The Group Project - My thoughts

Despite the amazing level that we created, I think it's fair to say that the group project didn't go as smoothly as we hope we would. We were plagued by sickness alot, leading to some of us not showing up for ages, it's odd how much bad mojo, we were a decent lot of people, there was little conflict and what led to any conflict was due to our unbelivably bad luck. Now I'm not making any excuses, we should have prepared for the worse, and I'm sure everyone takes responsibility for their own personal downfalls but it does feel we had the odds stacked against us. Our biggest concern really was communication, we barely communicated outside the blog and labs and that's where I think a good deal of our problems lay (it was particularly bad for me, as my phone doesn't seem to work anymore D:) so I'd like to see how a project would result if we used a much more active platform, looking at other groups the forum approach worked wonders.

With that said, I'm pleased with how the level turned out, I didn't have much involvement outside of brainstorming some minute ideas, modelling and unreal effects but I still did enjoy the experience despite my lack of contribution which I sorely regret (personal complex must sort that out later). It was refreshing to work with a team and is an experience I'd like to try again with a brand new outlook that learns on our past mistakes.

As for me, I'm still not entirely sure I've done enough when I look at other groups contributions, but there was only so much I could do in our small level and with my particularly low skill level, but I do feel things like the pipes make up I guess considering how I made them into a kit of sorts to be implemented around the level and my sexy badass fire. Though I do wish I did more but that's my own fault for not being vocal enough. Which leads to what I would have done differently in the project, I guess in hindsight, set up the forum, be more vocal with my ideas and generally interact and work more with other team members, working in a group was a big hurdle for me, and while I may not have been the most engaging it does feel like I've made a huge personal leap.

2nd Year Round up

With the End of the year arising, I've taken the time to look back at this year, and it's fair to say, it's been a pretty bad one mind you, what started as a clean slate, something I could jump on, I was a damn enthusiastic guy at the beginning of this year, I was doing work on time, I had everything scheduled so I wouldn't fall behind, then BAM unforseen circumstances completely threw me off my game, I was a wreck of anxiety and stess, work piled up on me and I couldn't keep up with it, fair to say it's pretty much been the same up till now, while I have been doing my share of work, due to stress and being sick a lot of some odd reason, my mind and work has been all over the place. These past few weeks, have been somewhat a haven for me, it's the first time in ages I feel I have had a steady production rate of work. It's also where I've started to become more comfortable with 3d work.

The group project while sketchy due to our lack of focus has come out well, and has left me with a better understanding of 3ds Max, I've managed to speed up my work time, and while my work isn't the best, when comapring with how I was at the start of the year, it may not be much but I really have improved. I also have a fondness for Unreal, after playing with particle effects and water effects and playing with my assets in game I couldn't help but feel giddy and want to make more. It's truly an amazing engine, intimidating at first for sure but when you have used it for a while, it's like a dream, still it's a bitch to handle at times.

I'm awfully unsure of how well I will do come assesment time, though whatever the case, despite many problems I've faced, I've come to the realisation that I desperetly want to work in the games industry, it's not just OMG GAMES GLEEEEEEEEEE~ now, it's something else, watching my friends play games, seeing how such amazing things are coming out of the games industry, the innovation, the engines, the styles, it just makes me want a piece of that action. Hopefully I have what it takes to get there, whatever route it may be, I want in.

KTHNXBAI

I'm sure a majority of you have heard abouut the recent controversy surrounding Activision and Infinity Ward, as someone who has yet to enter the industry don't you feel somewhat unnerved. Back in the day you would always see in movies the supposed inner workings of companies, being run by greedy fatcats and so much underhanded business that you feel dirty just hearing about it, but to me that just felt like a gross exaggeration for entertainment's sake, hearing how activision has acted as well as the nefarious dealings of Bob Kotick, I fear that it's a rather striking truth.

For those not in the now the incident involved the unfair departure of two of Infinity Ward's top honchos, a dick of a move by Activision who had just received an amazing reception to Modern Warfare 2. It turns out it was due to creative differences with Activision wanting more COD games and basically cheat IW out of the Modern Warfare Brand, but Activision being the greedy trope lovers they are decided that instead of accomadating IW, they simply cut them loose unexpectedly, abruptly firing the two studio heads.

I know the games industry isn't exactly the safest industry in the world, and I should really expect this to happen at least once in my career, but I thought the games industry was above this petty stuff, cutting off one of your best devs for such a thing is both an rnderhanded and immature move. Hopefully it turns out alright for the IW staff involved, and thanks to other IW staff leaving, that Activision learn how to better treat their Devs.

"The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks that we brought into Activision 10 years ago was to take all the fun out making video games. I think we've definitely been able to instill in the culture the skepticism and pessimism and fear that you should have in an economy like we're in today."
O_O

Hold Right to Move

So I was watching my housemate play Nier the other day, and I was surprised to find the manly Square Enix game had a plethora of 2D game modes, much akin to the scrollers or vertical shooters. One Level especially got to me, it took place in an underground bunker, it was full of robots and what not doing their "I'm going to kill you" business, while watching my housemate skilfully dispatch these bots she hopped onto a mine cart triggering a top down view and the game proceeded to play like a virtual shooter, even the projectiles enemies shoot are so simple looking that you swear that you've entered a weird amalgamation of an adventure game and Ikaruga.

"The only damn screenshot I could find of 2d nier"

While that did surprise me then, in hindsight it's not that odd, developers have started to really take a liking towards 2d scrollers once again. With the dawn of networks like Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, smaller developers have used the size limit to create truly inspiring side scrollers, even larger companies have used this to their advantage, such as the Retro 2D Megaman 9 and 10 games and the upcoming Sonic 4, even Lara Croft is taking a step towards the world of side scrollers.

"Old Nu skool?"

In a world where gaming has gotten awfully complicated and complex (looking at you heavy rain) it's no wonder that they would return to a more simplified state, though I suspect that it really is just a phase the industry is going through much like that cool hat you use to wear with Megaman 10, despite being quite good, has begun to make gamers clamour for a departure from the retro world. Which I hope results in Megaman Legends 3, which I need...BAD!

Wiiiiiiiiiii

"Ouch"

The Wii is often met with criticism in the gaming industry, from the hardcore gamers to people in the industry, it's fair to say that the Wii's image in the public gaming eye is not that great. However despite that it retains a fairly respectable lead in sales, now why is that? To look at it, we must look from the viewpoint of a casual gamer. As you know, the wii has a fair amount of shovelware, games that are simple spunked up minigames, there are countless amounts of these buggers floating around, and despite the whole premise of these quick buck games, they're snatched up like hot pies.

The Reason? It's not the games themselves that attract these casual gamers, it's the novelty of a motion controlled gaming experience...nay...it's the innovative nature of the wii that keeps causal gamers playing as well as being a main interest in the gaming community when it was announced all those years ago. Despite how it's treated now with companies like Ubisoft giving a massive meh, The Wii is a revolutionary piece of kit, sure graphics wise it's nothing but a souped up gamecube but the idea of a motion controller was something that had only previously been a novelty, a passing trend (oh poor gametrac).

"We hardly knew thee...."

It successfully brought Motion controlled gaming to mainstream entertainment, and its impact is surely felt in the industry with Microsoft and Sony's latest ventures of Natal and Move (Move especially those cheeky gits) which aim to take the experience offered by the Wii to a next generation. Hopefully unlike the wii these ventures won't turn into a shovelware bonanza.

So all that's left to say is speculation on how it'll go from here. With kits like natal coming out, is the age of the simple controller passing on? Will it turn into something like eXistenZ with its full on Virtual Reality environment. Only time will tell.