Ninga Dinos

So I'm going to use this blag to post thoughts about game design and the like, because I really need to spend less time sitting around playing games and getting fat at night and more time making stuff and posting it here for you to laugh at/ponder/ignore.

But before I make any new stuff, I'm going to start by showing off some old stuff. Some reeeeally old stuff.

To set the scene;

Its 1987. I'm addicted to the two things that, predictably, all boys my age are: Dinosaurs, and Ninja Turtles. I can name over 100 dinosaurs (and my dad, after a few beers, thinks this is the best party trick to show off to his friends). And even at this young age I'm a geek, and so Donatello is my man. I've just started learning to write, and am also considered a "good drawer".

Thus, the NINGA DINOS are BORN!

I used upper case letters for the front of the book/comic/early exercise in world building. The sign of a pro.

Check out that logo! I think I'm going to have to translate as we go. "Harness the Power of Dinosaurs" ok?

Ankylosaurs are the coolest. They have big bony balled tails. Those trained in the ways of ninjitsu can stand on their hind legs!

Brontosaurs cause earthquakes when they walk, causing their suspended names to fragment and shake. They also carry pirate ship cannons in their belts. Get it? Coz they're huge. I was learning to play with scale!

The jumping board indicates the ability to swim and the mushy bread loaf arm indicates my inability to draw good.

This name is much more fitting for one of the bad guys. I was a talentless idiot.

I still remember practicing the art of parallel line drawing for hours and hours and hours with a pencil and ruler. Drawing parallel lines on a slant was a super neat trick that I employed very rarely to give maximum impact!

You know Tricky is bad because he's carrying both Raphael's sai, Donatello's bo staff, and a "ball-stick"!

Stegosaurs had one of the smallest brains in the Dinosaur kingdom so I'm pretty sure they weren't fit to pilot jetpacks.

"Ball-Stick"

I couldn't spell "ninja", but I could spell the shit out of "transportation". I guess the Ninga Dinos flew around in a bellyflopping walrus mobile? Cool.

This is all pretty straightforward but just so you know the squiggly lines are for drilling holes through rocks and magma.

Oh fun! When I was a kid I used to make puzzles for myself all the time. I have a book laying around somewhere full of this stuff; I used to think to myself "I wonder, if I make these puzzles, will I remember the solutions when I'm grown up, or will I forget?" I always hoped I'd grow up and forget the solutions, and that the puzzles would then be super challenging, and my past-self would be like "Ha! I tricked you, you stupid adult! Kids rule!"

They were not super challenging.

American peeps: "Armour" is actually spelled correctly here! I wanted all of this gear so bad.

Ninja Turtle weapons and other assorted doodles and blobs. Also, a really sweet disembodied flaming dinosaur head.

Magma and arcade machines. Oh, they fancy.

Hahaha the bad guys don't even have Nintendo! And tar really smells.

Ninga Dinos was also an educational endeavor. It's not all fun and games kids, Dinosaurs are serious business! Read up!

A Diplodocus is a Sauropod. The more you know.

So that's that.

Who knows, in an alternate reality maybe Ninga Dinos could've been the perfect storm of young-boy-fetishism to make bajillions. Eastman and Laird and Tate. Or not!