Personal – 1 Up Creations

Ontario Election Analysis

By: 1upcreations August 16, 2018

Other, Personaldata analysis, election, OtherLeave a Comment

Background knowledge

There are 3 major parties in Canadian elections (Liberals (Centre-left), Conservatives (Right), & New Democratic Party (Left)), with several minor parties (Green (Centre-Left), Bloc Quebecois (Centre-Left), etc.). Some are more local parties than others (ie. Bloc Quebecois does not run outside of Quebec – to my knowledge). In the Ontario Provincial Election, the 3 major parties were against each other with the incumbent Liberals facing against the other two. There was a vocal amount of people who did NOT want the Conservatives to win, however I felt they had a good chance because the other 2 parties were splitting the rest of the vote. This made me create this analysis to see if the Conservatives could have lost.

Elections in Ontario are settled by a first-past-the-post system. This means that the party who gets the most number of seats in the legislature wins the election. There are proposed alternatives to this system but elected officials seems unwilling to make any actual change.

End of Background Knowledge

I decided to do an analysis of the 2018 Ontario Provincial Election. I looked at each riding to see if another party could’ve won. Assuming all calculations are correct, the Conservatives would’ve won in all but 1 possible scenario.

Check it here: https://tinyurl.com/y8wvr8y8

If I learned anything from this, it’s that the vote was split between Liberal and New Democratic Party, causing the Conservatives to have an easy win. It would’ve taken serious strategic voting for another result. Alternatively, with proportional representation, it could have been a minority Conservative government.

Never Stop Exploding

By: 1upcreations June 15, 2018December 21, 2018

2D, Personal2D, art, Other

NeverStopExploding_Voltorb_wLogo NeverStopExploding_Electrode_wLogo

I was walking down the street one day and saw someone wearing a The North Face shirt that said Never Stop Exploring but I misread it as Never Stop Exploding and was really confused. However, it also inspired me to make the images above, drawing inspiration from two of the most explode prone Pokémon – Voltorb and Electrode!

Maybe this would look good on a T-shirt or print?

Below is a reference image I used as a base for the concept.

: Reference Image

Tiger

By: 1upcreations June 15, 2018

2D, Personal2D, artLeave a Comment

This was a design I made after reading through an Illustrator tutorial by Evert Martin.

I took a tiger as my base (see below). After following the tutorial I came out with the above image. It kind of looks more like a bear to me but I like it anyway. It was a quick production to get the feel for Illustrator more so I didn’t spend time on refining it.

You can create some pretty crazy looking things with Martin’s methods – and quickly too!

Cubed

By: 1upcreations December 7, 2017December 12, 2017

Games, PersonalGames, Memory, OtherLeave a Comment

Play Here!

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything!

And guess what, it’s a game! A game that took me way too long to make as I was completing it in 30 minute intervals while on the train to work….

Cubed!

It’s a math game where you roll a cube around to create the correct sequential formula to reach the target value, given an initial value. It introduces each of the four main operators (+, -, x, /) through the levels.

The idea was to make a game that people could play on their mobile, that didn’t need an internet connection, and that happened to be educational. I learned later on that it wouldn’t work too well on mobile in its current state, so if I ever work on it again, I’ll have to take a different approach to it.

Inspiration: Endorfun

I used to play this game a ton when I was a kid. No one really knows about it but I remember it came with an old computer we had at home. I liked how relaxing and challenging it was. Listening to the soundtrack now, it’s just weird! But I still like the idea of the game. It was a ton of fun.

Problems:

Possible layout issues on desktop computers
Some UX issues

Most of the problems related to this project come from the fact that I began designing it as a mobile game that did not require an internet connection and then later on realized that this wouldn’t work on mobile. So please excuse any issues you may find!

Controls:

WASD or Arrows to move

Pause button changes the camera angle to see the whole play field

Game Download:

iOS – Download Here

Windows – Download Here

TGGJ 2015 – God Complex

By: 1upcreations June 11, 2015

Games, PersonalGame, video gameLeave a Comment

This game was made during the Global Game Jam 2015 in Toronto with Jord Farrell and Marishka Zachariah. As it was done for the Global Game Jam 2015, it was completed over a weekend of coding, art making and jamming.

In this game you play a character who has multiple gods vying for your devotion and attention. It is up to the player to choose which to follow and worship.

Play it online HERE

255 Shades of Grey

By: 1upcreations June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

Personal, ProgrammingLeave a Comment

255 Shades of Grey was a quick project I made after hearing about 50 Shades of Grey. I wanted to have fun with the title of it. I wanted to originally print off each of the 255 shades and place them over a wall showing the change in colour and how minute the difference is between each shade. I might end up doing that soon however.

If you want to see the animation or code, please go HERE

Dogs of War – On-Going Project

By: 1upcreations November 12, 2014

Games, PersonalCard gameLeave a Comment

Dogs of War is a collectible card game I’m currently working on. It’s still in it’s early stages but I hope to get it going soon so that I can play-test it and develop it further.

The overview of it is that each player has three heroes which battle the opponent’s heroes for victory. Actions and equipment are used to augment the play to create dynamic combinations and strategies.

Some sample artwork is below. Please do not use without my permission.

Loneliness

By: 1upcreations November 11, 2014April 5, 2017

2D, Games, Personal2D, dark, Emotion, Game, indie, video gameLeave a Comment

Loneliness was created when I was feeling melancholic and distanced from people. I felt lonely and alone and thought creating a game to express myself might help.

I had originally started the game as a search for collecting friends but they would constantly disappear. When they were all gone, the game would end.

This was the original character design:

However, I changed the goal and made it a game where you tried to escape from being lonely and alone. Neither game had a win state as I felt nihilistic and wanted people to experience the helplessness I felt.

The newer character design:

How to Play: Arrows = Movement

Download:

Both are PC only.

Loneliness (Game): Download Here

Loneliness (Assets): Download Here

Alone (Old version): Download Here

Sketchbook Tag

By: 1upcreations November 10, 2014

Other, PersonalOtherLeave a Comment

Sketchbook Tag is an on-going art project.

The purpose of the project is to bring artists together and share what is important to those people. By playing a game of tag with a moving sketchbook, artists add an image in any medium they please to the book. The only stipulation is that the image must mean something personal to the artists.

It was created for two reasons: one, most artists don’t like showing their work to others so this way they can make something and pass it off; and two, to bring people who aren’t normally considered artists into the creative fold. The purpose of the project is not to have amazing artwork but rather personal artwork.

Once an artist finishes their work, they give it to another person of their choice. People can even create their own sketchbooks if they’d like by emailing the email below and receiving a number for recording. More information can be found at the Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Email: sketchtagbooks@gmail.com

Tumblr / Twitter / Facebook

X-Mas Gift 2013

By: 1upcreations November 10, 2014April 5, 2017

Games, Personal2D, GameLeave a Comment

This was done as a gift for three of my friends for Christmas 2013. I, however, got very sidetracked and did not complete it until the summer of 2014. I showed them the gift at our yearly cottage trip and while there were a lot of bugs it was well received.

I had started this game using GameMaker before I learned Unity so I think that attributed to a lot of the bugs but it was also a good refresher on how to use the program.

As I was side-tracked a lot, I ran out of time to finish my original vision, therefore I had to reuse sprites and rush things. All in all, I would not make a game for friends for Christmas again.

I wanted to make each level unique to the person it was to represent (minus myself) and they are as follows:

Steve: Platformer where you have to use a compass to find the item in the level.

Adam_idle1 Adam: Sneak and infiltrate your way through the lasers to unlock the doors.

Greg: Shoot-em-up.

Corey (me): The game creator and only appears in the intro/outro.

How to Play:

All: Arrows = move/jump

Steve: no other controls

Adam: Space = move slower, C = push button

Greg: Q = hold to aim up, C = shoot

Download:

PC only: Download Here