Multum In Parvo

portfolio

2010-03-12T15:04:00.001-08:00

http://ashleyobrienart.blogspot.com/?zx=af4f5d5df0537e48

My online portfolio. check it out. still under construction.

WIP character

2009-08-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

lil update of the character i am doing. the textures were painted in zbrush. so far i'm liking zbrush as a painting application. it speeds up my work flow quite nicely.

2009-07-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

its been a while. ive been doing a little zbrush practice for my portfolio, i wasnt sure if what i had gained in 3 years really showed what i can do. so im going to have a 50s theme character environment and vehicle ready for my site.

FMP WIP

2009-02-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

Thought it was about time i took a break to post some wip. got allot to do to these to finalize them but they're coming along. Fagin is around 7500tris and dodger is just over 5000. both characters have 1024 for their head and 1024 for the body spec norm and diff. they are both completely painted. no photographs.

the crunch

2008-12-31T03:38:00.000-08:00

It seems that nottinghams very own Free Radical design has gone into administration. not only does it mean that 140 jobs have been axed and there may be more companies doing the same but more professionals are going to be searching for work just before we send our cvs and portfolios off. A little bit disheartening to find yourself competing with highly skilled professionals especialy in work that has few job openings as it is.
Free Radical has a now 40 strong workforce, with other companies ready to make offers, free radical should be seing some sort of future. Just have to wait until mid to late january before we know if they can recover.
Free Radical were working on a star wars game for lucas arts that has already seen two years of development but it recently fell through, they have also worked on games such as haze, second sight and Timesplitters.

week 9 project

2008-12-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

Im on the way to finishing the model for my character. who is pretty much a ww1 soldier. he's a basic soldier because i didnt want to waste much time thinking about how he would look instead i wanted to get an accurate representation of my dad as a soldier. Im pretty short on time so ill stick with my second head model in wich i didnt overlap his face on the uv.

week 8 project

2008-12-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

I have decided to base my character off my dad. mostly because i started the project while i was at home and he was easy to get refrance of. The model i made of his head isnt perfect but the wirframe is modeled in a way i descovered only recently. after texturing i was reasonably pleased with it. even though it was probebly my second head after my self portrait, which was pretty terrible. if i modelled it again i would do a much better job. no normal map at the moment. im still getting the hang of zbrush.

week 7 project

2008-12-09T07:42:00.001-08:00

The van is pretty much completed. fully unwrapped and textured but still open for revision later on when i have time to tweak. Im not happy with its final look. I have modelled and textured a simple skybox and floor to place my assets in. The render doesnt look as nice as id have liked it to. if i were to do it again i would pick a smaller section. Probebly focused on a corner of the childs playground rather than the whole thing.

week 6.5 project

2008-12-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

Half way through the term i can say that i am ahead of schedual as i have finally completed the texturing of all scene assets and began texturing the van. the van was textured using sections of other photos and some painted. so far its looking ok but if i get the opotunity to use photo graphic textures, i will.

week 6 project

2008-12-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

The van is now fully modeled apart from the little bits such as the lights and handles but i will go ahead and unwrap everything i have done so far ready for the end of the week. i have began texturing the landscape swings, both benches and the seesaw are completed. i had to remove some graffiti from the seesaw as it had a comment that probebly wasnt necessary.

week 5 project

2008-12-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

Completed the modelling of all the assets for the scene. next is to unwrap them. after taking a long time to model all the assets i went back to the park and due to the fast chaging winter weather, the ambiance of the park is alot colder as you would expect but if i were to take textures again the change would be very dramatic. there are alot less leaves on trees and the floor is damp rather than dry and dusty, it almost reflects some of the color of the assets in the floor.

Due to the change in weather ill use most of the refrance i obtained from my first visit.

week 4 project

2008-12-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

beginning the hvan without any of my own refrance wasnt to difficult as there are many images floating around the web that show the vehicle from many angles including the partial inside. such as this one. to date i have finnished the blocking out of the main chassis. i came in to a problen with the front wirframe as i had to many verts exiting the wheel arch and entering the door panel. i couldnt find a neat way of flowing those lines at first but i decided to lower the poly count of the wheel arch just enough to neaten it up and keep a beleivable curve.

week 3 project

2008-12-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

i collected some refrance and began the modelling of the scene assets. having a park close by meant for easy texture and refrance sourcing. so far i have modelled the major assets that will go in my scene. the ones i have left to complete are the elephant rocker the bin and swings as well as some sort of setting/surroundings.

im retty sure that im going to change some of the models as they are far to high poly. starting with the bin. personaly i feel confident enough to stop and start again due to having finnished a large part of one of the projects.

wiimote white board

2008-10-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

over the summer break we were left to our own devices, without tv maybe even without internet. i personally dont watch tv any more unless taking a break from googling. one of the many, many days i spent in front of google i found my self at a youtube page that seemed to show that i could draw on my moniter and my projecter for £1500 punds less (pretty much free) as long as i had a wiimote and a bluetooth adapter handy. luckyly i did, well my nefew did, i proceded to follow the instructions that on first glance looked quite complex but turned out to be just two bits of software and a dash of luck (windows isnt exactly a dead sert). the idea based itself upon the wiimote being a sensor for a moving infrared led that i would fashion into a beautiful looking pen. the wiimote infact is just a very cheap high quality infra red camra. it works on a reasonably high resolution compared to standard, lets say, web cams. after i completed my dodgy pen and positioned the wiimote all that was left was to use the software given to calibrate the wiimote to the irpen. it gladly worked to my amazment, first time. its fairly limited as there is no preasure sensitivity and if you put yourself in the way of the wii sensor the pen ceases to funcion but all in all it was a sucess. you might think that i would stop there but after a few web searches to find the seed site where all this came from, i descovered that there are two more projects that were relitavly simple but worked off the same basic principle. one being virtual reality. ir leds attatched to said persons head, as he/she moves so do the pictures on screan thus creating the effect of a window into your computer. this project i have also completed but the software isnt as great as i imagined or maybe it needs a little more work on my end as the picture does not seem to fake perspective as well as the demonstration suggests. the third and final project that interests me the most is ir gloves that allow me to control up to four points with four fingers from a distance. although people have developed on this design to make a fully working touch screen, it will take a hefty amount of time money and effort to get that finished so im going to put it on standby until i have the time.

week two project

2008-10-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

project one : character

i have yet to gain anything other than refrance for ideas on this project. but the refrance i have gained has given me a clear idea of who and what i want to create. he will be a trrench warfair soldier, most likly geared up for gas attacks and partially wounded. but i have yet to draw any concept scetches of him as i need photo refrance of somone to base him off. ive wanted to design and model a ww1 character for some time now but never had the chance.

project two : vehicle

the mesh is fully completed on the outside and almost all unwrapped but the inside is a problem as non of the schematics have inside layouts and i have yet to find the actual van. putting that aside i have decided to turn the van into the style of "bellville ronde vou". which is an amazing french silent animation. after i have finished unwrapping ill leave texturing to later on in the week.

project three : landscape

modelled most of the smaller assets. no more than 2 or 3 left to do. todays task is to get them all modelled and hopfully unwrapped as this is the only project i have photo refrance already taken from a park not far from where i live.
week two finnish unwrapping of both project two and three. then texture assets from project three

week one project

2008-10-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

today is a working day. starting with what will most likly be my choice for the three projects. project one: characterthe ww1 character. i have wanted to make a character from this eera for a while. partly because its easy to get hold of photos and museums with real objects are common place but mainly because the way people dress around the time was probebly the most interesting to me in the 1900s. ill focus on a british soldier in the trenches as i found some inspiring short quotes from peoplees lives in the trenches that instantly give a picture of a good character.
project two: vehiclemany of the vehicles listed are not as common place as i was expecting. there is a bubble car in i beleive lincolnshire but as for the citron van. texture refrance is not going to be easy. i will focus on the citroen van as i can get teh refrance to atleast begin this vehicle but texturing wont be easy if i cant find the van to photograph.
project three: landscapefirst of all i chose to doa scrap yard but recently going on a photographic trip to the various leicester scrap yards it became increasingly difficult to get in as they seemed a little less than above board and wouldnt allow me on site thus i have decided to begin the childs inner city play area. its going to be fairly easy to find and not at all difficult to make a texture library.
week one gain refrance and textures for all three projects. saturday 11th of october. childs play area texture/refrancesunday 12th october. citroen h van refrance(textures if possible)monday 13th october. ww1 soldier refrance(textures if possible)

2008-04-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

for the character drawing project i decided to go ahead and use the other one day iteresting person to make my character. my bird lady interpretation. i first saw this lady back in derby near the river when i was about 13, she came pretty much every day to give a trolly, a completly full trolly of bread to birds. there must have been hundreds of birds around her most days (what gets me is how one person can have so much bread more that 3 times a weak) i was reminded of this women when walking back on the day of this project when i came across a little old lady that was dressed pretty much the same way.
with a big padded coat and head scalf she waddled down the street at a surprisingly slow pace however i decided to make a character based on this person and with influences from an artist called Keith Thompson, specifically his undead. he draws the most magnificent characters with close attention to muscular form and indepth ideas that are clearly based off something hes seen or read. before i say anything else, this character isnt another zombie. she is actually just plain dead. sort of like a living birdhouse. that is completly controlled by birds that over time have gathered objects to make this woman look liflike from a distance, which brings me to my next point. while searching for some ideas on what she would look like i came across a site that made me laugh at just how intelligent birds can be thus if you think about it the birds are the character and the woman is just a prop they hold.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/carwash.asp

as far as i can tell this site is real but ive only skimmed over it so i could easily have missed somthing, but heres the character i innished earlier in the weak. she still needs a bit more color however you can see what i was aiming for.

birds are just so awsome!

2008-04-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

over the years in which technology has grown many things have become easier and more efficient but one thing always lags behind, batteries. yeah it may seem weird I'm blogging this but I'm kind of interested in all things sci-ency and tech like. but back to the point we've got lithium-ion batteries polymer-ion batteries 1 kilo of lithium stores the same power as a 6 kilo lead acid battery. there is a war between two batteries now which is the refinement of lithium-ion batteries and the other is fuel cell. lithium is the one I'm most interested in as it has been under many different schemes but the most fascinating one is MIT's research into fully organic, virus generated cathodes. its based on the idea how tiny proteins cant naturally bond together to form a perfect structure of a sea shell. by identifying certain viral strains MIT managed to come up with a virus that would automatically organize itself into cathode and anode stacks. fundamentally taking the shape of wires only 6 billionth of a meter in diameter. these tiny wires make for an ultimately thin battery. that is 3 times more potent that a standard lithium-ion battery and more importantly its organic nature makes for a completely green energy source. Standford university is experimenting with another way in which they use silicone nano wires and if they can improve the cathode in a similar way there could be a 10 fold in energy density.

http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392647

2008-04-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

over the two years I've been on the course if come to acknowledge the sheer quantity of talent and creativity that allot of the people i know have hidden away and only let lose in little bits. the learning curve of some people may not seem very steep but pretty much everyone in the group has developed by a substantial amount thus i write this blog while i still have it fresh in my mine. what happens when all this talent and the talent of other similar courses filter into the game (arts in general) society. will there be room for every one to make it or will some people be shut out for not being quite as good as another person.

the game industry is far from a land of freedom and equality its a complete free for all or each man for himself kind of world. i cant help but wonder that some of the people that develop slowly over a period of time will be shot down by the people that were either born with talent and/or the people that jump leaps and bounds every now and again. these two groups of people have different methodologies in which they take on tasks and challenges thus do the group of people that have just as much creativity get put on the bench because they don't quite have the visual language to show there potential. this is where id say that creativity is absolute and is the be all and end all of arts in general but that isn't the true case unless you have the tools to express it to another person effectively. going a little bit off the subject but i was lead to believe that different people had different forms of creativity and no 2 people were ever the same, thus why and how would someones ability to convey a pretty idea to another person denote his or her place in the world. could there be other ways in which people convey ideas to one another, well yes there is! salvation. back to the group as a general miss match of talent and creativity, some people are great at modeling while another a good at drawing what they see but another group could be good at writing what they are thinking in words reachable by others, these are just a few ways in which people differ in the projection of ideas and creativity which hopefully means the people that are good at one or maybe two things will never have to meat someone that is brilliant at every thing. you can admire all you want but jealousy always gets the better of people. tis what some people call human nature.

2008-04-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

i realize after searching the web that criticism is more like a "value judgment" rather than judgment my reasoning was discovered when searching the web and i came across this phrase

value judgment: "the judgment of the rightness or wrongness of something, rearing upon a value system. a decision must be made with limited knowledge"

if someone walked up to a half finished piece of work and saw somthing was wrong he/she may not know that this piece of work is unfinished and far from looking like it is complete but judges it as he sees it with (key words) limited knowledge and makes a comment. some people find this offensive and begin to defend themselves, I've done it and so have the tutors. its not that they are judging harshly and ultimately on something unfinished but making a biased decision based on the knowledge at hand.

however judgment : "a balanced opiniong based on evidance and is usually the outcome of an evaluation of alternatives"
"The formal process of evaluation can sometimes be described as a set of conditions and criteria that must be satisfied in order for a judgment to be made. What follows is a suggestive list of some conditions that are commonly required"

therefore i find myself judging people more often on unfinished work as i now understand that when i criticize a person i am using one or the other thus there is no need to take it as a personal attack or put down.

2008-04-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

thought id begin by explaining how irritated i get by people judging others on things rom second or third hand knowledge. over the past few days i've come to realize there are some people that try to judge others not soly on there work or abilities in general but there personality. its all well and good to do this to someone when looking for a job or what not but when people are judging others that clearly are in the same level of ability i.e. most people at university it realy gets to me.
i came across a message on the blogger that explained things were going to be changed in something i had made without my say so and when i questioned this i got a speedy response from the person in question at face-to-face. this was a great relief as it made me realize it was all a communication error and the problem was solved swiftly and maturely but then a few people began to defend both parties involved. it was quite nice to see real peoples opinions for a change rather than back stabbing and sly comments but on the other hand it did irritate me to find that allot of peoples comments made sense only if they had third hand information and a complete bias opinion. after reading them all i just came to the conclusion that some people are quick to judge others valiantly and truthfully when it is someone they love or admire but obviously not many people are loved and admired as much as i thought as most people reply to the question "does this look good?" with "yeah yeah thats awesome!" when it clearly isn't. its a little bit reminiscence of dales circle and square theory. but someones not correcting the problems by telling him/her what they actually think because they either have no respect for that person or they just don't care.

I'm not a complete judgmental person myself but I'm also guilty of not telling a person what i think as i don't want them to feel upset or like I'm better than them because I'm sure allot of people take it that way and when they ask that question "does this look good" they really want to hear the disrespectful answer "yeah yeah thats awesome". Working in a group has made me understand that peoples opinions are most likely false or bias depending on your relationship with that person. you have just got to look at your own work and compare yourselves to someone that is undoubtedly better than you for a self criticism that you know is completely true and unbiased.

2008-03-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

throughout the second year group project I've come to the realization that i judge one group of people one way and others another way, i realize that over the course of this project things were going to change, little hiccups in groups a few clashing personalities but on the other hand it is in fact a breath of fresh air to finally see people in a different more natural light. not all is bad, in fact some people surprise me in a rather good way, weather it be work load or just there abilities to be sensible and mature around others.

this got me thinking about peoples abilities and how we judge them even before we (if we ever do) this left me thinking what are the chances that I've miss judged the larger proportion of my acquaintances.

not containing myself to just the group but everyone I've met during my life. i cant do anything about it for the people iv judged but for the future i plan not to judge anyones personality or abilities without actually applying myself to conversing with them just so i can base my opinion on something stable and unbiased.

somthing i must think about over the holidays is weather or not i have what it takes to judge people sensibly and according to what i see rather than just what i think on a whim.

to be perfectly honest i cant wait to get out of the group project so i can go back to not needing to criticize and judge peoples work as i don't think me or many of the people in the group has the full mind set to be able to do criticize in an unbiased and reasonable way. dot get me wrong some people probably can criticize maturely but they in my opinion are few and far between.

2008-02-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

there is a technical way of achieving things and an artistic way. which one being the best is a flawed question due to the fact that at any one time it is possible to choose between the two.

the time we took to judge others work i noticed a common theme, that was the artists at first glance (the good ones) had created something that was eye catching and noticeably correct but when closely looked at, most of them either manipulated light and sometimes completely changed it to make people think it is a nice peice of art.

The great thing is that most people would over look the technical side of the drawing and decide that it is a great piece of work due to the master artist that can manipulate a scene to the point that the untrained eye cannot notice there is anything wrong. We agreed that the sketches we saw where technically wrong but they were artistically well thought out. the artist behind the work could probebly draw a scene with photographic realism but then again a scene that looks perfect would be correct on a technical level but look altogether boring.

http://www.artisthideout.com/technical-detail-vs-artistic-license/
this blog reminded me that even though its possible to draw like a camera can take pictures it isnt necessary as..well..thats what cameras are for.

"It may be because I am lazy or it could mean that I just like the feel of natural art that I enjoy over detailed work that I feel I enslave myself to for the duration of the piece. I’m okay with that as long as I realize it and don’t try to present things the way the really are not."
http://www.artisthideout.com/technical-detail-vs-artistic-license/

this artist understands how an image looks but prefers to occasionaly use a little bit of artistic liscene rather that real technical ability to make a good image great. it isn't what is a good peice of art but what makes it a good peice of art. there are some things that need to be taken into account.
i found a discussion forum that contained many opinions on good and bad art. this is one i agree with to some extent.

"There are three factors to consider--the viewer's reaction, the artist's enjoyment, and the technical correctness of the piece. A piece that fails on all three counts is, yes, a failure; it's bad art if anything is. But a piece that does well on one or more of these three fronts is successful on some level and could be called "good art" simply because it has a purpose for existing."

there are more things to take into account that a first impression. looking deeper can almost always give a different reaction that the first glance.

if someone other than me liked an image i drew then its good even if someone else dislikes it.
not to say that you ignore the bad crits and enjoy the good ones but if you accept that there are always bad drawings and good drawings due to people have different opinions on what is good and what is bad, even with technical merit. good can be bad and bad can be good depending on who is looking.

2008-01-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

being kind of boring person that i am, i got looking at some old carpet in my girlfriends parents house. u might think that this sounds like someoen talking about a carpet. youd be right. the carpet was obviously hand made and you can tell it was expensive but this carpet had a deep intricate obvious pattern to it but the odd thing was that there was not one piece of this carpet with a similarity to anothother nore were there any straight lines in site. i thought this odd. i
would usually expect an expensive hand made carpet to be perfectly made, however next door had a similar carpet that was machine made with perfect straight lines and identicle pattern in each corner. this got me wondering about human errors being recognised as a more organic and creative way of expression, weather it be a carpet or anything else. human errors/mistakes are still valued today even in such a technological age. perfection is fround upon but irregularity is
rewarded. Can creativity be emulated by technoloy? or is it always in the hands of a human being? perosonally, over the past few weeks i have found that creativity is almost always personal, such as the man made carpet over the machine made carpet. people take a great deal of time making things personal. van gogh also got quite locked up in himself and developed some of his most beautiful work, by himself. creativity, a personal act to break bounderies in anything imaginable and well unimaginable.
Over the last term ive thought about creativity alot and tried to come to some sort of a conclusion. Personaly creativity is very dificult to define by the person in question but can be defined by the people it effects. You have to be judged and found guilty of creativity, weather it be vangoghs paintings thought by some to be an illness and others to be perfect representation of personal art or the hand woven rug with all manner of mistakes, creativity is a personal thing that happens to effect others in different ways, people can spot a persons creative streak but find it hard to focus their own. you could say mistakes manifest creativity, similar to a subconscious act or thought process that somhow creates something that is personal and alltogether creative.

creativity without the internet

2007-12-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

i woke up one morning and found myself going to my computer to do a little bit of light work (as i do every second of every day - promise) but to my amazment the damn internet was cut off! i suddenly came to the realisation that i had no way to cheat my way through life O.o as someone had decided to cut me off! lets skip ahead a bit to the point where it sunk in.
life without the internet at around day three was becoming more of a fear than an irritation as i might actually have to nip to the librery more often than i usually do just to get somthing simple as an anatomy book. well it seems that having little to no outside influence made my creativness more than bland, it got me wondering if i lived in a time when there was no internet or it was just difficult to get connected, would i be producing the same work, would i be producing any work at all? what if my entire workload was reliant on me spending 90% of my time down the librery shifting from book to book in the hopes of finding something somebody had not yet noticed just so that i could get somthing interesting on paper, would the internets absance lead me this? and if so would i be any different as a person, student, brother or friend.
back in the 1960s when packet switching was coined i.e. the baby steps of the internet. people didnt even know the potential of other people on the other side of teh clobe, did einstein have the internet? no. so in what way did people pass on their creative aspects to others? well its simple. they just didnt. the furthest your ideas went were as far as the person standing next to you could pass it on but as soon as more and more people got connected to the internet it was made easier to get information from people without even being face to face. this leads me to my point, if i cant go without internet for 3 days i dread to think what creativity meant to people just 50 or 60 years ago. Was it a myth? or twinkle in someones eye? creativity isnt easy to define but its relitivly easy to find with the masses of people connecting each and every day.

creativity unleashed

2007-12-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

reason why i'm going to really love my job in the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkgYret8syk&feature=related
the major feature that will make the games industry so much more interesting is the software that will be used to work with it. dire
cxtx 10 is a windows API that supports shader model 4.0. what it can do is take the strain of working out mutiple processors and sort of collapse them into multi threaded lines, almost like a que. this speeds up processing power allowing your console (hopfully) or pc to process more things faster thus allowing for the evolution of graphics.

shader model 4.0 comparison:

	PS_2_0	PS_2_a	PS_2_b	PS_3_0^[2]	PS_4_0^[3]
Dependent texture limit	4	No Limit	4	No Limit	No Limit
Texture instruction limit	32	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Position register	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Instruction slots	32 + 64	512	512	≥ 512	≥ 65536
Executed instructions	32 + 64	512	512	65536	Unlimited
Texture indirections	4	No limit	4	No Limit	No Limit
Interpolated registers	2 + 8	2 + 8	2 + 8	10	32
Instruction predication	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Index input registers	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Temp registers	12	22	32	32	4096
Constant registers	32	32	32	224	16x4096
Arbitrary swizzling	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Gradient instructions	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Loop count register	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Face register (2-sided lighting)	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Dynamic flow control	No	No	No	24	Yes
Bitwise Operators	No	No	No	No	Yes
Native Integers	No	No	No	No	Yes

Vertex shader comparison

	VS_2_0	VS_2_a	VS_3_0^[2]	VS_4_0^[3]
# of instruction slots	256	256	≥ 512	4096
Max # of instructions executed	65536	65536	65536	65536
Instruction Predication	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Temp Registers	12	13	32	4096
# constant registers	≥ 256	≥ 256	≥ 256	16x4096
Static Flow Control	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dynamic Flow Control	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dynamic Flow Control Depth	No	24	24	Yes
Vertex Texture Fetch	No	No	Yes	Yes
# of texture samplers	N/A	N/A	4	128
Geometry instancing support	No	No	Yes	Yes
Bitwise Operators	No	No	No	Yes
Native Integers	No	No	No	Yes

i knew that shader model 4.0 enhanced 3d applications and games possibilities in quality but not to the extent that the charts show. it basically runs the same amount of processes in terms of rendering all the effects on screen but at a blinding speed with almost no limit.

an example of the evolution in 3d, direct x10 hardware can borrow ram from your computer if it needs to. basically it upgrades itself. no need to care about a graphics cards on board ram any more as long as you have them expansion slots filled.

to get to the point direct x applications will allow the games industry to go that 1 extra leap forward and create more life-like games with more AI running at once (qued processors). enhanced for multi core processors as well.

if its to much information at once, the simplest way to put it is direct x 10 will allow game artists to be more creative with their tools and with much higher texture sizes and poly budgets, freedom!

2007-12-08T10:28:00.001-08:00

well finally finnished myself as a fool. no normal or spec yet and about 180 polys over budget but overall i enjoyed doing this project. it realy helped me build up my skills in max and my judgment skills.

i think i look really unhappy in this model but i guess i would be if i had to wear something like that.
the major increase in poly cound came at the higher amounts of curves in this model but i kind of used the polys for the prop to make it so im closer to 500 polys over.

2007-11-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

this is me so far. I'm just under triangle count and will probably fill it up with my glasses but until then i think i look pretty close.

i found modeling myself one of the hardest things i have ever had to do in max. it was like starting all over again. my reference was off and because of this it took about 4 attempts at my head to get something i was satisfied with.

please feel free to comment on anything.

2007-10-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

sorry ive been buisy with drawing work :D
thanks for teh praise dude and as requested the low poly mesh. still not had time to finish the final tho D:
its only a jpg atm because blogger is a bit you know...naff! :x
i could defiantly take a few polys out but to be honest i couldn't be bothered. i just wanted to texture normal and specular it :D

prolly will finnish it soon once i get some free time. untill then...back on teh shelf it goes :O

2007-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

I found the character designing project to be quite difficult at start as it was so broad a task. "design a character that is organic" so i took steps to narrow the project down a little. weather it was giving it a setting or just reverse engineering other organic characters to see what they have in common. eventually i created an idea with a back story thats pretty well detailed and explains the characters quite comfortably.

breaking boundaries

2007-10-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

(creativity part1)
creativity? what is it? where is it and how can i get more of it?
creativity. highlighting the last video about Ken Robinson's views on creativity in schools being over looked and treated as second class subjects, granted creativity is defiantly being overlooked but there are still creative people out there that struggle against adversity to allow their views to be expressed, which is one of the many definitions for creativity "poiein" or "to make", in ancient greek times. this was the word that was used in place of somthing they didnt have "creativity" muses were thought to be the source of all poiein. in a place and a time where the word didnt even exist, the meaning and practice was still apparent everywhere.

creativity is boundaries that are broken and new ideas that are expressed. in schools today creativity is not entirely as wide spread as it should be but creativity can not be taught, a tutor can only give a pupil the space to be creative, not the tools.

(creativity part 2)

i was reading another blog recently and found that they made a comment that got me thinking. he explained that at the end of the day the science student could save lives but the dance student could only entertain. i found a link that explained there was a decision made between International Center of University for Peace and Brazilian Institute for Innovations in Public Health to create a day of urban peace in Toronto (http://www.schoolswithoutborders.com/SWB/Events/CreativityUnleashed.aspx) with the use of dance festivals, painting seminars, dancing and allot of other things that get the children out of the streets in an attempt to stop them from killing each other - the city of Toronto is one of the worst effected places for street crimes, much of which are murders - which leads me to my point, a dance student could have a part in saving lives, so could the arts student.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4AqFW3wbmo

Creativity is geared totally towards saving lives but it can be used to get children and adults alike to focus on something to express themselves.

(creativity part3)

as far as i can remember my start on the road to creativity began when i was about 9 or 10 and i found that i liked to break things and put them back together to make something else - mainly weapons to scare off my brother with - i once made a crossbow out of an umbrella that actually worked rather well. i really enjoyed just making things, thats sort of why i ended up doing stop motion animation as my college f.m.p. college was the biggest learning curve in creativity that i can remember as my tutor was brilliant. the way he taught was almost trickery, you didn't know he'd taught u anything until u actually got out of college and instinctively thought in a complete different way to when i entered his class on the very first day. if i didn't go to that college on that particular year (he quit his job at multimedia the next year) i wouldn't be here today and id probably be working in McDonald's right now!

(creativity part 4)

For we are God's own handiwork, (His workmanship)…that we might do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us…(Eph. 2:10).

this bible verse exposes the meaning that we are all created for a purpose and that until we find the meaning to our own existence we will always be left with the question "who am i and what am i doing with my life" in short creativity is thought to be a devine way of making people different (gods handy work) what if creativity was defined some other way by i non religious people? Would that make creativity nothing to do with got thus making us different some other way.
to the best of my knowledge world renound painter van Gogh suffered from a severe genetic disease called AIP (acute intermittent porphyria) this disease causes, psychoses, hallucinations, convulsions and paralysis. hallucinations and psychosis and the abuse of absynth wich contains a drug that causes people to see with a yellow hue (thought of as van goghs favourite color) are argued to be the cause or creation of some of van goghs "devine" paintings or creative outlets. but this is just theory. van gogh could also have been given more than his fair share of gods grace.

one day maybe creativity will be defined as an illness or gods greatness. but as far as i can tell, everyone could be very sick in their own way.

2007-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

task to create and rig a character. i chose to create my own rather than take the offered alternative. its my first attempt at a character using max and mudbox in tandum. I decided to try out making a high poly mesh to normal map my low poly character. this is an example of how i managed to make my high poly into a noraml for my low poly. there are around 1.2million polys that make up this model with another 1.5 making the total character.

this is the unfinished max version with normal. when the textures are finished the character will be more jester like than alien looking. the gray was just a base mesh color to see what the normal looked like but i may stick with it depending on how the other colors mix with it.

all in all I've had fun doing this project as it gave me chance to warm up my skills for the up coming 2nd year.

2007-03-28T11:02:00.001-07:00

Currently the course has suited me brilliantly, I'm coming along with all aspects of it with no hindrance at the moment. I would like to have more outings such as conferences and the like, gathering peoples opinions and information off the net is second hand. It would be more beneficial to find current news about games and situations in games from people rather than the internet and news.

the games industry is such a vast area of expertise from animators to molders to artist. i would gain allot of insight into being able to do more non computer based learning such as modeling or workshops that link to our current project and with lectures that also reinforce our current projects too. doing more diverse art would be welcomes such as manipulating a landscape painting into 3d and putting it into a game engine.

looking at film and animation is a great idea as it would allow me to look more into creative story telling, as well as understanding some characterization and production workings.

i was talking to some friends and we agreed that understanding why we are doing something would help a great deal, almost as much as what and when.

2007-03-11T11:24:00.001-07:00

Taking a peak a GDCs site showed me that many new game developments are under way with next gen hardware and software that allows for ultra fast rendering and level creation in almost a blink of an eye. games such as crysis show some lengths games developers go to create these next gen games.

Reading a magazine a few weeks back lead me to believe that the advancement in hardware for pcs would allow the main processor of a pc to take on multi threading with new heights and generate AI that is currently unheard of in games today. what if a character ran behind a tree that had randomly fallen (possible never to fall there again) and use it for cover, or decide that a stream was to cold to cross thus they would run the bank to find an warmer place to cross. this also allows for some graphical advancement as the processor will be doing the A.I. work but the GPU would be taking on the frame rates, giving the stunning view from atop the sky's.

As far as games like crysis and far cry go. they intended to give the character a little bit of freedom but not to much (oblivions quick jump) to involve the character in gorilla warfare, actually experience what it would be like to take on a load of bad guys in a jungle but still give boundaries for a character not to walk to far away from the story. this is all part of interactive story telling. many games such as final fantasy have emotional attachments to characters and working this in can also be a part of interactive story telling. If a strong dramatic point in the game is apparent, it could over shadow any minor more subtle points in the game.

Games often support a wide verity of tricks to fool the player into attachments and believability, to make the game a memorable experience. at the current state games are beginning to make use of graphics and careful story telling to make a game seem more real and immersive to the player but as it stands to date, games in general are still only trying, cracking that perfect balance is a step - in my opinion - that has yet to be taken.

2007-02-24T06:00:00.001-08:00

Getting in to university was a big step for me and my family as most of my immediate family have never been. its a new concept to my parents and thus they are fearful - rightly so i suppose - but i knew from the outset what i wanted to do required an education from tutors with history in the field. this started my craving for higher education in some respect but also wanted to make my family proud, in some ways.

apart from changing the way i think university will hopefully bring me up to scratch with what i need to take a role in the industry. some of the skills id like to develop are my self motivation and confidence as well as my technical skills but as it stands learning at the pace i am currently
giving me so much understanding in all areas.

For as long as i can remember i have been playing games and drawing, now i have the chance to put my ideas and development to critique. One thing i have always found to be fundamental to teaching things fast isn't just being told how and when to do something but also told why i am doing it. This gives me a basis to learn from and makes me remember key things much faster.

As far as disciplining my mind goes, in college my tutor was a pretty intuitive person. he was an out-the-box thinker, if u will. he gave me an understanding into things some people may over look and thankfully these things are being reinforced now, proves it wasn't all for nothing and that im going to be expected to think differently.

At the end of the course I'm going to take on the games industry, i feel i will have the knowledge and skills to do this effectively.

creatus "to have grown" -wiki

2007-02-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

creativity or Latin term creatus means "to have grown" (wiki)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo_May

Creativity according to psychologist Rollo may is the final and foremost stage of a person. although these stages are described as being somewhat erratic they can be considered a list of what people can go through in various stages of their lives. such as a child can be quite rebellious but so can a teenager.

Creativity - "Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death." Rollo may.

I perceive this as a description that a person creativity is driven to keep something of themselves alive even after they cease to exist. creativity would possible be a persons foremost understanding that they are not going to live forever and need to show their inner most feelings before they pass, they stand up and have one last final breath before reaching the finishing line.

Probably why Rollo may puts creativity last. as it require most of the previous - innocence, rebellion, decision, ordinary, - be activated by a person. creativity is developed over time and put to practice with passionate accuracy when the time comes.

creativity is a mixture of the motivation knowledge and thinking outside the box.
thinking up new solutions and ideas as well as being able to adeptly solve puzzles or understand the in understandable. creativity in children and in adults can be vastly difference according to benchmarks, after all children are children first.

creativity as a word means to have grown but does that mean that creativity has to be waited on until later years or can a young enthusiast show signs of creativity?

creative thinking: knowledge
creative wanting: motivation
creative doing:skills

all three key points can be shown in just about everything people do in their daily lives, people are creative in their own ways and in their own situations (age does not apply)
wether it be drawing a pretty picture for a parent or designing a ground breaking sky scraper, creativity is a trait we all posses in some form.

"The Games Game"

2007-02-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Does it really matter if a company wants an art based student or a game art student. each type has its own place, downfalls and benefits as the game industry employees many people from different backgrounds, some of which are from animation, movie, and business backgrounds that in later life found a love for games. all walks of life get into the industry with different backgrounds in which some are totally unrelated to games but those of us that are just starting out with a small portfolio and no experience in the industry can gain this from the careful nurture of experienced people already in the industry.

there are always people there than can teach and there is always someone to learn. this basis gives a slightly opened door to the chosen path that people may chose to take as some people are stuck in this position;

"How on earth do you get game experience if you don't already have game experience? Isn't that a chicken-and-egg kinda problem?"

without some basis we are (relatively speaking of course) screwed. thats where higher education with the aid of knowledgable people come into play to give people like me a kick start when its well and truly needed, where as some people with art degrees have the skill, would this benefit them in a company that doesn't teach time management, game art history, game culture. its like jumping head first into something you thought you knew but ultimately wasn't.

a keen knowledge and drive for the industry was well as an arts background helps, sadly not all people posses god like powers, that allow them to be good at everything (although some do, damn them!)

if games centered educators decided to get up one day and quit. who would be left to teach the knowledge of old, you would find art graduates asking "whats a game culture?" and our link to games history would be lost to a select few that keep it to themselves.

at the end of the day many people have different talents weather it be in art or in games, different companies take on a diverse range of talents and skills to suite them and before long everyone will realize that games and art are fundamentally the same concept but expressed in different ways.

a slice of game history

2007-02-10T06:06:00.000-08:00

How is sound used in games?
ever since the first games rolled in on us, sound has been apparent throughout as a medium or identity in wich people describe or remember games. many people can say they remember the mario tune and probebly humb it to. sounds can often be found to be more famous than the composer or even the game itself.

some audio can be an expression of the games visual style and intended mood such as silent hills "promise reprise" not to mention its overly aerie ambient sound effects. games can often be used a psychological tools to get a person to buy or play a game. almost as if someone is saying "coming over here and play this game"
if i am to be honest audio in games has scared me, made me cry, even made me hate a particular character. any form of audio in games has the ability to make you fight on(halo theme tune) my brother learnt the halo theme tune on his guitar just because its an uplifting i wanna kill some bad guys tune.
music can also conjure up an "i don't wanna know whats behind that door". feeling. (silent hill)

In the early 170s music was difficult to incorporate into games as they were cumbersome and quite delicate but a "more affordable method of having music in a video game was to use digital means, where a specific computer chip would change electrical impulses from computer code into analog sound waves on the fly for output on a speaker." similar in fact to the progression of soundtrack to final fantasy 1 through to 12. you ca just about notice the distinct difference in the tones. before long in games were able to take more channels of audio without aking up to much space thus allowing for vocals to be heard in video games and as to date composers are able to play with more than 250 channels of audio.
Akira Yamaoka: silent hill
Nobuo Uematsu: final fantasy
Yoko Shimomura: super Mario, parasite eve, legend of man, kingdom hearts.
jeremy and julian soule: prey
are just some of the major composers on games to date.
"good times" was the most influential songs of the time period and the song left the way for grand master flash's' "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" and the Sugar hill Gang's single, "Rapper's Delight". it has been used by many hip hop and dance recordings since its release.

game engines

2007-02-10T05:13:00.000-08:00

A game engine is a technology many are familiar with, it calculates graphics physics animation a.i. sound scripting etc. game engines are a fundamental piece of design, created to simplify a structure to a game for programmers, allowing the creation of a fantasy world. many game engines are used today and are some of the most recognizable aspects of a game, such as
Unreal Engine 3, Doom 3 engine, CryENGINE2, RenderWare, Gamebryo, Virtools Source engine
these engines are the more famous engines as they implement something different than the others, such as physics or graphical potential. game engines are also used as "game middle ware" as they can be reused on many platforms and in different games. a structure or scaffolding if you will.
This scaffolding can be either subtractive or additive, meaning, either the world is carved out of a giant mass inside of a game engine (subtractive) i.e. unreal engine, or a game is created in an empty space "void" out of an infinite space of nothingness(additive) i.e. half-life engine.
both styles of games have their advantages and disadvantages. most game creators carve a fake "void" out of the subtractive mass and enlarge it as they see fit.
buying into middle ware can often come with pricey consequences with your game. such as hidden liscences that take a few long late nights deciphering the legalese so not to be sued in later development. installing correct versions in the right place can be a disadvantage but finding that a new version has popped up and changed formats and or given more bugs can halt a game in its tracks for extended periods of time. to boot a middle ware game engine is usual designed for specific physics such as cry engine or half life engine. these specific engine characteristics may not even have been thought of in a game, also these features may have hidden the fact that the engine may not have something simpler such as a decent lighting effects.
where middle ware software has problems it also has advantages in its application for a cheap quick game release. its much faster to learn an existing engine than to create then learn one of your own (not to mention cheaper) many people would have used the existing game engine on multiple formats platforms and versions this would have allowed for many bugs to be found and eradicated (piece of mind) forums and other unofficial and official advice centers would have been established due to the engines reuses over the period of time since its release.
despite destructible worlds and amazing visual effects that are partly coming into place now with crysis and other leading games in development, games are also in the pipeline that will take on new ways of a.i. for example it has been released that quad core computers can now multi task to a point of total realism "if Gordon sat down to play chess with DR Kleiner, for example, a spare core would be dedicated to running a deep blue chess simulator to ensure they played a realistic game" pcgamer 2007 issue 107. these software advances through hardware development will be pushed to the limit with new physics applications too. to be first seen in the half life engine.

too much WoW!

2007-02-03T03:28:00.000-08:00

since i can remember I've been an major fan of mmorpgs, well any game, through which i can actually interact with real people. this one aspect of an internet virtual environment (V.E.) part of the online gamers world is playing the game itself which is rather basic to online veterans but second to this is interaction with other avatars(players) from around the globe. part of gaming cultures is to compete with others in you niche', online games are a major example to this. whether they are fps rpg rts. they all take on some form of competition. most of these competitions take up serious amounts of people patience and time, I've clocked around 50 or so days in one such mmorpg.
as one gets to know his culture or niche he finds himself online more often that he should be, making invisible friends, maybe starting a complete fantasy life that takes up more than its fair share of a persons time. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/11/21/wow_lawsuit/

as far as gaming culture developed into many different niches, people still ignore and refuse to accept that gaming cultures are widely apparent and get to people in many different formats, such as forums, blogs, articles, games themselves, face to face chat, even if they don't wish to believe so. gaming cultures are what drive people to debate -key word- compete and argue over what they believe is to be true, whether it be games or any other medium. people take part in gaming cultures through the many formats to be more involved in their chosen culture. In truth gaming cultures have formed many derivatives and kind-of split games in different independent pieces, such as video game music (http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=home) and commonly known retro games. everyone that is interested in the games industry knows of or is part of the games culture by default, but it is up to them to take it a step further to be more involved.

everyone that i call friend -that is interested in games- likes some form of game derivative and that is why the game industry will continue to interest all gamers and non gamers alike, who knows maybe in the future something new will come of game cultures. its a partly unexplored area of games and with every new game style or game development comes a new niche for people to take part in.

games industry

2007-01-14T08:06:00.000-08:00

How is the industry doing? the games industry is pushing the boundaries of technology through ever increasing need for betting games that result in technology advancement and in short requires even more staff to produce a game title. this is forcing the game industry to grow exponentially but as the industry grows so do the team sizes and with it a larger budget is always needed, thus even with the reuse of common game engines for example "cry" (crysis, far cry) games developers are taking a page from smaller indie companies and marketing their games online to reduce overall prices. cutting out the middle man. this increases the royalties from an average of 20% to almost 100% as the publisher is taken out of the picture.

As the strain on the game industry begins to get worse many of the design team move around to find better job prospects in the game industry or even create their own smaller companies.
the increasing under recognition of talent in teh industry has also lead for staff members to just up and leave to create their own niche' in the games industry thus the cycle begins again.
currently the games staff movement isn't the only issue. game liscences also effect the games industry when developed for consoles as the publishers must secure multiple liscences in order to start a game and more licenses to distribute and advertise the game. in the future tha game industry is going to face a short fall as increased stress on development teams is costing far more than in the earlier years, as a result the industry will increase the prices of their hardware and software.

the Japanese industry is more a cultural niche' and will always be a need for games no matter the price but this is very much different in the western world as alot of people don't care for games and those that do may find themselves a little out of pocket to affort "next gen" titles

Psycho babble...

2007-01-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

Game play? game play? play, game. What exactly is this thing?
And why is it important?
Does it exist as a definable set of rules?
Can it be designed into a game, or is it the random convergence of several interacting factors?
Is it even important?
I woke up to a new PC in the middle of December realizing the fact that i could play games simultaneously with my brother. the first game we chose was America's Army its a rather simple first person shooters for those that do not no of it. on arrival into the game i began to realize that the games graphics are somewhat dated and the animations cumbersome but my brother and me play this game blindly for some reason. could this be game play or do i just enjoy the sheer fun in, kill....competing with American gamers. It usually takes me a while to come down to earth and play a good ol' game that has anything short of beautiful graphics but i play AA just as much as i play for example battle field 2142.

i have a small explanation that may explain why i enjoy playing them both. where as battlefield you are part of a small army and can fight for your cause or run aimlessly into the wilderness if you so desire, AA each man counts for a larger percentage of the game. its almost possible for 1 man to fight for your teams survival against an entire 16 man squad and win. the 'Game Play' is involved in AA competes with battlefield and over shadows the graphics somewhat. this is why i beleive game play exists -even if some critics and game developers don't- and is a fundamental part of a games development, however AA may have been a complete accident as it was originally intended to train and test actual recruit's for the army, therefore it is possible that game developers did in fact overlook what hey were creating.

game play as a hole could be developed into a game through in built factors scattered throughout a game. such as development of team work to be a more necessary to accomplish a final goal

"A game should encourage player interaction. Players should not be so far apart that a player has to venture 3 or more turns in the same direction to reach another player, especially if it is a space game. In a strategy game, a player who sits back and does not get involved should not benefit while others fight it out. As well as gaining resources, one suggestion is that a player's units increase in strength with experience.

gameplay can be directly influenced by playing a game with more than one person for a shared goal but this is an example of only one factor that contributes to game play. there are more factors that make up game play such as, story, characterization, emotion, realism.

game play is i word i consider to be used when a player likes a game and when the game developers don't know really how they have done it, but some game developers use psychology and manipulation to add something more to their game, therefore is game play a psychological or a physical factor? ill think about this some more and try to give a definite answer

character or characterisation....?

2006-12-09T04:12:00.000-08:00

Since i have been able to see stories cartoons and games fro what they are i find myself wondering what a character ould have looked like from the designers point of veiw if he/she didnt have a solid plotline for a character. basis for a character can change an image into a beleivable actor. for example condemned is played as if you are the character - 1st person - and you walk through the game encountering foes but without the characters plot - slightly diranged police officer - the game would be nothing more than a mindless first person beat em up.
a person can become attached to a certain character if the character is beleiveable and has characteristics that make he or she more realistic un like games such as oblivion in wich you create a random looking character than takes part in a scripted world with no real emotion or characteristics.
Games creators look for psychological floors in the gamers psychi to exploit to their will and build a character people can gather emotion from by playing that character in either a good or bad way. (villain or hero). when i played tomb raider for the first time all i could think about was breaking her legs, i couldnt help myself, that crunch sums up my favourite experiences of that game and maybe just maybe this was an intention on the designers part. go on you know you want to. let her fall!
As a keen game player waching a character fall to their death is only part of the fun i want to see them screaming and clawing to try and save them selves. wouldnt you be scared if you fell a thousand feet to your death? teh acting doesnt just stop at mindless script and occasional one liners, an indeapth character diologue and characterisation makes people more attune to liking or disliking a character. weather it be looks or acting, a character needs that somthing special or a an indeapth look that shows just a faint bit of emotion to bring them to life.
Depending on the game, a character doesnt have to rely on any script at all. acting and appearances says it all, tekken is a clear example of a game that doesnt require script just as tom and jerry doesnt in cartoons or laurel and hardy do on television.
I am a sheer fan of horror mysteries because i cant help but want to either be scared or be visualy challenged by an overload of different characters in different situations of suffering or iscolation. books to me cant just contain dialogue for character building or i get a little bit bored and disreguard the rest of the book, this is why i prefer stories in games as i can see here and almost touch a character while the character building takes place then get into the story wothout a hint of bordom. id much rather take a part in a story than read someone elses thoughts. Although, im not the sort to run off to the cinima if a book is fatter than the palm of my hand.
Reading a book to me is much like having a narrator (honestly now, do you like having someone talk through a movie) i prefer to see the story unfold without having to read what somone else is feeling, after all its my experience not theirs.

"if it aint broke don't fix it"

2006-12-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

As a child the earliest user interface i used (that i can remember) is the ever so special keyboard. some peoplebeleive its complicated but its getting used to it just the same as other interfaces. user interfaces such as tv remotes and microwave keys that people use on a daily basis follow the same path even though they are not designed primerily for games but user interfaces doesnt have to stop at hand held objects. the pc operating system and mac operating systems were carfully developed to suite the markets need for a user interface. the mac interface is far superior in aesthetics and erganomics where as the pc is the most widly used thus does a user interface matter to us so much. after all we will get used to it in time and grow to love it. like the keyboard or pc OS.
Apple macs have the aesthetic qualities that most if not all other user interfaces do not have as it uses psychology to feel more user friendly - dragging rubbish into the bin at the bottom right, as if sweeping off the desctop - where as pcs just crash when we attempt to drag and drop somthing.
Ever since i can remember, having a control pad in my hand made me feel at home and in the future this wont change for me or the next generation because they are coming into a generation of key boards and mice but consoles will always be peoples first choice for games even if the pad is changed or removed.
In the future people will always be interacting with machines through some sort of user interface and at the moment the joypad and keyboard seem best suited for the job. "if it aint broke dont fix it".

WoW...pfft!

2006-12-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

Aa strong storyline is what makes a game worth playing as well as nifty visuals but characterisation in that game is what keeps me hanging in to the bitter end. ive tried to create characters before and found it to be dificult without having some refrence or background and many people agree that this is a nesessity or key to teh door that is the story. the character must have links are deep roots to the story or other characters that do. a strong story requires other things. enclosed a character i created using a time period, background and genre.

I like to think im not a person playing a character but i am the character, creating that atmosphere can lead to a person feeling that part rather than just watching it. i enjoy a game to an extent that i try to play it as best as i can but i do understand that a game player does make the story happen through a sereis of events however the realisation of this all depends on the games designers choices from the get go. do u realise your playing a part before or after? does the game scare you to a point that you will never play it again or did u just play it for teh sheer need to complete the second in the sereis for example.
What is the point in living someone elses fantasy if you dont experience it the way he or she wanted you to experience it, just the way they have.
Many designers say they do agree that a story is essential then add some poor attempt at one towards the end but alot of games are designed to get you hooked such as MMORPGs. mo money for the creators but many popular games such as zelda or metal gear solid do have appealing story lines that make us want to play everyone of teh sereis and we damn sure gonna pay £50 to play these because we want to rather than need. games like call of duty or medal of honor take there place either from a major point in history or a sideline of that such event and thus we want to take part in the story or relive it. maybe its just for sheer fact of shooting germans. games like these have a story for those that wish to see it but also can be played by skipping every cut scene just the same.
To me a story is essential even if it is repetitive because all games by merit have to be at the most, slightly dissimilar in some way and i get the satisfaction from playing new characters in new situations with the occasional plot twist and great ending.

2006-11-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

What does an Art Director do? Game artists are fundimentally the brain behind everyone working on a single project. their job requires them to solve problems related to everything and anything that a currnet game could and most definatly would face, weather that be photoshop or the 3Dgame engine specified to such things as what a characters shoe is going to look like, thus an art director will inherintly have to keep all his team in check and all on the same path or a so called game could end up looking some what, messy - in terms of visual style. as an art director i would personaly put forward my own ideas rather sneakily and maybe ad a few things into a game that would take my personal art style or cheaky ideas, not all that disimilar to John Romaro's coligues oddly placeing johns face in teh game, on the first Doom game.

Who are they responsible to? Art director - although quite a high status and resposible part of the games chain that it is, is below the first link in the chain, the Games designer, as in film the art director would be directly below the production designer or below editor in publishing. the art director can and most likly is a person brought from outside to express the ideas from the games designers to all the artists and creators of the games practical side. he would control the workings of all these and report back the games progress to the designers to make sure everything is going the correct way.

Do you think it's a creative role? Art director dips his paw in every part of the games pipline, from art to 3D engines, it is only as creative as the art director would like but there are limitations to an art directors use of creative expression as they are far removed from conscept design and art in general but they do over see these things and have their input just the same.

What qualities do you think youd need to develop if you want to become an Art Director in the future? To develope myself in the form of an art director i beleive experience is key to being able to handle the pressure of all the tasks that can quite easily be split in to several well payed jobs. people skills and maybe a million years in the industry will almost bring me up to scratch with the trials and tribulations of an art directors Daily! tasks. being able to keep an entire team - of up to more than 100 people on next gen games - on track and all following a specific style. making a game look feel and sound well would have to come a close second.

Reveiws are for people that want another persons oppinion

2006-11-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

for arguments sake i am going to stick to games reveiwers and not reveiwers in general. reveiwers are given a game to play and evaluate on "their" experiences with the game. weather it be graphics game play or over all feelings, it is a personal take on somthng someone else has created. maybe the game designer wants this overcite maybe he doesnt but to be honest putting reveiws that are obviously going to be read by the masses you have to stick to what i like to call...RESTRAINT!...people are going to take every little word you say and twist it to fit their own personal veiw on a game, almost like a war in which a reveiwer takes the first shot and an apposing or agreing person takes the next shot as the reveiwer cowers in wait.

novice reveiwers tend to take their personal veiws to a point - a little like i am doing now - in which onlookers can take advantage of. the second link hilights a less animalistic take on clashes between points of veiw but the theory is there. what if i were to say "i dont like project gothem 3 because its linear and i dislike racing games to an extent in wich i wish to vomit" the reveiwer will almost certainly take that as a personal attack and feel non the better for personalising his words for the masses. some things should be let go.

game journelists also face the scrutiny of the much larger percentage of the games world, the recreational players. people have an over veiw of journelists and reveiwers but hey, we all buy these reveiws and in turn, even if we disagree immensly, we pay their wages through sales and they benifit from us doing so. their point has been portrayed and many of them are strong willed enough to take everythng we say about them, with a pinch of salt.

Ranking a game in its most basic sence seems almost heart breaking as many games that are left on teh shelf because of a bad reveiw have deeper graces that need adressing, but reveiws tend to reer towards "i like the graphics but...!!THE FRAME RATE IS A BIT SLUGGISH!!" ranking a game on its graphics and/or game play alone seems almost meaningless, what does this game have? what can it show for future development? games can be considered milestones and are a learning process for games companies. To put it simply, if i wanted a game to be changed in a certain way such as farcrys low contrasting lush green fowliage, i'd make a comment expressing that, rather than giving the game an 8 because it had good game play but the graphics made my eyes ache. looking at a game and giving it a score is pointless. looking at a game and giving your oppinion on its failiures and successes gives the developers and readers somthing to work from. hten maybe sales would be increasingly more perposfull.

ngj..

What other forms of games writing can you find?

games writing can take the form of ratings reveiws and general discussions and can also be found in many formats such as blogging, devotedURLs and even discussions through other games or chat rooms. writings from sites such as http://uk.ign.com/ are a basis for delivering games writings inside the games world. people can express their oppinion through message boards. articles in newspapers depicting games sales or game trials are common place in todays technological age. many games have also been made into movies or vise-versa such as "Final Fantasy" or "Resident Evil". games writing doesnt just stop at somes score out of 10 its mass marketed and put out there in many forms for us to see on a daily basis.

Both subjectivity and objectivity have there status and are regarded to be a necesity in writing. i feel that both types of writing deliver a persons point of veiw weather bias and straightforward or broad and discussed. if a person must express an oppinion on wich he or she cannot be shyed away then so be it but if a writer can openly agree to critisism and discuss to means then that is a course best suited to its perpose

F.E.A.R?,,,next gen?

2006-11-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

review some of these links on Game Design
write your blog entry, and consider the following questions:

What is meant by Gameplay?

game play is a term many people use to fill the gap where other words fail to fill. something that can be tagged as the games soul or reason for being...failing that it can be described as a games longevity or the players experience of a game other than a bit of eye candy and catchy line or two. for most people a game is played for fun and excitment and this is generally the way game play is merited upon. "does this game lack game play?" yes? many people would pull apart a games defining points in an attempt to rid it of its so called "game play" and miss the point entirly. for example i played a game called Condemned: criminal origins recently and found it to be overly satisfying and enjoyable to smash the skull of a crazed lunatic in the desperate attempt to....what? i just realy liked beating people up! The lighting also reflected the dark diranged esscence of the game. some may say this game lacked game play if all i remembered about it was crushing my foes in increasingly more violent ways, but i played the game and enjoyed every last second to the point in which i could wait to catch my next victim unawares and feel my 2x4 connect with human flesh. game play is more than how the game realed me in and kept me playing, it is better described as a feeling of satisfication weather it be violence, pleasure or pain, in the end "each to his own".

Who are the leading lights in Game Design? games designers come from all backgrounds, genres and skills thus there are hundreds if not thousands that deserve the title of leading lights
Eugene Evans, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Mythic Entertainment,Inc.
Montgomery Singman, Chief Professor, Shanghai Theatre Academy
Lan Hai Wen, CEO, Link China Entertainment
John Needham, CFO, Sony Online Entertainment
Joshua Hong, CEO, K2 Networks

games design is a fundimental part of the economic structure in teh computer age that we live in and will continue to develope through the imagination of the next game enthusiast. Games design takes place in all walks of life and in many areas of the world, such as Russia, America, Japan and little old England but the design process is created in the same place it always has, the minds of games enthusiasts all over the world, hidden away somewhere in dark computer rooms in the attempt to make millions of people happy.

Is it a single person's responsibility?

Over the years games design has gotten more complicated and technical with many people taking part using their indevidual skills such as texture mappers and level designers to artists and sound designers. from the first games to the most rescent, games have had increasing nubers of staff required to get to the finished product, sometimes as much as 150 or more people (Doom3). however games design has to have a beginning and that can be found at one persons idea or conscept wich is annalysed and split up into design stages. the first doom game was designed by non other than John Romero along with other games such as wolfenstein3d and the first quake. some people assume that games are developed and set on a path that is layed exactly how it started but many things change throughout the process. such as zelda: the ocarina of time. some of the locations of objects and creatures were changed even after the strategy guide was published. in short, games design is the sole job of everybody working on the game, after all, thats why they call it a design team.

Do different genres require different design principles? different genres of games are required to go through a similar process, every time. the games pipline requires research into a particular genre that may give the game its starting point and could effect its overall outcome but in terms of genre, if a game was to be an FPS for example then one would have to cinsider violence and game structure (psychology?) compared to an RPG that may entail more than just killing the next thing you see with a fully loaded hand cannon, what if an RPG needed more of an intelectual approach (myst or atlantis) as to find objects, solve puzzles or say the right thing to the right person to get you where you want to go. design of everything else depends on teh genre of teh game and above all the audience that likes this genre. games such as atlantis would be more suitible for an older more mature person that lacks teh hand eye cordination of a next generation FPS addict. the design principles of every game doesnt always go according to plan and may inherrit a class that was not originally intended such as GTA. it was first designed as a game for any body to play but as it grew so did the violence and the lastes versions are certificate 18+. the principles of game design cmay be able to go off at tangents depending on teh genre but the main structure is still there. http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Andy/Games/DesignPrinciples.html

What's important for you, when you play?

when i play a game i want to almost always see somthing new that may not have been done or used in that way before or maybe some new graphics technology, such as crysis (not F.E.A.R.). game play is assential but when a game is given to me i expect a certain amount of realism. im not just a guy that wants a game to look good i want it to feel good. designing a game that has great shaders and real time shadows is one thing but lacking game play and or quality is a no no. i recently played Baldurs Gste1 again and i loved it as much as when i first played it. this being an iscometic 3rd person rpg that has next to no graphical need what so ever. It has immersive game play and i am not forced to go along a set path to complete the story, the game allows me to go where ever want to and complete as many sub missions untill i totaly forget about the storyline.

It's all in my imagination!

2006-10-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

What are the significant developments facing gaming at the beginning of the 21^st Century? What pressures does the industry face?

The new millenium. it doesnt seem as long as that since sony released the first 128-bit console that would later become the most succesful console of the eara and become sonys number1 sold creation (so far). playstation 2 could play not only CD-rom but it can also traverse the once, next gen format "DVD-rom" and also play audio files and dvd movies. playstation 2 was the first console to over-shadow pcs in graphics capability thus it was increasingly difficult to create titles in the early 00's that lived up to the potential of the ps2 and 1 year later the requirements of titles were upped with the new and more powerful (nitendo) GameCube and (microsoft) Xbox. All three formats had different specs such as the xbox with its inbuilt hard drive and fully supporting HDTV or Game Cubes optical mini discs. all these platforms and differences made gaming choices a little more difficult to make. im a die hard playstation fan but i cant deny that i have both the gamecube and xbox at hand for resident evil or halo, after all who cares how hard it is to swich between platforms - I want my game! - such as resident evil 4 moving from GameCube to playstation had ome tweaks to it; a total of 5,000 polygons less in the playstation version than the GameCube.

Alot of the pressure faced by the games industry is the vast need for new and updated titles for current formats, for example there are over 8000 titles for the playstation2 in circulation around the world and more in the piline every year. consider also that xbox, gamecube, dreamcast, psp, etc have their own personal titles, applicable to just that particular platform and you have an almost unimaginable amount of titles out there. t be honest it makes me wonder weather i can call my self a hard-core gamer.

From thegaming super powersthat gave us playstation 2, Xbox and GameCube comes the next gens; ps3, Xbox 360 and nintendo wii. the next generation of console power is right on our doorstep and with it the games market is pushing world wide instead of the smaller managble europian and american markets.

What do you want from gaming in the future? What games would you like to play? How will you play them? This is a chance to dream!

Id like to play crysis because its the first next gen game that ive seen with amazing A.I. a story, and some nice eye-candy. when a person walks through a bush the leaves are moved almost as if you are touching them - finally a main character that actualy exists - and the noise that is made is differant depending on the speed in wich you run thorugh them. crysis is 1 step closer to what i want to see coming to light in the future and i will have hours enjoying it after i get myself in debt trying to make my pc powerful enuf to play it on the lowest possible settings.

Future gaming is a wide area to cover because games today are slowly but surly becoming photorealistic and meeting the needs of most people, with the ecseption of the few games that lack valid story-lines or game play. the future is here with the much antiscipated crysis (crytek) (bit of eye candy for you) the future of gaming a id like to see it is more graphical content A.I and story. todays games tend to have 1 or 2 of these but most rear around just that and always end up having somethng missing. for example oblivion is nice looking and quite large...my god even the A.I isnt so bad but can i break through a window and see what is going on inside, no i cant. a house in most games today are just over hyped loading points and/or obsticles. i want to be able to interact with everythng i see similar as oblivion but expanded upon it. picking up set objects that - by the way are the same in every building in the game (another point) - are thrown or just repositioned in the vein attempt at a funny screen shot isnt what id liketo see. i want objects that break depending on my characters strength or cars to to dent exactly where i put all my characters body weight. Realism would be nice too. having the same objects conviniantly placed in every house is a little bit boring. peoples houses and surroundings should reflect their personalities and therefore my character could change their personality hence changing the world around me. making someone scared of me could inherantly make an npc a recluse (hair grows long, house gets untidy, doesnt speak to people, eventualy may die a lonley death) or an npc could fall in love with my character and have fresh roses on her table, greet every1 with a smile. A.I. shouldnt just stop at hiding behind a tree or running up to start a conversation, personalities that evolve and change would enhance game play far beyond normal gaming boundaries.

Photo realism in games today is getting closer and closer as every ten years technology gets 10 x smaller and 10 x faster. a game that a person can feel is real rather than just see is real would make all the differance. If every texture was felt or weather was experienced, a person should feel rather than begin to slouch over a rendered 2d image of his character beating up a zombie with a pitch fork (mental note: that actualy sounds fun!).

In the near future (im dreaming) id like some hardwear that will allow me to feel and see things that i explained a little while ago. such as a body suit that makes you feel everythng your character feels, almost like you arnt just an extention of your character you are! the character. this would make a person feel remorse over getting their character killed or genrally fhave a more emotional attatchment to their character, after all you are feeling what they feel (a little bit of pain never hurt anyone)

"E.T. didnt kill gaming, it only killed atari"

2006-10-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

the 80s started video games off with a little character known as pac man or puck man to japanese gamers. pac man was the first game ever to have a leading character with its own name and many other games followed suite but failed misrebly.

Ataris E.T. considered the cause of the crash of 1983?
in 1983 the next milestone in the gaming world was its down fall. the game industry dug itself a grave of poor quality game and jumped in head first . some people say that E.T. was 1 of the games that started the crash of 83 but there are forcfall veiws on the crash of 83 being a lie.
i beleive that the games crash of 83 was point of veiw blown out of proportion. many games were still on the market in the early 1980s and people still bought them. there wer games throughout the early 1980s and the games market was still progressing at that time.
"E.T. didnt kill gaming, it only killed atari!" anon

A major boost in gaming happend in 1983, the first 2 player game was designed by a woman. "M.U.L.E." it would be a further 20 years before man caught up and made this idea mainstream - and i thought men ruled the gaming industry - swiftly putting that aside. nintendo brought the gaming industry out of its dark years with the "NES" or japanese name "famicom". the 8bit system was the the beginning of higher res gaming, over 60 million consoles were sold world wide. it reigns supreme as the most sold console ever.

a major milestone in gaming history struck in 1985 with the development of a game generally called tetris. tetris was created by Alexey Pazihitnov, in 1985, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow during the soviet union. tetris was designed with another russian game in mind "pentominoes". (tetra is greak for four and is used in tetris because all the shapes have 4 sections.) you can find tetris on almost any platform in some shape or form.

in the mid 1980s sega decided it was time to join the hardware gaming war with the sega master system as a direct competitor of the nes but failed to take a valid part in the japanese and european market even though it was a more technically advanced peice of hardware, its failiure may have been a result of its mascot - prior to the 1990s sonic - "alex the kid".

in the late 80s a new generation of gaming style came to being....simulators. people wanted to do real things but in a fantasy world such as sim city and sim farm. this started a new genre of games and kept the games industry rolling into the future for a short period of time.
1989 was a fabulous year for gaming as not only sim games were brought to lightbut also the aptly named "god games" developed by Peter Molyneus, such as populous. the gamer took control of the inhabitants of a world and had complete control over them -finally a game you can have fun with - other games developed by peter molyneus are "dungeon keeper" and "black and white"
sega finally fought back with their new and first 16bit console the sega genesis and with there 100million marketting campaign plus the add ons to allow the gamer to play master system games it couldnt fail. it didnt. it stormed the market the likes that had never been seen. GO sega! with the exception to the hand held console known as the gameboy this is the end of that golden age of gaming...teh 1980s!

2006-10-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

hmmm. who decided to make computers fun? and what was their background?

the first game ever devised on computers was tic tac toe, whcih is almost 10 years older than "Space War", created in 1952 created by a PHD studant, studying a degree in computer and human interaction, A.S. Douglas. an argument could be made that Douglas may not have been the first person to want computers to be fun but the first person to catch onto the idea. http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~edsac/ follow the link to dl the latest verson of A.S. Douglas' game.

the first computer game i had, was a Commodore 64. i loved the retro cassettes. i had a box filled to the brim with cassette tapes. most i had never played so there was always somthng knew. the first game i remember playing from start to finish - after my patients grew - was crash bandicoot. sitting on the living room floor on christmas day with my brand new playstation was 1 of the most memorable experiences but a only a few years later i found a game that i would soon grow to love, Resident Evil. from the first time i played RE i knew id found my favourite genre, survival horrors came and went through many years of excessive gaming, such as parasite eve, alone in the dark and ofcourse resident evil. failing any new releases of survival horrors i attained a PC for the first time in the late 1990s and bought myself a copy of "Baldur's Gate" i soon fell in love with roll playing games and from this point on i considered my PC as my first and formost gaming system. (i later became addicted to FFXI and lost all conscept of time)

the most recent game i have been playing is final fantasy XI but ive been weaning myself off it to play oblivion and to sit and wait for resident evil 5 on ps3 and resident evil biohazard chronicles on the nintendo wii.

Sorry for being so late

2006-10-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

whos writing and how do you perceive them to be?

i had a quick scan through the links and found yors...mr Powel. as you have put it to the invisible audience id like to comment on farcrys use of gun gore set in a lush green paradise. farcry in my oppinion was a way of throwing you into a gaming world in which you were forced to use site sound and instinct to resolve any given predicament. granted the over the top foliage was irritating for wanna-be snipers but this is what you would expect to see in a tropical island. plant life taking over forcing man to use all his sences and abilities just to make that long wated kill shot or fire-fight more satisfying.
farcry was only a starting point or ruf scetch for ubisoft as there up coming game - crysis - is what i can comfortably assume will be there master peice. depth perception and color variation as pointed out that was lacking in farcry, crysis will set a knew bench mark for the next generation of FPS. http://news.spong.com/article/9833?cb=209 (link to lovly screenies of crysis) this link has a few comments that explain the need for AI as well as graphical content. i agree to an extent that graphics are only a section of a game but im bias to a bit of eye candy over an intelligent enemy that can anicipate my every move. I will just have to wait and see for myself if crysis is all i hope and expect it to be.

hmm i went a lil ways off the question. mr. P. is obviously a keen gamer and doesnt need me to to say so. his comments are obviously well thort considered and personal. I'd comment more on this blog but id probebly type far to much. Love your ideas Mr P. blog on.

does blogging strike you as objective or more personal?

i cant help but feel that posting blogs to a large audience is a long shot away from handing in a tatty peice of paper to a school teacher in absolute confidence as i can assume we all have. it is a step above writing to a grade rather than an actual audience, i mean i want to get my thorts out there instead of scrawling things i dnt understand just to impress.

how often do they write, what do they write about?

micheal mosts in quite an irratic way but always has somthing fresh to say about anythng and everythg. (not just games)

how do i see myself using a blog?

this blog is rather late as ive had trouble setting my account up but i can see myself getting into the spirit of things as i intend to have my next blog posted quick sharpish.

do i feel comfortable writing to an invisable audience?

i feel as if everythng i am writing will get judged but im willing to accept critisism as it comes. i can deffinatly see blogging as my personal format for my ideas.

If only i had thought of this earlier

2006-10-16T06:02:00.000-07:00

thank gawd for blogging. i dont know how id have coped with essays for another three years. if only i had thort of this earlier. thank you tinternet.