For an idea of what games COULD and SHOULD look like, have a browse through this blog:

{feuilleton}

It brings home the incredible diversity of visual art, of which videogames exploit only a tiny fraction.

Hello! I've finished designing all the forest levels and now I've got the final beach environment to finish. There will be 60 levels in total (16 left to do), and while this isn't as many as the first game had, most of the levels are larger this time around.

Every level in AJ1 was laid out on a [50 x 50] tile grid, since I wanted to make something akin to Bubble Bobble, with lots of small, short levels. In practice, this led to many of them feeling a bit cramped, so I made sure to give myself enough room for the sequel.

So now we have a [350 x 30] tile level,  followed by a small [40 x 55], then a [27 x 350] level which has AJ dropping all the way down through the clouds, weaving through spikes as he falls.

I think the next one will have AJ trapped in a maze of blocks that he has to push his way out of, a bit like a Professor Layton puzzle, but with pandas and owls patrolling in little pockets of enemy resistance [80 x 80].

Ooh! What's this I spy on page 110 of the latest issue of the Official Xbox magazine?

(The text on the left says 'Best of the indie games, five hidden gems we loved')

Good eh! Well yes, but I'd have preferred it if they'd bothered to get the name right. Has anyone here heard of a game called "Apple Jack's"? I spent two bloody hours carving that apple for the box cover, and this is the thanks I get.

Still,  the last laugh is mine: I actually cancelled my subscription to the magazine two months ago but Future publishing doesn't seem to have noticed and have been sending it to me for free! Ha ha!