Aquma

I'm Aquma, and this is where I post about my games and interactive projects. I'm an independent game designer reppin' Glitch City LA and Boyle Heights. I also make zines, videos, raps, and beats. He/Him

[aquma]

I modeled a Sonic paleta for this bootleg game I’m working on. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, but I feel like it could look jankier maybe.

[aquma]

Joku, Dragons Ball 2017

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Some stuff I added today.

[aquma]

Here’s a few screen shots of my latest game, Horchata. It’s a little house on a little island that you can explore and hang out in. Currently aiming for mobile VR, but I also want to release it for non-VR mobile and desktop computer. 

[aquma]

Have you played that Kinktober game nipplick?? It’s wild. https://kinkuma.itch.io/nipplick

[aquma]

The chicken is definitely the best part of my game. I'm excited to finish up some unrelated applications and then get back to work on this fun project.

[aquma]

I made a game snack about avocado toast. Do millennials in Australia actually pay $19 for it??? Play in browser: https://aquma.itch.io/avocado-toast

[aquma]

Finding my game-making rhythm

Yo, I finally feel like I’m at that point in my game-design practice where I can make the cool shit that’s in my head and it’s actually kinda good. I know what I know how to make, and I can design around that. It feels so good. I’ve been on this game-making hustle for like 2.5 years now. I’ve loved the ideas I had for games at first (stick-shift driving sim, a pot-smoking VR couch-sitting sim), but it was so frustrating trying to make them because I would get stuck trying to figure out the software, or how to understand code I would look up (don’t get me started on forums), or how to even go about making digital game experiences. But now I have a groove that I’ve found, and opinions and philosophies that I’m naturally developing that might be worth sharing. 

This message to creative people from Ira Glass got me through grad school.

I still have so many things I need to learn and improve on, but I know enough now to really express myself. It’s such a rush. So much so, I roll up to USC for like 12-13 hours/day to work on it. It’s obvs not all working time. It’s split among eating, lifting, meetings, and socializing, etc. But I try to really focus and keep putting the time in. You realize how much of a difference it makes to put time and effort into anything, but especially with creative work. Making games is a sport and needs to be approached in a competitive athlete type of way. Not in a compete against other people type of way, but in a balanced training for a marathon type of way.

The weird thing is it doesn’t feel like a grind. And I think that’s because when you genuinely love what you’re doing, it’s not work. What more could I ask for?

Chilling in the game studio / thesis space. Popcorn break.

[probertson]

🌵🌵🌵SUCCULENT BOYS🌵🌵🌵

[aquma]

I love this.

[toomuchto]

[upworthy]

Well said.

[aquma]

Messing around with gifs and self promotion. I think I might make this my splash screen for my games. 

[aquma]

Project: Code Glitches, Get Money (tentative name)

This on-rails floater is a prototype I made for my upcoming thesis. It’s part of a larger performance piece where the game is projected onto the wall. My DJ plays through it, sending low-poly gold man (who is supposed to represent me) through the air collecting money. While this is happening, I rap about making games for money and the various things I would do with the cash . There’s more to it than that, but that’s all I can share for now! 

Play it on itch.io in your web browser, just don’t use Google Chrome.

[aquma]

Play in browser (don’t use Chrome).

That Crayon Dream is an altgame I made, inspired by a dream I had as an adult. I made the main experience in 2 days and polished it for 4. Such is game development. I felt good going through the process of thinking of the idea, prototyping, building it, testing, polishing, and releasing. Then I read this article by Vlambeer’s Rami about making games in 1 week periods to get failure and other valuable lessons out of the way. Felt good spending most of Spring Break making this (along with reffing volleyball matches for $$$) instead of doing stuff for my thesis. So many things I want to make!!! In case you’re wondering, the waxy sound is me squishing a banana with my hands. It was a little messy.

[aquma]

Playtime, an Oculus Rift-enhanced interactive music video. By Aquma, Zekia, and Ascot Smith 

We made this for a group project in Interactive Design and Production 1 at USC last year. We had some trouble in the first part of the development process. We wanted to make an interactive music video with virtual reality and a narrative...and it was looking like none of those. We shifted gears more than halfway through the production schedule (12 weeks), cutting things and retooling, and ended up with something not that bad!

For this project I did programming, some 3D modeling, sound effects and music, and game design. 

-Aquma

*Note the video shows a mouse controlled version of Playtime since the virtual reality part requires special hardware.

[aquma]

I just wanted to rip off the Cowboy Bebop theme song intro and figured I would use cars instead of space ships. Demo is kind of a misnomer since this is the whole experience. You drive using the arrow keys, and each one plays a different note. When you let go of the key, the sound fades out. That's about it!

[aquma]

Throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em like you just don't care. It'll put digital paint on the wall! I made this using Processing and LEAP Motion. It's hard to draw things precisely, but it feels good to make a mess. No cleanup required! 

-Aquma

Video by Zekia. Photo by Rob Finney. Demoed at USC. 

[aquma]

badGlitches( );

Download/play in browser (Give it a min to load. Mac OSX: use Firefox/Safari)

I made a game! It's more of a sitting simulator than a walking sim. 1 minute of gameplay, 2 endings. 

The title and handwritten code are vague references to the Rae Sremmurd song "No Type" (an instrumental version plays in the background). At least that's how the project started. It ended up becoming an allegory for the growth of my game dev practice. I felt constricted before. I unintentionally wrote stuff that didn't work (glitches). Then I got better, and now I write glitches that do work on purpose. Or something like that. Hope you enjoy it!

-Aquma