Jack-O-Lanterns and Crows
July 21st, 2011 by John WolfeI got the inspiration to make a couple of changes a few days ago; one was to the site’s landing page: http://seasonofshadows.com/. It’s now covered with jack-o-lanterns from last year’s haunt, while the 2010 vid autoplays in the center. I’ve also set the vid player to loop, and created a separate window to launch the home page. That way, when a visitor chooses to enter the site, they can continue enjoying Nox Arcana’s music in the background while taking a look around.
The change I’m most excited about is the addition of a mini-version of one of my favorite online games: “A Murder of Scarecrows.” Lately Google’s been doing all sorts of “gadget-based” technology to be used with iGoogle, portable devices, desktops and websites. Many of the gadgets they allow embedded on sites are video games, and thankfully A Murder of Crows has been developed into an app-like version of its original incarnation.
It’s now available to play in all its crow-shooing-creepiness without having to leave SoS: Season of Shadows – A Murder of Scarecrows – Google Gadget Edition. I’m not sure how the gadget developer and the original creator of A Murder of Scarecrows collaborated, but I noticed credit was absent in the embedded player. So, I’d like to mention the extremely talented Vincent Marcone. I’m not only a fan of his A Murder of Scarecrows, but also of Vincent’s many other projects, including his work with the band Johnny Hollow.
Currently, the only direct link I have to the game is in this entry and in the home page’s site content section. But I’ll eventually get links up throughout the site so it will be easily accessible.
If you’d like to know more about Google Gadgets, take a look around their gadget page — they have a ton of stuff in the directory.
On another note, I’d like to congratulate Jennifer of Bowling Green, KY. She was the second winner in the Halloween in America Giveaway. Congratulations, Jennifer! Thanks again to everyone who participated. Just a reminder: the Season of Shadows Bottled Water Giveaway closes tomorrow.
July 22nd, 2011 at 1:08 pm
It’s always fun to redo your online appearance once in a while. It’s why I’m always changing the quotes at the top of my blog. One of these days, I’ll have to build a website, though I doubt it’ll ever be as good as SoS.
July 22nd, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Oh John, I’m bubbling over with excitement!! The landing page is sooooo awesome!!!! The reds and the oranges and the deep shadows of the jack o lanterns bouncing off the oranges of the lanterns and leaves in the video and then the colors of your haunt itself- oh, just stunning!! Bravo!!!!!! We’re excited to check out Murder of Scarecrows! It sounds deeply and wonderfully addicting!
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Damian,
I think I’m too chicken to overhaul the main look of the site,
but the landing page I’m okay with redoing. The main look of the site found on the Home, Blog, Videos, etc. has been the same since day one, except I moved the sidebar from the right to the left side, and a few other small things around 2008. One of these days I may change the header, though, too.
Dude, you’re extremely talented, especially with your Photoshop work. I know you could create an excellent site to accompany your blog! Since you’re already familiar with Blogger, you could always go with their platform in a self-hosted format and build an awesome site around that.
Thanks for your kindness about SoS. I really appreciate it, but I always feel like there’s tons of room for improvement on my end.
Camile,
I’m so glad you liked it! I played around a lot with the image. And when I found out You Tube has some cool little tricks you can add to embedded vids, I had to give a few of them a try. Though the landing page is a pretty simple concept, the design took about four different versions before it worked right… lol. I was having issues getting the background to size properly on different monitors. I think it sizes properly now and works in most browsers.
I hope you and K enjoyed the Scarecrow game.
July 23rd, 2011 at 2:33 am
i went to look and it was the same background. I had to hit the refresh button. Duh! I’m so goofy sometimes. It looks really great. I love that video clip you did a remarkable job. It is always nice to see something that is shot with all of the mood elements already in place. At school, everything is digital and you film in the day time then change it to night in aftereffects where you also add fog etc. It never looks as tangible and the feel is always artificial.
July 23rd, 2011 at 6:28 am
It`s looking good John! Keep up the good work and the improvements , not that the site needs it but a change every now and then keeps things interesting.
July 23rd, 2011 at 1:36 pm
YeeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaaaw A MURDER OF SCARECROWS is back!!!!! Oh my God you just totally made my summer John and you know it
Ever since that game had “bugs” attached to it, I left their home website and never played the game again. But now, oh my lovely dear friend….I’m in scarecrow heaven once more. Of course there is more involved for me than “playing” the game as the very fond memories of T sitting on my lap perfecting her aim is forever burned into my mind. Even hearing the soft sounds of the game makes me hear her giggle. I can even hear how proudly she boasted to “daddy” what game she was playing. I’ll never forget the look on his face and how fond T was of you John and the website. A most extraordinary little girl and I miss her more today than yesterday.
I’m so jazzed with this, thank you. I needed the boost and the distraction from my own life at the moment and this game just sucks you in. Now your telling us there’s an app for that? Ok, time to go to Starbucks and connect to their wifi. I totally have to have this game on my ITouch, are you kidding!!!! You thought I was hooked on my racing game, you haven’t seen anything yet. How cool it must look in the palm of my hand to. I’ll have to search it out. Thank you for the heads up.
Also I love the new front page darlin!!! The pictures you take are always phenomenal and the pic you chose for the front page is perfect. I’m a huge fog lover and to feel as though I’m as low to the ground as the pumpkins, slowly crawling my way over the crisp leaves and around the gourds. Actually it’s a rather peaceful feeling but I’m rather odd that way. I’m already surrounding myself with the colors of fall
In fact I saw my first fall commercial yesterday and got so excited just seeing the colors, I had to go for a walk….now that I can walk and breathe again. Anyways, I’m totally stoked dude about the game!!! I wish I could send it to T but oh well, perhaps the “new boys” will enjoy the new game too. Actually I’m certain they’ll beat my top score within in the first day!
Take care of yourself sweetie and I hope everyone in your family is doing awesome @}–}—}—-}——————-
July 24th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Ethan Black,
Thanks, man. That’s such a hugely kind comment on my amateur video work. While vids I film are nowhere near as professional looking as something you’d find in film school, I do try to keep it “real,” as they say. Since I don’t have any major camera tricks or fancy editing up my sleeve, staying congruent and with an authentic feel are about my best friends.
Speaking of school, I hope it’s going great for you.
I did the same thing when I first tried the landing page. LoL! I kept thinking, ‘I know I uploaded everything, why is the old entrance page still showing?’ Then I remembered to clear the cache, reload and it was ready to go.
ssfliop13,
Much appreciated. Thank you, my friend. My prop work has slowed a bit, so I decided to focus on the site for a while and continue trying to work out some ideas for the water bottle project. Very soon I’ll be back to working on Little Grim.
Goldie,
While I was hoping the addition of that great game would bring enjoyment to a lot of different visitors — I especially knew you’d be happy to see it again! I remember wanting to find an embedded version of it many, many months ago. Then, I was doing a lot of searching on that Google Gadget site and happened to find it over there! It was so cool to type it in, and there it was. It would probably work on your i-Touch, but I’m not sure it would be officially considered an app. Before you try adding it to your i-Touch, be sure and send me an e-mail so I can share some very important info about it.
I know the game holds a lot of special memories for you because of the time you used to spend playing it with someone you cared very much about, plus you’re like me — you just think it kicks ass!
I’m really happy to hear it’s made your summer and I hope it helps make your fall as well!
I’m so glad you liked the changes to the front page, too! Your description of feeling close to the gourds and crawling your way around them through the fog got me thinking (thanks for that great description, by the way)! It would be great to add some flash-based element to that image of fog blowing by the pumpkins, and then the candle lights gently flickering through the jack-o-lanterns’ eyes and mouths! Those are a lot of elements to work with, and they may in fact be too much for a basic landing page, but I love the idea of it!
Thanks for your text updates. I don’t think my carrier ever did fix my text capability. I’m so glad to hear you’re doing much better!!!!!! Continue enjoying the game. We’ll have to catch up very soon.