We've had a few moments of spare time to work on Smash Battle again. As Jeroen created a new snow/ice theme for the levels, I went on and made a beginning of the single player portion.

The single player missions can now be created from our level editor and they can be played within the game. The only problem is, that we still only have one enemy, a small chick which you can stomp on. So the next thing we should do is make some more enemies and figure out what we want them to do. Then we'll be able to design some more levels and we might just get a beta version out!

While you wait for this beta version, check out the photos of an arcade cabinet running Smash Battle on our screenshots section!

So we played in the finals, last Friday. And we were quite confident, because we had a blast the week before. But everything went wrong. A sound engineer who was too late, (he walked in, when we were almost finished!) cables that went loose, mics that were not working, etc.

For me, it was the worst gig in a very long time. I can't even remember the last time things went that bad. But on the upside: we won a trophy for the third place and 25 euros which we can spend in a music store. Ah well... next time better.

Our first show with Evelien was a success. A lot of our friends that came to see us were head banging and everyone seemed to enjoy our performance. Although we did not win from the other band Glorybox, we are still going to the finals because they are unable make it.
That officially makes us the underdog for the battle, but a really small chance is better than nothing at all. And besides, music is not a competition; it's not about winning, but about playing a gig.
Jans brother Richard filmed our entire show, last friday. You can watch the videos on the Against All Odds website.

Now we are settled a bit with our new singer, it is time for the first show with her. The first one will be at de Til in Haarlem on 8 january. This is for band competition de Til Trofee, which is for bands who didn't get selected for the Rob Acda Awards.

After that we'll be player two other shows together with electronic rock/metal band The Loss from Alkmaar. The first one will be at cafe Lokaal in Heemskerk on 25 february and the second one is at cafe Asgard on 9 april.

Be sure to check that out if you are in the neighborhood!

Sad news yesterday. Wilma decided to leave my cover band Bootleg because she didn't agree on the direction the band was going. Too bad, because she really has a great voice. We will keep on going with only four of us, but are all a little bit shocked by the sudden decision. Good luck with whatever you'll be doing, Wilma!

After I created a website for my rockband Against All Odds, I couldn't stay behind with a website for my coverband Bootleg. I copied the same backend, but tweaked the color scheme a bit and translated all the public viewable text to dutch, since we only want to focus on audience from the Netherlands.

Check out the result on bootleg-band.nl!

Roughly three weeks after Evelien joined Against All Odds, we've recorded some new songs. The two songs can be played from the band website.

EDIT 3/11: I've created a new, more balanced mix with a better reverb effect on the vocals and a less schrill sounding solo. Go check it out!

Since we've bought a house and moved into it last Saturday, I've created a nice new game corner. (Old situation)

Thats a Samsung LE32B550 TV, with some Logitech X550 surround speakers and a Creative DDTS-100 decoder. An XBox 360, Nintendo Super NES and Nintendo GameCube! All I need now is a big new couch to sit in, while gaming!

I finally decided to finish the website for Against All Odds. It still needs a bit of work like a new banner in the top, but I thought it good enough to go online. Let me know what you think about how it looks and feels.

EDIT: We also have a new vocalist since last week: Evelien Hoffmann. We did a photoshoot after that and here is one of them! I also changed the banner in the top on our website. Check it out!

Today, we've released a new beta of Smash Battle. Among the updates are stereo sound, redone input code, some new levels, characters and an airstrike powerup! We've also made a video of Jeroen and I playing a duel.

The windows installer and zip or the source can be obtained from the download section of our development blog.