John August

Projects

Making and Remaking Karateka

Karateka, News, Video

Karateka began its life on personal computers — the Apple II, in fact — and completes the cycle with its launch on Steam today. (And it’s [on sale this week](http://store.steampowered.com/app/217270).)

To commemorate the making and remaking of the game, [Earl Newton](http://earlnewton.com) shot a terrific series of how-we-did-it videos, the first two of which are embedded below.

In the first video, I love the dust cover Jordan Mechner’s mom made for his Apple II, complete with cord flaps. In the second video, check out the Super-8 footage Jordan used for rotoscoping. Watching it, you realize how handmade digital things can be.

In some ways, these videos feel like a Kickstarter campaign for something that’s already available in the world. You don’t have to pledge for a dream. You can get it today on Steam and Xbox, and very soon for iOS and PS3.

### Part 1: Inspiration

(link: [Inspiration: Making and Remaking Karateka](http://www.youtube.com/embed/QDaFte42odA))

### Part 2: Animation

(link: [Animation: Making and Remaking Karateka](http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wnutf4XObWk))

Frankenweenie scripts now online

Frankenweenie

Now that it’s officially awards season, Disney has given me their blessing to post the screenplay for Frankenweenie. You can find it in the [Library](http://johnaugust.com/library), along with many of my other scripts.

There are actually two Frankenweenie scripts available to read.

1. The first is my December 2010 draft, which got the greenlight. It’s probably my second or third draft, but the story didn’t really change that much from the very beginning.

2. The second script is conformed from animatic, and incorporates all the changes made during storyboarding, production and editing.

The first one probably reads better — because it was written to be read. The second one more accurately reflects the final movie. If you’re curious about the process of animation, you’ll probably want to look at both. I especially like the trimming and tightening that happened in the third act during storyboarding. It takes a village to make a movie, and I’m indebted to the all the pencil-wielding citizens of Three Mills Studios who worked to make those story beats happen.

This morning, as I was writing up this post, Frankenweenie got [five Annie Award nominations](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-brave-wreck-it-ralph-nominees-annie-awards-20121202,0,4731958.story), including Best Animated Feature and Writing in an Animated Feature. We were also named [Best Animated Film](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/new-york-film-critics-circle-awards-2012_n_2231093.html) by the New York Film Critics Circle. It’s great to see the film getting such a warm reception.

Punching the Hawk: Karateka 2.0

Karateka, Videogames

karateka cover artAlmost three years ago, Jordan Mechner and I set out to make a new version of his amazing 1984 videogame Karateka, which I’d played endlessly one summer on the Atari 800.

Rather than going to a publisher, we decided to make the game ourselves. We raised money. We hired artists and coders. We sweated a lot of details, from story points to footfall sounds.

Today, we shipped. Karateka is [now available on the Xbox](http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Karateka/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841128c), with a free trial download.

If you have an Xbox, stop reading and start punching.

If you have a PS3, a PC, a Mac or an iOS device, your version is coming soon. So sit tight.

Even if you don’t normally play fighting games, I think you’ll enjoy it. The combat rewards precision rather than button-smashing, and Jordan’s multiple-protagonist mechanic makes it easy to survive but hard to triumph. I think you’re going to see other games adopting this idea.

Plus, Karateka looks and sounds terrific. Christopher Tin’s music isn’t just frosting on top — it’s integral to the gameplay in a unique way.

I was so happy with how the game was coming together that last March I went to [Adam Lisagor](http://sandwichvideo.com/people/adam-lisagor/) and asked (well, begged) him to make a video for us.

That debuted today as well:

(There’s a [director’s cut](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pDy-CSFsPs&feature=player_embedded) available too.)

I’ll have more to blog about as we discover how the game fares in the wild, but it’s been an amazing process to get to this point.

I’ve made movies and I’ve made apps, but making a videogame was another beast altogether. Jordan deserves all the accolades, yet I’m sure he’d agreee that it wouldn’t have been possible without his remarkable team at Liquid. I also need to single out Jeff Matsuda for creating the look of the world with his concept art, and Ryan Nelson for building countless iterations of product artwork in every conceivable specification.

It’s hard to believe it’s finally in the store. [Check it out](http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Karateka/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841128c), and as always, ask questions.

Big Fish in Chicago

Big Fish

big fish marquee

Oriental Theater in Chicago
Performances begin April 2, 2013
Group and season tickets [on sale now](http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/shows_dyn.php?cmd=display_current&display_showtag=bigfish13).
(Single shows coming later.)

Photo by [@morganzetajones](http://twitter.com/morganzetajones)