Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds

Wordle makes nice-looking tag clouds. Requires Java.

Cartography with Photoshop

While looking for mapmaking resources for the iPhone game I'm working on, I stumbled upon a nice series of Photoshop tutorials called Fantasy Cartography with Adobe Photoshop (link goes to the first episode). Basically, it's a video series showing a lot of cartography tips and tricks for fantasy RPG games, but the tips and tricks are applicable to many other pursuits with Photoshop, as well.

In particular, I learned a lot about adjustment layers and working with Photoshop to achieve maximal flexibility without relying on the undo history. The adjustment layer and masking tools were introduced after I first began using Photoshop, and I hadn't taken the time to delve into them. These tutorials really drove home how to integrate them easily into your Photoshop work and how flexible they make your Photoshop documents down the road.

11 Free And Useful Open-Source Alternatives For Designers - Opensource, Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers

11 Free And Useful Open-Source Alternatives For Designers - Opensource, Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers: "11 Free And Useful Open-Source Alternatives For Designers in which most of them are cross-platform."

Cameron Moll on Conference Speaking

Cameron Moll just blogged 20 tips for better conference speaking.

'80s Flashback With 'Retro Game Challenge

Retro Game Challenge' for the Nintendo DS, a collection of new games designed to mimic and parody those of the 1980s

http://www.wired.com/video/latest-videos/latest/1815816633/80s-flashback-with-retro-game-challenge/13389089001

Ben Balistreri's Blog

Ben Balistreri

It is really awesome.

Creating a Necromancer for Castle Crashers

Dan Paladin of The Behemoth continues his Flash videos, this time showing how he created the Necromancer level and boss. Be sure to check out his other video for creating the Frost King!

http://www.vimeo.com/3170624

TED: David Merrill: Siftables, the toy blocks that think

MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables -- cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. Is this the next thing in hands-on learning?

Pretty Cool

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_merrill_demos_siftables_the_smart_blocks.html

How Not To Sort By Average Rating

How Not To Sort By Average Rating is a discussion on how to take ratings and make them meaningful for any number of reviews. I've actually been wondering about this for a while, especially since we sometimes talk about "a web site where kids or parents can rate games". It's nice to know that the problem is solved when we go to implement...

Symbol6 : How We Created an iPhone Game � All Things Gogogic

Symbol6 : How We Created an iPhone Game � All Things Gogogic

YourFonts

YourFonts - Generate Your Own Fonts Online
With YourFonts you can make a TrueType font from your own handwriting for free. The process is simple, quick and basically idiot-proof. Print out a template from the site, write in your letters, scan, upload and -- voila -- there you have it.

I thought this might be cool for the ATV project...

The Oregon Trail

http://www.offworld.com/2009/02/apple-classic-oregon-trail-com.html

A remake of the oregon trail is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch, with updated graphics! I just hope they are tasteful in their depiction of dysentary.

Presentation Zen: Lessons from the art of storyboarding

Cool Google video about Lessons from the art of storyboarding.

Pipl

Yikes.

WhatTheFont

WhatTheFont!!
Great tool. A friend just yesterday asked me what font was on a logo a client had given him. The client did not have any of the original artwork and needed it recreated... enter WhatTheFont. It worked like a charm. Just uploaded an image(they list specifications but I just uploaded the logo with no tweaking) It still worked and gave me the right font.

CSS Grid Designer

Here's a handy tool for designing grids and columns for web: Grid Designer.

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | North East/N Isles | Elderly wanted for Wii experiment

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | North East/N Isles | Elderly wanted for Wii experiment

Closure.

Closure.
Great game... try it. Stay in the light.

Creating an Undead Cyclops

Dan Paladin, an animator for The Behemoth (makers of Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers) has a time-lapse video up showing how he created and animated his undead cyclops boss using Flash.

http://coldhardflash.com/2009/02/harness-and-hanson-rock-ghost-town.html

LeapFrog announces educational, interactive Zippity - Engadget

Zippity - Engadget
I want the adult version of this thing. I like the organic look and the color.

Amazon moves into casual gaming

Amazon moves into casual gaming
Maybe temper the enthusiasm... I went to download one of the free sample games and they are Windows only. Oh well.