Dark Planet

In August of last year, we received the following email:

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My name is Arlete Shaeffer and I'm the photo editor for "Current Science", an educational magazine for school children published by Weekly Reader. Our magazine goes out to over 200,000 middle and high school students throughout the United States.

We are working on a story that mentions the comparison between a real planet and "Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet". We try to introduce science topics to our young readers in a really cool and interesting way.

We would love to use some art from your game to go along with the article. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for all your help and time.

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When I was a high school student, one of the subjects I liked the most was science. I loved watching films like "Our Friend the Atom" and going through illustrated text books dealing with space, inventions and discoveries. The thought of my art inspiring young minds through educational science was very appealing, so I provided Arlete with some concept artwork from the game.

I had completely forgotten about the whole affair (I must have supplied art to a hundred media outlets last year!) until this week, when I received an envelope with two copies of the issue of Current Science featuring ITSP! Click here to read a PDF file of the article.

Ten Questions for the ITSP Creators

ITSP Receives BAFTA Nomination

We were just informed that Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet has received a BAFTA nomination! That's pretty cool! You can read the full list of nominees here.

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Friday 16 March at the London Hilton on Park Lane and, for the fourth year running, will be hosted by comedian and gamer Dara O’Briain.

For information on either buying tickets or about the Awards in general, visit BAFTA’s website at www.bafta.org/games/awards or contact Kelly Smith at kellys@bafta.org.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet at Del Taco

A few months ago, Joe and I worked with Idea Planet to design a tie-in package for Del Taco using the art of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. I provided them with high resolution art files and some layout mock-ups and from there, the Idea Planet designers did a mighty fine job putting the final package together!

So if you feel like getting some food at Del Taco, make sure you get your ITSP playset!

ITSP Wins Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game of the Year!

Just got back from Los Angeles and we had a blast! On Saturday, Nancy and I met Joe Olson, his lovely lady, Susan, and Travis Phelps (our lead animator) at our hotel in Westwood, and from there we proceeded to Royce Hall where the pre-show champagne cocktail was taking place. Had a few drinks, saw a few celebrities, and felt very antsy with anticipation.

The suspense wasn't too long, as the videogame award category was the first one on the schedule. The nominees were announced and time seemed to stand still as the envelope was opened... and then... Hurrah!!! What a great surprise to hear our game getting the prize, especially considering some of the heavy hitters that were featured in the category. Big congrats to the whole team!

The evening was capped by a nice dinner where all the presenters, nominees and winners gathered to eat, drink and chat and have a good time. A night to remember!

Above: Joe Olson, Michel Gagne and Travis Phelps at the post show dinner.

The full list of nominees and winners can be found here.