Monday 30 March 2009

THIS IS WHO WE ARE!!!!!

Liberal arts education, to me , it pretty much seems like what I’ve been doing since I was a young’un, it’s what most of us have been doing in the education system, being taught a range of subjects to prepare us for the real world. Now it’s all good and well with the idea that if you know everything you can do everything, but for me going through such a system I felt somewhat lacking a course of direction, I had no idea what I wanted to be, it just made me go, “Whatever happens, happens”.

Although enough of that, that’s for a later entry and in no way, am I bashing liberal arts, as confused as I was, it does pretty well and offers people a wide range of skills, especially in intellectual aspects, which sort of supports the idea of companies wanting creative individuals with a good liberal art background. It can mean that the people who have been through liberal arts have been exposed to much more than a normal art student, they are influenced by a wide variety of ideas and are probably quite good at analytical thinking, a good trait to have considering problem solving is a key aspect that I have found in most job applications in the industry. But this just means that they’re guaranteed to be somewhat employable, the real key is that the person meets the job requirements, and more than often those requirements are: Drive, passion, team player, problem solver and ability to work with deadlines.

Aspects which not necessarily can just be achieved in a liberal arts college, take our course for example, a straight forward specialised course, here we are learning all those aspects because we are aiming to get into the game industry. We learn to work in teams in our second year, our problem solving is developed through how we work through pieces and of course the deadly 3dsmax, and our drive and passion is apparent, considering we’re on the course and still at it.

So in conclusion I believe that both are valid, I mean of course companies would want the best, and well having a liberal arts would be indeed a great bit of leverage, but the idea that they want well trained is just as valid as we and graduates of the course are proof that even though we lack say the philosophy of Socrates, or the mathematical genius of Ms (insert teacher name) by the time we enter the industry we’ll have those qualities. So in the end is pretty much up to the individual and how they present themselves to the companies.

The sound of moosic

Sound is used in the same way as it is in tv shows and films in games, you have your diegetic sounds for environments such as birds chirping in the forest or the clangy pipe in the engine room. As well as that music tracks are used in a way to build suspense and drive action in a way similar to films which use music to build up, say the evil killer hiding round the corner. Music has been a staple aspect of the gaming industry with games like Mario and Sonic having music from their games immortalised in pop culture. They have become a sort of trademark of each series, and while I wouldn’t say game music is iconic as it was back in the day, it still gives games their own unique feel.

In series’, music is often remixed or uses a band contracted to the company, two examples of this include Final Fantasy, and we all know the victory theme, mainly because it has been in use since the very first game and has just been remixed.



The other example is sonic the hedgehog series, while i must say the quality has been decreasing, the music always seems do well, most of the games in the latest generations use the band Crush 40 an in house band at sega, and have a unique style which can be used to familiarise with modern sonic games.





I have to say the key sonic moments in my gaming history, well most of which are from sonic games, an apparent one would be the finale of sonic adventure 2 on the dreamcast, hearing the main theme blasting through my speakers as I dash at a giant space ship monster in space is a thing of beauty.



Actually most of my favourite music moments are sonic endings , here’s another of my faves. The part I really like is at 1:49



Instrumentals really do hit home for me sometimes

As for good times, I honestly have no idea, atm while I listen to it I think of GmTV, which reminds me I need food......

Choo Choo

Game engines are something, up till now, I was vaguely knowledgeable about, I understood that they run the games and that they allow us to see all the pretty graphics , hear all the serene sounds etc and of course play the game. But in technical terms, bear with me while I quote wikipedia, “A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of video games, the core functionality typically provided by a game engine includes a rendering engine (“renderer”) for 2D or 3D graphics, a physics engine or collision detection (and collision response), sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, and a scene graph”. Basically the game engines are like string in clothing, it holds all the pieces together and puts them to use.

The key gaming engines that I’m aware of are The Unreal Engine and The havoc engine, the Unreal being the most used engine because of how versatile it is in being used for different gaming platforms and the ease it takes to modify gameplay and other aspects thanks to the unrealscript and the developers tools packaged with the engine. The Havok engine on the other hand is a physics engine and allows for almost realistic physics by allowing interaction between objects and or other characters in real time and by giving objects physics based qualities in 3D. The two engines are used widely, mainly due to how cost effective it can be to develop from readymade engines than making one from scratch as well as that it can greatly cut down on development time.



"The engine gods"



Of course though they aren’t the only engines around, some companies have ended up using their own inhouse built game engines. Such games include Dark sector with its evolution engine and Sonic unleashed using the hedgehog engine. The latter shows the advantages of having inhouse technology, the hedgehog engine is a new lighting engine developed to provide much more realistic lighting, it does this by calculating not just the normal aspects of a lighting engine is expected to do but coloured lightmaps for light filtering through transparent objects and reflecting off the world. In a presentation by sega, they were showing off development tools, showing that they may release the engine into third party licensing. Here Sega have a valuable asset at their disposable which they can keep exclusive amping up the company’s repertoire or as I assume they will be doing putting it up for third party licensing, the latter meaning they gain a profit from its use in other games.


"why so blue?"


However the real problem now lies in next gen gaming, as games become much more detailed and realistic, using proprietary engines might not be the best route as new games may need specific engines to work, thus fuelling the need for in house technology.

Sunday 15 March 2009

In this worllllld~

I think of myself as someone who is quite well versed in the ways of gaming culture, despite having never played an online pc game which is what most of it seemed to originate from, in fact actually I’m quite ill-informed of the whole darn thing, perhaps it’s because I often get it mixed up with internet culture, anyway enough of that, on to the fantastical world of gaming culture.

The ever eternal image of gamers being in dark, dark rooms playing their war craft is still an apparent image in today’s world, however in truth the gaming culture has changed tenfold, heck it’s nowhere as geeky as it once was. The gaming culture has become a much more widespread phenomenon as gaming has become more main stream, gaming icons have become pop icons, Mario and sonic being the main contenders appearing on shirts at top shop, who would have ever thought it?! It’s also become a much more social past time; while I have never met anyone and stayed in contact with them on an online game, I’ve heard of people who have made great friendships with people they’ve met over Xbox live or counter strike and in some cases even find their soul mate.

I have however found myself engulfed in the Online Sonic culture, as some may know I’m a sonic fan and when meeting likeminded people online I sort of got sucked into the whole thing. And I must say it does encompass a large part of my life, while not obsessive I have an extensive list of people on MSN who I have met through sonic websites and some just randomly met on other forums, which while I have never met in my life (well except for a few when I went to a con) are all a joy to talk to. Of course in a non-stalkerish way I’d one day want to meet these people in person, especially since it gives me an excuse to go on a round the world tour for something other than sightseeing.


Summer of Sonic 08 pic of smallish concert with Richard jaques and Bentley jones. See if you can spot me in the pic ;D

THE INDUSTRY!!!!

I often look into my pocket and find some random notes I completely forget about, and then I immediately think of the recession, only briefly mind as I end up going to the market to buy a cheapass game.

Of course while I’m buying the game, the recession is having a serious impact on the gaming industry these days, more than often have I overheard stories of the third years being worried about going into the industry at such an unstable time, and so they should be, as companies have been dropping employees left right and centre as well as a fair few reputable companies going under.
Companies such as Sony and Microsoft have laid of hundreds and Free Radical, made famous for their Time splitters series were closed suddenly due to the credit crunch meaning more lost jobs. This entire situation has now led to a much more competitive industry for people like us, with more jobs being lost it means more people are returning to the job pool and are a hell of a lot more experienced than us. This may sound very daunting yet it is true, we are in drastic times people and only the best shall come out!!

But seriously it puts this course into perspective, I now truly understand why the course is structured in such a way, it’s to give us the best push into the industry. Not only does it develop our creative skill set but it also allows us to develop as creative thinkers, not just through the art but in the form of these blog tasks, which I think will be a great help indeed especially when talking with co-workers in the industry, as in one website I read said, it’s always good to have connections, if not for the social aspect, having a friendly face in a company you are trying to get work in is both a comforting feeling and an amazing advantage.

Be Creative yo!

'Creativity without craft is like fuel without an engine - it burns wildly but accomplishes little...'

I rather bold claim which I believe is quite the opposite of what Creativity is, granted it does apply to some circumstances were creativity is wasted but if you were to look around you right now, everything you own may it be clothes or a toaster are the result of someone’s creativity, which while they may seem insignificant are what your daily lives are reliant on in one way or another.
It’s so significant that even the government is getting in on the creative action, but what exactly is this thing called creativity, I’ve heard a fair few variations of it, some call it the simple ability to come up with new things, which isn’t wrong creativity is what conjures all new inventions, however creativity doesn’t just revolve around our ability to think of new things, it goes a step farther, it manifests those new things...

The Imagination is a wonderful thing isn’t it, everyone thinks up dreams, random oddities that only the imaginary world could create, yet more than often this vivid imagination is put to rest in lay of other more important matters such as that important maths test next week.....okay that example doesn’t quite fit us at nowadays but does bring up the idea that education is blocking our creativity but more on that later, first I must explain what I believe creativity to be, now creativity I believe is defined by its results. Sure people can have a creative mind, but to truly be creative in my minds is to make your imagination, your creative brain spasms a reality. Like I said before Creativity is everywhere, and is in everyone, it’s only truly defined when it is a given a value, or shall I say an outlet.

An outlet can come in many forms, as a writer, as a musician, a cook and even a programmer. They use their minds to create amazing pieces of work from a symphony to that code of lining that allows me to write my name in msn....anyway I’m sure you get my point by now. Creativity is only truly apparent when it is given a value and is so ambiguous because it comes in many different forms.

The gaming industry a relatively young outlet for the creative minds of the world, the creativity shown in obvious aspects such as the concept art, but it can also be found in more low key aspects such as the design document, a whole lot of writing but the result of people’s creativity merging into one formidable powerhouse to create a game. And even then the development stages, while things like modelling may seem like they’re simply following a concept design, they’re using their creativity to make a mesh that adheres to the design without losing its original charm.

Among the industry however I’d say creativity varies, because while I believe that creativity can be conjured up anywhere, in some cases with sequels and remakes, creativity is a lot less apparent as studios are reusing previous wells of creativity. This is where I praise companies like Rare, Atlus and other various studios who often make original games, even if they are sequels, I mean looking at Rare’s latest Banjo Kazooie game, they completely revamped the way the game plays introducing a new mechanical workshop aspect to the proceedings and in the case of Atlus they are responsible for games such as persona 3, Trauma Centre, Odin Sphere and Bonk’s Adventures, such uniquely different games, all of which I have enjoyed immensely.

As for me showing my creativity I like having my art put up on websites, shown to people, but what I think what truly defines my creativity when people can purely enjoy my work, I guess which is why I want to work in an industry such as this, because my work will somehow bring enjoyment to people, of course if I work on a game like high school musical, I’ll both be glad for my work giving people enjoyment but also punching myself thinking WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!

What do I think gameplay is?

Gameplay prior to reading the post on blackboard I thought, it was simply the way the game played, like with first person shooters and racers etc all these genres defined by their related game play elements, but now I’m thinking its more than that, of course it refers to how the game plays but the experience playing the game would imo count as gameplay, it’s more of a convergence of the several factors of playing a game from the controls to the style to how you do anything in the game. Although I might be wrong but for the sake of this blog assume I’m RIGHT >D well not really, just hop aboard onto my train of thought.
An example of where I thought I had an experience of good game play is oddly Tony Hawks Pro Skater Underground, a game which is amazingly addictive, it was the first tony hawk game to incorporate a story and still retaining that good ol control system, I spent hours on this feeling like a pro skater even though in reality I’ve only ever owned one skateboard, I never rode it for longer than two minutes and broke it while trying to climb into my locked house and while the story wasn’t amazing it did give me the incentive to beat the rival and become the ultimate skater! But my point here is that, the game is a sequel that uses elements to produce good gameplay, thus what i’m saying is that good gameplay isn’t the product of a random factors put together on the hope that it makes a good game, this game while random as heck wasn’t the result of randomosity.
Of course while I say that gameplay is the entire experience, I still use it in the context that it can relate to certain elements of a game like with first person shooters, I would call the whole setup with the gun in the view of the player and of course aspects such as reloading, gameplay elements of a first person shooter, and racers with their accelerate button, brake button etc.

Who the hell do you think they are?!

That comment by Randy Littlejohn is certainly true, game developers have begun to realize that the whole malarkey about high definition graphics photo realistic awesomeness, is only a temporary aspect, that can keep a relatively small fraction of gamers occupied for so long and are now delving into the more engulfing aspects of games. They understand that a lot more is needed to attract gamers and they offer this in the form of much deeper stories and developed characters.

Characters in all media outlets are relatively treated the same way, I don’t mean in terms of how much depth is given to the character but in this kind of process; all characters in whatever media or story give a first impression, this is often the bait to get you into liking or disliking (in case of villains) the character and the worth of a character I believe is in how they develop past this first impression. An example of such a thing which uses a fairly simple setup is the character of Simon from Gurren Lagann, an anime yes but a story and character nonetheless, anyway the first impression you get of Simon is a young weak driller kept under the protective eyes of his “older brother”, his character develops greatly over the duration of the show as he is hit by the responsibility of being a protector and the death of his brother, he develops to the extent that from a digger boy he becomes a loud hot-blooded warrior facing a threat on a universal scale.



"From That..."



"to THIS!"

In games, I’d have to say a most of the interesting characters come from RPGs, mainly because being a role playing game, realistic characters or engrossing ones are a must or else the game would have nothing else but to rely on the game play which while good is pretty much the same for most rpgs. The idea of developing a character is quite apparent in RPGs because unlike other media such as movies and books, you play through every important event as them you witness these events the same time as they do however small or large they are and in some cases are the trigger behind such events. Looking at a game such as persona where he is a mute most of the time, at least to the player who basically controls the person completely, his social links the way he fights, everything, now this may be seen as a lack of character, which it is, but the other characters in the story are so rich with character it almost feels like you have taken the place of the main character and are interacting with them as ya do with normal people, take the character of Junpei Iori, the main character’s (basically you) best friend, he acts so much as a high schooler lad that people have found it easier to relate to him due to him reminding them or someone they knew during their high school years.



So of course I do think that a lot of dependence is on having a good script, however its goes hand in hand with the likeability of the characters involved. As for me the kind of stories and characters I find myself enjoying a lot in media are the ones who start of weak but become someone better through trials and tribulations, pretty much Simon from Gurren Lagann who I mentioned earlier, I believe this is so cos I often want to better myself and I’m sorta placing myself in their situation where they achieve that goal. I’m also a fan of absolute obscure things too oddly, but I think I’ll leave that for another time.

Tuesday 10 March 2009

What does this button do?

Over the years I have accumalated a large amount of game consoles, to the point with bar few I have owned almost every mainstream console since the 90s, thus as with many I’ve seen a great change in the style and interface of consoles. I still remember my brick like Nes,those where the days, I thought nothing could get more brick like that it, but then I looked a bit further back and saw such tecnological beasts such as the Brown box which was jsut as it title implies a brown box. It seems that as time has progress consoles are getting more streamlined, almost to the liking of cars. The interface, or lets say the controllers have been a slightly different story, the first joypads, or joysticks as they were, weren’t really pads, the brown box itself was just two knobs that you twist and turn to move things on screen, multiple game controllers used this setup until the Atari 2600, which introduced proper joysticks to the fray, as great as they were though they wouldn’t stick around for long as the D-pad introduced through the Nintendo Entertainment System, which as time wen ton is often placed side by side with extra face buttons, and anallog sticks and digital sticks. The interfaces have changed in adding more tools to tinker with, and with controllers such as the sega megadrive controller started to become more ergonmically friendly with its sleeker design, with such controllers like the ps3 with its concept boomerang controller taking the sleek ergonomic aesthetic to the extreme.





My favourite controller atm has to be the xbox 360 controller, it fits perfectly in my hand and I like how the buttons and controls are placed, also the convienance of having the xbox menu button in the middle is a welcome addition. As for console wise I love the design of the dreamcast, it was a block but it looked modern sorta like a really sci-fi chip pan, but that was still cool in my mind. Of course others may see differently assome consoles are nicely made such as the ps3 with its chrome finish and the xbox with its simply yet slightly retro design.





A good example of how I think games will turn out is the film eXistenZ it was a movie about a game where you would plug it into the back of your head, much like the matrix, in doing so you are totally immersed into the game world. As errie and depressing the film was I can easily see games turning out like this, but a question it brings up is will it get to real for our liking...



"Jack in!"

Monday 9 March 2009

Gather around young'uns for I have a tale to tell....

Back in the day the extent of storytelling in games was usually encompassed in one sentence, take space invaders, the name itself is the extent of its story =P. As time moved on games received more developed stories based on movies and comics eventually games would have an epic story so moving it made gamers cry ( I’m looking at you FF7 fans, I KNOW YOU SHED A TEAR WHEN AERIES DIED). Anyway stories in game have become commonplace and are, in the case of RPGS can be a large selling point of a game. For example games like Final fantasy 7, while it has stable game play, it would have been bland and boring to play if it had a poor story and none of the whole shebang epic storyline of a man and his overly sized sword which people always seem to go on about. So in most cases a story is a big selling point mainly because it gives the players a world to escape to, just like with books and films.

This however isn’t always the case, because out there as many of us know are games which have no story at all, I look at games on the Wii (well a majority of them) and games like rock band or tetris. These have no stories and frankly don’t need them as the novelty is in the game play or other factors such as music.

And then we have games like second life, games where a story is made by the gamers, in second life, people are given a clean slate from the get go and how their stories and adventures go is entirely up to them. It’s a game based on the player’s imagination, their ability to create a story. This could suggest that a story isn’t very important in games if the player just makes it up, but I believe in the opposite, many games out there have benefited by adding in epic storylines, heck recently I bought Dynasty Warriors 5 empires not for the game play, mostly for the chance to learn more about the whole romance of the three kingdoms malarkey. Stories are always like looking through a window, especially in books and films, in games it’s more of a possession and seeing a storyline unfold due to your actions as you play is always an amazing feeling, for example in splinter cell I had the choice to shoot someone, I chose to shoot him (yeah I’m evil) and I felt the repercussions as in doing so I lost the trust of the NSA but I got deeper into the terrorist plot!