Year two, the beginning

It's only been a couple of months and you can really feel the pressure this year. I feel so much more motivated to get my work done with time to spare and to a professional level. One problem with this is that I have been concentrating so hard on my visual design and Games Production that my poor blog has been neglected and majorly lacking in content, so it is official. Sunday is Blog day. I suppose this may seem rich considering it's Monday today, but from this point onward expect at least one blog update every Sunday.

  I realize a good online presence is crucial which is why I shall be setting up my personal online portfolio later this year, most likely over the Christmas period. I hope this will give you the chance to get a feel for the work I do, especially now I have the equipment to work properly in Photoshop, something I was very in-continent and actually quite worried about using considering how advanced some people in our course are. But then if I spend all my time worrying over other peoples work then my own confidence will slip, something i do not want. I've spent the last year becoming more confident in my abilities and I am not about to throw this away.

 It's great to see how popular the course has become over the last few years, with all its publicity and amazing students. I feel privileged to still be here and to have the opportunity to work with some truly awesome people, I just hope I can keep up enough this year to do well in the end. I am sure it'll be fine, my imagination can be pretty crazy but I feel that is something I can use to my advantage here, even if i couldn't really express it during A levels.

But life is a ride you just have to go with, so lets see what happens, shall we?

First year summed up

One year gone, gosh that was fast! I suppose now is the moment to look back and recap over my first - and hopefully not last! Year of university.

 So what about the course? I believe its the first time I have done something I actually really enjoy. I pretty much hated my life through all of school as all kids do. I have always had a passion for art but could never express it through GCSE or A level art as my teachers hated photographic or realistic art, its all about modern art and expressionism which caused many arguments and me getting into a fair bit of trouble. I knew I had made the right choice in choosing DMU from the very first open day I went to and the course most definately has not left me down.


 Visual Design I have particularly enjoyed this year as it is everything about what I love - drawing. Ok, I hated the two character projects because I am awful at drawing people but that can be improved, but other than that it has been great. I feel like  have been taught so much more than what I had been taught in school about perspective, tones and shape and have actually enjoyed it. Everybody has been friendly even if I have not been the most social of people but I have met some great people who I actually have things in common with. I mostly enjoyed being out and about most days, be it drawing or out with friends - especially the trips to Bradgate, but it is always nice to get out of the city for a while. The life drawing sessions have been incredibly useful in the improvement of my understanding of female anatomy however I would've liked to study the male body as well. It's all good being able to draw one but not so much the other.

 I have never had any proper proper 3D software experience other than CAD back in year 7 and 8 so it was all very new, however the courses structure helped me improve these skills incredibly fast and I feel quite confident in my abilities in 3DS, now as for Photoshop, that's another issue... Hopefully I will learn more about working with Photoshop next year though.

 I've also loved critical studies, even if I have been a bit... Ok, incredibly lazy with my blog posts. Writing has never particularly interested me, which probably seems an odd comment coming from one who studied English Literature. The main thing I think I would've liked to see more in Critical Studies is more presentations! I know this will pick up within the next couple of years but from my first presentation to my third I can feel that Improvement in my organisation and confidence, which I would love to keep building upon. Although writing is not my strong point I have enjoyed reading through articles and the research in general because I feel it gives me a much greater understanding into the course and the topic of gaming.

There isn't anything I can particularly think of to improve the course as it seems to be running perfectly well, I haven't heard a single negative comment on the structure or coursework (other than there's too much and we won't get it done in time, but that comes down to laziness and motivation, the third term seemed a lot slower than the first two.) However I cannot wait to -hopefully- start year 2 and improve myself further! Lets see what waits ahead shall we?

Enviroment Design

Every game starts with planning, including the creation of the games environment. This includes the art style of the game, how levels will be navigated and how each level will be decorated. The setting of a game is as important - if not more important than the plot and game play.

Collaboration on ideas is also incredibly important. The designers must be able to agree on something specific. Having some of the game set in a remote desert environment and the rest set in a frozen wasteland wouldn't make any sense. Everything should be exact and purposeful, it should fit the theme of the game and be easy to navigate. Collision meshes are used to stop people going into areas they shouldn't be able to get into, these are easy to make when the environment is inside a building or enclosed space because characters should not be able to walk through walls, however it is harder to emulate an end-zone when doing an outdoor environment however depending on the setting of the game you could create a reasonably realistic end of map area. For example, Far Cry 3, developed by Ubisoft is free roaming but ends with the ocean, which fits its island theme. Skyrim is mostly surrounded by mountains and games like Portal just have walls... or very big drops. The only game I could currently think of that doesn't seem to make realistic end zones are games like Silent hill where the road has a large crack to stop you passing - which is mysteriously cleared up after certain events, or tape across the road. In real life there would be nothing stopping you from passing, although I suppose I shouldn't be comparing a horror game with monsters and a "trapped" city to real life.


 A games environment must also match its game play, you would expect a first person shooter to have a lot of objects placed in each map - places to hide, to scope and to take cover. You'd usually also expect a level of detail to fit the mood. Realism seems to give off quite a "serious" tone whilst puzzle games do not need the same level of detail, as it is not needed for the game play. The environments must mimic the tone of the game through its use of lighting and colouring. Child friendly games tend to consist of a lot of bright colours to keep them feeling happy, however a horror game would use darker and less saturated colours and specific lighting to try and give the player a feeling of fear and suspense. All of the above features give a game it's style.


   Borderlands is a perfect example of a stylized environment which reflects the story and game play so well. The world of borderlands is created under a very specific style, it is almost cartoon-ish in its ways but still keeps its realistic roots. If a comic book could come to life this is how I would imagine it to look in 3d. The textures are a mix of both hand drawn and photographic, yet every object is surrounded by a border, making the environment fit its humorous genre. It also contains a lot of harsh shading/lighting and complicated level designs to keep its hectic and insane theme.

 The maps are very expansive for exploration yet never seem to get repetitive nor boring, something i feel can happen with games such as Skyrim - where the environment is stunningly beautiful and realistic but repetitive and can get a bit dull.

 Of course Borderlands was never originally designed to look how everybody now knows it. Gearbox head Randy Pitchford had proposed re-designing the complete art style of the game when the game was over half way through production. These changes were accepted and went ahead, as the original design didn't stand out from previous titles. I have to believe that Gearbox changed the style for the better, as the environments now feel very unique from anything else I had played.


 Overall I feel a levels design has to be thoroughly planned to fit the games genre and story line. There is no point in creating large, beautiful scenes if there is no need to. Keep it small and precise, do not waste space, time or money on an un-needed area, to me a game seems more perfect when every detail is needed there and not there just because it could be there.

Characters

Characters, characters, characters! For me it is all about the characters! Especially when picking out a new game. Everybody has something that attracts them to a game, be it the usual violence, multiplayer, story etc. But for me it is all about the characters. I believe this is the main reason I could never (originally) get into Mass Effect. I began on the second game – I never was one to follow in the right order. I played Kingdom hearts 2 and Bioshock 2 before the latter released.

I couldn’t stand the aesthetics nor the voice of the character I played, very quickly became unattached and gave up trying to play. Luckily I have played the first now after a lot of bother from friends and thoroughly enjoyed it, although his voice still bugged the hell out of me.

 I feel like gaming companies are starting to recognise how much they could expand by catering more for females. For example, most girls I have spoken to swoon over a character named Garrus for his voice, we can’t seem to resist a lovely voice. If on top of that you add a great attitude and looks you can get the girls swooning the same as they do over any actor out there.

Just a note: It feels really weird typing this.

For me personally it would be a character like Adam Jensen, from the Deus Ex gaming series.  A character who is good looking and has a gorgeous voice. On top of that he has quite a tragic story of having the woman he loves taken from him and was left on the brink of death, only to be rebuilt and hungry for revenge. I always feel like I am more emotionally attached to a character when you feel sorry for them, because you want to protect them. Whether this is human nature or just me but I have always felt a need to protect those I care about.

However I am not suppose to be talking about game characters, but one out of TV or films, hence why I am choosing a certain “god of chaos” known as Loki from the latest Marvel movie, Thor (or the Avengers.)

 The reason I wish to talk about Loki is the fact that he seems to be so popular amongst the girls even though he is the antagonist and has a much hotter (or so considered) actor playing his brother. Putting the actors aside I am more interested in the characters they play. Loki is a misfit who never felt like he fitted in with his family – although that’s because he isn’t actually human. I feel like he is a character I can relate to because I have always felt like the odd one out. Well, that’s because I am. I have always been that crazy, weird “ginger” – yeah, seemed to be the main focus for people as I grew up. One who nobody cared about. I have never known another girl who plays video games until I came to university. It’s a sad life. I had a very tight friend group in primary and high school and learnt to cope with all the shit heads I met along the way. Oh wait, this is about characters not me. But yes, in some ways I felt I could relate to his character, he seemed like that mysterious person people don’t know much about and I was attracted to that. Not like his block head brother who seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve. At the end of the day, he is just too goody goody. Its no fun if you don’t have a bit of a dark side. Maybe this is why Connor bothers me so much in Assassins Creed, or Commander Sheperd bugs me in Mass Effect. They just seem like quite dull characters.

Loki could never understand why his brother was so good. His brother was better looking, more skilled and in the end became the king before Loki, basically Loki lived in his brothers shadow. This made me feel more connected with Loki as I felt sorry for him (and just wanted to give him a big hug.)

  I believe its harder to get attached to movie and film characters than games as you watch their lives, whilst in games you play their lives, you are them. The decisions you make will affect them. For example, whilst playing Mass Effect (SPOILER IF YOU HAVENT YET PLAYED. Skip to the next paragraph) you are given the choice to save Wrex or for him to die, I loved having Wrex on my team, he was awesome but my charm wasn’t at a high enough level to save him. So I went back over an hour before for my last save and replayed so I could save him. Like I said, I like to protect the people I care about. Which is why It was so easy for me to let Ashley die and Kaiden live in another part of the game, it was her who would shoot Wrex earlier on in the game. For that I really disliked her. So yeah. Bye Ashley!

  

 Over all I feel like a well developed character can make up for a crappy book, movie or game because I have felt an emotion I was hoping to feel. For that reason they are an incredibly important factor when I watch movies, play games or read books.

The Art Director?

The Art Director is the top position available to any graphic designer, they work closely with the games designer to convert the written design document into something visual that the designers can work from. The Art Director gets the first word over every possible visual part of the game. It is their job to design a plan for every asset, tree, object, character or scene. They need to understand every scene from every point of view of the character in order to relay these ideas as orders to the team of designers working beneath him/her. This person also designs on the colours, mood and setting to every part of the game. Although the Art Director may not actually “create” much of the game, it is their direction and ideas that are seen through other designers work.

   Basically the crème of the crop, or as said in one article “The Captain of the ship.” To be an Art Director would make you one of the top in design within a gaming company. However this doesn’t mean this job role is particularly creative. Just because it has “Art” in the title doesn’t mean it has to be that creative. I believe this job role is a balance of logic and creativity as the director must decide on how the world looks, but they are also very restricted to follow the design document they were given. They do however, have the power to allow their designers some freedom when working to design some of their own assets.

 They would have to also work within boundaries such as budgets. They can’t allow small games assets like barrels to have a high texture sheet such as the ones given to the characters, however they must be given a budget big enough to still make them look convincing. The Art Director must also decide on the style of game elements. They must be clear and precise on what their designers create. You wouldn’t tell your designers to simply make a tree if you are making a stylised game as you must explain how that tree is to be created to fit the style. An overly realistic tree in a game such as Okami would be majorly out of place, however would fit perfectly in a game like Crysis which strives to be as realistic as possible.

  Communication between the Art Director and their designers is crucial to a stress free environment as the designers would know exactly what it is they are doing rather than running around like a headless chicken.

 I believe an Art Directors job is very similar to that of a film director, both need to know everything there is to know about what is being created. They have the final say of what stays and what goes, or how it is changed. Both are incredibly important people and both are needed to make the final product work. Everyone needs some kind of leader to give them direction, if they think about it in a religious way, many Christians follow Gods word and they allow that to dictate what they do in life, similar to how graphic designers follow everything the Art Director says within their jobs. People need direction. Although this is probably a bit of an extreme way to prove a point I believe it is accurate.

I also believe that a job as an Art Director would be hard to come by as so many would apply. After all, it is one of the top spots in the games design industry. Leadership skills would be critical considering you would have a group of people working to your word. You would need a vast understanding of colours, mood and lighting as well as understanding stylisation. You would have to be able to think outside the box and also be skilled at problem solving, as chances are there would be a lot of problems figuring out how to balance out the budget to produce a high quality product. It would need to be someone highly experienced, I can only hope to gain such experience as I go along during this course and later on in working life. There’s always a chance that I could reach such a position if I work and strive hard enough.

Which includes keeping up with the blogs and getting more motivation to get work done. I am thoroughly enjoying this course so far and don’t want to jeopardize myself so early on, more organisation is most definitely needed here.

  

 References:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3115/common_methodologies_for_lead_.php

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/159200430X/ch11lev1sec2?portal=oreilly

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

Games design - Make it personal!

Games design is essentially everything that is needed to make a game work. The story, gameplay, characters, levels and the game “mechanics” are all determined depending on what designers have planned. This will begin with the creation of a design document. An in depth analysis of what needs to be made and how it is going to work. Without a structured plan on how a game is going to be made what would be produced would be a sticky mess of different ideas. No – something as complicated as a video game needs a plan, no matter if it is Pac-man or FEAR. This design document is crucial for a working and well-made game. Pac man could’ve been completely different if it was created now, using our latest software, however they had to create a game in a different generation with much less advanced kit, but would Pac-Man be so loved if it was created to the standards of games today? People love it because it is considered a classic game, it doesn't age as it isn’t based on having detailed and realistic graphics. It keeps to a style which suits it, keeping it popular in today’s era.

 So what about “Game Play?” this is a term used to describe the players personal experience when playing a game. Their connection to the protagonist, how they play a part in the games plot and the players interactions within this digital world. This term is not to be mixed up with the phrase “Game Mechanics” which is only a part of the gameplay. This refers to the set of rules that determine how the player plays the game. I personally believe that the game play is incredibly important to my experience when playing and how it affects my opinion of the game. For example, during 2012 I bought myself a copy of the much anticipated Assassins Creed 3. The latter games were some of my favourite with a rich plot and interesting characters. However I felt sorely let down by this newest installment  The gameplay was mostly good. The plot was quite exciting and the majority of the characters were also very interesting, however as soon as I was introduced to the main protagonist, Connor Kenway I felt myself disconnect slightly from the game. I had been enjoying playing as Haytham – a rich and interesting character, only to be put in the shoes of this boring husk of a man who really didn't have much of a personality.

 I feel Ubisoft tried to spice up this game with the addition of such options as hunting. This seemed successful at first as I was enjoying hunting down different animals with my small amount of tools, but this quickly became pointless as there was no need for money nor to sell the pelts throughout the game. I feel these two things were large flaws in the planning causing the gameplay experience to be ruined for me. However it did pick up a few brownie points with content such as being able to pet animals, which I happened to do every time I passed a stray dog or cat.

 

After reading up on Kevin Watford’s “Into The Transmission” I realized how he spoke of some people thinking themselves above and more important than others within a game industry. I feel like this separation between designers can have large implements on a game. Everything in a game needs to work smoothly, its great if the game has beautiful graphics but its story line is lousy? Chances are it’ll be a rubbish game.  

Everybody has different experiences when playing video games, everybody enjoys different things. Some love the beauty in the graphics, others love the soundtrack, some the characters some the story and the list goes on, but I believe the very best and most popular games are so popular because they are able to bring all of these elements together and make an all-around spectacular game.

Its about bloody time - Amnesia Review

Sorry guys! Wrote this quite a while ago now but never ended up uploading it. I am an awful student. ;(

Y NO PICTURES LOAD? I will try and get this fixed. :l

A black and blue screen with an upside-down metal baby like face crying black fluids and some odd ancient symbols in a triangular shape. The screen goes black and the game begins.

 You are losing your memory, all events that happened before this moment are being forgotten, you are being stripped of everything you know, right down to your own name. You wake up in a pile of rose petals not knowing where you are.

A man with a heavy English accent introduces us at the beginning of the game which is quite refreshing. A Londoner, from Mayfair to be specific. "I am Daniel" the only piece of information you are given before beginning this journey to undo the mistakes you have made whilst being pursued by "The Shadow." A vivd, red, fleshy goo pile of unknown origins. Sounds like a lovely game 'ey?

  I am of course talking about the indie horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Many have now heard of it but may not have had the balls (sorry ladies!) to try it out. Multiple times I've heard people say they have watched people play it on YouTube, or even watched a friend but never got round to playing it themselves. Well then, I hope to change that and convince you to try this one out!

 Now I have had problems with games and movies for a while now, because they just aren't scary enough. Heck, I seem to laugh at horror movies more so than comedies and I have seen some bloody good comedies. My theory for this? This game right here. Once I had played it a lot of other horror games just couldn't do it for me. So why is this? Lets have a look shall we.

 Amnesia, you start off with the exact same amount of information as the protagonist, which is basically nothing. You then have to work your way through the Bannenburg estate castle, slowly piecing your memory back together by collecting notes and having occasional flash backs. The main reason I love this concept is that I feel an emotional connection to simply because he doesn't know what to expect, nor what to do. Same as you yourself. He grinds his teeth in a highly obnoxious way and he slowly goes insane when the dark yet you only have a lantern and some tinderboxes to light candles, plus oil for your lantern is quite rare to come across. As if being in a big Prussian castle in the dark with no memory and being chased by a big red blob all whilst going insane isn't scary enough there are some messed up experiments waiting to ambush you around the castle, so some jump scares are thrown in too. The worst part is you have no weapon and so no sense of security. What’s so scary about some slow zombies coming towards you when you have a gun or a sword? No, this game gets to you by making you feel insecure everywhere you go. A monster – gatherer, comes and all you can do is hide. A dark corner or wardrobe - sadly no Narnia there, just darkness and the occasional broom or old lab coat. If you look at the monsters you'll go insane and if you stay in the dark you'll go insane, so either way you are basically screwed.

To make the game more interesting puzzles are found throughout really spanning out the gameplay, don’t expect to be able to speed through this unless you have played it before.

Ok the puzzles can be quite tedious but enjoyable all the same, everything is a rush because you cannot stand the idea of the grunt – or even worse, a brute, making an appearance. Luckily these monsters seem to be confused by doors, so they won't chase you once you've gone through a checkpoint door.

 One problem I do have with this game is the repeat textures and constant supply of boxes, which I know sounds odd but how many wooden boxes and crates can one castle have? I think someone living there spends far too much money and time shopping online and not enough time cleaning away the boxes. It isn't a big deal obviously, these items proves themselves useful on numerous occasions, plus it’s always fun to mess with the monsters by making barricades and throwing things at them from an area they can't reach.

The games main antagonist is a man named Alexander. Your prime objective it to reach the inner sanctum of the Brannenburg estate and to kill him. He is a sociopath  sweet-talking (Bit of a paradox here) maniac who is trying to open a portal to another world, by torturing victims in his dungeons. He convinced Daniel to help him with this with his poisonous words. Luckily Daniel came to his senses in the end and ran away.

Another character is a man named Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, generally just referenced as Agrippa. A German scientist who also researched black magic. Alexander imprisoned him in a useless body and kept inside his castle only to be found by no other than you. Whether this is a good thing or not is for you to decide. It’s nice to hear the voice of another human being, although Agrippa really has no idea how to shut up. He isn’t much to look at either, although (**Spoiler here) it can be quite fun to finally silence him by cutting off his head, if you choose to do so. This is a lot less gruesome than it sounds as his head lives on. Its also quite interesting that Agrippa isn’t just a character, but a real man who lived in the 1400s.

“You enter a room full of water, the walls a dull grey stone whilst a small barricade of boxes, barrels

The colour pallets chosen fit perfectly within each area. Reds, greys and blacks within the castle, yellows and blacks within the dungeons and the murky blues and greys for the cistern. Its very refreshing to have such changes in scenery throughout the game and really keeps you wanting more.

      The main reason I love this game is simply because, no matter how much I play it I am still shaking afterwards, even though I know where the gatherers will spawn I still dread them appearing. It's simply that terrifying. A game I would strongly recommend to any horror lover, however if you have a weak bladder - No, I haven’t ever had any kind of bowel movement playing this game, it may still not be for you.  It's cheap to acquire on steam and comes with extra content, a story and an add on story called "Justine" - be warned if you play this extra, if you die in it you will have to start again from the beginning.