November 25th, 2009
Apparently Syndrome09 went quite well, because I’m already working on a 2.0 version called SyndromeX. The game got a complete redesign treatment (and this time I could work on it all on my own). Right now I’m focusing on the intro screen and the avatars, but there’s also some other improvements in the works!
September 23rd, 2009
Giuseppina was a relentless cook. Never had the pasta been anything but al dente. The boy sat in the big armchair in the darkened lounge at the same board, as if nothing had happened. He knew the old man’s opening game better than he knew his own. He played with the caution his adversary had not. His mother would look in on him once in a while, wiping her hands on her apron, before returning to the kitchen. She had used the same knife she now used to chop onions. A good wife knows the way to her man’s heart.
Il buffone salta, rotola, corre, e ride.
E’ brutto, grasso, puzza, ma ride.
Un rutto e una canzone, una scoreggia e una poesia. Questo e’ il buffone, mormora ridendo con se stesso.
Da tutti sbeffeggiato, svilito, umiliato. Eppur di giorno si prende gioco dei Re e di notte delle Regine.
“Che pena “ penso tra me e me.
Allora si avvicina, mi accarezza con un eleganza che non e’ di questa terra e… sorride. Un sorriso strano che ora posso capire… non e’ per far ridere la gente e’ perché della gente ride.
E allora la pena e’ per quelli come me..
The “sicilian defense” is a popular chess opening (read more about it here on wikipedia). It actually doesn’t really involve the tower, but somehow to me the tower best represented the figure of the father in the story. In the second illustration I go retro once again, what can I say… it’s fun! And for those who will wonder why the jester holds a skull and a wavy mirror in his hands… they might not really mean anything, but then, on the other hand… we like to laugh about death, because it helps us fight the fear of dying, but it will be the grim reaper who’ll have the last laugh on us . We find it funny to see ourselves distorted and deformed by wavy mirrors, but maybe we should be able take our real appearance with the same sense of humour…