I was giving a talk to some students at Sheffield Uni. Naturally people want to know what your day looks like. But, really, it wouldn't look or sound that interesting so I decided to gamify it for fun.

I chose to paroday Alex Kidd for a few reasons (other than the warm nostalgia I get from it); one being it's so random and weird, I felt that would give me some freedom (eg adding a vehicle). I like that it scrolls vertically (in level 1 at least). Working left to right seemed a bit bland when compared to falling. Lastly, I really love its sound track and sound effects. Adding them I think really makes my own video feel complete.

For those that don't know, this is what Alexx Kidd looks like...

I already had an existing avatar for me, and just simplified it so I could animate 'me' quickly. I only gave myself 2 days to make this video.

Trying to gamify looking at emails was a bit of a challenge. But windows seemed to create a good platform, while hitting buttons is kind of like grabbing items.

No game is complete without baddies. I decided that the baddies of my day are really anything that distracts from drawing or work. My main enemy is time, but I included (L-R) 'Likes' - a metaphor for the distraction of social media, budget, emails, apps that don't work properly (cough media encoder) and not really an enemy, but the 'client'.

No day is complete without an annoying update request.

Lots of fun carify-ing my character. This represents a computer crash and inspired by the motorbike level in Alex Kidd.

Level one ends with Alex falling into the water and dodging some octpus'. After I've done all the admin, I make a second coffee and dive into illustrator for the rest of the day (I hope). Alex completes the level with a snack. I opted for a save and then some coffee myself!