feel the experience - Finnish/ Global Game Jam 2015

*A conversation held around December 2014

"We will host the next Finnish/Global Game Jam 2015 at our school" <-- my teacher

"Great! sounds cool!...uhhh...what we're gonna do there?"

"Its the event gathering where you make a game in 48 hours"

"...."
"Wait WHAT??
"How the HELL you possibly do that???" -_-

*dramatic music*

That is my friend, what I was thinking back then.
I went into panic-anxious-excited-mixed feeling mode because at that time i don't have any idea what is it. It's the first time for me (and our class) to participate.

The funny part was when someone asked me what is that event about, this is my answer ;

"I don't know (with confuse face)...its...well...you make games with other people...under 48 hours...sounds fun and cool...we got a free t-shirt...oh and we got a school's credit also...uhmm...yeah...like that" XD


But anyway,

We survived the whole things. Our awesome team got the job well done and we are so proud of the outcome (woohoo!).

The event was held at 23-25 January 2015 and it is worldwide. Global Game jam is the biggest game jam event ; check their website here to learn more since I'm bad at explaining things.

The first day we didn't actually start making the game. We form the team, watching some videos, getting to know each other, and blah blah...

aaaaand *drumroll* waiting for this year's theme! Its the time we were waiting for since before the D-day you don't know what's the theme will be.

This year's theme was "What do we do now".

We decided that the game will be a jumping platform with super-cute-unicorn-cat-character that need to choose what it want to do (according to the theme, d'oh!).

So, here's how it work.

The player need to choose whether it want to free the poor little chicks in the cage or to eat the tasty chicken legs. Each of the decision the player make will affect the game.

The chicks will make you slimmer, but faster the game's pace.
The tasty chicken legs will make you go fat and more fatter and harder to jump, but slowing the game's pace.

The fun part is the two player mode that either you can work together to the top, or kick others down.

Hence the name "Karma Cat" (We hope you got what we mean xp).

Here's the gameplay video or you can go to this link;

And you can actually play it also in this link. Don't forget to put the sound on, it is so awesome that it will stuck to your head after a while.

Surprisingly I though that we are going to stay up super late that we all going to transform into some brain-eating-zombie-state after the event, but it is not that bad after all.

Tired? yes.
Did I turn into zombie? barely, but fortunately not :p

To make it simpler here's what I felt about this event :

The fun-happy part

- You met other people (did I mention about meeting other NERDS?).
- It is not a competition
- It don't need to be finished game, it's just for fun!
- You experience how you develop a games in really tight time.
- You learn how to organize better.
- I got to see how other's make a games.
- Pizza...pizza..and pizza...since everyone is lazy to move from the computer, so pizza guy are our best friend here.
- I got free t-shirt.
- School's credit.
- Like I said before...it sounds cool :p

The annoying part

- They put the live webcam whole time. I can't pick up my nose! everybody is watching!
- The class room somehow turned into a hellish-hot since there's too many people.
- Its not actually 48 hours, it is LESS than that.
- They said if you're not having fun you doing it wrong...but then if you have fun all the time, then something is wrong.

The verdict 

Will I participate again? Absolutely yes!
the next year will be held at 29-31 January 2016.

Lastly, here's the photo of our awesome team member...skully-fy and pixel-fy by my friend :p

Team Karma!

Graphics : Emmi Malkki, Maureen Lukito Alkkiomäki, Moona Miettinen
Programmer : Antti Alkkiomäki, Joonas Jakobson,  Sakari Malkki
Sound designer : Jan Kanerva

5 things that make me smile : Rovaniemi/Lapland 2014

This year's christmas was snowing in Finland! 

I can't be more happier since last year we didn't get any of it (in here we called it "musta joulu"  lit. means black christmas). 

But we got a lot more of snow since we (me and husband) traveling to Rovaniemi - Lapland. It was -25 in there and it was my first time to go here, so it was exciting. 

We went to a *small version of ice hotel* and Santa claus village also (that they claimed it is the original Santa Claus). The entire trip took 3 days 2 night. I must admit it was too short! ;)

1. The scenery on the road
White, white, white everywhere! Everything are frozen solid also. We went with car and it took *only* 8-9 hours drive (ouch!my butt >_>).

2. This super cute - alaskan husky sled trip
They are so cute, fluffy and really friendly. I was hugging and petting almost all the dogs. I want to take them home! The ride was fun and super cold when they running really fast. I could felt a thousand needles prickling my face Ö_ö

*Fun fact - the guide said that they only use siberian husky and alaskan malamute usually just for advertising purposes...uhm..ok :p

3. The color of the skies was awesome
It was breathtaking seeing those skies changing color every time. And seeing the northern light in there was really nice experience. I could say that I unlocked one of my life achievement, yay!

Unfortunately I didn't catch the photo of aurora since it was hard...well next time :p

4. This trip with snowmobiles to the frozen forest
Not the most pleasant ride since it was super freezing cold, super bumpy ride since I was in the backseat :p

Nice experience driving around Lapland's frozen forest. Its almost dark at that time but the scenery and color still fabulous.

5. The speciality stuff from Lapland
Tried reindeer meat stew, I finally found the handmade Kuksa cup (Lappish wooden birch cup), We stayed at really nice cabin and I got my own reindeer's antler also* :p

*Reindeers shed their antlers occasionally, so there's no harm for retrieving these :)

kimchi, beef, ramen, and small explosion

Suddenly out of nowhere,
I'm craving some Korean kimchi. It is strange because I don't usually like kimchi so this is strange. I taste a lot of different kimchi but I never fond of the taste.

Except one in some small restaurant in Jakarta (that i doubt if its still open today). It was 10 years ago maybe (now I feel old!). That was the first kimchi I ever like...ever. It is the only one that i can manage to eat.

Eating in Korean restaurant would be a luxury for me since they are quite expensive and they have *uncommon* type food so I rarely want to eat it. Couple times I went and i got really confused when I read the menu...they all look the same to me.

Have I mentioned that they all look RED for everything? (seems they love spicy things so much). It give me that eerie-creepy feel somehow seeing almost all the food in super-reddish color.

Anyway since in Finland it started to get autumny, coldy, windy and super darky (with additional cold and flu sickness also) plus I binge-watched this awesome Korean woman "Maangchi"

That kimchi-stew-soup seems so warm...spicy...and hot...
perfect for this time of the year!

I must make those!

But then again I was super-skeptical at first since kimchi sounds so fancy and hard to make. And I don't want to buy store-bought-kimchi, they usually horrible plus the Asian market is far from my home (I'm to lazy to go).

After couple googling and reading Maangchi blog again and again, I found a simple recipe to make in here.  I didn't use any raw squid or other raw seafood like the original recipe, It is scary just to think about putting them altogether...euuughyyy...

So let's start by chopping the most important part of the kimchi ; chinese cabbage! (kiinaankaali)

I love the cruchy-crunch sound they make when you cut these :D

I have a funny-stupid moment doing my *first* kimchi. 

I didn't realize that I should give more space in the glass jar that when I check it after 2 days there's some *fizzy-fishy* stuff happening. I was panicked and open the jar without thinking too much.

And then *sploorrrchh* the kimchi exploded bursting everywhere from the jar.

lesson learned here ; 
fermentation give you carbon dioxide reaction

*ouch*

*The culprit of the kimchi-explosion

After a painful kitchen cleaning, I split the kimchi in 2 jars afterwards to prevent more explosion. Fortunately its only the *kimchi sauce* that bursted out. All the vegetables are safe and really yummy to taste.

I am satisfied with the result and even make one more easy Korean dish "Yak-gochujang" (Fried gochujang). It consist beef, pine nuts, honey (mmmmm honeyyy) and Korean fermented chili paste "gochujang". This kimchi is really good when you mix it with other food, especially with ramen noodle soup.

I should try more Korean foods in the future after this ;)

cactus robot design - artworks

We had this fun task at the school to choose one object then we need to design the robot version of the object. I have a really fun time doing this task.

*Except when it came to drawing the actual object.*

I am not very fond of drawing realistic object so it took more longer to do the actual object. I'm satisfied though with the final outcome. I will probably color it in the future but i think its nice the way it is now.

So this is the real object that i chose. I was thinking of doing a teddy bear plushie. But teddy bear plushie is too mainstream, so I chose cactus that has been with me for year or so. People always said that cactuses are the easiest to care. I always almost every time kill this poor spiky plants XD

And these two are the design that i made. I was suppose to do only one but i can't choose which one is nicer. I love them both! 

I rarely do some robot-mecha stuff (i don't like scifi too much either). It was a challenge for me to do it. After browsing plenty references (and sobbing in the corner of the wall) i remembered Megaman games that full of this hybrid robots-mecha-style. So after some few sketches, i finished these two in the end :D

*Wait, what kind of school again? why making these?is it art school or what?...*
ehmmm...

Sooooo, this August 2014 i got accepted to games and animation line school in Helsinki.

Yay!

*ok this might be a little bit late news, oh well* :p
Anywayyyy I am really happy with it. I am really satisfied also for my decision to focus more into games industry since this is my dream since i long time ago.

*Best decision ever!
...oh sorry I think i got some dust in my eyes now*

5 things that make me smile : 29072014

Here in Helsinki we have a really HOT weeks.

We have over 30 degree Celsius with the sun shining brightly more than 12 hours.
Oh please don't throw shoes to me, i know for some country 30 degree are normal lol. I have been living in Indonesia and i know this *hotness* is normal in there.

But in Finland its really rare opportunity to get this hot. Though many of the Finns (the Finnish people) are rejoicing for this (you can spot the beach are super crowded) i'm not really keen for this since i like coldness more. Though honestly the half-naked-six-pack-guys strolling in the streets are ok for me...whooopss! *hubby-stare-at-me*.

*Ahem*, anyway I try not to complain too much since the summer is short in Finland. Soon the autumn come and the cold-darkness is here (People who live in Finland will understand this). But hey what I am blabbering about, let's just go straight to these pics that i took recently in my daily life :)

1. Japanese cherry blossom's trees in Helsinki. 
When my teacher said there is a small Japanese garden in Helsinki i was thrilled. She said they have this sakura trees blooming on this day (spring) so i went there right away after school, dragging my husband also.

2. Museums! 

A visit to a museum is always a good things.

3. Flowers, flowers, and more flowers!
This is called "lumipallo kukat" literally translated "snowball flower". My parent-in-law's have this cuties in their backyard and it is huge. The entire plant is bigger and taller than me in comparison. I think it is really cute and they all look like a perfect snowballs that i want to hug it ( not that i can hug a plant for real, they'll be dead crushed :p )

4. My corner - update
I have been trying to make my "working station" in the corner more comfy and green. I have a bit hard time to find a perfect plant for it since in this corner the window is quite small. I decided this ZZ plant is the perfect one (it have a "balls" that act like a water reservoir in the roots). I've been told that shopping malls and hotels often have this inside since it is really strong plants.

I found some thrifted whimsical wine bottle ( can you see there is a small grape shape inside? ), an unique vase and reindeer figure from IKEA ( that i think it looks like something from minecraft...probably :p ).

5. Gift from Indonesia
My dear friend sent me this tote bag from Indonesia. How cute is this? and it is a one of a kind since it is a handmade. She bought it from this talented person here and sent in to Finland. It is for my belated birthday gift since she was really busy but i appreciate it. Love this so much thank you! :D