warehouse (both now defunct), it was Cubed3 who started an avalanche with an article on ´Orb´ in February 2006. In March of that year, Joystiq cited an interview of a small gaming news site with Greg Szemiot, founder and head of ´Crossbeam Studios´ (here is the Wayback Machine´s mirror). The article mentioned that the studio had not just one but three games in development exclusively for the new Nintendo platform: ´Orb´, ´Thorn´, and ´Darkness´.
Since then, everyone simply seemed to assume that the studio was professional and those games would eventually be published. Crossbeam, Nibris and Lifespark became the triumvirate of independent developers, which news sites always listed to prove that Nintendo´s new console was attracting not just the usual suspects, i.e. big business.
It is interesting to note at this point that ´Orb´ was not originally intended to run on Nintendo platforms. In 2004, Szemiot had other plans for the game.
The game (codenamed 'Orb') is currently planned for Windows, MacOSX, and Linux based platforms. Obviously with these platforms in mind, Xbox, Xenon (Xbox2), and Phantom versions are more likely than Gamecube, Revolution, PS2, or PS3 versions. However, console versions aren't possible right now.
By early 2006, Crossbeam had pledged exclusive Nintendo support and that turned them into something of an internet phenomenon themselves. Joystiq continued to take all three self-declared studios at face value. IGN listed Crossbeam as "a professional game development house". Greg Szemiot was even interviewed by Nintendo of Europe, oddly enough (since the studio should be dealing with NOA).
Some members of the team attended the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at least once (albeit with media badges) and the studio had planned to share a booth at the E for All Expo (although that never happened).
To add even more credence, the studio was registered as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in August 2006. This proved that the people behind this enterprise took things seriously enough to invest hundreds of dollars of their own money.
Why question this enterprise, then? Well, to be blunt, this is a company consisting entirely of amateurs, with no office, a studio head who lives with his parents, no regular income and consequently no paid employees. They also do not have a single finished product to show for themselves. To make matters worse, the very first interview with Crossbeam was conducted by someone who was a team member himself at the time. An avalanche of mindless media coverage ensued, with a ´full preview´ of ´Orb´ being published by a gaming news site, based on nothing more than concept artwork.
There are talented people behind Crossbeam, as we shall see, but I do not believe that they will ever publish a proper game on any platform. That, of course, is merely my own opinion. I invite you to make up your own mind here.
So who is Greg Szemiot? He has just turned 25 (see his Xanga and Kombo profiles) and lives in Arlington Heights, a village in Cook County, Illinois, near Chicago.
In 2005, he left Harper College with an Associate of Art degree. He is interested in computer graphics and writing (here is a short story written by him). But he has no MobyGames entry. (MobyGames is to computer and videogames what IMDb is to movies. If you have ever worked on a commercial project of note, your name will be added automatically.)
On his Associated Content profile, Greg writes about himself:
I am a Director of Design at two midwest entertainment companies. I am self taught in digital art and media, as well as numerous art and writing styles.
You may remember him from his brief stint in the Nintendo blog community. On the blog written under his nickname Moteh, Greg published nine posts before abandoning the site. The blog´s masthead reads ´I'm not a developer working on Nintendo consoles´ and in a post dated June 2005, he details:
In 1999 I started a small PC dev company called Crossbeam Studios. In late 2000 we started work on our first major project, an adventure game that has been 5 years in design. We have just now started production.
So, providing that said major project is ´Orb´, that game has seen more than seven years in design and it has been in production for almost three years. We shall come back to that later.
Private life
Greg Szemiot currently lives with his parents and the studio has no office space. In his only contribution to this article - a brief exchange via messenger dated last autumn - he clarifies this point.
Bringing my living situation into it (...) really should have NO bering on CSE at all) (...) it was either move back in with the parents and wait for another apartment closer to the office space we're trying to get, or not work for CSE... I'd rather keep my cash flow and find a plce closer to the offices our investors are negotiating over.
In the only video interview with Crossbeam, conducted by gaming news site AMN, Szemiot and Greg Nichols are asked where the studio office is based (twelve minutes into the interview) and Nichols seems really uncomfortable with the question.
In April 2007, Greg wrote about a temp job he briefly held, testing products for child console manufacturers V-Tech, who are located in Arlington Heights. Later he notes:
Other than that it's been a lot of CSE stuff, and job hunting. I need a job ASAP.
Other staff
Greg Szemiot is not alone in his endeavour. Greg Nichols is apparently in charge of ´Darkness´, which is now called ´Midnight´ and "currently suspended". Cole Mussared is lead artist on that title. All three live fairly close and they are the three managers of the company (see the legal section below).
Other staff include Kerriann Hansen, Szemiot´s girlfriend, who is a talented designer (here is a children´s book in flash animation by her). Since individual names have been withdrawn from the team page, it is unclear who else is involved at this time (see staff turnover below)
Affiliated companies
To add to the confusion, a number of people on the Crossbeam team developed ambitions to start their own companies. Former lead designer James Bond had wanted to start a company called ´Fundemic´ (Wayback Machine from early 2007), which is linked to via the studio´s old affiliates page but now defunct.
Fundemic is currently on hiatus, as James Bond explained in a brief interview with me late last year.
I do have plans for Fundemic, however I don't think it will be game related. I attended the Microsoft Casual Game seminar back in February in Amsterdam. Having learned the way the industry is going even at low entry points (casual game space) it is my personal belief that the doors are shut for start ups.
Every part of the game industry is over subscribed. There are companies with far larger resources that can always deliver comparative products faster, and do it on a lower budget even with marketing. The days of the rookie developer in my opinion has long past. My withdrawal from the development community is not in lack of faith in CSE, but in the industry as a whole.
Over the last few years, Canadian Garfield Giff has become associated with Crossbeam. Giff is a manga fan and used to have a small Shonen Jump fansite. He spends a lot of time on Gaia Online and is an active member of Crossbeam´s fan community.
He created an Orb fansite (Wayback Machine from May 2006) that is also linked to on the studio´s old affiliates page, alongside the description: ´ A fan site started by Kokoro of the CSE Forums´.
The error message for the defunct URL www.visions-of-d.co.nr (it moved to the Crossbeam server) reads: Firefox can't find the server at gargif.100webspace.net. This would suggest that Kokoro is Garfield Giff. Also, gaming news site MozlaPunk lists Garfield 'Kokoro' Giff as junior editor.
Kokoro himself has posted two sketchy design documents on the internet (´Anobi´ - recently pulled from the net - and ´Detective Club´).
Although he is now listed as Crossbeam staff and seems to be in charge of community aspects, he is in the process of setting up his own studio, ´Phase III Entertainment Limited´, where he has posted some concept images of the latter game mentioned above. Late last year, Giff recruited a PR officer and a graphic designer, both presumably amateurs, i.e. part-time and unpaid. On deviantART, the latter posted the following about his new job, but has not mentioned it since:
My friend Garfield Giff (remember that name) started up a company called Phase 3 Games which, obviously, makes video games. And one day, he came to me and was like "Hey, you want a job?" and I'm like "Hell, yeah!" So I have one now. I'm also working for Phase 3's sister company that's situated in the states. Don't ask me what the company's name is, cause I can't remember.
So Phase 3 Games is going to be at E for All in October showing off the game we are making. I won't be there, but my work will. I am one of the two people that will be making the trailer. So if you attend E for All, be sure to look up Phase 3 Games.
In fact, Phase III and Crossbeam were to share a booth at the ´E for All´ expo last year, which we will come to later. It seems very likely that this is the sister company sometimes mentioned by Szemiot.
No payroll
The entire studio consists of amateurs. Above, Greg Szemiot talked about the need for a job. On the forums, Szemiot replied to the question "Is it required you have a publisher before you finish the actual game?":
if it was on PC we wouldn't need a publisher to finish. But that's not the case.
This clearly suggests that the entire studio is comprised of people who are amateurs or non-professionals, i.e. working part-time and for free. In fact, looking for staff via GoNintendo, Szemiot wrote that the position would be:
...non pay at the moment, but of course, that will change when the game is done.
Media manipulation
I also came across a surprising former member of the team. Paul Tipton, who had conducted and written the RPGRadar interview in 2003 was at the same time a staff member, working on one of their projects, ´X2´. He would not have written a critical article about the studio, I guess. This is clear manipulation or worse and has nothing to do with good journalistic practice - or effective management, for that matter.
And this is no one-off. Glen Bayer who is now content lead on N-Sider used to be listed as a Crossbeam staff beta tester. He wrote at least this one article about the team and quotes Szemiot alongside the head of reputable development studio n-Space in another. The Crossbeam staff page even noted about Bayer:
As one of the first beta testers to sign up, the least we can give him is a plug for his site right?
Was he perhaps returning the favour when he wrote that brief article about the studio website´s redesign? It certainly helped to keep Crossbeam in the limelight.
No professional background
In an interview with 4 color rebellion, Szemiot talked about the professional background of the rest of the staff.
The team has numerous members that have worked, or are working, with other developers. However, past work experience is not something we look for. We look for people with talent and motivation. Many people have made light of the fact our Art Director and Concept Artist on Orb, Darcy Ripley, is still in school. She obviously has no experience in developing games, but in the end it doesn't matter, as her work speaks for itself.
My research did not find any professional experience of any current staff members, though. A Greg Nichols is listed on MobyGames as having done some quality assurance for Sony Computer Entertainment, but that is all.
However, some people who were involved with Crossbeam in the past have actually entered the industry. Tara Brannigan was briefly listed on the staff page in 2004 and is now a program manager at Microsoft Game Studios.
San Francisco based artist Eric To was associated with Crossbeam for almost a year. Another artist from San Francisco, Jollan Seo, worked for them only for a month. Both have since worked as professionals, it appears. Juan L Sanchez from San Diego county, California, has since done work for Sony Computer Entertainment.
Staff turnover
The staff turnover is very high. Tipton disappeared, modeller Jamie Gibson, level designer Kevin Kukuy and programmer Logan Hasson are no longer mentioned. Artist Darcy Ripley is currently not active since she is still finishing school. And according to Szemiot, artist Erin Nagy "is no longer with CSE".
Worst of all, though, one of the core people, Englishman James Bond, has left. When I contacted him in late November, he had this to say about staff turnover:
With any team that is un funded, staff turn over has always been high. Some very talented people have come and gone. (...)
There comes a time in life when you have to move on. I have responsibilities in the way of two young children. I simply don't have the time to commit to the projects at Crossbeam Studios that I once had.
The name game
To add to the confusion, job titles are anything but consistent. Szemiot called himself president in the RPG Warehouse interview but later changed the title to director of design, lead designer on Orb and studio director or Founder and one of three Lead Designers and Directors at Crossbeam Studios Entertainment.
Other staff members regularly received new job titles, as well. In April 2006, James Bond was listed as the lead designer but back in 2003 had the title game designer. He explains.
As a team that is both un established and non funded, my position within the team has changed on so many occasions I loose count. However I have always had a strong influence in the overall design, and feature set. Usually cutting back on the over ambitious.
´E for All´ presence
Crossbeam was supposed to be present at magazine publisher IDG´s E3 replacement, the ´E for All´, but cancelled their participation at the last minute. The studio is still listed a ´participating company´. Originally, Crossbeam was to share a booth with ´Phase III Entertainment´, but the joint entry on the exhibitor´s list was withdrawn when both studios cancelled.
Here is what the event people at IDG, who run the show, had to say when the studio was still listed.
Crossbeam Studios Entertainment is an affliated share company, and is sharing a booth with Phase III Entertainment at the show. (...)
Exhibitors are required to officially register companies with whom they wish to share exhibit space. An example of the affiliation of a share company may be a contractual business relationship (Developer-Publisher, Publisher-Distributor, government agencies) or a subsidiary relationship to the host company.
A company would register as a share to be acknowledged as an official exhibitor and to receive the corresponding exhibitor benefits which might include Badge Allocation, Event Marketing opportunities, Media Relations activities and a listing in the Show Magazine. The distinction between affiliated and unaffiliated shares is made for exhibit space cost only. They would both be acknowledged with full exhibitor status.
I contacted the same IDG representative again after both studios disappeared from the list, asking what had happened.
As for 2007, in the end they did not participate which is the reason why the companies were not represented on the website. (...)
I am not aware of Crossbeam participating in the show this year. To date they have not signed on as an exhibitor.
Those last remarks were made in mid-April this year. Crossbeam explained the cancellation on their website as a request from investors.
We regret to inform you that CSE will not be attending E for All as planned. It all boils down to product. The people with the money want a quality demo, not a fancy booth. They feel the money we would spend on E for All would be better invested in new equipment and expanding the staff.
It wasn't an easy decision to pass on E for All because we know we're letting down the fans that had planned to come and see us. Rest assured, we will have plenty of content coming to keep you up to date on our game development.
´Crossbeam Studios´ uses free software for most tasks. Greg did note in 2004 that 3D Studio Max was "the preffered modelling program for this project." A 14 month student license for said software costs around $200.
Apart from that, the studio uses the open-source software Blender as a modelling tool and the budget Torque engine. Other software includes "GameSpace, QuArK (although this is only a temporary tool until Torque Constructor is released), Visual Studio and MilkShape", according to this interview.
Project management - through the company´s staff web access - is done with dotProject, again open source. In the past, they used Coranto for content management. All these free or budget alternatives should be sufficient even for professional development, at least in theory.
The open-source OGRE engine, for example, is being used on an upcoming PC and Xbox360 project. See the impressive trailer below:
However, while the graphics engine is indeed open source, the studio did customize it greatly by writing their own middleware tools. The efforts may be significantly less than programming your own graphics engine from scratch, but it took years to refine said tools nevertheless. Learn more about free, budget and high profile game engines here. I seriously doubt that amateurs have the time (or, indeed, the programming skills) to customize freely available or budget graphics engines efficiently enough for them to be used in commercial projects.
In fact, James Bond acknowledges that those open-source tools did not always serve them well:
We went from 3d game studio, to the Torque Game Engine, [which] at the time was a reasonable system to develop with. Over the years though it must be said, that at present TGE is over a decade old in some parts. (...)
3d wise all CSE projects have used the open source software Blender 3D and Silo. All software has been licensed by Crossbeam Studios.
Greg also has experience with Gamestudio and even wrote a couple of brief tutorials for it. He has also some experience using Poser and Bryce.
Greg has posted some impressive 3D art on his deviantART gallery. He did not model the characters from scratch, though. Greg used free base models (like this one) and manipulated them.
James Bond has this to say about progress at Crossbeam:
If all the talented people were at CSE at the same time, things MAY have worked out before now. (...)
Orb is a huge project, that is perhaps a little over ambitious with the resources currently at the disposal to CSE. If Orb should ever make the final release, and is only half the game the design team want it to be, it will change that very way that people think about there own life. The actual story line, is one of the best thought out, stories I have ever had the pleasure to see.
With respect to the other titles, I can only comment on Thorn as this is another project that I have seen evolve. Where Orb is over ambitious, Thorn is a lot less complicated, but has a good substance. This is the only project that is in active development at this time.
As we learnt above, the team has been designing ´Orb´ for more than seven years. It has been in production for almost three years. The first mention of the game on the studio website is dated April 12th 2003.
Well, it has been a very busy week here at Crossbeam Studios. Greg Szemiot and myself have been working on a little project together that we are both very exited about, However I don't want to go into to much detail about it at the moment. Work on "Orb" is still going along well.
According to a brief note on 3DGS User´s Voice, ´Orb´ reached a ´major milestone´ in August 2003. This milestone related only to the story, though.
Greg Szemiot and James Bond, the lead designers/writers of Orb, finished the first chapter in the epic series which will span at least 4 games.
In the RPGRadar interview, Szemiot noted:
Some of our games should be done in time for the holiday season in 2004. Since we're independent we don't know where yet, but be sure we'll let you know. However they will be on the PC only as far as I can tell at the moment.
And some months later, in June 2003, Szemiot wrote:
Orb and X2 (...) are now at the 25%-30% development stage, so look out for more info on the soon to be released 'mini sites'!
More than four years later, the team has failed to make anything of substance public (see the media section below). But, to be fair, there could be an internal demo by now, with one or more finished levels. In fact, on his GarageGames blog, Greg spoke in October 2005 about the current status of the game, saying "we have the first model, and almost the first level (1 of 60)... done."
He also mentioned a first milestone coming up in December of that year by which an intenal demo with three playable levels was to be completed. A second milestone, by April 2006, was to see those levels ported from the Torque Game Engine to the Torque Shader Engine. This demo was to be presented at E3 a few weeks later. Surprisingly, Greg mentioned some companies he planned to present it to (Nintendo, Atlus, Ubisoft, and Dreamcatcher). Normally, no details transpire from such pitches. They are strictly confidential.
Szemiot´s statements from late 2005 suggest that one playable level was nearing completion back then. In March 2006, he wrote on his Xanga blog:
Had 8 hours meetings on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that had some staff driving for over 4 hours to get here to attend. We went over the entire gameplay systems and stuff... it was insane, and it's going to be happeneing every weekend from now on (unless Kerriann visits).
This all sounds very industrious and organised. However, almost two years later, Szemiot mails the following statement to Gaming Target:
Orb might not make it to store shelves until Wii 2, but we're obviously going to try and avoid that.
At the very earliest, the Wii´s successor might be expected in 2011. That date is still very far away, considering this is a game that by 2011, judging by Greg´s comments above, will have been in design for ten years and in production for almost six.
So ´Orb´ is way off. And Garfield Giff is not very optimistic about the other games being published soon either. Last August he wrote:
Indeed, definitely not seeing Thorn on Wii anytime soon in my opinion.
In April 2006, the then lead designer James Bond wrote in a forum entry:
It is true the CSE is spread very thinly aross our games, this is the main reason why work seeems to be alot slower than other bigger developers. If you care to check out the front page, you will see that this is something that we are very keen to address. However this has proved to be hard going, maybe its the lack of certaintiy that we are a real developer, or the maybe people are waiting untill we have a publisher/deal/revolution SDK. Whatever the porblem seems to be, I am sure this will be resolved within the next few weeks, following E3.
´Orb´, the spin-off
James Bond noted at the beginning of this section that ´Orb´ is not currently in active development. In fact, Greg Szemiot himself admitted recently that "we're not working on the Orb videogame" while being busy with some kind of spin-off project. What it is, we do not know. But it resembles the videogame in being "still far from finished".
For years, the only media for the game consisted of concept artwork and four rather mediocre MIDI tracks. Six apparently in-game screenshots were published by gaming news site AMN in May 2006.
And there is only a little more. In the Orb media thread, a little test animation clip was released.
The video shows a character named Simique walking, running, performing an attack combo and falling over. I showed the models and animations to professionals and they were impressed. If done from scratch, though, the above would take a professional artist only about one or two weeks.
The models and animation sequences were done by Juan L Sanchez who has since left the studio and moved on. In fact, you can see each of eight individual animations of Simique over on his website. There are three additional sequences for another character, Maron.
Apart from ´Orb´, all other projects consist of no more than artwork, as the Thorn media thread shows.
The elusive publisher deal
So there is a little in terms of assets, for ´Orb´ at least. If even a playable level exists, will that guarantee that ´Orb´ will find a publisher?
With regard to the likelihood of successfully pitching a game to a publisher, let me give you some facts about the industry. Canadian studio representation Sherpa Games has the following to say about computer and videogame pitches:
» Nearly 97% of all games that get pitched are rejected
» Publishers receive on average 500 game submissions per year
» The majority of the publishers (93%) will spend less than 60 minutes reviewing your proposal
» Only 12% of the games which are initially presented make it past the first round of evaluation
A Gamespot article reveals how even some of the world´s most famous designers were turned down when pitching new projects.
In October last year, Greg wrote on the forums about publisher interest:
Publisher interest in Thorn is actually just as high as Orb, same goes for darkness.
This is surprising, considering the above statistics. Unless, of course, publisher interest is next to zero. Even if there are substantial game assets already, this seems the most likely scenario. After all, a team of amateurs without studio space is not the most likely candidate for a publisher to inject hundreds of thousands of dollars into.
James Bond is equally realistic on this front:
Honestly speaking with regards to a publisher deal, I doubt this will happen any time soon. Publishing deals are hard to find, for even the most experienced and well financed teams. Having limited resources, lack of office space, and a team with little to no past record, this is being over ambitious in my opinion.
Cancelled projects
Instead of publishing anything of substance, the studio has had an impressive record of cancelling projects. ´Atlantis´ (aka ´Beyond Reality´), ´Accunia´, ´Antivirus´, ´X2´ and the aptly titled ´Shattered Dreams´ all disappeared from the website.
´Accunia´ was James Bond´s project, ´X2´ was the idea of Paul Tipton. When they left, they took their projects with them. Again James Bond:
The best parts of these projects have been fused into Orb. Accunia
is my pet project, that one day I would like to work on a little more as a
Legal matters and finance
´Crossbeam Studios Entertainment´ is, indeed, a limited company. If you want to get technical, it is a manager-managed, non-series LLC with perpetual duration. You can look this up on the Illinois Secretary of State company register.
That sounds pretty serious and it is, to an extent. In order to file such a company you need to pay $600 and you are obliged to file annual reports.
Each annual report has a $250 filing fee attached. However, no financial information needs to be disclosed in those reports. Also, no minimum founding capital required. Theoretically, such a company need never have any income or expenses. As long as the annual fee is paid on time, anyone can found and run such a company. A company like this does not necessarily mean business.
There is talk of investors, though. In August of 2007, Szemiot wrote:
CSE and its sister company have acquired substantial new financial backing. The bad news is that we regret to inform you that CSE will not be attending E for All as planned. It all boils down to product. The people with the money want a quality demo, not a fancy booth. They feel the money we would spend on E for All would be better invested in new equipment and expanding the staff.
James Bond confirms that there is some money coming in.
Currently there is a little finance coming into the company via free lance work. I am bound by loyalty to the company to not disclose the exact details, however there is a limited budget.
Trademark and copyright issues
There may be significant copyright problems attached to the company name. Most importantly, there is a network security company called Crossbeam Systems. They have trademarked the name according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for "computer hardware in the field of data communications; computer software for the installation, activation and support of other computer applications, and for configuring, monitoring and managing computer hardware and software in the field of data communications".
Could there be a copyright or trademark infringement here? I contacted the company and this is what they had to say about the issue:
It really depends on whether their use of the Crossbeam name is in a field that overlaps with ours. If there is some overlap that could increase the likelihood of confusion in the market as to which Crossbeam is which. If there is NO such overlap or likelihood of confusion, it is okay for the companies to coexist.
However, having said all that – Crossbeam is in no position at this time to tell you whether the overlap exists or if there is an infringement conflict without doing a fair amount of research into this company and consulting on the topic with legal. So, Crossbeam is not prepared to say definitively yes or no, if there is a problem or not.
There is also a small Canadian web agency called Crossbeam Studio. Greg Szemiot, some years ago, considered renaming the company to ´Digital Whisper´. It may be time to consider a new name again.
Lessons learned
Before I sum things up, I would like to end this article with a few examples of other studios I came across in my research. Consider Cantano Games, an indie studio co-founded by Juan L Sanchez who used to work for Crossbeam. On their page, they uploaded more than twenty movies for their upcoming title, ´Storm Tanks´, between December 2006 and January 2007. Have a look at their impressive efforts and compare their work to Crossbeam´s.
And here is another example. Prior to being part of Crossbeam, Juan had worked for a studio called Saint Studios.
Its owner, Juan Carlos Santiago now works on an indie project called Village the Game. The Saint Studios team in 2003 and 2004 consisted of almost twenty people and betrayed a tight organisation.
One artist went on to work on high profile games like ´Killzone´ and ´Heavenly Sword´. Another later worked on ´Far Cry´, as well as apparently ´Carmageddon´ and ´Wipeout´.
The studio´s lead programmer even contributed to a book on shader programming.
´Saint Studios´ had two ambitious games in the making. The main focus was on ´Terra Alterna´. You can read a detailed description here. The secondary project was codenamed ´Project MP´. The former, a strategy role-playing game hybrid, had been in development for two years and was finally presented at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in 2004 by means of a demo. The studio called itself a virtual company, for not having an office, but was an officially registered company nevertheless. Their employees were working for free but hopeful they would soon turn professional.
Apart from working on these games, the studio published tutorials – there are two such PDF documents here and here – to show off their skills.
This sounds not only very impressive, it sounds very familiar. You might be surprised, though, to hear that both projects failed and the team disbanded. A number of the team regrouped to develop an indie massive multiplayer project called ´Infinity: The Quest for Earth´ and lived to tell the tale:
Terra Alterna: the TA project was a fantastic experience in how to *not* run things IMO, and ran between 2002 and 2004. (…) Initially I was only involved as a part-time consultant, to help organize the programming team and tasks. One thing that I wanted to make clear from the beginning is to avoid errors of the past, in other words taking strong decisions and sticking to them. In practise, the opposite happened. Programming leaders came in and out every few months, and each of them had a different vision of which engine to choose and what to do. Decisions were never taken and after a year and a half, not a single line of code that was really useful had been written.
At this point in time, the company was in a critical situation: GDC was coming and we needed a demo to hunt for a publisher. While it was not originally my job when I joined that project, I worked night and day ( well, technically night: I still had a full time job, remember ) to get this demo developed and ready in 1 month. I re-used a lot of code from older projects in a hurry, and we pretty much succeeded to produce a "minimum" demo, but unfortunately we didn't get a publisher deal, and after a few months the situation was so desperate that the company collapsed, before even entering the real production/development phase.
One thing interesting with TA is that we had a full team dedicated to design and gameplay, that were working in the dark ( without those "fundamentals" that I keep talking of ). After two years, they had produced an impressive amount of docs, extremely detailed. So much in fact, that they forgot the big picture, and that the very fundamental topics, such as how the game would be working, was not described.
You're probably familiar with the dual way to approach problems: the top-down approach and the down-top approach. In the top-down approach, you start with very high-level topics, that you refine, and you end with the details. In the down-top approach, you start with the details, and you make your way up to finish with the high-level, hoping that it's coherent. In TA we choose the second approach, and when talking of design, it's a recipe for a disaster.
While defunct since 2004, the company is still listed by Gamasutra. Also, their Cafepress merchandise store lives on.
And, as the former ´Saint Studios´ staff testify, failed indie projects are the norm in this industry.
I've been involved in a fantasy MMO ( Archaean ) that encountered severe content problems ( lack of 3D art ), in an antique / historical tactical game ( Terra Alterna ) that encountered severe development problems ( lack of programmers ), in a futuristic racing game ( LightSpeed ) that again failed due to lack of content / artwork, and into the Minas Tirith project, that aimed at recreating the city from Lord of the Rings in a high-polycount and visualize it in real time. This was a moderate success, as the viewer part was completed, but the art team stopped the project before texturing the whole city.
There are success stories, but they are rare. One indie studio that went on to become a success story is Klei Entertainment (´Eets´). But they went a completely different route and appear to talk directly to overambitious studios like Crossbeam with this good advice:
Most independents, us included, started by making the game they wanted to make — economics be damned. (...) Without starting with the constraints, the idea always balloons to include everyone's favourite features, each one pulling down the chance of the game actually being financially successful, and thus pulling down the chance of a successful pitch. (...)
My decision to create a game now starts with the resources constraints and then expands to how we can make the best possible game out of those constraints.
These examples show that for every indie project that becomes even a moderate success, hundreds of others fail miserably. I refer you back to the statistics about publishing deals above. And why, if a project like ´Terra Alterna´ failed, should ´Orb´ succeed? The description of ´Saint Studios´ above matches ´Crossbeam Studios´ almost exactly.
Of course, dealing with an independent developer with unpaid staff and no office space, we should allow for some leeway here. But my research clearly shows that the coverage Szemiot and his friends have been receiving grossly exaggerates both their current resources for and commitment to game development.
Consider one last piece of evidence which shows how mindless the media hype was. ´Orb´ saw its first and only preview in April 2006. The so-called ´full preview´ - not a first look - came five years before Szemiot himself now expects the game to be published, at the very least. At the time the preview was published – by AMN, who also published the only video interview – it was accompanied by nothing more than concept art.
A full preview based on concept art? Now, even the most trusting person must realise that ´Orb´ and ´Crossbeam Studios´ at large have simply been riding a massive publicity wave and unjustifiedly so. A number of smaller websites were desperate to report about an independent studio developing for Wii - and still are - and Crossbeam were happy to oblige.
They are talented and ambitious. But in my opinion they are a far cry from being a professional development studio. I am absolutely certain that the core team will go on to become industry professionals. But, I believe, Crossbeam Studios will never publish a game.
To express my gratitude to James Bond for his participation in this article, though, I will allow him to have the final word here.
With the right resources Greg and Crossbeam Studios would be a world class development team. He lives and breathes game development, and is totally committed to the games he is working on.
Appendix: Useful tips
Because I do not want to be seen as simply putting Crossbeam down, I would like to give the team some useful tips.
1.) Stop talking consoles
No start-up developer without any professional experience has ever or will ever develop a full-price game for consoles. It is a very hard business to get into. Realise that you will have to start with a PC-only project. Be honest with yourself. You cannot attract publisher interest by overestimating your resources and dedication.
2.) Stop talking AAA
No start-up developer without any professional experience has ever or will ever publish a AAA title as its first game, regardless of the platform. A good friend of mine started his own development studio after he had worked for ´Rare´ for many years, as had most of their team. Their first title, though, was nothing of the magnitude of what Crossbeam is aiming for. They ported the ´MTV music generator´ from one console to another. Nothing a creative mind would get excited about, but it filled their pockets with enough capital to subsequently move on to bigger and better projects.
You might want to do a minigame, something that you can actually get done, but something that shows off your talent. Consider Klei Entertainment who failed to pitch an ambitious console project but succeeded with a free webgame called ´Eets´.
As an alternative to a mini-game, do a mod. Teams like yours may never have pulled off AAA titles, but if you consider the history of the Half-Life mod Gunman Chronicles, the potential benefits of a great mod become clear. Again, be honest and do not overestimate your resources and abilities.
You simply have to admit that you are mindlessly aiming for the sky, thinking about a four-game series. You are not Yu Suzuki. And even he failed.
3. Conduct yourself in public
You need to realise that everything you say in interviews, post on your webpage or in forums and communities will be on public record pretty much forever. Potential investors or publishers may easily check those records, much like I have done for this article. As a result, you need to stop making promises about posting new screenshots or having a new website up if you end up not meeting that deadline. The same goes for promised interviews to the press.
Also, pull the Google Ads banners from your site immediately. This is no way for a studio to present itself.
Lastly, please spellcheck what you post. This may sound condescending, but is a very important detail. Writing that your forums are ´down for maintenence´ is slightly embarrassing. Luckily, you changed that recently. When you are unsure, check with the Encarta dictionary for example. And as far as content is concerned, ´No we're not dead´ was not the best rebuttal of criticism either.
4. Concentrate on what is important
Why do you even have a website? Why do you maintain forums? You obviously spend a large amount of energy on banning forum members. You don´t need a community before you have a product, it should be the other way around. Also, what is the deal with the Cafepress merchandise? That is also just a little early. ´Saint Studios´ made that very mistake.
Greg has a Facebook and MySpace page, alongside all the other community pages mentioned above. He also wrote a number of articles on Associated Content. This all devours time that could be devoted to the studio. If you really want to make this work, you need to forget almost everything else. There are clearly some people in your team who have ambition and plenty of creative energy, but some of them direct it at all sorts of peripheral stuff rather than focusing on what is essential: finishing a game.
5. Scale down, axe individual pet projects
Focus on one project (see 2.) and can all the others for the foreseeable future. I realise why you have this huge portfolio of titles you never developed, but this must stop.
You cannot allow every person you take on board to bring their pet project with them. It will add to your portfolio, prevent you from focusing on the one game you could be developing and they will simply take it with them when they leave, leaving you with another Crossbeam title that simply disappears. This does not make you look very professional. The same goes for staff members who divide their attention between your studio and their own studio they would like to set up.
I realise it is hard to conduct unpaid staff who are far away, but if there is no discipline in your team, you might as well give up right now.
6. Take criticism seriously
I mailed Greg a catalogue of questions so his voice could be heard here and he promised me a number of times that he would send them. I have now waited for well over half a year for a reply from Greg. I am sure he did not want to answer my questions because they were rather critical and he suspected I would not join in the mindless hype Crossbeam has been getting elsewhere on the net. But when you suspect someone will write a critical article about you, you simply cannot afford to turn the other way. Elect a person who will exclusively deal with the press and that person should take the critics very seriously and help them in their research.
Reacting to my older critical comments the way you did here and here is not a very professional way of responding to criticism. Although you may suspect it, this is nothing personal.
7. Good luck
Please do not misunderstand the purpose of this article. In no way do I want to defame or discourage you. I simply had to examine what is written about you with a sober journalistic mind and match that to your actual work. You have been receiving mindlessly positive media coverage that is unjustified by your work, I am afraid to say. And I very much hope that my assessment and especially my advice can help to point you in the right direction. This is a brutal industry and there are thousands of fledgling studios like yours. I wish you good luck. You are going to need it, I am afraid.
Appendix: Disclaimer
This article contains no information that can be considered confidential in any way. All the information made available in this article is either quoted from interviews with the people concerned or is a matter of public record; it is either freely available on the internet or through government offices. All information about specific persons, including private details, was provided by the persons themselves, either published on the internet or relayed to me directly. All images are linked to their original source and due credit is given at all times, to the best of my knowledge.
During the lengthy course of writing this article, the Crossbeam staff started to migrate their forum to another server. The forum cannot currently be reached and I cannot guarantee that the various links to forum posts in this article will work after the migration process is complete.
EDIT Crossbeam has reacted to my article and announced that the studio is dead. The following statement was mailed to GoNintendo.
I will not sugar coat anything. Falafelkid was right in his article. CSE has had many problems throughout the years. We were naive and perhaps arrogant, "riding the wave of publicity," as he puts it. We take our projects very seriously but we made many mistakes. The biggest mistake was not taking the business side seriously for many years. As CEO, the fault this lies squarely with me. I put the game ideas first and said "I'll take care of the business stuff later." We also then announced projects that were just merely ideas or designs at the time. The fact that those haven't panned out yet makes me begs an apology to both my staff and gamers who believed in us and the projects.
Since 2005 when we first started to toy with the idea of re-designing Orb for the then Revolution, we only had a few levels done in 3d Gamestudio. We planned on eventually moving on to Torque. When we announced the game was in planning for Wii it was our hope and far-fetched dream that it would come to fruition. Obviously that backfired. We made the announcement with little more than a design for the Wii version and gave up completely on developing any other version. I believe it was sheer arrogance, a start up developer with no experience with console development announcing a title for the Wii when it was still in planning. This behavior killed us slowly over time. Not even the biggest companies do that, and it was a difficult lesson to learn.
Since our recent falling out with a potential investor, CSE has died. It may sound strange, but perhaps it is for the better as it put many things into perspective. At the end of his article Falafekid gave a series of Useful Tips. Before he even published this article we had done many of these. We have started on a single PC project. It is a small project, and we're not even going to officially announce any details until the game is at least 50% done. Our new focus is why we have not updated the website or brought our forums back online. They were proving to be a distraction.
I do very much want to see Orb completed. I have spent nine years on the storyline, working out plot holes, and making the world as detailed as possible. We knew the project was extremely ambitious for a start up company. We just hoped things would have worked out and we wouldn't be in the position we are in now.
Since the death and slow rebirth of CSE over the first half of this year, we have discussed this new project with some of the ex staff. We have staff coming back to work on the project. Our former lead programmer has returned, James Bond has returned, old concept artists from the pre-Nintendo era have come back, and some others are expressing great interest in working with us. It's not going to be a ground-breaking title; we can't do a project of that caliber on our budget. However, the title will be to the best of our abilities. It is a fresh start for us and hopefully will prove to be the correct course of action. I just hope it does work out for us on this project so someday we can deliver on our promises for Orb and Thorn. Currently, we have ideas and storylines for Orb and Thorn, but as James has said, they are good ideas and storylines.
With proper support and some luck, we hope to appear on consoles next generation. For right now, our focus is to get the experience needed and titles under our belt to enable us to push a project as ambitious as Orb and have it succeed.
I applaud Greg Szemiot and his friends for their honesty and wish them well in the future. Their response justifies all the hard work I put in to this article. Without it, we may not have known the real state of affairs within Crossbeam for some time. I understand, though, that failure is the hardest thing to admit to. Good luck to them.


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Items where Person is "Courtin, Céline"
Group by: Item Type | No Grouping
Jump to: Article
Number of items: 1.
Grimoud, Julien and Durand, Henri and Courtin, Céline and Monsan, Pierre and Ouarné, Françoise and Theodorou, Vassilia and Roques, Christine. In vitro screening of probiotic lactic acid bacteria and prebiotic glucooligosaccharides to select effective synbiotics. (2010) Anaerobe, 16 (5). 493-500. ISSN 1075-9964


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Evan Glodell went through a nasty break-up in 2003, and in an effort to get past the heartache, he poured all his pain into writing the script for "Bellflower," which is set to be released in select theaters this Friday. It tells the story of a guy named Woodrow (played by Glodell) who's moved to LA with his best friend Aidan (Tyler Dawson), with whom he shares an obsession with "Mad Max," the seminal Mel Gibson film, directed by George Miller, that came out two years before Glodell was born.
Together, Woodrow and Aiden pay homage to the film by making a flamethrower and tricking out a '72 Buick Skylark named Medusa—all of this is done just in case the Apocalypse should actually come, though there's no reason to think it's on the horizon. But Woodrow becomes distracted by a gorgeous blonde, Milly (Jessie Wiseman), who completely ruins the poor guy, sending his life spinning out of control.
We spoke recently with Glodell about "Bellflower," one of the most original, intense and entertaining film's we've seen this year, and the writer-director-producer-star confessed to a deep desire to have his film become a part of the "Mad Max" legend.
SR: Are you aware of the ("Mad Max") reboot "Fury Road" with Tom Hardy?
EG: Yes I am.
SR: And how do you feel about that?
EG: I really, really wish there was a way that I could get the Medusa car in. But other than that, I'm just excited to see it. I'm stoked because obviously…
SR: Have you reached out to them?
EG: I don't know how to.
SR: You don't know how to? I found you, you can get to them.
EG: Can I?
SR: Sure, I'm just a jerk who sits in a cubicle all day.
EG: Oh, OK. Well, because you're saying this, literally, I'm going to try and find out how far I can get with that tomorrow.
SR: It's a perfect fit, isn't it?
EG: Well, I don't know, I don't know what George Miller is thinking, cause I'm sure this car would save some money because its just one less car that you have to bill that you're just even using in the background. But then again, I know how it is when people think they know what you're thinking and they're like, Oh wouldn't it be cool if this happened in your movie after they read the script and you're like, Yeah…So I don't want to be that guy to George Miller, like, Hey, George, put this in your movie and he's like, OK…
With a matte black finish, 30-foot flames that shoot out the back, a 455 under the hood and her name emblazoned along the side in giant block letters, Medusa would fit seamlessly into the background of George Miller's new film. Miller would be hard pressed to come up with a reason not to include her--unless of course his film never actually goes into production.
"Bellflower" opens in limited release Aug. 5.


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A year ago, Welsh rugby superstar Gareth Thomas came out of the closet and became the first openly gay active athlete in professional sports. And now, Thomas' story may be coming to the silver screen. And who would have the perfect mix of toughness and tenderness to portray such a tortured and complex man? I think you and I both know the answer to that question is Mickey Rourke.
The actor decided Thomas would be the "perfect model" for a movie after reading a report about him "coming out"…
Their managers are now trying to work out a deal to make a movie based on the life of Wales's most-capped rugby union international.
Oscar-nominated Rourke, 57 - a former boxer - is believed to have wanted to do a film about rugby for some time. But he did not have a suitable story until he read about full-back Thomas.
If you really want to know Thomas' story in depth, I implore you to read this profile of him done by SI's Gary Smith. It's very long, but well worth your time. Thomas played rugby professionally while staying in the closet for years, until all the whispers and self-loathing came to a head and he felt compelled to finally admit the truth to his teammates and his wife.
Thomas' story is one so many gay people have had to deal with. The pain of keeping it all in, and the catharsis of finally letting go and being free to be yourself… it's the definitive gay story arc, and I can't really think of a feature film that has given it the treatment it deserves.
This is the kind of role that Rourke is particularly well-suited for, and he proved with "The Wrestler" that a sports movie in Mickey Rourke's hands isn't merely a sports movie. It's something far deeper and more personal than that. Rourke likely sees this project as his chance to win the Oscar he should have gotten for "The Wrestler." Don't be surprised if he succeeds.


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I see Doyle had a 2/3 K/BB ratio in 5.1 innings with the Twinkies. 5.1 innings is a pretty small sample size. Seems the last of his 3 outings did the most damage. Hopefully, Dotson can keep his ratios as they were in AA-Birmingham.
UPDATE: Here's Minnesota general manager Terry Ryan:
"We offered him back to the White Sox, with some discussion about possibly trying to keep him," said Minnesota general manager Terry Ryan of Doyle, who cleared waivers and posted a 3.07 ERA over 26 starts for Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham last year. "I threw some things at Kenny, he threw some things back just like any of those discussions go. We couldn't work it out, so we're sending him back today."
He needs to get on with his career. You never like to see a young kid that's trying to make his way to the Major Leagues sit around too long. He's only had a few innings here. That's not good for anybody's career, so we made a decision sooner rather than later."


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Praise for Gated:
"A tense psychological thriller that will leave you gasping for breath."
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"An awesome, creepy book that reminds me of my favorite cult films while still being surprising."
"Compelling. . . . This absorbing examination of a cult focuses on a teenage girl who begins to doubt their leader."
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Entertaining throughout."
"After the last page is turned, the question will linger: 'Could I ever be deceived like this?'"
"I highly recommend Gated to fans of contemporary fiction with a twist. This one has a bit of everything—mystery, intense action, real life issues, and romance."
—My Book Addiction (blog)
"Highly recommended for fans of YA thrillers and contemporary fiction."
—A Dream Within a Dream (blog)
"Every once in a while a book comes along that leaves you reeling. Speechless. Shocked. Nothing you say will do it justice. Gated is that book. Chilling, horrifying, but beautiful. A MUST read."
"Action-packed and full of suspense. . . . It's new and fresh, a step away from everything that's out there right now."
—Me, My Shelf, and I (blog)
"A complex, intriguing tale rooted in real-world events."
—Publishers Weekly
"Mysterious, entrancing and dark, Gated brings in just the right amount of paced storytelling with the edge-of-your-reading-seats sense of suspense."
"An absolutely enrapturing book . . . I couldn't put it down."
—In Libris Veritas (blog)
"An entertaining and unique entry in a sea of generic YA novels."
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"If you need a summer thriller read with a smartly woven plot and a lamb-to-lion main character, then this book is for you."
—Great Imaginations (blog)
"An absolutely fascinating read with an original concept and an absolutely brilliant villain! Different with just the right touch of chilling."
—Fiction Freak (blog)


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The MAve, a Modern Boutique Hotel in Manhattan. The MAve is a 100 percent non-smoking hotel. There is a 150.00 USD fee for smoking in any guest room.
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text:
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Explore the findings and learn how customers are using BMC Discovery for Multi-Cloud. Read the survey now.


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Economics Journal: As the Disadvantaged Rise, Those Above Push Back
By Rupa Subramanya
In a piece last year, I reported on new research which suggested that India's scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have made substantial economic gains in the last three decades.
In particular, the study shows that there's been significant convergence between SCs/STs (as they are widely known) and everyone else, both in educational attainment and occupational choice. This manifests itself in wages paid to SCs/STs catching up. Further, the study showed that the convergence in wage levels has been driven in large part by the education gap slowly being closed.
Scheduled castes refer to those at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy and scheduled tribes to India's indigenous native population – both benefit from affirmative action.
This is good news for SCs/STs and also supports the argument that caste-based reservation has produced beneficial economic results. Both scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have quotas set aside in government jobs and educational institutions.
But this good news story has an ugly sequel. Recent news reports document instances of violence against SCs/STs by those above them in the social hierarchy.
In one episode this past November, three colonies in the Dharamapuri district of Tamil Nadu were burned to the ground. The residents belonged to the Dalit community (and therefore were members of the scheduled castes). The perpetrators allegedly came from the Vanniyar caste, who do not qualify as scheduled castes but are just above Dalits in the arcane hierarchy of the caste system. They were apparently enraged at an inter-caste marriage between a young woman from the Vanniyar community and a young Dalit man from a neighboring colony.
Some observers including Thol Thirumavalavan, a Dalit activist and politician, have argued that the violence against Dalits represents retribution by "intermediate" castes such as the Vanniyars who resent the improving economic fortune of Dalits compared with their own economic stagnation. According to another report the roots of the current tension lie in the fact that Dalits who traditionally were employed as landless laborers by the land-owning Vanniyars have in many instances moved to cities such as Bangalore to become daily wage laborers, thereby improving their economic lot and freeing them from their traditional dependence on the Vanniyars.
Is this recent incident in Tamil Nadu an isolated episode or is there a larger pattern here? A new study by economist Smriti Sharma of the Delhi School of Economics suggests that the answer to the second question may be yes.
Ms. Sharma analyzes a large amount of data on violence committed against SCs/STs by non-SCs/STs over the period 2001/2010 and spanning 415 districts over 18 large states in India. These include Tamil Nadu but also Haryana, which has witnessed horrific recent episodes of violence against women that appear to have a caste dimension.
The study attempts to correlate the data on violence with measurements of consumption expenditures by SCs/STs, which are routinely used by economists as a proxy for income and well-being. Ms. Sharma's methodology takes a leaf from an important recent study by economics professors Anirban Mitra of the University of Oslo and Debraj Ray of New York University.
Mr. Mitra and Mr. Ray used a similar methodology to study Hindu-Muslim violence in India. They concluded that an increase in the expenditure levels of Muslims generated a large and significant increase in future communal conflict, but by contrast an increase in expenditures in Hindus had no such effect.
While these findings are open to different interpretations, their provocative but well-argued thesis is that Hindus have been principally responsible for Hindu-Muslim violence in the post independence period. Mr. Mitra and Mr. Ray are careful to note that their interpretation rests on the interlinking of theory and evidence that they present and that a reader might see their result as a "curiosum of interest."
The findings of Ms. Sharma's study mirror those of Mr. Mitra and Mr. Ray in the context of inter-caste violence. In particular, she finds that a closing of the gap in consumption expenditures between SCs/STs and everyone else is positively correlated with an increase in violent crimes against SCs/STs by others.
Her interpretation is that this represents increased violence by upper castes who feel threatened by the rising living standards of a group that has historically been much poorer and socially deprived. Again though, note that this is one interpretation of her research findings and others are possible.
While data limitations prevent the studies from determining who among the upper castes is committing violence against SCs/STs, the experience of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere suggests that the principal sources of violence are most likely to be other disadvantaged groups that are proximate both in location and caste standing to Dalit communities and historically ever-so-slightly ahead of them.
And to the extent that the economic empowerment of SCs/STs is driven at least in part by policies such as caste-based reservation, this could only be expected to exacerbate the resentment of other disadvantaged groups who don't benefit from affirmative action policies.
Some might see these findings as an argument against caste-based reservation and promotion. Others who support affirmative action should see instead a cautionary tale of the unintended consequences of well-intentioned government policies.
Either way, this new research documenting the link between economic empowerment and caste violence is sure to fuel the ongoing debate about affirmative action in India.
Rupa Subramanya writes Economics Journal and is co-author of "Indianomix: Making Sense of Modern India," published by Random House India. You can follow her on Twitter @RupaSubramanya.
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.


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I'll skip the Halloween application, but I could see this as a part of a evil/neato April Fool's trick... Waaahaaahaaahaaaa!
It looks like we've got a little Halloween fever here at Wise Bread. Following on from Andrea's great story on homemade costumes, I thought I'd add some flavor with homemade Halloween makeup effects. Get ready to learn the secrets of peeling skin, oozing blood, big bad bruises, open sores and creepy cuts.
As we all know, Halloween is big business. I heard that we'll be spending $5.4 billion on the holiday this year. In retail sales, it is second only to Christmas. And when you see the prices charged for some of the most simple items, well, it's easy to see where the money comes from.
I first had to make my own blood for a photoshoot a few years ago, and since then I've never looked back. So here are a few simple recipes, tips and tricks that I've been collecting. I hope they can help you turn Halloween into something both frightening and frugal. (Oh, and be careful of a real menace out there this year - Sherwood brand Pirates Gold Milk Chocolate coins recall. They are dangerous, check out your kids' candy collection before they tuck in. Here's a Snopes link with all of the info.) Have a safe and scary Halloween.
Heath Ledger's stunning Joker will be roaming the streets everywhere this Halloween. If you'd like to make your own white base, here's how to do it.
2 tsp white shortening
5 tsp corn starch
1 tsp white all purpose flour
3-4 drops glycerin
Mix together the shortening, corn starch and flour. For easier application, add 3 to 4 drops of glycerin. Lipstick and black eye shadow completes the eerie look.
You can go simple or more complex, depending on how realistic you want it. To be honest, the simple method has always worked well for me, but you decide. Fake blood can stain, so be aware of this before you throw it all over a rental costume or your wedding dress.
Simple blood
16oz corn syrup
Red food coloring (as desired)
Milk (optional)
Blue food coloring (optional)
Just mix them together. The more red food coloring, the better. If you want, a tiny touch of blue can give it a darker, more sinister look, but be careful…too much and you're bleeding purple alien blood. You can also add a small drop of milk instead of the blue food coloring, which will make it thicker and darker.
Realistic blood
2/3 c. Corn Syrup
1/3 c. Warm Water
5 Tbsp Corn Starch
4-6 tsp red food coloring
1 Tbsp Powdered Cocoa
2 drops of green or yellow food coloring (optional)
Mix the corn starch and water in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the corn syrup and cocoa. Add the food coloring slowly, checking for color.
Thick and goopy Blood
Plain Flour
Red Food Coloring
1 tsp. of instant Coffee
Boil the water on the stove, then sieve in the flour (as much as you want depending on how thick you like your blood), making sure you get all of the lumps out. Once you have the flour mixed into the water it should look thick and runny. Next, add the red food coloring. At this point, it will be very red, but adding the coffee brings it back to a great bloody color. Make sure it's hot when you add the coffee. Now, let it cool and apply liberally.
Eye shadows: Deep blue; Smoky gray; Blue; Shiny olive green.
Complexion powder.
Want to look beaten? Use this simple, classic bruise effect. And yes guys, this works for you too. Don't be afraid of a little eye shadow. Start with a blot of deep blue eye shadow, applied with a wet brush. Use your fingertips to add daubs of smoky gray and blue shadows. Next, finish the edges with shiny olive green. Smudge the bruise and dust with an amber frost (try gold for jaundiced highlights). Finally, blend it all in with a small brush and dust lightly using a regular complexion powder.
Here's a demonstration video from Expert Village that uses similar techniques.
link: How To Make Fake Bruises [Expert Village]
Following on from the last video, here's how to apply a fake cut or gash. Remember, a little of the fake blood you made earlier could add some extra oomph.
link: How To Make Fake Cuts and Gashes [Expert Village]
And if you want to go even further, and be uber-professional, here's how to make a fake cut throat! However, you'll need to pick up some PlatSil Gel-10, which is a latex-based skin-colored theatrical makeup. You can find it online here but it's a bit late for shipping now. Maybe next year?
link: Cut throat make-up [5min]
I love Instructables. Here, you can see, step by step, how to create effective and creep lacerations. Have fun.
link: Theater Effects: Lacerations [Instructables]
Whole peppercorns white or black
Corn syrup or eyelash glue
Hair bristles from a paintbrush or out of your hair brush
(Optional) Non-toxic watercolors (the kind you use in grade school)
Glue peppercorns to your hands or face using the corn syrup or eyelash glue. You may have to hold them in place until the glue or syrup is dry. And REMEMBER TO KEEP PEPPERCORNS AWAY FROM YOUR EYES! Ouch. Dip one end of the hairs in the glue or syrup and attach to the peppercorn, giving them that hairy look. Finally, use paints to color them creepy, like green for witches.
Expert Village to the rescue again. Here's how to make a nasty open sore, great for a zombie or rotting corpse. Our expert is using liquid latex, you can find that at most craft or hobby stores.
link: How To Make A Fake Wound [Expert Village]
OK, so I got addicted to Expert Village. Hey, it's a great source for this kind of stuff. Anyway, using liquid latex the guys show you how to do a complete zombie makeover. Eat your heart out George A. Romero (hmm, maybe an apt choice of words for the zombie king).
Now everyone wants to dress up as something horrific from an open grave or sweaty nightmare. So, the makeup experts from M.A.C. cosmetics have put together some looks that are truly stunning. From a robot, to an amphibian, or even a floral face, there's plenty of inspiration here. There are 10 different looks to play with.
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I'll skip the Halloween application, but I could see this as a part of a evil/neato April Fool's trick... Waaahaaahaaahaaaa!
You guy always are always a great resource, I visit daily.


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Foreclosure activity rose in Norfolk County in August while declining in Plymouth County, according to a report.
Another 146 property owners south of Boston lost their battles with foreclosure in August, despite a new Massachusetts law that was designed to stem the tide.
Foreclosure deeds rose 16 percent from the previous year to 59 in Norfolk County, according to a report Thursday by The Warren Group of South Boston.
Statewide, foreclosures declined 2 percent in August compared with August 2007.
But some regions continued to see rising foreclosure activity. Barnstable County led the state with a 37 percent increase, followed by Worcester County with a 17 percent increase.
Plymouth County saw some relief in August, with foreclosure deeds declining 19 percent to 87.
"There's some speculation lenders are being less aggressive (pursuing foreclosure)," CEO Timothy Warren Jr. said. "It's more likely they're not pushing as hard in the hopes that a decent offer or a turnaround in the real estate market will come."
Starting in May, a new state law required lenders to give homeowners 90 days to come into compliance with their mortgage agreements before filing a petition to foreclose.
Observers had expected a big spike in petitions in August, as the 90-day grace period expired. But foreclosure petitions only rose from 502 in July to 943 in August, well below the 3,112 petitions filed in August 2007.
Nonetheless, Attorney General Martha Coakley said this month there is little evidence the new law is doing much to encourage lenders to help delinquent borrowers keep their homes.
Only 144 modified mortgages were filed in the state over a three-month period after the law took effect, compared with 4,700 petitions to foreclose and 4,300 foreclosure deeds.
Steve Adams may be reached at email@example.com.


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This is the only picture we have of Caroline…
No, it's not the only one.
I have this one also…
These documents are precious for all the information they contain.
Being French-Canadian, it's quite easy to read them like the baptisimal certificate of little Caroline.
Caroline was born on November 26, 1863. Zéphirin Ménard was her father and Rose Therrien was her mother.
With this information we can go back in time and find Caroline's Ménard ancestors.
The marriage act has much more information with the names of the groom's and the bride's parents, and those of the witnesses.
Caroline Ménard married Jean-Baptiste Alexandre. We have a lot of pictures of Jean-Baptiste Alexandre thanks to Sandy in 2010 and Robin in 2011.
Sandy had this one… Young man 1.
With Robin's pictures and someone who found my blog and shared what pictures he had, we have managed to identify Jean-Baptiste.
Jean-Baptiste married twice and had 18 children with his two wives. Caroline Ménard died in 1895 when she gave birth to her 8th child. Jean-Baptiste remarried.
For many of her descendants, Caroline Ménard is a complete stranger just like young man 1 was in 2010.
I know that one day, someone will send me a picture of Caroline, and I will share it with you.
Speaking of sharing, I have someone else who shared what little information he had last year.
He is Dennis Lagasse IV's father. I never met Lionel and I will probably never meet him unless I win big at the lottery.
But I can tell you this… Lionel is a very nice person.
Of course being an avid reader of this blog about genealogy helps…
Last year, around Christmas time, Lionel shared this picture.
Little did he know that the woman standing beside Dennis Lagasse III on the right is Caroline Ménard's sister Amanda.
Lionel took the time to write some notes that helped me a lot in my search for these Lagasse descendants.
I just want to say how deeply appreciative I am of Lionel taking the time to send me that picture and also this one of Dennis Lagasse II, my great-grandfather, with two of his grandchildren, little Harvey and Mary.
One more thing … Lionel does not know.
I just made him an honorary member of…


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October 12, 2004
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Don't forget Germany's most famous Elvis imersonator...Gregor Graf:
The sound bytes are priceless. (sorry my html skills are nonexistant...)
congratulations on being first elizabeth!
can I call you liz?
Ah, yes, the immortal lyrics of Peat Loaf
I water you,
I weed you,
But there ain't no way
I'm ever gonna mow you,
But don't be sad,
'Cause two outta three ain't bad. . .
The only question I have about any Meatloaf tribute is, "Why?"
Because he's a Wild and an Untamed Thing, you silly.
It's just not "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" WHEN THE STEERING WHEEL IS ON THE WRONG SIDE!!!!
Let's not forget one of the most awe-inspiring (in the sense of ridiculous)musical acts of all time: Chelvis, the Chinese Elvis.
I didn't make it an HTML link because the page is currently down.
There are many a terrible act
In the music biz, that is a fact
I get pains in the Pelvis
When people say "Chelvis"
And barf at the sound of Cher.
Okay, so it doesn't all rhyme, but it's the truth.
Let us not forget Mexico's entry into the tribute act sweepstakes: El Vez!
Really, there is such a guy. Or used to be, anyway.
amazing how far people with NO talent can get. but its funny..
amazing how far people with NO talent can get. but its funny..
Key line: "Peat Loaf are the UK's only totally live Meat Loaf tribute band"
There are several partially dead tribute bands, apparently.
And for those of you (like Zaphod) not discerning enough to see Meat Loaf's great talents, well this Serbian farmer certainly gets it.
Too much meat loaf for Peat, obviously. With that look, I fear he won't be totally live for long.
Peat Loaf, I'd like you to Meat Moss.
amazing how far people with NO talent can get. but its funny..
was that about us?
no, i think it was about us
actually, he was referring to me
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that German Elvis impersonator is actually rather good? Seriously.
don't forget me
Peat Moss...El Vez...I wouldn't worry about those guys. But you know it'll be time to build a bunker and move underground when the Will Hung impersonators show up.
Look...I said 'Peat Moss'. Is that a Freudian slip?
Gregor Graf ..Elvis imitator.. a tribute to the man and his hit's
Someone needs to send that man his Mister Language Person's School of English Certificate
I've seen Gregor (the Elvis guy) in person and yes he's a really incredible performer. He's amazing!
Gregor doesn't speak a word of English, so that's why the spelling errors exist on his website.
Zaphod, that would certainly take care of the boars... it would kill them for sure! No one can handle that much pork!
is Peat Loaf a Vegan ?
i guess he doesn't want Mad Rockstar Disease
Insom - No. You're thinking of Peta Loaf.
So, the Middle Eastern version would be "Pita Loaf"?
His big hit being Jihad by the Dashboard Light.
re: Gregor Graf - I think this guy needs a visit from the Apostrophe Protection Society.
Not to mention he looks more like Dice Clay than Elvis.
I never could understand how the lyrics I want you, I need you, but there ain't no way I'm ever going to love you. But don't feel bad. 'Cause two out of three ain't bad. was supposed to be comforting to any woman. I mean, really. Is that supposed to be serious? Or perhaps that ballad is really just some kind of satire?
Zaphod, I should have seen that one coming.
Well . . . . I did learn that 'weiter' means 'enter' in German.
Peat moss grows in a thick mat. So he should have called it the "Peat Loaf -- Mat Out of Hell Tour."
Um, or maybe not.
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text:
Sanya Richards-Ross set a meet record in the 400 meters Sunday in the U.S. track trials, finishing in 49.28 seconds for a spot on the Olympic team.
Richards-Ross also plans to run in the 200 in the trials at Hayward for a shot at a double in the London Games.
Dee Dee Trotter finished in 50.02 and Francena McCorory was third in 50.43 for the other two spots on the team.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Natasha Hastings, who was on the 1,600 relay team that won gold in Beijing, finished seventh in 51.28.
Richards-Ross was the favorite going into the Beijing Olympics, but faded on the stretch and settled for the bronze.
Her mark in Sunday's final surpassed Chandra Cheeseborough's record 49.28 set in 1984.
Copyright AP - Associated Press


text:
Heart attack: Denial can be deadly
One of my favorite movies is Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton. Why did she show up at the Oscars wearing her Annie Hall outfit? That is so '70s, and she didn't win the Oscar again in that outfit.
Anyway, Keaton's young daughter is dating old Jack Nicholson. While "fooling around" Nicholson starts to have chest pains, sweats, and shortness of breath. What does Keaton's daughter do? Not sure what to do, she calls for her mother– not 911. That's like from a bad horror movie: someone is coming at me with a knife and I'll just stand there and scream. (Anna Nicole Smith would take the sucker down!)
Keaton assesses the situation and realizes Nicholson is having a heart attack. She orders to her daughter to call 911– now! Then Keaton starts CPR on this man whom she despises.
Why was Keaton's daughter such a dumb-dumb that she didn't know to call 911 immediately?
Denial is more than a river in Egypt. Denial means, "This can't be happening. Oprah Winfrey really isn't singing her show's opening song. J Lo can't be getting married again. Liberace is just a nice man who lives with a nicer man."
It could be that Keaton's daughter wasn't educated like Diane, and so she didn't recognize a heart attack in progress. That's the whole point of CPR classes– they're more than just learning to do chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth respiration; they educate the public to identify heart attacks, choking on food, suffocation, heat stroke, etc.
Heart disease is the #1 killer disease in this country. It kills more Americans than cancer, AIDS, and bad breath. Myocardial Infarction (MI) is the medical term for an acute heart attack. The heart is a muscle that pumps blood to our body. The heart needs blood and oxygen just like the rest of our body. So the heart has coronary arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood that contains oxygen.
If the coronary arteries get clogged up with cholesterol, blood flow to the heart slows down– kind of like how a sink drains slower when the pipes get clogged with bacon grease and hair. These cholesterol plaques can attract platelets and form a big clot to completely cut off blood supply to everything downstream. That is an MI: no blood supply to parts of the heart. In 20 minutes, the heart muscle suffocates and dies.
The symptoms of people who aren't getting enough oxygen to the heart include chest pains (a.k.a. angina) like an elephant standing on the chest (or a donkey, if you're a Democrat). People sometimes yell at me, "It isn't pain! It's a squeezing, pressure sensation." The "pain" can radiate down the left arm, and sometimes up the neck to the jaw. Sweating, shortness of breath, nausea, heart pounding, and lightheadedness all can occur as well.
It's important to get medical attention ASAP if these symptoms occur, because you want to open up the coronary arteries before heart muscle damage occurs. What happens if the heart muscles start to die? You can get an arrhythmia, which makes the heart stop beating faster than Mr. Peru stumbling at the Miss Universe Pageant. Also, you want to prevent heart muscle damage so that– should you survive– your heart will function like a Cadillac instead of an old jalopy.
Make sure you get your annual physical with your doctor, eat fruits and vegetables whenever you can, don't smoke, and get plenty of exercise to keep your coronary arteries clean and your heart in great shape.
The Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz will respect you for that.


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by Janet Gilmore
Falling snow energizes me. To the point that I cleaned last week, at least one room anyway before I lay down with my newest discovery, listening to a book-on-tape while reading that same book. As long as I was going to clean, I decided I would not just clean, but clean — the Big Cleaneroo. Clean enough to last at least until spring, 2012. I got out the vacuum cleaner, of course, but also — and this is unprecedented — all eight attachments, spray cleaners, sponges, rubber gloves and a dust rag.
I also recruited an assistant. "I guess we should start in the living room," sighed husband, Hugh.
I started by dusting off the cleaning products. Then I tried the high shelves, but I couldn't reach the top even with a mop. Hugh said, "Now, Jan, what are you supposed to do when you can't reach the top shelf? You ask the Big Strong man; right?"
"Could you…?" I asked.
Hugh ran an exploratory finger across the shelf and said, "It's fine. It doesn't need dusting. I'll be in the basement if you need me."
I made the necessary mental adjustments to that and grabbed the vacuum cleaner. You know, when I vacuum, I start thinking about all the tiny particles in the rug that think my efforts are a big joke. Then I stand in one place staring into space, going over and over the same spot until the universe tells me to move on.
The first corner I came to had a stack of unread newspapers. I vacuumed them with the dusting brush and restacked them so that the entire pile wasn't resting on two small paperback books. Then I shoved a chair in front of them so they don't show any more, and I dusted the chair. I found a few dead stinkbugs on the floor and sucked them up thinking, "Not so stinky now; are you, guys?" The Big Cleaneroo meant removing the baseboard heat covers and vacuuming all the metal fins inside. All kinds of things lived in there — old dry erasers, more ex-stink bugs, small pieces of dry paper, old appointment cards, pebbles and pills. What was not there was the map to the treasure that I know the former owners buried in the back yard. I've been looking for that map for 20 years now. I washed the radiator covers and replaced them tidily.
At the halfway mark, the window sills were shining, half of the carpet was clean enough to eat off of and the furniture was dust-free. Just then Hugh came in from shoveling the driveway. He stood in the doorway.
"You can't come in here," I said.
"Why not?"
"Because I just cleaned this half of the room, and you'll have to walk on this half to get to the other half of the room. That is not acceptable."
"What should I do?" he asked.
"Can you levitate yourself?"
I guess he can, because when I looked around he was gone.
I found two dead laptop computers under a big chair. I summoned their owners from the opposite ends of the house for interrogation.
"Nothing comes up on my screen ever," said one.
"I can't get onto the Internet on mine," said the other.
"Throw them away?" I asked.
"OK," said one.
"No; I'm going to call Tim," said the other. "Put mine back."
Arms aching, I reached the corner of the room that no one ever uses. I pulled out the chest that sits there holding up a lamp and vacuumed behind it. There were also two drip marks about halfway up on the wall. How did they get there? No one drinks anything in that corner; no one does anything there. It's a lonely corner. The drips might have been a clue to the whereabouts of that treasure map, but I doubted it, so I washed them away.
Next, the Cleaneroo required pulling a heavy piece of furniture away from the wall. On the one hand, the Big Strong man was nearby; on the other hand, I didn't want him walking on my floor. I told myself to grow up. I could do the floor again, but I couldn't move that piece of furniture without help. My back hurt.
He moved it for me. Unfortunately, I then lay down on the floor and couldn't get up again. I was exhausted, and it felt so good to be doing nothing. "Thanks," I mumbled, admiring the legs of the dining room table as my eyes closed.
When I got up, I cleaned behind the last cabinet for the first time in 20 years and put the cleaning equipment away. Done. Not perfect, but good enough for Chestnut Hill, as they say. If you're planning to visit me, hurry. The Big Cleaneroo is like a total eclipse; it only happens once on the third blue moon after the solstice following a 95-percent-off sale of cosmetics at the mall.
That evening I relaxed after dinner with my book-on-tape and then slept the earned sleep of the spic and span. I had helped my family by cleaning our home, although I didn't want to clean again for a long time. The following morning I discovered the telltale evidence that a mouse had moved into the kitchen.