Digital Dreams Games is a perfect example of such an organization. The budding  indie game developer hasn’t been around long, but in their short existence the founding trio has been prolific, releasing a total of six games (two specifically for iOS devices). Considering that there are well over 700,000 active apps in the iTunes store (stat courtesy of 148apps.biz) such a small newcomer is very hard to spot, but their latest offering Cowbeam is worthy addition.

The oddly named game focuses on the story of Hank the alien’s amorous frustration. He’s found the love of his life in a cow from Earth, but is at a loss because he can’t win her heart with his otherworldly physique. The gameplay consists of finding lots of cows throughout the universe for him to research so he can devise the perfect bull body to win the affection of his crush.

Cowbeam is at heart a riddle-based puzzle game. Each solar system contains a cow, and you’re provided a limited number of choices to find it amongst the solar system’s planets. Each planet has a clue, such as the planet with the cow has craters or doesn’t have rings. Some planets have bonus stars as well- you’ll need to collect them to unlock later levels or additional planetary picks. Each planet’s cow is unique addition to your gallery patterned after it’s host planet.

While the concept is a simple one, the gameplay is engaging due to some very well done 3D graphics and excellent use of the touch interface. The player spins the planets of the solar system to bring the desired planet to the forefront, then spins the planet chosen to search for hidden icons signifying clues, stars, or the elusive cow. Should you find the cow Hank’s ship zooms in and beams it up. Run out of guesses and you’ll have to start all over again with a new set of clues waiting for you.

Cowbeam is charmingly engaging. While each solar system takes just a few minutes, the game isn’t quickly finished- it contains over 50 levels spread out over 9 galaxies, and the difficulty level ramps up appropriately as you go further into the game. Even though you may find your cow, you must also collect stars to unlock additional galaxies, and the stars have no clues to help you find them (although they do provide an additional pick, making your task a bit easier). The crowning jewel of the game is it’s artwork and animation; the cutscenes are as entertaining as most of what you’ll see on Cartoon Network lately, and the game’s overall artwork is outstanding.

Cowbeam was enjoyable to play for multiple reasons- my aforementioned affinity for indy developers, the whimsical plot and animation, but most importantly it’s a unique take on an simple idea. With dozens of imitators and ripoff games out there, games that actually offer something new are well worth my time.

Cowbeam is compatible with all iOS devices (although for iPhone users they recommend iPhone 4 or later; 3GS performance has been less than optimal) and is available now via the iTunes App Store for just $1.99.

we didn’t get to see the eiffel tower or eat a croissant while wearing a beret, but we found a mask shop and got to wear a hose head while climbing the 300 steps of the sacre coeur and saw the moulin rouge. there is plenty of art hanging in the louvre which were made with roche pastels, so tomorrow we plan on returning to the city in order to get some of those visuals.

today we plan on finishing up all of the interior shots of the maison du pastel, and if the process of gradating the colors goes smoothly for isabelle and margaret, then we will be able to have the entire process of inventing and new color on film. they also have yet to name this color, but if that also manages to be solved today then we may be able to have a labeling sequence. in any event, we have enough now to compile footage from other colors to illustrate the entire process, so today will be getting the substance that will make the film more than just an illustration. this is turning out well and is forming a wonderful and lighthearted film that we both can be proud of, but today we plan on capturing whatever mystery footage that we can all feel we are lacking, in order to really make this special. so that is our very vague goal for our last day, and probably most difficult, but we’re optimistic that we’ll get it.

Zach found some amazing things in the attic—diagrams of products that haven’t been available since the 1800s and books of color samples from the collection at the time. (As he and Leah were carrying these heavy boxes up and down the steps to the attic, Leah’s happy spine was thanking Mrs. Mccourt!)

Today we’re very excited to be traveling to Paris, where we’ll film at the shop and get a chance to see the product in a new context. We hope as well to film how they label the colors and hopefully we’ll catch some willing, returning customers to say a few words about the product.

Enjoy the photos, and thanks again for your support!

hey everyone! we’ve now overcome our jetlag and so can coherently begin our log. we got picked up at the train station yesterday by isabelle roché and margaret, who gave us a quick tour of the town. they want us to keep some things, like the name of the town, to ourselves but its just like how you’re probably imagining it: theres a big old church and a little castle and very few people and is all just as charming as the little european villages are in the movies.

we got a tour of la maison du pastel yesterday as well, which is a very strange and very interesting place. the property has two buildings, one of which is the house where the roche family has lived for well over a century, and the other is the pastel studio. the walls in each room of the house were painted with their pastel pigments, and though the nazis left the house a bit in shambles after occupying it during the second world war, a small part of the house was left habitable which is where isabelle and margaret now live.

we were introduced to the house mascot “Smoking” who`s the seemingly ever present black and white cat who wanders the village and makes himself comfortable in the back corner of the courtyard between the house and the studio building.

the studio building was a huge treat, and anyone who enjoys art materials would appreciate the fantastic collection of what has accumulated in the attic for the past hundred-plus years. we found all sorts of ornate makeup paints and vessels for water colors and hundreds of ceramic bowls and glass containers, all beautifully decorated and packaged in ways that no company today could economically sustain. margaret said that while the nazis were occupying the grounds they had attempted to create their own pastels. apparently they lacked the nack for color-making, because the roche family decided not to produce any “nazi-lavender” for their customers.

also, one of isabelles great aunts had been a very talented pastel artist, and we found many of her surviving pieces, which though a bit damp by the attic space, have survived very well over the years. the whole collection of things was a bit overwhelming, but we hope to get as much as we can in the film.

all in all we had a lot to take in by the end of the day, and over lunch we discussed our plans and created an agenda for the week. we apparently had excellent timing in our arrival, because they just received a new batch of pigments and so we’ll be able to document the whole process of the pastel production from the beginning stages. so today, margaret and isabelle will begin experimenting with new colors and we will begin documenting!

Enjoy the pictures (compliments of the DP). we will post more after the workday.

Particularly, a BIG thanks to our funding producers! You can update your IMDBs once we enter this in a festival.

We are, as of this writing, looking at $2,330 in donations toward making this film, $1830 of which were given through Kickstarter. My brother and I can’t possibly communicate how excited we are.

We fly on the 10th of March, and starting the evening of the 11th (Paris time) we will be posting updates every day of shooting both here and on the Kickstarter. Once we get back, we will be posting updates about how editing and scoring is going. Also, we will post pictures of our lovely(ish) selves modeling the tshirts that you will all receive soon after!

Again, thank you so, so much, from the bottom of our hearts, for making this film possible.

~

Zach & Leah

UPDATE!!!!

As of now, $2694 has been donated through Kickstarter, and another $500 through direct donations. That makes $3194 in donations! Thank you thank you thank you!

The shooting location for Don’t Look Up currently has three candidates, all of whom have graciously agreed to let us shoot there for free! The problem, of course, is that they are all an hour’s train ride from where most of the cast/crew will be coming from. During the winter… that can be a big problem. So the hunt must continue!

You may have noticed that there are several t-shirt designs waiting to print to support the production of my various works. At the moment, I am trying to find a cheap way to make this happen, so that I can sell the shirts for cheap. I don’t believe that you should pay $20 for a shirt, just because the profits are going to a good cause. Ideally, they’d be no more than $7, but I can only shell out so much (read: absolutely nothing) to have them printed right now when I don’t even know how many will actually be purchased. So I’m putting the call out!

I need some feedback, people! Would you be willing to buy one of the t-shirts that would be on sale for probably $10? Let me know ASAP so I can get things to print in time to shoot Discovering Color!

Here is where you can see all the exciting new updates on the films that I have under way, and get a little taste of what it’s like to be starting out in the industry.

To start off, I’ll introduce myself. I’m new to the film industry, I’ve only been in it for about three years, and this is my first few months going “full time.” I had been in theatre part-time since 9th grade, but made the transition over to film in college, where I worked on the set of a handful of indie music videos and student films. These days, I work as a directing assistant when not editing online videos or working on my own projects.

This site is going to be where I touch base (for investors, potential cast and crew members, and the public to view) in regards to my own projects. If you’re interested in what I’m doing right now, check out the main page and leave a comment. If you want to help out on a project in any way, I’d love to have you: keep a look out for postings on Mandy.com as well as updates on the main page. I promise to get in touch with you within the week!

Thanks again for your interest.

“Pangaea” from “The Tides of Europa” by David Archer – (3:56)

<a href=”http://www.archive.org/download/Pangaea/Pangaea.mp3(right click, save target as)

The second part of the five song cycle written for acrobatic theatre, modern dance or some other visual element.