Week Twenty-three - The Land Of Level Design

So no specified task for this week then, is this a trap maybe to see who does work even when not told, or did Mr P really have so much fun at GDC he didn’t write a task, who knows, but I’ll talk about something or other I suppose.

Well the one thing on my mind at the moment is the hospital project. Alex Jevremovic has given us (the first years) the task of creating the inertia of Coventry hospital, and oh how fun it has been. As I said in my previous post I’d like to start to explore the land of level design, so when this came up it seemed like an opportunity just waiting, and so I volunteered myself to help create the actually environment of the hospital. At first I though it couldn’t really be that difficult, few walls here and a floor to run along, and in essence that’s what it should have been, but obviously this is the first time any of use had attempted something like this, talk about being thrown in the deep end.

So I’ve sort of ended up becoming in charge of the structure (we all hate it when people call us leaders now, ahh the pressure!) but this as I said is something I want to do so I don’t mind really. The original plan was to make the entire inside of the hospital, but due to far few less numbers than we had started with, Alex has said he doesn’t mind just the second floor being done, so that’s a relief.

It’s coming along nicely now, not actually too much more to do on it, and most the assets are completed I believe, and so now I can’t wait to see it all combined into one scene, it should look good and be something we can be proud of, not to mention the shiny penny at the end.

Overall veiw of structure!

A look down one of many corridors!

A corridor done by the man called Si, complete with windows!

Week Twenty-two - Out Of Sync

This weeks task was suppose to be about something interesting at GDC, but not being completely up to date on my blog I’ve kind of missed it. I had a quick look back at what had happened, not a lot caught my eye and there’s a fair bit of ‘old’ news now. However in a few weeks time E3 will be on again.

E3 use to be the big gaming event of the year where thousands attended to see all of the gaming companies latest’s toys. But in the past year or so E3 has been toned down, only four or five thousand will be attending, who will be invited people only, and it’s not the big conference of the year. But there still should be some exciting things going on.

Nintendo's Booth

I always wanted to go to E3, not just to play the latest games, but see what was going on, it always looked like such a great place to be, an environment where everyone was from the same culture bringing a great atmosphere to the place. This is something that will be harder to attend now as it is invite only, but still would be very cool to go.

E for All is suppose to be the ‘replacement’ for E3, being a much more consumer driven event, with companies attending from a wider range, although still situated around gaming. This event is open to anyone who applies, but being in LA it isn’t the easiest place to get to, but still would be great to go to.

I feel like I should write about something that’s going on then. From what I hear the big N are planning on making some sort of announcement, now when these rumours occur it’s always a big let down to what it actually is. A lot of people think there’s going to be a new DS design, and apparently the current Wii bundle is set to change. A bundle though could be anything from the Wii coming with a different or extra game, maybe another remote or something, it indeed could possible a Wii with more space and or capabilities. Either way it’s reminded me of something I was thinking about the other day, how out of sync this generation is. The PS3 has only recently come out, compared to the xbox 360 which came out a long time ago, and then the Wii somewhere in the middle. So I’m slightly confused to how the next generation is going to work. I know it’s a bit earlier to be talking about that at the moment, but the PS3 should have a fair bit of life in it, where as Microsoft will want to get out another consol much sooner. And then Nintendo could make the Wii last a long time, and if the past is anything to go by the next consol will be an upgraded version, so no idea on the time scales of them. Maybe they don’t need to be in sync now, maybe the next few generations will be a lot different to the standard format, but ultimately competition drives this industry, so there has to be some sort of marker.

Week Twenty-one - Who Recons They Can Do It All

I’ve mentioned odd things about this topic in past blogs, especially week nineteen, but that does not mean that it’s done and dusted. In fact that’s mainly what most people do, something new put against something existing, and then that’s it. Whereas there should be an on going learning process of continual evaluation and critique, where you have self realization of how good your work is. This is possible one of the most important things I’ve learnt this year, how to learn. Understanding things like this will make you brain much more ‘fit’ and I know it’s a clesha but the brain is a muscle too and must be exercised.

Chris's infamous picture for lectures!

Pictures like this at the start of the year I automatically just said wow that’s amazing how the hell can you do that. And I’m not saying it’s not damn good, it’s got brilliant skills demostrated but it's not a good understanding of light and colour theory, so I’ve learnt to be more evaluative and have realization of the work in front of me. Which has also led to me describing what’s wrong with all pictures I see now, which comes off as I don’t like them, I do, I just now have found picking out bad points a good learning activity for my self. Also when people say these things about my work I actually listen now and take on board what is said. The best example of this was when I was doing a digital painting in the lab and couldn’t figure out how get the colour right. After some frustrating grunts Dell and Mike gave me some very useful tips and guidance, which I listened to and then noticed a significant improvement in my work.

Two of my later photoshop paintings!

It’s obvious now that with the vast amount of work that goes into games, more and more specialized areas are needed, and after a lecture the other day they made a point that it’s much easier to employ some one who knows what they want to do, that someone who recons they can do it all, because no one could make something as good as someone who is a specialist in the area and dedicated there learning to it. So it was said try and figure out what you want to do early on.

Obviously it’s nice to try everything, and highly encourage at the start to figure this out (start could be any length of time from first week of uni to last week of uni) but the sooner you know the better because you can research and practice in the area you want. Before I came to this course I had the idea in my head that I wanted to be a level designer/environmental artist, and throughout the first year you don’t really model much ‘levels’ so I haven’t nurtured this too well. One thing you do do is environment drawing, which I wasn’t too good at but then realized if I want to be good at this I need to draw it first, something that can’t be stressed enough, and if you can’t draw it you will not make a good model of it.

So now the course is officially finished I can try to venture into this world of level making, and I did, I started small and started to make my flat, and I got so far and then we got this hospital project. But of course we need to make the entire inertia of Coventry hospital, so I jumped straight in to the deep and I have been trying to make rooms and the layout for the hospital, but obviously this is a huge job so there are several of us working on it. I also over the summer plan to make my house at home, inside and out, which should keep me busy for a fair while I think.

Week Twenty - Creative Side Of The Brain

Okay so I did the typical blog task thing of reading the task and then completely over thinking about it and never actually writing anything down, I thought I’d got out of that habit but it appears this weeks task has set some fear into me.

The reason for this is that this task is about creativity, a subject of which we have discussed all year and is pretty significant, and so I instantly put great pressure upon this task, resulting in me not actually doing it…

So anyway creativity, the thing that for a long time has not been deemed any use in profession. When I say this I mainly refer to education, and how from year 1 upwards it’s pushed against the back wall having to try and fight its way to become as acceptable as science or English. Now there is a noticeable reason of why this has happened, how on earth do you measure creativity, because of course in reference to arts, what one person like’s another hates.

But creativity is something that must be nurtured and allowed to be explored. Earlier in the year we went to a lecture in Leicester about creativity, and I know it may be a cliché to say but, it was one of the most uncreative lectures ever, people were actually falling asleep, if not watching the world pass by the window, and the people who spoke were rather boring to listen to, and were approaching the subject way too much like a scientist. Anyway there was one thing I did take away from that, which is there were different kinds of creativity, of which I can’t remember the other millions types, but two stood out to me, personal creativity, and new creativity. Personal creativity is when you first create something new and exiting for your self, doesn’t matter how many times it has been done before, this is the first time you’ve discovered it and you're learning from it. And the other was something that is a bit rarer and is when someone is so creative they break all the barriers and records with something they have created, of which doesn’t happen all that often. But it made me think, you need to have all this little self creative experience so that you can improve the creative side of the brain and hopefully end up with new creativity.

Talking about sides of the brain is something I love talking about, as it usually ends up with my mind just feeling like it’s about to explode, because there really is a stack loads we have absolutely no idea about. Its great talking to other people about this as well because everyone has different takes on it and bits of interesting information, but anyway like I say, brain exploding, not knowing.

So back to creativity, there was a great little line in the task that I thought was worth mentioning 'Creativity without craft is like fuel without an engine - it burns wildly but accomplishes little...’. And this can be very frustrating to some people because there’s nothing like being able to think up new awesome ideas but not being able to put them across. And this links back to the whole education not taking enough interest, which as I say is changing now for the better. But I love the course I’m on now because I’m starting to learn some really great skills and put them to good use, but also learning a real mind set that’s allows me to approach problems and difficulties in a better way, and unleash some work I previously could not have though being possible.

Week Nineteen - Any Monkey Could Teach Them Selves

Okay firstly is that going to university should not be about just learning new ‘skills’ so you can perform a new task, any monkey could essentially do that. Throughout uni you should change as person (for the better hopefully) and have a new perspective, one of the things I remember Mike saying in the first week is “if you go to university and come out the end unchanged, to me that’s a waste of time”. So the course your on should not be just churning out tools for trades, of which I believe our course is very far from it.

As I’ve come to realise education is pretty messed up, maybe this is just an idea that’s been implanted in my head by Mike and Chris, as they spend half their time telling us this, but I do think they tell the truth. At GCSE’s and A-Levels, once I had figured out okay to get the grade all I need to do is check these boxes and I’m done. But what a really bad way to do something, by doing this you learn almost nothing. Since coming to uni I’ve tried to stop doing work just for the sake of doing work, and once you realise this you start actually wanting to do the work, getting more out of it, and more often than not produce something better. On this course just in the first year I’ve learnt stack loads, both just skills and technical stuff, but also more importantly I think I’ve learnt how to learn and approach problems.

So anyway back on track, this should be the reason that game companies (or any business for that matter) want uni grad’s, because as well as having the knowledge and skills to make work, they should also have the mind set and understanding to be able to work in the environment, and analyse problems better. Kind of hard to explain this, basically uni should give experiences and brain power to apply you skills to make awesome work, something I fear a lot of course really do not do. As has been said before, any monkey could teach them selves 3DS Max, but unless firstly they have those fundamental drawing skills, being able to see properly and actually recreate from 3d, to 2d, back into 3d, unless you have that know how and understanding, then that, as I said before, would be a waste of your uni life. (by this I don’t just mean the drawing skills as well, I mean all the way of thinking brain capacity stuff).

Right so kind of all messed up there, it makes sense in my head, I don’t think I’ve really explained what I wanted very well, couldn’t think of the right words, I might try and make it more coherent in one of the later tasks, but for now that’s what your getting. And I’ve just gone back and read the task title ‘Life Changing’. So basically that’s it, uni shouldn’t just teach you tools, it should be life changing, done and done.

The Boost Buttton!

Those into Formula 1 will know that almost every year the rules are changed, this is usually to increase excitement in the races. For next years the aerodynamics are changing and so are the tyres, which are all arrantly to make overtaking more possible in the races. But the change that made me laugh was the introduction of ‘The Boost Button’.

So as if you though F1 wasn’t exciting enough for a game, well I would imagine this is going to put some smiles on a few faces. Apparently it’s an energy conservation device, that over the period of approximately 1 lap will store up energy created from braking, and then when the driver desires can press ‘The Boost Button’ and get an extra 80 horse power for a few seconds. As awesome as it sounds I cant help but wonder what person sat down and decided, you know what F1 needs, some speed boost, obviously thought up after watching some nos fuelled fast and furious racing.

I can’t actually wait for this, but with these changes every year what on earth will F1 be like in 5 or 10 years time, I’m thinking F-Zero will come soon…

http://www.seesystems.com/f1/ - a cool site of concepts of futuristic F1 designs.

New Wii Engine

It’s nothing new that often 3^rd party developers don’t put a great amount of effort into some for their games, not pushing the limits of what a consol can do. So when a small time developer creates an entire new games engine, which also works both well and has real effort put into, it certainly is bound to raise a few eyebrows.

This new engine is for the Wii, and has been created by a company called ‘High Voltage Software’ who in the past have made games such as Lego racers and family guy, so from the track record you wouldn’t really expect anything amazing from these guys, and yet they’ve seen the Wii and pushed it’s capabilities further with a rather ingenious design.

This new engine they have designed has been specifically design for the Wii to make the most of it. It will be able to display graphics that no other games on the Wii can do, making use advanced detailed bump and secular maps and also refraction and reflection maps, better LOD’s along with all real time rendering and lighting. There is a claim they want it to stand up to graphics of the 360, which even as it is a highly claim to make, shows there determination and passion to push the Wii, and I believe this is only the first of the push, in time as with all consoles, the power gets pushed further along the lifeline.

The game that they are creating, called The Conduit, useing this engine also looks to be shaping up very good, a first person shooter where aliens have invaded earth, in which you must haul round big guns to blow them the hell away, sounds good to me anyway.

Now the game their making may possible not be the best which would be a real shame because this game is going to be the marketing point for the engine, hopefully we will see a fully immersive single player story along with a multi player mode, and I wouldn’t think it is going to have online, but I suppose that’s always a plus. So I really hope this engine will be successful and in the future more games developers utilize this to make their games, this could very well be the start of the second generation of Wii games.

http://www.n-europe.com/news.php?nid=11725

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/867/867498p2.html - a link to IGN, where there a screenshots and a tech demo of the new engine

http://www.n-europe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20368 – a link to a forum where there are more screenshots and technical information. (Please keep in not that this game is still in the making stages, and so is not finished and may have missing textures and the like.)