A Hardy Developer's Journal

Has nothing to do with U2's guitarist.

Over The Edge is the first chapter in the four-part series, The Journey Down. Written and designed by Theodor Waern, the game tells the story of Bwana, a simple fuel station attendant attempting to get he and his sidekick Kito’s plane airworthy in order to take a strange and beautiful woman to the mysterious area known as “The Underland” by going over what is known as “The Edge.” If you haven’t already, prepare yourself for some incredible freeware adventure gaming.

Doing posts dedicated solely to recommending interesting and relevant stuff found around the web, and to stop packing it all up into Links and The Compendium, is an old idea I had. However, before now I wasn’t content with the amount of HardyDev‘s original content and felt such posts would cheapen the blog. Not anymore. Also, this is a great way to appear less self-centered and give the rest of the Internet a chance to shine… (more…)

I’m a big admirer of Czech animated movies. The Czech school of animation really perfected the thing that is so great about this medium – making the most real behave unreal. First, start by reconstructing frame by frame our experiences with objects like plants, machines, and all types of grit. And then twist them around and attribute with a completely different nature. In this kind of manner, the game Machinarium by Jakub Dvorak and Amanita Design offers us a whole city created and inhabited by a population of machines (more…)

Following our recent review of a disturbing horror production, I decided to write about a disturbing horror production of a different sort – a certain indie anime feature film.  I know what you’re thinking – anime films trying to shock the viewer with all sorts of nastiness and breaking all sorts of taboos are actually dime a dozen, but rarely offer anything interesting beyond having those ambitions. Midori aka Shoujo Tsubaki is different. For once, it was all written, drawn and animated in the course 5 years by a single man – a certain Hiroshi Harada, who was a recognized professional animator in the 70s and 80s, but grew disgruntled over the conservatism of the big studios and went solo once he was able to afford it. (more…)

Back to The Future with a female lead and an old scarf instead of a DeLorean…

Yet another stopmotion animation short of mine that you can watch for free
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This original anime series of Captain Harlock from the 70s was my first direct contact with Leiji Matsumoto‘s work. Before watching it I was certainly intrigued by glimpses at the well-known creator’s unique style, but couldn’t really figure out which series from his very large and interconnected body of work was the best point to get started.

What ultimately led me to Space Pirate Captain Harlock was the composer of its music – Seiji Yokoyama – whose work I loved from the anime Saint Seiya and I was actively looking for another production that used his talents. I can right away reveal that I wasn’t disappointed by his work here either – a sometimes epic and sometimes nostalgic soundtrack perfect for illustrating the times of great battles, of great heroes and the vastness, beauty, but also loneliness and sadness of space. (more…)

Being a big fan of the original Captain Harlock TV series from the 70s I looked forward to the new breed of Leji Matsumoto‘s productions. Unfortunately I was mostly disappointed in the way they treated the well known characters and in the quality of storytelling in general. Cosmo Warrior Zero is one of the very few to be actually true to the origins and at the same time presenting some fresh, interesting ideas.

For Harlock fans the very premise is a treat already. We follow Captain Warrius Zero who is a sworn enemy of Captain Harlock and promises to give everything he’s got to hunt down the legendary pirate. The conflict is grounded in the different ways the two men perceive where their honor and duties lie, so it won’t be settled just by the revelation they both have good intentions and qualities they respect a lot. (more…)