First off, I hate these stupid Geocities banners!

Info About Me :-)

My name is Cory Helson.

I've been designing, building, writing, and drawing for as long as I can remember, starting with building blocks and paper, then "Construx", then computers. I've been designing (not programming) video games since I was 10 years old.

I began playing video games on the ColecoVision and the Atari 2600 add-on to it. Then we got an NES, then an SNES... and finally an N64 and Playstation. In my long history of playing games, I was always longing for something better... something I'd really enjoy. I stopped waiting for others to make games I liked to play, so I decided to make my own. And now I'm here today, in Indigogames, making games.

I've designed a few games over the years, including, but not limited to: a Mario sequel, a Zelda sequel, and a few games based on shows, War of the Worlds, and Thundercats. Also, I designed a few games based on some novellas I was writing. These games were The Legacy of MoonFire, Volume 1: The Quest for Harmony. and Volume 2: The Curse of ShadowWind.

Here's some basic info about me... favorite this, favorite that...

Favorite Color:

Blue

Favorite TV shows

I particularly like shows that follow some sort of story. No stupid sitcoms, no gameshows, no talk shows, no wrestling, no sports.
I like Sci-fi and fantasy the most.

Babylon 5 (a tv show meant to tell a story from beginning to end, layed out like a novel. One of the best shows I've seen) Ended with 5 seasons.
Crusade (based on the Babylon 5 world, Crusade is a great "spinoff", but it was cancelled by the idiots at TNT)
Farscape (one more season, but this too was cancelled)
Reboot (this is a totally Computer rendered show, really neat :-)
Earth: Final Conflict (one of Gene Roddenberry's projects that was never made, since Star Trek got so popular) Ended.

Stargate SG-1 (a well-developed continuation of the movie) The only show listed here that hasn't been cancelled yet.

Favorite Cartoons

Most of these are from a LONG time ago, as far as I'm concerned, and I havn't seen them in years. They're still fun to remember ;-)

Transformers (fun show, Armada is getting back into the original feeling of the first series, I think)
ThunderCats (I even designed a game based on it - never got anywhere with that, of courrse ;)
Dragon Ball Z (it's recently been shown on the Cartoon Channel. I think it looses something in the translation...)

Favorite Games

I prefer Action games, to menu based games. Turn based combat gets horribly dull. But I also don't like street fighting games, since they require such quick reflexes and memorization of so many attacks. (besides having no reason for senseless violence in those "tournaments.")
A nice mix of RPG and Action is my goal in making fun gameplay in the games I design.

F-Zero (it had the best control in any racer I've ever played)
Secret of Mana (and Seiken Densetsu 3)
The Final Fantasy series (except 2j and 7)
The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link (not as much as the others), A Link to the Past, and Ocarina of Time
Metroid 1, 2 The Return of Samus (gameboy), and Super Metroid
Legend of Legaia (neat combat system)
Saga Frontier (yes I liked it ;) at least the first time through with each character... then it gets boring)
Chrono Trigger (it was fun for a while, and incorporated some neat gameplay features)
Final Fantasy Tactics (fun strategy game)

Games with Nostalgic value:

Rygar (the first game I stayed up 48 hours straight, to win) (NES)
Batman (wall jumping! He must have learned something from Spider Man ;-) (NES)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (fun 2 player game, my brothers and I had fun) (NES)
Miner 2049er (an old Coleco game. It was extremely tough when I was that young ;-) (ColecoVision)
Ultima: The Stygian Abyss (This was a neat game that I solved, eventually. I never did get past one door though...)

Favorite Music

Enya
Book of Days, Perficio, Aferventus, Loth Lorien, Boadicea

Yanni
I don't know the titles to many of his pieces. Aria (with the 2 singers) was real nice.

Video Game Music
Romancing Saga 3, FF6j, Y's, SeikenDensetsu3, Saga Frontier, R-type

Cirque Du Soleil
This is music played to synchronize with acrobatic displays. Some of it is really nice music to just listen to, but I'm sure it's 100% better with visuals to accompany it.

Modern Classical basically describes most of those.

Other neat music, like the Diva Dance, 5000 years later, Time Crash, and others from the 5th Element sound track :-)

Favorite Foods

Ice Cream (chocolate, mint, strawberry, banana fudge ripple)
Chocolate Shakes(DQ), Heath Bar or Nerds Blizzards(DQ), and Frosties (Wendy's)
Pepperoni Pizza (crispy crust)
Roast Beef sandwiches (with barbeque sauce)
Italian Beef Subs
Tacos
Ponderosa's Buffet ;-)
Ramen Beef flavored Noodles
Whoppers (no onion)(who cares about fat?)

Favorite Things to do

Draw (mostly fantasy places, people and monsters)
Write (novellas and game storylines. (yes, The Legacy of MoonFire started as a novella))
Playing Video Games --- >(listed in my favorite games, above)
Hiking (I live near Starved Rock, a state park)
Bike Riding (well, until my bike was stolen! >(
Swimming (I don't get to go swimming as often as I like)

I used to like MUDding.

Things I Hate
(or just don't like)

People with bad attitudes. You know the kind. People who like to cause trouble for other people. Those that try to find fault, rather than finding the good in others.

INJUSTICE - being accused of things you didn't do, and then being punished for it.

Stupid Banners that pop up on websites! Can't they find a better way to make money?

RPG's with cliche` or under-developed, rushed stories. (FF3/6j for example (see my full review for more on that))

Excesive violence in games, and morally degrading games. The "target audience" may like these things, but these things teach kids the wrong lessons, even if they make money. The game industry has to be more responsible for what it's shoving into kid's minds.

Those tiny little characters in RPG's with big heads and really tiny bodies. THEY'RE NOT PEOPLE, I tell ya!

I hate onions, celery, brocolli, cauliflower, hot dogs, and green/red/yellow peppers.

I hate the smell of propane and cigarette/cigar smoke.

I hate heavy metal music. I don't like rap... or really, most music with words :)

Magic - communicating with and/or calling on the power of demons is condemned in the Bible for obvious reasons. In real life, I'd never go anywhere near magic. In videogames, I don't use magic (which makes a lot of characters useless :). In the games that I make, I will never have magic in any of them. You CAN have a fantasy world without magic. It can be done, and you won't miss it. I always felt magic was a stupid crutch... an easy way out of everything in games. No real creativity.