Shivers (video game)

Shivers is a single-player horror-themed PC adventure game, released on CD-ROM by Sierra On-Line in November 1995. It was developed with Sierra's Creative Interpreter. Being the first Sierra first-person adventure game, "Shivers" was compared to contemporary "Myst" and "The 7th Guest", gaining praise mostly for its atmosphere. The game takes place in a fictitious haunted museum.
Plot.
Sir Hubert Windlenot was a peer of the British nobility, and as an archeologist, a member of the Royal Society. His interest in controversial fringe topics such as ancient astronauts, hollow earth, Atlantis and cryptozoology brought on him the reputation of a mad scientist. Renouncing his life as a noble, he moved to America, and attempted to open "Professor Windlenot's Museum of the Strange and Unusual" in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, dedicated to his findings and theories. Construction took two decades to house both exhibits and thematic installations with several puzzles to entertain the visitors (such as an Ancient Egyptian-themed artificial lake, an underground maze that leads to a Dero installation, a greenhouse, or a diorama dedicated to Atlantis). The museum was never completed until the Professor mysteriously disappeared.
The player steps into the shoes of a teenager dared by his friends to spend the night on the grounds of the museum, that has been considered haunted.
Upon entering and exploring the museum, it is discovered that "fifteen years ago", in 1980 and while the Professor was in one of his excursions, two nerds from the local high school had broken into the museum and accidentally released evil spirits from an exhibited set of ceramic vessels from the Moche Valley. These spirits, known as "ixupi", drew the "life essence" or "Ka" from humans until trapped by a fictional South American indigenous people, the Zapana. Furthermore, the Ixupi are associated with chemical elements and materials, such as sand, metal, wood or electricity, which they can inhabit. These led to the demise of the unfortunate teens, and eventually of the Professor himself.
The player becomes tasked with finding a way to capture the ten spirits before the sun rises (though no actual time limit is imposed on the gameplay), and free the trapped ghosts of the Professor and the teens. This can be done by finding each vessel and its corresponding talisman/cover throughout all the museum, and where the respective Ixupi is hiding in order to trap it. In order to find all these items, the player has to explore the whole museum by passing puzzles of varying difficulty, mazes and secret passages. Along the way, the player can find in-game texts and documents chronicling the exploits of the Professor and the belongings of the two students expanding their backstory, with elements hinting at their lives, relationships and motivations.
At the end of the game the player captures the Ixupi of electricity from the power generator, causing an explosion. From the destroyed ruins, the player sees the friends approaching, looking for their friend, as the dawn breaks.
Gameplay.
Playing in first-person perspective, the game is remarkably similar in style to the Virgin Interactive/Trilobyte production, the popular "The 7th Guest", which introduced this style of gaming.
The only gameplay feature is an elaborate bar at the bottom of the screen which mostly serves as a health bar, showing how much "life essence" the player has or has lost; life is lost whenever the player encounters an Ixupi. It also serves as the game's inventory with the active Ixupi vessel or cover the player is currently holding, with the option to examine it in close-up. It also indicates progress in the game, as the vessels with the trapped Ixupi are placed there as trophies.
The vessels and their covers are the only items that can be picked up and stored in the inventory. Uncommonly for an adventure game, the inventory can hold only one of these items: a vessel, a cover, or a vessel combined with its cover. This means that the player can pick up a vessel and then find and pick up its corresponding cover to complete it; but if the player attempts to pick up an item that can't be combined with the one held (i.e. another vessel or a cover corresponding to another vessel), the items will switch positions. This feature obliges the player to take notes of where he has found or dropped which item, and to travel back and forth in order to pick them up.
Having a completed vessel the player can look for the corresponding Ixupi in order to trap it. Each vessel is marked with a Zapana pictograph representing a material, helping the player associate a vessel with an Ixupi.
The locations where the items are found are mostly fixed every time, although which is where is mostly random, ensuring a different gameplay each time the game starts.
A "Flashback" feature allows the player to review game cutscenes and re-read most of the in-game text that has been found, such as books from the museum library or the victims's notebooks. These not only advance the game's backstory but also contain hints to several of the puzzles.
In a somewhat of a deviation from other FMV-based games of the era, dialogues are provided with closed captions. This was a suggestion by Lead Game Developer Willie Eide who came from a deaf family.
Upon completion of the game's main story, the player may then continue to roam freely through the museum, with all captured Ixupis appearing along the health bar. One benefit of this is the luxury of getting to read over the many in game exhibit descriptions without the worry of being attacked by Ixupi. Reading these descriptions or exploring previously undiscovered parts of the museum can continue to add to the player's score.
Development.
The game was programmed in SCI-32, the proprietary game engine/programming language by Sierra. A challenge faced by the team was the steep learning curves, as many were inexperienced in 3d modeling or adventure game design, and it was the first time the SCI language was used for a 1st-person adventure video game.
Roberta Williams served as creative consultant, which was during the time she was working on "Phantasmagoria".
Themes.
Designer Marcia Bales credited her interest in travels and archeology as her main drive force for the game. Some of the footage seen in a cutscene were taken by Bales herself during a trip in Belize around 1994.
Regarding the themes seen in the fictional museum, Bales claimed that most of them presented are factual, although stretched out in the way the Professor-based his pseudoscientific theories. The way the museum was designed, with each room assigned to a different artist, reflected the Professor's deductive fallacies of connecting otherwise unconnected facts to draw his conclusions. The elements were left for the player to decide how much of the Professor's theories were arbitrary.
The concept of the Ixupi was a retelling of an almost universal motif of vampiric spirits sucking the life out of humans, often coming out of the elements. The Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul was also an inspiration.
Gameplay.
"Shivers" was the first 1st person adventure game by Sierra On-Line that featured a nameless and unseen silent protagonist, instead of a visible player character.
Bales mentioned the game "Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe" as an inspiration to design "Shivers" as an open-ended game, with the random elements enhancing the non-linear gameplay; a characteristic considered uncommon for an adventure game. Once entering the museum, the player is immediately free to explore and access almost all locations, without having to solve a puzzle to see what is next. The player's order of actions are the factor of how the backstory elements are revealed, without mattering the order these are discovered.
Graphics.
The game was created using scans of watercolors - some 2500 of them - touched up in Photoshop, along with 3D Studio. Each room was assigned to one out of a team of ten artists with the Art Director ensuring continuity and consistency.
The cutscenes were filmed with live actors in front of a blue screen, who were superimposed on the digital backgrounds with Ultimatte. Each filming would require proper camera angles and lensing before shooting to ensure matching quality with the digital background. Occasionally masonite props would stand for foreground objects. The actors were found by talent agencies and were coached by Bales, producer Wendy Albee and director Tony Ober.
Sound and music.
Guy Whitmore worked as a sound engineer, sound designer and music composer for the video game soundtrack. According to context, some pieces were composed as orchestral music whereas others were more modern. Some bands were cited as inspiration, such as Nine Inch Nails. Whitmore also had Dark Ambient music in mind. The interactive nature of the game demanded for a repetitive motif which would provide the background and foreboding mood of suspension for the player, while being unnoticed in the same time. The crescendo happens in the cues whenever the player triggers an attack of an Ixupi monster.
Sound effects were derived mostly from a stock sound effects CD. The mumblings heard in the abandoned theatre is a relevant speech by the Ghost from a "Hamlet" performance.
Reception.
"Shivers" drew mostly praise for its atmosphere. Presenting a deviation from earlier Sierra titles, the game was both praised and criticized for the same reasons, while it also drew comparisons with "Myst" and "The 7th Guest". It holds an aggregated 72.2% score on GameRankings, based on reviews from various professional critics.
"Quandary" gave the game a 5 out of 5, praising the atmosphere and simplicity of gameplay, mentioning the ample number of save game slots and closed captions among the game's advantages. A reviewer for "Next Generation", while briefly complimenting the graphics and interface, derided the game as an unoriginal "Myst" clone. He added that "the long load times, grating music, and overreaching puzzles keep it mediocre at best." French site Jeuxvideo.com called it "an undeniable success". In a retrospective review, "Adventure Lantern" noted that the game still looked fairly pleasant after its time, and its (mostly) clever design, while praising the game's mood and atmospheric soundtrack. Adventure Classic Gaming named "Shivers" a sleeper hit of the year and recognised its cult status.
Ron Dulin of "GameSpot" criticized the gameplay repetitive as the player was forced to travel back and forth many times after a certain point. Ray Ivey of Just Adventure favored the game's atmosphere, and praised the "Flashback" feature.
All Game Guide described it as "lacking" while the Finnish Pelit considered it an example of Sierra's downward spiral, criticizing the puzzles and the storyline.
Sequel.
"Shivers" was followed in 1997 by "" which takes place in a ghost town.


Claire Buffie

Claire Buffie (born May 15, 1986), is an American photographer. As Miss New York 2010, she was the first Miss America contestant to advocate a gay-rights platform at the Miss America 2011 pageant (where she placed in the top 12).
Background.
A BSU Presidential Scholar and Emens scholar, Buffie earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communications from Ball State University in 2008, with a concentration in photography and a minor in dance performance. During her academic career she received numerous awards and honors. After interning with Lois Greenfield and Macfadden Publications (publisher of "Dance Magazine" and "Pointe"), she began designing professionally for "movmnt magazine". She has owned and operated her own photography and design business since 2005. She began working for Apple Inc. in 2010.
Buffie competed in the Miss Indiana 2008 contest, earning second runner-up to Miss Indiana 2008 winner, Katie Stam (Miss America 2009), and was a preliminary swimsuit and interview winner. After moving to New York, she competed in Miss New York 2009 pageant, winning preliminary swimsuit, evening gown and overall interview. The next year, she was crowned Miss Southeast New York, and won the Miss New York 2010 title with the platform "Straight for Equality: Let's Talk."
Buffie is the writer of a children's poem book called "Babies, Biscuits, Bears, and Seashore Fun," and an active volunteer in New York's Safe Schools Program, which helps schools reduce bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.


Richard Dansky

Richard "Rich" Dansky is a writer and a designer of both computer games and role-playing games.
Early life and education.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Dansky attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He was also the gamemaster of a long-running "Villains and Vigilantes" game (which briefly included Jonathan Woodward as a player).
Career.
Richard Dansky worked for four years as a game developer for White Wolf, Inc. where he worked as developer on games such as ' and '. He also worked on the "Mind's Eye Theatre", "Kindred of the East", and "Orpheus" game lines. He has written, designed, or otherwise contributed to over a hundred role-playing sourcebooks. He is also credited with creating the humorous t-shirt which reads "Don't Tell Me About Your Character", a reference to the habit many role-playing game enthusiasts have of talking at length about their player characters. His writing has also appeared in sources such as the "Green Man Review" and "Lovecraft Studies".
He lives in Durham, North Carolina where he works for Red Storm Entertainment as "Manager of Design" as well as serving as "Central Clancy Writer" for Ubisoft. He has contributed to video games in series including "Splinter Cell: Double Agent" and "Rainbow Six: Black Arrow". He also contributed to "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon", "Far Cry", and "Blazing Angels", as well as helping to design the setting for the new "Might and Magic" universe.
Dansky has published four media tie-in novels through White Wolf, including "Clan Novel Lasombra" and the "Trilogy of the Second Age" for "Exalted". He has also written original fiction, including the novella "Shadows In Green" from Yard Dog Press and "Firefly Rain" due out in 2008. Currently, he is part of the Storytellers Unplugged blogging collective, as well as serving as one of the executives of the IGDA's Writers Special Interest Group. In 2007 he contributed the opening chapter to "Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames" alongside other members of the IGDA Writers Special Interest Group.
His namesake, "Rich Dansky", appears as a player character in the scenario "And I Feel Fine," by Geoffrey C. Grabowski, which was published in the "One Shots" sourcebook for "Unknown Armies". The fictional version of Dansky is described as "a bohemian academic living the simple life of a trailer park manager." Another role-playing game author, Rebecca Sean Borgstrom also appears as a player character in the same scenario.


Mark Simonitch

Mark Simonitch (born December 30, 1957) is an American wargame designer and graphic artist. His game designs include "Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage" and "Ardennes '44", and he has made maps for "Wilderness War" and "Empire of the Sun" among others. He has worked at Avalon Hill and GMT Games. He was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 2002.
Biography.
Simonitch was raised in Ross, California. He studied at California Polytechnic State University. He began wargaming in 1966, his first gaming experiences included "Jutland" and "Gettysburg" by Avalon Hill. From 1991 to 1994 he was a freelance artist and created maps and counters for over 100 wargames with clients including "Strategy & Tactics", "Command Magazine", GMT Games, 3W, and Avalanche Games. During this period he also started Rhino Game Company (or Rhino Studios) and published three games. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland in spring 1995 where he was employed by Avalon Hill until 1997. He has worked at GMT Games from 1997 to the present as a Graphic Designer.
Awards.
The below are all Charles S. Roberts Award wins, the list does not include nominations. Of his 14 awards, only 5 were won by him alone, all other being shared awards where he designed only the map.
Other awards include:
Notable graphic art.
Simonitch has designed maps, counters, box art, cards and other elements for hundreds of games, below are some of the most notable titles.


Airburst (video game)

Airburst is a video game developed by Strange Flavour and published by Freeverse for Mac OS. On October 25, 2007, it was announced for Xbox Live Arcade game for the Xbox 360. There is currently no release date for the Xbox 360 release but the game is available for testing on Partnernet, the private Xbox 360 developer site.
Gameplay.
The game has been described as "an inverted version of "Pong"", in which players divert a "deadly chainsaw-bladed burster ball" with a paddle towards other players' platforms, which are made of balloons. Each player is armed with a bat which can be used to deflect the ball away from their balloons and towards their opponents. There are also a host of power-ups that affect gameplay.
The XBLA version uses ReplicaNet for online play.
"AirBurst Extreme".
An enhanced version was released in 2004 for Mac OS X as "Airburst Extreme".
Characters.
There are four playable characters, and six additional characters (four new protagonists and two new antagonists) in "Airburst Extreme".
In other media.
On July 27, 2014 an animated short named "AirBurst: The Soda of Doom" screened at the San Diego Children's Film Festival at San Diego Comic-Con and featured characters from the games "AirBurst" and "AirBurst: Extreme".


Project Pinball Charity

Project Pinball Charity is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that places pinball machines in children's hospitals to provide recreational relief to patients, family members, and staff. Operating out of Bonita Springs, Florida since 2011 Project Pinball has donated 53 pinball machines to 49 hospitals spanning 24 states.
History.
Project Pinball Charity was founded on August 19, 2013 by Daniel Spolar. Spolar noticed an inoperable 2007 Spider-Man Pinball Machine in Golisano Children's Hospital and offered to fix it. After repairing the machine and discovering it had been played over 21,300 times in two years, Spolar went on to found Project Pinball Charity to assist other children's hospitals in their patient rehabilitation. Since then they have been assisted by pinball manufacturers such as Stern, Jersey Jack Pinball, and Visual Pinball to donate machines to 49 different hospitals in 41 states. In 2020 the charity's annual Love Across America Tour dedicated 8 machines in 14 days including one in Cincinnati, Ohio with the help of local celebrity Fluke Skywalker and another in Columbia, South Carolina.
Project Pinball Charity has a Gold rating from Guidestar.
Hospital donations.
Project Pinball has donated 53 pinball machines placed in 49 children’s hospitals and 24 states including Children's Hospital Colorado, Sunrise Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, UNC Children's Hospital, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital and Medical Center of Omaha, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Advocate Children's Hospital, Palm Beach Children's Hospital, K.Hovnanian Children's Hospital, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Wesley Children's Hospital and Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida.


Joanne Woollard

Joanne Woollard (died 27 February 2015) was a British art director. She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film "Hope and Glory". She got her 2nd nomination in 2013 for "Gravity".


Maurice Binder

Maurice Binder (December 4, 1918 – April 9, 1991) was an American film title designer best known for his work on 16 James Bond films including the first, "Dr. No" (1962) and for Stanley Donen's films from 1958.
Early work.
He was born in New York City, but mostly worked in Britain from the 1950s onwards. In 1951, Binder directed two short films in the obscure "Meet Mister Baby" series; these films were preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015. He did his first film title design for Stanley Donen's "Indiscreet" (1958). The Bond producers first approached him after being impressed by his title designs for the Donen comedy film "The Grass Is Greener" (1960). Binder also provided sequences for Donen for "Charade" (1963) and "Arabesque" (1966), both accompanying music by Henry Mancini.
James Bond.
Binder created the signature gun barrel sequence for the opening titles of the first Bond film, "Dr. No" (1962). Binder originally planned to employ a camera sighted down the barrel of a .38 calibre gun, but this caused some problems. Unable to stop down the lens of a standard camera enough to bring the entire gun barrel into focus, his assistant Trevor Bond created a pinhole camera to solve the problem and the barrel became crystal clear.
Binder described the genesis of the gun barrel sequence in the last interview he recorded before he died in 1991:
At least one critic has also observed that the sequence recalls the gun fired at the audience at the end of "The Great Train Robbery" (1903). Binder is also known for featuring women performing a variety of activities such as dancing, jumping on a trampoline, or shooting weapons in his work. Both sequences are trademarks and staples of the James Bond films. Maurice Binder was succeeded by Daniel Kleinman as the title designer for "GoldenEye" (1995).
Prior to "GoldenEye", the only James Bond movies for which he did not create the opening title credits were "From Russia with Love" (1963) and "Goldfinger" (1964), both of which were designed by Robert Brownjohn.
Other sequences.
Binder shot opening and closing sequences involving a mouse (an animal that didn't appear in either the novel or the film) for "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), a sequence of monks filmed as a mosaic explaining the history of the Golden Bell in "The Long Ships" (1963), and a sequence of Spanish dancers explaining why the then topical reference of nuclear weapons vanishing in a B-52 mishap shifted from Spain to Greece in "The Day the Fish Came Out" (1967).
He designed the title sequence for "Sodom and Gomorrah" (1963) that featured an orgy (the only one in the film). He took three days to direct the sequence that was originally supposed to take one day.
Binder also was a producer of "The Passage" (1979), and a visual consultant on "Dracula" (1979) and "Oxford Blues" (1984).
Death.
Binder died from lung cancer in London, aged 72.


Komal Shahani

Komal Shahani is an Indian fashion costume designer, who has worked in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu film industries.
Career.
Soon after completing her studies, Komal Shahani began working as an assistant in a boutique showroom, aspiring to break into the fashion industry. Soon Shahani began to get opportunities to design costumes in films, including in her husband Ashish R. Mohan's "Khiladi 786" (2013) and "Welcome 2 Karachi" (2015). For the film "Welcome 2 Karachi", Shahani notably researched fashion trends in Pakistan as seen in their newspapers and magazines. She also sourced embroidered leather Baloch jutis, mirror work Muslim caps, headscarves and turbans, as well military uniform of US, Indian and Pakistani personnel. She has also worked on commitments for Filmfare magazine, notably on cover issues featuring Preity Zinta and Neha Dhupia.
Shahani has also worked on South Indian films, making her debut through the bilingual film "180" (2011), set in Chennai and San Francisco. In the 2010s, she worked extensively with Vijay on his costumes for films. Notably, she designed the actor's outfits for "Thuppakki" (2012), as well as for the multiple roles that he played in his three films with Atlee. For "Cobra" (2021), Shahani worked on the design of Vikram's seven distinct looks in the film.
Personal life.
Komal Shahani is married to Hindi film director Ashish R. Mohan. The pair were married in a ceremony in February 2012 attended by several Hindi film personalities.


Verilog-AMS

Verilog-AMS is a derivative of the Verilog hardware description language that includes analog and mixed-signal extensions (AMS) in order to define the behavior of analog and mixed-signal systems. It extends the event-based simulator loops of Verilog/SystemVerilog/VHDL, by a continuous-time simulator, which solves the differential equations in analog-domain. Both domains are coupled: analog events can trigger digital actions and vice versa.
Overview.
The Verilog-AMS standard was created with the intent of enabling designers of analog and mixed signal systems and integrated circuits to create and use modules that encapsulate high-level behavioral descriptions as well as structural descriptions of systems and components.
Verilog-AMS is an industry standard modeling language for mixed signal circuits. It provides both continuous-time and event-driven modeling semantics, and so is suitable for analog, digital, and mixed analog/digital circuits. It is particularly well suited for verification of very complex analog, mixed-signal and RF integrated circuits.
Verilog and Verilog/AMS are not procedural programming languages, but event-based hardware description languages (HDLs). As such, they provide sophisticated and powerful language features for definition and synchronization of parallel actions and events. On the other hand, many actions defined in HDL program statements can run in parallel (somewhat similar to threads and tasklets in procedural languages, but much more fine-grained). However, Verilog/AMS can be coupled with procedural languages like the ANSI C language using the Verilog Procedural Interface of the simulator, which eases testsuite implementation, and allows interaction with legacy code or testbench equipment.
The original intention of the Verilog-AMS committee was a single language for both analog and digital design, however due to delays in the merger process it remains at Accellera while Verilog evolved into SystemVerilog and went to the IEEE.
Code example.
Verilog/AMS is a superset of the Verilog digital HDL, so all statements in digital domain work as in Verilog (see there for examples). All analog parts work as in Verilog-A.
The following code example in Verilog-AMS shows a DAC which is an example for analog processing which is triggered by a digital signal:
`include "constants.vams"
`include "disciplines.vams"
// Simple DAC model
module dac_simple(aout, clk, din, vref);
 // Parameters
 parameter integer bits = 4 from [1:24];
 parameter integer td = 1n from[0:inf); // Processing delay of the DAC
 // Define input/output
 input clk, vref;
 input [bits-1:0] din;
 output aout;
 //Define port types
 logic clk;
 logic [bits-1:0] din;
 electrical aout, vref;
 // Internal variables
 real aout_new, ref;
 integer i;
 // Change signal in the analog part
 analog begin
 @(posedge clk) begin // Change output only for rising clock edge
 aout_new = 0;
 ref = V(vref);
 for(i=0; i<bits; i=i+1) begin
 ref = ref/2;
 aout_new = aout_new + ref * din[i];
 end
 end
 V(aout) <+ transition(aout_new, td, 5n); // Get a smoother transition when output level changes
 end
endmodule
The ADC model is reading analog signals in the digital blocks:
`include "constants.vams"
`include "disciplines.vams"
// Simple ADC model
module adc_simple(clk, dout, vref, vin);
 // Parameters
 parameter integer bits = 4 from[1:24]; // Number of bits
 parameter integer td = 1 from[0:inf); // Processing delay of the ADC
 // Define input/output
 input clk, vin, vref;
 output [bits-1:0] dout;
 //Define port types
 electrical vref, vin;
 logic clk;
 reg [bits-1:0] dout;
 // Internal variables
 real ref, sample;
 integer i;

 initial begin
 dout = 0;
 end
 // Perform sampling in the digital blocks for rising clock edge
 always @(posedge clk) begin
 sample = V(vin);
 ref = V(vref);
 for(i=0; i<bits; i=i+1) begin
 ref = ref/2;
 if(sample > ref) begin
 dout[i] <= #(td) 1;
 sample = sample - ref;
 end
 else
 dout[i] <= #(td) 0;
 end
 end
endmodule


J Strother Moore

J Strother Moore (his first name is the alphabetic character "J" – not an abbreviated "J.") is a computer scientist. He is a co-developer of the Boyer–Moore string-search algorithm, Boyer–Moore majority vote algorithm, and the Boyer–Moore automated theorem prover, Nqthm. He made pioneering contributions to structure sharing including the piece table data structure and early logic programming. An example of the workings of the Boyer–Moore string search algorithm is given in Moore's website. Moore received his Bachelor of Science (SB) in mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970 and his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in computational logic at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1973.
In addition, Moore is a co-author of the ACL2 automated theorem prover and its predecessors including Nqthm, for which he received, with Robert S. Boyer and Matt Kaufmann, the 2005 ACM Software System Award. He and others used ACL2 to prove the correctness of the floating point division operations of the AMD K5 microprocessor in the wake of the Pentium FDIV bug.
For his contributions to automated deduction, Moore received the 1999 Herbrand Award with Robert S. Boyer, and in 2006 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. Moore was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2007, and is a Fellow of the AAAI. He was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2015.
He is currently the Admiral B.R. Inman Centennial Chair in Computing Theory at The University of Texas at Austin, and was Chair of the Department of Computer Science from 2001–2009.
Before joining the Department of Computer Sciences as the chair, he formed a company, Computational Logic Inc., along with others including his close friend at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the highly regarded professors in the field of automated reasoning, Robert S. Boyer.
Moore enjoys rock climbing.


Galactic Pinball

 is a pinball video game for Nintendo's Virtual Boy game console. The game was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan and on August 14, 1995 in the United States. It is set in the Milky Way galaxy, and has players maneuvering a puck around one of four pinball tables available in the game. The Virtual Boy's standard red-and-black color scheme resulted in criticism of this and other games on the platform for causing nausea, headaches, and eye strain. It also uses parallax, which allows the game to display three-dimensional effects. It has received a mixed reception; it was praised for its authenticity, while reception to its physics and controls were mixed. It has also received criticism for its lack of ambition and originality.
Gameplay and premise.
"Galactic Pinball" is set in the Milky Way galaxy, and tells the story of the discovery of a new, strange world. At the Title Screen, players can choose from four pinball tables: Cosmic, Colony, UFO, and Alien. Players can also choose to look at the top scores. The Cosmic table features a cameo from "Metroid" where players control protagonist Samus Aran's ship. Players are given five pucks, which players must keep going by using the flippers to hit it upward. The goal is to accumulate points and avoid allowing the puck to drop to the bottom of the table. The game begins with players shooting a puck into the table by holding the A button to launch it with a plunger. The longer the button is held, the harder the puck is launched. Players can also push a button to shake the in-game table, though if it is used too often, the flippers will be disabled and the puck will fall. There are various bonuses that players can experience during play. Some tables allow players to activate a "Bonus Roulette wheel", and some will allow them to get bonus points by collecting letters that spell the table's name. Bonus points will be awarded when a puck drops out of play, which varies depending on how long a puck was in play. Each table features a bonus puck to find. Players can collect stars, and upon collecting enough of them, they will be able to choose to go to a Bonus Stage or collect bonus points instead.
Development.
The development of "Galactic Pinball" was managed by Gunpei Yokoi, who also created the Virtual Boy. It was directed by Kenji Yamamoto, who composed the sound alongside Masaru Tajima. It was shown during the Virtual Boy's Las Vegas debut alongside "Teleroboxer". It has been known at varying points as "Space Pinball", "Virtual Pinball", and "Pinball VB". It was one of the launch games for the Virtual Boy, and was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan and on August 14, 1995 in the United States. Like all Virtual Boy games, "Galactic Pinball" uses a red-and-black color scheme and parallax visuals to simulate three-dimensional depth.
Reception.
Since its release, "Galactic Pinball" has received a mixed reception. Before its release, "GamePro" speculated that it might be "one of the best pinball games around." On release, "Weekly Famicom Tsūshin" scored the game a 24 out of 40, while "GamePro" reviewer Slo Mo praised the diversity of tables, responsive controls, and innovative 3D stage design. Writer Jeremy Parish called it a quality pinball game for its time and felt that it would have been a better pack-in title than "Mario's Tennis". An editor for IGN called it one of the best Virtual Boy games for its pinball gameplay and visual design. "Retro Gamer"s Nick Thorpe felt that it was less popular than other Virtual Boy games, but deserved to be played. Outlets including "Videogames" and "Retro Gamer" praised it for its authenticity as a pinball game. Specific praises include its physics and sound design. A writer for ABC's Good Game program also praised its authenticity, but felt that it lacked ambition. Venture Beat writer Jeff Grubb was more negative on "Galactic Pinball", calling it a bad Virtual Boy game due to being low effort as a pinball game. "Galactic Pinball" was reviewed by two "GameFan" editors, both of whom were not enthused with it. The first reviewer found it forgettable for people not interested in pinball games, while the other suggested avoiding it. Allgame disliked "Galactic Pinball", feeling that the slow pace and unrealistic physics hurt it as a pinball experience.
Outlets such as "Electronic Entertainment" and "Nintendo Power" praised the 3D design, the latter voting it the fourth best Virtual Boy game of 1995 due in part to the limited use of 3D. A reviewer for "Nintendo Power" however criticized the limited 3D as well as a lack of a battery save for high scores. "PC Magazine"s Benj Edwards included it among his list of seven "forgotten Nintendo Virtual Boy classics." He cites Yokoi's interest in the Virtual Boy's black space as a way to convey "infinite space behind the playfield," and speculates that this was the origin of "Galactic Pinball". A writer for "Electronic Gaming Monthly" found the level design excellent but that the flippers were too slow to respond. "Kill Screen" writer Jon Irwin similarly criticized its physics, stating that slowdown occurred whenever the puck approached the flippers. He felt that the action and physics were better in the "Space Pinball" demo than the final release. "Next Generation" was critical of "Galactic Pinball" due to poor lasting value. Tim Stevens for Engadget criticized the sound effects, in particular the lack of sound for the puck. He speculated that it was due to the digital voice work taking up too much room on the cartridge.


Ryan Andrews (director)

Ryan Andrews is a Welsh film director, music video director and production designer. He is best known for directing the film "Elfie Hopkins" and numerous music videos for Charli XCX.
Career.
Ryan was brought up in New Quay, Ceredigion, Wales. He studied fine art in Carmarthen, before moving to London to study at the London Film School. He graduated in 2005 with an MA in Filmmaking.
After leaving London Film School, Andrews began working as a production designer. He carried out this role for Canadian film "Gangster Exchange", which was released in 2009 and won multiple awards from film festivals.
In 2009, Andrews directed the short film "Family Picnic" for the BBC's "It's My Shout", an initiative that produces short films with budding Welsh filmmakers. He won the "It's My Shout" award for best director. In 2011, he directed "Little Munchkin", a short film in which a couple adopt a cannibalistic child. The short was screened at FrightFest.
In 2010, Andrews directed a short film titled "Jerusalem". It is named for the work of the same name by artist William Blake, and is based on an unsuccessful exhibit held by the artist in Soho, London in 1809. The short examines how Blake was largely unrecognized and criticized during his time. "Jerusalem" stars Ray Winstone as William Blake, and Amanda Drew as his wife Catherine Blake. The screenplay was written by Philippa Goslett.
Andrews directed a mini-series titled "BeastHunters" in 2010, which premiered on BBC Comedy upon its online launch. It stars James Corden, Jaime Winstone, and Robert Llewellyn.
Andrews' first feature film, "Elfie Hopkins", was theatrically released in 2012 in the UK. It was released in the US in 2013 under the alternative title of "Elfie Hopkins: Cannibal Hunter". "Elfie Hopkins" is a horror film surrounding a young aspiring detective who investigates her cannibalistic neighbors. For the film, Andrews chose to expand on the theme of cannibalism from his previous short film "Little Munchkin". It was also inspired by Andrews' childhood dream of being a vampire hunter. The film stars Jaime Winstone and her father Ray Winstone. It was filmed in Ceredigion, Wales, where Andrews grew up.
Andrews has directed an upcoming science fiction short film titled "Hiraeth". Work on the film began in 2019, and it is currently in post-production. The film was written by Stephen Laughton, and is being produced by Liv Edmunds. It is being released by Laughton and Edmunds's film production company TheMACHINE, of which Andrews is an associate. "Hiraeth" stars Olivia Ross and Jonathan Forbes, and tells the fictional story of a manned mission to Europa.
Andrews has directed various music videos for different musicians throughout his career. His most frequent collaborator has been Charli XCX, for whom he has directed ten music videos in total. After being approached by Warner Bros. and Atlantic Records, Andrews worked as Charli's visual director for several years—directing the music videos associated with her album True Romance. He has described his work with Charli as "taking Tumblr and internet art to the mainstream". Andrews has also directed music videos for Banks, Transviolet, Olivia Holt, Martine McCutcheon, and Jetta, among others. He directed the visuals for Little Mix's 2017 "Glory Days" tour.
Filmography.
Feature films.
Director
Production designer
Short films.
Director
Television.
Director
Music videos.
Director


Charles Nordhoff

Charles Bernard Nordhoff (February 1, 1887 – April 10, 1947) was an American novelist and traveler, born in England.
Biography.
Early life.
Charles Nordhoff was born in London, England, on February 1, 1887, to American parents. His father was Walter Nordhoff, a wealthy businessman and author of "The Journey of the Flame" penned under the name "Antonio de Fierro Blanco". His mother, Sarah Cope Whitall, was of Pennsylvania Quaker stock. Nordhoff's parents returned to the United States with him in 1889, living first in Pennsylvania, then Rhode Island, and finally settling in California by 1898.
Charles Bernard Nordhoff's grandfather was Charles Nordhoff, a journalist and author of non-fiction books. Nordhoff himself showed an early interest in writing. His first published work was an article in an ornithological journal, written in 1902 when he was just fifteen. After attending The Thacher School in Ojai, California, he entered Stanford University at seventeen, but transferred after one year to Harvard.
After graduation in 1909, Nordhoff worked for his father's businesses, first spending two years in Mexico managing a sugar plantation, then four years as an executive of a tile and brick company in Redlands, California. He quit in 1916, signed up with the Ambulance Corps, and traveled to France. There he joined other American expatriates as a pilot in the Lafayette Flying Corps. He finished World War I as a lieutenant in the US Army Air Service.
Writing career.
After leaving the service, Nordhoff remained in Paris, France, where he worked as a journalist and wrote his first book, "The Fledgling". In 1919, he and another former Lafayette Squadron pilot, James Norman Hall, who was also an author and journalist, were asked to write a history of that unit. Neither man had known the other during the war. Their first literary collaboration, "The Lafayette Flying Corps", was published in 1920.
The two authors then returned to the United States, sharing a rented house on Martha's Vineyard, until given a commission by "Harper's Magazine" to write travel articles set in the South Pacific. They went to Tahiti in the Society Islands for research and inspiration, and ended up staying, Nordhoff for twenty years, Hall for life. Their second book, "Faery Lands of the South Seas", was serialized in "Harper's" in 1920–21, then published in book form.
Nordhoff married a Tahitian woman, Christianne Vahine Tua Tearae Smidt, with whom he would have four daughters and two sons. He wrote novels on his own for ten years, of which "The Derelict" (1928) was considered his finest solo effort. Nordhoff and Hall continued to jointly write travel and adventure articles for "The Atlantic" during the 1920s and early 1930s. They also co-authored another memoir of World War I, "Falcons of France" (1929). It was Hall who suggested they work on "The Bounty Trilogy": "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1932), "Men Against the Sea" (1934) and "Pitcairn's Island" (1934).
Nordhoff, who would write in the mornings and spend the afternoons fishing, once explained how he and James Hall worked together. They initially drew up charts of all the characters, then would dole out the chapters to each other. For their joint works they each made an effort to write in the other's style so as to achieve a reasonably smooth narrative.
After "The Bounty Trilogy", Nordhoff and Hall's most successful book was "The Hurricane" (1936). They continued their partnership writing novels until 1945. Nordhoff produced one more solo book, "In Yankee Windjammers" (1940), a retelling of the ships, sailors, and way of life about which his grandfather had written.
Later life.
Nordhoff divorced his first wife in 1936, left Tahiti a few years later, and returned to California, where in 1941 he married Laura Grainger Whiley. During World War II, he had the honor of having a Liberty ship, "SS Charles Nordhoff", built in Portland, Oregon, in 1943, named after him.
Charles Bernard Nordhoff died alone at his home in Montecito, California, on April 10, 1947. His body was found the next morning by Tod Ford, who had called on him to work on their book. Newspapers at the time reported the death as an "apparent heart attack". Later sources indicate he had been drinking heavily, was depressed, and may have committed suicide. He is buried in the Redlands, California, Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
Film treatments.
The Nordhoff–Hall books were the source for both the 1935 and the 1962 MGM films, "Mutiny on the Bounty". The 1984 film, "The Bounty", was based on other sources, more well-researched views of the actual events of 1789 in which the mutiny results not from maltreatment by Captain Bligh but from the lure of South Pacific life for the ship's crew.
In addition to the Bounty story, five other of Nordhoff's books, all of them collaborations with James Norman Hall, would be turned into films. (The screenplays were all done by other writers).


Betsey Johnson

Betsey Johnson (born 1942) is an American fashion designer best known for her feminine and whimsical designs. Many of her designs are considered "over the top" and embellished. She also is known for doing a cartwheel ending in a split at the end of her fashion shows.
Early life and education.
Johnson was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, the second of three children born to Lena and John Johnson. She has an elder sister, Sally, and a younger brother, Robert. Johnson grew up in Terryville, Connecticut and took many dance classes, which inspired her love of costumes.
Following her graduation from high school, Johnson studied at the Pratt Institute and then later graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University, where she was a member of the Alpha Xi Delta women's sorority. After graduation, she spent a summer as an intern at "Mademoiselle" magazine, where she was mentored by Edie Locke.
Career.
Johnson's fashion career started after she entered and won the "Mademoiselle" Guest Editor Contest. Within a year, she was the in-house designer for Manhattan boutique Paraphernalia. Johnson became part of both the youthquake fashion movement and Andy Warhol's underground scene, along with The Velvet Underground, Edie Sedgwick, Nico, and Lou Reed. In 1969, she opened a boutique called Betsey Bunky Nini on New York City's Upper East Side. Edie Sedgwick was her house model and Johnson designed the clothing Sedgwick wore on her last film, "Ciao! Manhattan".
In the 1970s, Johnson took control of the fashion label "Alley Cat" which was popular with the rock 'n roll musicians of the day. In her first year, her debut collection for Alley Cat reportedly sold $5 million in volume. In September 1971 she received the Coty Fashion Critics' Award (a 'Winnie').
In 1978, Johnson started her own fashion line. Her second collection did not sell well, leaving her with 3,000 pieces of spring clothing and insufficient funds to stage a 1981 fashion show to sell them and Johnson opened a retail store in the SoHo area of New York City. She designed the dress that Lisa Loeb wore in the music video for her 1994 hit "Stay (I Missed You)".
In 2002, Johnson was inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame. Her bronze plaque held one of her original sketches. In 2003, she expanded her line for 2004 to include handbags, accessories, hats, and scarves.
In 2008, Johnson was a contributor to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book "Cherry Bomb".
The National Arts Club awarded Johnson the 2009 Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement in Fashion. She once described her style as a formula: "Take a leotard and add a skirt." As of 2011, she has more than 65 stores worldwide.
In September 2010, her Spring/Summer 2011 Ready-to-Wear fashion show generated a lot of buzz before it started because models were rumored to come down the runway riding bicycles. However, the original concept proved too dangerous during the rehearsals, so Betsey asked model Kim Matulova to ride a skateboard while wearing open-toed platform heels instead. She ended up falling to the ground and losing one of her shoes, and she had to get off and shoulder her skateboard all the way back up the catwalk.
On April 26, 2012, Betsey Johnson, LLC filed voluntarily for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
On September 12, 2012, she celebrated 40 years of her brand with a retrospective fashion show with Cyndi Lauper performing.
As of May 2013, Johnson and her daughter Lulu Johnson have a reality TV show that airs on the Style Network.
On September 4, 2014, it was announced that Johnson would be one of the celebrities competing on the 19th season of "Dancing with the Stars". The couple was eliminated in week 4, finishing in 10th place.
In 2018, Johnson appeared on Sugar Rush as a guest judge (Episode: "Frosted Fashion").
Personal life.
Johnson is a long-term breast cancer survivor.


Saskia Marka

Saskia Marka (née Rüter; born 1975) is a German film title designer, known for her work on the TV series Babylon Berlin, The Queen's Gambit, Deutschland 83, Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89.
Life and work.
Marka studied communication design at the "Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design" (Muthesius Kunsthochschule) in Kiel. After receiving her diploma there, she went on to study "Film & TV Design" (today: Motion Design) at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg in 2000, which Marka also completed with a diploma in 2003.
Since then she has been working as a freelancer and has designed title sequences, opening and closing credits for many German and international films and television series. Marka also designed the artwork for several German feature films and series. In 2010, she became the first German title designer to receive the "Certificate Of Typographic Excellence" from the Type Directors Club of New York for her title design for the German feature film This Is Love.
Marka achieved international fame with her work for the television series "Babylon Berlin" (2017), "The Queen's Gambit" (2020), "Deutschland 83" (2015), "Deutschland 86" (2018) and "Deutschland 89" (2020). Her opening credits for the TV series Deutschland 83 were among "The 10 Best Opening Credits of 2015" of the website Vulture.com. The title sequence for the TV series Babylon Berlin, created by Marka, "was named Art of the Title’s number one title sequence of 2018". In 2019 she was nominated for the "SXSW Film Design Award" (the jury prize for "Excellence in Title Design") at the SXSW Film Festival for her title design of the series "Babylon Berlin". In 2021, she won the "SXSW Film Design Award" for her end title sequence for the series The Queen's Gambit. This sequence made it also into the "Top Picks of 2020" by industry website "Art of the Title".
Saskia Marka lives in Berlin and is married to film director Sebastian Marka, with whom she has two children.


Niharika Khan

Niharika Bhasin Khan is an Indian costume designer who works in Hindi cinema (Bollywood), and is most known for her work in "Rock On!!" (2008) and "The Dirty Picture" (2011), for which she won the National Film Award for Best Costume Design as well as Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design.
Early life and education.
Born to a Punjabi father and Parsi mother. She did her bachelor's degree in public relations and HR from Seattle, US.
Career.
Bhasin started her career with "Khoya Khoya Chand" (2007). She got noticed with rocker film "Rock On!!" (2008), and got her big banner break with Yash Raj Films's "Band Baaja Baaraat" (2010).
Personal life.
Her brother Arjun Bhasin is also a costume designer, known for "Dil Chahta Hai" (2001), "Rang De Basanti" (2006) and "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" (2011). She was married to film and television actor Ayub Khan, known for TV series, "Uttaran" (2008). Her husband is the nephew of yesteryear film stars Dilip Kumar and Saira Bano.


Wayne White (artist)

Wayne Wilkes White (born September 17, 1957) is an American artist, art director, puppeteer, set designer, animator, cartoonist and illustrator. He has won three Emmy Awards for his work.
Early life and education.
In the documentary "Beauty is Embarrassing", White says he was born in Sand Mountain, Alabama.
After graduating from Hixson High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee (1975) and Middle Tennessee State University (BFA, 1979), White went to New York City (1980) and worked as a cartoonist and illustrator for a number of publications including "The East Village Eye", "Raw", "The New York Times", and "The Village Voice".
Career.
In 1986 he worked on "Pee-wee's Playhouse" where his work for his set and puppet designs won three Emmy awards; he also supplied a number of voices on the show. Other television credits include production and set design for "Shining Time Station", "Riders in the Sky", "The Weird Al Show" and "Beakman's World".
He art directed two seminal music videos, Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" in 1986, for which he won a Billboard award for best Art Direction in a music video, and in 1996 he designed all the Georges Méliès-inspired sets for the award-winning video for the Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight, Tonight".
More recently he has concentrated on his painting career. He takes cheap, mass-produced lithographs which he finds in secondhand thrift stores and painstakingly paints phrases or words on them in a glossy, 3-D style. His works have been compared to Ed Ruscha. Arguably, White's most famous work is his painting "Nixon", which was featured on the cover of an album, also titled "Nixon", by the band Lambchop. A school friend of Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, White has contributed to four of the band's album covers. On September 16, 2009 at The Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, White gave a presentation of his work through the retelling of his life.
In September 2009 White installed a large puppet head of George Jones in the Rice Gallery at Rice University in Houston, Texas. The puppet's eyes rotate in its head, and if the viewer pulls a rope, the mouth opens and a snoring noise emerges. A huge fan rotates at the base of the head, with the words "dreaming" written over the fan blades. The piece is called "Big Lectric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep," in reference to George Jones's recording of "Ragged but Right."
In January 2009, White was featured at Marty Walker Gallery in Dallas, Texas in a group art exhibition titled "There's something I've been meaning to tell you...". The Marty Walker Gallery also held a solo art exhibition for White in 2010 titled "I fell 37 miles to the earth 100 years ago". In March 2012, "Beauty Is Embarrassing", a documentary about Wayne White's life, premiered at SXSW in Austin, Texas. In June 2013 the interactive, site-specific installation HALO AMOK debuted at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. White describes HALO AMOK as a "cubist cowboy rodeo."
In November 2016 White created an art installation in Chattanooga called Wayne-O-Rama that includes huge cardboard heads of figures from Chattanooga's history, including Dragging Canoe and Adolph Ochs, and a large model of Lookout Mountain featuring details about the mountain including the roadside attractions Rock City, Ruby Falls and the Incline. It was partially funded by the Shaking Ray Levis Society, Benwood Foundation, the Lyndhurst Foundation and See Rock City Inc.
In January 2020, White announced his fourth solo art show at the Joshua Liner Gallery in New York City, and in April 2020, White released a series of eighteen never before seen drawings that he had completed between the years of 2012 and 2020. This release was done in conjunction with the debut of a series of short puppet shows that White created for Instagram with each episode containing a short joke or gag produced by White.
White made the cover art, "Curdled American Dream", for the X album "Alphabetland" due to vocalist Exene Cervenka and bassist John Doe both being fans of his work.
Wayne White beer.
Chattanooga Brewing Company introduced their "Wayne White Ale" beer in 2018.
Personal life.
White is married to cartoonist and writer Mimi Pond. They have two children, Woodrow "Woody" White and Lulu White, who are also artists themselves.


Integrated Architecture Framework

The Integrated Architecture Framework (IAF) is an enterprise architecture framework that covers business, information, information system and technology infrastructure..This framework has been developed by Capgemini since the 1990s, from the experience of practicing architects on projects for clients across the group. The first version was released in 1996 and was based on the Zachman Framework and Spewaks ideas about Enterprise Architecture Planning. Since Version 1.0 released in 1996 IAF has been developed by Capgemini's internal global architecture community drawing from the experience of practising architects. Now in its 6th edition, IAF provides alignment considering all relevant artefacts.


James Norman Hall

James Norman Hall (22 April 1887 – 5 July 1951) was an American writer best known for the Bounty Trilogy, three historical novels he wrote with Charles Nordhoff: "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1932), "Men Against the Sea" (1934) and "Pitcairn's Island" (1934). During World War I, Hall had the distinction of serving in the militaries of three Western allies: Great Britain as an infantryman, and then France and the United States as an aviator. His awards include the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille Militaire, the Légion d'Honneur and the Distinguished Service Cross. After the war, Hall spent much of his life on the island of Tahiti, where he and Nordhoff wrote a number of successful adventure books, many adapted for film.
Biography.
Hall was born in Colfax, Iowa, where he attended the local schools. His early home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hall graduated from Grinnell College in 1910. He wrote the song "Sons of Old Grinnell", which is part of the college songbook.
After graduation, he became a social worker in Boston for the Society for Prevention to Cruelty to Children while trying to establish himself as a writer and studying for a master's degree from Harvard University.
Hall was on vacation in the United Kingdom in the summer of 1914, when World War I began. Posing as a Canadian, he enlisted in the British Army, serving in the Royal Fusiliers as a machine gunner during the Battle of Loos. He was discharged after his true nationality was discovered, and he returned to the United States. Hall's first book, "Kitchener's Mob" (1916), recounts his wartime experiences. "Kitchener's Mob" sold moderately well in America following its publication and after a speaking tour to promote the book, Hall returned to Europe in 1916 on assignment with "Atlantic Monthly" magazine. He was to have written a series of stories about the group of American volunteers serving in the Lafayette Escadrille, but after spending some time with the American fliers Hall himself became caught up in the adventure and enlisted in the French Air Service. By then the original Escadrille had been expanded to the Lafayette Flying Corps, which trained American volunteers to serve in regular French squadrons.
During his time in French aviation, Hall was awarded the Croix de Guerre with five palms and the Médaille Militaire. When the United States entered the war in 1917, Hall was made a captain in the Army Air Service. There he met another American pilot, Charles Nordhoff. After being shot down over enemy lines on 7 May 1918, Hall spent the last months of the war as a German prisoner of war. After his release he was awarded the French Légion d'Honneur and the American Distinguished Service Cross.
After the war, Hall spent much of his life on the island of Tahiti, where he and Nordhoff, who had also moved there, wrote a number of successful adventure books (including the "Bounty" trilogy). In addition to the various "Bounty" films, other film adaptations of his fiction include "The Hurricane" (1937), which starred his nephew Jon Hall; "Passage to Marseille" (1944), featuring Humphrey Bogart; and "Botany Bay" (1953), with Alan Ladd.
In 1940, Hall published a book of poems with the title "Oh Millersville!" It appeared under the pseudonym Fern Gravel, and the poems were written in the voice of a girl of about 10 years of age. The book was critically well received, and the hoax was not exposed until 1946, when Hall published an article entitled "Fern Gravel: A Hoax and a Confession" in the "Atlantic Monthly". He wrote that he had been inspired by a dream in which he saw himself back in his Iowa childhood with a group of children, among whom was a girl named Fern who wanted her poems written down. When he awoke, Hall wrote Fern's poems, which are simply worded but nicely detailed first-person observations of small-town life.
In 1925, Hall married Sarah (Lala) Winchester, who was part-Polynesian. They had two children: the Academy Award winning cinematographer Conrad Hall (1926–2003) and Nancy Hall-Rutgers (born 1930). Hall died in 1951 in Tahiti and is buried on the hillside property just above the modest wooden house he and Lala lived in for many years. His grave bears a line of verse he wrote in Iowa at the age of 11: "Look to the Northward stranger / Just over the hillside there / Have you ever in your travels seen / A land more passing fair?"
Hall's papers, including manuscripts and wartime correspondence, are housed in the Grinnell College Special Collections and Archives. The government of Tahiti restored Hall's home in Arue, French Polynesia, which is now a historic house museum that includes Hall's 3,000-volume library and personal effects on loan from the Hall family. "The house itself is neither large nor prepossessing; it was built for comfort and practicality," wrote author and screenwriter Peter Benchley. "It's what's inside the house that I found most fascinating: paintings, photographs, artifacts and anecdotes from Hall's preliterary life."


Rise of Nightmares

Rise of Nightmares, known in Japan as , is a survival horror video game developed and published by Sega for the Xbox 360. The game was revealed at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, and is designed specifically for Kinect. It was the first M-rated game to be released for the Kinect.
Plot.
The game begins when a couple of prisoners attempting to escape from the dungeon they are imprisoned in. After breaking out of their cell, they found a door but it was locked, one of the prisoners pulled a nearby lever which unlocked the door, however it also let loose the other creatures that were locked in the dungeon. They made it hall and saw a door, however, a monstrous masked figure suddenly appears, they panicked and ran towards the door. The door was locked and it also turned out to be a trap, the wall closes in and kills them both.
While on vacation in Romania, Josh, the main character, and his wife Kate are on a train with several other tourists. During the train ride, Kate is about to tell Josh something when she discovers he was hiding a bottle of alcohol, hinting at a drinking problem. Angry, she walks out and heads to the dining car. Josh comes across a Romanian man who tells him that his wife left a letter for him, and then Josh reads it. It says that Kate is sorry for getting angry at Josh and that she wasn't herself lately and also says for Josh to meet her at the dining cart. Feeling guilty, Josh heads to the dining car to apologize. On his way, he encounters many travelers, such as a Grandfather - Gregor, a student - Lin, two ballerinas called Sacha and Tasha; four teenagers - Monica, Max, Aaron and Katja - heading to a rave; an English psychiatrist called Jane; two Romanian generals; a Romanian ticket collector; a German businessman; and Yeli, a fortune-teller who gives Josh a grim prediction. He then proceeds further only to find the car covered in blood. Bursting into the car, he find his wife being carried out by a large man with an odd-looking mechanism on his face. One of the generals tries to stop the man but is ripped in half. Josh and Yeli follow, catching a glimpse of a strange man who is laughing maniacally. Suddenly, the train derails. Josh awakens to find the train in a river, and tries to save the ticket collector but fails. The general calls him to shore, and Josh runs to a cave where the other survivors are hiding.
The businessman walks away from the cave into the forest and is killed by something off-screen. Panicking, the survivors run deeper into the cave until they fall out the other side into a swamp. While making their way out the other general is pulled under and killed, causing the remaining survivors to panic. After escaping the swamp and walking through the forest, they come upon a cemetery where they meet up with another group of survivors, Aaron, Sacha and Tasha. The student wanders into a cellar and is heard screaming. Josh runs to help and finds her panicking, saying she saw a corpse move. Josh investigates and the corpse, along with several others reanimate and attack. The girl runs away and Josh fends them off before pursuing her. Josh exits the cellar and finds that all the survivors have run off due to the zombies. As Josh makes his way through the cemetery, he hears a scream and watches as Monica is decapitated by Ernst (the man who abducted his wife) and then thrown at a wall. Ernst then subdues Josh, who loses consciousness.
Josh awakens to find that he has been tied to a chair by Viktor, the mad scientist responsible for the zombies. Max is tied up as well, but is soon killed by Viktor. He is about to kill Josh when he gets a phone call and exits urgently, leaving a zombie nurse to finish the job. Fortunately, Josh is rescued and freed by the Romanian who told Josh of Kate's letter, and they attempt to find their way out. The two make their way through a hall when the survivor inspects a fresh bloodstain, only to end up bisected by a trap. Josh fights his way through a horde of zombies and encounters Jane, but she is kidnapped by Ernst. He later comes across a ringing phone. Josh answers and hears Kate begging him to help, followed by a woman's voice telling him that he will never find her, and a projector shows footage of a webcam with a mysterious woman next to Kate, who is captive in a torture chair. He continues to find strange bedrooms; in one such room, there is a crib and a doll making sounds of crying. He then finds a sewing room, filled with dresses and mannequins, one of which resembles like a zombie. He advances to a cave to find that the two Russian ballerinas are now zombies. The strange woman from before traps him in with the zombie twins. After he defeats them, he wanders outside to a courtyard.
In the courtyard, he hears someone asking him to help him out of the shed. The man (Fido) is suspiciously calm and claims to have been Viktor's employee once, also claiming to know how to release Kate. He has Josh search for the key and when freed, Josh is surprised to find that his head has been sewn to the body of a small lapdog. Fido tells Josh that he will only help him if Josh helps return him to his human state. After being restored, he gives Josh the key to the tall tower and tells him there's a surprise at the top. Josh then wanders to the top of the tower to find the raver couple, now resembling marionettes. He kills them, and then is transported to a cave, where he picks up a mystical weapon, Azoth, that attaches to his left hand.
Josh eventually finds Kate, but she is strapped to a table with Viktor and Ernst next to her. Viktor tells Ernst to kill Josh, but Josh defeats him. Near death, Ernst becomes more human, and lets Josh and Kate escape. In a fit of rage, Viktor brutally murders Ernst. Josh and Kate run into a forest, but Kate is entranced by a sudden music that starts playing, and she wanders into a sacrificial site. Viktor is there, but in the body of a woman. He opens up a portal, but Josh destroys the towers that created it, and Viktor is burned to death. However, before he can reach Kate, Marchosias, or Fido in his human form, knocks Josh unconscious.
Josh wakes up to find that he is strapped to a vertical table, with the bodies of Viktor and Ernst present too. Marchosias reveals that he was fascinated by Viktor, and will use Josh in order to reincarnate him. Out of Viktor's corpse he pulls out an eel-like creature, and inserts it into Josh's mouth, making Viktor take the body of Josh.
Josh then reawakens to find himself in a prison cell, in the body of Ernst. He sees Kate walking along with Viktor, who is now in the body of Josh. Kate now believes that Viktor is Josh, and that Josh is Ernst. The two leave Josh/Ernst in his cell. Soon, Josh hears Aaron and Katja, who have escaped from their cell, an event that happens at the start of the game. They open all the cell doors, and Josh tries to follow them, but they scream and run away because they think that he is Ernst. Aaron and Katja run into a trap, and are crushed by two walls. Josh escapes, and also has the advantage of Ernst's two chain hands that can kill an enemy from a distance.
Josh runs after Kate, and sees her walking off with Viktor in Josh's body. He follows, and meets Marchosias. He then reveals an altered Jane, and tells her to kill Josh. Josh overpowers her, and she goes into a mental breakdown. As she starts to burn up, she jumps onto Marchosias, and they both burn together. Josh staggers out into the forest, and collapses.
He wakes up to see Yeli dancing in front of him, saying that before Josh can kill Viktor and claim back his body, he must enter the dream realm to learn why everything happened, then she stabs him with a dagger that sends him back to the train, but in his imagination. Josh can also hear what the other passengers were thinking at the time, before all of them turn into a blood-like gas.
He encounters the man who told him of his wife's letter, and he thinks briefly about how he hates travelling through the cursed forest. Josh then sees the student, who is thinking about how her parents will hate her once they find out that she dropped out of school. When Josh sees the two ballerinas, they both are thinking that without the other, they could be stars. Then he sees the four going to the rave. Aaron first thinks about how he doesn't like 'love and peace', Monica is thinking about how she loves Europe and how lovely Max is, Max is thinking about how to use Monica to smuggle drugs into America, and Katja is lamenting about how Monica is being used as Max's puppet. Josh then meets Jane, who is thinking about her next project, and how half-dead people can be used. She then snaps out of her dream, thinking that she might need counselling. Next, Josh sees the two Romanian generals. One is thinking about how he lost his friends in war because his gun jammed, the other is thinking about marrying the woman he loves and setting up his own business. The next man he sees is the ticket collector, who is strangely thinking about the train derailing. Unable to see Yeli, Josh then sees the German businessman, who wants to embezzle his company's funds. Lastly, he sees Kate. She is thinking about the fact that she is pregnant, a fact Josh didn't know. Viktor then appears by her side, saying that she is the same as his wife Mary. Kate then turns into gas, Viktor sees Josh, and he runs away.
Next, Josh is led to Viktor's memories with Mary. At first, Mary and Viktor were happy because they could have a baby. Then, Josh learns that Viktor tried to make the baby genetically perfect but accidentally killed it, and Mary shouted at him. He strangled Mary to death mindlessly, and then he vowed to learn how to resurrect the dead to bring Mary back. He then sees Viktor dressed in Mary's clothes, and then Josh goes into Viktor's dream world to defeat him. Viktor scolds Josh, saying that his baby is gone, before Viktor suddenly turns into a complete robotic being. Josh finds Yeli's dagger, and stabs Viktor in the heart.
Josh wakes up to see that in real life, he has stabbed Yeli. Not only that, but he is in his own body, and not Ernst's. Josh coughs up Viktor's eel, and it dies. Yeli then tells Josh that Kate is at the ritual site, and she charges his Azoth. She then dies next to the body of Ernst. Josh proceeds to find Kate, and he is teleported to a staircase where he can hear Viktor and Mary. They are arguing, with Mary saying that Viktor killed their baby. Josh then arrives in Mary's dream world, a mystical land of floating islands. Josh finds Mary tending to his unborn baby. Mary demands that he leaves but Josh refuses and she battles him. She is actually a massive demon that flies, with another head in her heart-like body. Josh eventually kills her with the Azoth. Josh then takes back his baby, and the dream stops.
In a post-credits scene, Josh and a pregnant Kate are leaving Romania on a train. As Josh leaves, he bumps into a man, his face and body badly burned and bandaged. The man sits down near Kate, and opens his suitcase to reveal three small phials with the parasites in them. The man then laughs, and the game ends.
Development.
A teaser trailer was shown at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show upon the game's announcement. The game was also in attendance for E3 2011.
Reception.
"Rise of Nightmares" received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. GameSpot praised the visual atmosphere and variety of weapons, but claimed that the motion controls of the game are unnatural and awkward. "Joystiq" praised the potential of the motion controls, but stated that the story of the game "is hackneyed at best and nonsensical at worst." In Japan, "Famitsu" gave it a score of one eight and three sevens for a total of 29 out of 40.
Sales.
As of October 31, 2011, Rise of Nightmares sold 200,000 units worldwide.
In other media.
Sega has formed the production company Stories International and is teaming up with Evan Cholfin for film and television projects based on their games with "Rise of Nightmares" as an animated project.


List of flags of Sweden

The following is a list of flags of Sweden.
Regional flags.
Each official flag is based on the coat of arms for the county, see , and used on buildings etc. used by respective county administration. Unofficial flags are used by private and local people.
Swedish municipals often use flags that simply are the actual coat of arms transferred into a flag. See List of municipalities of Sweden where you can see the arms and links to each municipal.


Roger K. Furse

Roger Kemble Furse (11 September 1903 – 19 August 1972) was an English painter who worked as a costume designer and production designer for both stage and film.
Career.
Roger Furse was the son of Lieutenant General Sir William Furse and Jean Adelaide Evans-Gordon. He was educated at St George's School, Windsor Castle, at Eton College and at the Slade School of Fine Art, London.
He began working as a stage designer in 1934, but he did not work on films until the early 1940s. At the outbreak of World War II he joined the navy. In 1943 he was granted a temporary release to design the costumes and armour for Laurence Olivier's film version of Shakespeare's "Henry V" (1944). In 1945, at the end of the war, he was reunited with Olivier at the Old Vic company in London.
In 1946 he created the sets for the ballet "Adam Zero" at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Furse became a frequent collaborator with Olivier on both stage and screen, often on Shakespearean productions. He won two Oscars in 1949, one each for his art direction and costume design of Olivier's film version of "Hamlet" (1948). He also worked with Olivier on his films "Richard III" (1955) and "The Prince and the Showgirl" (1957).
His other film credits include "Odd Man Out" (1947), "Ivanhoe" (1952), "Knights of the Round Table" (1953), "Helen of Troy" (1956), "Saint Joan" (1957) and "The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone" (1961).
In 1959 Furse went to Hollywood (in the company of Olivier) as production designer on "Spartacus" (1960), but he did not receive a screen credit for his work. Peter Ustinov, who was also working on the film, described Furse as 'a delightful bearded figure'.
He was nominated for a Tony Award in 1961 for his set design of the Broadway hit drama, "Duel of Angels".
Family.
Roger Furse's first wife was Margaret Furse ("nee" Watts), who was also an Academy Award-winning costume designer. His portrait of her is included in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London.
His second wife was Ines Sylvia Perg. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1972. She died in 1986.
He did not have any children from either of his marriages.
The actress Judith Furse was his younger sister.


Chief Engraver of the United States Mint

The Chief Engraver of the United States Mint is the highest staff member at the United States Mint.
The Chief Engraver is the person in charge of coin design and engraving of dies at all four United States Mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco and West Point. The position was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of Treasury that produces circulating coinage for the United States. In 1990 after the resignation of Elizabeth Jones, the post of Chief Engraver was left vacant, and in 1996, with Public Law 104-208, was abolished by Congress.
On February 3, 2009, Mint Director Edmund C. Moy, appointed John Mercanti to the position of Chief Engraver, with duties and prerogatives determined by the Mint’s Office of Public Affairs. The appointment was not a restoration of the original congressionally approved office, but a temporary promotion, renewable annually for one officeholder for no more than five years. Following Mercanti's retirement in 2010, the post remained vacant until February 2019, when Joseph Menna was appointed to the position.


The Ball (video game)

The Ball is a 2010 first-person action-adventure game developed by Teotl Studios and published by Tripwire Interactive.
The game was one of the OnLive's UK launch titles, and one of the 13 games contained in the Potato Sack Bundle, which was a part of the Potato Sack Alternate Reality Game, promoting "Portal 2's" release.
On June 7, 2016 a spiritual successor, "The Solus Project" was released on PC and consoles by Teotl and Grip Digital. The game features a very different setting, featuring an astronaut in the future stranded on an alien world, but the games share a universe and some themes.
Gameplay.
"The Ball" is a first-person action adventure game. The player controls an archaeologist trapped in an underground city, armed with only an artifact that can attract or repel a large metal ball. To progress in the game, the ball must be guided into trigger the puzzle mechanisms, act as a platform in platforming or defend the player in combat. As the player progresses, the ball will gain additional abilities, strengthening its combat ability or allowing the player to progress in platforming and puzzles.
The game contains an eight-level single player campaign and a survival mode focused on combat.
Development.
"The Ball" is developed by Teotl Studios, a small Swedish independent studio consisting of three developers: Sjoerd De Jong, level designer and creative director, Markus Palviainen, art director, and Markus Arvidsson, programmer. Fifteen other independent developers were also involved in the project, including Theodore Wohng, composer and sound designer.
To develop his game, Sjoerd De Jong had used several sources as inspiration: Portal for its simple and effective design, Unreal Tournament for its style and atmosphere, Tomb Raider for the mysterious and intriguing atmosphere that emanates from the individual settings and, on the whole, early first-person shooters which were set primarily in dark dungeons and castles.
Originally developed as a mod for "Unreal Tournament III" at 2008, it was ported over to the Unreal Development Kit to enable a standalone commercial release. A demo version of the game was released on November 5, 2009, the official game was released on October 26, 2010.
In 2013, the game was ported as a launch title for the Ouya console.
Reception.
The original mod entered the Unreal Engine 3 Make Something Unreal contest and picked up multiple awards, including prizes for Best First-Person Shooter Game Mod, and Second Prize overall.
The commercial release generated a mixed critical response, receiving a rating of 68% from review aggregator Metacritic and 73.83% from GameRankings. PC Gamer US awarded the game 81/100, calling it "A joyous and addictive action puzzler."
IGN gave the game a 7/10, criticizing the story presentation and combat but praising the variety of gameplay.
The Ball was awarded by PC Gamer US as the 2010 Action-Adventure Game of the Year.


John Brogden (jeweller)

John Brogden was a Victorian-era manufacturing jeweller.
He was apprenticed to a London firm of watch and clockmakers, becoming a partner in 1831 with James William Garland, with a workshop in Bridgewater Square. From 1842 to 1864 he was a partner in the firm of "Watherston and Brogden" (est. 1798), goldsmiths of 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. In 1864 Brogden took over the business and operated under his own name until 1880. Between 1881 and 1885 he worked as an 'art goldsmith' at the Grand Hotel Buildings in Charing Cross.
Besides exhibiting jewellery at the 1851 Great Exhibition, John Brogden won awards at various exhibitions in Paris and London from the 1850s to the 1870s. His designs were inspired by archaeological and Renaissance objects and he enjoyed royal patronage.


Flag of Scania

The flag of Skåne, or the Scanian Cross Flag is a provincial flag representing Scania, the southernmost province of Sweden.
Some southern Swedish historians and other authorities assert that the flag represents the entire former Eastern Denmark (Skåneland). The flag is sometimes seen also in Blekinge, but rarely in Halland.
The cross flag is used by the Region when the Council is in session, alongside the Swedish national flag, the European Union flag and the Council's own banner, its status is official.
The traditional province of Scania also has "arms" bearing a red griffin head in a golden field, and the official flag of the province is thus a banner of arms based on this arms. (But is next to never used as "a flag") The modern provincial authorities also use banners-of-arms, one being the banner-of-arms of Scanian Regional Council (i.e. the county council), adopted 9 February 1999: on a field of blue, a yellow crowned griffin head issuing from the bottom edge. County of Scania, "Skåne län", also has an official flag consisting of the banner of arms: on a field of yellow, a red griffin head, crowned blue.
Proportions.
The Scanian flag has no firm rules related to its mathematical relationships, with the major exceptions, that it has to resemble either the Danish Dannebrog or the Flag of Sweden, or somewhere in between these two flags. For instance, to base the Scanian flag on the Flag of Finland or the English Saint George's Cross by changing the colours are both considered wrong, as the Cross on the Finnish flag is too wide and the English one has a different, symmetrical, cross.
History.
A disputed hypothesis claims that the flag is derived from the coat of arms of the Danish Archbishop of Lund.
The "modern" Scanian cross flag was for a long period believed to have been created in the 1870s at the private initiative of the historical professor Martin Weibull. But this was later denied by his son, Curt Weibull, who instead gave this credit to his uncle, Mathias Weibull, who also was a historical professor. Curt Weibull also stated that the modern flag was created first in 1902. His design is based on the Nordic tradition of cross flags. It combines the red field of the flag of Denmark with the yellow cross of the flag of Sweden, reflecting the troubled history of the region.
The Swedish broadcaster SVT, in their regional news for Scania, aired on Tuesday 26 September 2017 the news, the chairman of Region Scania, the Social Democrat Henrik Fritzon, wants to make the Flag of Scania official within the region, as it is "locally well-liked". The regional SVT-news did also encourage their viewer to vote at their website, and the outcome of 4827 votes became 55% for, 45% against.


Antonino Barges

Antonino Barges (fl. 1546–1565) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Venice and Treviso. While known as a composer of light popular secular forms such as the villotta, he also wrote motets and a Requiem. He was a friend and probably a student of Adrian Willaert, the founder of the Venetian School, and was listed as a witness to Willaert's last will and testament.
Little is known about his early life. He was born in Barges. Like many of his countrymen, he received a good musical education in the Low Countries, and either in youth or early adulthood came to Italy, where employment prospects for singers and composers were better than at home. By 1550 he had become "maestro di cappella" (choirmaster) at the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (known as the Ca' Grande) in Venice, a prestigious post. He left Venice in 1555, going to Treviso, where he became a Franciscan and joined the convent of San Francesco. Further records show that he was employed at Treviso Cathedral between 1562 and 1565 as "maestro di cappella". No further records of his life have yet been found, and he has not yet been the subject of a dedicated scholarly biography.
Barges venerated his teacher and friend Willaert, and mentioned him glowingly in the dedication to his first book of villotte ("Di Antonino Barges maestro di cappella alla Casa grande di Venetia il primo libro de villotte a quatro voci con un'altra canzon della galina novamente da lui composte & date in luce", Venice: Gardano, 1550): "l'unico inventore della vera e buona musica" ("the sole inventor of music which is true and good.") Indeed, friendship is a theme of the dedication: in addition to the reference to Willaert, Barges characterizes his relationship with Girolamo Fenaruolo, the dedicatee, as a friendship, and mentions their mutual friends Stefano Taberio and Marco Silvio. If Barges's dedication is to be believed, these men were among the first to hear and sing his songs, but the songs might also have found a home in Domenico Venier's salon.
Barges published only this one book of light secular music, although it contains music besides villottas such as a dozen villanescas and four madrigals not by Barges but by Andrea Patricio (composers at this time often admitted a few works by others into their publications). Other music by Barges included some sacred works, including two motets for four voices, published in 1563, an Alleluia, and a Requiem for four voices (not dated). It is not known if he wrote this for Willaert. The style of the secular music is as light as anything found in northern Italy at the time: dancelike, quick, often triple meter, and often with nonsense syllables in a "patter" style.
Barges also wrote three instrumental ricercars.


Veniero Colasanti

Veniero Colasanti (21 July 1910 – 3 June 1996) was an Italian costume designer, set decorator and art director. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film "El Cid". During the 1960s and 1970s, he also worked for the Salzburg Festivals where he designed the settings for "Il rappresentazione die anima e di corpo", Der Rosenkavalier and Jedermann in cooperation with John Moore.


Progear

Progear is a 2001 horizontally scrolling bullet hell arcade video game developed by CAVE and published by Capcom for the CP System II board. Set in the fictional country of Parts, players assume the role of children controlling a plane equipped with the titular propelling engine to overthrow the Metoruin sages and their new world order. It was the sixth shoot 'em up game from CAVE, their first horizontally oriented shooter, and their eighth video game overall.
Initially envisioned as a vertical-scrolling shooter and intended to be their last game, "Progear" was created by CAVE as a collaboration with Capcom and served as their first horizontal-scrolling shooter title, with bullet dodging and enemy destruction being the main focus while adapting the company's shoot 'em up gameplay style in a horizontal format but faced a problematic development cycle before its launch to the market. Though first released in arcades, the game was later ported to mobile phone platforms, each one featuring various changes compared to the original version and has since been re-released as part of the Capcom Home Arcade plug and play game system.
"Progear" proved to be popular in arcades among Japanese players and garnered positive reception from critics since its inclusion on the Capcom Home Arcade system, with praise given to the anime-style steampunk visuals, gameplay and accessibility, though the music was criticized. It was CAVE's only horizontal-scrolling shooter until "Deathsmiles" in 2007.
Gameplay.
"Progear" is a steampunk-themed horizontally scrolling bullet hell game where players assume the role of children controlling a plane equipped with the titular propelling engine through five stages in order to overthrow the Metoruin sages and their new world order. At the start, players are given the option to choose between two pilots (planes) and three co-pilots (gunners), each with their own advantages and weaknesses which determines the effectiveness of their respective modes, in addition to changing character's costume and formation of gunners by performing specific button commands at the selection screen.
As with previous shoot 'em up titles from CAVE, players can alternate between two shot modes; "Pilot" mode fires stronger attack as the gunner shoots without locking on a target, while "Gunner" mode turns the plane's shot weaker and its movement speed becomes slower but the co-pilot locks on and fire against enemies with increased firepower. Players are also equipped with a number of bombs capable of inflicting damage against enemies depending on the number of jewels collected, which increases its attack output. Through the stages, players can pick up items along the way by destroying enemy carriers such as "P" icons to increase the plane's attack power, "B" icons to increase the number of bomb stocks, a "MAX" icon that increases the plane's firepower to maximum level after losing a live and 1UPs. By collecting another bomb stock with three bombs in reserve, several gameplay events occur.
A notable gameplay aspect is the scoring system based on jewels; When an enemy is destroyed, nearby bullets are converted into rins or jewels depending on the player's current weapon mode when destruction occurs. In "Pilot" mode, only bullets nearby an enemy unit are converted into rings, while enemy bullets close to those of another enemy are converted into jewels in "Gunner" mode respectively. When changing between shot modes, players can grab rings and jewels automatically. By having a high ring rank, players obtain jewels of high value and vice versa, however said rank is lowered by losing a live or using a bomb. At the end of each stage, players are evaluated based on how active their gunner was and overall performance.
Synopsis.
Plot.
The plot summary of "Progear" is explained through supplementary materials. Sometime in the past, people of the country of Parts found a way to become immortal but only with elderly nobles. Among these elders who obtained immortality were Ballossum Pench, Gabriel Hammer, Jimchuck Spanner, Olsorro Slasher and Leonard Drill. They later became known as the Motoruin sages, eventually attempting to take over the Parts kingdom and began a new world order, collapsing the government and destroying villages of the country in the process. As their plans unfold, five children decided to battle the Motoruin using another new invention: the titular semi-automatic propelling engine.
Development.
"Progear" was a collaboration effort with Capcom by most of the same team that worked on previous projects at CAVE, serving as their first horizontally scrolling shooter game, in addition to being the six shoot 'em up title from the company and their eight video game overall. Kenichi Takano served as producer with director Junya Inoue. Tsuneki Ikeda served as chief programmer alongside Satoshi Kōyama and Takashi Ichimura. Akira Wakabayashi, Fusayuki Watariguchi, Hiroyuki Tanaka and Kengo Arai acted as designers. The soundtrack was composed by Yukinori Kikuchi, with Ryūichi Yabuki creating the sound effects.
The project originally went under the working title "Propeller Wars" early in development, before being renamed as "Garden of Progear" and was first envisioned as a vertical-scrolling shooter but Capcom remarked that the name was "too highbrow" and one of the higher-ups at CAVE told the team during their presentation pitch that the project should be a horizontal-scrolling shooter instead, with Ikeda revealing in a 2010 interview that the project was also intended to be their last release as the company was considering leaving the arcade market due to several factors at the time. The team decided to make bullet dodging and enemy destruction its main focus, while adapting the company's shoot 'em up gameplay style in a horizontal format but the project would go through a problematic development cycle until it was released. Both Ikeda and Inoue stated that working with the CP System II platform, which marked the second time CAVE made use of an external arcade board, proved to be difficult as the hardware was underpowered compared to the previous board used for "Guwange", with designers using a limited number of colors to remake drawings created in Photoshop.
Inoue stated that the main characters were named after mechanical parts, while the reason having children as lead characters was both from an idea intended for a scrapped adventure game and due to his fascination of kids fighting against evil. Ikeda revealed that the team intended to feature four playable ships but the idea was scrapped due to time constrains, while Inoue also stated that the gender-based firepower pairing mechanic was a repurposed idea originally intended for a sequel to "Batsugun".
Release.
"Progear" was first released in arcades by Capcom in 2001, using the CP System II board. The English version removes all of the voice acting from characters. On 26 September 2003, an album containing music from the game was published exclusively in Japan by Suleputer. On 20 March 2014, another album was released by SuperSweep in Japan, featuring the original uncompressed music as well as a collection of official artwork. In 2004, the title was later ported to mobile phone platforms such as EZweb, i-mode and Yahoo Mobile. Both the i-mode and EzWeb versions were split into two separate releases, while another version titled "Progear DX" for Yahoo Mobile phones contains all five stages. In 2019, it was re-released as part of the Capcom Home Arcade plug and play game system. In February 2021, it was included as part of pack 3 in the "Capcom Arcade Stadium" compilation.
Reception and legacy.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Progear" on their 1 June 2001 issue as being the fourth most-popular arcade game at the time. Rhizomes Thomas Bey and William Bailey noted its steampunk-style visuals. The game has been met with positive reception from critics since its inclusion on the Capcom Home Arcade plug and play system. Pete Brown of "GameSpot" noted it to be "a standout side-scrolling shooter with beautiful 2D graphics and a reasonable difficulty curve, the latter of which is somewhat rare for the genre". Damien McFerran of "Nintendo Life" gave positive remarks to the graphics and steampunk design. Carlos Leiva of Spanish website "Vandal" gave positive comments to the game's action, bosses, gameplay and original steampunk setting. David Jenkins of "Metro" praised its anime-style steampunk artwork design and accessibility, regarding it as "one of CAVE's best". oliveroidubocal of "Jeuxvideo.com" praised its visuals. However, "Hardcore Gaming 101" remarked the music to be "the most lackluster thing" from the game. "Nintendo Life"s Will Freeman regarded it as a standout shooter within the "Capcom Arcade Stadium" compilation due to its depth, visuals and replay value.
"Progear" was featured in the music video for the song "Ikaruga" by the band Discordance Axis. According to Digital Reality director Theodore Reiker, the game served as one of the influences for "Sine Mora". Likewise, the title also served as influence for "", according to Final Form Games' Mike Ambrogi. Ring's Gambler plane appears as part of a Capcom-themed DLC for "Dariusburst Chronicle Saviour".