Doom on toast

Long time, no see

2009-02-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted anything arty for a while, so just been practicing, trying to get a bit more realism into the way I draw people. I'm a bit sick of looking at him so I thought I would just throw him onto blogger for now.

Team Blog

2009-02-06T04:02:00.001-08:00

Team Blog Address http://sausagesmile.blogspot.com/

Holidays

2009-01-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Ah, a blog post, which is quite rare to see from me nowadays. I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth or anything and I really haven't forgotten to do blogs, however I seemed to come down with a rather extreme case of procrastination this term.

Anyway I hope everyone had a great Christmas and fab New Year. This Christmas break had me traveling quite a bit so I didn't get as much done as I had planned, however it was a nice break anyway from Uni and I got to go see my cousin's christening on the 28th which was really sweet.

The run up to Christmas was really strange as after Christmas Day-day (Christmas at Uni) it felt as though Christmas had come and gone, but in the end I had like 3 Christmas's spread over 2 weeks, which was awesome.

Santa also brought me a new shiny wacom tablet, so now I have no excuse for not doing any speedpaints.

Anyway hope everyone is all refreshed and looking forward to presentations.

The Xbox Generation

2008-04-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

Xbox Children

Once again the Media points its shady finger at gaming for once again doing something awful to children. The gaming world is now finding more problems at the worrying change in statistics that a child is more likely to get repetitive strain injury playing games then breaking a wrist due to falling out a of a tree.

My personal view on this subject is although it is a shame that kids aren’t frolicking about as they used to be I don’t actually believe that playing games has everything to do with that. I men sure there is a small percentage of children that are addictive and those problems need to do dealt with, but surly the parent must notice that the child is spending way too much time on a console and should try and get them a bit more interested in something else. I think it’s all too easy to blame a computer game for problems, as it seems like such an easy target.

The problem seems that there is a breakdown of family homes; the household is a lot different to what it was about 50 years ago. The standard nuclear family household (Father, Mother and children and probably a dog.) is not as dominant as it once was. Single parent families are becoming more and more popular and the last thing a single parent would want is for them not to know where their kid is when they are at work. Games and the TV are often used as mechanical babysitters, an endless supply of entertainment whilst the parents are away or busy and every parent will plonk their kid in front of the TV just to catch a break from the hectic struggle of life.

The increase in cars on the road have increased in the thousands over the past few years, I can’t help but think that some of these people that point the blame to games are thinking in the past. Let’s face it life isn’t as safe as it used to be 10 to 20 years ago. There are more cars, housing estate are built next to heavy roads, kids are becoming prime targets for mugging since technology is trendy to have, nearly every child will have a mobile phone on them or an iPod or a DS. Some kids get bullied, mugged or happy slapped so home becomes safe, games become comfort. Both parents and children are constantly bombarded with the media displaying terror stories of child abductions and children bringing knifes to school. This world is a terrifying place to live. I grew up in a fairly small town in which life was pretty normal and nothing out of the ordinary happened till a girl about my own age at the time was raped and killed. You just can’t trust anything anymore.

I think the main difference between now and 20 years ago was that places were a lot smaller and more people had access to a supportive community, which is dying out as more and more people shut themselves off from everyone else. Sad to say is that people don’t really need each other anymore, real life communities have been dropped in favor of online communities so people are still connecting with each other but doing it in different ways then before.

Anyway the point I’m trying to make is that the media is using gaming as a scapegoat to cover some more serious problems to do with upbringing and community in the 21^st century.

Good and bad Art

2008-04-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

Time to have another stab at the subject of Good or Bad art, which is a real tricky subject since there isn’t really a proper answer to this as not everyone is going to have the same opinion on the same piece of material.

However I do think that people who have been trained up in any visually creative field would have a different approach to looking at a piece of art as they would have more of an idea about the creative process in general. I would say that I do judge art very quickly because I know about the gruelling hours that you put into a piece of work and all the hard work like perspective, colour theory, composition etc etc. However that only applies to certain types of art.

The internet makes artist much more able to showcase their work without paying for gallery space or planning exhibitions, many artists have their own websites showcasing themselves. Many use the really famous art site Deviant art. However this also means that anyone can use these sites and the amount of bad art you find on Deviant is a tad disturbing. For an example I searched for Fat Pikachu on Deviant art and hundreds of badly drawn pokemon flood the screen, so I click on a random one and it has about 51 favourites and over 1000 views with comments like.

“ I really like this! You drew and colored the Pikachu so well”
“Wow. Very awesome. Fav.”

A fat pikachu is not good art, but there are tons of badly drawn pieces of “art” strewn about on this site with people commenting about how great it all is. Ask them who Kandinsky is and they probably wouldn’t have clue. I believe the problem is that people get too wrapped up in the subject matter and the style (American Manga for example) to even care about if it was drawn well or not.

I do think site likes this are great for the artistic community since everyone has a fighting chance of being seen and noticed, but the point that I am trying to make is that I don’t like that piece of art, as I do not see that as art, however many other people do. Seeing a piece like that evoked a negative reaction from me and a positive reaction from others and that is what art is about, your reaction to it?

You can’t really judge art, there is no fundamental law that says this piece is good and that piece is bad. It really depends on the person that is engaging with the art. When judging a piece many things come into account such as skill, perspective, colour theory and subject matter. Like I said I judge art pretty quickly since I know what I like, I know what I like to see in art and what I don’t. It’s not that I hate the piece of art it’s just that it doesn’t do anything for me.

I’m a fan of the old masters work, like Da Vinci, Raphael, William Holman Hunt and Bouguereau and I love Art nouveau and Pre Raphaelites. I’m not a fan of the Dada movement and I’m not particularly fond of Minimalism. These are choices that have shaded my liking for certain styles of art and shaped how I see the world of art. What does it say about my general taste in art. I like art that I can see the skill and hard work that’s been put into it. I like complex subject matter with symbolism (William Holman Hunt’s, The Saviour had tons of symbolism to do with Christ.)

I don’t like art that looks like it was done in an hour or artwork that doesn’t have much depth, I can’t really see the artistic depth to a matchbox stuck on the wall and someone says that art. To me it’s a matchbox stuck on the wall. I don’t like squiggles that look like they were painted by a two-year old, I personally don’t see this “art”, it’s a type of art to someone but not to me. This brings me to my next point.

Click Here.

Does that mean that it’s “bad” art. Well no since I don’t really think there can be such a term as bad art. I think art has different categories that they fall into and I think that certain types of art get more respect then others. Art is something that’s free and it seems that anyone can do “Art”. Art is product of creativity, so does that deem everything creative as art? Well in some sense I agree however there are so many different levels and meanings to art that it gets harder to pin point “bad” art. There is art that I don’t like but other people do, there is badly drawn art which people still like and think is amazing. If it came down to skill level then there would be thousands of pieces that fall into the bad art category however it doesn’t boil down to that. At the end of the day it’s your opinion that makes the choice between bad or good.

Click Here

And just to see how much you know about art.

Click Here

Well I believe I'll stop babbling on now.

A SpeedPaint

2008-04-15T08:00:00.001-07:00

Um..I'm not really one for posting my work, but I guess I need to get round to it sometime.

Anyway. This took just under two hours in painter. It's not really what I was going for but I guess it's alright.

A Moral look

2008-04-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

I’m going to look at good and bad but more at a moral level.

I’m fully aware that I’m entering a career, which has a whole lot of bad publicity surrounding the products that get produced. Through the press, games have been associated with obesity, lack of social skills, death and even murder.

It seems that the playing video games have been blamed for causing a lot of problems in modern society like increases in violence and crime and now with many addictive games available to everyone such as mmo’s that games are also being connected with symptoms of Autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Click Here

Firstly it gives me mixed feelings towards this statement since I’ve grown up with games and so have a lot of other people that I’ve known through out the years and they’ve turned out fine. The problem with articles stating that games cause crime, cause obesity and death is that they all they do is concentrate on the extreme negativity that comes with playing games and not the positive and good points of playing games.

Some of the friends that I’ve made over the few years have been strengthened because of games. The way I think about it, I could be going out and staying out late and doing all sorts of crazy stuff except that I’d rather stay in and play a game. One thing that my mom has always said about my brother and I when we would play games till the early hours in the morning is that “At least I know where you are.” Some parents have no clue where their kids are at 2 , 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning.

Gamers have there own secret society which is theirs and people that don’t play games can’t relate to what they’re talking about or what they mean. Me and my brother can just talk about a certain game and it something that only we know about, it like talking in Morse code to some people. Some people strive to fit in and have some sort of community, which they can relate to people, some people can’t do that in “Real Life” and resort to games and Internet for social acceptance.

Games offer people more chances to be themselves as you are more known for your personality instead of your looks, race or class. It makes being social more easier and less daunting. People have made friends, formed relationships and even have had marriages because of the social networking due to online gaming.

However games still get bad publicity, it causes deaths – allegedly. I’m sure everyone knows about the manhunt incident, the World of Warcraft death and the Legend of Mir 3 murder. Click Here.

All I really say is that these are very special incidents and the choices were because of the individual not because the game influenced them to resort to these actions. Think of just how many people play games worldwide and that a very small proportion has incidents like these. Death and murder happen all the time and everyone regardless if that person has played GTA or manhunt, if a person has the mentality to harm someone then it will happen anyway.

The media blames a lot of things and contradicts itself on many occasions. For example, health specialists say that drinking bottled water has no benefits over regular tap water, yet health specialists also say that drinking tap water contains estrogen (due to women taking the pill) which is lowering men’s sperm count. So each view just contradicts itself over and over again.

The media is very willing to point blame wherever it feels like, so games get a heavy share of bad publicity. However when games help a disabled kid feel like they’re playing sports once again it doesn’t go as noticed. Click Here.

When I read these negative articles it makes me challenge my moral standpoint on games, but I’ll always go with my gut and remember just how much fun I had growing up because of games.

A review of sorts

2008-04-05T03:34:00.000-07:00

I finally got round to finishing Okami this week and all I can say that it is a truly awesome game, so if you haven’t played it then you don’t know what your missing. It’s got an truly outstanding art style, and the game play works with such fluidity with the style that it was a really good game, also it had really humorous parts in it- I love games that have a sense of humour to them.

It’s also expected to come out on to the Wii soon I believe. I think that it would work well on the Wii since the game play involves a celestial brush in which you draw your moves out, so I think it would be a good transition form PS2 to Wii, shame I don’t own a Wii – yet.

I’ve been playing more lost Odyssey over the past few days and it’s a really good, fun game to play. I do like playing turn based combat games from time to time as it always has an organised retro feeling to them. It reminds me heavily of the Final Fantasy series but that hardly surprising considering who worked on it. It has the standard male protagonist (Kaim Argonar ) who is solemn and doesn’t say much, however the game gets more interesting when Jansen Friedh, a womanising drunk, enters your party. Some of the scripts on the game really crack me up, its funny bits are sometimes hilarious with this guy, however it’s sad parts, are well… that brings me to the downside of the game.

This game seriously tries its hardest to make you well up and crumple into an emotional wreck. It takes itself so seriously with all the grief and turmoil and dead people throughout the game. Anyone who has played the game would understand, you get to read these memories of Kaim in the game and the first one you hear is about a little girl dying (sorry if I spoilt that for anyone), but either way it’s not heart lifting stuff. Problem is that the memories are all in text with some sound effects and maybe a background or something, I would of liked to of seen the memories in CG as having them in all text kind of disrupts the flow of the game as their not even short, it’s like reading a chapter in a book – but I guess that’s what they wanted.

Two other things slightly irk me about the game, firstly is the voice casting. In the English version they have Kath Soucie voicing a little girl called Cooke. Well Kath Soucie is better known for voicing Cubert Farnsworth out of Futurama so this gets on my nerves since I’m so used to hearing her voice portray a clone chubby boy that I can’t get used to her voice fitting a little white mage girl. However this is really minor and I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

Another really slight thing is Kaim’s run, I mean his super fast turbo boosted run. He can just zoom level to level with this run that in my opinion is way, way to fast, it doesn’t really fit. But again this is just me whining I guess.

Little things with the animation sometimes bug me in games like the double jump in God of War, y’know the one where he pelvic thrusts himself higher into the air.

Well I just needed to get a few things off my chest. I guess that’s all I have to say on the matter.

Rabble Rabble

2008-03-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

I’m not quite sure what on earth to write on this blog anymore, but I’m starting to get guilt tripped into paying more attention to this blog, I’ve kind of completely ignored it since we started the group project, but that’s going to change now.

I hoped I would be a bit more driven this Easter break to really knuckle down and just throw myself into doing work, but I guess the temptation of chocolate and games proved a bit too appealing over the last two weeks. I recently bought Guitar Hero 3, Beautiful Katamari and Lost Odyssey, all in the same week- so I’ve been a bit busy “researching”.

However I haven’t been completely devoid of artist thought of the weeks, I visited an Arts and crafts show and got to meet one of my favourite landscape watercolour artists, Keith Fenwick. We had a discussion about the teaching of art and how it was handled in schools, so I found that pretty interesting to listen to.

It got me thinking about why I wanted to create art in the first place and what aspect about art that I had always liked. I had pretty much made up my mind that I wanted to do something creative and had always strived to do things my own way. One thing that I continue to worry about is my failure at taking criticism, I overly criticise my own work however if anyone else criticises it then I get overly defensive about its flaws, this is one thing that I struggle with in art, that anything you create will never be perfect and that someone will dislike it. However if someone dislikes your work or finds mistakes with it then surely it must encourage you to become better and iron out those little flaws with your work. Although it’s necessary to listen to criticism to become better, it’s is still one of the hardest things I find about art, it’s even harder to listen to the little critic in my head which will find flaws that no one else sees, as it makes making the first mark on paper ever more harder then it was in the first place.

However I do believe that one of my greatest weaknesses is also one of my strengths since I won’t get complacent with my level of work, so I’ll keep pushing my standard, which is a good thing.

I love creating things, thinking up ideas or a cool concept, I like having the freedom and imagination to produce paintings, drawings and models from thoughts that I’ve had, I have many outlets to show people my ideas which is something I’ve always loved about art. However the more I think about that, then the more I think of art as one big ego trip, am I drawing because I want to draw for myself or am I drawing because a small part of me wants people to think that I’m creative and imaginative and I want to show off. I think that I’ve probably just contradicted myself in saying that I have not enough pride in my work yet I have just enough pride to want to show it off. I guess these thoughts plague every artist every now and then, everyone that has to rely on talent and ability for their career must have thoughts like “What if I can’t do this.” Or “What if it’s not good enough.”

I spoke to comic book artist John McCrea a while back and I guess one of the most valuable things that he thought me was that as an artist you are always going to have your bad days where you’ll think that you are the worst drawer in the world and then you’ll have your good days where you think you’re better then everyone, but the key is to never actually believe any of them because you’ll always find that someone is better then you and that you will be better then someone else eventually, so don’t let it get to you.

Another piece of good advice I heard was that “For every good drawing you do, you’ll produce 1000 bad ones.” It’s not the most hopeful pieces of advice I’ve been given but it keeps things in check.

Well I guess I’ve rambled on a fair bit, but at least I’m not neglecting my blog, and now for some more “researching” on Lost Odyssey.

2008-02-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

A Creative Summery

2008-01-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

I decided that it is finally time to draw my thoughts about creativity to a close. Over the past few weeks I’ve tried to break the huge topic of creativity down into smaller more digestible chunks so that they make more sense to me.

The first question that I thought was how do I know that I’m creative? I couldn’t really answer that, as I just knew that I was creative. My interests have always leaned towards more creative pursuits I never really wanted to do anything else. I didn’t strive to be athletic or academic but I always knew that I wanted to do something creative with my life. However that didn’t really answer my question to why I, personally was creative. How was I creative?

I would constantly draw, I would write and did some acting, and if there was ever a project at school I would always make sure that I was head of its art direction. Being creative was something that I was proud of and enjoyed. I guess I was creative in a linear way, as I wasn’t really creative in a logical way, I didn’t like maths or science, I enjoyed history but only because I could doodle in that class and no one would really notice. When I think about my whole life, I’ve always been that way. In my other posts I stated that creativity could be linked to the things. It can be linked as being something new or solving a problem. My own personal creative stems from my life choices and my interests, I fit a creative type.

Creativity is one of those funny words that have so many meanings and guises that I can’t really say that Creativity = X, it’s more like Creativity = X+ Y with a bit of Z. It can’t really be defined with one word. It’s just a very vague word that could mean one thing but also mean a completely different thing entirely. However since it stems from the word create, creativity will always mean to create. Being creative means having the drive, will and passion to create something that been nestled in your thoughts for some time, to produce something that you and others haven’t seen before.

Although it stems from the word create, Creativity is not bound to that one word alone. Creativity is the form of fun, enjoyment, emotion, interactivity and productivity. Creativity is constantly around us in every little detail. On my desk is some Cadburys Digestive biscuits, now somebody had the thought of the biscuit, someone had the thought of chocolate, then somebody had to have the thought of combining the two. Why are the biscuits circler, why aren’t they square, why aren’t the biscuits thicker or thinner? Who made the decision to have the packet purple, who is the company called Cadburys? Just in one packet of biscuits, which seems so trivial, has so many creative decisions involved, and this is only the one packet of biscuits that we see that made it to the production line, imagine all the designs that were made but never used, the designs that were thought but never placed on paper.

My other point is the creative process, since our thoughts move so quickly and we have so many of them at what point to we decide to follow on with some thoughts but let others slip and forget them. What makes us decided to make the creative decision to draw something one-way and not another. We don’t really question our own thoughts as we just go with them as we trust them, listening to other peoples thoughts makes you question your own thoughts in comparison and judge them more, which is why setting a task where everyone has the same word (like what we have been doing in Art with Chris.) however nobody has the same result. Everyone has a different creative process that they go through to reach the final design. I like to think of it as a thought tournament of some sort, where at the very top, the winner is the final design. There were loads of very small quick thoughts that were creativity dismissed and the winner would have much more thought put into to it.

The creative process can be just as important as the final creative product since everyone handles it differently; everyone has different taste and experiences to draw their inspiration from, since no one shares the same memories or ideas the chance of having an exact copy of someone else product is pretty much impossible. People can have very similar ideas considering how they have been brought up, for example most people have the same conception that sharks are powerful, ferocious and frightful creatures so would be good as a villain. So coquencidences like that are bound to occur.

I think that humans had to be creative to survive, if you think of how many different cultures have formed with different style of art, music and speech. I think that it is only human nature to strive to be creative to set themselves apart from others, to seek individuality as part as a group. Many things are based on circumstance, such as expansion of a colony, invasions and resources to have things are done and how we speak and interact with each other. If humans weren’t naturally creative then there would only be two or three names for everything that existed and the wheel would never of been created. It was creative process as names were something new and the wheel was solving a problem.

However humans aren’t the only things that are creative, I also believe in creative design. That everything on this planet has been shaped to intelligent and creative design. Early man had many forms, however some early designs were flawed and therefore died out leaving only the intelligent designs to keep evolving. Everything fits in so well, like a perfect jigsaw puzzle, that everything has been evolved to solve a problem, such as our eyebrows, which keep the sweat out of our eyes, I believe that it is intelligent and creative design. The African lions are coloured so they blend in with the grass, male birds are more colourful and elaborate to attract females. Creative design has shaped the planet and humans being the more dominant species is shaping it to suit it’s own need. The planet is seeing natural creativity and man made creativity all at once.

Well I’m tried to summarize my thoughts on creativity. The journey has been long and tiring. I’ve tried to keep it varied and interesting and I’ve hoped that you have enjoyed reading my blogs.

The future of creativity

2008-01-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

At the moment Britain seems to flagging behind as a creative power in the world, gone are the days of the British Empire where we use to export useful materials such as iron, coal and china and be known for it. Now we just import pretty much everything we use, do you remember the last time you saw something that said, “Made in Britain”. We aren’t really leading in anything like education, medicine, transport or technology or even art, in a way I just think it’s kind of sad that Britain is really producing any pioneers in the fields anymore.

I was just thinking about the future of creativity in Britain since more and more games art courses are cropping up throughout Britain to try and keep up to date with technology. I believe that I read something ridiculous something that Britain is about 13 years behind Korea in terms of technology. However, industries that Britain was famous for such as the industrial revolution is slowly fading away. For instance I live in Dudley also know as the Black Country because it was covered in black smog from the working factories however the government is slowly investing money into the area to bring new business and higher-class families into the area. I believe the same can be said about Tesside University getting tons of funding into their game design course since they have lost one of the biggest industries that they had, so the government is placing more money into a new technology.

If I think about where this industry is going then I kind of worry, as Britain doesn’t house that many game developers and it seems that I might have more chance of getting a job elsewhere. However the fact that Britain has any game developers is quite hopeful.

I do think that we were promised at lot of new gadgets to improve life such as the flying car, jetpack and robots where creative technology hasn’t really gone that far that and is still slowly catching up with our creative ideas. However as long as Britain recognizes that it needs to put funding into new technology such as game design then only then are we going to keep up with the rest of the world.

In terms of creativity I do think that we are on a par with the world, I wouldn’t say that our creativity is stifled be where we live however there isn’t as much opportunity to work on huge blockbusters or really expensive projects when mostly things like that happen in America where most big budget studios are formed.

However one thing that I really hate being exported into Britain from America is Political correctness and I do think that is stifling not only creativity but also freedom of speech. I do think that a lot of projects are only given the thumbs up from officials if they tick all the boxes. Such as children’s programs have to have morels and can’t really be just a fun program. If children aren’t learning from it then it isn’t any good. Same can be said for movies, it’s like they have figured out a formula that works and makes money so just keep making the same movies over and over again till all the movies are just a remake of a remake with some new fancy title and just another overpaid actor that funnily enough can’t really act. The same thing with games, I wouldn’t really say that sequels are made to expand the story anymore they are just a tool to keep growing the title and suckering more people to keep buying. Such as the final fantasy series, it’s great that with every new game they make a new storyline and new characters as well as trying to expand on the gameplay however there is also Final Fantasy X-2, a horrid sequel only getting sales because of it’s predecessor Final Fantasy X. Also let us not forget Dirge of Cerberus and how it rode on the white horse of Final Fantasy 7 and Advent Children to gain publicity for this shoddy title.

Anyway the point that I am trying to make is that creativity is slowly being dwindled from the industry from fat cats that only wish to fatten their wallets and therefore will just stick to the same old patented formula and produce meager titles. However there are those ingenious titles that occasionally get through however when they do, everyone seems to realize this and then whore it out.

Brooding = Creativity

2008-01-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

I had meant to include this in the last post that I did but I felt that it would just be easier having a blog of its own. The Topic that I kind of want to touch upon is the misconception that every artist is this broody self-loathing, body-scarring manic-depressive. Personally I’m not a tortured soul and I yet I do art, surely not!

What I am going to explore is creativity darker side since all artists, poets and writers have this stereotypical view of being sick twisted individuals and I would like to know why this is so. Many scientists believe that individuals with complex brain habits such as bipolar disorder, TB and epilepsy have a more heighten sense of creativity.

Creativity and bipolar disorder

There is a common belief, although without empirical basis, that many famous historical figures gifted with creative talents have been affected by bipolar disorder.^[1] Many of these have been retroactively "diagnosed" as suffering from bipolar disorder after their deaths based on letters, correspondence, contemporaneous accounts, or other material, most notably in Kay Redfield Jamison's book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.^[3]. Touched With Fire presents the argument that bipolar disorder may be found in a disproportionate numbers of people with creative talent such as artists, comedians, musicians, authors, performers, poets, and scientists, and some credit the condition for their creativity.

Several recent clinical studies have also suggested that there is a positive correlation between creativity and bipolar disorder, although it is unclear what the relationship is between the two.^[4][5][6] Temperament may be an intervening variable.^[5]

A 2005 study at the Stanford University School of Medicine showed for the first time that a sample of children who either have or are at high risk for bipolar disorder score higher on a creativity index. Children with bipolar parents who were not bipolar themselves also scored higher.^[7]

As Quoted by wikipedia .

So is this where creative types get their dark stereotype? That the most talented of all artists were very deep and disturbed? Surprisingly it reads true as most of the most the most famous artistic names such as Van Gogh, Edvard Munch and Monet all had such problems that affected their personal lives as well as their art. Monet had failing eyesight that caused him being one of the leading artists in impressionism. Munch was surrounded by death and therefore most his paintings surrounded that topic and yet Van Gogh was so caught up in his own depression it eventually drove him to suicide.

http://student.bmj.com/back_issues/1201/life/471.html

So our greatest painting minds are tortured souls that lives are strife with depression and death. Is that why they can paint so well? My belief is that to have an emotion to tap into whilst working can bring a lot more personality to whatever your working on but to go so far and torture yourself for the sake of your art is completely another thing entirely.

Someone told me that going into Art will never be much personal satisfaction into my life as I would be my own worst enemy and worst critic. After finishing a drawing I am never pleased with it and always strive to do better although doing this means that I will constantly try to improve it also means that I won’t get any satisfaction or pride finishing a piece. Perhaps that is what these artists also went through.

Perhaps leading a life of happiness of personal fulfilment would mean that these artists wouldn’t have been as successful as they were when they were brooding and miserable. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime so he wasn’t exactly a popular artist however what is fascinating about him is the tragedy that surrounded his life. I don’t think the story of Van Gogh would be quite as interesting with a “happy ever after” added to the end of it. I think secretly people love the idea of a tortured soul and a grim tale. This also reminds me of Nirvana whose front man Kurt Cobain whose rising success and drug use pushed him to take his own life. However since he took his life at the height of his fame he will always be known as a musical genius where as most musical talent have their 15 minutes with fame and then disappear out of the spotlight and get forgotten.

I think the idea of a dark brooding artist is a romantic idea but not that close to reality since everyone has their dark moments but won’t really put any energy into it to creative something out of it like a artists, writer or poet would. The only reason that they probably come across so dark is that at the end of it you can see the product of a deep emotion.

However I think that in this day and age that too many have cottoned on to this idea of a deep brooding soul and decided to make a new trend of it. Being labelled “Emo” isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it stands for emotional.

In recent years, emo, in the popular media, has been associated with a stereotype that includes being emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angsty.^[18][19][20] It is also associated with depression, self-injury, and suicide.^[21][22]

As quoted by wikipedia

However since it has became so popular it has became common belief that you have to act that way to fit in with that crowd. I can’t imagine acting suicidal being good for anyone. However not only is it associated with depression and such it is also associated with art and music. However type in Emo art in google image search and you’ll see that emo art is becoming more of a movement in art as well as music.

Any the point that I am trying to make is that an artist is often that off as a dark brooding soul as the French romantics saw it that way but also now in our day an age the new movement of emo also adds fuel to the fire of this misconception with emotional music and art. However all I can say is that I don’t really know any dark emotionally scarred people and I’ve been on many art courses…

And now for some uplifting entertainment of a game (which is named Emogame funnily enough). You play as Alkaline Trio vs Hell, and you get to fight Hitler so it’s all good. Click Here

Front Line Creativity

2008-01-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

I thought that for this blog that I would a little bit more about different types of creativity as I feel that I’ve only kept close to the kind of creativity that I’m involved with and wanted to stray from this and do some further exploring on the topic.

Shall I start with the obvious types that stem from the typical sort such as Art, Music and Drama which in most people’s opinion are the most creative, I would agree since creativity can be defined as “something new” which all those subject exhibit. New Art is made everyday which hasn’t been seen before, music gets made which hasn’t been heard before and films get made which haven’t been seen before. So what is my point?

Well creativity is also pinned down as “solving a problem” so does this also reach out to other topics such as Maths, Science and Medicine since they all solve problems albeit that those problems have cropped up time and time again only to be solved using the same creative solution. The question is that is that really even considered creativity since it isn’t something new, since there is already a solution to most problems in these fields. A mathematician is going to know that the answer to 10 + 10 will always equal 20 no matter how many times he repeats the problem, the solution is stable and never changing. Ask an artist to paint a flower everyday the outcome will constantly change as the solution is dependable on variables such as the artists ability, the mood, the atmosphere, the weather and lighting and on time. The point that I am trying to make is that as creativity is defined as being

Something New
Solving a problem

So if I’m looking at creativity in that light then isn’t only fair to say that anything has an air of creativity since it can be based on different variables and yet at the same time a stable solution to a problem. There are many problems that surround the topic creativity such as are we born creative? Can we be taught to be creative? Are people only creative in one aspect in their lives?

I do believe that people are born creative; everyone is creative however some are more liberal to how and where they apply their creativity in their lives. Life choices may shape how they choose to be creative but I do honestly believe that everyone is creative as is it evident in speech, letters, homes etc. However I do also think that once it goes past a certain point some people rely on so called “creative types” such as artist, writer, actors etc to be creative for them as they don’t believe that they a creative type themselves. I also believe that some people have better skills and are more suited to doing some things then other people are such as some people are more logical and practical minded and would make a much better scientist then say an actor and would probably enjoyed that type of field more. That is where that individual would spend his creativity, just because he isn’t in the typical “creative” field doesn’t mean that he isn’t creative.

The word creativity is derived from the word create so does this mean that people who create something new such as inventors, artists and writers are the only truly creative people? I surly doubt it, as I think that people that create are more “spontaneously” creative and that people that solve a problem with a creative solution are more “logically” creative. I imagine it that if it was a creative war then all the artists, poets, writers, actors, musicians and photographers would be at the front line taking the hits from the enemy as we are all on show displaying how creative we are and then just as we are about to get our asses kicked the cavalry ride in which are made up of Teachers, Scientists, Chefs and Programmers to save us as the enemy didn’t expect them (not sure why I decided to add this but just summarized what I was thinking about at the time.) . That probably made much more sense in my head then out in the open like this.

Anyway I thought I would leave some links on truly amazing creative things.
Proving that it is good to play with your food. Creating chocolate sculptures. Click here
Check Out this Nathan Sawaya's Lego Sculptures : Click here

Refrain from going to the water cooler..

2008-01-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

Just a cool video on creativity which I thought I would share.
Makes a lot of good points, and has a great backing beat.

Just some quick links

2008-01-09T06:32:00.000-08:00

Just thought that these might be useful to some people.

Since we are going to be tackling a group project soon I thought that this article would be fairly interesting as these students were going though a similar situation. Click Here

Since it is the new year, this articles gives some hints and tips for some resolutions regarding game design. Click here.

Something for the girls regarding the 360 and the male population. Click here.

Interesting and a rather bitchy post about game design, worth a read if you haven't got nothing better to do. Click here.

A great site for Art called Character designs, an Artists resource - don't really need to say much more. Click here.

A site which hosts monthly 3D competitions, worth a look. Click here.

Well that's about it, if I see anything else more interesting I'll be sure to post them.

Games – The ultimate in creativity?

2008-01-09T06:21:00.000-08:00

I wonder how my life would have been in I never discovered games? I wouldn’t be University doing this particular course and perhaps many people would simply scoff at the sheer amount of hours that I’ve “wasted” playing games. Simply put if I was born say 15 years ago I wouldn’t of really had the opportunity to do what I’m doing now, I wouldn’t have been able to put my faith into a university course to teach me the fundamentals of game design.

Game design courses are becoming more and more popular across the county and more tailored courses and campuses are cropping up such as DigiPen, a campus dedicated to creative technology - http://www.digipen.edu/main/Main_Page . Since this a fairly new career the hardest part would perhaps be finding lecturers that have had enough experience in the field to teach young and new hopefuls.

Having is picking Game Design an easy career choice, is it taking the easy way out? Since doing art the attitude that I always received was that it was an easy choice after all drawing is surely easy, right? It’s not like I was doing “real” work such as maths and science. This attitude towards the creative industries in my school such as Art and Graphics ensured that so many students enrolled in those classes expecting an easy ride and once things got that bit harder stopped coming or simply dropped out. It exactly the same with this course I feel, the class started with about 48 and now we are down to just 30? I think that some people thought that they liked playing games and thought it would just been 3 years of doing just that. Once some people figured out that it was a bit harder then they expected they stopped coming.

Now this brings me off the point slightly and might sound a tad superficial but when having my hair cut at the hairdressers they always ask me the same questions, if I am going on holiday and What course I’m doing at University, and for some reason I never say Game Art Design since saying this it just brings a lot more questions and most people simply don’t know what the hell Game Art is. One of the girls thought it entailed making board games and stated that she loved monopoly.

For some reason saying that you’re doing Game Art doesn’t really get as much respect as say doing Graphics simply because it’s such a new course. People just think I’m just doing an “Arty” course, which obviously has no work and no deadlines, yeah right. It’s hard work and time consuming and not just an easy choice. I don’t think that anyone on this course has found it a cakewalk and if they have then they should already be in the industry.

When I look back at starting that god damn wheelie bin and how hard it seemed at the time and take a look at what I’m doing now in comparison then it brings this into perspective, at times I do wish we had a lot more input from the tutors to prepare us for the second year and third however it pushes me to learn it for myself. I just think that with the rise of popularity of gaming over the years that it should be a bit more recognised as a creative industry by now instead as the “fun, slacker choice”.

For example here is the infamous Westwood College advertisment, showing off their game design course in rather bad taste. It’s really badly acted too…just plain awful. LoL tighten up the GRAPHICS a little bit…because making games is just that easy don’t you know.

Game design should start being seen as an educational progress instead of just something recreational. Something that was interesting to read was this article on game courses, at least worth a good read

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/469/innovation_or_vocation_the_.php?page=2

Well this turned more into a rant then a post.

Creativity part 4

2007-12-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

The question I wish to observe today is: do you have to be playful to be creative?

In theory I would answer yes, as there has to be some imagination and toying with ideas to produce something. However what can you really count as playfulness and creativity, or are the two terms so similar that they count as the same idea? Why is it that some adults become serious in all aspects in their lives whereas some do not? Has this got anything to do with creativity? Why am I asking so many questions?

As children we all play, children always do, it’s how they learn. Children mimic those around them and “play” at being those people such as doctors, mummy and daddy, cops and robbers etc. As a child I loved going to school, as all we would do is play games, finger-paint and do tons of arts and crafts and that all I pretty much remember about infant school. Being a kid is about as free as your ever going to get in terms of your mind and perception of oneself as all that your expected to do is bumble about being silly and constantly wanting to play.

I didn’t really like the academic side of things (mostly maths – can’t stand the subject, and everyone has calculators now anyway). I loved reading, writing and drawing always have done and hopefully always will do. So do I argue the fact that my personality was always playful and creative or do I argue that society and the people around me shaped it?

Research predicts that having large families might hinder creativity and playfulness at early ages, as children will be expected to be helpful around the house and could sense the stress of their parents and thus not be as willing to be as spontaneous. Well since I never was from a big family I don’t really know if this is true or not, but I was from a single parent family and I was always asked to do more around the house then my brother and I could always pick up when my mom was stressed or worried, which kind of kills any creative pursuits you want to do at the time.

Being a child you have more freedom, as there is no pressure, as soon as a child grasps that their actions will have long-term consequences such as exams, it will change the reality of the situation and start shaping the child long-term aspirations, influences and effect leisurely pursuits and career choices.

I was fortunate enough to live in a home where the pressure wasn’t as concentrated as perhaps other families, however since my brother was pretty much a drifter and didn’t particularly like studying it was left to me to do the family proud and go to university and get straight A’s, so no pressure there.

My belief that everyone does have a degree of playfulness and creativity, it might be shown in their sense of humour, their job or even in little doodles they do whilst taking notes from a lecturer. However it’s the real life constraints that are constantly hindering people from being more playful with thoughts like “ I can’t do that I have work tomorrow.” Or “ I can’t do that, the washing up needs to be done.” In the end it becomes so routine that they stop thinking of anything truly creative and just get on with real life. Once reality and pressure interfere then the expressiveness of the individual suffers. Sometimes it could be the opinion of oneself, such as doing something thought of as “unprofessional” and not wanting to get in trouble can stifle creativity and playfulness.

I think it is time to draw things to a close but first to end this self-debate with a conclusion. I think that all children are playful, it’s something you’re born with not made, however the choice to indulge in ones own creativity is affected by family, society and pressure. If discouraged at an early age then it might fade out however if encouraged with creative pursuits and pastimes then the level of creativity will grow as the individual explores their own imagination and what they can achieve with it. I like to think that happened with me since my dad wanted me to be a doctor yet since he didn’t live with me had had no influence with this ideal so I was left to my own devices and indulged in what I enjoyed. Hence why I’m on this course pursuing a creative career, with my playfulness and imagination still in tact.

The Golden Compass

2007-12-07T03:09:00.001-08:00

A few friends and I watched the Golden Compass on Wednesday, so there might already be a few blog posts regarding this topic on other people’s blogs.

I was quite pleased going on a Wednesday since it wasn’t very busy and also I could use my trusty Orange Wednesdays ticket, which is two tickets for the price of one.

Another thing is that I have never read the book, I wanted to, I just never really got round to it. So unlike the others that were comparing the film to the book and parts that had been cut out, I was blissfully watching the film unaware of anything like this.

As far as the film goes I thought that it was quite enjoyable, the whole setting was really intriguing and creative, I loved the idea of the Daemons walking along side a human and if the human died the Daemon would explode into dust.

There were some really nice touches such as Marisa Coulter (played by Nicole Kidman) when she slaps her Daemon across the face and ends up with a slap mark on her own face, things like this made the universe seem more real.

The casting was very fitting, the adults did a superb job however the kids came across a bit flat, but kids in films aren’t known for great acting anyway. The lead Lyra Belacqua (played by Dakota Blue Richards) was well suited to the part but as mention was a bit flat in parts. Having Ian McKellen play Iorek Byrnison, the armoured bear felt a bit strange as though it didn’t quite fit, although he still played a very good part.

My view as a whole is that it truly is an enchanting film with some awesome creative ideas and scenes, the cast generally play the parts well, the cg in some parts is excellent but some times it did look a bit off and not quite right especially with the Daemons. I think if I had read the book then I would have been disappointed as everyone that had previously read the book were complaining that it didn’t match up to it. However the movie did reel me in to this fascinating universe so I will be buying the book shortly.

Creativity Week 3

2007-12-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

Time to take another jab at all this creativity malarkey, I thought I would try and shed some light on what I consider my own unique creativity.

Truth is I’m not even sure what it is, I’m one of those people that are still desperately seeking it. I believe that my problem arises from my lack of self-confidence, so even if I do anything creative I tend to deny it and will continue to think of my work as a poor effort at best.

I never have been the most confident person, I find it difficult showing my work to other people and I find it hard to talk to people I don’t know. I constantly think of myself as screwed because in this industry I’m hindering myself by not showing my thoughts and being quiet. For some reason there is some sort of emotional blockade going on which stops me from voicing my opinion. I will often deny that I have anything to say which is often not the case, I want to voice my opinion, I want to tell you my ideas but I just haven’t figured out a way to do so. I am not a void of no emotion and no ideas.

So what the hell has this got to do with creativity, well I guess in a way everything, being creative and using different media to show my ideas is my way of telling everyone that there is something more to me, the thing if I can help it I wouldn’t show my work until it is completely perfect in my eyes not yours – which leads me onto my other creative problem.

Artists are their own worst critics and unfortunately this is all too true with me. Since I don’t think my work is good, I don’t think anyone else will, therefore I don’t show it. I always wait until last to show my work in group crits in art class and in 3D when going to lunch I always make sure that my Max work is not on display, just in case anyone would get a glimpse at it.

This lack of confidence in myself is a hinder to say the least, it is an automatic disadvantage, I never used to be like this, however I have never been around such creative peers before, so I do feel out of my league sometimes, but I guess that is the same with most in class.

My theory is it’s either sink or swim, I could be like a deer caught in headlights – to afraid to do anything or I could do something about it. Heck! I am trying but it never feels enough.

I often wonder if I have enough creativity to survive this industry, but at this rate I wonder if I’d even have the confidence to even get as far as getting into the industry.

Well this has by far got to the most emo post I think I’ve ever done, but I wanted to explain some things and get it out there I guess.

It least it has something to do with creativity…

Creativity part 2

2007-11-26T09:12:00.001-08:00

For my next battle with creativity I thought I would do a bit of a history lesson, my idea is to share what I consider creative times in mankind’s past. I thought I would spend some time thinking about this partly because it is interesting and partly because I want to see Beowulf, (as it revolves around the 6^th century) mind you I don’t want to see it because of the time line it was based around, I want to see just how bad it really is.

Anyway I digress from the point I was trying to make. I could tell you when mankinds first signs of creative thought were noticed, or recite some interesting poetry but it wouldn’t of have much thought put into it really.

The first thing that I would like to mention is the Tiki statues. These statues belong to tribes that border the South Pacific Ocean and are carved out of wood, they are placed to mark and protect boundaries to sacred places of worship. Why are they interesting? Just take a glace at them and I think that you’ll agree that they captivate straight away. Anything that resembles human form but blatantly isn’t has an eerie feeling about it. They also come in really interesting and tribal shapes and sizes. Like the heads on Easter Island there is something unsettling and eerie about them, which is perhaps why I like them so much.

Another thing that I would like to mention is Norse mythology, it was only after playing age of mythology that I really got interested in mythical legends, so it proves that games ARE good for you and that everyone should play them. Anyway I wouldn’t say that I’m only interested in Norse mythology, every religion has a wealth of interesting, morel and diverse stories, all these legends and fables enlighten the communities. In a way living in all this modern technology strips away communities and everyone sits in front of a computer to do their talking, any interesting ‘fable’ is usually some video on Youtube. We live in an age where we don’t need to hear about David and Goliath or Jason and the Argonauts since we all have Xbox 360’s. I’m probably going on a tangent here and completely going off the subject and ranting about old-fashioned values and such so I’ll talk about something different now. I always loved learning about history and was an avid fan of those horrible history books. Another historic age that I liked would be the Tudor age, as a child I often thought what it would be like living around that time, my guess is that it would have been a lot like Neverwinter Nights – or so I believed, except there would have been no mages or 5+ swords back in those days. Perhaps this is why games with strong senses of historic influence always appeal to me, such as Neverwinter nights or Fable.

Since there was limited technology and such everywhere had a strong sense of individualism and originality which doesn’t really happen these days since land is limited and such things, which is why the past is so fascinating, as it is so diverse. It seems that the closer people get with communicating, the world seems to get smaller and smaller, the modern man is less and less interested in religion as they used to be and the morels of man seemed to of changed, the future is focused on technology. Which, since I am doing a career, which didn’t even exist a century ago, is a good thing- there are far more opportunities for people that are trained in new technology.

I guess I could say that I find a lot of things creative such as games, art, books, films etc, but I bet everyone does. In inspiration, the past is always intriguing and will probably always be looked upon for creative ideas.

Creativity Part 1

2007-11-18T10:49:00.000-08:00

Alas I admit I haven’t done much blogging for a while so my skills might be a bit rusty, it took me ages to try and remember my password to even log on to blogger, which wasn’t the smoothest start for sure.

The task at hand is to try and write about creativity although we have already tried to do a post on that earlier last year this time is to get deep enough and try to understand it enough to pan out six weeks worth of blogs.

Since this post is the beginning of those posts I thought I might as well start at the beginning of creativity and what it means to me. I shall start at the beginning of my creativity and how I ended up doing game art as opposed to other courses.

My parents were not exactly the creative type; they worked in office-based jobs and didn’t pursue any higher education. On my dad’s side there is very little creative pursuits or creative careers. However on my mom’s side there is about 5 generations of women who all specialised in arts and craft such as knitting, sewing and such, however this was only the women as all the men had heavy labour jobs. My brother and I were always encouraged to do our best at anything we tried our hand at when we were growing up however we both didn’t really excel in anything worth noting, I wasn’t particular sporty nor academic. Teachers always noted that I was a bit of a day dreamer and enjoyed creative writing and anything that wasn’t constricting on what I was expected to produce.

Growing up my aspirations were to be doing something theatrical or writing as although I had always enjoyed art I had no inspiration to go through with it and take it any higher. However at my school there wasn’t really any encouragement with art , this followed on from primary school to secondary school where your imagination is limited by the school curriculum. In my secondary school years I found myself most frustrated with art since I had found something that truly had inspired me, dare I say it…anime. Perhaps a cliché in this day and age, since it seems that everyone is into it and Japanese animation is very popular on today’s television. However when I watched for the first time, it seemed like no one knew about it, it was like my own private inspiration source, however cheesy it might seem like now. I increasingly wanted to do my own stuff, find my own style but never really had the chance to do that in secondary school as it was very strict, anything unconventional was frowned upon and discarded. The teacher was very narrow-minded and traditional and all the art projects were centred around copying another world famous (and dead) artist. It was exceedingly mind numbing stuff and I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of school to go to college.

Except that it wasn’t really that much better, it was more work, more pressure and even more Van Gogh. I wasn’t even on a fine art course, it was a B-Tec in Art and design. Well I don’t think I’ll talk about those two years and skip straight on to University.

I think the difference struck me immediately since I was so use to teacher leaning over my shoulder and breathing down my neck so it was quite nice to have freedom and a bit of an escape from that. It was like being thrown into the deep end since I was so used to having each lesson structured minute by minute that only having a loose brief to work to was a bit of a shock to the system, my guess is that many people felt the same way.

Alas I feel as though I am straying from my initial thought on creativity, the point that I am trying to make is what creativity means to me as an individual which is the freedom to explore my own ideas not somebody else’s. I don’t think it’s particularly creative copying somebody else’s work, to me that is stifling. I want to work with creative people to share unique thoughts and work on interesting projects. Creativity to me is freedom to express my thoughts and views yet also to think of new ways to explore a subject or topic. Creativity is such an evasive topic to discuss as it can mean so many things but still be unique to one idea about it.

Another Video

2007-04-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

I don't think I really need to explain this...

Week 24

2007-04-22T10:19:00.001-07:00

The last blog…

Damn it came a lot quicker then what I was expecting…

Well what do I think of the course as a whole?

Like any course it has its strengths and weaknesses, so first I would like to point out it’s strengths.

I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet likeminded people that share the same interests and humour. I like the fact that someone actually from the industry is teaching us, there is a difference between someone who knows the industry and someone who thinks they know about the industry.

Despite my complaining I’ve actually grown quite fond of blogging, it’s more fun and relaxed then writing an essay and I’m starting to get a bit more confident with my posts, I also believe that my skills at writing have improved because of them.

As a whole the course mimics the industry it’s teaching us about, it’s creative and enjoyable which is what I want from my course.

Now for the things that I would like to see some improvement in…

The Computers constantly crashing or not having the right programs installed. This was an irritating problem to a lot people, I hated having to switch computers over and over.

I would love to see handouts on the techniques that Joel uses. It’s so easy to miss something the first time round. I’m not suggesting that you have to print out 30+ for everyone in the class, just print one copy and it gives the students to choice to photocopy it for reference, that way it’s a bit more cost effective and I’m sure it would save Joel going over and over a tricky technique to individual students.

Now what I would like to see…

I really want a soft modelling and clay module next year, I believe that this would give us a distinct advantage over the other universities when trying to get a job, also it doesn’t limit us to just getting jobs in game art – we could do animation or set design regarding claymation jobs.

Learning the traditional art skills in good fun but I would also like to learn more about digital art as it’s an area that I want to conquer.

More games would be nice, but I’m betting everyone would say that.

What about a mini fridge…

Or a Bar…. (It’s a good idea..really)

Anyway to sum it all up. I’m really enjoying the course and I’m glad that I decided to come here.

Woo.

Week 22: The GDC

2007-04-22T08:27:00.001-07:00

After poking around looking for events to do with the GDC I stumbled across an article that made me ponder and think of the relevance that it has to do with me.

Here is said article. Click
It’s all about the future of PC gaming, which sparked my interest as I’ve always thought of myself more as a PC based gamer rather then console however luckily I have an assortment of consoles and a high end gaming PC so I’m not in the situation where I only have one or the other.
They say that PC games are becoming less and less popular and aren’t making as much profit as they used to, in some cases I do agree as since many games now aren’t limited to just strictly PC or console, it is more affordable to have a console that costs £300 instead of a PC which can cost over £700. So why get a PC when all the games you want are on the other consoles?

If I was writing this about 2 years ago then I could of answered that with this answer; Well computers games have Internet gaming, better graphics and not to mention you can listen to your mp3’s whilst playing –wonderful.
However that answer simply won’t suffice anymore since the next gen consoles also allow you to have a lot of the freedom that a PC has. You can place music easily on the 360, the DS has Wi-fi capabilities and the PS3 graphics could rival that of a top-performing computer.

I would agree that a PC is costly, it takes up room and gives you the blue screen of death when your right in the middle of something. It’s a bit of a temperamental piece of technology however that doesn’t mean that PC’s have had their day.

I use my PC for everything, work, music, videos and games. Some games are just meant to be on the computer, some of the games I’ve played in my lifetime appeared on computer and consoles and the console versions just didn’t live up to PC ones – I believe that this is partially true for MMO’s, RTS’s and simulation games.

The keyboard and mouse would beat any controller in terms of complicated games where there is a lot of buttons and stats to press, these type of games wouldn’t work on consoles so I believe that the PC is still safe for a little while longer.

If I had to pick between a computer and a console I would still opt for my computer despite the drawbacks such as having to upgrade your system and paying for the expensive software, which you won’t get with a console.

So what am I trying to say?

Well the bottom line is that there is a decline is the PC market due to the affordability (PS3 aside…) and simplicity (just plug in and play, no installation required) of consoles. However due to social and addictive games for example World of Warcraft, The Sims etc I doubt that the market for PC would grow so small that it would jeopardise PC gaming.

A hybrid of sorts

2007-03-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

All I can say is thank you Robot Chicken <3

Week 21: Where do you want to go and how do you want to get there?

2007-03-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well for this blog it’s time to look back upon the last few months and reflect if I’ve learnt anything from being on the course.

First I’ll start with 3dsMax: Although most of the time I might not show it I do actually really enjoy working in Max and have been fairly pleased with my results so far. When I look back upon the wheelie bin project and how daunting everything seemed at the time it’s quite encouraging to see how much not only myself but also a lot of others have improved in leaps and bounds. I would love to have the technical knowledge to be a bit less constricted when making objects in Max however I’m sure that will come in time. I wouldn’t say I’m confident in Max however I am competent in the program and will put time and effort into what I’m making in order to achieve the result I want. I’m pleased that we have deadlines in a way because I can be a bit of a perfectionist and spend time tweaking bits here and there, which no one can even tell what I’ve done.

Next it’s Art: I did feel at first very much out of my league on the first few weeks of the art class, at the time it seemed everyone was a professional artist compared to me however that feeling soon passed and I began to feel comfortable in class and with my skills. It seems odd but as soon as I moved to my halls I didn’t feel very inspired or motivated as much as I had been over the Summer, I think I’m experiencing an Artists Block at the moment. I would enjoy Art class more if I wasn’t so critical of my work, I find it very hard to take complements about my work and will often struggle to find what exactly is good about it, although I’m no where as bad as I used to be. I really enjoyed the workshop that we had and the more sculpture related work such as making the wire men as this was a nice break from the more traditional work, I would also enjoy trying my hand at soft modelling (Hint hint).

The Art Style Guide: I was feeling fairly creative when I was working on the art style guide however I would of loved to have gone more in detail with it and maybe produced some concept art for it. I was quite saddened to hear that it wouldn’t be marked however I do think it was an interesting experience and I would like to do it again at one point or another.

Specifications etc: This is just a quick word on the document related part of our 3dsmax projects. I would love to put more detail in my specifications and timetables however when we were doing the bin, it was such a small object that it didn’t need a massively detailed specification so it was kept quite simple. Now I’ve got my head round the process of writing a specification I’m think I could write a thorough in-detail specification like the second years have done.

And lastly,

Blogging: I enjoy writing blogs when I get round to it and posting silly things and well just making it a bit more personal. I wish I could write longer blogs but I’d most likely waffle on and on and write about trivialities and bore the reader to tears, also I guess my grammar could be improved. However the actual blog writing and research itself I find quite interesting and not extremely difficult although I would say my overall downfall with my blogs would be the fact that I’m hardly ever on time with them, I think it’s a preference of mine to do two or three at a time as I find this helps me really concentrate and I find that I can write longer however I will try harder to keep more up to date in the future.

Well all in all, I would say that I’m really glad to be here and I’m quite pleased with my work. It’s also an interesting opportunity to meet people who share the same interests as me. I want to get a good job out of this is my primary concern and contribute towards making creative and interesting games – and play them for free.

:3

Week 20 Creativity

2007-03-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Creativity –for all those that took any sort of art class whether it was fine art at some college or even finger-painting in infant school all of us at one point or another have some idea what the word means and what the word means personally to us.

It’s another one of those ambiguous words that everyone has a vague idea about but it isn’t a word that can be pinpointed exactly by definition. Well for starters I might as well have a look at the word that Creativity stems from which would be quite obviously Create. Humans are the only beings on the planet with extensive ideas and imagination at their disposal. We as a species have harnessed small, quick thoughts and turned them into something imaginative and/or functional, just take a look around your room; every item has been thought up, refined and made by one person or even a group of people. The power of humanities thoughts have given us The wheel, the light, cars and the Xbox 360, if we as a species didn’t the imagination and intelligence to create then we wouldn’t exist as we do today.

I’ve heard the word creativity being said to me all throughout my artistic life and it is always a nice compliment to hear that you’re creative. Creativity can apply to anything as it stems from a creative thoughts process linked to ones imagination, it doesn’t just apply to art which is what it is usually associated with – it applies to creative writing, cooking and even accounting.

Looking at the word Uncreative can help define what the word creative actually means. The word uncreative is linked with words like; undaring, controlled, cautious and conventional – not particularly a nice word to be associated with. This means that creative minds more daring, think out side the box and tend to be more open minded with their thought process and ideas. We wouldn’t of got so many good books/movies and games if no one thought up these ideas and pushed their idea to the limit of their imagination.

Games as a media is ideal for showing creative gameplay, storytelling and art – No other media works quite as well as pushing the boundaries of creative and technical power. The increase of technical intelligence over the up and coming years means that creative thinkers in the industry will have no technical restraints when making a game. As a species I believe that we will only increase in imaginative and push our creative ideas as it seems that every one thinks that everything has already been thought up and done – quite a pessimistic view on the value of our future creative thoughts – I say that they aren’t thinking hard enough.

Certain games have a wonderful creative flow in not only their visual style but also in their gameplay and make use of the technical capabilities very well. Lost Magic on the DS used the DS stylus pen to make the player actually draw the magical runes on the screen, which was quite a dynamic part of the game play. Story line and character development it always seems that any of the Final fantasy series seems to win – hands down, which in my opinion I would agree. For visual style and imaginative character concepts Psychonauts is one that particularly stands out as the whole theme of the game was the mind which allowed designers to create fitting mental environments for the character that the player was in, for example; Milla Vodello is a 60’s-70’s inspired character and her mind is just one big party with dance music, flower themed furniture and bubble blowers. Brilliant! Another title that intrigues me visually is LittleBigPlanet on the PS3, a very interesting visual and playing style where the backdrops look like they are made out of cardboard and you can bounce on oranges etc.

LittleBigPlanet

Games give the designer and in some cases the player to really create and explore more with their ideas and imagination which at the end of day what can be better then that.

Week 19

2007-03-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

The main question for today is; who is more employable – The art graduate with no experience in main computer programs such as Max and Photoshop or the University Graduate who knows everything.

However it isn’t really as easy when it comes to that as it boils down to the company and to the individual.

The Art Graduate: Having a blank canvas to work with and train up could give the employer to monitor how the employee is learning, in doing this the employee is taught that companies way of doing things. However training is expensive and takes time and the game industry is a fast paced industry, so not many companies are going to be able to spend enough time needed to teach properly. However it could be a good investment training them up except when they decide that they don’t really like the games industry and move on to work in film in something. Bottom line is I guess having a nice clean artistic person to work up with who doesn’t have somebody else's way of thinking embedded into them is all nice and good, however companies simply don’t have the time to train to a great standard. The bonus for having an art graduate is that their open minded, creative and enthusiastic however won’t have the technical side to back it up.

The University Graduate: Having gone to University and trained up with Max/Maya and Photoshop this person is going to have knowledge about modeling, texturing and animating. This person can dive straight into the industry and not need to have extensive training at the company’s expense. However since this person has been trained up in University, the techniques that he/she knows will be influenced and affected by the Tutor’s knowledge, which is fine if the Tutor knows his stuff however if the Tutor has poor skills this might have an impact upon the student thus churning out a poor employee. Since artistic skill wasn’t particularly involved when learning Max/Maya the student might not have any knowledge on colour theory or anatomy, the fact that he/she can model a human in Max/Maya is employable however modeling a human with incorrect proportions, isn’t.

The Verdict: I think it’s pretty obvious what the answer is. Having two students relying on one side of games design will result in a poor result. Creating and understanding games includes areas such as Art, Technical knowledge, Social knowledge, psychiatry and architecture. When I look at it like that then I know that our course has got the balance working in their favour since everything we learn in both our lessons with Joel and our lessons with Chris bounce off each other quite effectively, the knowledge learnt in one class can be applied to the other. I believe that this is what employers are looking for, a knowledge of both Artistic and technical and skill in both areas.

Week 18: Music in Games

2007-02-25T17:01:00.001-08:00

Game Music

I would admit that I have a very large amount of game music on my iTunes, in fact I probably have an equal share of game music to any other of my music. My friend and I are both planning to play Final Fantasy 10: Hymn of Fayth at our funerals, as we both love Nobuo Uematsu’s work in the final fantasy series. Which brings me to another point the importance of music and sound in a game. Music sets the tone and the atmosphere in the game and can be compared to horror films such as when they use violins to heighten the mood and when the victim opens a door only to find….absolutely nothing.
However if the music isn’t done quite right then chances are it will hider the players experience as such music (especially when looped over and over (FF7 battle music I found partially annoying)).

http://www.errormacro.com/2006/08/the_worst_songs_in_video_games.php A link saying the top 15 worst songs in history, fairly amusing.

I adore Final Fantasy music however I also find that Martin O’Donnell’s work on the Halo series particularly good and of course listening to WoW’s Legend of Azeroth still gets me pumped up.
Of course a powerful and popular score for a game can result in success and can lead to the music being available to purchase, such as the Final Fantasy series for example.
However due to the increase in popularity of games in general, the music of such games have caused a car out for concerts and thus forth the first Symphonic Game Music Concert was held in 2003 and conducted by Andy Brick and 3 other concerts have followed and due to such popularity have sold out.

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

However sound is important in a game, creating mood; for example having no sound or very little sound can create a feeling of loneliness whereas having a game full of quick beats etc will get the player amped up to fight or for some action.
Dialog and therefore speech comes under this subject, as a bad voice actor can make a game a bit irritating however in some games where they get round the whole problem of getting the language just right just make up their own language such as The Sims and Okami where they just speak gibberish.

However due to being on a game course I thought I’d leave you with something everyone should enjoy.

Cats and Dogs

2007-02-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

For all those posting cats recently...

Alright I'll post a cat as well...

:3

Week 17: Game Engines

2007-02-25T15:09:00.000-08:00

Game Engines are the core of a game, it deals with the technology part of a game due to the fact it works with animations, scripts, physics and rendering. Using a pre-existing game engines makes things a lot more cheaper for developers to work with as create a game engine from scratch will be extremely time consuming and not cost effective and if it’s already been made and works extremely well then it makes more sense to buy this little boxed game engine and make the art for it.

These Game engines also allow a game to be released on a range on consoles and operating systems thus maximizing market potential. There are also many other engines that work towards creating components like architecture, sound and trees (FMOD, SpeedTree). A game engine can have many uses and in some cases aren’t always used for games exclusively, it can be used for architectural purposes and demos. However the extremely highly sought after engines include the Unreal Engine, Doom and Havok however these engines being so popular and all, come with a hefty price tag, the cost for the Unreal engine is estimated to be more than $700,000, yet still cheaper then making your own and chances are it won’t be as polished and bug free as this engine.

So here’s a link of all the goodies that you’ll receive for blowing $700,00 (or £356,433)

http://www.devmaster.net/engines/engine_details.php?id=25

oh and for further reading into engines

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

The Warcraft 3 engine will set you back a nice $3,750,000 and it is an interesting note that World of Warcraft (<3) uses the same but improved engine. Having the game components and the engine separate means that it can be sold to other developers for well…a hell of a lot of money.

A growing trend in games, though mostly PC is to include level editors so that users can create their own custom content and levels such games include Unreal, Neverwinter Nights and perhaps the most popular user content heavy game; The Sims. Providing an editor of such adds a different and more create aspect of playing a game and will hold the interest of a player for longer.

Have some more bad humour

2007-02-25T15:03:00.000-08:00

Alright last bit of WoWness – well for a little while anyway.

Gnomes on WoW come in many different forms but all of them are annoying and have pink hair, their hair is so pink that it is annoying in it’s own right. So have some more WoW jokes showing my dedication to the eradication of these insanely annoying character class..

What's blue and flies around the room?
A gnome with a punctured lung

What’s pink,red, and silver and runs into walls?
A gnome with forks stuck in its eyes

What’s pink and red and sits in a corner?
A gnome playing with a razor blade

What’s green and yellow and sits in a corner?
The same gnome three weeks later

What’s pink and red and gets shorter by the minute?
A gnome rubbing its head on a cheese grater

What’s more disgusting than a pile of dead gnomes
The other gnome eating its way to the top

What’s worse than ten gnomes stapled to one tree
One gnome stapled to ten trees

How do you make a dead gnome float
Take your foot off its head.

Gnomes…….ugh.

On a WoW related note

2007-02-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

Just doing this because I’m bored but according to an online quiz it turns out that I’m a cow.

Tauren Druid

Tauren, the not-very-gentle giants of the Horde, stand out above the rest.
Pastoral at heart, they may feel the need to defend their fields - or their honour, if someone were to insult their fuzzy, glossy coat.

As a druid, you tend to be relaxed and accepting -
though if there is something you don't want to do, then you won't do it
- simple as that. You're an easygoing and versatile person.

Find out your
real-life WoW race and class at QuizGalaxy.com

I meant a Tauren! Geddit?! Funny, no….. Ok I’ll stop.

Since it’s a while before I go home for another WoW weekend and also to see my family I decided to post some WoW related jokes…because jokes are good. Jokes make people smile. Smiling good yes?

Anyway..

Why didn't the undead cross the road with the chicken?
-...he didn't have the guts. Harrrrrr!

What do undead Tauren say?
-Boo.

What do you call a Tauren with no legs at all?
-Ground beef

Q: How do Tauren hide in the forests?
A: They paint their balls red and hide in apple trees.
Q: Have you ever seen a Tauren hiding in an apple tree?
A: No, it works!!
Q: How did the gnome die?
A: Picking Apples

What do you call a Tauren who's "shaking hands with his best friend"?
-Beef Strokanoff

How many gnomes does it take to paint a house?
-It depends how hard you throw ‘em

What do you call 10 gnomes buried up to their necks in sand?
-Not enough sand.

...yeah.

That's enough of that for now.

Week 16: Gaming Cultures

2007-02-25T14:24:00.000-08:00

Anyone that knows me at all will know that I will spend this whole post ranting about how great and godly WoW is. I shall try to refrain, I really will.

Ok screw that.

WoW is god. <>

Alright being serious, most of my years I’ve spent in one gaming culture or another, I’ve met some of my best friends through games and I still find it intriguing how easy it is talking to someone you’ve just met about their favourite games. Pretty much like everyone else, I adored Pokemon and me and a few others would play at lunchtime in school. Another culture I got involved in was NeverWinter Nights, spending my time testing online friends modules.

I met two very good friends through a large conversation about Final fantasy and Devil may cry. One of which is my flatmate and follow guitar hero buddy (when her brother was manager at Game, he hooked up the two guitars and let us play all lunchtime- we so sold that game.)

Belonging to a game is much like a clique at high school in my opinion as there are many different sub groups much like games, it’s like the Horde and Alliance are Goths and Jocks in the game based world…
Which brings me on to WoW I guess, I’ve been playing it since August so I’m a late coming to the whole WoW experience as my computer at the time simply could not run it however I would agree that the game should be re-named to World of Warcrack as it is highly addictive and I’ve lost many, many hours to this game doing mindless quests. However it is an extremely satisfying and addictive feeling killing the Alliance my only grievance is that I can’t play it any more because of my halls.
I belonged to a female gaming forum at one point where one of the members kept badgering me to play Guild Wars, to which my response was to hiss at her and scuttle back to my WoW cave.

But I’m not addicted….I’m a WoW enthusiast.

I guess knowing the fan history behind a game includes you in it’s culture, so I shall leave you with the Leeroy Jenkins fan history.

Leeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins!!!

Week 15: The Game Industry

2007-02-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

The Industry has seen a huge growth in this past few decades, it has become a case where nearly every home has a computer and access to the internet, if not you might be considered a lowly cave dweller worthy of being shunned by modern society because you don’t know what “LOL” means. Harsh but true.
The industry has grown in terms of more advanced gameplay, graphics, people working on a title and budget. There is a huge amount of money to be made if done well seeing some titles edge into other areas of popular culture (Tomb Raider the movie, Diablo Books, World of Warcraft trading cards, Halo figures and Final Fantasy music collection). It is quite safe to say that every kid from the 1990’s will grow up surrounded by a game of some sort.
The view of gamers and games have changed from the generic fat, over 40, balding game enthusiast living in his mom’s basement to well..nearly everyone. The market has divided into many different sub markets and you can get a game for anyone.
Game and GameStations are cropping up in every town, almost like Starbucks –except without the overpriced coffee. Of course with this huge increase in market, the money and the budget has also grown – rivalling the movie industry. However since everyone nowadays wants everything done at super lightning speed, games need to be released quicker with polished graphics, an amazing score and inventive gameplay and be affordable to the consumer (not that easy to do). As a student hoping to get a job in the games industry I have to realise that my job in theory could go to someone in outsourcing, it’s not affordable to have all these highly educated employees doing the same job that someone on the other side of the world could do – and do it a lot cheaper too.

Another point that I wanted to make was where the industry might go. With technology increasing in complexity it gives the designer more scope to really let loose with their imagination however we’ll easily see saturation in the market as games and ideas just get repeated and hauled off as some new game. Popular games of yesteryear will just get remade and done up with fancier graphics and not to mention the many, many games that will get sequels and trilogies in order to make more money out of a title.

Still for the moment I’m intrigued to see what will happen next, perhaps the merge of many different ideas and genres. However if the game industry ever starts to run out of ideas and merge Mario and Star Wars together or Link in a GTA set up then I’ll give up with the industry and retire to Tahiti.

Week 11: Game Play

2007-02-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

The word gameplay seems a bit of an empty term to loosely describe elements in a game. Many different people from different backgrounds will make their own assumptions about what the following term means, which makes it a hard term to pin point exactly. Gaming magazines and articles will often rate gameplay but it’s a lax term to describe and even to rate as their interpretation of what is “gameplay” might differ considerably between your view and mine.

However in my own opinion I guess that this quote is the one that I mostly agree with. “Ambiguous term for the total effect of all active game elements. Refers to the holistic game experience and the ability of the game to command the attention of the player.”

Game Play is the sheer core of a game, the foundation if you will. Strip a game of it’s music, graphics and storyline and chances are that it won’t be such a satisfying play however if the game play is done correctly, theoretically you still would play it. Having a look back at early games such as Pong and Space Invaders where there was no storyline, very basic graphics they were still huge hits and considered old favorites because simply the gameplay offered a huge reward to the playing, buying into human nature of being competitive and wanting to achieve. Those games didn’t need fancy music artists to lend their vocals to the games, it didn’t need Ragdoll physics (not that it was available at that time but you get my point) and it didn’t need a witty and clever script to accompany it.
My point is that the old school games of years past is as close to sheer gameplay as you can probably get as all those games had to offer was good gameplay. It’s an important factor in any game as it is the very foundation of a good game and if done right then a player will keep returning to the game – thus equaling a success.
Game Play is how a player experiences the game, what that game means to a player, how successful it can keep the attention of the player through numerous hours and what a player can get out of the game, which should be enjoyment above all else.
I don’t really trust the word “Game Play”, as it is such a broad term and in this day and age where there is so many different genres of game and so many different types of gamer. More games that are targeted towards casual players offer such a uniquely different approach then games targeted towards the hardcore market. Compare say Brain Training to Ninja Gaiden, how would you rate the gameplay between games such as these where the player is getting something completely different?

In short my belief is that Game Play is a loose term for player involvement and experience however I’m sure that many have came up with their own conclusions about this term in which it is not a case of right or wrong as the term is so ambiguous that there is no defiant answer.

Oh My God!

2007-01-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

If I could give one piece of advice it would be that dropping a TV onto your brand New Xbox 360 is not a good idea.

Yeah guess what happened to me when I got home…

I was taking the DVD cable out of the back of the TV and because the TV is only a really stupid smaller wheelie stand… well it was an accident waiting to happen let’s just say.
I moved the TV only ever so slightly and it unhooked from the stand and because I couldn’t hold the weight of the TV it fell onto my arm and onto the Xbox.

I caused I think about £1,500 worth of damage as it left a large dent in the laminate floor. When my mom finally cooled down she came in with the great news that my Xbox is completely unharmed apart from a little mark from the TV, however the TV was a bit screwed up but it still worked.
Thankfully the TV screen didn’t smash and it didn’t do more damage to the Xbox because the corner landed on my arm instead. My left arm was completely out of action, as I couldn’t hold it up without it going numb so I think I sprained it slightly.
Lucky the TV would still turn on and seemed to be fine except that the edges were bright green and it would turn itself off every few minutes – yeah it was fine…

One of the strangest things about me is that I have horrid bad luck followed by extremely good luck. When I was packing my Xbox up for Uni I had to unplug the cable from the back of the TV and had move it slightly in order to do so. Well I turn the TV back on and low and behold it works perfectly, no green edges and no turning itself off. I fixed the TV without really doing anything.

Good Luck, no?

Impulsive nature

2007-01-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today is the day that I welcomed a new member into the family. Did my mom give birth? Did my Dad get re-married? No – I finally bought my Xbox 360.
I’ve been playing to buy one since the first shreds of news appeared on the Internet however when the launch came and went I still found myself without one as I simply did not have the money and with no wealthy benefactor to donate, I patiently had to wait.
However all that has changed as now I have my next-gen baby. Go me!!
I went into Merry Hill with plans of shopping and as usual wandered into Game to browse and despite the plenty of conversations my mom about waiting just a little bit longer until the price goes down, I decided to conveniently forget all about that and buy one with the student loan and Christmas money.
Bought an extra controller, Enchanted arms and Ninety Nine Nights. I’m also really pleased with the fact that Game has their point card system meaning that now I have £17 to buy another game with.

Happy days are here again.

Week 10: Game Play and development

2007-01-08T03:16:00.000-08:00

As human I believe that we are all inclined to enjoy a good story whether listening or even telling a story of our own. Therefore it is almost a fundamental rule in gameplay to have an engaging storyline with characters that we find interesting and appealing.
Most if not all successful story driven games achieve such success due to character development and engaging the player. Gaming is falling alongside other storytelling media such as films and books. We sometimes have to look at a game as an interactive book.
An example which I personally think is worth having a look at is Fahrenheit designed by David Cage. It is a almost a new genre, a movie-game. Although it is far from achieving the look of a movie it certainly does invoke a new sense of gameplay as the player has an almost psychical experience as a lot of the game requires intense use of the controller.

It also features three primary characters with a twist. One is a murderer and the other two are cops so the player is trying to catch himself and yet also escape. Although it’s far from a perfect game I do believe that is on the right track when it comes to create a new way to perceive and play games.

When it comes to characters, if I can remember a game character 20 years on from now then I believe it to be highly successful however it’s not all down to the games. It’s a clever business practice to market a popular game character via a blockbuster movie (Tomb Raider), TV series (Sonic the Hedgehog), MacDonald's toys (Mario) and plush toys(Pokemon). In a way to reach the target audience the easiest way is to flood every avenue open to them to ensure that the market will see as much of the product as possible.

However it’s not all about business is it? When it comes down to storyline and characters the genre most looked at would be RPG’s such as Final fantasy etc. When so many hours is placed in a game it’s hard not to remember a character. Too many times have I came across a game when the main protagonist has had no appeal that when something good comes along chances are you’ll remember it.

When trying to sell a game that relies heavily on character development and storyline - you must create a hybrid of a book, movie and game and balance all aspects. Character development is crucial, if the game starts out with an happy,easy going protagonist then after seeing his town blow up , girlfriend die and dog runaway, and if he remains the same person completely unaffected by the events I would wonder what the hell was going on. It’s important to anchor characters with humanity as I don’t want to play a game where I can’t relate to a character in one way or another, that would make for a really boring and therefore unsuccessful game.

Week 9 Games technology

2007-01-08T00:40:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe just how developed and profitable the games industry has become. In less than 60 years the game industry has quickly developed to such a common everyday thing in our lives, in this day and age it is becoming the norm that every youth owns some sort of console one way or another.
The industry is extremely successful and therefore highly profitable with higher standard then ever before for game play and graphics. Lucky we are to be able to see such a fast improvement in both these areas over the past decade or so.

So let us have a look at the history of this technology,

The early 70’s were the launch of the video game console with the extremely successful game PONG placed a lot of attention upon the newly developing industry. It was only in the late 70’s that Atari would release its Atari 2600 VCS, which introduced cartridge based consoles. Although the industry was met with many hardships such as two crashes it would stabilise in the 80’s due to Nintendo and it’s NES.
Some of my earliest gaming memories were on the Atari and the NES, I was especially fond of Duck Hunt because of the gun however a lot of people can say the same thing.

The fifth generation of consoles consisted of Sony’s PlayStation One, the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64.The jump in technology meant that both the PlayStation and the Saturn started to use CDs over the old technology of a cartridge. The Gaming industry would continue to use CDs over the years and then moved on to DVDs. The industry was booming and with growth of technology the acceptance of home based consoles was cemented.
In the next few years the industry would see the rise and fall of Sega’s Dreamcast which was the first internet ready console with built in modem, advances to computers and handheld consoles, the console wars and the information super highway.

However I don’t believe that the industry would where it is today without the use of the Internet. Microsoft has benefited with its Xbox online capabilities and it’s very successful Halo franchise. Although the PlayStation 2 also had online capabilities it wasn’t as well received as the Xbox with online play. This also applies to handheld consoles as the DS and PSP both allow for online play.
The next generation consoles (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3) has seen an even further and higher advance of graphics and technology. All online enabled and the arrival of new wireless controllers that read via infrared and blue tooth.

As an industry the gaming market has realised its mass appeal and therefore has produced games towards different markets an example of this is the Nintendo DS lite in a pink version along with the game Nintendogs; targeted at younger females.

Not only has the industry jumped in leaps and bounds when it comes to technology (the 8-bit era seems almost primitive in comparison to today’s standards) it also has moved forward in terms of marketing and recognizing it’s mass appeal in modern society.

Week Eight:Storytelling

2006-11-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

We are compelled by stories and everything in media will follow a storyline in one sense or another. Since games are becoming a lot like movies, albeit a lot longer, the storytelling part of a game is important as it shapes the experience that you have playing a game
Some games don’t need a overly detailed story to drive them player to play, if the game play is satisfying enough; Games like Tetris had addicting game play and due to the nature of the game didn’t need a plot, the same can be said for racing, sports and fighting games; since the game play is the focus and selling point a detailed storyline is not needed nor is a writer required.
Now for the part about games that actually do need storylines. Good idea’s , game play and plot would hopefully make a enjoyable game, perhaps not the best experience ever but an experience non the less. Games such as Halo, Psychonauts , Silent hill etc are all genres that need to offer something else then good game play and let the story pull the player in and keep them interested. Since these games could be viewed at like interactive movies then all aspects of the story are important such as character development, atmosphere and plot development. In Tim Schafer’s Psychonaut’s the player was treated to a beautiful environment, compelling characters and a witty and interesting script – yet even with all these factors it had poor sales.
With MMO’s such as Blizzard’s World of Warcraft the storyline takes a backseat to the online experience, I barely take notice of the storyline when I play because the storyline is slightly concealed and vague, ask me the name of any npc in WOW and I wouldn’t have a clue because the storyline is a primary factor in MMO’s such as WOW.
However I’ve also bee playing the predecessor to WOW , Blizzard’s Warcraft 3. Since it’s an RTS and the objectives centre around the part of the story that you are playing it is much more easy to take notice what’s happening in the story along with who’s involved.
I don’t agree that all game require a storyline, however the games that do I would want a character that I could relate to, if something happened to them I would actually care. The problem with some games, is that developers have realised storylines that work the best and then continue to reproduce similar games. The amount of urban gangster type games that have tried to gain the success of GTA is a good example..

I guess what I’m trying to say is that originality with good writing and game play makes a game worthwhile I’m starting to ramble so I’ll stop here for now.

World of Woecraft

2006-11-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

As the release of World of Warcraft’s first expansion Burning crusade draws ever closer I find myself extremely irritated that I can’t play Wow at the halls in which I am staying. So any news on Burning Crusade is enough to satisfy my addiction. I’m annoyed that the expansion has been delayed till after the holiday season thus meaning I won’t be able to play in the Christmas break, however this will give me more time to level my druid and get better gear for when the level cap reaches 70. Although I’m glad that Blizzard isn’t pushing for the December release as I’d rather have an expansion that’s polished and bug free then a rushed version. A double-edged sword.
Rumours have been floating around that Warcraft will be made into Hollywood movie. I’ll wait into there’s actually any real information before I start to worry about that.

I’ll be getting the collectors edition, which includes; an art book, mouse mat, behind the scenes DVD and a nether whelp. All of which are goody good things.
Very pleased about the two new races, they seem to be shaping up quite nicely. I’m so gonna roll BloodElf.

Art Direction

2006-11-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

An art director has one hell of a job.
I can imagine it to be stressful but still a very powerful and engaging career in which you get plenty of rewards and satisfaction. Still it’s one hell of a job.
An art director is in charge of the overall look of a game, which of course is a very important element to any game.
Any here is some information on what is actually required to become an art director.
Education and Experience:
Various degrees of education and experience will be considered:
· BFA from an accredited art/design school or equivalent diploma.
· At least three years experience in art management.
· 1 year experience in the game or film & television industry is essential.
· At least 1 shipped game as an art lead is essential.
· Creation of visual concepts and/or storyboards essential.
· Supervisory, leadership or project management experience is preferred.
· Experience with outsourcing art assets and integrating them into internally created art is a strong plus.
· Experience in art recruiting an asset.
Skills and Abilities:
· Communicate ideas clearly through concept art, conversation, and documentation. Ability to direct a team of artists in creating a unified vision and translating that vision onto the screen.
· Displays a high standard of excellence in personal and professional work.
· Ability to create, maintain, and evaluate art schedules and manage a team's project execution within them.
· Formulate and evaluate art tools and pipelines.
· Passion for the handheld hardware game's subject matter and world setting.
· Strong communication skills.
· Strong decision-making skills.
· Conflict resolution.
· Organizational ability.
· Trained artistic eye and art vocabulary.
· Objectivity with cross-project/company issues.

Obviously since is a director you’ll have to be good at communication with people and to be able to settle issues with people and directing them without dictating them. Also they should create art styles guides and can keep and direct the art to look consistent and clean, whilst keeping in the style of the game. It’s one heck of a job. All I can say is that it’s one of those dream jobs that you’ll have to work your ass off if you want even a look into this kind of level. Work hard or be prepared to bribe and blackmail your way to the top.
Since art style guides usually fall into the many duties of an art director then I believe that it is excellent that we are already starting to learn to how create our own.

Gameplay.

2006-11-20T07:48:00.000-08:00

To me gameplay is the ultimate factor whether it’s a game that I’ll keep or if I pawn it off to Gamestation for store credit.
I love my graphics, I don’t deny that I like to be visually pleased when it comes to a game, however though graphics are becoming more and more important as time goes on it’s still safe to say that ultimately gameplay will rule over it. I think successful gameplay is how well you interact with the game and also how you apply different types of thinking to different games, which are all based on different elements of gameplay.
No two people can think exactly alike , so no two people will approach a problem the same way. I believe in order for game play to be successful it has to cater for everyone’s preferences on playing and personal thinking style.
The example I give you is the “As played by…” campaign launched by Maxis to promote ‘the Sims’ many titles. Considering that is one franchise that is literally all the same just on different formats, it is so open ended that there is many different ways to play it. The campaign features one person describing how they play the game so there’s one person that like to make stories , another that wants them to be rich, another that likes designing houses and such etc.
Even when it comes to RPG such as the final fantasy series, the gameplay and what the player gets out of the game differs. Though the characters and story is set, many people will fight different. A good game and good gameplay is something that appeals to everyone and it doesn’t matter who you are but you’ll get something out of the game that was worthwhile and will make you think “ I want to play that again.
”

Writing about games.

2006-11-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

All I ask is a FAIR review. However that isn’t always the case.
When it comes to review games and giving a fair review I can imagine it’s not so simple as everyone would tend to think. How can you grade entertainment value? I wouldn’t say that you can unless you are unbiased on a biblical scale.
Say if you took into account all of the technical aspects of the game such as how it was made, camera, value for money etc then it wouldn’t be a decent review. Sure I want to know if the game has a smooth playing feel to it but if it’s gonna bore me to tears then I’d rather not play it. However the game is usually criticized for game play and the idea behind it and if it doesn’t quite fit it won’t get a decent or even fair review. You’ll find that the larger companies usually always get excellent reviews whilst smaller companies tend to drift around in the review pool and not really get noticed or even make the cover.
Another thing when reviewing a game is to get the frame of mind of the person that the game was intentionally marketed for. If you have a 25 year old guy reviewing say Counter-strike then fair enough, he fits the market. However if the same guy is reviewing say a Harry Potter game then I can’t see the reviews being completely fair on that aspect. Either way you look at it, it is hard to judge games on every aspect imaginable, some games just won’t sit fair with a reviewer and therefore with get a lower score whilst a well known game gets a higher score then deserved. I think it all comes down to opinion: To often I’ve found myself being annoyed at a low score that was given on a game that I enjoyed.
The best review is the one you give, I guess. If you want to play a game then regardless of what score it was given you would of already made your mind up if you liked the game or not.

The future.

2006-11-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

If you consider have far the gaming industry has come in 5 decades it’s exciting to think what will happen in the next 5 decades. As our technology continues to improve in leaps and bounds we’ll soon have the power to do what we can’t in real life and experience it in high definition.
The way the gaming industry will evolve is like how every other form of entertainment will go, in fact games, music, TV and movies will probably merge into one media. Perhaps a game where one can listen to live radio and watch the news in a virtual reality world. Virtual reality , I suspect will be available in the near future and have games incorporate that. Perhaps games and consoles will evolve into a 4D media, incorporating the 5 senses instead of just sight and sound. Smellovision was rumoured to also happen in the near future – perhaps in racing games we’ll be able to smell the burnt tires and petrol.
With the Next-gen consoles on their way I think it’s safe to say that the inventive uses that the Next gen consoles have to offer (the wireless controllers, the Wii remote, online play etc.) will continue through to the successors of the new consoles.
Much like fashion, ideas of the old will creep back in at one point and perhaps all of the old 80’s games of the time will appear once more but in high definition. We have the technology to create some amazing games but do with have the idea’s to back it all with.
The iconic figures of our youth, I feel will still be with us in the near future; Sonic, Mario, Solid Snake, Lara , Pikachu and Zelda. I think there still will be hundreds of game based around them. In fact the only thing that can survive a nuclear holocaust are cockroaches and Mario.

90’s the era of improvement.

2006-11-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

The 90’s were about the rise of industry, the technology getting more advanced, the graphics getting sharper and the game play getting more inventive. It was the era of maturity where corporations would buy out their competitors and games were more mainstream.
Demos became increasingly popular to try our games before you decided to buy them and due to the rising size of games floppy disks were being dropped in favour to the more spacious CD.
Doom found fame in the 90’s and was the most widely known FPS (first person shooter) and defined the genre for future successors. The RTS (real-time strategy) game Dune II set the standard for future RTS games such as Warcraft and Command and Conquer. Alone in Dark was the predecessor for titles such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil ,which would be known as Survival horror games. It was in the 90’s where Maxis set out with it’s ‘sim’ (simulation) games and would later dominate the charts with ‘ The Sims’ in the decade after.
The internet was also rising in popularity and to take advantage of this many games incorporated online play such as Quake , Age of Empires and Everquest.
Browser-based games also become more available thanks to web plugins, the games that they mostly offer are the arcade games, card games and puzzle games. Great for when you have nothing better to do in work/school.
The creation of mods (modifications) started in the 90’s which allowed the played to create custom objects such as skins and maps.
However the decline of arcades also happened in the 90’s and thus many closed down as the era of the 80’s was over. The rise of computer and console games out matched that of an arcade.
The Sega Genesis (also known as the Mega Drive) was dominating the market, after the SNES (Nintendo Super NES) debuted in 1991 it lost some of it’s market share to the new console.

Next is the 00’s.

The 8-bit era 80’s

2006-11-20T04:46:00.000-08:00

A hotbed of companies start to arise and more unique games were being made. A flurry of games consoles invaded people’s homes such as the Commodore 64, Apple II and ZX Spectrum. The 80’s saw many things such as the first 3D game for a home computer (3D monster maze), the first iconic game in popular culture (Pac-man) and the first laserdisc game( Dragon’s lair).

The price and power of computers started to surpass the consoles with the favour of games circling graphic adventures. In 1980 Roberta Williams created Mystery house for the Apple II, which proved a success , she then went on to create Sierra-on-Line.
Whilst the Us had the Commodore 64 the UK had the ZX Spectrum and was hugely popular. 1984 saw the technology of mouse driven games with a point and click interface such as Lucasarts Maniac Mansion.
In the later 80’s a new era of 16-bit machines had started however were still too pricey for many people to afford until later on in the decade. MUDs (Multi-user dungeons) were also very popular in the 80’s due to dialup bulletin board systems. The Handheld LCD games of the 70’s had become more affordable and offered better game play and an affordable price tag along with it.
The crash of 1983 saw the computer market taking over the console market but it would not stay that way for long. The NES ( known in the UK as the Famicom, although I always refer to it as a NES) was released in 1985 and along with Super Mario Bros it became a big hit. Also a struggling and nearly bankrupt SquareSoft planned to release their last game title Final Fantasy and has become one of THE best selling series to date with the 12 in the series reaching UK shores in February.The legend of Zelda was born in this era as was Metal Gear Solid , the first stealth based game.
That was one hell of an era.

The swinging 60’s and 70’s

2006-11-20T03:57:00.000-08:00

This was where the basics were laid down in basements. Games were still unknown to world at this point however there were certain individuals who began programming and creating their own games in their spare time. In 1961 a game called Spacewar! was created and available to purchase, it was also traded online .
The 60’s might have been where it started to form yet the 70’s is where it began to prosper.
A coin operated version of Spacewar! was released in 1971 but renamed Computer space however it wasn’t a big success. Nolan Bushnell finally made his own company Atari in which was a huge success with games such as pong (I remember spending many a day playing this). The craze had started and was paving the way to the huge worldwide success of video games. Space Invaders soon followed and was a big hit, Atari followed this with Asteroids and use of colour was becoming more and more popular. Arcades sprung up over midnight and the coin-operated games of the 1970’s ruled.
The 70’s saw the first portable handheld games such as Tic Tac Toe. LED’s and VFD technology would last until the 80’s when LCD technology would become more affordable to become the leading alternative. The 70’s also ushered in home computers and consoles. A popular way of getting a new game for yourself was simply to type in the games source code (which were widely available in books and magazines) and program it yourself. I’m sure glad it’s not like that now.

The begining of Games

2006-11-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

The start of it all.

Know one can say for sure who developed the very first videogame as it wasn’t deemed a “videogame” at the time of creation. There consist of three likely candidates however.

The first being a simulation game created in 1948. It was a simple game recreating a missile being fired at a target . However due to limited technology being available at the time and graphics could not be drawn electronically so they had to make do with targets drawn on an overlay. It was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith and Estle Ray Mann if you really wanted to know.
Our next candidate is A.S. Douglas who developed OXO in 1952. It was the electronic version of noughts and crosses and was played on a EDSAC, it was developed to prove a thesis on the interaction of humans and computers.
Our last candidate is William Higinbotham who created the game Tennis for two in 1958. The game consisted of a tennis court(hence the title), however it was very simple and showed only a side view of the court. It had two controllers so was probably the first two player game created.

The way I see it is that all of these games were the very first videogame. We have the very first simulation game, the first human versus computer and the first 2 player game. While I’m sure other claims to who invented the first videogame will pop up either way it was going to happen some day and I’m sure glad it did.

About me.

2006-11-20T03:34:00.000-08:00

Howdy,

In this post I've decided to talk about where my gaming addiction came from. Lucky you.
My brother and I were always dropped off at my Uncle's house when my mom had to work; he still had his Atari at the time and would get it down so we could play it. I spent a large amount of time playing Pong and paperboy, when I look back it's quite sad that I've turned into a Graphic's whore along the way and demand so much more from the games I play now compared to back then.
My uncle was also the first person in our family to buy a computer; so all three of us (my uncle, brother and I) would play Doom after dinner. My Uncle would control the movement , my brother got to shoot and I got to open doors - a very important role indeed. We would also play Alone in the Dark - probably not the best game for a 7 year old at the time, maybe that's why I'm not keen on Horror games.
My family would have torniments of Street fighter, Tekken and any other fighting game that we owned. So I've pretty much grown up with games, going through the nes, n64, dreamcast, PS1, Xbox, Ps2, Gamecube and countless gameboy handheld's.

Well how's that for a back-story?
As a gamer now I'll pretty much play anything if you shove the controller/mouse in my hands. I don't play a lot of sports games or war games but I quite an open gamer - I know what I like and I know I love.

Toast is good. Very good.

2006-11-20T03:33:00.000-08:00

Um. Oh. Hum.

It's taken me ages to get round to do this blog and I haven't a clue what to write about, things barely make sense in my own head so it should be expected that this blog will turn into a rant page of random words useless to anyone that dares to read it.
Looking at other peoples blogs I sit here and think " Damn you and your english skills." Also other people have about 5 blog entries by now compared to my pathetic one entry - if you can even call this an entry.
I might as well yammer on about myself for a while. My name is Nicola Johnson - ever call me Nicola and I will kill you, capiche? I'm rarely not playing on a console or on my computer. I'm also a fan of Anime and manga, I also love Darth Vador - he is sitting in my room at the moment listening to The Pixies.
I have no lifeskills - at all. I can't cook , I gave myself food poisoning the first weekend I moved in, I will most likely die of starvation whilst staying at Uni.

Taa ta.