Sunday 20 May 2012

Public Fursuiting Tips

If you own a fursuit chances are you have gone to a convention and worn it. Fursuiting at a convention is safer but it doesn't make a large impact because there are lots of other fursuits. Public fursuiting has considerably more risk but the impact it very large because it isn't everyday when you see a large, fluffy dog or cat walking down the sidewalk.
This post is going to provide some tips on public performance whether its just a walk at a park or fund raising for charity.

Where?
Choosing where to fursuit means taking into consideration obstacles and what sort of people are there.
One obstacle that you should definitely look out for is stairs. Knowing where the stairs are can really help because your range of sight is limited.
Fursuiting in different locations means having a different mindset for each place. At a convention everyone knows what a fursuit is and you can be goofy and bouncy at a park outside of the convention the people around you will probally not know why you are dressed as an animal. In a place where there are a lot of children care should be taken. The last thing you want is an angery parent complaining that you are trying to take their child.

When?
This also includes weather. If you are at an event for fund raising you must be careful not to cause problems for the event organisers. The worst thing to do is break the trust between you and the people who run the event.
Choosing the right day can also make a diffrence. Weekend days are bound to be busier then during the week so if you don't have much experience its a good idea to choose days that will not overwhelmed by people.

Helpers!
A must when fursuiting is to have a handler/spotter! Having someone looking out for you while in suit can be a lifesaver and can stop some problems. Make sure they have water and are on the look out for people trying to pounce on the suit, pull the tail, scrintching and dirty hands.

Hope this post helped anyone who needed a few tips on public performance.

Saturday 19 May 2012

Fursuits: Toony or Realistic?

Fursuits are a large part of the furry fandom and are usually custom made costumes of someones personal character.
When someone considers getting a fursuit they are faced with a choice. Toony or Realistic?
The most common style of fursuit is the toony style. This is a cartoon style suit that is usually cheaper then others. A simple toony suit is normally plantigrade, has flat toony eyes, a static jaw and no air brushing.

A simple plantigrade toony suit
A simple plantigrade toony suit.

A digitigrade toony suit
A digitigrade toony suit.

A simple toony partial suit that features a moving jaw
A simple toony partial suit that features a moving jaw.
 These are all examples of toony suits. Toony suits normally cost a lot less then realistic suits. Many fursuit makers offer toony suits. Many features can be added to these suits including: moving jaws, digitigrade legs and even "follow me" eyes.

Realistic suits are very detailed and cost more then toony suits. They have tear-duct vision because the eyes are made from resin, glass or other such materials. Because you don't look directly though the eyes some have LEDs in them to make the costume a bit more mysterious.

A realistic, colourful wolf fursuit
A realistic, colourful wolf fursuit.

A realistic fursuit of someones personal charecter
A realistic fursuit of someones personal charecter.
Though they are "realistic" suits this doesn't mean that the suit is of a real creature with realistic colours. The two images above show this well.
Realistic suit also have digitigrade legs unless the charecter is spisificly plantigrade.

If you are interested in either making or commisioning to get a fursuit you can find more information on fursuit makers and supplys at:
http://www.fursuit.co.uk

Friday 18 May 2012

Looking Back into The Past (A look at how Chuggaaconroy started)

If you are a gaming fan who browses the internet (particually Youtube) chances are that you have come across a game LPer (Game Let's Play) called Chuggaaconroy. Chuggaaconroy has been on Youtube since July 2006 and has completed 17 Let's Plays to date (not including his most recent LP of Super Paper Mario for the Wii.) In this post I delve into his first Let's Play he ever did and find out more about him.

Chuggaaconroy (or Emile) began his "Let's Play" jorney way back in 2006 where he started his first Let's Play ever of a game called Earthbound for the SNES and GBA. During August 2010 Chugga gained a Youtube partnership and creating Let's Plays of games has become almost like a full time job. He has also has joined up with The Game Station and has joined up with two other popular Let's Players; NintendoCaprisun and ProtonJonSA forming a group called The Runaway Guys. As a group they produce collabrative Let's Plays of (mainly) multiplayer games.
Plently of informaton on Chuggaaconroy can be found at:
http://youtube.wikia.com/wiki/Chuggaaconroy

Earthbound was the game that Chuggaaconroy made a Let's Play of. For a first attempt at an LP Chugga did a great job and you will enjoy watching though his first Let's Play.
The full play list of the LP can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD14CA711E34ACAFD&feature=plcp

The epic "NO" is Chuggaaconroys trade mark and has come up in many LP's. Many of these can be found in his LP of (both) Pikmin games. Usually during moments were his plan doesn't go as exspected.
Over the years Chuggaa has made his LP's better and better and stives to provide not only entertainment but also indepth information on each game he plays.
His most popular LP is of Super Mario Sunshine with each episode having over 1 millions views each. While this is his most viewed LP he has admited that this particular LP is his least favorate due to personal promblems he encountered while playing it and he admited that he forced a lot of fake enthusiasm during it.
On the other hand one his favorate LP's is of a game called Okami (also his first non-Nintendo exclusive game). Okami is a game based heaverly off of Japan's history. Before making this particular LP he studied the history of Japan. During the LP he delivers plenty of information and explains many of the legends and myths behind the games design.

I recogmend watching some of Chugga's LPs as they are informative and fun at the same time. He also mentions mistakes, easter eggs and glithchs in games.

Thursday 17 May 2012

Being Ruled By Issues?

In todays world there are so many issues. This post will focus on one in particular; Global Warming.
Firstly, global warming is the cause of many other problems we face in todays economy. It has led to money issues, food shortages, protests, riots and a long list that would probally span a few lines or so. This problem is causing us to live diffrently and

Global warming is real and it is a major concern however it should not be somthing that rules what we do. Neither should it be somthing that is used to control us. Fact is that global warming is controling what many of us do and unfortunetly that control is very hard to break free of.
Global warming is not only affceting wild life (as shown in the image above) it is also affceting the way many of us live. Everyone knows that the goverment is trying to stress that we should all be more eco-friendly. They bombard us with information and tell us that doing certain things and not doinf others is going to save the planet. What they are asking us to do us completly change our life styles in the space of a few years. This is impossable. We have become so dependent on our technology that without it we would struggle to function. Technology is also what links the world together. The internt is the largest network ever and it relys on technology. If we suddenly lose the internet we would no longer have a way to interact and share with others around the world.
Global warming right now is not about how to save the world it is more about polotics and how the issue will control how we live.
The public may genuenly worry but the goverment use it to control.
Global warming is a real issue and is causing serious problems though out the world however it is controling what we do. The public are being told to stop the global warming by becoming more eco-friendly. But what are the goverments doing to help? They provide us with recycling which isn't doing its job properly (around my area they do not recycle most plastics and anything that the bin men seem -milk bottles usually- are thrown onto the grass-).
Truth is that the issue is being used to control us.

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Animal Crossing: A New Start?

The new Animal Crossing game is set to burst onto the Nintendo 3DS some time during 2012; but will this Animal Crossing be more than a bland remake of the Animal Crossing: Lets Go To The City for the Wii. Or will it finally start to build on the ideas and show the world that Animal Crossing for the 3DS is more?!

Animal Crossing is a series of games by Nintendo and has been around since the Nintendo 64 period. The first time it was released was onto Nintendo's N64 system; this release was only really in Japan and by the time word of this game reached the west part of the world it had transformed into Animal Crossing for the Game Cube.
(Below: Front of Animal Crossing for the Game Cube)
This was the first time we saw Animal Crossing and it was an interesting idea. Animal Crossing plunged the player into a world inhabited by walking, talking animals. The game was mostly based around paying of a morgage for the house the player picked from the four avilable and whenever the player payed off the loan they would be offered an exstention; which would lead tho yet another loan to pay off. This is pretty much the the story for the whole game until you pay it off. The game also featured a clock that you would sync with real time witch was a feature that had started to pop up in games during its release.
The game would also go though each season and even had special events; such as celebrating your birthday.

This was followed by the release of the game on the Nintendo DS where many issues were resolved. This also meant that other people could visit your town by connecting by wireless communication which was a new feature added to the DS. The two screens also meant information could be displayed better and you could look at the sky while running around.
(Below: Front of Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS)
While this release dealed with many of the issues in the first release and added a few new features and items it didn't really change the gameplay in anyway. The main idea was still to pay off a loan and gain a bigger house.
The third release was for the Wii and finally it sounded like something big had finally been added to the game! And at first it seemed it had.
(Below: Front of Animal Crossing: Lets Go To The City for the Nintendo Wii)

As the name impleys this game allowed the player to venture into the city where they could shop and meet diffrent charcters. This was a great concept and had some good potential to add something new to the game. This chance to make the game better was saddly missed and many feature that could e found there could origonally be found in the home town in Wild World. For example; Shampoodle, fortune telling and shady Redd's shop.

So, what is Animal Crossing for the 3DS going to be like and will their finally be some note worthy changes made? Well, the good news is the several new features have been confermed and are deffinetly going to be in the game!
Examples of these new features are: swimming, being about to change shoes and trousers, customising furniture and becoming the mayor! Yes! This is the things I was waiting for, acctually becoming the mayor!
(Below: Some screen shots from the new game showing some of the new features and items)






Plently of imformation can be found at the official Nintendo site including videos and more pictures.
And that is it for my look at the new Animal Crossing game! I'm looking forward to it dispite the number of disapointments their have been during earlier releases.

First Post

Hello everyone!
This is my first post on my blog. In this post I hope to outline what sort of things I will be posting about and a bit about my self.

About Me
I am a member of what is known as the 'Furry' fandom. A group of people who has an intrest in anthropamorphic animals (cartoon animals). This fandom is constently growing and is full of many, many diffrent people.  
I'm a college student working towards becoming a Games Designer. After gathering the correct qualifications I hope to become a student in a Games Design course (probally at UClan). On the subject of video games; I am a huge game fan and I will probally post many things on this subject here. Wheather its about glitches, new and up coming games or just a reveiw.

What Can You Exspect
You can exspect a varity of items posted here on my blog!
Main subjects I'm likely to cover are:
  • The furry fandom. From art, movies, fursuiting (costumes) and other things.
  • Life... Like; education, media, whats happening in the news.
  • Gaming. Big catagory, I'm such a gamer nerd that I can practicly write books on this. Not only that but I'll also post ideas for charecters, enviroments era.
  • My life. Because sometimes personal anocdoes are interesting.
So, I hope  you'll enjoy reading and maybe responding to my posts!