tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77707491327078696462024-02-06T22:22:11.985-08:00How to count KwazySheepKwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-49511645420245712052011-06-02T04:03:00.000-07:002011-06-02T04:05:09.502-07:00Online and feeling fine.<span style="font-family:arial;">In the process of making an online portfoilio :)</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">racheldix.daportfoilio.com</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">it's still in the very early stages so there isn't much to look at.</span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-14159453740332810242011-05-23T06:16:00.001-07:002011-05-23T06:20:04.399-07:00Possible Degree show pictures<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPyWhnaHavVdlKQDKkOLxTB_O-Dl36xZ_yMr0XX1tTU-24BkFJ6g2hUxxe6XSxZTh5QlUKTAVzVrh0BCOuBUyzGLJVw0nQyOWC3Z-Revxh347yKRMmPg1ySR2r-6Qokj86Je0xh7CLuRA/s1600/printscreenback.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPyWhnaHavVdlKQDKkOLxTB_O-Dl36xZ_yMr0XX1tTU-24BkFJ6g2hUxxe6XSxZTh5QlUKTAVzVrh0BCOuBUyzGLJVw0nQyOWC3Z-Revxh347yKRMmPg1ySR2r-6Qokj86Je0xh7CLuRA/s400/printscreenback.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609900341019078962" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ6XEUfxdK3XLK9Y7HIgL8TqACFq6qcnbAf8rzutXIf-NFaU7Jkjc5qUfCo0tQE3Tbnapggmw80JrQb4fTAI8oI8hDq1R07fXvl1wXhG1mPRjxEweb4oA-KvcBAPcwzzwayt1FZ5pVvdr3/s1600/printscreen.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ6XEUfxdK3XLK9Y7HIgL8TqACFq6qcnbAf8rzutXIf-NFaU7Jkjc5qUfCo0tQE3Tbnapggmw80JrQb4fTAI8oI8hDq1R07fXvl1wXhG1mPRjxEweb4oA-KvcBAPcwzzwayt1FZ5pVvdr3/s400/printscreen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609900137250236722" border="0" /></a>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-63731315759905180492011-03-29T09:08:00.000-07:002011-03-29T09:09:23.959-07:00Plagiarism, penalties and punishment<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;">Now as I sit on the back row of the computer I can usually cop an eyeful of others students progress and something I’ve started to notice more frequently is the use of downloaded textures.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> Now it clearly states at the bottom of every brief, in bold red text, that downloading textures is plagiarism and you may fail, but quite frankly I don't think this is quite getting across to everyone and the punishment that should follow has yet to be demonstrated.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> I have a couple of non-game art friends who have witnessed a fellow course-mate kicked out of uni for plagiarising a mere 300 words.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> Culprits on this course use the excuse that 'well industry do it' but this is a university course not a games company.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> It infuriates me because at the start of every project I carefully plan outings to gather photographs and textures for my own library, this process can take up to a week as I patiently wait for the perfect overcast day. Whereas a few fellow course-mates never leave the comfort of their room and just happily click away taking a whole 5 minutes to complete the process.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> It just annoys me to think that there students who are going to better marks than me, when I put so much time and effort (which doesn't always show btw) into sourcing my own materials and experiencing the brief in the real world, I mean I rarely even use google for reference.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> I know it might take time and effort to cross reference all the sources, but a quick loop around the labs are even a quick look through their texture folders will be more than enough evidence.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> Source, live and experience it.</p>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-81337969522043859952011-03-29T08:57:00.000-07:002011-03-29T08:58:08.784-07:00Learn from the old<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;">Taking a break from a serious case of mind mush, after, god knows, how many hours and weeks I have spent constantly on Max or udk. However it's paid off as i'm finally approaching the final hurdles of my FMP.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> All major buildings are done as well as over 100 different assets all textured and imported. It's now at the point where adding the final touches of detail will complete the look, but it's getting pretty hard to spot them. Maybe a few pairs of fresh eyes will be able to pick out the flaws as I have staring at my level for so long I think I’m missing some major aspects from it.</p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"> A major problem I have is with trees. Some trees in my level are nearly as big as the windmill but they are all behind the buildings and out or reach so it seems pointless to waste time and tris on something you can barely see. On this basis, I have created some Tomb Raider style trees, that do the job and use my own tree photographs for that added realism. </p>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-19736094407362117292011-03-29T08:26:00.000-07:002011-03-29T08:27:30.629-07:00Game Art not Games Design<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">With the majority of the FMP behind me it's time to stimulate my mind in a more intellectual direction.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Today's blog takes inspiration from the interviews I’ve sat in on for the past couple of weeks.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> One main theme I noticed was how many applicants were currently on a college 'Games Design' course, thinking it would fast track them into the games industry.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> How wrong they are.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> For starters, judging from examples of their work. These courses are poorly researched and structured. Their portfolios produced no evident skills that would ever prepare them for the games industry. In fact they would be a lot better off enrolling on a more structured art or foundation course as these will at least develop your fundamental art skills.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> The major flow of these 'Games Design' courses is in the name. A lot of people confuse Game Art with Game Design. Countless times I have had to correct people as they think I will be responsible for design games.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Far from it.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Game Art is purely commercial, if you apply to DMU wanting to deigns your own game then don't bother as that does not entail the life of a Game Artist. Sure we can put our own spin on the concepts but for the majority of the time we are working to a strict brief as part of a pipeline.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Another flow these courses have is the broad approach they take to the Games Industry. The teach everything from concepting to scripting, to character design and programming sound. This would only be helpful in a crash course where it would help students gain better insights to how games work and then follow a specialised path. So that their time at college isn't wasted on a vague and skilfully weak portfolio.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Fundamental skills of a Game Artist is the ability to perceive the world for what it is and get that vision down on paper. We need to demonstrate skills of perception, lighting and colour theory which will show through with the 3D side of things.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> We are Game Artists and we like to draw.</span></p>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-86088438167844894752011-01-28T07:35:00.001-08:002011-01-28T07:37:53.085-08:00Scaling Concepts<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2QZl5IkFrPdyDpBCeAuoFkq0AYwkvx_5ybWw2qyAw_KU2_MZqZBGScJM6CpPgeuPA_2gV606PrgsdAmzl31rGJ9EAH5Q-S_GSnfbsgqTvG29Y3QBou7Zd5c04WjAXevvtHwjCDp6wBaI/s1600/bsp+concept+3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567261038363392898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd2QZl5IkFrPdyDpBCeAuoFkq0AYwkvx_5ybWw2qyAw_KU2_MZqZBGScJM6CpPgeuPA_2gV606PrgsdAmzl31rGJ9EAH5Q-S_GSnfbsgqTvG29Y3QBou7Zd5c04WjAXevvtHwjCDp6wBaI/s400/bsp+concept+3.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6V-z3r0yrRgzQ8flXRt7sOnPlryyXJpfGy-J2LDojiOcgVx0efxb7HX_5eL97seSePhiNH1vbiHsTaZdcTtS_sq0YIOX2XAK6XZYpickrydu8oVZ6vafQTVqiLu3r4MPAt_GqzQLzrVF/s1600/bsp+concept+2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567260983976862898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6V-z3r0yrRgzQ8flXRt7sOnPlryyXJpfGy-J2LDojiOcgVx0efxb7HX_5eL97seSePhiNH1vbiHsTaZdcTtS_sq0YIOX2XAK6XZYpickrydu8oVZ6vafQTVqiLu3r4MPAt_GqzQLzrVF/s400/bsp+concept+2.jpg" /></a><br /> A lil update on my FMP, have done some quick whitebox concepts, playing around with the scale. Haven't changed the original layout much.<br /><div></div></div>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-29171660442498283622011-01-27T09:05:00.000-08:002011-01-27T09:10:02.810-08:00Let the FMP begin ....<span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"> As the new semester begins, so does our Final Major Proj</span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">ects. As everyone is producing their own thing I feel less pressured to compete with the other students so upfront as this time around there are no direct comparisons between our work.</span><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"> However that's not to say there isn't any competitiveness there, after all, this is the ultimate showcase of our skills.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">As a little recap, my FMP is aiming to produce an interactive environmental scene using a Windmill and café close to my home town.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibRS5M6yahpOhGC5d_sXZORCajKWMf6bAVoiKygFsj1H1fhRgoHsVgiyz6LgSk84iNPF78rXefa2UHCyZc8obJQRSbfevwI4BwcmaZDDhqTFJVw8eXQURuTBmJJOZEIQhQmWu5Mn3g6Gok/s1600/DSCN1120.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibRS5M6yahpOhGC5d_sXZORCajKWMf6bAVoiKygFsj1H1fhRgoHsVgiyz6LgSk84iNPF78rXefa2UHCyZc8obJQRSbfevwI4BwcmaZDDhqTFJVw8eXQURuTBmJJOZEIQhQmWu5Mn3g6Gok/s400/DSCN1120.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566913446840766914" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"> I have chosen this area to base my FMP on for a variety of reasons. Mainly, it is overall a very interesting area. In the photos, you can see there are a variety of shapes, colours and textures all brought together in an aesthetically pleasing layout. The dramatic height of the windmill is contrasted by the low-lying buildings which are packed full of interesting textures.</span><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCh-OR5Zuf8XNs3d7zccav8x42Gy4ZO70QjtkoYYeElWfLoXilfuLBj0pOXyeefXOdhtzgkKF4DcJzkshc0bG46ApVY6aCTfobWr6ncwyeso7ZEVfLfXaQ6gjA-GfgxfalBUWHffjyZ0i/s1600/DSCN1438.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCh-OR5Zuf8XNs3d7zccav8x42Gy4ZO70QjtkoYYeElWfLoXilfuLBj0pOXyeefXOdhtzgkKF4DcJzkshc0bG46ApVY6aCTfobWr6ncwyeso7ZEVfLfXaQ6gjA-GfgxfalBUWHffjyZ0i/s400/DSCN1438.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566913762732582322" border="0" /></a></span></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Another reason I selected to build a windmill is for its originality. Sure there are cutesy-pie, fairytale windmills in games such as fable and oblivion, but you don't see many up-to-date commercially working windmills.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">My final reason for choosing this windmill is for it's accessibility. I am a very strong believer of sourcing my own research and I very rarely hand paint a texture without knowing every little detail of how to achieve it from my own-sourced texture library.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">I like to keep google at arms length on my projects so to have the opportunity to take my own photographs and document my own personal accounts of my windmill is a must.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">As this final project is a test of my skills I have learnt and developed on this course, where better to start than with my experiences.</span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">As I have learnt from my previous projects, I will religiously update my design document as if my life depends on it. Even falling a week behind can lead to unnecessary confusion and I plan to avoid it this time.</span></p>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-75863642957574996872010-12-13T07:49:00.001-08:002010-12-13T07:53:30.027-08:00Vehicle Update<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFC70fZfN1mvSzkYphofoBeeaEdYWgpwYAdmysFtxI4hg1SQhpdx_hhv1HFAygHpLTYTTJDf1TpU0GNs7REPMDAtfUewFzg4q4OpPkZSDsWfDn-4ebSQeMLrvYEsVZIGERRo2RmyY1nR3/s1600/render1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFC70fZfN1mvSzkYphofoBeeaEdYWgpwYAdmysFtxI4hg1SQhpdx_hhv1HFAygHpLTYTTJDf1TpU0GNs7REPMDAtfUewFzg4q4OpPkZSDsWfDn-4ebSQeMLrvYEsVZIGERRo2RmyY1nR3/s400/render1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550194628798571618" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is my vehicle project. I chose to do a caravan as i spent a lot of my childhood holidaying in one and the benefits of owning our own caravan means i have unlimited access to reference and hardly needed to use the internet.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_oDer2Oxv_KbRRMme-WUqaCecrkgLihZKtP5tvWqGh333JcYKhR-7FXyoD3SskNi71pTDYwCaeKIhmJseB-Yq6JZWc_3A8XGhc1PSs7QiW8YA0IpRajDSfluSinlt41CZraaJ0TT_0xM/s1600/render3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_oDer2Oxv_KbRRMme-WUqaCecrkgLihZKtP5tvWqGh333JcYKhR-7FXyoD3SskNi71pTDYwCaeKIhmJseB-Yq6JZWc_3A8XGhc1PSs7QiW8YA0IpRajDSfluSinlt41CZraaJ0TT_0xM/s400/render3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550194727025248850" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUi_J7WRFLf-qOsRQBVL1Gl_yabRjAkvMWljEs92bQASDGwibjN-rYgkJoZ10FXxVTZo8D5hFhCK4Pi4dUNXOc8GEM8S89pYN_3snsIjpASeR51IgTBO3XtY-RVXwwAJdYxCrc-ZaSNOo5/s1600/destroyed+render.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUi_J7WRFLf-qOsRQBVL1Gl_yabRjAkvMWljEs92bQASDGwibjN-rYgkJoZ10FXxVTZo8D5hFhCK4Pi4dUNXOc8GEM8S89pYN_3snsIjpASeR51IgTBO3XtY-RVXwwAJdYxCrc-ZaSNOo5/s400/destroyed+render.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550195476271482402" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_oDer2Oxv_KbRRMme-WUqaCecrkgLihZKtP5tvWqGh333JcYKhR-7FXyoD3SskNi71pTDYwCaeKIhmJseB-Yq6JZWc_3A8XGhc1PSs7QiW8YA0IpRajDSfluSinlt41CZraaJ0TT_0xM/s1600/render3.jpg"><br /></a>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-90008935209347609742010-12-13T07:43:00.000-08:002010-12-13T07:48:54.173-08:00Rooftop Project<span style="font-family:arial;">Time for some render updates. This is my rooftop project. Inspired by the rec</span><span style="font-family:arial;">ent foggy days we've been having, my level has depth fog and animated fog planes as well as particle effects and fracture me</span><span style="font-family:arial;">shes.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirBA_Ol3QcXp8iyMunRGCIMpc1OIbC1VjKZvFQ7zFO9C5IsP13TUDb0I09sTe5ZbKzibAMdZ5_c8xiSOvvf8xggGCDNRG1nPFfA-XJM3FXq4dIva7qEBww-zj8m0qlqEmJ6husltxP2QN/s1600/level+render6.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirBA_Ol3QcXp8iyMunRGCIMpc1OIbC1VjKZvFQ7zFO9C5IsP13TUDb0I09sTe5ZbKzibAMdZ5_c8xiSOvvf8xggGCDNRG1nPFfA-XJM3FXq4dIva7qEBww-zj8m0qlqEmJ6husltxP2QN/s400/level+render6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550194213674384866" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZtqbJ2xZCly8UYf4-97x-kYX75dSGjfsfzTpChNxfATLM98Bf49WqsosaE5evXXq91HbRqluasKy5ntIZSdOAijOozc2d2qw-r8HzkNKvqaTiOtpQHwuk3WVtAOUTBC8zIyjq5xC6vmUK/s1600/level+render8.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZtqbJ2xZCly8UYf4-97x-kYX75dSGjfsfzTpChNxfATLM98Bf49WqsosaE5evXXq91HbRqluasKy5ntIZSdOAijOozc2d2qw-r8HzkNKvqaTiOtpQHwuk3WVtAOUTBC8zIyjq5xC6vmUK/s400/level+render8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550193956050151410" border="0" /></a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESocyok1t-kuN2JvA_U_9Alw15wWrJvimUvDzKspbjJmO7LhEAztEgxNXBCsQO0aSuJumEZMUU1KASYn8lxbag0DfUzdW7n8g4l-B3d2lXH1iRj-OYA_ZjIvTgHI_m4_YW8OQOThyAJxt/s1600/level+render.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESocyok1t-kuN2JvA_U_9Alw15wWrJvimUvDzKspbjJmO7LhEAztEgxNXBCsQO0aSuJumEZMUU1KASYn8lxbag0DfUzdW7n8g4l-B3d2lXH1iRj-OYA_ZjIvTgHI_m4_YW8OQOThyAJxt/s400/level+render.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550193372130576546" border="0" /></a>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-57496215149129007442010-12-11T11:43:00.001-08:002010-12-11T11:43:30.537-08:00<span style="font-family: arial;">There are many life lessons I have learnt during my time at university. In my first year I had to learn how to cook and clean for myself, as well as co-habit with complete strangers. In my second year, I had to get to grips with paying bills, managing my time and learn how to co-habit with friends (big mistake).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> And that brings me to my final year. So far I have learnt that gas is expensive. So expensive in fact, we practically never have it on. As painfully cold as it is there are many benefits to claim from this. The first one is having more money but the most important one is I now seem to spend most of my time where it’s warm, and labs happen to be very warm. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> So far this year I spend pretty much 10am-5pm, Tuesday to Friday in the labs and as a result my work is practically finished and to a much higher standards than previous projects.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Now I am my own worst critic so I can honestly say I’m not happy with every little detail but that is going to taken care of after I have relaxed and refreshed for a few days. </span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-74043879184022204692010-12-11T11:35:00.000-08:002010-12-11T11:36:11.169-08:00Guest Lectures .... an inspiration to everone<span style="font-family: arial;">I’m rather impressed this year to see an increasing number in the amount of guest lectures we’ve had.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> It’s encouraging to see that the main selling point of this curse is very much true as the connections we have with the industry grow stronger.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> My favourite lecture so far has definitely been Sophia and Meghan from Outso. I’ll admit I didn’t know much about the company but I was so inspired by their presentation. It was great to actually see work produced by the studio as it reinforced their commentary and left me feeling enlightened. It’s even more inspiring to know they are past DMU students that have achieved so much in so little time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> I always enjoy the motivational wonders from Jolyen at Blitz as it always puts me back on track but I’ve seen their lecture 3 years running now and it would be refreshing to see their content change every now and then.</span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-4520514528528598332010-12-11T11:26:00.000-08:002010-12-11T11:27:04.367-08:00Up, Up and away<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although this whole business with rising tuition fees doesn’t directly affect me I still think it’s worth commenting on.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> There are many key points to consider when taking University education into account. A rise in tuition fees will ultimately cause a drop in the number of people going to university as only those of a wealthy background will attend.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Selfishly this will mean my degree will be worth more as higher education will become more elitist and those with degrees will be sort after and job prospects may become easier.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> However it does not give everyone a fair chance. A super intelligent student from a working class background may never get the university place they deserve, but Daddy’s little princess growing up in South Kensington can happily pay her way through uni.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I also feel that the impact this will have on society will affect us all. At the moment it may be a quick fix to the governmental debt problem but the long term effects of people with less of an education and higher unemployment rates will bring the county to it’s knees.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Universities will also feel the effects, as less people attend, courses and departments will have to discontinue possibly resulting in the closure of some universities completely.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Ultimately the education system will turn into the one we see in America. Parents will have to save up college funds before children are even born and ridiculous schemes and pageants will introduced in order to fund scholarships.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> However, students may learn to really appreciate their education and not take it for granted. It may also mean that the more deserving will get into higher education. Students who actually worked hard and achieved good results will deserve their place at uni, instead of being accepted with 4 Ds just because it fills the institutes quota.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Overall it’s definitely not right to take away someone’s right to an education just because they can’t afford it but remember just because you have the right doesn’t mean you deserve it.</span></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-47362409579013633052010-12-05T08:33:00.000-08:002010-12-05T08:34:15.484-08:00Floor 8 ... Welcome to Animation<span style="font-family: arial;">As the lift doors slide open I gaze upon the full wall mural for animation, sure it may not be the best drawing I’ve seen but the bright colours and creativity is both inviting and respectful to the animation course.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Turn-around, however, and what does Game Art have to offer - two miniscule guru posters. Not only has it little to do with the course but the artistic skill involved is that of a 5 year old on photoshop.<br /> <br />Thankfully they have since been replaced by some student work but it still attracts little attention and doesn’t really celebrate the success of our course.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> We are skill-set accredited, there should be a full wall digi-paint up there. Not only will the technical skill be far greater than the animations offering but it will also claim back the corridor as ours.</span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-40433503762624549942010-12-05T08:25:00.000-08:002010-12-05T08:26:58.637-08:00The things you learn<span style="font-family: arial;">One thing that I have definitely learned from the rooftop project is how to manage my time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> I had very clearly written a little calendar schedule which I religiously stuck to but I still found myself going over my personal deadline.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> This is because I had miscalculated the amount of time it would take to unwrap, texture and import all my assets. The Unreal engine I have gotten to grips with but the unwrapping and texturing took ages.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> But the positives I take from this are how to manage my time for my FMP. As I will be doing an environmental scene I can now budget more time for texturing and I will most definitely be unwrapping as I go along because doing it all in one stint is just brain-rotting!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> One thing I was proud of was getting the particle effects to work. It took a while but I was ecstatically happy and now I feel that Unreal isn’t this big scary program but actually a lot of fun and I will definitely incorporate it into my FMP.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> The only thing I am not happy about is my skydome and I might re-address this problem before the summative assessment as I am in the zone with y vehicle project.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> The main issue I have with it is making the panoramic image. I made my own using photographs taken out of the fletcher building but it doesn’t look crisp enough as other examples of work I’ve seen. Without pointing fingers this is most likely because their magical panoramic images were pulled from the internet but I am going to stick by my morals and use my own textures.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> I did originally use the skyline from a recent foggy day as it was spooky and mesmerising but this didn’t come across in Unreal as there are no dynamic elements so I might rethink the weather and lighting over Christmas.</span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-61909811625610665112010-12-05T08:12:00.001-08:002010-12-05T08:13:45.551-08:00Patience my young Grasshopper<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">As the Gurus and Grasshoppers comes to an end I thought it appropriate to put my thoughts on here.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Overall I think the scheme is beneficial for both sides and turned out to be rather successful.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> At first I was apprehensive that none of the first years would be interested but luckily enough they were still in that bewildered phase where they turn up to every lecture religiously and soon enough they become genuinely engaged and listened to what we had to see them take on-board our advice and improve and I must admit I learned a few things myself. Working closely with other Gurus gave me the chance to see their techniques and shortcuts they use and giving mini tutorials every week has definitely improved my communicated skills.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> However the scheme did have its downsides. No clear timescale was set so the tutorials and texturing projects we planned to give were cut short as the scheme was brought to an abrupt end and some weeks when stress levels ran high, it was extremely annoying to have a first year hanging off your elbow.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Overall I’m not sure how much the Grasshoppers benefited. They pretty much learned to model and texture quicker than our weekly meets but I guess it’s the little shortcuts and timesavers that will help them most. It also makes the course more close-knit as we all work and learn together which is very rare to see in other university courses.</span></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-12231584931773976182010-10-12T06:23:00.000-07:002010-10-12T06:25:54.238-07:00Rooftop Mania<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVizsjHakuEgx-fC4dhVYhc7aJLumHrRHEe-8B-t0OWJ-cp8cIAd_kuqiSGXDBwwXu52vZftSWtdirh6UlcHS5rJdEkTinrx-2jifBrNNncfJW-m8BJi-CdwNuofQ6FGRFR6fH1sY9Dwbu/s1600/whitebox_3.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVizsjHakuEgx-fC4dhVYhc7aJLumHrRHEe-8B-t0OWJ-cp8cIAd_kuqiSGXDBwwXu52vZftSWtdirh6UlcHS5rJdEkTinrx-2jifBrNNncfJW-m8BJi-CdwNuofQ6FGRFR6fH1sY9Dwbu/s400/whitebox_3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527149672057986722" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">A quick look at my Rooftop area. I put this together in 3DsMax quickly just to see if the level would look coherent.<br /> This area is adapted mainly from the workshop area outside Fletcher as it provided me with enough reference and the layout looked rather appealing and interesting to me.<br /></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-20554303806662378172010-10-09T08:49:00.001-07:002010-10-09T09:00:28.397-07:00Rooftop Mood-boards<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OFaMf7Cc9VIu-N21irJB1hcpPN6AsauVTbrpXTUpfPiTRgiRvJIHFuZrJNZ4LyMvC0W7200NyGkwxU4cA_Wz1JLui2pO3OPLjFZ9AltyAFtTqm_247Qp-OsBjdPJyt8XnZc-neKdz45Q/s1600/Rooftop_Mood.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OFaMf7Cc9VIu-N21irJB1hcpPN6AsauVTbrpXTUpfPiTRgiRvJIHFuZrJNZ4LyMvC0W7200NyGkwxU4cA_Wz1JLui2pO3OPLjFZ9AltyAFtTqm_247Qp-OsBjdPJyt8XnZc-neKdz45Q/s400/Rooftop_Mood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526074069249368706" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOGXi_B1x5cvR6XAi2pwh5VVZ87ioJrnc3RCzGmvS_QeRFvdIQ4oGLv4y6J-3qtRk60qGFbQ9YP891E_PLzOMlXcLMG1WdNKtWOTL72fhIKIqvhUF4CRwMR4veXEMNGuFoqJ5_sdDGWHO/s1600/Rooftop_assets_mood.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOGXi_B1x5cvR6XAi2pwh5VVZ87ioJrnc3RCzGmvS_QeRFvdIQ4oGLv4y6J-3qtRk60qGFbQ9YP891E_PLzOMlXcLMG1WdNKtWOTL72fhIKIqvhUF4CRwMR4veXEMNGuFoqJ5_sdDGWHO/s400/Rooftop_assets_mood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526074131318920914" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyzy0K6CWnqwno3B_mdWvgcOv451ncp2teDy8jiHrUKqBvVMYLyyLboGe-fy5JZG1LZp-PfYFKKMW5W1uX4krNJ3mQLgDvIMrbOxz3h2jNHVn9hMObsGbarVozBeP1HwRVQ8sU1l_guZdX/s1600/Rooftop_materials_colours_mood.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyzy0K6CWnqwno3B_mdWvgcOv451ncp2teDy8jiHrUKqBvVMYLyyLboGe-fy5JZG1LZp-PfYFKKMW5W1uX4krNJ3mQLgDvIMrbOxz3h2jNHVn9hMObsGbarVozBeP1HwRVQ8sU1l_guZdX/s400/Rooftop_materials_colours_mood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526074180557156994" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkOGXi_B1x5cvR6XAi2pwh5VVZ87ioJrnc3RCzGmvS_QeRFvdIQ4oGLv4y6J-3qtRk60qGFbQ9YP891E_PLzOMlXcLMG1WdNKtWOTL72fhIKIqvhUF4CRwMR4veXEMNGuFoqJ5_sdDGWHO/s1600/Rooftop_assets_mood.jpg"><br /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Day 1 of the rooftop project and so far I'm sticking to my schedule.<br /><br />Today's task was to source my own reference to make moodboards, so armed with my camera i set off for Leicester - or at least as far as I could go due to the EDL protests. But have no fear as i came across a fountain of endless reference right here on the DMU campus. Pipes, vents, alarms you name it I found it.<br /><br />Well as you can clearly see i put together 3 moodboards showing the different aspects I felt make up a successful rooftop environment.<br />Moodboard 1 shows rooftops in general so that i could get a feel for layout, size and height.<br /><br />Moodboard 2 shows assets found on existing rooftops so that i could determine what assets my own rooftop would need.<br /><br />Moodboard 3 shows the textures, materials and colours found on my travels and from these i created a colour table so that all my concepts will follow along the same colour scheme.</span><br /></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-2823335578671456032010-04-17T03:00:00.001-07:002010-04-17T03:00:56.975-07:00There's a Zombie on your lawn<span style="font-family: arial;">Oh dear, my latest obsession is yet another Popcap game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> It’s a challenging, problem solving and intellectual game that pushes the boundaries of in-game humour</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Oh yes, and it all centres around zombie eating plants.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Plants vs. Zombies is the latest sensation to take over my life. I would be ashamed and embarrassed, what with major upcoming titles being released but I’m not.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Because it is awesome.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> As my loved one sits glued to his PS3 drooling over the latest Final Fantasy, I can be found sat at my pc, fending off a horde of brain-eating zombies with sunflowers and wall-nuts (I said it was intellectually witty). The simple, colourful 2D art and cheerful jaunty music can keep me entertained for hours.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Which has inspired me to do a bit of detective work. I am now curious how Popcap has such a huge following of casual gamers…what is their secret?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Let’s start with some background info, which I’m pointing out I didn’t pull straight from Google.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Popcap was founded in 2000 and currently has around under 180 employees under it’s control. Their major-title ‘’Bejelewed’ sold almost 50 millions world-wide over all major consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PS3 and their efforts have won them over 25 industry awards.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Their latest title ‘Plant vs. Zombies’ was apparently an App store record breaker selling 300,000 units in the first 9 days of its release onto the I-phone.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> The audience of most pop cap games is on average a 43 year old woman playing on social networking sites such as Facebook. This audience alone generates more than $1 billion which is mostly made from virtual currencies and buying in-game gifts. This specific audience gave reasons to their gaming addictions as to play with relatives and friends.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">So it would seem that casual gaming is mostly comprised of a female audience. Simple rules and addictive gameplay is vital to draw their players into purchasing in-game products to keep this multi-million pound industry afloat.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Bye-Bye Z-brush, hello pixel art?</span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-89385611881857383822010-04-16T08:17:00.000-07:002010-04-16T08:29:38.353-07:00A Crisis of Faith<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">If I were to describe my university experience for the second year I would say it was demoralising.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> The start of the year was great, I was engrossed in an interesting project, testing out new software and visited interesting places, overall I was a happy bunny. This led on into a relaxing Christmas holiday and some encouraging feedback that spurred me on into the second term but then everything seemed to collapse underneath me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> I had fallen out with my flat-mates and my self-esteem took a huge knock in which I still haven’t fully recovered. Not only that but I was asked to improve my life-drawing skills with no model, I was asked to stay sane with no weekly therapy sessions and I was asked to make a working group level with practically no group.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Now in all fairness some of these events are unfortunate, due to circumstances that couldn’t be helped and so I took fate into my own hands and tried to make the best of things.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> I used my loving boyfriend as a life model, so that I could catch-up, I held make-shift therapy groups down at the pub with fellow peers so that we could vent of steam and having been re-assured that the group projects were individually assessed I began to concentrate more on me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But this is where it boiled down to the main problem for me, what was said and what was done didn’t quite meet.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> After having presented our group projects I was told that the lack of work from other group members wouldn’t reflect on me, but I think it has. I can’t help but think that the projects were assessed in the blink of an eye and those initial prejudices have stuck.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> What hurt me even more was that after initial concerns with the overall size of the level, I personally explained our brief and our ideas with the new-improved layout, fairly early on in the semester and got the go-ahead, but then for some reason at the presentations we were told that it wasn’t good enough and too small. If this is the case then why weren’t these issues brought up sooner instead of just patting me on the head and sending me on my way?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> I have apparently wasted hours of work on a brief that was never going to be good enough.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> I also couldn’t help but notice that the main concern during the reviews was the lack of work with frequent references and comparisons to the 3rd years. I personally believe this is grossly unfair. Surely assessments should be based on the individuals capabilities and under no circumstances should comparisons to students who have 2 years more experience than us should be made, I have found the whole experience demoralising and now I am just focusing on improving my skills and planning the best-damn FMP there shall ever be :P<br /><br />Although this sounds fairly rantish or possibly even rude. It is not at all intended this way. I am merely trying to keep my self going and to stay sane. These past few months have been testing for me and i have had to change as a person, but by no means am i giving up. I am learning and growing as a person for every day i am on this course and i have developed a repetoire of skills that i hope will be invaluable to me for the rest of my life. If anything, this year has taught me to keep fighting. Not to make excuses and shift the blame, not to run home and hide in the comfort of a mother's love. It has taught me how re-assess my life and instead of giving up on problems, try approaching them from a different angle.<br /><br /> This is not the last you have seen of this Game Art student.<br /></span></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-30367111825601894702010-03-17T15:18:00.000-07:002010-03-17T15:19:25.610-07:00An End of an Era<span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As the end of the year rapidly approaches I can’t help but feel sad that our group project must come to end.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Even though I no doubt have grey hairs now and have more than likely shortened my life span by a good decade due to stress induced rants I’m kinda going to miss working with my team.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> At first the thought of working with unfamiliar peers scared me, I thought it would be hard to forge new friendships so late on in the year and I really did think our work would suffer because of it. But I can happily say that I have forged new relationships with brilliant, talented people that I am glad I had the chance to work with.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Had I written this blog merely a week ago, im pretty sure I wouldn’t have been so laid back. I took my responsibilities of team co-ordinator too seriously and saw the possible failure of anyone on the team as my own. But I feel I have reached enlightenment. I have peered into the inner depths of my understanding and now realise that self-motivation of others is not something I should worry about. It also helps that our level is coming on in leaps and bounds and everything is fitting together so perfectly I should be scared we’ve done something wrong. <br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Well one thing that does concern me is the size of our level. Other groups have chosen vast areas to play around with but I feel that the work we have done is well within our capabilities as I wanted the team to feel comfortable and to see work that puts into practice everything we have learnt so far.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> The majority of the team have really impressed me and I really hope they are proud of what they have achieved. Even though communication between our group members has been lacking I’m really moved by how exicted they all get when they see our nearly complete level.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I can honestly say that most of us have slaved away at this project, literally putting our blood, sweat and tears into it (so much so that unfortunately my VD is lacking) and now I just pray that everyone gets the marks we deserve for our awesome collaborated effort.</span></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-78015906405092791082010-03-17T14:33:00.000-07:002010-03-17T14:35:41.043-07:00Prince of Disney<span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" >Nestling down into my seat and stretching my legs as far as they could go, I trained my eyes onto the silver screen, taking in car advert after car advert after car advert, awaiting the feature film.<br /> And then an all too familiar concept flashed up on the screen, dazzling my senses and appealing to my inner geek.<br /> Prince of Persia: the film.<br /> I was quite intrigued until a friend of mine leaned over my assorted packets of sweets and whispered in my ear,<br /> “They’re making this film into a game”<br /><br />…<br />…<br />…<br />…<br />…<br />…<br />Ohhhkkayyy<br /><br />…<br />…<br />…<br />…<br />…<br />WHAT!?! No seriously, what?<br /><br /> Have I been living in an alternate universe or am I mistaken? I’m pretty darn sure that Prince of Persia : Sands of Time is already a game.<br /> I’m actually a little confused, are they going to revamp a classic, which doesn’t really need doing or are they doing something much, much worse.<br /><br /> Have Disney sunk they’re money grabbing claws into a film they are completely going to ruin, so much so that actually the new game isn’t anything like the old one?<br /> (in which case, the game is surely infringing on some copyright laws.)<br /><br />The pure fact that Jake Gynlenhaal is meant to be the prince. A prince of PERSIA I would like to point out is troubling me enough. But then it is directed by Gore Verbinski, who didn’t do too bad a job of Pirates of the Caribbean, which in all fairness was based on a <span style="font-style: italic;">ride</span>.<br /><br /> But I’m still bothered about the whole 'making a game into a film into a game' thing. It’s just a shame to see that the games industry has resorted to such tactics and seem to have completely abandoned making anything original. Most games now seem to be remakes or movie based games which just makes me sad. Here we are in graphical standards that were merely seen as dreams a few years ago and we are wasting our talent and capabilities on replicating a film. A film that uses real people, real textures and real world lighting. So needless to say but however good we make the game it will never look as good as real-life, which happens to be the film. <br /><br /> Gah! Not sure if this is making much sense as I’m going around in circles but that’s my entire point! A game into a film into a game is a never ending cycle that boggles the mind.<br /><br /> Cheers to you Prince of Disney for giving me one big headache.</span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-36589569746274578082010-03-11T11:16:00.000-08:002010-03-11T11:17:14.544-08:00A New Perspective<p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Being a Team Coordinator was a task thrust upon me by my fellow teammates.<span style=""> </span>At first I was rather flattered that everyone had deemed me approachable and hardworking or it may have been that only minutes before the vote I was seen screaming down the phone at a lazy peer.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>Either way I wasn’t going to let them down.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>Naturally I thought that everyone else in the team would eat, sleep and work on the same hours I do.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>How wrong I was.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>Usually I would plow on with my work, jump head first and finish it in a matter of days or weeks but as I sat in labs nice and early, furiously texting still-asleep teammates, I realised how long and infuriatingly slow this project would be.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>On the plus side we learn from our mistakes and I flat out refused to let the team start modelling before we had our detailed concepts.<span style=""> </span>A stage in game-production I will never overlook again.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>Having clear-cut concepts and a well prepared schedule has proved invaluable when it comes to production.<span style=""> </span>As a result fewer mistakes have reared their ugly heads and what stressful problems we do encounter are mainly down to self-motivation.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>One thing that has surprised me is some people’s complete disregard for deadlines.<span style=""> </span>I understand that sometimes life just doesn’t go your own way but that seriously can’t happen every day for 3 weeks.<span style=""> </span>If this was the real world and a real game-pipeline, I’m pretty sure your boss wouldn’t care that you’re hung-over or having a lazy day.<span style=""> </span>Face it you wouldn’t have a job anymore.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>Having voiced my concerns and letting off steam, I have now become more level headed.<span style=""> </span>I now understand that not everyone works and behaves the same and most of my stress stemmed from a sort of motherly instinct to see everyone in the team do well and be proud of what they have achieved.</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="ecxMsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span>I have now tried to relax more, I clearly inform everyone of jobs and deadlines through various forms of communication and now it’s down to them and how far they want to go.</span></p>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-47394380243454678782010-03-10T13:32:00.000-08:002010-03-10T13:34:22.455-08:00Inspiration from the skylines of Leicester<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As I trekked home clutching my bag of various Sainsbury’s basics, I couldn’t help but notice the storm ravaged sky. Great pillars of torn clouds danced in the rays of the setting sun, casting a golden hue against a purple sky.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I couldn’t help but think of Constable and Turner and how the stormy sky resembled their work so much.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> The textures of the clouds were so fluid and oil-paint like that it was uncanny to Constables technique. His ability to capture the British weather has always been a fascination of mine ever since my Mum and I worked on a 4,000 piece jigsaw of the Haywain. ( yes jigsaws are a guilty pleasure of mine)<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> However the gold and purple of that evenings sunset much resembled the colour palette of Turner.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Now Tuner is a tricky one for me and I can honestly say I am not a fan.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I have seen well over 50 of his paintings in the flesh (or canvas ;p), standing only millimetres away from his brushstrokes and I still can’t see the fascination of him.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> To me his paintings look like they were left in the rain and whatever masterpiece lay underneath has washed away, there’s no depth or detail that keeps me intrigued.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I must say that I am rather patriotic and passionate about our country but I fail to acknowledge Turner as one of our most celebrated artists.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Maybe I need to know more about the context of his work, which in all fairness I am off to do right now, but if my attitude towards him changes, then you shall no doubt hear from me again.</span></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-79001367226274109552010-01-01T07:59:00.000-08:002010-01-01T08:00:42.663-08:00Holograms, Clones and life-size Master Chief<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">He tugs at his uncomfortable green lycra suit and re-adjusts his helmet. Breathing deeply he listens out for the explosions on the far side of the arena. Carefully he cradles an explosive in his left arm and lights the fuse. His power enhanced gloves make the bomb feel as light as air as he throws it around a nearby corner, just as a white lycra-clad contestant runs around. His screams are heard as his wounded avatar is teleported to the sidelines.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> “ And White-Bomber is dooowwnnn!” announces the spectator “and out of the Bomberman Championship 2924!”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> A live action Bomberman you say? Well you never know.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> As a new decade starts we tend to look back over the years and from a Game Artist’s view there have been some significant developments.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Just to think that only 10 years ago we were all playing on PS2’s, amazed by the captivating graphics of 2,000 tri characters and yet in what is a relatively short amount of time, we are now playing on consoles the size of our palms or on 47 inch screens with so much detail it challenges our own reality.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> So in the next 10 or 100 years who’s to say that in-game graphics will have advanced so much that the only way forward is to bring games into real-life itself.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Hordes of clones could be created and then suited up like Master Chief whilst side-lined players re-enact Halo 3. Hologram technology could allow us to run around caves collecting treasures like Tomb Raider.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> I suppose the main point to take away from all this is to consider the future of games, will it actually get to the point where only real-life stands in the way? </span><br /></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7770749132707869646.post-16836517580370851562009-12-30T07:38:00.000-08:002009-12-30T07:39:18.786-08:00Hybridmania!<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As a child I was very imaginative, in the playground my classmates would gather round as I invented something new and fun to play. I’d whisk us off to a magical world where we were powerful fairies or demons, or we’d play our own take on Cops ‘n’ Robbers… vampires and princesses ( I had unusually large canines as a child so naturally I was always a vampire.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Because of my imagination I was gifted with artistic skill, I could spend ours doodling new shapes and colours but one thing always frustrated me.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I could never put across just exactly what I was picturing. My head would be filled with mythical beasts and creatures but I could never draw them how I was imaging them, so alas I had to rely on my descriptive capabilities which also made me and good at English. Huzzah!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I’ve always struggled with drawing thins from fantasy until quite recently, when I realised that using the world around me could help me get across my vision.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> Take last year’s organic creature project for example. I knew vaguely that I wanted to create a creepy two-legged creature but by studying the shapes of eggs I had created myself a body and by looking at the branches of ivy I had created the legs.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> I was amazed at how everyday objects could be used creatively to make something new. I have also learned to approach projects with a clear mind and to never-ever go with my first idea. Instead, I take that idea and hybrid it with something I find interesting. For example I was challenged with designing a vehicle, I wanted to make a helicopter but to define it as my own I studied the shapes and colouring of wasps to create an original vehicle concept. However taking into affecting my new understandings I abandoned the helicopter idea, worked and reworked my design until I had a wasp/submarine hybrid that I was proud to call my own.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> From all of this I have learnt that using examples from life and studying the world around us is invaluable. Though we may all have our own designs and ideas, using realistic examples creatively will result in a much more professional and original outcome.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">However the only drawback from all this is that I am now a hybrid designing monster :)<br /></span></span>KwazySheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507807897906810484noreply@blogger.com0