The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Something oldie but goodie to read for the upcoming weekend

Gamebooks were all the rage several years ago before PCs were commonplace.I used to play gamebooks a long time ago before I had my first computer and the Lone Wolf series (now out of print) by Joe Dever was my introduction to the world of gamebooks.

Kudos to the volunteers of the Project Aon who have been creating HTML versions (English and Spanish versions available) of the Lone Wolf gamebooks since 2000 so that you can now play the books on the computer. 17 books (out of a total of 28) from the Kai, Magnakai and Grandmaster series have been are available for download together with other companion series such as the World of Lone Wolf series and assorted player tools. The Magnamund Companion, a background book on the world of Magnamund featured in the gamebooks.

The illustrations are available in the download packages but unfortuantely, the cover art are not.

The books are playable online with any browser or you can download them in zip or tar format, extract and click on toc.htm to start the game. Download them The books can be downloaded from Project Aon.

Sana Takeda has done artwork for the Korean MMORPG, RF Online created by CCR Inc and published by Codemasters.

Her gallery at www.sanatakeda.or.tv showcases some of her artwork for RF Online (Gallery 2) as well as her other artwork for manga and collectable card games. One example of her work for RF Online below.

© Sana Takeda

For RF Online wallpapers based on Sana Takeda’s artwork , see this previous post Korean MMORPG Wallpapers (IV) -RF Online.

Her artwork (other then those for RF Online) have very distinctive Japanese influences – the Japanese masks in Oni, Samurai references in Oni-Kiri-Maru and fox spirits in Kitsune.

  
© Sana Takeda

Clockwise from top: Angel, Samu-rider and Oni-Kiri-Maru.

My favourite has to be the sword wielding motorcycle rider on her elaborately decorated bike Samu-rider on the bottom right.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Junny – Japanese CG Artist / Illustrator
Warren Louw @GfxArtist.com
Paolo Parente’s Dust & Alessia Zambonin

Some very cool 3D CG wallpapers I found by chance while searching for a 3D model of the German WWII battleship Bismarck.

The four 1280×960 wallpapers can be downloaded from Kyoshi Harada’s site – Polygon Models From Hiroshima Japan.

© Kyoshi Harada

The real gem among the four has to be the wallpaper of the 280mm K5 Leopold railway gun above. Fans of the Commandos : Behind Enemy Lines will remember this massive gun on rails as their objective in Mission 6 : Menace of the Leopold. The 3D model is impressively detailed and nicely textured to give it a realistic look.

© Kyoshi Harada

The 3D model Bismarck is also highly detailed but doesn’t look as life-like as the Leopold probably due to the textures.

© Kyoshi Harada

For fans of military aircraft, check out the two other wallpapers – a Gloster Meteor, the first jet fighter in service for the Allies in WWII (above) and the German Messerschmitt Bf 109G ‘Gustav’ below.

© Kyoshi Harada

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 wallpaper is interesting in the sense that the centre aircraft, a Bf 109G-6, depicts the aircraft of Major Erich Hartmann, the highest scoring fighter pilot of WWII credited with 352 victories. Osprey Aviation Elite Units 15 – Jagdgeschwader 52 ‘The Experten’ Colour plate 26 on page 42, shows a illustration of an exactly similiar Bf 109 of Erich Hartmann when he was a Leutnant and Staffelkapitan of 9./ JG 52 stationed at the Eastern Front around October 1943.

More wallpapers (in 640×480 and 800×600 sizes) of Kyoshi Harada’s 3D CG models can be found at his online 3D gallery. Available models include Japanese WWII tanks, Tiger I tanks, Focke Wulf Fw 190D-9 ‘Dora-Nine’ and the
Mitisubishi A6M Zero Fighter.

Another Japanese CG artist featured on this blog, Tetuya Watanabe – Check out his artwork of the MS-06 Zaku II (Mobile Suit Gundam).

Some cute and witty drawings of stick girls + other stick figures from The Bitter Stickgirl (Some are SG-specific but I’m sure there’s many others that you can understand and enjoy)

Take Lousy Cupid 2 for instance

© Stickgirl

Check out the Mr Wrong series… Readers from SG will definitely understand Mr Wrong 8 hehehehe. Below is Mr Wrong 07 – The Narcissist.

© Stickgirl

What I find impressive is that Stickgirl manages to use very simple but nicely drawn pencil drawings to illustrate her point of view for any given situation (with a wicked sense of humor). See When Stickgirl cooks… below.

© Stickgirl

Found about this site via A Replacement to Writing which in turn I discovered from ping.sg, a community meta-blog for Singapore – think a fusion of Digg + Technorati + .sg

Other posts on funny illustrations and/or comics:
yjBlog’s Antagonistic Chickens (also from .SG)
Coming Toon
Hans Bjordahl’s Bug Bash Comic

A couple of Warhammer 40,000 oldies but goodies for the newly initiated Warhammer 40,000 fans. Long-time fans who check the Game Workshop pages everyday need not bother

The first one is the 36 page promotional booklet for the long past Medusa V global campaign. Plently of fluff and pictures of well-painted miniatures for the forces of Chaos, Tyranids, Orkz, Mecrons, Space Marines, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Imperial Guard and Tau. The PDF conversion is also very well done, unlike some of the PDFs up for download at Games Workshop.

© Games Workshop

Download it at The Fall of Medusa V site. There’s also more Medusa V goodies at the official site @ medusav.uk.games-workshop.com. (wallpapers, posters and avatars, etc)

The second one is the 17 page Codex Catachans, an even older download with rules for fielding the jungle-themed Deathworld Veteran detachments or full armies. Even if you don’t play Warhammer 40,000, you can always download it to enjoy the fluff and the artwork (all artwork in black and white only except the cover art by Karl Kopinski.)

© Games Workshop

Download it at Games Workshop UK – Imperial Guard.

Also, do check out the Index Astartes PDF download on the Blood Ravens.