Nicholas McDowell

Single Father/Imaginary Supervillain

Posts

May 25, 12:07 AM

"I am presenting a level that I made. I made a ton of levels using this website called Pouetpu: Super Mario Flash. I also make levels with a program called Scratch and Spore Galactic Adventures. I make levels for my dad and people online. I make levels that makes a story and expresses feelings. This level is the last level in a story, it has a hard feeling.I have been working and levels for years. I started when I was about 5 years old."

Posted via email from Captain Cursor

Posts

I’m holding onto this image in case he’s a famous author or filmmaker later in life. – View on Path.

This would be a priestess of Shelyn, deep in the heart of the beautiful ringed planet, where things start to get weird.

This would be various places in the Rovagug expanse. The first would be desert walkers of Noticula, then the rest feel like residents of Pazuzu in the hinterlands away from the capital city of Stars.

This last one looks like a good town for the Dagon expanse, perched upon rock that would otherwise be submerged.

There is something very compelling about having civilizations based around citadel states. At least from an adventuring perspective.

yavanna83:

The temple of Courage by ~Gaius31duke

I would have this be an old Abadar temple, or maybe a Shelyn shrine to one of the good gods scattered throughout the system.

There needs to be some resource on the other side of the Dagon expanse to justify people putting up with the cold and the dark and the frost giants. Star shards would be the obvious one, but other resources need to be there as well. 

Need to make massive storms in the Pazuzu expanse. 

furryfeet:

Moat by *noahbradley

This is a castle from Kurgess, the Aasimar home. They are a powerful species, violent and prone to anger, but otherwise good natured. Lets face it, they are a thinly veiled reference to Asgard. But when traveling the system on your flying ship, you need to run into riders astride flying horses.

Prepare for art repost spam.

I’ve been following some fantasy art sites for a while with RSS feeds, but now that the Tumblr iPad app is actually good I’m going to do it here. Mostly this has all been for my Pathfinder campaign, a D&D in space campaign. I use the art for inspiration of the fantastic places. So I might as well just post about it here.

Getting a haircut at the men’s barber. at Guy’s Hair Styling – View on Path.

Lex hams it up at the 4th grade Winter Performance. – View on Path.

It’s getting pretty creep(er)y at work today. – View on Path.

Lex and the girls of “Winter Sing”. – View on Path.

Lex and Tess on the artificial snow pit for Winter Lights in San Carlos. – View on Path.

It is time for the annual assembly of the Christmas tree we borrowed from my girlfriend’s mother. A McDowell tradition. – View on Path.

Once again I have attracted the attention of Odin. – View on Path.

Thought via Path

Seeing a Narnia musical with all the kids and V. at Cañada College Theatre – Read on Path.

Once again our costumes played well to teenagers and to exasperated parents in the know. at Heather School – View on Path.

This is where I work. – View on Path.

Audio

Profile

Senior Game Designer at Trion World Network
Computer Games | San Francisco Bay Area, US

Experience

  • Apr 2008 - Present
    Senior Game Designer / Trion World Network
  • Aug 2001 - Present
    Game Designer / Secret Level
  • 1996 - Present
    Production Specialist / HotWired
  • 1995 - Present
    Production Specialist / wired digital

Education

  • 1989 - 1994
    James Madison University

Uploads

Posts

December 22, 05:06 PM

December 22, 05:01 PM

August 01, 04:22 PM

August 01, 04:17 PM

August 01, 04:00 PM

May 21, 11:05 PM

May 01, 05:04 AM

May 01, 03:21 AM

April 30, 03:51 PM

April 27, 04:25 PM

April 26, 04:19 PM

April 24, 02:55 PM

April 24, 02:50 PM

April 15, 06:50 PM

April 15, 04:57 PM

Posts

October 31, 01:51 AM
Shared by Captain Cursor
This is a very good analysis of the camera from Super Mario World.

I never previously devoted much thought to Super Mario World's camera system -- it works so well that you may never notice that it does anything special at all. This short documentary video shows that it's actually quite remarkable, especially for a 20-year-old game.

I really appreciate that the concepts here are all explained in clear terms and in the context of gameplay, without going too much into technical detail. I'd love to see more videos like this focused on similar quirks from classic games.

[via @brandonnn]

October 24, 10:53 PM
Shared by Captain Cursor
UNFAIR! #OCCUPYJUPITER

October 21, 06:06 PM
Shared by Captain Cursor
It does explain the legislation.

A graph by the wonderful illustrator Chris Piascik.

October 19, 12:42 PM
Shared by Captain Cursor
This is why I have to consider myself a Marvel guy.

Dork Tower #995 by John Kovalic

Read all the Dork Towers that have run on GeekDad.

Find the Dork Tower webcomic archives, DT printed collections, more cool comics, awesome games and a whole lot more at the Dork Tower Website.

October 04, 04:03 PM
Shared by Captain Cursor
I've been there Crazy Monster.


I just had a good idea

October 03, 03:12 PM
Shared by Captain Cursor
Interesting alternate view on rebooting DC characters.

I’m going to be doing a public reading of Dresden Codak this Wednesday, October 5th, at Dixon Place in Manhattan. You should come! There are going to be some great guests.  Check it out the details here: Carousel: the Science Edition. And here is the Facebook event.

Also, for an added treat, check out my take on DC’s Justice League on the art blog. I don’t often venture into superhero comics, so it was a fun exercise:

Rebooting the Justice League

September 30, 03:29 PM
Shared by Captain Cursor
I completely agree with this infographic.

Yep, still amusing. [via]

September 28, 11:45 AM
Shared by Captain Cursor
This was my feeling with the factions. But it's a tough problem making content and then raising the cap.
September 20, 12:27 PM
Shared by Captain Cursor
This is what I want my porch couch to be like.


Check out my new couch

New drawings at Explodingdog.com

September 15, 02:00 PM
September 17, 10:30 AM
Are you an unhinged billionaire? Are you a sucker for impulse buys? Do you sit around wondering if the fellow née Nicolas Kim Coppola is an immortal Confederate soldier who feasts on human blood? Then have I got an eBay purchase for you, pilgrim! More »
September 12, 05:49 AM

1) The three keys to happiness are pleasure (stuff that feels good in the moment), meaning (belief/religion/philosophy), engagement (friends.)

2) Exercise and religion both make us happy and it's because they provide small boosts to well-being on a regular basis.

3) Money isn't going to make you much happier. It might make you unhappier.

4) Be a selfish boss by making sure your employees are happy

5) You're probably still shaking your head at that last statement. You know why? Because we're often wrong about what really makes us happy. (But we can get better.)

6) You are not happier "doing nothing." Stop watching so much TV. Set ambitious goals. Stay busy.

7) There's a trick for making yourself happier in just a few seconds.

8) Think faster and take vacations.

9) Across the board, gratitude is key.

10) If you can only do one thing to improve your happiness, spend more time with friends.

Want to learn more? Follow me on FacebookTwitter or RSS

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

September 13, 01:59 PM


Having that conversation again.

September 09, 08:55 AM


A pleasant morning with Crazy Monster

September 07, 01:49 PM


Crazy Monster is taking control of his life.

September 07, 11:21 AM


Crazy Monster won’t let his dreams be crushed

September 04, 08:02 PM


Time lapse clouds and fog, taken around the San Francisco Bay Area by Oakland-based Swiss animator and photographer Simon Christen.

Thanks, @cosentino.

September 04, 02:17 PM


Yoyos, paper air planes and spinning bananas. Learn about astronauts’ life in space as they goof off in zero gravity (80s-style). From NPR

Thanks, Lacey.

Reading

Castle
some time ago

Read

To Read

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz