Traditional media; radio, magazines and other have a time honored tradition of periodically responding to viewer/reader mail.

Since this is a blog, you can just leave a message, and unless it involves casinos or \/|46R4, there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll get back to pretty quickly.

But there is another communication channel by which people reach out to this site for wisdom. So this week let’s open up the search term log and respond to some of the actual searches that, sadly, turned up nothing on the Chrome Cow.

The names, and questions are made up to protect the innocent, the search terms are underlined.

Q. Dear Chromey, some of my friends and I were talking the other night about some of the deep philosophical questions, what is the sound of one hand clapping, that sort of thing. Then Travis dropped this bomb: what are the RGB values of Chrome? We went through almost two pans of brownies, and no one could come up with an answer. Then Steve asked if we’d ever really looked at our hands, I mean really looked…wow..the creases look just like little roads. Ok…gotta go man. Mind Blown in Madison

Dear Blown,

These questions are commonly called Zen Koans. They are designed to clear the mind of preconceived notions and habits of thinking. If a scoop of ice cream falls on the pavement and there is no one there to lick it, does it have a taste? That is an ice cream koan.

But to the heart of your question. What are the RGB values of chrome? Well, let’s think about this. Chrome is a mirror-like surface. And asking what the RGB values for a mirror are is essentially asking what color is a mirror?

Try this thought experiment. You are in a room, painted completely red. You are dressed from head to foot in a red jumpsuit, wearing red shoes, socks and gloves. Your head is completely covered in a red ski mask. Now look in the mirror. What color is the mirror?

That’s right. The mirror is reflecting its environment, and the mirror is red.

So there’s your answer. The RGB value of a mirror, and by extension chrome, is 255/0/0.

Thanks for searching the Chrome Cow! See you next week!

I am at home today warding of the seven kinds of plague that are currently making the rounds at the office. The barbarians are at the gates, but my defenses are mighty. That being said, expect the Design a Day update to be posted this evening, instead of the normal morning schedule.

Site News

• Design a Day is into double digits now. It’s taking more time than I had expected, mostly because I find it hard to stop once I get started. If it starts intruding on my family life, or I find that I have no time to actually try new games, I may switch over to a less strenuous publication schedule. For now I’m going to continue with the M-F schedule. I am going to focus more on milestones, and the first milestone is this: 50 designs.

• Amazon has been periodically replacing some of my game links on the right with hideous, flashing orange “Shop Amazon” banners. I find this an overtly hostile act, and have taken steps to neuter this activity. The Chrome Cow is not a flashing orange banner kind of site, my apologies to anyone who suffered retinal damage.

The Chrome Cow has been my online home for many years now, and many folks know it primarily as a site for CGI, plugins for Lightwave 3D ™ and the odd bit of Mad Science.

Here’s the thing: my graphics work has long since transitioned from day-job to the occasional bit of puttering around the office, and the odd-bit of hobby work at home. I’ve been designing games for several years now, and because I’ve always considered this my CGI site, I’ve tended to minimize the game design talk.

With the launch of the new Chrome Cow, I am giving myself the freedom to focus on all aspects of my professional life, and my crazy hobbies.

I plan to continue posting tutorials and plugins as the inspiration strikes, and the new CMS should make it ever easier to do. I’m also excited to introduce the new user comments system. It provides another exciting venue for dialog and \/14GR4 spam!

I hope you enjoy the new format, the game design conversation, and all of my half-baked (and increasingly half-finished) projects.

Welcome! I’ve finally given the venerable old Chrome Cow an extreme makeover. During the move, you can access the old cow here.

I was rummaging around the subterranean labyrinth of the Chrome Cow Labs the other day and found an old promotional button from SIGGRAPH 1997 1999. I may whip up a new batch and put them up in the store.
[ Done! ]

It’s a nostalgia thing. You’ll understand one day.