Gartek
Studios
- a Father and Son collaborative multimedia endeavour.
For a number of years now K! and S! have been working together to create unique video games that help us to expand our knowledge and push our abilities.
Working at first in Scratch, K! developed an understanding of sprites, objects and arrays. Once mastery of Scratch seemed complete, S! encouraged K! to move on to more widely recognized engines, and two games in Construct 2 were collaborated on and completed over the cold winter months north of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Now K! has focused on gaining an understanding of Python, and has released several experimental games entirely on his own, as well as a completed platformer.
With the advent of COVID-19, K! has been able to dive right in to a combination puzzle/exploration game which was released in February of 2022 – while still pursuing paid side contracts organized by S! through his existing IT company (Garstin HE).
K! hopes to expand his knowledge by continuing to learn Java, and beginning an in-depth exploration of C and perhaps C++.
Please enjoy your stay here and follow our development history! Click on either the text or graphics in the descriptions below to be taken to the game page (usually playable within browser, with a few exceptions).
The current musical selection is courtesy No Anglerfish – K!’s current project. Please enjoy! If it doesn’t automatically play, please click the play button below. The current soundtrack is about fourteen minutes long!
Working at first in Scratch, K! developed an understanding of sprites, objects and arrays. Once mastery of Scratch seemed complete, S! encouraged K! to move on to more widely recognized engines, and two games in Construct 2 were collaborated on and completed over the cold winter months north of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Now K! has focused on gaining an understanding of Python, and has released several experimental games entirely on his own, as well as a completed platformer.
With the advent of COVID-19, K! has been able to dive right in to a combination puzzle/exploration game which was released in February of 2022 – while still pursuing paid side contracts organized by S! through his existing IT company (Garstin HE).
K! hopes to expand his knowledge by continuing to learn Java, and beginning an in-depth exploration of C and perhaps C++.
Please enjoy your stay here and follow our development history! Click on either the text or graphics in the descriptions below to be taken to the game page (usually playable within browser, with a few exceptions).
The current musical selection is courtesy No Anglerfish – K!’s current project. Please enjoy! If it doesn’t automatically play, please click the play button below. The current soundtrack is about fourteen minutes long!
No AnglerfishK! (age 13-15) – February 2, 2022 (Python)
Another K! solo project, this puzzle explorer is stretching his abilities even further – with an intricate story, loads of puzzles and dialogue, as well as an inventory system and save game ability, this game is currently K!’s most ambitious undertaking yet!
Super Image RenamerK! (age 14-15) – February 25, 2022 (Python)
Another application coded by K! for S!'s benefit. This simple programme will look in a folder for images with EXIF data, and rename them based on the date in descending units, so it basically renames the photos yymmddhhmmss. I run it on all my pictures before I archive them.
You can define the folder to check in a config.txt file, and then simply run the programme any time afterwards.
Super Mailing List (SML)K! (age 14) - Spring 2021 (Python)
This is a non-gaming application written by K! at S!'s request.
Not happy with the choices put out by commercial entities to run a very simple mailing list or discussion group, S! asked if K! was willing to tackle learning how to send and receive email with an automated Python programme that could be run in the background on any small system. K! came through very quickly with a mockup that he has further fleshed out into a very workable solution! If you need software to run a simple mailing list or discussion group, this is an awesome choice! We're also very responsive to bug reports or feature requests.
Factory 512K! (age 12-13) – January, 2020 (Python)
As S! became more involved with his own projects, K! taught himself Python in order to gain full control over his game development journey. He now enjoys coding his own physics and modules for use and reuse. In Factory 512, as a newly sentient robot, you must activate at least two of the seven generators before you can escape the subterranean factory. This game and all its assets were entirely realized by K! alone. As it is in Python, we have bundled it as a self-extracting zip file that must be run on a Windows platform. We’re happy to provide the .py file and assets for anyone interested in viewing the code or running it on an alternate operating system.
Factory 512 is now being monitored on speedrun.com! Check it out, download it for yourself and see if you can beat the current 8 minute, 0.500 second time!
SootK! (age 11) and S! – June, 2018 (Construct 2)
Returning to the platforming genre, K! was inspired by “The Unfinished Swan” and the concept of learning about your environment only while completely immersed in it. His musical composition here is a definite earworm and the hidden warp zones are especially favourite features. Similarly developed to Dark Skies, all assets are created by K!, with S! assisting with the trickier aspects of the code base.
Dark SkiesK! (age 10) and S! – July, 2017 (Construct 2)
A mystery puzzle/exploration game that represented our first large project. Music and artwork assets were entirely created by K!, while S! assisted with much of the initial coding. Also our first attempt to create a mobile friendly game that is available in the Google Play Store!
We were lucky enough to get this game professionally reviewed on Youtube! Check out that video too!
PlatformerK! (age 9) – October, 2016 (Scratch)
A devilish platformer where you simply have to run towards the right and to an out-of-sight end – all while avoiding the lava floors.
ElementsK! (age 9) – August 2016 (Scratch)
In this simple clicker game you try to combine different elements to create new ones. These can also be combined with one another to further create more and more complex items. You can flip back to a view of the globe to see how your evolving list of “elements” affect things on a planetary scale.
Other Related Links:
aikihomestead.ca – our lifestyle blog where we talk about homesteading adventures.
garstin.ca – S!’s original IT business.
ken.garstin.ca – K!’s personal blog.
minecraft64 – K!’s minecraft youtube channel (on hiatus).
norsar – K!’s completed fantasy novel, self-published and available for online order in paperback.